Welcome, I present Ya Boy Kongming! (Paripi Koumei).
Originally published on a Kodansha website, it would go on to be serialized in Weekly Young Magazine two years later. The story takes us to Zhuge Liang, better known as Kongming Zhuge, a real-life Chinese military strategist who is reincarnated in modern Japan after passing away due to his age. His new life in "hell" takes him to the BB Lounge club where he meets Tsukimi Eiko (Stage name: EIKO), a newly started musical artist with whom Kongming eventually becomes the new manager... Ahem... tactician.
In principle, it's a somewhat bizarre premise by inserting real historical elements about China with a story about the musical growth of a Japanese artist, and it's also valid to point out some inconsistencies between the real Kongming and that of Paripi Koumei - As far as to his knowledge of history and the stratagems he uses throughout the series - for those familiar with Chinese history. And with the character, I mean that we are talking about a quite charismatic and curious character like Kongming. If something stands out in the anime, it's his persuasive personality and wisdom, qualities that allow him to convince his close contacts to devise his best plans and stratagems, and execute them at the moment when anyone has lost hope (Because perhaps his only flaw is that leave things to the last minute)
As for Eiko, she is an energetic and active girl who is passionate about her work, she strives to become like those professional singers full of followers and money in their pockets. Her meeting with Kongming happened under the strangest circumstances for her, and at first she was not going to believe that she was the incarnation of a real character, but that she becomes a companion and friend as the program progresses, in addition to being her motivation for being Kongming. his first fan of his music. Other characters appear and are part of Eiko's dream of being on the big stages: among them Owner Kobayashi, owner of BB Lounge and passionate about the history of the Three Kingdoms; Kabe Taijin, a freestyle rapper; Nanami Kuon, a street singer. Other characters also appear and join the cast which gives the show some interesting chemistry.
PA Works features mostly colorful animation with somewhat good character designs. The details to Kongming's costume (and the derivatives he gets in each episode) are interesting to see. However, something that stands out is the stages where Eiko steps on and sings to the public.
As a musician, something I like about this music anime is that it has music. There is a variety of songs that are presented at times of the show, from electronic music, synth-pop, through rock to rap and acoustic. So much so that at times the show goes to the trouble of giving a bit of music theory, which is nice to know because it makes the anime feel like it knows what stage it's standing on. However, if we can highlight this, it's simply its OP and ED.
OP is ‘Ciki Ciki Bam Bam’ performed by QUEENDOM, a eurobeat remix song of another eurobeat of the same name performed by Hungarian artist Bulikirály. This song introduces us to a catchy atmosphere with Kongming and Eiko mainly dancing and driving a fancy red car on the stages and main streets of Shibuya, as well as being accompanied by the rest of the cast and some other secondary characters. The ED, on the other hand, is a J-Pop song starring the BB Lounge club. As the episodes go by, you will see that more characters are integrated to accompany Eiko in the voices and a rap section. At first it may seem that this degrades the quality of the song a bit when it is only sung by Eiko - Especially towards Kabe Taijin's Rap - But personally it doesn't pose a general problem to the rest of the show.
One additional piece of information I want to mention is that the anime has some references to real artists. My favorite of them is episode 8 when Eiko falls asleep in the hot springs and dreams of walking horizontally on a hill, a clear tribute to Avicii and his single "Levels" whose music video contains a similar scene.
Some fans may wonder ‘But how can something like '36 Stratagems' work in the music industry?’ The logic behind the show, however, is that Kongming's decisions apply to managerial decisions about marketing and publicity. As a consequence, the viewer unexpectedly sees how his stratagems come to work and give results to the artist EIKO, who is also stunned to see that a “stranger in a Chinese suit” can also become an excellent manager. The character's eccentricity is so clear that we'll even see things like Kongming sending out pudding and tickets so Eiko can curry favor with a popular DJ.
His personality makes the viewer find the atmosphere of the show pleasant, I mean, who would have thought that a character from Imperial China would be someone so cool and friendly to a very modern audience? This, however, leads to a problem in the middle of the show as we will see fewer Kongming appearances within the show as it progresses. Some may argue that this has slowed down by focusing mostly on supporting characters when the show has only 13 episodes to cover their stories. It's fair to say that "Carry of the show" Kongming's lack of creep in midway through the show makes the show a bit slower than usual. However, one argument in favor of this is that Kongming, in addition to being the cool guy on the show, also takes on a mentoring role for Eiko and the supporting characters. That is why we see moments in which Kongming shows his audience his experiences and anecdotes from when he was a strategist; As a consequence of this, the program encourages the viewer to become more interested in the history of the artists, their past and their dreams, and the eventual meeting with the strategist that leads them to move forward.
Overall, Ya Boy Kongming! is an anime that stands out for its passion for musical artists, their industry and the hope of living the same moment that our favorite artists once managed to achieve, with a character that fans will love for their intelligence, and a set of songs ready to be danced at the disco. If you like history and music, then don't be afraid to enter the club, talk a little about the Three Kingdoms and compose the best songs with the best club in the show.
