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 (あかね) is a character in the Oshi no Ko manga series. She is an excellent 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, but after a controversy surrounding her episodes in the reality dating show LoveNow, she acts a personality strikingly similar to Ai Hoshino. She used to play the active role of being Aquamarine Hoshino's girlfriend in a professional capacity, but after their trip to Miyazaki, they became a real couple. However, she, later on, discovered that his feelings for her were a lie, realizing that she was not the girl he truly loved. Despite this, she decided to continue the relationship, hoping that the lie would one day be true.

Appearance
Akane is a beautiful girl sporting a purplish hair color with blue highlights. Before her controversy, she did not particularly stand out according to LoveNow's audience, giving the sense that neither her personality nor her 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 has since grown out her hair as a symbol of her new style and not allowing the past to drag her down.

Her current hairstyle is reminiscent of the ones she had when she was a child. In the past, she decided to cut and change her hairstyle to be similar to 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, not making her a good fit in a reality dating show. When people started lambasting her and sending death threats, 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 is capable of studying and replicating Ai's demeanor fastidiously (from her mannerism, speech and even thinking process), so much so that she was able to mislead 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 about 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, Akane was open to the idea of dating Aqua for real. She also possesses actual romantic feelings for Aqua, which she has made apparent a myriad of times. Later on, these feelings were revealed to be gratefulness when she was not able to confidently answer Aqua's question if she indeed loved him. This gratefulness stems from the act of Aqua saving her from suicide. This later on slowly transformed into romantic feelings for him. She is also an accomplished cook, capable of concocting a full-course savory dinner, which made others think that 'she is a keeper'. She is able to do so after previously attending cooking courses with her mother and cooking at home. She has both a serious side and a fun side to her, as shown after seeing a video of kid Aqua, she exclaimed that he was 'cute', yet to her trained eyes, she could tell that he was not putting his soul into his performance but 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 promised 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 deducing his relationship with his late mother, immediately feeling his pain and loneliness. She also kept his secret and did not criticize 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. At that time, her sense of commitment originated from her gratefulness to Aqua and wanting to pay him back for saving her from suicide.

For her, it was not 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 did not want Aqua to suffer the consequences alone and pledged to shoulder the guilt with him, telling him that she would accept him no matter who he was.

When interacting with Aqua, she displays an obviously caring attitude towards him which others easily pick up on. She was the only one who stayed by his side after he collapsed and, on multiple occasions, let herself loose in joy and in sadness that is only shown to him. Whenever she interacts with Kana, they would unfailingly have a fiery argument as their personalities are polar opposites. Kana would always antagonize her while she, in turn, would fire back.

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

Etymology

 * The name Akane is written in hiragana (あかね), which has no special meaning. However, when written in kanji (茜), it could possibly mean "deep red, dye from the Rubia plant".
 * Akane's surname Kurokawa means "black" (黒) (kuro) and "river, stream" (川) (kawa).

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 was not.
 * Akane is one of the few to know the Hoshino twins' relationship with Ai Hoshino.
 * With her prowess as an actor, Akane was able to mimic Ai's personality perfectly, so much so that both Ruby Hoshino and Aquamarine Hoshino were reminded of their late mother.
 * Akane is able to replicate the stars present in the eyes of the Hoshino family.