It’s a great movie. I saw it in IMAX on opening night. If i’m not mistaken, this is an original plot that doesn’t have any manga source. Beautiful visuals, great opening theme, all of the key elements that you would expect from a Spy×Family arc. Anya and Bond have their Forrest Gump-like tendency to get into big trouble and do great things, Twilight shows off his cunning/perception and dexterity, Yor has some great action scenes where most of the budget went and she also gets very drunk. The only thing I could dock points for is toilet humor, not my thing but it’s a kids/family movie we’re talking about.

I’m glad that it’s getting licensed for international release. Stuff like the most recent Seishun Buta Yarou film will probably never see US theaters (though that’s a much more niche audience).

As soon as I saw Dia suit up for the bike I was waiting for the iconic bike slide. Did not disappoint. Another one for the montage :)

As a whole, this anime has been incredibly faithful to the manga. I can basically hold up my book next to the screen and it’s more or less panel-for-panel, sentence-for-sentence. I loved being along for the ride. I don’t watch a lot of weekly anime but since I have been reading Oshi no Ko weekly since the day the first chapter dropped, I thought I ought to give it a watch.

One of my favorite panels so far was included in this episode:

And in the manga:

On screen for a full 24 frames! Kana bros taking the W this time.

There is also the title drop by Arima Kana in this episode - “アンタの推しの子になってやる！” in response to seeing Aqua waving all three cyalume colors. “hako-oshi”, or “box pushing”; not picking a favorite, supporting the entire group.

I do think that Oshi no Ko feeds a lot on weekly hype. This was definitely true for the manga, Aka constantly leaving on a cliffhanger, often times with not a lot of actual plot progressing, but further insight into the thoughts of the characters, backstory, or just straight up lecture on some aspect of modern artist work culture. For sure there are going to be many people who rightfully believe that Oshi no Ko does not live up to the hype, but for me, it just gets better and better the more I re-read and re-watch it. There is some quality that makes me want to go back through and scrutinize every detail again and again.

I definitely enjoyed the anime because I enjoyed the source material. But on top of that, the animation is strong in its own right, bringing a lot of spectacle and impact to the key scenes. In this episode, I really enjoyed the dance choreography as well as Aqua’s wotage.

E: Spoiler tag didn’t work on mobile so I deleted it all.