Highlights
- Oshi no Ko explores the dark side of the Japanese entertainment industry through its twists and turns.
- Skip Beat follows Kyoko's journey as she seeks revenge and finds her passion for acting after being betrayed by her childhood friend.
- Phantom of the Idol offers a more mature and comedic take on the pop idol industry as Yuya becomes involved with a ghostly pop idol.
Midway through work on his top manga Kaguya-Sama: Love is War, Aka Akasaka started another project that was much less gentle and fancy-free: Oshi no Ko. Written by Akasaka and drawn by Scum’s Wish creator Mengo Yokoyari, it’s about an OB-GYN called Gorō, who is killed and reincarnated as Aquamarine, the son of pop idol Ai Hoshino.
Years later, Ai is murdered by the same killer, who Aqua suspects may have been working with his “father”. Alongside his twin “sister” Ruby, he resolves to grow up (again) and enter the entertainment biz to find out the truth. Through its twists, the manga goes into dark side of the Japanese entertainment industry. Though it’s not the only one, as fans might like to read these similar stories too.
8 Skip Beat
If Oshi no Ko and Kaguya-Sama could somehow merge together, it would become the classic shojo manga Skip Beat. Created by Yoshiki Nakamura for Hana to Yume magazine, the manga follows Kyoko as she runs away to Tokyo to help her childhood friend Shotaro achieve a career in music. For all her hard work, the two succeed, only for her to overhear Shotaro reveal he never cared about her and was just using her.
Hurt and upset, she vows to outdo him by getting into the business as an actor. As she meets new people and makes new friends, like the serious Ren Tsuruga, she develops an affinity for acting and regains the feelings she thought Shotaro's betrayal destroyed. The manga began in 2002, and is still running today, with Viz Media providing official English translations via their Shojo Beat imprint.
7 Phantom of the Idol
If Skip Beat sounds too lovey-dovey, or needed more supernatural elements, then readers may prefer Phantom of the Idol. It’s technically a more mature story, as it was made by Hijiki Isoflavone for the josei manga magazine Monthly Comic Zero Sum. But that might be more for its curious premise as it leans more into comedy than drama.
Yuya is part of a two-man idol group called ZINGS, where he’s hated for his lazy attitude. However, things change when Yuya meets the ghost of Asahi, a pop idol who wants to continue performing despite being dead. Yuya’s willing to let her possess him, mainly so he can live the easy life. Instead, people think he’s deliberately acting like the late Asahi. Is it better to be known for being lazy, or for being "strange"? Find out via Kodansha USA's English version.
6 AKB49: The Rules Against Love
Luckily no one in AKB49: The Rules Against Love has to die to act like a proper pop star. But it does have its lead Minoru learning more about himself as well as the pop idol business. He cross-dressed as “Minori” to help his crush Hiroko win an audition to become a member of AKB48, the biggest girl band in Japan figuratively and literally. The good news is that Hiroko got the job. The bad news is that "Minori" passed as well.
Now Minoru has to keep singing, keep dancing, and keep up their female disguise to avoid embarrassing himself in front of the whole country. Being an official strip featuring actual members of AKB48 as characters, it’s not exactly the grittiest portrayal of the business. But it’s not squeaky-clean either as it covers the hard work and backstage politics behind the scenes.
5 Shōha Shōten!
Stand-up comedy has its own ups and downs, and Japan has its own comedy style in manzai. It’s basically the classic double-act stand-up formula, only Japan has been doing it for at least 1,000 years. So, it’s bound to have inspired a few manga, and Shōha Shōten is one of the newer ones, debuting in Jump Square in 2021, and available in English via Viz Media.
Azemichi is a great joke writer, but he suffers from bad stage fright. While Taiyo has manzai experience, but his partner passed away from a disease. To honor their memory, Taiyo joins forces with Azemichi to become comedy stars. In turn, Azemichi hopes to reconnect with an old childhood crush with his comedy. They call themselves "One-Way Ticket to the Top" because, for all the troubles they'll face, the only way for them is up.
4 Kasane
Fans of the lighter side of Oshi no Ko have their selections, but what about those who want more darkness? They might find themselves served well by Daruma Matsūra’s Kasane. Available in English via Kodansha USA, it’s a thriller with its own supernatural touches. The story comes complete with drama, intrigue, jealousy, and magic lipstick.
Kasane is the daughter of the late famous actor Sukeyo. She inherited her mother’s acting skills, but not her looks. However, she discovers the lipstick her mother left her lets her take the attributes of other people with a kiss. Kasane uses it to gain other people’s faces, pretending to be other aspiring actors to get revenge on her bullies and further her career. She has fun sowing, but she'll eventually have to reap the "rewards" sooner or later.
3 The Twins’ New Life
Suon Nicca and Aidera’s The Twins’ New Life is a little different from the others as it’s an online manhwa or webtoon. It was originally hosted on KakaoPage, with an English translation on TappyToon. The story also involves reincarnated twins learning to rely on each other in a harsh world. However, it skips the entertainment side of things in favor of the standard isekai fantasy world.
Arienne and Arhen are reborn in a fantasy world as the land’s prince and princess. They get to live a fairy tale life, but it ends up more like Cinderella as they’re abandoned by their father and left in a crooked old castle with their abusive mother and her cruel maids. It’s only after her death that their father takes them back into his palace. Though whether they’ll trust him again is another matter.
2 Erased
Fans might recognize this one for its anime adaptation and the live-action movie on Netflix. It’s perhaps the most successful of Kei Sanbe’s manga after the pandemic thriller Kamiyadori and zombies-on-a-boat storyMōryō no Yurikago. Set in Chiba, a man called Satoru gains an ability called “Revival”, where his consciousness goes back in time before life-threatening events in order to prevent them.
When his mother is killed, the ability sends him 18 years back into his past to save her, because her death may be connected to a kidnapping case that killed 3 of his childhood friends too. It has Oshi no Ko’s murder mystery plot with the supernatural “Revival” powers and clues. Anyone who caught the anime's full run will also be glad to hear the manga's ending is more fleshed out than the anime's more infamous, condensed take on it.
1 Boy’s Abyss
The darkest entry on this list comes from Ryō Minenami’s Boy’s Abyss, available in Weekly Young Jump and in English via Viz Media. Reiji is a boy living with his broken family in a dull, rural town. His life takes a turn when he comes across Nagi, the missing member of the pop group Acrylic. The two leave for a spot outside town called “Lover’s Abyss”, where they both try to commit suicide by falling in it.
They are rescued in the nick of time, but the Abyss is no mere pitfall. From then on, anyone connected to Reiji begins to see their live unravel until they too are driven towards the Abyss. Only Reiji's childhood friend Gen may be able to break its power, but the keyword there is "may". The pop star connection is mild, but its family drama and spiraling domestic chaos should hook readers in general, let alone Oshi no Ko fans.