Oshi no Ko season 2 episode 5 review: Doga Kobo elevates Kana and Akane's rivalry with alluring art direction

Modified Aug 04, 2024 21:11 GMT

Oshi no Ko season 2 episode 5 review: Doga Kobo elevates Kana and Akane — Akane Kurokawa and Kana Arima as seen in Oshi no Ko season 2 episode 5 (Image via Doga Kobo)

With the release of Oshi no Ko season 2 episode 5, the anime moved towards the opening of the Tokyo Blade stage play. While fans knew some of the conflicts that were set to be addressed in the upcoming few episodes, the latest episode gave fans a clearer picture of what they needed to look forward to.

Fans have known about Kana Arima and Akane Kurokawa's rivalry for quite some time. Nevertheless, the anime took its time to establish the two actors' long-awaited match-up on the stage.

Doga Kobo made sure to highlight this rivalry in the latest episode through the use of art direction that made use of unique backgrounds and anime-original snippets. These artistic decisions helped elevate the emotions carried by the two actors towards each other.

Oshi no Ko season 2 episode 5 review: Doga Kobo builds up Tokyo Blade stage play opening

Aqua and Akane as seen in Oshi no Ko season 2 episode 5 (Image via Doga Kobo)

While Oshi no Ko season 2 episode 5 was primarily about building up Kana Arima and Akane Kurokawa's rivalry before the opening of Tokyo Blade stage play, the episode also had some other intense moments.

Firstly, the episode saw Aqua Hoshino reveal his goal behind acting. He wished to kill someone who was sitting at the top of the entertainment industry. While someone would normally be shocked from hearing such a goal, Akane didn't skip a beat to join Aqua's crusade. The aspect that elevated this scene was the way Doga Kobo portrayed Akane's eye change. While she normally has starry eyes, her eyes turned soleless upon hearing Aqua's goal.

Minami and Ruby as seen in Oshi no Ko season 2 episode 5 (Image via Doga Kobo)

Similar art direction could also be seen when Ruby and Minami visited Aqua at the rehearsals. Each of the scenes with Ruby and Minami used special backgrounds to indicate their emotions. This was evident with a childish background to indicate Ruby's cheekiness and a heartful background to denote Minami's embarrassment. Additionally, similar to Akane's eye change, this scene saw Ruby Hoshino's eye change.

As for Minami, Doga Kobo took special care in portraying her scene with Kamoshida. In the manga, Kamoshida was seen asking Minami for her LINE contact while keeping some distance. However, in the anime, the stage play actor could be seen moving close to Minami. This explained why the gravure model felt forced to add him on LINE.

Kamoshida and Minami as seen in Oshi no Ko season 2 episode 5 (Image via Doga Kobo)

Right after, the anime saw Melt Narushima informing Kamoshida that Director Kindaichi was looking for him. Subsequently, he goes to check up on the same. However, in the manga, it seemed like Kamoshida already knew about Melt's lie and had only played along to not make a scene in front of Minami.

This is because as Melt revealed earlier, the rehearsals were over long ago. Hence, it cannot be confirmed whether it was a change by Doga Kobo or a misunderstanding.

Following that, the anime almost explicitly focused on elevating Kana Arima and Akane Kurokawa's rivalry. The first sequence focusing on the same was the scene where Kana teased Akane for being her fan in the past. Fans were impressed by Kana Arima's voice actor Megumi Han's work as she beautifully portrayed Kana's childish yet cynical characteristics through her voice.

The same was also elevated with the artworks and backgrounds that helped portray Kana's witty and smug moment in the best way possible.

Kana Arima as seen in Oshi no Ko season 2 episode 5 (Image via Doga Kobo)

Right after, the anime revealed some cool shots of Akane and Kana as the anime did its best to portray their rivalry through their rehearsals and characters, Saya Hime and Tsurugi. This scene was especially glorified through a depiction of Tsurugi and Saya Hime preparing for battle.

Before the anime ended, the episode also made sure to remind fans about Aqua Hoshino and his weak handle on his emotions due to his PTSD. During this, the anime again surpassed the series' source material in depicting Aqua's inner conflict with Gorou Amamiya.

Final thoughts on Oshi no Ko season 2 episode 5

Aqua Hoshino as seen in Oshi no Ko season 2 episode 5 (Image via Doga Kobo)

Oshi no Ko season 2 episode 5 was quite possibly the best episode to air as part of the anime's second season. This is because Doga Kobo made next to no mistakes in the depiction of the source material content. Moreover, the animation studio elevated the scenes through their own creativity. With the Tokyo Blade stage play set to be depicted from the next, there could have been no better episode to set up the same.