#aquaka

[onk-confessions]

Loving someone so much you're willing to go to hell with them: Akane

Loving someone so much you would never take them to hell with you: Aqua

Submitted by Anonymous

[skania]

I did not think I'd be here writing about OnK in 2026 BUT Akane is still a miracle of the universe and I'm powerless to stand in her way. So of course I've been keeping an eye on the anime so I can watch how they handle some of my favorite Akane (and AquAka) moments lol

I'll wait until they're done covering their mini arc to post my overall thoughts about it, especially since they're switching things around for reasons unknown.

There was one thing that had me like this though

(Just in case: this post contains manga spoilers!)

Akane's observation on the top-left right here:

"Meeting Kamiki reeled in [Ai's] self-destructive urges."

Granted, what Akane doesn't know is that it worked the same way for Kamiki and that meeting Ai is what reeled his destructive urges, period. But I digress!

I felt like that inclusion is meant to serve as commentary for what we witness in regards to Aqua and Akane during this set of episodes. Aqua knows that if he goes down the path of revenge, all that awaits for him is self-destruction.

What stands between him and those self-destructive urges is his genuine desire to be happy, and Akane is the person who has come to embody that happiness for him.

So just like meeting Kamiki 'reeled in Ai's self-destructive urges', being with Akane has reeled-in Aqua's.

Another reason I really dug the inclusion of that line is that by subtly inviting anime-onlies to draw a comparison between Kamiki and Ai and Aqua and Akane, it also invites us manga readers to compare what we know about KamiAi's relationship to what Akane tells Aqua here:

The kind of relationship Akane would like to avoid having with Aqua is precisely the kind of relationship Ai had with Kamiki.

Sadly, we know that Akane's gamble doesn't pay off, but I still really liked that the anime pretty much referenced the way KamiAi/AquAka parallel each other.

Funnily enough, this is the second time they have pulled something like this. Though last time it was just an easter-egg lol

It's ALSO funny to look back on my old posts about their parallels HERE and HERE because back then I naively thought the point was to have Aqua and Akane succeed where Kamiki and Ai failed, so I focused on the positives 😂 Oh my sweet summer child...

[dreamarchiviste]

💛💙🩵💜

[cinn0bun]

I commissioned Aquakane and the artist allowed me to repost it with credit ofc 💙

Artist : myview_bylenny

[nijigasakilove]

Ahhh the added Aquaka scenes are so good

[poobtato]

Actually you know what?

As an aroace person I really love how oshi no ko explores the concept of love in such complexity

Spoilers from the manga below

In the story, love comes in different kinds

And while yes the story also brings up romantic love, it doesn't really take the spotlight—especially when compared to other kinds of love—while it still remains important

Hell even one of the 'romantic' subplot isn't actually romantic (and was even explicitly stated as such)

And it's all MESSY

Like seriously

Downright traumatic, even

Like yeah I love when a story explores the complexity of love, and even more so when it shows different types of love AND how each of those could be just as messy and destructive as the other

And as an aroace individual who's not so big on romance, I really love to see a story that explores all those with the nonromantic love being the main focus instead of the other way around

It's just—

[matsukaze-tenma-wife]

Can you do more Aquakane 😗✨🩷

you came in the time because I have a new one today ✨

[akane-kurokawa]

@saifuckr ‘s tags on the Akane gif set just swirling around in my brain like toilet water tbh.

I really need to finish my big Akane analysis post before this manga ends, but I think it’s interesting that she and Aqua have showed the potential to have both really strong positive and negative influences on eachother. They both play into eachother’s most toxic traits imo while also bringing out some of the best in eachother and it makes their dynamic so fascinating to me