REVIEW: ‘Oshi no Ko,’ Episode 10 – “Pressure”

With their first performance closing in, Ruby, Kana, and Mem-Cho must determine which of them will be the center of their idol group. While Ruby and Mem-Cho are convinced that Kana would be the best, she resists the idea. However, as the evidence piles up more and more that she is the right choice, Kana must come to grips with what continues to hold her back in Oshi no Ko Episode 10.

To aid the girls in pursuing idol greatness, Miyako has once again enlisted the aid of the agency’s star streamer Pieyon. The masked performer quickly sets the girls on a fierce regimen to build up their endurance to handle the pressure of being on the big stage. But while the girls rise to the physical challenges smoothly, Kana begins to worry that she will bring the others down.

It is extremely easy for us to get trapped in what we perceive to be the never-ending cycles of our lives. When things like failure and setbacks seem to become the norm, we assume they are all we will ever know. The result of any new endeavor becomes a foregone conclusion, even though we may know it isn’t intrinsically so. Oshi no Ko Episode 10 sees Kana struggle with this issue as she perceives her presence in B Komachi as a sign of doom for the group. As she wrestles with her preconceived notions, the episode dives into her mindset, why she has these concerns, and how the presence of Ruby and Mem-Cho makes her situation worse.

It is how Oshi no Ko Episode 10 presents her thoughts toward her collaborators that hits the hardest. While the power of friendship and the support of those around us are often treated as the universal power battery that will get us through all of life’s problems in anime, for Kana, it presents an added burden that makes her doubts far greater to confront. After all, she is already used to her failures, and dealing with another one is of little concern to her. But when she considers that another failure for her will also be a failure for Ruby and Mem-Cho, the fear of what will happen grows to a level that she cannot easily manage.

The visuals throughout Oshi no Ko Episode 10 do a great job of enhancing Kana’s struggles. The colors do a fantastic job of reinforcing the episode’s emotional delivery. The animation and camera work also does a skillful job of creating a sense of intimacy in its most private moments. The visuals do a great job of making the viewer feel like they are privy to a deeply personal moment as if Kana is divulging her secret to them alone.

Oshi no Ko Episode 10, as a whole, is an emotional story that explores Kana’s struggles with her self-image and the cycles of her life in a way that makes its narrative deeply personal and impactful.

Oshi no Ko Episode 10 is streaming now on HIDIVE.