I'll give my two cents on the matter as someone who has read the manga. Don't worry, I won't get into manga specifics/spoilers regarding what happens in the story.
I started off as an anime-only. I binged season 1 when hearing all the hype of the upcoming season 2 announcement. Season 1 was so captivating that it made me read the manga ahead of season 2's airing. At the time, the manga was still at a point where the manga-reading community still saw the series in a good light. Watching season 2 from a manga reader's perspective was honestly great. I loved seeing the pages come to life and seeing how much the anime was able to add to just a few panels. Amazing honestly.
Of course, my opinion of this series took a 180. Oshi No Ko honestly had the potential to be a 10/10. The ending was so badly executed, so much so that I've literally felt insulted for being a fan and felt like I've wasted my time. It's become a series I would honestly not recommend anyone to pick up or read. I would only recommend people who have seen the anime to read it if they truly want to know why the ending was so badly received. Many people hate it due to the events that occurred, but also how it was executed. Again, I won't mention any spoilers regarding the plot and story, but to give you an idea of what I mean by execution, I mean the way the author decided to tell the story. The word RUSHED is a huge understatement. I'll give you an example of how the final 2-3 chapters went. Imagine that you're watching an anime, and after the final climax, you get a PowerPoint presentation with a voice-over to end things off, and that's not even getting into story specifics. That in it of itself is a whole can of worms and perhaps 60% of why I dislike this ending so much. I honestly do think it's the worst ending to any series. No progress, no development, no anything. Just a huge waste of time.
To give context, the author stopped caring about his manga. It's speculated that after another manga that he was writing got canceled that he took out his frustration on Oshi No Ko. The story took a huge dip in quality around the time his other manga got canceled. Not just that, he even started getting ideas for a new manga before he even finished Oshi No Ko. So it's clear he stopped caring about Oshi No Ko and basically rushed to finish the series and move on to his next project. It's honestly sad...
It's not all doom and gloom. In my opinion, season 3 (assuming it's 12-13 episodes) will likely adapt actual cinema. The arc in which the story decides to take a nose-dive is still a ways away. if anything, it might not even be adapted in season 4 either. There's still a good amount of amazing storytelling left. However, in season 4, there will be some signs of the story getting wonky. There are 5 arcs left of which the last two are where the story imo, is shit. The last arc specifically makes no sense. The author could of honestly skipped from when Aqua was a baby to the final climax and no one would have missed a thing storywise. Anything in between literally felt like filler. That's how bad the ending makes you feel, honestly. I recommend you read it for yourself. Start from chapter 81. You'll have from that point to around chapter 148 before the story goes to shit. There are 166 chapters in total.
TLDR: As a manga reader, I felt like the author hates me and that I've wasted my time. The author allegedly stopped caring about the story and rushed to finish it. It's the worst ending I've ever seen in any piece of fiction, in my opinion. If you're hype for season 3, you have nothing to worry about. It'll be as great, if not better, than what you've expected storywise. I recommend you read the manga if you truly wanna know why many of us feel so strongly about how bad the ending was. Start from chapter 81. |
