Ya Boy Kongming!

SPOILER-FREE!
Imagine this for a minute – you burst into the boardroom at an American television studio and tell them you have this idea that you want to see worked on. The board members ask what the idea is. You then say in an excited, giddy tone that it’s about a bygone-aged Chinese military strategist who, in modern-day Japan, uses his perceptive insights to help a young starlet gain fame as a popular singer. I can only imagine the looks that you might be given by the board members; probably a mixture of bewilderment and someone frantically pressing the big red button to call for security to kick you out. The question they ask is clear, though – “How is a series like that supposed to work? Who would watch this?”

Ya Boy Kongming! is a reminder that one of the beautiful things about anime and manga is that not only do properties dare to get those questions asked, but also that a Japanese studio would take the idea and run with it. When I was perusing the list of anime that were releasing in Spring 2022, this was among the ones that I added purely on a lark. The English-translated title got my attention, and reading the synopsis, I knew that this was something that I had to watch. There’s something to be said about insane ideas having a kind of crazed magnetism that makes you too curious to not see developed. At the very least, I hoped that some good songs would come out of it.
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After dying and being reborn, Kongming finds himself wandering around what he thinks is Hell, but is actually the modern day (which, depending on who you ask, is not that far off) on Halloween. He finds his way into a club where he hears a young woman named Eiko singing to the crowd, and he’s captivated by her voice. After being brought back to her apartment and realizing he has the chance to live a peaceful life now away from warfare, Kongming takes it upon himself to become Eiko’s new manager and “tactician,” arranging for her to gain new superstardom, achieve her dreams, get more likes on social media, and make the world a better place.

It goes without saying that this premise is silly, and indeed, comedy is interwoven into the fabric of the show’s narrative and plot. Though virtually every single character in the show is funny in some fashion, Kongming stands centerstage as the show’s comedic ringleader. The show brilliantly uses the transplanted-from-one-place-to-another device in two ways: firstly, antiquity is brought to us rather than the present brought to antiquity, so the modern world is a given rather than being the odd duck out. Even though this is not an inherently unique idea, it helps breathe a little life into the cliché itself. Secondly, it’s also used to suffuse humor into everything surrounding Kongming. Absurdities come one after another either along with him or in his wake, giving nearly all of his scenes an unpredictable quality both in terms of material and timing. One minute he’s heavily debating how to move forward with his plan, and then maybe ten seconds later he buys garish glasses.

Kongming’s antics are thankfully not purely used for silly comedy, either. His natural capabilities as a tactician allow him to navigate his new geographical and temporal landscape, especially given that his lack of knowledge regarding the present would leave most in his situation at a complete loss. He demonstrates an adaptive, perceptive quality that not only ingratiates him to those he meets, but also in scouring for information and evaluating any given scenario. These often lend themselves to even more comedic moments where some seemingly-innocuous thing he does actually has a purpose, which humorously comes to fruition in the later minutes of episodes or entire arcs. The result is that Ya Boy Kongming’s comedy works in both planting brick jokes that pay their dividends, and in brief one-off gags.

But even in the midst of its comedic goofiness and propensity for laughs, the series has an endearing heart at its center. None of Ya Boy Kongming!’s comedy reads as cold or mean-spirited since the crux of the series lies in the warmth of its characters and how they support one another. Kongming being transplanted into modern-day Tokyo is taken care of initially by Eiko, and through their interactions, he begins to take steps to make sure her natural talents bear fruit and blossom, nudging her in the right direction and fostering what is already there.

And these moments are handled gracefully. Ya Boy Kongming! thankfully knows that within the midst of its oddball tone and setting, it needs to make the few times it pauses to catch its breath work effectively. The show demonstrates this quality not only in its earlier outings with Eiko soothing Kongming’s apprehensions, but also with the other characters as the ensemble size increases. While the actual relationships at times are more one-sided, with Eiko being the main beneficiary to Kongming’s guidance rather than the opposite, they believe in one another’s ability to help the other.

The show’s use of diegetic music greatly supports this notion. Since performance is intimately woven both into Eiko’s character and the overall universe of the story, both the performances in front of crowds and the more-private listenings carry dramatic significance. Eiko’s singing voice actress, 96Neko, especially captures both sensitivity and bravura as the occasion calls for it. To contrast with that, Chiba Shouya as Kabetaijin walks the fine line between crisp pronunciation and smooth delivery. Nearly all the performances thus have a zest and charge which is always supported by the narrative, including comedically when it fits. And I’d be remiss if I did not mention Zoltán Tarcsi for composing an immanently-memorable OP cover track, which forced itself into my brain with its Eurobeat techno goodness and still hasn’t let go (click here for the original).

And visually, the series works surprisingly-well. The Tokyo landscape affords numerous bright, neon-esque colors both in and outside the various clubs, and Eguchi Asumi’s first foray into color design makes a solid impression with its nighttime and sunset sceneries. The character designs are also a nice breath of fresh air – since we’re not dealing with high school aged characters, there is more liberty at work in what the characters wear. Converse-style shoes and a wide assortment of street clothes give freshness and personality to the people involved.

If there is one particular aspect of the aesthetics that could be picked apart, it’s that there is a slight overreliance on one particular song. On some level, it makes sense for the show to do this – the song in question, “I’m Still Alive Today,” serves as one of the show’s thematic devices to help track Eiko’s growth. That said, there are a couple of times where it leans too heavily on it, regardless of its particular personal significance to her. Therefore, the song, while in and of itself not a poor composition, is still a slight annoyance. One of the episodes actually uses the song three separate times, which is rather much. This gets somewhat helped by the fact that its plot-relevant uses have some variety and utility in how the song is used, which makes this less of an issue overall.

I mentioned the song’s use of tracking Eiko’s growth, and growth is, in many ways, the underlying theme of the entire series. The little bits of information about Eiko’s life that we are privy to learning about indicate a young woman whose passion has been stepped on more times than she can remember. Though success for Eiko translates to performing at music festivals and letting her own singing be heard by more people beyond the scant followers she has, it also relates to her own downtrodden, reluctant outlook. It’s not enough to just be good at what you do – it’s acknowledging seizing the moments presented to you and making them your own, with a little help along the way if needed…which may or may not include repurposing military strategy and destroying your opponents. The Eiko that develops over the course of the series is not the same young woman we first meet, and as she begins to taste success, she also tastes an aspect of her own abilities and self that she never would have found otherwise.

Whether success relates to finding your own sense of self-signification, or in finding a reason why you love doing what you do, Ya Boy Kongming! tackles growth on numerous fronts. The show’s main characters both old and new all are embarking on that journey to some extent, tailor-made to the circumstances that got them where they were in the first place. It may take attention away from Eiko and Kongming at times, yet the refocused attention creates a fuller tapestry about growth that’s bigger than just those two characters. That doesn’t mean success comes easy, but it makes it at least a little closer and less of a farfetched aspiration. The show’s ability to cap off this feeling, all while sometimes having a cheap gag on standby, can make what follows hilariously unpredictable. The story will likely end exactly how you think it will, but the routes to get there are full of topsy-turvy craziness.
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Ya Boy Kongming! understands that a crazy premise can only become a success if everything involved fires on all cylinders, and in this case, it does. With a colorful aesthetic, a strong sense of comedic timing and jokes, solid music, and characters that could be at times incredibly off-the-wall or endearing, it was the show that became my most-eager viewing during Spring 2022. There’s just a few too many times where it relies heavily on one of its signature songs to get a point across, and some of the dramatic beats and pacing work more seamlessly in some instances than others, but the infectious, musical wackiness the show provides is pure fun and never boring. So, I say this – turn up the music, turn on the neon lights, blow out the circuitry, and have a blast!

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