The second episode may not have been as hard-hitting as the first, but Oshi no Ko still went viral recently thanks to a hilarious Kana Arima licking baking soda animation.
Kana licking baking soda is a running gag in the series, but for international viewers, an explanation might be needed as this joke only works properly in Japanese.
Specifically, this phrase involves some Japanese wordplay that can’t be translated fully into English while preserving the entire joke.
Oshi no Ko: Kana Arima Licking Baking Soda Joke Explained
As established in Oshi no Ko's first episode, Kana Arima is a notable child actress who is dubbed as a “talented child actor who can cry in 10 seconds.” In Japanese, this phrase is “juusou wo nameru tensai-koyaku.”
Given how interested Ruby Hoshino is in the entertainment industry, she’s familiar with Kana and knows her catchphrase.
But instead of saying it properly, Ruby mistakenly says that Kana is “a talented child actor who licks baking soda.”
In Japanese, this is “juubyou de nakeru tesai-koyaku.” So, while these phrases are not at all alike in English, they sound quite similar in Japanese.
The Oshi no Ko manga translated this joke differently, so it preserved the wordplay.
Instead of baking soda, Kana is dubbed as a “genius child actor who can cry on the spot.” Though Ruby calls her a “genius child actor who can lie on yacht.”
This English manga joke wasn’t used in the anime’s official subtitles as the show featured hilarious scenes of Kana licking baking soda.
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Kana Arima’s Baking Soda GIF Trends Online
After the already funny scene of Kana’s baking soda moment in Episode 1, the second episode went above and beyond by showing a young Kana licking baking soda off the floor.
Shortly after Episode 2’s broadcast, the anime’s official Twitter account shared a GIF version of the scene, depicting Kana’s licking animation on a white background.
Thanks to how funny it is and how easy it is to edit the GIF, it quickly went viral on Twitter.
The tweet even got over 120k likes less than a day after it was shared.
Kana may have not appeared for long in Episode 2, but she will play a bigger role in the next episodes to come.
Oshi no Ko Episode 3 will be released next week. Similar to the second, Episode 3 will also have a standard episode length.
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