As a dark drama anime, Oshi no Ko tackles a number of serious and intriguing issues, one of which is the role that lies play in people's lives. The Hoshino family was founded on lies from the beginning, and in Oshi no Ko Chapter 121, Ruby Hoshino reflects on her days as Sarina Tendouji and the horrific lies she previously told herself.


Sarina/Ruby and Ai Hoshino have both misled to themselves about the truth of love in their families in different ways. This explains why Ruby Hoshino misses her mother so much and is so anxious to be like her as the star girl in B Komachi—Sarina understands the kind of untruthful anguish her mother went through and thoroughly sympathises.

 

Both Of Sarina Tendouji's Lives Are Built On Lies

Oshi no Ko Chapter 121 Proves [SPOILER] is a Tragic Liar Like Ai_0

Oshi no Ko's 121st chapter shows Ruby Hoshino at her original mother's house, unable to work up the courage to ring the doorbell and introduce herself. Ruby has more problems than the sheer strangeness of reuniting with her mother in a new body, however. Ruby's flashbacks reveal that after she was diagnosed with a serious illness and would probably die soon, Ruby's mother lost all hope. In that flashback, Ruby's mother cruelly cuts her emotional losses and abandons Sarina in the hospital, and the young Sarina isn't sure what to make of this. Due to her innocent youth (and perhaps desperation), Sarina constantly tells herself that her mother still loves her and will surely visit soon. However, Sarina's mother never once visited.

Sarina sustained herself with a well-meaning lie in her early years until she died under Dr. Gorou's care at age 12. Now she has been reborn as Ruby Hoshino, getting a fresh start on life with her new brother Aquamarine, and they are both lying about who they are and where they came from. Sarina/Ruby never got a fair chance to live a happy and normal life built on honesty and trust, and for that matter, neither did Ai Hoshino. Fans shouldn't judge Sarina/Ruby too harshly for living two lives based on lies, though; fate forced her hand in both cases.

 

Sarina & Ai Both Lied About True Familial Love To Protect Themselves

Oshi no Ko Chapter 121 Proves [SPOILER] is a Tragic Liar Like Ai_1

Sarina and her new mother Ai both lied about various things, such as Ai lying to her followers about her feelings for them or Sarina concealing the fact that she is Sarina Tendouji born in an infant's body. They do, however, share one lie: they deceive themselves about familial love in order to avoid being wounded. Sarina Tendouji avoided the painful reality of her mother's abandonment in her past existence by convincing herself that her mother will undoubtedly visit her one day. Similarly, Ai was terrified that she wasn't ready for parenting, so she told herself that she didn't love her children in order to feel less bad if she failed as a single parent.

 

Sarina and Ai were both incorrect, although in different ways. Tragically, the truth was far darker than Sarina's desperate lie in the hospital, while the truth was far kinder to Ai, who had always been a committed father to Aqua and Ruby. Even if these lies were inverted, Sarina became extremely empathetic to Ai's suffering. Sarina understands what it's like to lie to yourself in order to feel better about a problematic family, something her brother Aqua cannot understand.

So Ruby is the one who vowed to dive into the brutal idol industry despite the risks and honor Ai's sympathetic memory. Aqua, who lacks this sympathy, fixated on something more external: seeking revenge at all costs. Even if Sarina is the bigger liar and is distinctly selfish and juvenile, perhaps she's the nobler twin after all, and was closer to Ai than Aqua could ever imagine.