Paripi Koumei

Zhuge Kongming earned a reputation as one of the greatest tacticians of the Three Kingdoms period of third-century China. Having led his army through countless grueling victories, Kongming falls gravely ill during the Battle of Wuzhang Plains. The weariness and regret stemming from the seemingly never-ending war catch up to him, and as he draws his final breath, Kongming wishes that if he were to reincarnate, he would be reborn in a more peaceful era.

His wish comes true, and Kongming wakes up in modern-day Tokyo with a younger body and his memories intact. Thrust into an unfamiliar world, he finds his way into a nightclub and meets Eiko Tsukimi, an aspiring singer whose performance immediately captivates him. Pitying his confusion, Eiko takes Kongming under her wing and teaches him about the current world, which leads to Kongming's interest in contemporary music. Seeing Eiko's immense musical potential, Kongming vows to make the world recognize her and soon takes on the role of her manager.

Unsurprisingly, the music industry is unforgiving to those who make even the slightest mistakes. Still, Kongming is determined to accomplish his goals—even if he must utilize the war stratagems he famously used in his previous life!

[Written by MAL Rewrite]

Tsukimi, Eiko Main

Hondo, Kaede Japanese

Zhuge, Kongming Main

Okiayu, Ryoutarou Japanese

Kabe Taijin Supporting

Chiba, Shouya Japanese

Kuon, Nanami Supporting

Yamamura, Hibiku Japanese

Owner Kobayashi Supporting

Fukushima, Jun Japanese

Eiko's Fan Supporting

Hanae, Natsuki Japanese

DJ Satori Supporting

Kido, Steve Supporting

Endou, Daichi Japanese

Iriomote, Mia Supporting

Kobayashi, Yuu Japanese

Sekitoba, Kung Fu Supporting

Kimura, Subaru Japanese

Aoi, Hiroyuki Producer

Tsuji, Mitsuhito Producer

Itou, Youhei Producer

Matsumura, Kazuto Producer

Reviews

Jun 16, 2022

SingleH

Recommended

Paripi Koumei is very silly and very good, and while there isn’t much you can say about it in a review, there’s very much to enjoy when you actually watch it. The legendary Chinese tactician, Zhuge Liang, being isekai’d to modern-day Tokyo, becoming the manager of an adorable amateur EDM idol, using his strategic prowess to conquer the world of music, and leading the girl to stardom using the art of war is easily the most confusingly out-of-left-field storyline I’ve seen in years. Despite having such a weird premise, though, it sells you on the characters instantly, and you just watch it like a normal ... show. But it isn’t normal. It’s really goofy, and the fact it was so easily able to make me forget about that simple truth says a lot about how undeniably enjoyable and engaging it is. I know most of us were drawn here by the modern classic that is Paripi Koumei’s opening theme, because that music and those dances are absolutely stellar, but believe me when I say this show is so much more than well-marketed memes and gifs. Zhuge Liang, or “Koumei” (Kongming), as they call him, is immediately charismatic, affable, and hilarious, and despite this comical portrayal of his historical self, the show actually did its research when referencing his life and accomplishments, as well as how his old strategies are applied to helping Eiko, the adorable amateur, realize her dreams and achieve her goals. Eiko herself—and every other character we meet throughout the show for that matter—is also equally lovable for her own unique set of reasons. Please don’t forget that taking a step back reveals a show about a borderline mythical Chinese tactician from antiquity helping a wide-eyed anime waifu become a famous pop star. This is dumb shit. But that doesn’t matter. Well-written, likable characters are well-written, likable characters no matter what, and no matter how absurd the gimmick is, the underdog story this series has to offer is seriously uplifting.

There’s cost-cutting every once in a while, and the CG pedestrians are what they are, but overall this show looks fantastic. PA Works is generally a great studio anyway, but they really knocked it out of the park with this one. The music is fantastic—and not just the insert songs for the big dedicated performance sequences, which themselves are phenomenal. The characters will just be sitting in an office talking, and I’m not even paying attention to anything they’re saying, because I’m too busy loving whatever electronic music is playing in the background. The performances in the first two episodes were already so good, they actually reignited my three-year-old searing hatred for Carole & Tuesday. These people are on stage doing all these crazy movements from all these difficult angles with NO ROTOSCOPE, and their mouths are all animated perfectly in sync with the music, and I’m screaming, “Could you IMAGINE if Carole & Tuesday looked this good for even a FRACTION of a fucking second?!” I can see some elements of this show being unfortunately difficult to appreciate from the perspective of international audiences who don’t speak Japanese—especially during the rap sections, where every subtitle track I downloaded somehow managed to be a crime against both the English language AND the Japanese language—but with specific accessibility issues aside, Paripi Koumei truly is one of those rare TV shows that you can quite literally “recommend to anyone,” because it’s genuinely creative and fun to watch, and there really isn’t any other way I know how to express that in text. Just watch it, jam out to all its catchy tracks and gorgeous performances, cheer for its charming cast of memorable characters, laugh at its self-aware ridiculousness, and take a good few seconds to laugh at yourself for even being able to take seriously something this silly. Your willingness to do so will be a testament to the playful, happy mood it’s put you in.

Thank you for reading.

Reviewer’s Rating: 8

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Jun 16, 2022

LoveScope

Mixed Feelings

Well that was disappointing. I'm not sure what killed my enjoyment more, the lack of direction after episode 5, that same one song that was bland despite having a talented singer or Kabe. Wait I know, it was the padding and lack of Koumei. You know, the reason many of us picked up the anime in the first place? They somehow managed to make me not care about Eiko halfway through.

Maybe PA Works should have consulted with Koumei regarding how long they were gonna stretch an arc since they are so used to making original shows that span over 13 episodes? Nah let's just add ... more anime original crap and have Eiko sing that one song again, which was far less appealing than the OP or the fun ED which was also a cover. The stale rap battles/freestyles/whatever you kids call it these days didn't help either.

At some point I was hopeful they were done with the bs since towards the last episodes they handled a new characters intro and backstory decently, but then that falls flat with the pacing. It is a shame when you get talented individuals to make an anime and just squander everything like that but well, it is what it is. Honestly PA Works, just stick to making anime like Sakura Quest. Adaptations are not your forte.

Reviewer’s Rating: 5

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Jun 16, 2022

NextUniverse

Not Recommended

The reception of this anime is so strange. There's literally nothing here that merits any kind of universal praise as it already does.

What is introduced to us is essentially the Sun Tzu sequel hears an Aimer song for the first time and dedicates his life to making sure that music ends up universal. No hate on Aimer, by the way, I just lacked a better example.

I actually quite like the premise, as it is a good idea, and the first episode kinda sells everything really well. You know, Kongming seemed like an interesting guy, he meets Eiko and they talk about life and all that ... rubbish. Soon after, however, it seems as if everything is pretty much forgotten as fast as it is introduced. Well, maybe not forgotten, but bastardised beyond belief. I will tell you what I mean.

You see, my main problem with everything in this anime is pretty much the inability to hold anything compelling or sincere for as long as possible. It gets ridiculously stale, ridiculously quickly. As I just said, the first episode is pretty good, flashy lights, Kongming using his brain to get the hang of this new world, Eiko trying to make it big, and all the rest of it. There are moments when the anime does become respectable again, but more on that later. Sadly, from what I remember of this show, about 90% of it was key features in this anime being ruined and watered down to mediocrity. Eiko's passions being half-hearted, more so weak, backtracking to them only when the writing called for it, to Kongming basically being a human equivalent of that genie from Aladdin. Eiko's passions being underhanded are somewhat excusable, she's focusing on actually getting better at the music first, but I'd say the passion and the strive for improvement work hand in hand because all she does, for the most part, is just nothing of her own will until around way later on. To not get into too much detail as possible, she basically meets a new character and they both think of each other as cool and they do nice things together and it is all so wholesome. Then it goes back to subpar status. But those particular moments where characters just do real things without some wish from genie or some other life hack are seldom. It's sad because, as seen, it is able to do this.

There are a lot of other flaws to note like how much Kabe's character is pretty awkward to the whole music industry thing in this anime, but I feel as if I am heading into unknown territory with the reality behind them. I don't know anything about how deals are run in the music industry or if there are rappers like Kabe (the whole wuss personality + Eminem style). I am led to believe Kabe's character is more real, but even then his character isn't the most serious thing I've witnessed, with him jumping in and out of issues with the tiniest push imaginable. The music industry is probably not as easy to mess with as Kongming has been doing, but again, I can't run off too much from it other than real-life complaints about how the whole place is abusive. I mean, it gets into it a little, but that is entirely due to some high-school band and some other online hype factors. But going on about the realism is kinda sidetracking, it is more of the fact that it is not very believable. Some important douche seems to be extremely tolerant to some random band for no particular reason, aren't there more people who are in the exact position as this group of girls? He probably needs them to fulfil some lascivious fantasies he's hiding.

Another annoying thing about these characters is how conveniently forgetful they are at times. These guys have one of the greatest strategists on their team and somehow manage to more often than not be doubtful of anything this guy does. I don't get how that makes sense at all. It's not funny. Hell, one of the guys is literally a Kongming nerd and still somehow gets shocked at anything this guy does. It's crazy if you ask me. These guys really cannot behave to a good standard, rather, they think and feel things whenever the writing calls for it.

The only guy I really like is Kongming. He's cool. He does cool things. Everyone loves him. Expect the creators of this anime. I don't know why but everything he does falls flat, it is not executed to a greater standard. When I say he is that genie from Addlain it is because he can literally do anything despite coming from a very weird place. It's absurd, but not entirely when you think about who he literally is. It causes a fine line to appear, one in which he finds himself jumping in and out of what is an incredible effort and wishes come true. Sometimes the anime abuses this and you get a stunt that has no real effect because it is just silly. Sometimes it works well though. He's a good character for the most part; he's my favourite character actually, just some things are very annoying.

The animation here was nonexistent at times, but it does deliver when it is supposed to. Sometimes you just get still shots playing out for like 2 seconds and other times you get a rap battle with actual cool effects and visuals. As expected of PA Works, they did well for this, I don't think it is the best they could have done but it worked enough to not look irregular consistently. This was just a little lazy at times but that didn't hinder my enjoyment. There's also the music in this anime which isn't the best thing in the world either. I can respect the effort though, from Kabe's raps to Eiko altogether, it was nice to listen to. But that doesn't matter, what matters is the comment saying "who else is listening to this in 2026? XD" and then for sure we will know whether this is good or not.

I don't have much else to say, there was virtually no criticism for this anime, so it seems like I am an odd one out. Maybe it just wasn't for me, but I don't really have any high standards, I just think that people liking this as I see now is a little absurd. There's better anime out there from random people wanting to become big singers (literally all of Love Live lmao) to other variants of Sun Tzu enjoyers shifting the balance of a hopeless situation in a big world (Dr Stone). But that's about it with me, I just wanted to express reasons why this isn't so good imo.

Reviewer’s Rating: 4

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	Poll: Have you consummed media based on the Wars of the Three Kingdoms period of Imperial China before watching Ya Boy Kongming! ? KingSunWukong - May 3	26 replies	by CrazyButNot4U »» Nov 24, 11:31 AM
	Poll: Paripi Koumei Episode 12 Discussion ( 1 2 3 4 5 ) Stark700 - Jun 16, 2022	230 replies	by CrazyButNot4U »» Nov 24, 11:22 AM
	Poll: Paripi Koumei Episode 1 Discussion ( 1 2 3 4 ) Stark700 - Mar 31, 2022	188 replies	by Weebabu »» Nov 10, 4:44 PM
	Poll: Paripi Koumei Episode 9 Discussion ( 1 2 ) Stark700 - May 26, 2022	94 replies	by Sirius_noah »» Sep 28, 4:00 PM
	Poll: Kabe and Rap completely ruined this solid 9/10 anime ( 1 2 3 ) GangsterCat - Jun 2, 2022	122 replies	by Yuno »» Sep 21, 7:16 PM