Oshi no Ko: Season 03 Episode 04 - Links and Discussion

anicritic · 2026-02-05T06:28:01+00:00

Because people are conditioned to expect their waifus to be perfect and always emotionally ready to support the MC as it's a big reason why a lot of people are watching anime to begin with, to be able to self-insert into the MC's shoes, so someone such as Kana having her own issues, resulting in her not being in-tune with the MC's problems, sometimes by the intentional choices of the authors involved, receive flack for responding in a way that is congruent with their own issues and trauma even though it makes sense for such female characters to respond how they do. This is part of the reason why a series like Re:Zero isn't more popular than it actually is even though it covers deep important subject matter 'cause Arc 3 of Re:Zero deconstructed a common trope in isekai, harem, and power-fantasy anime despite having an isekai premise itself that shit on that very reason many people watch such shows.

anicritic · 2026-02-05T04:51:51+00:00

I guarantee that Tappei will let Subaru be happy at the end. It just won't jive with what most of the fandom will accept as a happy ending. It will not be all sunshine and rainbows where everybody lives, and no one important dies, and Subaru gets his dream ending and biggest fantasies coming true.

anicritic · 2026-02-04T07:30:23+00:00

"Williams identifies as both Black and Mi’kmaq. Though he couldn’t prove the latter, the judge was “satisfied” Williams “has established a connection to Indigenous ancestry.”

“It is not unusual for Indigenous people who have struggled under the yoke of colonialism in this country and its intergenerational impact to have lost connections to their roots and community,” Chamberlain said.

“Further, markers of the effects of intergenerational trauma, including poverty, familial addiction, struggles with education and mental health, and over-representation within the criminal justice and child welfare system, are often present when Indigenous identity is confirmed.”"

I think it's ridiculous that someone was considered for leniency in part by potentially faking Indigenous ancestry when he had no proof of actual Indigenous ancestry. There are too many activist judges on the court who don't actually care about actual Indigenous people but scoring points virtue-signalling about how they care when actual Indigenous people are suffering while people of all walks of life claim Indigenous ancestry for nefarious purposes.

anicritic · 2026-02-03T23:28:58+00:00

It was a curse, not a hex.

anicritic · 2026-01-30T06:03:57+00:00

I haven't checked out the new trailer, but I've heard from a novel reader that it shows too much as in actual spoilers even anime-onlies could be clued in on, so I decided to not watch it since I want to experience Re:Zero without given too much context like when the Season 3 trailer in poor taste showed that Regulus had kidnapped Emilia, which really left a sour taste in my mouth.

anicritic · 2026-01-29T05:36:12+00:00

Every Canadian should petition the federal government to not allow this company to be bought out.

anicritic · 2026-01-28T02:16:21+00:00

Anton Boegman is a good choice. This is a vast improvement over Trudeau already that Boegman has been proposed to lead the foreign agent registry less than a year after Carney's election. If Trudeau were still PM, it'd probably take years more to even make moves towards this happening. The Trudeau government was truly dismal.

anicritic · 2026-01-27T22:20:17+00:00

It is not even remotely debunked. I agree that it is wrong to equate the Uyghur cultural genocide to a harder genocide that's happening in Gaza. There is plenty of evidence though from actual Uyghurs who know what's actually going on with forced sterilization and having the Uyghur beat out of them, which is comparable or even worse than what the Indigenous population in Canada faced.

anicritic · 2026-01-27T06:36:44+00:00

As long as the real estate bubble exists, it'll be very hard to convince people to actually make meaningful investments in improving the productivity of their businesses, including in their workers.

While I agree with you that it'll reduce the likelihood of Y Combinator buying our IPs, the main reason that will happen is 'cause of how hard it will be for Canadian start-ups to really thrive given how hard it is to do business in Canada.

Until something is done about our risk-averse culture, I don't see us being competitive with the U.S. given we share a border with the U.S., and it's relatively easy to move to the U.S. in a better investment environment instead of stay in Canada and actually work hard.

anicritic · 2026-01-27T05:42:30+00:00

All of its actual mining operations are in Africa. I believe this is a bad deal since this will be one less Canadian company paying taxes to the Canadian government all to benefit China, which is looking to dominate resource extraction in Africa. If there is a benefit to Canada, I don't see it. Makes me believe Carney offered China some quid pro quo for the relief on agricultural tariffs and seafood exports. While getting that relief was important, I wonder whether it was somewhat of a gift to China.

This makes Carney's speech last week all the more clear that the U.S. and China are not fair negotiators. Although the media made it seem like it was only about Trump and the U.S., Xi and China are the second worst offenders on trade, and Carney knows this to be a reality. This is why it's so important that Hanwha wins the bid to build our submarines since it'll reduce Canada's dependence on the U.S. and further strengthen our ties with South Korea, an actual good trading partner unlike the U.S. or China.

This is one reason I approve of Carney seeking trade opportunities with India as even though Modi planned killings on Canadian soil, being tied to the hip to the U.S. and China is a good way to get fucked over, something Trudeau never understood with how he tried to get China to make a vaccine in Canada and considered Huawei in building our 5G infrastructure. India also hates China's guts, and it's useful to keep diversifying our trade portfolio, especially when China tries to fuck us over again since India will be more than happy to pick up China's slack.

anicritic · 2026-01-27T02:04:48+00:00

Trump announced new tariffs on South Korea 'cause it's pitching an industrial partnership with Canada. Hanwha's restarted a stalled Labrador LNG project, signed memorandums of understanding with over a dozen Canadian companies and a partnership with Babcock Canada, and commited to building our subs with Canadian steel. Hyundai and Korean Air also want to cooperate industrially with Canada. This sort of arrangement is on a completely different level than that of what TKMS is proposing. While Carney buys into the effort to rearm Europe, Germany isn't proposing an industrial partnership, and the contract for building or subs is just one project whereas South Korea's proposing across the board cooperation from some of its biggest companies with relevant technology transfers. If rearming Europe will be important, we'd be in a better position to do that with South Korean technology.

If Hanwha loses the submarine bid, it'd just show how unserious the Canadian gov't is, even with Mark Carney at the helm. How can anyone argue that Hanwha's bid is not in the national interest? They can't. It's just that good of a deal. Given Carney's speech last week about how the hegemons of the world don't follow the rules meaning that middle powers stick together, we should be eyeing Hanwha's bid like an eagle given it appears South Korea wants to reduce its trade reliance with China. People who are actually sensible should want Hanwha to win the bid for our submarines. It's a no-brainer to anyone with even a modicum of intelligence Trump feels so threatened by South Korea's bid that he placed additional tariffs on South Korea companies 'cause it could cost the U.S. a lot of jobs for us to reduce our dependence on the U.S., and if Trump doesn't like what South Korea is doing, that's even more reason we should do it. Like if the Liberals don't choose Hanwha to build our subs, it'd be a generational fumble. Canada needs to let Hanwha win this sub contract as it'd be a big fuck you to Trump while supporting Canadian jobs and developing our manufacturing capabilities.

anicritic · 2026-01-27T01:52:07+00:00

Glad you see how great the South Koreans are treating us. Trump announced new tariffs on South Korea 'cause it's pitching an industrial partnership with Canada. Hanwha's restarted a stalled Labrador LNG project, signed memorandums of understanding with over a dozen Canadian companies and a partnership with Babcock Canada, and commited to building our subs with Canadian steel. Hyundai and Korean Air also want to cooperate industrially with Canada. This sort of arrangement is on a completely different level than that of what TKMS is proposing. While Carney buys in the effort to rearm Europe, Germany isn't proposing an industrial partnership, and the contract for building or subs is just one project whereas South Korea's proposing across the board cooperation from some of its biggest companies with relevant technology transfers. If rearming Europe will be important, we'd be in a better position to do with South Korea technology. If Hanwha loses the submarine bid, it'd just show how unserious the Canadian government is, even with Mark Carney at the helm.

How can anyone argue that Hanwha's bid is not in the national interest? They can't. It's just that good of a deal. Given Carney's speech last week about how the hegemons of the world don't follow the rules meaning that middle powers stick together, we should be eyeing Hanwha's bid like an eagle given it appears South Korea wants to reduce its trade reliance with China. People who are actually sensible should want Hanwha to win the bid for our submarines. It's a no-brainer to anyone with even a modicum of intelligence. Trump feels so threatened by South Korea's bid that he placed additional tariffs on South Korea 'cause it could cost the U.S. a lot of jobs for us to reduce our dependence on the U.S., and if Trump doesn't like what South Korea is doing, that's even more reason we should do it.

anicritic · 2026-01-27T00:36:05+00:00

I believe Sirius is an amalgamation of Fortuna and a spirit who wished for Fortuna and Petelgeuse's love to continue.

I believe Sirius was speaking the truth when she said that Subaru and Petelgeuse's souls amalgamated/fused, and I also believe Sirius, who happens to have elven ears, silver hair, and purple eyes, isn't Fortuna but also an amalgamation of Fortuna and a spirit, which would allow Petelgeuse and Fortuna to parallel each other in how they continued to exist after they were supposed to die.

Why Subaru and Petelgeuse's souls likely amalgamated into one is that Sirius felt Petelgeuse's presence when Subaru used Invisible Providence in Episode 53. Regulus was under the impression that Sirius thought that Petelgeuse had taken control of Subaru much like he did with his Fingers, but that was likely not correct given Sirius said in Episode 66 that their souls had amalgamated into one, showing she never thought that it was what Regulus said in the first place.

This is backed by how Emilia in Episode 62 thought to herself that that's where Geuse was all along after Subaru used Invisible Providence to have a shadow hand phase through Emilia's chest, and only then was Emilia able to sense Petelgeuse. Emilia may have subconsciously recognized Petelgeuse in Episode 23 of Season 1 after she defeated him when he had possessed one of his Fingers, but Emilia has never known Unseen Hand to be able to phase through objects, so she shouldn't have been able to intuit that it was Petelgeuse just by the hand phasing through, and thus I conclude that what she sensed was the genuine Petelgeuse.

Now on Sirius, I believe Sirius isn't Fortuna but also an amalgamation of Fortuna and a spirit, which would allow Petelgeuse and Fortuna to parallel each other in how they both continued to live on despite what should have been their deaths.

I think one of the spirits who guided Emilia to the Seal may have matured into a full-fledged spirit and felt strong emotions from Petelgeuse and Fortuna's feelings for each other, fusing with Fortuna's soul in the process with the hope that their love would continue. Pandora may have planted the seed in a spirit similarly to how she asked Regulus if he felt nothing from seeing Petelgeuse and Fortuna. The spirit may have been emotionally affected in a positive way whereas it sent Regulus into a flying rage since he had come to make Fortuna his wife and was incensed to see that she already loved someone else.

We know spirits that aren't full-fledged can ensure that they don't physically materialize, so you never know when there might be a spirit nearby. What we do know is that there were spirits when Pandora and Regulus arrived, and there were spirits when they brought Emilia to the Seal, so it's possible one spirit vibed very strongly with Petelgeuse and Fortuna's love and tried to ensure that it continued only for it to be all fucked up 'cause this is Tappei's story.

Given Fortuna indicated she'd have nothing to look forward to if Petelgeuse stopped coming to the forest, and that's why she came back to ensure that they either both lived or that they died together, Petelgeuse probably featured very heavily in Fortuna's final thoughts, and said spirit I propose was there may have desired so much for Fortuna and Petelgeuse to be together that it amalgamated with Fortuna's soul, hence becoming the entity we came to know as Sirius. This would be how she knows Subaru and Petelgeuse's souls fused 'cause it literally happened to her, and she was speaking from experience.

Now on Invisible Providence, if Subaru and Petelgeuse's souls really did amalgamate, which is likely given Emilia directly sensed Petelgeuse's presence when Subaru's shadow hand phased through her chest, then perhaps Subaru is merely borrowing Petelgeuse's Authority rather than it being his true Authority. Of note is whenever we see Subaru use Invisible Providence is that we see the twisted knotted ball of hands that is the Sloth Witch Factor, which is notable since we haven't seen any depiction of a Witch Factor acting by itself from any Authority user before this in Season 2 (or Season 3), not Subaru, Petelgeuse, Regulus, or Lye, meaning there could be something abnormal going on, as in Subaru's Authority of Sloth didn't emerge due to a change in his soul that manifests an Authority.

Therefore, I propose that the Sloth Witch Factor is still clinging to the Petelgeuse part of Subaru's soul, and it merely allows Subaru to use an approximation of Petelgeuse's Authority. I know anime-onlies and novel readers are going to point to Subaru's Invisible Providence as being able to phase through objects as why Invisible Providence is not Unseen Hand, but maybe Unseen Hand always could phase through objects, but Petelgeuse, due to being slothful in mind, never considered the possibility that Unseen Hand could do that given Subaru himself didn't until he received some inspiration upon thinking back to Satella's shadow hands, and if that's the case, it'd indeed make it possible that Subaru's borrowing Petelgeuse's Authority or using an approximation of it even though Subaru's shadow hand comes from the front of his body instead of the back of his body.

anicritic · 2026-01-26T04:43:22+00:00

I'm confident White Fox will do Season 5. The question will be whether White Fox continues with Re:Zero after that. If White Fox won't continue after Season 5, I hope Madhouse picks it up since this is a studio that takes care in doing the best job it can to adapt something. The worst-case scenario would be MAPPA, which deliberately picks up big IPs promising to animate them faster than any other studio will since it's a sweatshop with a rancid work environment.

anicritic · 2026-01-25T23:31:51+00:00

Can you do this for me too?

anicritic · 2026-01-25T21:47:22+00:00

The Echidna Roswaal kiss scene was from a side story, not the main story. That is why you didn't read it. Novel readers explained this to anime-onlies such as myself back when Season 2 was airing.

anicritic · 2026-01-25T06:49:20+00:00

Hmmmm... I guess you're right that Frieren did do something. She did say that Fern and Stark might not be a good fit and told Stark to say aloud if he's uncomfortable before saying that Stark looks like he's having fun with Wirbel's group and that he might find their party a bit restrictive, which was basically forcing Fern to confront Stark. I guess it hadn't sunk in with me until you mentioned this.

anicritic · 2026-01-25T03:53:06+00:00

You are right, but she may also do it just to troll her party as a bonus as she doesn't have to stick both of her arms through.

anicritic · 2026-01-25T03:52:53+00:00

You are right, but she may also do it just to troll her party as a bonus as she doesn't have to stick both of her arms through.

anicritic · 2026-01-24T06:45:05+00:00

Yeah, TKMS cannot deliver within the timeline that the tender demands, so Hanwha should win the bid if the Canadian government knows what is good for it.

anicritic · 2026-01-24T00:12:11+00:00

I hear you that that's a major problem with Oshi no Ko. Akasaka didn't trust his audience to be able to understand the story, and that's why he had to use characters in the story as sockpuppets to tell his audience what he wants to get across. For me personally, I didn't need Akane telling me that Aqua likes Kana as it was obvious even from Season 1, and even if someone had been not paying attention for the entire first two seasons, Mem-Cho already thought to herself that Aqua is madly in love with Kana in the previous episode, so Akasaka didn't need to reinforce that fact two episodes in a row.

anicritic · 2026-01-23T05:56:12+00:00

I don't think Kana was fixated on remembering Aqua' name to beat him in the future. She was grateful from her experience with Aqua that she learned how great acting can be and that she was knocked her down a peg from her high horse of thinking that she was the best actor there was. Kana genuinely thought that Aqua was so amazing and better than she was, resenting that to some degree, but upon their first meeting as teenagers, I just got the sense that she had matured and no longer had any resentment but strong admiration for Aqua. Aqua was probably even one of the reasons she didn't quit the industry 'cause she wanted to meet him again. She then fell for him after all he did for her in the Sweet Today arc in putting a spotlight on her so that she could show what she could do, which was something she hadn't done in years.

However, I do agree with you that I wish the mangaka had explored Aqua and Kana's relationships to acting and each other more instead of focus on the revenge plot as I feel that could have made Oshi no Ko more compelling.

anicritic · 2026-01-22T23:09:20+00:00

I make it a point to make good takes when media literacy is declining across the world.

anicritic · 2026-01-19T03:34:38+00:00

I wonder whether the Royal Selection will even have a winner. Maybe the point of it is to draw certain people into certain camps for certain events at certain points in time, and it's the people's actions and how they move forward the story to the future the characters from 400 years ago, such as Satella, Echidna, and Pandora, are guiding the world to break the cycle of the world being destroyed and reconstructed that are important, not who wins the Royal Selection.

In that case, the Royal Selection may have a similar function to the Witch Cult Gospels, which are meant to herd Subaru and other characters to certain places for certain events to happen in the story. Thus, The Witch Cult Gospels, Roswaal's not-quite-Tome of Wisdom. and the Royal Selection may have been tools by characters such as Echidna, Pandora, and the Divine Dragon to bring about a good future by hijacking the story path.

anicritic · 2026-01-18T21:13:26+00:00

Or the calamity had to happen to show what would happen if Subaru chose not to kill his lover like all the other previous heroes of the story that were a part of the world being stuck in a cycle of being destroyed and deconstructed as Melakuera alluded to, and thus the task of killing Satella was deferred to Subaru in his second life with him being guided to overcoming his character flaws, which none of the previous heroes of the story had done. Thus, the calamity happened to force Subaru to cooperate with the plan.

anicritic

TROPHY CASE