[Spoilers] Oshi no Ko Chapter 123 Discussion

Not sure if anyone noticed, but crow girl is clearly not visible. When Ruby came out of the bathroom she couldn't see her and Aqua talking

ALSO PLEASE FOR THE LOVE OF FUCKING GOD DO NOT MAKE THIS END LIKE STUPID FUCKING Oreimo I SWEAR TO GOD THIS SHIT WILL GO FROM A REALLY HIGH SCORE TO UTTER FUCKING DOGSHIT IF IT GOES DOWN THAT BULLSHIT ROUTE

Aka is 100% baiting us, he would be really stupid to let Aqua x Ruby happen. I trust him on that front. Aqua will respectfully reject her

hey wait, what I said last week was a joke (122 discussion).

What is Aka cooking here???!! Though knowing Aqua, I doubt this is gonna go anywhere + Ruby could be messin around (I think.....). Good chapter tho

Please do not progress in that way.

That's a bad move.

Just make Aqua be the sensible one and DO NOT do this.
Also is this me or Ruby's whole character design changes in the last panel. Probably just me

This is terrible to include even if it is just bait. Ruby having these feelings when she was stuck in the hospital is fine, but everything else surrounding this whole subplot and how the series handles romance and attraction in general has been horribly written, given off creepy vibes (like that time when Ruby asked Akane about age gaps completely unprompted, which just highlights that due to his original age Aqua with anyone would be gross, and I can't forget how he's always called a siscon despite barely paying attention to Ruby or how he got called a predator by the nurse within the first half of chapter fucking 1), or both. So what the hell does any of this add? At most it's just a way to show that Aqua is manipulative, but romance and the baggage that comes with it in this instance is not necessary at all for that to work.

Someone stop him before it's too late

never seen character assassination quite like this. like of course aqua isn't going to entertain this (at least i hope idk what the writer is thinking) but what could possess you into making your female lead ever say this??? the way they're framing it from ruby's perspective is just so gross. praying she get's the therapy she so badly needs

Tbh for me it's quite obvious that Ruby is messing around and Akasaka is trying to troll us (hopefully).

Akasaka and Mengo planning break till 20th of July after releasing this chapter:

AKA DO NOT FUCKING YOSUGA NO SORA THIS SHIT. DO NOT.

Besides the elephant in the room, one thing that caught my attention was how the crow girl mentions that Aqua is not cut out for revenge. It's interesting to see someone who spent his previous life upholding a duty to save lives now being motivated by the goal of ending one. It makes me think that, even with all his talk of revenge and how edgy Aqua can be, he might not have it in him to kill his father, especially as he finds more things to live for. It also lines up well with the idea that was hinted during the auditions, that ultimately the decision will depend on if Ai (played by Ruby) can forgive her killer. This way Aqua would be pushing the decision into someone else, as he can't bring himself to do it.

In regards to how the series handles romance. It reminds me a lot more of Mengo's Kuzu no Honkai than Aka's Kaguya-sama. Almost every romantic relationship in the series is unhealthy and shouldn't be encouraged, even exploring similar ideas of how characters selfishly use each other to to fill their emotional holes, but KnH is a lot more focused on this specific theme. OnK uses these unhealthy relationships to show how characters need to overcome their internal issues before they can properly engane in romantic relationships, leading to the only correct ship being: everyone (except Mem) x therapy lol. Another point in favour of this interpretation is the fact that the healthiest relationship we saw was Aqua and Akane's when he thought his father was dead. For a time Aqua was able to set aside his issues and live a normal life, but even that relationship was shallow, owing, in part, to how he hadn't truly overcome his issues.

Now for Ruby's current behaviour. I think the point is to reinforce narrative symmetry between her and Aqua, as both struggle to overcome their past trauma and move on with their new lives. This is also why the past few chapters have focused so much on Sarina, to show that she, much like Aqua, is still divided between her current and past lives. Now, I think it would've been more interesting if Ruby had a romantic interest of her own, as this revelation would force her to question what she truly wanted and make the dichotomy between Ruby and Sarina more clear. It would also help alleviate the feeling that everybody loves Aqua, because it's getting annoying.

Okey it's really surprising what about arima and akane they both fight for aqua. But now ruby lmao really unique story and very big twist

For everything that is holy Akasaka, DO NOT GO THERE. PLEASE.

thank kami... finally mengo-sama is saving this dust... if only she would have before we had to suffer through 70 chapters of pure distilled dogshit...

EWWWWWWWA

I don't think its happening guys..
i hope..
Cuz even the Crow girl thinks its a bad move and Aqua knows that as well..

Last panel got me like

Next chapter begins with Ruby saying "just kidding", the manga continues normally and ends up getting a well written ending that doesn't resemble either Bunny Drop or Oreimo.

I hope the author doesn't try to ship Aqua and Ruby together, otherwise I'm gonna drop this series

Even with the obvious discomforting moral aspects of what’s being teased here, I doubt Aqua will actually accept that. Heck, even Crow Girl is clearly indicating that this is a bad move, plus Aqua was having this downtrodden look like he seems to sense or realize she’s right there. As much as it’s great to see Ruby’s character blossom here, Aqua’s behavior with the last couple of chapters is still bothering me. There’s a red flag for him right now. I fear he might try to take all the sins and burdens onto himself and sacrifice for the sake of Ruby and everyone else he’s cared about.

Man I really hope the end goes the Ruby x Aqua way. Best story possible by far, unfortunately I don't this will be happening, really really sad.

No, please. I beg of you.

NAAAAAHHHH WHAT IS THAT LAST PANEL DAWG ?! am praying it won't turn out like a few certain series, surely Aka knows what he's doing right? There's no way right?

SEETHE GRAAAAHHH

it's all twitter's fault. shut that shit down

I hope this is just a bait like chapter 97 where Akasaka made look like Akane was going to be killed.

The idea is to kill the Crow girl by contradicting her reincarnation laws.
Being said that, Aka Akasaka definitely has been putting up the multitudes of alternative to offer for the reader, hoping that one of them would be swallowed by the red herring. But I haven't read the latest chapter yet so you could still take this assessment nothing as anything but a grain of salt.

Sweeeeeeet hooooome ALABAMA!

Aqua when he realizes the girl he jokingly made a promise to marry in his past life knowing full well she would die before she became of age was the one who was reincarnated as his sister and he has to keep the promise