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 (黒川 あかね, Kurokawa Akane) is a character in the Oshi no Ko manga series. She is an actress capable of playing personalities to a fault and has connections with the Lalalie Theatrical Company. She was once a girl who was quiet and capable of easily fading into the background, however, after a controversy surrounding her episodes in the reality dating show "LoveNow", she acts a personality strikingly similar to Ai Hoshino to ingratiate Aqua. She plays the active role of being Aquamarine Hoshino's girlfriend but as of yet, it is a professional relationship with subtle hints that it may be developing into something more.

Appearance
Akane sports a purplish hair color with blue highlights. Before her controversy, she didn't particularly stand out according to LoveNow's audience; giving the sense that neither her personality nor looks were particularly remarkable. However, after overcoming her controversy, she began sporting a look akin to Ai Hoshino down to her facial expressions and eyes, having her iconic stars in her eyes. She now has long hair as a symbol of her new style and not allowing the past to drag her down.

Personality
Akane's true self is shy and quiet, not making her a good fit in a reality dating show. When people starting lambasting and sending death threats to her, she became all the more reclusive and was even willing to commit suicide. LoveNow's audience called her out on it multiple times, and thus, after she made a comeback, she took up Ai Hoshino's personality after listening to Aqua's advice in playing a character. Being an excellent actress, she's capable of studying and replicating Ai's demeanour fastidiously (From her mannerism, speech and even thinking process) so much so that she was able to have Aqua at her mercy, and have others immediately think of Ai after looking at her for just a second.

She is also very diligent, as after she heard Aqua's taste in girls, she wrote down notes and immediately started studying to make herself more presentable for him. When asked by others, if both parties agreed, Akana wouldn’t mind dating Aqua for real. She also possesses actual romantic feelings for Aqua which she has made apparent a myriad of times.

She is also an accomplished cook, capable of concocting a full course savoury dinner, that made others think that 'she is a keeper' and successfully achieving Aqua's approval. She is able to do so after previously attending cooking courses with her mum, and cooking at home. She has both a serious side and a fun side to her as after seeing a video of kid Aqua, she exclaimed that he was 'cute', yet to her trained eyes, she could tell that he wasn’t putting his soul into his performance but rather just reciting the lines.

She knows the pain associated with being alone and having no one to confide in after being broken down and bullied, thus, when Aqua was suffering from severe PTSD, she shed tears for him, embraced him, and promises to always be by his side no matter what happens, furthermore promising to share his pain with him.

She is also very astute as after just receiving minuscule details surrounding Aqua's past, she was capable of piecing together all the details accurately, and deduce his relationship with his late mother, immediately feeling his pain and loneliness. She also kept his secret and did not criticised nor sway him when he said that he was only in this industry to 'kill someone'. Knowing that he has a good reason, and trusting his character, she vowed that she would help 'kill them' as that was how 'committed' she was to their relationship.

For her, it wasn’t about right or wrong, as she knew how impossible it was to change the mind of someone who was so resolved, disregarding their goal would be disrespectful and only serve for him to push her away. She didn’t want Aqua to suffer the consequences alone and pledged to shoulder the guilt with him, and telling him that she would accept him no matter who he was. However, she also wanted Aqua to help her defeat Arima and Himekawa, which he promised to as it was his duty as  her 'boyfriend' to protect her and support her endeavours.

Story
Being a quiet and reserved girl, she signs up for the Reality Show "My Love with a Star Begins Now" along with other teenagers, including Aquamarine Hoshino. Seeing that she does not stand out much in the program, she decides to develop a false enmity and rivalry with the fan favourite Yuki Sumi. In an impulse of emotions, she ends up scratching the face of the model, who immediately knew that Akane did not do it on purpose and forgave her. However, the viewers and internet users did not take it the same way, and began assaulting the young girl with hateful messages and flaming in many different social networks. From death threats, insulting her character and even wishing that she would just die.

After reading all the comments, she reached her breaking point and decided to commit suicide. But, before she was about to jump off a bridge onto the highway, she was grabbed and saved by Aqua whom gently embraced her and promising that it's alright. After calming down, her co-workers were informed as she was taken to see them. Yuki ran up and slapped her with tears in her eyes, asking her why she did something so reckless. Akane then realised how much they all cared about her as she broke down crying with Yuki.

After the near-incident, all her colleagues joined together to raise a PV to the social networks of the program with different unpublished scenes which show the two involved in the problem being friends in order to avoid more hatred towards Akane and the Show. Aqua was the one in charged of the operation. He spent many all nighters and threatened adults that if they did not do as they were told, there would be repercussions. The plan eventually worked out as public opinion swayed back and supported her.

Knowing how her life and reputation was saved not once but twice by Aqua, she began developing authentic feelings for him and gave him both of their first kiss, live on the show. Fans immediately voiced their support for the couple as they dated often after the episode, taking pictures to appease their fans. Many of their close friends and family supported their relationship as well. Wanting to start anew and not letting the past shackle her any longer, she decided to change her persona for the better as she allowed her hair to grow out, signifying her new outlook.

Trivia

 * Akane's story arc seemed to reference the situation of Kana Himura, a Japanese Pro-Wrestler who committed suicide due to media pressure. Only this time, in Akane's case, she had friends who supported her and prevented her suicide attempt.
 * Akane is one of the few to know the twins relationship to Ai Hoshino.