Oshi no Ko manga was destined for an unsatisfactory ending and Aka Akasaka's past works prove it

Modified Nov 14, 2024 13:30 GMT

Oshi no Ko manga was destined for an unsatisfactory ending and Aka Akasaka — Ai Hoshino as seen in Oshi no Ko manga (Image via Shueisha)

With the conclusion of Oshi no Ko manga, fans are left disappointed by manga author Aka Akasaka's storytelling. This is because the series' ending was far from satisfactory and effectively ignored many important plotlines it had been building up for the past four years.

However, evidence suggests that the manga was destined for an unsatisfactory ending from the very start. While many fans consider manga author Aka Akasaka to be a great storyteller due to the popularity of Kaguya-sama: Love is War and Oshi no Ko, as pointed out by fans, his past works tell a different story.

Disclaimer: This article reflects the author's opinion.

Why was Oshi no Ko manga destined for an unsatisfactory ending?

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

While it is true that manga author Aka Akasaka has two very popular manga in Kaguya-sama: Love is War and Oshi no Ko, those two aren't his only manga. The manga author has seemingly worked in 10 manga in total. Out of those, he has written the stories for six different manga and illustrated the other four series.

The fact that, despite having worked in so many series in his career, the majority of fans only know about his two most popular ones. This might be a clear sign that Aka Akasaka may not be as great an author as fans think he is.

Mari Maria Winter-Nanase as seen in Renai Daikou (Image via Shueisha)

For instance, his most recent series Renai Daikou, the one that he was writing the story for alongside Oshi no Ko, was axed in just a little over a year. The manga began its serialization in April 2023 and was axed in June 2024. The surprising thing is that, while many fans knew that Aka Akasaka was starting this series, not many fans knew when it ended.

While this may seem like a letdown for many fans, this is how the manga industry generally operates. Just because a creator has one or two popular series, it does not mean that every story penned by them would be as great.

Aqua and Ruby as seen in the anime (Image via Doga Kobo)

This was also the case for the creator of Naruto, Masashi Kishimoto. After concluding the Naruto manga, Kishimoto started writing the story for Samurai 8: The Tale of Hachimaru. Unfortunately, the manga did not become popular enough and concluded in under a year. Soon after, he returned to penning the sequel to his Naruto manga, Boruto: Naruto Next Generations.

Unfortunately, with manga author Aka Akasaka's number of works, the odds are even more against him. The sheer fact that, out of his 10 manga, only one became super popular and had a satisfying ending, suggests that any other series by him could be destined for an unsatisfactory ending. The sad part is that some fans believe that Kaguya-sama: Love is War manga also started going downhill halfway.

Therefore, realistically, not one of Aka Akasaka's works has truly left all of its fans satisfied. With that in mind, one must make sure not to follow a manga simply because of the manga creator but the story itself.