throughout my life i had never been a

much of an idol fan

this subsection of the entertainment

industry seemed and still does seem

alien to me

and although i see why some may enjoy

the content

i myself just cannot derive any

enjoyment out of the medium

now that is not to say that idol groups

or idol fans are inherently bad

far from it but this is my opinion i

don't enjoy this particular medium

and

this has largely carried over to my

anime and manga tastes

i do not enjoy most idol animes

i do not enjoy most idol mangas

of course there are always exceptions

but speaking in the most general of

senses this has remained true

so

why is it that

oshinoko

an idol manga

is one of my favorite mangas of all time

it's a contradiction isn't it

i don't particularly enjoy these idol

properties so

why should i enjoy this one

it is strange and i couldn't really

explain it

and then the answer came to me one day

oshinoko isn't a manga about idols

well

it's a manga

about being human

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he said he had no confidence

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[Applause]

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increasingly difficult to be alive

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oshinoko has perhaps one of the wildest

premises i've ever seen in any manga

period

here is the actual synopsis from my

anime list

16 year old i hoshino

is a talented and beautiful idol who is

adored by her fans

she is the personification of a pure

young maiden but all that glitters is

not gold

goto honda and i probably butchered that

is a countryside gynecologist and a big

fan of eye

so when the pregnant idol shows up at

his hospital he is beyond bewildered

goro promises her a safe delivery

but little does he know an encounter

with a mysterious figure would result in

his untimely death

or

so he thought

opening his eyes in the lab of his

beloved idol gower finds that he has

been reborn as aquamarine hoshino i's

newborn son with his world turned upside

down

gore soon learns that the world of

showbiz is paved with thorns where talon

does not always beget success

will he manage to protect i smile that

he loves so much for the help of an

eccentric unexpected ally

so yeah

bit wild

but underlying this wild and outlandish

concept of a story

is a narrative that is rooted in the

human condition and this is explored

through the two main characters of the

manga aqua

and ruby and today

at least for this video

we will focus on the story of aqua

because his story

is the one that resonated with me the

most

and on a serious note here's a quick

warning

this video will discuss themes of

suicide and cyber harassment

if these things are at all triggering to

you then please click off the video

as another notes this video contains

heavy spoilers for oshinoko

spoilers ahead

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bye

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what

does society

value in a celebrity

what is the barrier between critique and

hate

when the world has its hatred placed

solely on you

would it be easier to just

let

go

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hana kimura

was a japanese professional wrestler

muscular and stature and fierce in the

ring you could say that she was far from

the japanese ideal of a traditional

woman

despite all that was against her she

earned her fame in the world wonder ring

stardom and was a prominent japanese

celebrity

that was until

her tragic death by suicide

kimura was one of the six stars on a

netflix reality tv show called terence

house a show in which six strangers all

lived together under one roof

after an aired altercation with a male

cast member kimura received barrages of

hate messages

and death threats

which eventually led to her own suicide

at the young age of 22.

this tragedy

unfortunately

hasn't been a one-time occurrence in

japanese media suicide of media

personalities of this nature have been

repeated again and again over the many

decades

so

why why do i bring up this tragic event

how does this relate to the manga

oshinoko an idol about mangas and actors

well it's this volatile side of the

entertainment industry

one that praise and takes the lives of

their vulnerable workers that oshinoko

explores in great detail specifically

in the dating reality show arc

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the ark explores aqua and his

experiences on a reality dating show

called my love with a star

among others we are introduced to one of

the most important characters in the

manga akane kurokawa and the kane's

story in this reality dating show arc

matches scarily to the real tragic

events

of hana kimura

wherein an altercation with a fellow

cast member leads her to be bullied

harassed

and leads her to almost commit suicide

the parallels between hanakimura and

akane kurokawa are plentiful both star

in a reality tv show both have an

altercation with a cast member both

received mountains of hate and both

attempt suicide

the only difference is that while

akane's attempt at suicide was prevented

hannah's was tragically successful

so

what is oshinoko

exploring about the entertainment

industry

what message is it trying to get across

well i believe that this manga explores

one particular aspect of this side of

the entertainment industry

the manga explores how this specific

type of media

creates incredible vulnerabilities in

the attack celebrities

and how this can lead to such tragedy

as hana kimura

in chapter 26 two characters ruby and

kana discussed the vulnerabilities of

celebrities and certain types of media

quotes

your life is laid bare for all to see in

these reality shows

the criticism is not directed towards

the show

but to yourself

and that can be a tough pill to swallow

and this gets to the core of many of the

cyber harassment situations that have

plagued the recent times

much of this harassment in these

situations is not an attack against any

of your works or products they are an

attack against you they are in attack

against your character they are an

attack

where you as an individual

are the targets and this attack against

the individual is amplified in media

where one's true self and personality

are shown as the main entertainments

through the manga this is shown through

the advent of the reality tv show

this type of entertainment relies on an

air of authenticity where the actors not

portray characters but rather portray

themselves as they are

this as seen in the manga and in the

case of hana kimura can lead to personal

attacks

leading to an incredible loss of

self-esteem in an actor or

worse

much

much worse

and through all this i cannot help but

relate this to the industry of streaming

streaming is unique in that keeping up a

character when streaming is near

impossible
as the streams require an incredible

amount of time to be invested

and nobody can put on a character for

that long not that there are exceptions

but mainly this has remained true

most streamers use their actual

personality when streaming

and this leads to attacks and hate on

any one streamer to be

most of the time

aimed towards their personality and

personal lives

which has had

devastating consequences

and the most immediate example that

comes to mind is a streamer

named etika

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etika was a streamer and youtuber and

one of my heroes growing up

and he was claimed by this harassment

taking his own life

the topics that oshinoko discusses are

real

and have far

reaching consequences

so what does oshinoko say about all this

obviously it displays this harassment in

a squarely negative light

but the manga says a lot more than just

cyber bullying is bad

notice how in the manga there is no one

singular person or individual that

carries out these hate comments it's not

a physical character that is given shape

and then condemned by the manga

if this were the case the message would

have simply been that this type of

harassment was a one-off occurrence

by this specific individual

no

rather the manga goes to great length to

solidify the fact that it is a huge

collective that is mobilizing to harass

akane

is an amorphous blob of internet users

all under the mob mentality to attack

akane

due to their feelings of

self-righteousness what oshinoko

condemns in the manga is not a

particular individual but rather the

culture that we ourselves are surrounded

in a culture of hate mobs and bullying

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this right here is the heart of

oshinoko's message it is a critique on

the culture that we surround ourselves

in

it is a condemnation

of bullying and harassment

it's a righteous message and it is well

needed

because we all know right now that

something

needs

to change

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hey guys it's zack thank you so much for

watching and making it to the end of the

video

i very much appreciate it

i gotta say uh

thank you so much for the support on the

last deltarum video

seriously that was insane it's my

highest well best

i don't even know the word

best performing video currently

it's absolutely insane and the video

taught me a lot

it is probably one of my better videos

and i got a lot of

good messages from all of you

i also got some criticisms and critique

and i gotta say i very much appreciate

the criticism as long as you keep the

criticism civil i probably will take it

into account

for example last time people said that i

was too emotionless

and that my mic was too close to my face

so i tried something new

mike's farther away from my face now

and i tried more motion in my voice

hopefully that bodes well but if it

doesn't work out just please tell me

um honestly i'm just so happy to make

these it's really a passion for me i

know i say that a lot but

anyways

uh that'll be good thank you guys so

much um

i guess yeah

have an awesome day

i'll see you guys when i see you

all right take care

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you