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Nebrilos
Oct 9, 2012
Why is Aqua so averse to love? It isn't even a matter of not wanting to love anyone younger than his own mental age, during his interview page in the prologue, he mentions that he won't love anyone.

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Nebrilos
Oct 9, 2012

SpacePig posted:

He loved Ai and look how that ended up.

It's fine now. Stalker man is dead, so no one else can get murdered. It's fine.

OnimaruXLR posted:

This is a really weird question to ask considering the content of the most recent chapter

I feel like someone with cold, unloving parents might crave love more desperately from other people. They might tend toward clingyness or codependency. Is it fair to call Ai cold and unloving? She never told her own children she loved them until her death.

Nebrilos
Oct 9, 2012
Kana has no chance with Aqua, right? He would never risk a repeat of what happened to Ai. I don't get why he hasn't officially rejected Kana.

Although I have to ask about MemCHO. She is an idol now, but she was on a dating show. Is that considered okay? No one even brings it up.

Is Aqua actually as romantically unaffected as he says he is? When Kana tells him to try to think of some happy memories in chapter 50, the first set of memories he thinks of are all about Akane, and the second set are all about Kana.

Nebrilos fucked around with this message at 06:55 on Apr 2, 2022

Nebrilos
Oct 9, 2012
Well, if we're doing predictions, mine is that Doctor Goro was actually Ai's unknown father, who never knew he had a daughter.

That's why finding the skeleton matters, since it will prove that Aqua is actually related to his past self.

Nebrilos
Oct 9, 2012

copy posted:

I suspect she'll connect this to what she's already deduced about aqua's past. she is definitely going to suspect something strange is going on with these kids if ruby doesn't play her reaction off as being just because she saw a dead body. hell maybe even if she does do that I think Akane might still start trying to dig

Ruby doesn't have the guile to do that. Anyway, it's too late. She has already referred to her crush multiple times as "Sensei" and her reaction to seeing the corpse is "This can't be happening... Sensei couldn't have... [died]".

Is that name on the nametag visible? The idol merch (keychain?) is enough for both Aqua and Ruby to identify the corpse, but it seemed to be obscuring the name. Although, since Ruby told her that "Sensei" went missing from work, and she can tell he is a doctor, Akane could simply ask at the hospital about any doctors who went missing and get Goro's name.

That is certainly an odd place for a corpse. It's basically enshrined. If an animal had dragged it there, wouldn't the bones be more scattered? So a person put it there? Why wouldn't they bury it? Why wasn't it found? Wouldn't it smell really bad? I wondered if the shrine had anything to do with Aqua's reincarnation, but Ruby was probably not similarly enshrined. I can see why the metal glasses, and the plastic merch would last, but would the lab coat last 16 or so years exposed to the elements?

Akane has more than enough information to connect this corpse to Aqua at this point, given her rather terrifying intuition. She already associated the lab coat with him being a doctor, and knows Aqua went to the Hospital "to see an acquaintance". (Interestingly, she didn't go in with him, and so didn't hear him say the name "Goro"). She also heard him talking about "searching for the bones of an old pet". The corpse was even wearing Ai merchandise. She has enough information to deduce that Aqua "was friends" with someone and Ruby had a crush on someone who died before either of them were born, and the two of them are a little bit too familiar with a place that they shouldn't be that familiar with, but I don't think that is enough for even her to conclude that they reincarnated.

Does being starry-eyed represent "ambition"? Aqua lost his after he gave up on his revenge plot and Ruby's star is shrinking now that she knows the person she was looking for is dead.

Nebrilos fucked around with this message at 19:36 on Apr 8, 2022

Nebrilos
Oct 9, 2012

Mirage posted:

Pretty sure the murderer just hid the corpse someplace convenient. Its proximity to the shrine may not have had any significance to the killer except as someplace nobody would go looking.

Now the shrine itself may have something to do with all this reincarnation going on, but I dunno if that was the killer's intention.


"Right next to a shrine" isn't really a convenient place to hide a corpse. Wouldn't it smell? People visit shrines and maintain them. Wouldn't it have been found by now? It would be a slightly different story if he made the shrine himself and no one knew about it, but why would he do that?

Nebrilos
Oct 9, 2012

Sleeping Sigma posted:

He does not know that Ruby was Serena, though?

He made one off-hand comment to himself, as an infant, that she reminded him of Serena. Later he noticed by how Ruby acted that Ruby's previous self likely died young, but I don't believe there's anything to suggest that he thinks Ruby and Serena are the same person. I can see him putting two and two together soon, though, if this incident blows up.

He does seem to know who she is, actually. https://manga.guya.moe/read/manga/Oshi-no-Ko/3/6/

Nebrilos
Oct 9, 2012
Why is everyone saying Akane is going to die?

Nebrilos
Oct 9, 2012
I think I'm just bad at understanding things. Why did Aqua want the corpse to be found if he didn't want the corpse to be found? It smacks of bad writing that Aqua supposedly leaked information to Akane so she would find the corpse, but her finding of the corpse didn't have anything to do with the information he leaked to her. Aqua seems like he is acting deliberately creepy; if I were in Akane's shoes I would definitely have assumed he had killed Goro. But Akane doesn't ask if Aqua killed Goro, why Aqua knew Goro was dead, or even who Goro was to Aqua. Is she just going to assume Aqua killed Goro to keep him away from his sister? Why does Akane immediately jump to talking about them breaking up instead? Why would Aqua deliberately act like a murderer when he wasn't one?

Aqua claims that he was using Akane, but how is this true? When has he ever used Akane? Her "acting like Ai" was done to increase her own prominence on LoveNow and he never asked her to do that in the first place and never asked her to do that again. To be honest, it's much more Kana that he used, since he basically browbeat her into propping up his sister's idol group, even though she had misgivings. Her crush on him is really obvious, but has he ever even acknowledged it, even to himself?

Nebrilos
Oct 9, 2012

theGrooseofLegend posted:

Based on Aqua's flash-forward scene near the beginning, my endgame prediction is that Aqua gets his Dad locked up for life and climbs up the showbiz ladder to rub his existence into his Dad's face.

The investigation into Ai's death is closed, though, and I doubt Aqua's father left any hard evidence of his involvement in Ai's death, assuming he is involved.

Nebrilos
Oct 9, 2012
It's kind of weak writing that Ruby had to be told by the deus ex machina child that Goro was murdered and that there was an accomplice, when Aqua was given a way to figure it out on his own.

Nebrilos
Oct 9, 2012
Sorry, what are Akane's death flags?

Nebrilos
Oct 9, 2012
Look, no one's been murdered in like 70 chapters. It's probably not happening again. And the guy who did the murders is dead, so it should be fine.

Grouchio posted:

1. Being Aqua's girlfriend
I mean, if you look at the pattern of murders, the number one indicator for getting murdered seems to be "being important to Ruby", so arguably, Aqua himself is in the most danger here.

Grouchio posted:

2. Extremely intelligent investigator into Ai/Doc's murder
So is Aqua. Akane may be more intelligent than Aqua, but it's difficult to beat him in determination. He spent 3 years unlocking that cell phone, for example.

Grouchio posted:

3. Vows of devotion to his revenge
Same for Aqua.

Grouchio posted:

4. Not being present in the prologue documentary
...oh

Grouchio posted:

5. What causes Aqua's stars to reappear in #4?
What do you mean by this?

Nebrilos
Oct 9, 2012

amigolupus posted:

For the latest chapter, the part with the nerds discussing why some of the members of B-Komachi look troubled is both hilarious and depressing. They can only parse things in terms of idol culture that they can't even understand that Ai and Kana are just humans and may have something else weighing on their minds.

One thing that stood out to me on a re-read was this part:



While it's possible that Ruby or Aqua will tell Kana what their deal is, the fact that Kana says 'genius' could also mean she's talking about Akane.

That's too morbid for Kana. She wouldn't say something like that if she actually believed that "Akane was murdered (stabbed?) because she was a genius". Or if she did say it, her reaction would horror at her own words, not embarrassment.

Nebrilos
Oct 9, 2012
There's a difference between "airing controversial content" and "harassing and hurting people for content".

Nebrilos
Oct 9, 2012

Mraagvpeine posted:

I misread that page, I thought that was the age of the brother's mother at the time. Oh geez, how old was the mother then?

She would have had to have been married at the time to avoid looking suspicious to her husband, so probably in her twenties at least. Or maybe she was 18 and had a shotgun wedding with the man who wasn't the father of her child.

Why is Akane so suspicious of this Hikaru, anyway? It feels like the name came out of no where and she just jumped on it.

It was never really dwelt on, but what possible motive could Aqua's father have in arranging for Ai's death? I can understand the fan's motive ("you betrayed us!") even if it is disgusting, but why would the father want her dead? I feel like the assumption that "it was Aqua's father" hasn't been questioned much since Aqua made that connection. But the details of Ai's living situation could have easily been leaked by accident.

Why can't these people just have an honest conversation with each other? Poor Communication Kills

Nebrilos fucked around with this message at 05:39 on Oct 13, 2022

Nebrilos
Oct 9, 2012

Rody One Half posted:

Have we considered that she's right and we're just dealing with a Damien situation? This series is practically built on kids with bad vibes, and whose vibes are worse than the prince of darkness?

My prediction is The woman with the long hair on the bridge is Hikaru and Akane is actually the hooded figure sneaking up behind them. They have the same hair color, which is how the trick works.

Nebrilos
Oct 9, 2012
Welp, now that that's happened, there's finally space for the true OTP Ruby x Akane

Nebrilos
Oct 9, 2012
Why can't good things happen?

... why am I reading a manga like this if I want good things to happen?

Nebrilos
Oct 9, 2012
What proof could Aqua have offered that he was AI’s son?

Nebrilos
Oct 9, 2012
He literally dumped her on screen (on panel?) after finding the knife in her bouquet of flowers.

Nebrilos
Oct 9, 2012
I'm not sure if it was discussed, but what was Akane planning on doing with that knife? That guy everyone suspects is Aqua's father knows who Aqua is, knows who Akane is, knows that they are dating, and if Akane visited him, could easily guess that Akane suspects he was Aqua's father. Being an adult man, he is stronger than her and, given everything, is unlikely to be taken by surprise. Did she really think she could stab him to death? If not, why bring the knife? It only increases the danger level. It seems like a really rash action to visit him at all, which is out of character for Akane.

Nebrilos
Oct 9, 2012

HenryEx posted:

Holy poo poo, you solved it. All along, it was Killerman, the attraction to stars really was a dead giveaway



You're wrong. He can't be Killerman because Killerman is Killerman.

Nebrilos
Oct 9, 2012
Is there now limit to how far Aqua will exploit Akane? And is Ruby really going to want to participate?

Why cast himself as the murderer? Does he want to destroy his own career that badly?

Nebrilos fucked around with this message at 05:49 on Mar 2, 2023

Nebrilos
Oct 9, 2012
To be sure, only Akane is capable of playing the part of Ai since she can do the eyes correctly. Was this Aqua’s plan the whole time, the reason he went out with her once he realized her talent?

Nebrilos
Oct 9, 2012

a pipe smoking dog posted:

What could possibly be weird about a guy making his ex-girlfriend play his dead mother in a movie where he is going to pretend to murder her.

Their break up isn’t public yet though is it

Nebrilos
Oct 9, 2012

White Rock posted:

Has Aqua used the fact he used to be a doctor at any time whatsoever?

-He diagnoses where Ai was stabbed, but that doesn't allow him to save her.
-It helps him ace his exams to get into high school
-It's possible his knowledge about DNA/paternity tests is related to his being a doctor

Nebrilos
Oct 9, 2012
A new chapter is out.
https://mangaplus.shueisha.co.jp/viewer/1015784

That's a lot of coins!

Nebrilos
Oct 9, 2012

Super Jay Mann posted:

I have so many questions about that last panel.

That cup is from the reality TV show they did. I think she just wants to accidentally end up in the gym storage shed with her crush.

So? Who do you think is going to win the audition? My money is on Kana____

Nebrilos fucked around with this message at 04:41 on Mar 30, 2023

Nebrilos
Oct 9, 2012

Supremezero posted:

Aqua.

Yes, I mean Aqua.

I don't think Aqua has what it takes.

Nebrilos
Oct 9, 2012
The narration comments that while Frill might not be as talented an actor as the likes of Akane, Frill has the charisma, the “star quality”, that makes a person quickly become fascinated by her, to compensate.

So, what was special about Ai, again? Well, she had this charisma, this “star quality” that made everyone fascinated by her.

My point is, why doesn’t the author draw Frill with starry eyes? Doesn’t she have basically what the eyes signify?

Also, where is Kana? If Kana is offscreen, the other characters should be asking “where’s Kana?”

Nebrilos
Oct 9, 2012
So, who, if anyone, do you think Ruby and Aqua are going to end up with?

Aqua already rejected Akane, and Kana is straight out, because the childhood friend character never wins. I'm guessing it will be Aqua/Mem and Ruby/Akane.

Nebrilos
Oct 9, 2012
Wait, Frill didn't tell Ruby and Akane that the role they were auditioning for was Ai? I thought that was clear to them from the start.

Futaba Anzu posted:

ruby aqua, meme response

ewww

Nebrilos
Oct 9, 2012

usenet celeb 1992 posted:

Aqua's always known, though. And when Ruby finds out who he is and that he's known all along, it could actually completely shatter what little trust she has remaining in him.

The flash-forward to the movie premiere at the beginning of the series seems to suggest he gets back in her good graces, though it could also be a bit of very convincing acting.

Aqua does not know.

Nebrilos
Oct 9, 2012
I want to see some Pyon workout videos.

Nebrilos
Oct 9, 2012

Dexo posted:

Aqua, who like steadfastly is not having sex with all these women who want to have sex with him.

Didn't Aqua have an affair with Mem?

Nebrilos
Oct 9, 2012
It would be pretty funny if it turned out that Akane's random guess was wrong and Aqua was getting his revenge on the wrong person.

Nebrilos
Oct 9, 2012
It's so weird that Akane has blue hair

Nebrilos
Oct 9, 2012
I think the reason that chapter was titled "Bad Move" was that it was a bad move for Aka to introduce the possibility of incest into this story.

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Nebrilos
Oct 9, 2012
Honestly, why aren't they employing Aqua as a scout at this point?

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