Aka Akasaka, the mind behind Oshi no Ko, recently made a noticeable slip-up with the page count for Volume 16 of his manga, which caught a lot of fans’ attention for all the wrong reasons.
Akasaka went on X (Twitter’s current iteration) to announce that this latest volume would contain 18 bonus pages. But shortly after, Mengo Yokoyari, the artist, publicly corrected him, noting the actual count was 24.
Mengo’s correction wasn’t subtle either—she tweeted the correction pretty bluntly (in Japanese: “おまけは24pやで”).
For context, Mengo’s work here isn’t just filler; she’s been adding those final touches as a kind of farewell to the series.
The phrase “おまけは24pやで” is considered blunt in Japanese. It’s a Kansai dialect expression, and the “やで” ending makes it sound informal and assertive. The sentence itself is very direct, simply stating that the bonus is 24 points without any politeness markers.
This directness, combined with the dialect, can make the statement come across as blunt and potentially even rude.
Her comment stirred discussion, and many fans interpreted it as a gentle rebuke to Akasaka’s apparent lapse in attention. This, of course, hit differently for fans who are already a bit critical of Akasaka’s involvement in the series’ latter stages.
It’s no secret the ending of Oshi no Ko didn’t land smoothly for everyone. A lot of fans felt that there were loose ends and character arcs that didn’t get satisfying closure.
Given Akasaka’s previous work on Kaguya-sama: Love is War, which he emphasized would differ in storytelling and conclusion style from Oshi no Ko, fans had high expectations for a similar, thoughtful resolution.
Some are now taking this page-count oversight as a further indication that Akasaka’s focus might already be drifting to his next project, and that this affected the series’ ending.
Mengo Yokoyari, who has been handling the visuals for Oshi no Ko since its start in 2020 in Shueisha’s Weekly Young Jump, followed up with a more personal tweet about her own future.
She confirmed that, unlike Akasaka, she hasn’t decided what’s next and plans to take a break. She mentioned needing to “wrap up a few things” (likely talking about bonus content and promotional work for the last volume).
With Oshi no Ko adapted into an anime (the second season wrapped just last month, October 2024), the fanbase has expanded even further. The manga already had a strong following, and the anime adaptation by Doga Kobo (founded by ex-Toei animators) has only increased its popularity.
But with Akasaka’s new project looming, fans are wondering if the hurried conclusion to Oshi no Ko and the small errors, like this page count, could be signs of a shift in his creative priorities.
Given Akasaka’s reputation, it’s not that surprising that every small detail, like this page miscount, becomes a topic of discussion.
Source: X
