The following contains spoilers for Episode 6 of Oshi no Ko, "Egosurfing," now streaming on HiDive.
Episode 6 continues Aqua's stint on the reality dating show My Love With a Star Begins Now, also known as LoveNow. The cast members have all settled into their roles, with the exception of Akane Kurokawa, who is just trying to make some kind of impact before the show ends.
This week's episode takes the spotlight away from Aqua and Ruby and focuses on Akane Kurokawa and the impact of negative internet attention in the entertainment industry. It's a heavy and sensitive topic, and the episode goes into quite a few dark places to get its point across. It is easily one of the darkest and most emotional episodes so far in Oshi no Ko, and possibly the entire season.
Filming Continues
My Love With a Star Begins Now proves to be a hit, thanks to Yuki Sumi and her charm and guile. Despite being a model, she is skilled at playing up her emotions and feelings to create a character that the audience can connect with. As the show continues, the story begins to revolve around Yuki and her burgeoning relationship with another cast member, Nobuyuki Kumano. Add to this the possibility of a love triangle with Kengo Morimoto and LoveNow has become a massive hit with younger audiences.
Aqua and Mem-cho are perfectly fine with not being in the spotlight, due to having their own goals that don't require them to play a big role in the show. However, the story is different for Akane Kurokawa. Despite her best efforts to present herself well in the show, she's hardly getting any screentime, and her agency's president is furious over it. Although she is assured by her manager that she is doing just fine, Akane can't help but feel like she needs to work harder to stand out in LoveNow.
Desperation
When Ruby tries to tweet about a bad drink she had, Kana stops her. The encounter leads into a short talk about egosurfing, in which celebrities, entertainers, and even companies with big brand names look themselves up to see what people are saying about them. Unbeknownst to them, Akane is doing the exact same thing, and the apathetic comments about her appearance on the show further push her to make some kind of splash. After talking with the crew, Akane decides to try and get in between Nobu and Yuki, giving her a sort of villain role. Yuki realizes very quickly what Akane is trying to do, and during a conversation where Yuki does Akane's nails, tells her that she has no plan to give up the spotlight.
This only spurs Akane on further. When Yuki tries to pull Kengo away from a conversation he was having with Akane, Akane tries to start a fight with Yuki, but accidentally ends up scratching her face. The cameras cut as the crew fuss over Yuki, but Yuki quickly reassures Akane that she isn't mad at her and that she understands that she's just under a lot of pressure. The two quickly make up, and for a moment, it seems as if the matter is over and done with.
Backlash
Unfortunately for Akane, LoveNow includes the scene of her scratching Yuki's face, without any of the making up that happened afterward. This turns Akane into a villain overnight, and the internet swarms with nasty comments from viewers all over the country. Akane tries to apologize and weather the comments, but her apology only makes things worse. The cruel comments even extend to the school Akane goes to, giving her no respite from the audience's backlash.
While the comments initially focus on Akane's act in the show, the insults turn into outright slander as people begin to attack her family and agency, as well as tell all sorts of lies about her personality, history, and career. While most would argue that Akane should simply ignore the hate, Akane's earnest and sincere personality prevents her from doing so, and she keeps reading the comments as they come, sinking deeper and deeper into a spiral of depression. At her lowest point, Akane heads out to get food in the middle of a typhoon and collapses. Realizing that she has become tired of dealing with the nasty comments, she stands on the railing of a bridge overlooking a busy street and resolves to jump off. Thankfully, she is saved by Aqua, who arrives just in time to keep her from jumping off.
While Akane's story is fictional, it highlights a real issue in cyberbullying and how it can affect people in the entertainment industry. Despite having caused an ultimately minor incident on the show, Akane was dogpiled by everyone until she was driven to attempt suicide. While Oshi no Ko has, for the most part, been a light-hearted peek into the behind-the-scenes of the entertainment industry, this episode is a reminder that the series is not afraid to delve into its darker sides as well.