Explaining the Meaning Behind "Idol" (Oshi no Ko OP)

Oshi no ko. An anime this season that blew up  harder than shinji in front of a body. What this fantastic look into the dark side of the  entertainment brought was not only literally the entire package for a brilliant anime, but  a godlike opening, with a godlike mv and a beautiful message behind it. And because I am  such a simp for fake personas, today I will be looking into the meticulously crafted lyrics  of idol, by yoasobi. I’m just saying there’s a reason this song is their first to reach

top  10 billboard global 200, it’s addicting. Before we start I’m just gonna make one thing  clear. This song is about Hoshino Ai. And if you disagree then go back to your 9th grade English  class because you must be literarily blind. Huh, 9th grade Japanese class-. This song is  a look into Ai’s fake on-stage persona, her tactics and her heart’s deepest desires,  shown by some lyrics being literal direct quotes of hers. But without further ado,  let’s get right into Ai. Wait no- We begin with

the entire first verse giving us  an overall outlook at how people look at Ai. That trademark invincible smile that burns as hot as  media arson, the secrets nobody knows about the mysterious beauty that looks to be of endless  depth, and even though no human is supposedly perfect, her imperfections can somehow be twisted  into perfection. This is how the general world views top idol Ai. In the intro of the song, we  get an introduction to Ai’s perfect-girl persona, somebody so mysterious, the a

verage Joe would need  double the brain cells to figure out one of her 60 trillion secrets. Some may know it’s a lie, yet  they still worship this genius idol sama, because that is the image they were sold. Some people just  want to be sold a perfect vision, a perfect dream, so as stated in the anime, they believe in this  lie. You know what call this? Gaslight yourself. Tell yourself it’s making you stronger and  the universe is just testing you- We begin the first verse with some questions,  a

s all lessons in school do. What did I eat? What books I read? Where I would go play? I ate  skittles, read Mein Kamph and would go play at the Bemuda Triangle. Jokes aside, these are pretty  generic questions, presumably ones the media is asking Ai. After all, when you’re a top idol,  even something as mundane as what you ate for breakfast can become a hot topic. Breaking news!  Top idol declares skittles as top breakfast meal, “because it is gay” apparently. Ai’s answers  are clearly more well

thought out than mine, saying I haven’t eaten anything, what I read’s a  secret, and f-k you to the last question because why would I want you stalking me when I go out  to play? To be a top idol, is to be elusive to any remotely intrusive questions, and the media  knows this, blatantly stating it. They can’t gets s-t on her no matter what they ask. Now if  only big youtubers had these brain cells. The verse continues talking about Ai’s  fake idol personality being so indifferent yet dazzling.

This most likely refers to the  “professional smile” mentioned in the first smile, where Ai smiles like a professional should,  hence being dazzling, yet since it’s so “by the books” if that makes sense, it could feel  robotic, or lacks humanity like that one Tweet stated. Glad to know Twitter is also insufferable  in anime. This unfortunately makes sense though since Ai’s “love” to her fans all this time has  been fake so it’s no wonder the smile wouldn’t feel genuine. Then we have the next lin

e,  the sweet taste of honey just like- (BEES) This is what I call the generic teasing strategy.  You know, when you make someone feel like they’re closing in on a secret yet can’t seem to find  the final answer? It’s like they can taste the knowledge in front of them but don’t have solid  reliable evidence and it drives them crazy? Yeah like that, how to boost viewership 101 they got  the clickbait on point. Wait I got it, it’s like why so many people say half naked teasing can  be hotter than

normally fully naked people, yes like that it’s the tease, godd-n my hentai  speciality sure came in handy. The strategy is also one ingrained in the anime where things  like this happen. Yeah Ai can be an airhead, but we’ve also seen that she’s more careful that  she lets on about keeping secrets so who knows how airhead she truly is? Very fitting of the master  of lies, but one thing remains true, whether she’s doing it on purpose or not, it lead people on,  it’s great clickbait, it’s great co

ntent. The next two lines are honestly very vague and can  be taken in many ways but I think it’s probably to be taken as some sort of media response. No, no,  no can perhaps be the media not being happy with the elusive answers given, Ai refusing to answer  interview questions, something along those lines. I do think the lines themselves could just be  saying no, no, no without elaboration to be elusive, just like Ai would be, so the vagueness  is probably done on purpose. The nein nein nein, b

eing related to the media is further backed up  by the next few lines, clearly being gossip media trying to cook something with these questions  except all their air fryer’s frying is air. The media relentlessly tries to get juicy to but to  no avail. Truly tragic……….if you are the societal s-tstain known as invasive paparazzi. Now everything up until now has been in the general public’s perspective and I think the  chorus is too, but just these 4 lines of pre chorus in my opinion is Ai’s pers

pective. It  may seem strange to randomly shove in 4 lines of Ai’s thoughts here structurally, but I think  it makes sense and I’ll explain why by the end of the song when we have the entire song deciphered.  To love somebody is something I don’t understand, a direct quote from Ai in the anime, depicting  how she doesn’t know how to love somebody because of her horrible upbringing. So now, when she  tells her fans things such as “I love you”, she doesn’t know if that’s the truth or a  lie and as

a result, she doesn’t even know if her own previous quote is still a lie or  if it has grown into the truth. Despite this, life goes on and even if she doesn’t understand  the sincerity of her own words, another person, and another one, falls for Ai, another one falls  in love with her on-stage idol-persona. Our chorus starts with everyone telling Ai,  that their eyes are on her, that yes, she is the ULLTIMATE LIFEFORM. Except you know, ultimate  lifeforms don’t die when they are killed. Ai die

s when she’s killed. Alright the first two lines are  quite self explanatory, but what’s interesting are the next 2. Never to appear again could on the  surface refer to the fact that someone with as much natural charisma, or someone who blew up as  hard as Ai will probably never come again. But if you take the next lines into consideration,  perhaps it means unlike doc and Salina, Ai will not be reincarnated, there is only one Ai, one  star that could have ever shined this brightly. In particul

ar, the phrase, number 1 star, 一番星,  has been used to describe Ai in the anime. So to all you people wanted this cursed reality, yoasobi  said f-k you. This next part I think is really a stretch so I was honestly considering if I should  mention it, but it’s interesting so eh why not, just take it with a grain of salt. I got curious  why for the word “never” here, instead of using the generic “絶対に” or “二度と” I’m sure you’ve  heard in anime, they used 金輪際, a word I’ve never heard of. A little goog

ling led me to find  out that it does in fact just mean “never” but there’s an interesting Buddist origin behind the  word. Tldr, the world was built of three layers: 風輪・水輪・金輪, on the topmost layer, 金輪, lies the lands  and the seas, where humans reside. Basically, 金輪際 is the deepest ends of the 金輪 layer, connected  to the 水輪 layer. So in the eyes of man, this is the deepest end, which is why the word can be used  to refer to the end of a thing, or the absolute limits. And I think this maybe perh

aps I don’t  know be talking about how Ai pushed the absolute limits of charisma and fame, to the deepest ends  of a perfect, ultimate idol. And them emphasizing the “never” was to empathize the fact that “this  will never happen again”, there was only one Ai. But that’s just a theory, a song theory-. The  last 4 lines we have in the first chorus are pretty straight forward: Ai tells the audience  “I love you” through her songs, captivating the audience as always. And even if those special  eyes

, that demonstrate her charisma on stage, even with the many “I love you”s being thrown around,  it’s a perfect love, because lies are the most exquisite form of love. Yes teacher, that’s why  I lied about doing my homework. I love you-. It is fascinating to note that the ai here is written  in katakana instead of the usual kanji for “love”, most certainly referring to, well Ai herself as  well as a double meaning. In fact, since ai means love and hoshi means star, Hoshino ai can mean  love of t

he stars, a very fitting name for someone who shines as the number one star and wants to  learn about love. Well, certainly better naming sense than Aquamarine. That’s awful, that’s on the  level of X-Ae-A 12. The Kanji is so f-ked. Moving on to the second verse, we have, uhhhhhh  not very kind words. According to my sister, an average day at an all girls high school. These  lines are pretty obviously from the other members of b-komachi, jealous of Ai’s massive success  compared to them. The oth

er members haven’t explicitly been shown to hate Ai but it was  briefly mentioned that Ai wasn’t really close with any of the other members. I mean just think  of it from a psychological standpoint, yeah your group is blowing up in popularity……thanks to one  girl and you’re literally the single toilet paper wipe after the bideting. Yeah yeah, we get it Ai  is special, we’re just extras that come with the main dish, everything we’ve accomplished is just  thanks to Ai. Sarcasm jabbing at Ai for sh

ining so brightly, a stark contrast from all the shining  praise from the first verse and chorus. Of course, the other idols act happy and everything on  stage and maybe even behind curtains, but with this difference in skill, in fame, in treatment,  there’s no way jealousy and envy don’t exist. We exist too, we’re a part of B Komachi too, not all  this is thanks to Ai. This isn’t made up drama, this isn’t 90-day fiancé the idol edition, this  isn’t a meme, this is true envy from one’s heart at

it’s finest form and it burns real. They can’t  forgive all this spotlight stealing, especially because they know no human can be perfect. Yet,  deep inside, they also understand Ai’s natural charisma, they know they’re basically inferior in  every single way imaginable so they can’t forgive themselves for being so useless. And some way,  somehow, Ai has perfected her idol persona to the point where no weaknesses can really be found  it her, so if she’s gonna take the spotlight, then she better

actually be perfect idol, she has  to be truly stronger than everyone at all times, or they just can’t accept being sidelined.  Because if they’re gonna be so badly outshined, then they need to see with their own eyes that  they actually deserve to be outshined and it’s not just some sham. God these idols talk  like shounen people, are you sure Bakugo didn’t just say f-k heroing and became and  idol? Introducing: Idol Bakugo. So I know the chorus sounds like it’s talking  about Ai, which it is,

but I personally think it’s actually a continuation of the other  members’ thoughts, except it’s what they think Ai’s philosophy is, and I’ll explain why  I think this later when we get to the structure. Most of it is actually quite straight forward,  stating how Ai is worshipped as a legendary idol, truly the greatest that has ever existed. “Things  such as weaknesses cannot be found” is indeed a part of Ai’s idol philosophy but also could be a  self response, what the other members thinking Ai

is telling them. Perhaps saying this as a form of  assurance or in direct response to what THEY were thinking about Ai, the side if their brain that  goes…….what if she IS actually perfect? What if the potential the fate of being number one star  of all time truly resides within her? Maybe THEY actually show some weakness from time to time,  and Ai is telling them not to as an idol, because you have to be perfect to be an good idol. After  all, to be an idol, is to sell a fake look, a fake drea

m to the people, they don’t need to see what  they don’t want to, that’s like working on your university powerpoint in the middle of overnight  karaoke, the psychopaths. Anything other than the one-of-a-kind performance Ai has demonstrated is  a no-no, because this perfect vision of an idol is true love, the core of Ai’s idol philosophy.  Do you ever wonder if Ai when retired at 40 would just become an author and go: idol philosophy,  to exist, is to be strong, to exist, is to be perfect, to exi

st, is to be fapped to- We now go to the bridge, and this is really where you can really start to feel the amazing  songwriting since I believe everything from this point onwards is Ai’s perspective. Having the  same melody but slowed down compared to the intro, the first 4 lines to the bridge are like parallels  to that of the intro. Ai understands that she’s good at her signature smile and it fires up the  media. The secret people find mysterious and would probably go crazy over? The one sec

ret she  will completely keep by all means: Aqua and Ruby, clearly shown in the mv. And we see this, that  Ai was very very careful as to keep this secret, having multiple phones each with their  own purpose, using f-king phone boxes to communicate, etc. She SEEMS perfect, even in areas  where she lacks because her entire career is built on a mountain of lies, using this fake persona to  make herself LOOK perfect. A perfect liar she is, because this is her way of love. Fittingly, this  is one of

the lines she told the stalker when the stalker called her a liar, yes I suffered for you  people having to rewatch this scene a few times for research. I think it took a few years off my  life and productivity off sheer depression. God I’m gonna see this in my dreams for years. Ok depression over, now we go to child shilling like a middle aged Asian mom. There are a few ways  I can think of how Ai interprets Aqua. Perhaps the beautiful sweating refers to Ai’s visions of Aqua  being a beautif

ul actor, sweating as he performs, you know, kinda like how they always portray  the hot guys in sports anime? Or maybe it’s Ai recognizing Aqua’s hard work at a young age, being  able to act well already, the sweat metaphorically meaning the hard work. Alternatively, and on a  much darker note, since the mv shows teenage Aqua, which Ai unfortunately never got to see,  except here (crying), perhaps the sweat represents all of Aqua’s future hardships and  endevours, his acting, his trauma, his re

venge, everything. Or maybe someone has a sweat fetish-  It is interesting to see how Ruby is “hidden in the eyelids”. Since Ai’s eyes are a visual  illustration of her charm, perhaps it’s a showing of how teenage Ruby has grown up to have the same  charm as Ai, even pursuing the same idol path as Ai under the same group name. Like mother, like  daughter. Because they’ve both died once-. The next line is what I think to be the most geniusly  written line in the whole song. Singing, dancing, flut

tering, all classic idol stuff, but who the  f-k is Maria, did Ai become a wall? Did Ai become a furry? I tried looking up the meaning behind the  name Maria, and, it kinda fits. Bits like star, beloved, sacred figures, they check out. If you  really stretch it, Ai deals with bitter people, and Aqua is water? I wasn’t exactly satisfied  with this explanation so I kept searching, and came across Saint Maria. Her story is quite  a tragic one, and not one that ends happy either. Saint Maria grew up

in a rough environment, had  a bunch of siblings blah blah blah, but there’s this one particular part I want to focus on: there  was a man, Alessandro, who was overly attracted to Maria, and when his approaches were denied, he  stabbed Maria. Maria unfortunately did not make it, but before passing away, forgave Alessandro,  hoping to see him in heaven. Does this remind you of someone? Overly attached guy stabs girl he  loves and girl forgives man before dying? Yeah I think I’ve seen this somewh

ere. It’s also ironic  in a sense, where the past two lines were hinting at Aqua and Ruby’s futures, whereas this one is  Ai's future, a star, beloved, a sacred figure, yet wound up with this cruel fate. The next  line almost acts as an affirmation that yes, even though she’s lied all this time, even though  she’s been stabbed like this, she’s been trying to love all of her fans, and to her, again, lies  are the most exquisite form of love. As if a flashback before death like in the  anime, as i

f a parallel to the 4 lines of pre-1st-chorus at the beginning with the same  melody, Ai finally speaks her true intentions, her true thoughts behind those lies. To love  somebody is something she can’t understand because she’s never been loved or loved anyone, so she  can’t tell what it’s like to truly love somebody from the heart. And as a parallel to her saying  how another fan falls for the lies, the fake Ai, she says that the lies will one day become true.  A beautiful answer, to her philos

ophy, as deeply connected as the earth and man’s face. And we finally move on to a relatively easy to understand final chorus. Many of these lines  are direct quotes from Ai in the anime, and rightfully so, seeing how these are her true  thoughts behind the idol mask. One day she’ll have it all, happiness as an idol, and happiness as  a mother, because she’s a greedy idol. D-n her philosophy on life is like my philosophy on  potato chips. She wants to love all her fans not in the lying way she

’s been doing all this  time, but from the heart properly, as true love, at the same size her fans love her. She can’t  do it yet, so she continues to lie today, hoping these lies one day become true. And the  final few lines, well, they’re self explanatory if you’ve finished episode 1. You and you obviously  refer to Aqua and Ruby and……yeah don’t make me rewatch that scene again, a man’s tear glands can  only hold up so many times before they get f-king blown harder headphone users in an ishows

peed  video. They’re Ai’s final words before she dies. With her dying breath, she tells Aqua and Ruby “I  love you”. Her one wish, to love somebody did come true in the end because she knows from her heart  that no part of this sentence was a lie. And with the sacrifice of me acquiring the skill  “permanent eye sweat”, we’ve finished depicting the meaning behind all the lyrics. Which is why  I’d like to go explain the way I personally think this entire song is structured. I’ve already  pointed o

ut the parallels with the intro and the pre-chorus, but the genius is behind the choruses.  All the choruses show a different image of Ai. If you look back at both the first and second chorus.  Technically, TECHNICALLY, with the exception of this BITCH word called “YOU”, all of this COULD  also be taken as Ai’s response to the general public/other members. But I personally like  thinking of it as 1st chorus = general perception 2nd chorus = other members perception because the  entire thing is o

nly about Ai’s fake idol persona, what everyone sees on the outside. Meanwhile,  the final chorus is Ai’s true feelings. This is further supported by the fact that in the mv,  you only see Ai performing on stage in the rabbit mascot suit while by the final chorus, you see Ai  taking the mask off and performing her herself, the rabbit most likely being fake idol Ai,  while the final performance being the true Ai, or at least what Ai wanted to be, truly loving  her audience with her heart. It’s al

so worth mentioning that in the bridge, where we begin  to see Ai’s true thoughts and desires, Aqua and Ruby are almost immediately mentioned. And it’s  the chorus AFTER this bridge where Ai tells her true purpose in being an idol, her true desires  and what she hopes to accomplish. I think this really goes to show how much having kids started  to change Ai and how Ai really loved Aqua and Ruby. They gave her so much happiness and were the  ones that finally taught Ai how to love somebody, somet

hing she wanted from the very beginning.  Godd-n teen moms can learn something from Ai, you know? You hear me, uh, uh sub-Saharan Africa? And  with that, we conclude another banger written by the legendary Ayase: Idol. A song describing the  deceits of a shining idol on stage. A song about the life of the legendary idol Hoshino Ai, most  of it describing her lies on stage, yet shifting towards the true her at the very end, perhaps a  reflection of how through all the deceptions and masks put on

in her short but bright career, her  lies finally became truths in the end.