The following article contains spoilers for Oshi no Ko. To catch up on the latest chapter, it's available for reading on Manga Plus.The anime adaptation is currently available for streaming on HIDIVE.
Acting and lying go hand-in-hand when it comes to performances, whether it's on stage or in everyday life. It's widely believed that no one likes being lied to, but we're being lied to everyday - and loving it in plain sight, we just don't notice it: The entertainment industry. Our favorite singers and entertainers act out a part and are rewarded for their talents. Whether it's that they're pretending to play a character on screen, or putting on a big smile to match choreographed dances - their talent is lying. And we reward them for it. Maybe even they themselves are unaware of their own dishonesty, and through repetition have believed that the path they took, led them to genuinely love those who support them; and perhaps in some cases, those feelings have become genuine. Everyone loves positive attention, but when it's received, the definition of "love" is brought into question. That is the foundation of Oshi no Ko.
The name itself, Oshi no Ko is written as such in Japanese, 「 推しの子」. 「 推し」, refers to a person who you favor or support. And「 の」 implies ownership or possession, similar to a an 's. In this case, it's "Favorite person's". 「 子」 refers to "child" or "young girl". There are two distinct implications, both literally translating to "My favorite person's girl/child". So the title can either be read as, "(Supporting) My Favorite Idol" or "(In support of) My favorite person/idol's children". As Ai, a popular idol, has two children in secret.
Ignorance Is Bliss
Our main character, Goro is a licensed gynecologist who's a big fan of Ai, a famous idol and singer. After having lost a beloved patient to cancer, he continues to follow Ai as a devoted fan - telling himself it's only because of Sarina's (the patient) death, that Goro has any interest in idols. Though we will quickly come to realize that he has indeed developed his own "love" for idols, Ai in particular. However, even he is aware that her feelings toward her fans are nothing more than a superficial fantasy. One day, Goro is summoned to oversee a pregnant female patient, who is none other than Ai herself. Pregnant with twins and determined to have a family of her own, he decides to support her decision and be the one to personally deliver her newborns. But little does he know, an obsessed fan knows her whereabouts and proceeds to murder Goro, who would reincarnate into one of Ai's children, along with Sarina, albeit unknowingly. Years later, Ai would suffer the same fate - and her children would bear witness.
Love Or Obsession?
Upon Goro and later Ai's death, we discover that the killer was insecure and felt "betrayed" by the fact that Ai had kids, accusing her of lying to her fans. We find out through a reincarnated Goro (now known as Aquamarine), that there's no way the killer had as much information as he did, such as Ai's pregnancy - which can only lead to one person who was the true perpetrator: his father. This leads the viewer to believe that the father has a hatred for her, but yet in chapter 72, during his first appearance, we see him fondly visiting Ai's grave and remarks how beautiful their children have become.
The eschewed ideal of "love" doesn't just stop there, however. Melt, a character who we see in later chapters, is an inexperienced actor who was led to believe that he was "loved" his whole life. In a flashback sequence, he laments how when he entered middle school, an upper classman took advantage of him. As a result, and in order to process his trauma, he concluded that he was simply just attractive to people and "loved". As he grew up, he was popular with those around him, which further brought him to the misconception that every bit of attention he got, was from a place of affection. It's only later on, when he realizes that he had just been being taken advantage of the whole time, while filming for a TV show that only scouted him because of his looks. He wasn't truly "loved" for anything, rather it was the idea of him that was "loved". In the entertainment industry, it's not the individual who is truly loved - it's the perception.
What Is Love?
An ongoing occurrence throughout the manga is how Aqua's peers perceive him as a player, despite him never sleeping with anyone or making advances. This is because he goes out of his way to be friendly or does favors for his female friends, which leads them to believe that he's "leading them on". It's also because Aqua is conventionally attractive, any positive attention from him can be mistaken for flirting - which is also a common misconception in real life. When Ai is initially scouted by Ichigo, she tries to scare him off by telling him how she lacks a proper family or education, and thus because of her upbringing (or lack thereof), she'll be unable to make the same connections with her fans that other idols do.
Namely, telling them, "I love you". Though it's precisely because of this, that she ultimately agrees to become an idol in hopes that through her act, and by saying it enough times, she will learn to genuinely "love" someone. After giving birth to her children, she develops an affection and attachment to them, like any mother would. And upon her death, Ai is finally able to say "I love you" to Aqua and Ruby, and mean it. The personal bond that one forms and the ability to see someone for who they are (and accept it) is what true "love" is. In the end, climbing up the ladder of an industry upheld by dishonesty, she was finally able to find the "truth" she had been searching for the whole time, in the family that she created by both blood and bond. They say, "Repeat a lie long enough, and it becomes the truth" for a reason.