Akane Kurokawa

"I gotta give it my all. Aqua did his best to make that video for me... And came to look for me in the middle of a storm. I was so happy. I need to show him my appreciation. I wonder if he'll be happy... If I play the part of his perfect girl?""

Akane Kurokawa is a major supporting character in the Oshi no Ko manga series. She is an excellent method high school second-year actress, capable of playing personalities to a fault, with connections to the Lala Lai Theatrical Company.

Introduced as Aqua Hoshino's co-star in the reality dating show LoveNow, she ended up being saved by him when she was caught in a controversy following an incident on set and went on to become his girlfriend for the plot of the show. Though a purely professional relationship on his part, she decided to continue it after the show's conclusion in hopes that their fake love would become real someday.

Appearance
Akane is a teenage girl sporting a dark blue hair color with blue highlights. Before her controversy, she did not stand out according to LoveNow's audience, giving the sense that neither her personality nor her looks were remarkable. However, after overcoming her controversy, she began sporting a look akin to Ai Hoshino down to her facial expressions and eyes, including Ai's iconic star in her eyes. She has grown her hair to symbolize her new style and not allow the past to drag her down. She is considered to be very beautiful by many people such as Ruby Hoshino, Abiko Samejima, Yoriko Kichijouji  and Kana Arima.

Her previous hairstyle was reminiscent of the one she had as a child. In the past, she cut and changed her hairstyle to resemble her past idol, Kana. It was extremely effective, as even Kana's staff and fans were duped by her strikingly similar looks.

Personality
Akane's true self is shy and quiet, which makes her a poor fit for a reality dating show, something LoveNow's audience frequently notes. When people started criticizing her and sending her death threats, she became all the more reclusive and was even on the verge of committing suicide. After deciding to return to the show, Aqua Hoshino suggested that she play a character to protect herself from any backlash from potential future incidents. As a result, she took up Ai Hoshino's personality after hearing that she was Aqua's ideal woman to thank him for saving her life and reputation.

When interacting with Aqua, she displays a caring attitude towards him, which others easily pick up on. She is the only one who stays by his side after his collapse and, on multiple occasions, let herself loose in joy and sadness only in front of him. She is also prone to be convinced into doing something whenever someone invokes his name, an example being when Frill Shiranui maintained her participation in the interpersonal audition by informing her that Aqua would be co-starring in the film for which they were auditioning. On the other hand, whenever she interacts with Kana, they invariably have a fiery argument due to several reasons: their shared feelings for Aqua, Kana Arima's jealousy of Akane's success as an actress at a time when she is yet to find any herself, Akane's disappointment that Kana (before the 2.5D live-action production of Tokyo Blade) had become someone happy to let others have the spotlight, and the simple fact that their personalities are polar opposites.

When they officially began dating, Akane became much more open in asking Aqua to spoil her after a busy day and appreciated him for all the small actions he made to show his feelings. For instance, Aqua would wait for her outside her workplace and reply to her texts as soon as possible while never failing to praise her for her hard work. They would also display public affection more quickly as she is willing to hold his arm when walking. All these small actions made her feel grateful and satisfied, so much so that they helped to rid her of all her worries.

In addition to her cuter aspects, Akane possesses a dangerous side as well, as shown upon discovering Aqua's secret that he joined the entertainment industry in order to get close to and kill someone. She even said she would help kill that person, justifying this by voicing her belief that Aqua must have had a strong motive, that it was not about right or wrong, and that she would accept Aqua for who he was even if he was a "really bad boy". Her wish to shoulder his guilt with him and her commitment to their relationship caused Aqua to comment that she was "out of her mind".

This is reinforced after she deduces the identity of the Hoshino twins' father and tries to take matters into her own hands by investigating him on her own, even finding his office so that she can make an attempt on his life by concealing a knife in a bouquet of white roses in a similar fashion to Ai's murder. These actions stemmed from a desire to "save" Aqua by preventing contact between him and his father so that he would not have to concern himself with his revenge plot again, allowing him to spend more time with her. She also appeared to be more hurt by the fact that Aqua planted a tracking device without telling her, rather than the fact that he invaded her privacy by placing one on her at all, stating that she'd have given him hundreds of them and even followed him to hell if only he had asked.

Skills & Talents
Akane is a talented actress who is noted to be the immersive type of actor who get into her roles, which indicates she specializes in method acting. This is clearly demonstrated after she decides play the role of Ai Hoshino during the later portions of LoveNow. After intense studying, Akane is able to replicate Ai's demeanor fastidiously (from her mannerisms, speech patterns, and even thought processes), so much so that she effectively bewitched Aqua and was capable of triggering thoughts of Ai in others immediately after looking at her. Through her research she was able to accurately deduce that Ai's situation at the time.

Akane is also very observant, as shown after seeing a video of kid Aqua Hoshino, she can tell that he was not putting his soul into his performance but just reciting the lines. This ability is not limited to her studying her roles, as she is able to use the same skills to make deductions, for instance, she is able to piece together Aqua's relationship with his late mother upon receiving little details surrounding his past.

However, her preference for method acting does have its limitations such as during the stage adaption of Tokyo Blade. Early on, due to the changes made to her character in the script and with little to draw from the source material, she has problems getting immersed into her character.

Akane is also an accomplished cook, capable of concocting a full-course savory dinner, for which Taishi Gotanda's mother commented to Aqua that 'this one's a keeper'. She gained these skills after attending cooking courses with her mother and cooking at home.

Etymology

 * Akane uses her own name written in hiragana (あかね ) as her stage name while the real spelling of her name is written in Kanji (茜), and means "Madder, especially the Japanese/East Asian Madder variety Rubia Argyni or the red colour derived from it as a dye". The kanji spelling was revealed in Chapter 25/Episode 6.
 * Akane's surname Kurokawa means "black" (黒) (kuro) and "river, stream" (川) (kawa).

Film

 * 15 Year Lie
 * Unknown movie title

Television

 * We're About to Fall in Love for Real
 * Some unknown TV drama titles
 * Unknown Netflix drama title

Theater

 * Tokyo Blade

Trivia

 * Akane's story in the LoveNow arc resembles the circumstances surrounding the real-life death of Hana Kimura, a Japanese professional wrestler. Kimura committed suicide in May 2020 due to media pressure after getting embroiled in a controversy in the reality dating show Terrace House. While Akane's suicide was prevented at the last minute, Kimura's wasn't. However, Aka Akasaka is on record (via Twitter and interviews) stating that this story arc was planned well in advance of Kimura's death, and also did originally include Akane's suicide but she was saved on the advice of the artist, Mengo Yokoyari.
 * Akane is one of the few people to know about the Hoshino twins' relationship with Ai Hoshino before it was publicly revealed in Chapter 105.
 * With her prowess as an actor, Akane was able to mimic Ai's personality perfectly, so much so that both Ruby Hoshino and Aqua Hoshino were reminded of their late mother.
 * Toshirou Kindaichi mentioned that Akane has "deceptive eyes" that can "make lies look like truths", a trait that she shared with a former member of Lala Lai Theatrical Company, revealed to be Hikaru Kamiki.
 * Akane is in class 2-B during her 2nd Year at her High School.
 * Akane's Instagram id is akanecco_2323; she uses this account to update the statuses of her dating with Aqua.
 * Akane is vegetarian.
 * In the Japanese release, Akane said that she's "being devoted/hard working" (精進の身), instead of claiming that she's vegetarian.
 * Akane can cook as she goes to cooking classes with her mother and she also sometimes cooks at home.

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