Oshi no Ko Season 2 Episode 8 review: Doga Kobo's depiction of Kana and Aqua's acting leaves fans marveling at their brilliance

By Gokul Chettiyar

Modified Aug 22, 2024 14:38 GMT

Oshi no Ko season 2 episode 8 review: Doga Kobo — Kana Arima and Aqua Hoshino as seen in Oshi no Ko Season 2 Episode 8 (Image via Doga Kobo)

With the release of Oshi no Ko Season 2 Episode 8, the anime delved deep into the different types of acting. While Kana Arima was reluctant to act the way she wanted, Aqua pushed her to dazzle like the sun. As for Aqua, he realized that he could no longer enjoy acting. Hence, he was pushed to act through the pain.

With each episode of Oshi no Ko Season 2, the anime has been focusing on different topics surrounding the entertainment industry. With the anime's latest episode, the series focused on parental pressure on child actors and the pain actors go through when they can't enjoy their work.

Oshi no Ko Season 2 Episode 8 review: Doga Kobo pours love into Kana and Aqua's scenes

Kana Arima as seen in Oshi no Ko Season 2 Episode 8 (Image via Doga Kobo)

Kana Arima was once touted as a genius child actor. But as she grew up, she lost her roles and was forced to become an actor who could cooperate with others. While it was an important ability, not everyone expected that of her. This is because the stage play cast wanted to compete with Kana when she was acting her best.

Keeping this in mind, Doga Kobo knew they needed to buckle up when finally animating Kana Arima acting to the best of her abilities. Needless to say, the animation studio didn't disappoint as they succeeded at depicting Kana's acting to be as dazzling as the sun. Doga Kobo especially succeeded at this through its beautiful artwork and background music.

As for the depiction of Kana's past, especially surrounding her mother, the anime particularly did not make big changes but only slight changes to the storyboarding. Nevertheless, the scenes were directed well, helping fans understand what drove Kana to solely focus on the bigger picture.

Aqua Hoshino as seen in Oshi no Ko Season 2 Episode 8 (Image via Shueisha)

As for Aqua Hoshino, Doga Kobo took the same route but chose contrasting elements to showcase his acting filled with pain. Any time Aqua enjoyed acting, he would feel guilty, causing him to suffer from panic attacks. Therefore, Gotanda was certain that Aqua would never be able to enjoy acting as long as he did not deal with his trauma.

Hence, Aqua continued acting by using his guilt and pain to elevate his emotions. However, such a depiction wouldn't have been possible unless Doga Kobo hadn't animated the scene well and elevated it with insane voice acting and background music.

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Besides these two scenes, the animation studio also excelled with an anime-original scene. In the scene where Aqua moved Kana to act her best, the anime gave "AquKana" fans a delightful surprise. The staff inserted an original scene that saw Aqua and Kana staring at each other for 18 seconds reminiscing their moments together while romantic music played in the background.

This scene was never in the manga and was seemingly put to please "AquKana" fans. Needless to say, the scene was truly wonderful unless one was an Akane Kurokawa fan. That said, who could blame Doga Kobo when Akane herself was a Kana fan?

Final thoughts on Oshi no Ko Season 2 Episode 8

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Oshi no Ko Season 2 Episode 8 was a truly enjoyable episode, especially for Kana Arima fans. Fans of the anime knew that the latest episode would focus on Kana, however, it exceeded their expectations as many labeled it a brilliant episode. Doga Kobo has been doing an amazing job with the anime as it is truly surprising how they have been able to pour so much love into each of its episodes till now.