REVIEW: ‘Oshi No Ko’ Season 3 Soars With Its Strong Emotional Beats

Oshi No Ko Season 3 continues to explore the entertainment industry’s many pitfalls as it explores the world behind the glamour. Doga Koba also delivers powerful character moments for Aqua (Takeo Otsuka, Mobile Suit Gundam: The Witch from Mercury), Ruby (Yurie Igoma, Chained Soldier), and their friends as they navigate an ever-shifting world. 

Can a season be less than the sum of its episodes? Can a string of largely overall strong episodes be weakened when you look at them as a whole? Or must they be as strong together as they are individually? This concept has been pushed to the forefront of my brain due to exactly what Oshi No Ko Season 3 manages to accomplish, and what it does not. 

Emotion and struggle have always been this series best feature. How it dives into individuals’ pain and what it takes to carry that weight is at the center of many of the series best moments. And that remains true here as well. Numerous hurdles are laid out before the cast throughout the season’s eleven episodes. While the series continues to use its cast fantastically to explore the hazards and pitfalls of public life, there has been a strong shift toward focusing on several key characters’ more personal stories. 

Oshi No Ko Season 3 shifts its focus to select characters, with Akane coming out on top.

Perhaps one of the biggest recipients of this personal attention is Akane (Manaka Iwami, Code Vein II). The majority of her time in Oshi No Ko Season 3 centers on her relationship with Aqua, as she tries to protect him from falling back into his vengeful habits. Seeing what Aqua has become since letting go of his need to avenge Ai, Akane takes it upon herself to try to preserve this happiness, even if it means doing some bad things. 

Aqua and Akane’s relationship’s evolution in Oshi No Ko Season 3 is equal parts disturbing and fascinating. As both make horrible choices, the show does a great job of highlighting why they do what they do, while leaving judgment to the viewer on how bad the pair actually is. The levels of manipulation, sometimes bordering on outright betrayal, feel like they should leave the audience with nothing but disappointment in both of them. And yet…

There is a strangely romantic element to the duo that is hard to ignore but hard to justify. Perhaps it’s how balanced their toxicity is that makes it more palatable than if one were simply being bad to the other. They definitely love each other, but their love is one of the most unhealthy examples of the emotion I’ve ever seen. 

Ruby’s path to finding success in the business is full of emotional ups and downs throughout the season.

Just as last season favored Aqua over his sister, Oshi No Ko Season 3 sees Ruby get the biggest beats as she strives to make her own path in entertainment, leading her to confront some painful elements of both her current life as well as the one she left behind. Of all the emotional rollercoasters that play out over the season, hers is the one that lasts the longest, with the most drastic peaks and valleys.

Another thing that makes her particular struggles stand out is how Oshi No Ko Season 3 uses her special status as a reborn individual to the plot’s benefit, rather than as an unending problem. How it explores Ruby’s struggles with identity, as well as what it means to be honest when a fundamental aspect of you is a lie, creates some of the best uses for the reincarnation plot point I’ve seen, not just here, but in any anime. 

Despite finding great ways to use the rebirth element of the series, it’s not all sunshine where that side of the story matters. A long-worried-about shift in the twins’ relationship dynamic takes place here. Due to a reveal about their shared past in the season finale, hints at an unwelcome prospect loom large. This could alienate some fans if it goes where it seems to be. 

Taking on bringing Ai’s story to life opens up the pathway for retrospection, but also revenge.

While all the personal challenges and emotional stakes continue to hit with plenty of weight in Oshi No Ko Season 3, there is a severe lack of connective tissue to pull it all together. With the revenge arc in a state of flux for much of the season as both Aqua and Ruby come to terms with what that means for them, there is no core ongoing element in the series that pushes the story forward until the last couple of episodes. 

Further weakening the season’s larger narrative compared to its predecessor is the lack of a production to build around. Last season was largely held together by the stage play production. This season has no such equivocation to unify its narratives, again, until the last few episodes. And by then, it serves more to prepare for season four than to strengthen Oshi No Ko Season 3. 

Despite the strong, emotional story beats, Oshi No Ko Season 3 lacks cohesion across the varying plots.

This lack of a coherent connection leaves Oshi No Ko Season 3 feeling less like a season of television and more like a bunch of one-shot stories featuring a shared cast. This wouldn’t be bad if the show were an anthology series, but as a story intended to have a narrative focus, this lack of progression towards an end makes it feel like it can’t maintain its focus anywhere, as it fails to advance its main story. 

Whether spinning its wheels or hitting in the feels, Oshi No Ko Season 3 continues to deliver all its moments through the emotionally powerful art style Doga Koba has solidified for the series. The stress, strain, and occasional relief experienced by the characters always hit incredibly well. Whether tears of anguish or cries of defiance, every emotion is given its just due. 

Oshi No Ko Season 3 delivers a ton of emotionally powerful storytelling, but not without its faults. Questionable choices surrounding the twins and a plot that generally feels non-existent keep it from fully coming together as a season, even if it often delivers incredibly powerful episodes.

Oshi No Ko Season 3 is streaming now on Crunchyroll.

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