?Oshi No Ko?: Emotional Acting
July 24, 2024 5:10 PM - Season 2, Episode 4 - Subscribe
Abiko and Goa reconcile after Abiko is impressed by what she saw the Smash Heaven stage play. They put together a new script with 15 days left until the grand opening, and our group of young actors grapple with the higher level of emotional and expressive acting that this new script will require. Kana gives Aqua some advice on how to channel memories to help put on a more emotional performance, which sends him to a very dark place.
Abiko has just finished watching her first 2.5D and like Aqua expected, is both pleased and also surprised by how sophisticated the production is. Raida's assistant sees Abiko in the audience, and Raida invites her to the theater's office for something that starts off as a casual chat but turns into an extended negotiation. Raida acknowledges that he is negotiating from a position of weakness, but contextualizes the situation for Abiko. They are running out of time, and it is very likely that whatever she submits for a script they will just have to run with it as the final draft as there is not enough time for further edits. Raida also points out the difficulty for even a talented creator to port their skills from one medium to another, asking Abiko if she thinks that a skilled novelist would be able to properly storyboard a manga on their first try. He also emphasizes that the script for Smash Heaven was written by Goa, and that Goa has had a very successful track record in terms of adapting manga to the 2.5D play format.
With these arguments, Abiko is convinced away from completely rewriting the Tokyo Blade script. Instead, Raida organizes a 4-way video conference between himself, Goa, Abiko, and a representative from the publisher. At the start of the call, Abiko states that her bottom line is she doesn't mind changes to the plot or dialogue but she wants the characters to be faithful to the original work. This crucial philosophical point was never conveyed to Goa during the initial writing sessions and with this new foundation the video conference group pulls an all-nighter to do a full rewriting of the Tokyo Blade script.
While many changes are made, the overall takeaway is that compared with the original script a lot of dialogue has been removed and now the play will rely much more heavily on expressive performances from the actors in the production. Most of the actors are pretty happy with this turn of events, as it lets them show off their skills, but this will be a challenge for the inexperienced Melt and the generally inexpressive and unemotional Aqua. Aqua and Akane rehearse their big climactic scene where Akane's character returns from the dead, and the director is unhappy with Aqua's flatter performance. As Aqua reflects on how to create a better performance, Kana comes along to explain the situation to Akane and also gives Aqua the advice to use his memories to channel his emotions. Aqua asks Kana how she is able to cry on command, and she then tells him the trick that is often for child characters which is asking yourself, "how would you feel if your mother died?"
This phrase triggers a strong panic attack in Aqua. It manifests as a bespectacled shadow monster, resembling his past life Gorou Amamiya, blaming him for Ai's death and telling him that he doesn't deserve to be happy. He manages to push it away once, but as he tries to follow Kana's advice and channel his emotions, his memories of Ai's murder trigger a strong PTSD reaction and he has to excuse himself from rehearsal for the rest of the day. Akane tries to arrange for Ruby to pick him up, but Aqua doesn't want his sister to see him like this and instead goes to his surrogate father / mentor Director Gotanda's house. Akane and Gotanda have a brief conversation while Aqua is resting in his room, and Gotanda tells her that Aqua suffers from PTSD after a traumatic incident during his childhood. While he has gone to therapy, he still occasionally has panic attacks.
Akane goes back to Aqua's room, and using her deductive superpowers from Season 1 she puts together the pieces and realizes correctly that Aqua and Ruby are Ai Hoshino's secret children. She uses the fact that Ai's real last name was never disclosed to the public, Aqua and Ruby have a different surname from their mother Miyako, Aqua and Ruby are both represented by Strawberry Production which was Ai's agency, and the fact that both Aqua and Ruby are inspired by Ai's legacy. The final piece she needed was the traumatic incident in Aqua's past, which is she also correctly deduces is Ai's well-publicized murder. She keeps this realization to herself, and comforts Aqua as he wakes up.
Our final shot into the opening chords of Burning is Director Gotanda, smoking as he works on something in front of his computer.
Abiko has just finished watching her first 2.5D and like Aqua expected, is both pleased and also surprised by how sophisticated the production is. Raida's assistant sees Abiko in the audience, and Raida invites her to the theater's office for something that starts off as a casual chat but turns into an extended negotiation. Raida acknowledges that he is negotiating from a position of weakness, but contextualizes the situation for Abiko. They are running out of time, and it is very likely that whatever she submits for a script they will just have to run with it as the final draft as there is not enough time for further edits. Raida also points out the difficulty for even a talented creator to port their skills from one medium to another, asking Abiko if she thinks that a skilled novelist would be able to properly storyboard a manga on their first try. He also emphasizes that the script for Smash Heaven was written by Goa, and that Goa has had a very successful track record in terms of adapting manga to the 2.5D play format.
With these arguments, Abiko is convinced away from completely rewriting the Tokyo Blade script. Instead, Raida organizes a 4-way video conference between himself, Goa, Abiko, and a representative from the publisher. At the start of the call, Abiko states that her bottom line is she doesn't mind changes to the plot or dialogue but she wants the characters to be faithful to the original work. This crucial philosophical point was never conveyed to Goa during the initial writing sessions and with this new foundation the video conference group pulls an all-nighter to do a full rewriting of the Tokyo Blade script.
While many changes are made, the overall takeaway is that compared with the original script a lot of dialogue has been removed and now the play will rely much more heavily on expressive performances from the actors in the production. Most of the actors are pretty happy with this turn of events, as it lets them show off their skills, but this will be a challenge for the inexperienced Melt and the generally inexpressive and unemotional Aqua. Aqua and Akane rehearse their big climactic scene where Akane's character returns from the dead, and the director is unhappy with Aqua's flatter performance. As Aqua reflects on how to create a better performance, Kana comes along to explain the situation to Akane and also gives Aqua the advice to use his memories to channel his emotions. Aqua asks Kana how she is able to cry on command, and she then tells him the trick that is often for child characters which is asking yourself, "how would you feel if your mother died?"
This phrase triggers a strong panic attack in Aqua. It manifests as a bespectacled shadow monster, resembling his past life Gorou Amamiya, blaming him for Ai's death and telling him that he doesn't deserve to be happy. He manages to push it away once, but as he tries to follow Kana's advice and channel his emotions, his memories of Ai's murder trigger a strong PTSD reaction and he has to excuse himself from rehearsal for the rest of the day. Akane tries to arrange for Ruby to pick him up, but Aqua doesn't want his sister to see him like this and instead goes to his surrogate father / mentor Director Gotanda's house. Akane and Gotanda have a brief conversation while Aqua is resting in his room, and Gotanda tells her that Aqua suffers from PTSD after a traumatic incident during his childhood. While he has gone to therapy, he still occasionally has panic attacks.
Akane goes back to Aqua's room, and using her deductive superpowers from Season 1 she puts together the pieces and realizes correctly that Aqua and Ruby are Ai Hoshino's secret children. She uses the fact that Ai's real last name was never disclosed to the public, Aqua and Ruby have a different surname from their mother Miyako, Aqua and Ruby are both represented by Strawberry Production which was Ai's agency, and the fact that both Aqua and Ruby are inspired by Ai's legacy. The final piece she needed was the traumatic incident in Aqua's past, which is she also correctly deduces is Ai's well-publicized murder. She keeps this realization to herself, and comforts Aqua as he wakes up.
Our final shot into the opening chords of Burning is Director Gotanda, smoking as he works on something in front of his computer.
Our final shot into the opening chords of Burning is Director Gotanda, smoking as he works on something in front of his computer.One of the folders on his desktop is Aqua, and the other one is Hoshino. (I'm assuming this refers to Ai.) Earlier he told Akane that Aqua is having trouble moving on from the past, and then, under his breath, he said, "I am, too."
Gotanda is not what he seems!!! So exciting!!!
Question: Were some words bleeped out in the conversation between Raida and Abiko for you, too? I'm watching it on Tokyo MX so I'm wondering whether the broadcaster edited it or if the bleeps are in the original.
posted by The genius who rejected Anno's budget proposal. at 10:54 PM on July 27
One of the folders on his desktop is Aqua, and the other one is Hoshino. (I'm assuming this refers to Ai.) Earlier he told Akane that Aqua is having trouble moving on from the past, and then, under his breath, he said, "I am, too."I missed the names of the folders during my first watch!
Question: Were some words bleeped out in the conversation between Raida and Abiko for you, too? I'm watching it on Tokyo MX so I'm wondering whether the broadcaster edited it or if the bleeps are in the original.Yes, I believe the words "suck" and "cock" were bleeped out in that conversation, so my guess is that the bleeps are in the original for comedic effect.
posted by C^3 at 3:55 AM on July 28
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I also appreciated that one of the questions that I've had since Season 1 was answered during Akane's deduction, and that was the fact that Ai's last name was not known to the public. It did always strike me as being odd that no one would piece together that these Hoshino twins had Ai's last name, and Japan's privacy culture is strong enough to where it is believable that nobody would know Ai's true last name. After all, this is a country where some of the most popular musical acts are effectively anonymous (nobody knows what Ado or Zuttomayo look like) and almost nothing is known about the mangaka behind a legitimate cultural phenomenon (Koyoharu Gotoge, the mangaka behind Demon Slayer).
posted by C^3 at 9:44 PM on July 24