It follows a doctor and his recently deceased patient who were reborn as twins to a famous Japanese pop idol and navigate the highs and lows of the country's entertainment industry as they grow up together through their lives.

Obstetrician-gynecologist Gorou Amamiya is tasked with helping deliver the children of Ai Hoshino, a famous pop idol whom he admires, without the knowledge of the general public.

Unbeknownst to him, Aqua's fraternal twin sister, Ruby Hoshino, is the reincarnation of Sarina Tendōji, one of Gorou's patients who was a fan of Ai.

The fan later commits suicide, but Aqua deduces that the murderer may have had his and Ruby's father as an accomplice and resolves to infiltrate the entertainment industry to find and kill him.

Twelve years later, Aqua and Ruby have become high school students and have been adopted by Miyako Saitō, the owner of Ai's talent agency, Strawberry Productions.

During a stage production, Aqua discovers that he shares the same father as his co-star, Taiki Himekawa, and that he had died by suicide before Ai's murder.

At the same time, during shooting for B-Komachi's music video, Ruby finds Gorou's corpse and learns about the culprit behind his and Ai's murders.

With the help of director Taichi Gotanda, Aqua creates a screenplay for an autobiographical film based on Ai, titled 15 Years of Lies, in hopes of drawing Hikaru's attention.

She is also forced to confront her past when her mother from her previous life ends up being one of the film's sponsors, but this causes her and Aqua to realize each other's true incarnation.

Upon the film's debut, Aqua finally comes in contact with Hikaru, who admits that he had used Ai as an emotional crutch and, in a fit of despair, sent the fan after her after she left him.

Hikaru tells Aqua that he intends to turn himself in; instead, he manipulates Nino, a former member of Ai's B-Komachi, into attempting to kill Ruby, only to be thwarted by Miyako's husband Ichigo and Akane.

But although she is forced to hide her pain and trauma behind lies and smiles to inspire others like Ai, she is still happy with her idol career, thanking her late mother and brother for lighting her path and asking them to look after her.

He later began hearing complaints about the entertainment industry through streamers and working on the live-action film adaptation of his previous manga Kaguya-sama: Love Is War.

[4] Oshi no Ko debuted in Weekly Young Jump on April 23, 2020; at the time, Kaguya-sama: Love Is War was still running in the same magazine, leading to two manga series created by Aka Akasaka being serialized simultaneously.

[4] Akasaka stated that he considered his fundamental writing style to be that of Oshi no Ko and that the comedy in Kaguya-sama originated as a request from the editorial department.

[4][8] Oshi no Ko, written by Aka Akasaka and illustrated by Mengo Yokoyari, started in Shueisha's seinen manga magazine Weekly Young Jump from April 23, 2020,[9] to November 14, 2024.

[18] The anime, later revealed to be a television series, was produced by Doga Kobo and directed by Daisuke Hiramaki, with Chao Nekotomi serving as assistant director, Jin Tanaka writing the scripts, Kanna Hirayama handling the character designs, and Takurō Iga composing the music.

[58][59] Yoasobi's opening theme song "Idol" reached a total of 100 million worldwide stream and video views on Spotify and YouTube within two weeks after the anime's release.

[63] According to a 2023 poll conducted by education and publishing company Benesse, which asked 18,802 third to sixth-grade Japanese children (12,859 girls, 4,728 boys and 1,215 others), Ai Hoshino ranked third below the "friend" and "mother" on the top 10 most admired people.

According to the survey, Ai's singing and dancing ability, cuteness, positivity, idol talent, and compassion for others were the reasons why she ranked higher.

[65] The live-action series adaptation achieved a record-breaking number of domestic viewers for an Amazon Prime original in Japan within its first 30 days of release.

[78] In North America, the volumes of Oshi no Ko were ranked on Circana (formerly NPD) BookScan's monthly top 20 adult graphic novels list since June 2023.

[93] According to Kadokawa Corporation, the Oshi no Ko anime series was its best-selling title by net sales in fiscal 2023, amassing over ¥3 billion in revenue.

Lauren Orsini of Anime News Network wrote in her review of the premiere that Oshi no Ko "offers a potent combination: the glitz of the industry and the gritty darkness just underneath—and I'm certain we haven't even scratched the surface.

"[96] Ali Griffiths of Digital Spy praised the series' depiction of the production of dating shows and Akane's cyberbullying, describing Oshi no Ko as a "compelling watch".

[97] Kambole Campbell of Polygon described in his review that "[the series] leverages the reincarnation premise for both the wild dramatic potential of its revenge plot line, but also as a way to have a pair of fans see behind the curtain, with different perspectives and impossible hindsight.

The website wrote: "Aside from its unhinged backstory, the real fun of Oshi no Ko is the drama it mines from its analytical portrayal of the entertainment industry and how business conflicts with art.

[107] The sixth episode of the anime, which depicts the character Akane Kurokawa becoming a target of cyberbullying and subsequently attempting suicide after starring in a controversial episode of a reality television program, was noted by critics for its parallels to a similar real-life case of the suicide of Hana Kimura, a Japanese professional wrestler.

[141][142][143] The series' English licensor, Sentai Filmworks, added an advisory message to the end of the episode providing the phone number to the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline on its streaming service, Hidive.