REVIEW: ‘Oshi No Ko’ Season 3 Episode 11 — “The Beginning”

Oshi No Ko Season 3 Episode 11, “The Beginning,” sees major revelations for Ruby (Yurie Igoma, Shikimori’s Not Just A Cutie) and Aqua (Takeo Otsouka, To Be Hero X). Also, changes come at Strawberry Productions as everyone prepares to shoot “The 15 Year Lie.”

A double-length finale episode creates certain expectations. Generally, such shifts in format occur only when a narrative is too long for a single episode, and there is no clear breakpoint to split it into two. Knowing this, seeing the runtime of Oshi No Ko Season 3 Episode 11 is likely to create an expectation for just such a scenario. However, that is not the case here. Rather, it presents two wholly separate tales that are combined for no clear reason.

Beyond this odd structural choice, Oshi No Ko Season 3 Episode 11 delivers a lot of great moments, with the first half of its time focused on Ruby. As the young actor continues to grapple with her role in the upcoming movie, we get a deep dive into why she struggles with it. And it all ties back to her past life.

Ruby is forced to confront her past in Oshi No Ko Season 3 Episode 11.

Seeing how the lines she is practicing clash with what she clung to as she was slowly dying in that hospital bed is a painful sequence. Seeing her forced to confront a truth she had rejected for decades, yet always secretly knew to be true, is heartbreakingly powerful. Learning all the details about Ruby’s past life and how she slowly became isolated from her family hits hard. Especially when the series reintroduces Ruby’s former mom and the life she has gone on to lead since. 

Despite how terrible what happened was, I love how Oshi No Ko Season 3 Episode 11 approaches Ruby’s former mom. Despite never trying to apologize for her shortcomings as a mother, it never tries to villify her either. It presents the events and the influences that drove them for the viewer to understand. How badly the mother failed, and how much anger or disgust she deserves, is left up to the viewer. 

The visuals are fantastically sequenced here. As they shift between memories and the present, the series always keeps its pulse on exactly what will hit the hardest in each moment. Ruby’s fraying mental state is driven home through the visuals, as we see the two lives of Ruby merge and interact, driving home Ruby’s struggle to define who she truly is. 

Aqua’s connection to Ruby spans not just this life, but also the past.

All of this emotional exploration culminates in a moment that pays off the buildup, even as it sets up a disastrous possibility. As Ruby enters the final stages of her emotional spiral, Aqua shows up to try to calm her down. When Ruby initially rejects his help, Aqua shares with her a truth he has just realized after overhearing her struggles: she was his patient in their past lives. 

The knowledge that the one person Ruby knew loved her in her former life is still with her, opening a floodgate of relief and tears for the panicked girl. She cries and throws herself into his arms, relieved that he wasn’t lost to her as she had believed. The overwhelming relief that floods this moment feels deeply cleansing after the nightmarish sequence that precedes it. 

However, once Ruby’s eyes dry, she remembers a promise made to her by her doctor: that he would marry her when she turned 16. Which she now is. This introduces an uncomfortable possibility that is sure to put off many viewers. The fact that the series teases Ruby and Aqua potentially being a couple is not something many are likely to get behind. 

The future romance between Ruby and Aqua is teased, but opens up uncomfortable dynamics.

While there is no clear statement in Oshi No Ko Season 3 Episode 11 about where this is going, the next time we see the two together, Ruby is draped all over Aqua, and he seems uninterested in dissuading this behavior. Whether it is just momentary clinginess at getting her sensei back, or an indicator that Aqua has acknowledged her desire for a relationship, isn’t stated here, but it makes the less desirable option feel far too likely. 

The back half of Oshi No Ko Season 3 Episode 11 focuses squarely on Miyako (Lynn, Mobile Suit Gundam: The Witch From Mercury), her past, and her struggles as the boss of Strawberry Productions. We learn about her early years and how she, like her current charges, sought to climb the ladder of stardom. 

The story that Oshi No Ko Season 3 Episode 11 tells through Miyako is a familiar one. It explores how fixated on the youth-obsessed beauty standards entertainment upholds, and how demeaned Miyako found herself once she had passed out of her “prime,” despite still being fairly young. We follow her to her meeting with Ichigo, when he recruits her for Strawberry Productions. 

Miyako’s storyline addressed beauty standards of the entertainment industry and its lingering impact.

All of these revelations are skillfully tied into the present, when Miyako finds herself running into Ichigo (Hisao Egawa, Haikyu The Dumpster Battle) at a bar. The parallel stories between the two elevate Miyako’s feelings, as the viewer is made to understand why Ichigo’s abandonment of the company, and her, hurt so much. 

The last stretch of Oshi No Ko Season 3 Episode 11 sees things changing at Strawberry Productions as Ichigo returns as both its leader and shamed errand boy. As the final elements are in place for filming to begin, the stage is set for what comes next. 

Oshi No Ko Season 3 Episode 11 mostly succeeds at being two separate episodes, but doesn’t come together to warrant a double-sized finale. The concerning hints about where Aqua and Ruby’s relationship may be headed hold back this powerful pair of episodes from being the showstopping stories they could’ve been. 

Oshi No Ko Season 3 Episode 11 is streaming now on Crunchyroll.

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