Oshi no Ko creator reveals the biggest input behind Kaguya-sama: Love Is War's success

Modified Nov 30, 2024 16:39 GMT

Oshi no Ko creator reveals the biggest input behind Kaguya-sama: Love Is War — Kaguya Shinomiya and Ai Hoshino as seen in Kaguya-sama: Love is War and Oshi no Ko (Image via A-1 Pictures, Doga Kobo)

With the end of the Oshi no Ko manga, publishing company Shueisha interviewed manga author Aka Akasaka to learn about his plans for the future and what he intended to do until he turned 40. During this interview, the manga author not only spoke about Oshi no Ko but also Kaguya-sama: Love is War.

Just as the manga author spoke about his biggest inputs while creating a story, he revealed how much the internet had helped him create Kaguya-sama: Love is War. With that, the manga author credited people on the internet for helping him flesh out Kaguya Shinomiya's character.

But how did the internet help Aka Akasaka create Kaguya-sama: Love is War?

Oshi no Ko creator credits the internet for helping him create Kaguya-sama: Love is War

Kaguya Shinomiya as seen in Kaguya-sama: Love is War (Image via A-1 Pictures)

During Shueisha's interview with Aka Akasaka, Kenta Terunuma asked the manga author about his biggest input while creating a series. For this, Aka Akasaka credited the Internet.

According to the manga author, there were many cases where men's and women's opinions were different from one another. Given that he was a man, Akasaka wanted to learn women's perspectives. Thus, he looked online where women unveiled their true feelings.

The internet effectively helped the manga author learn about the opinions of the women over the internet who are usually invisible when interacting face-to-face. This is how Aka Akasaka created the protagonist of Kaguya-sama: Love is War, Kaguya Shinomiya.

The manga author also referred to Oshi no Ko. He revealed how acting like his character Akane Kurokawa made his life easier. As any fan would know, Akane was known for her detective-like skills and eye for detail. Such skills helped her learn about a person's background or at least forge a framework close to the real thing.

Akane Kurokawa as seen in Oshi no Ko (Image via Doga Kobo)

The reason Akasaka found it easy after starting to act like Akane was because up until then, he had no idea what other people were thinking. But after he started researching, he finally realized what other people were like. This helped him conclude why certain people behaved the way they did.

Thus, for Aka Akasaka, the input from the internet had a huge role in creating Kaguya-sama: Love is War. He also added how he liked to focus on a character's past, i.e., what shaped them. Hence, he liked to depict episodes from their past that explained their secrets and true nature.

Kana Arima as seen in the anime (Image via Doga Kobo)

Given how much Kaguya Shinomiya's personality had been impacted by her past, this made a lot of sense. However, Kaguya-sama: Love is War wasn't Akasaka's only series in which he treated his characters with this method.

Similar instances can also be observed in Oshi no Ko as the manga author not only depicted the past of the protagonists but also supporting characters like Kana Arima, Akane Kurokawa, Miyako Saitou, and others.