Season aired: Spring 2022
Number of episodes: 12
Watched on: HIDIVE
Translated by: Jake Jung
Genres: Music, Drama
Thoughts: This season has shown its fair share of creative isekai anime, and Ya Boy Kongming! is one of them. Kongming, better known as Zhuge Liang, is a famous tactician from the Three Kingdoms Era of China. He dies while the Chinese empire is still at war and finds himself reincarnated in a busy modern Japanese city on Halloween night. Naturally, he believes he was sent to hell. However, his exploration of modern Japan takes an unexpected turn when he meets Eiko, an aspiring artist whose song and voice inspire him and remind him of home.
Ya Boy Kongming! caught my attention in more ways than one. As a Chinese American who grew up watching dramas about the Three Kingdoms Era of China, arguably one of the most famous historical periods of Chinese history, I was curious to watch another country’s portrayal of not only Kongming in modern times but in a more comedic light. Kongming’s famous status as a tactician is no fluke — many of his winning strategies were written and studied for centuries after Kongming’s death as China continued to fight in wars and changed dynasties. We will never know Kongming’s true historical personality, but what we do know is that his ability to think out of the box for and come up with seemingly impossible ideas has made him a continued legend in Chinese culture. The anime faithfully carries that over — just this time, instead of winning a war, he wants an artist to succeed.
This is where the anime succeeds. Kongming reuses strategies from his prior life but adjusts them to fit the music industry scheme instead. Hearing pieces of historical fact mixed in with a funny and ingenuine twist is an effective way to illustrate Kongming’s capabilities in a lighter atmosphere without cutting out his roots as a war tactician. He’s a delight to watch on screen, and his refusal to completely adjust to modern times, such as wearing his Chinese traditional robes instead of modern clothing, while still retaining curiosity to learn as much as possible, makes him an endearing character. Ryotaro Okiayu voices him well with all the funny, badass, and solemn moments in a smooth chocolate voice that unveils so many hidden emotions.
Eiko, the other protagonist, shines a little less compared to Kongming. She’s a hard worker who has an ability to draw out people’s hidden feelings through a powerful voice. Her backstory explains why her songs can reach people so intensely, but I wish we could’ve gotten to hear her sing a little more often than what we saw in the series. Additionally, she isn’t as complex as Kongming because she lacks character flaws. She never truly fails thanks to Kongming’s instructions, and there’s nothing about her that generates depth. She’s a nice girl. She cares for her friends. She’s likable and created to be easy to root for. But I always want a little something more.
I also wanted more animation and better art quality. P.A. Works has made a name for themselves with original anime with beautiful background art mixed in with animation, though collaborators outside the studio are often the ones responsible for the backgrounds. Just last year, I enjoyed The Aquatope on White Sand for its gorgeous scenic shots. Ya Boy Kongming!’s lackluster art and animation, unfortunately, sticks out like a sore thumb in my memories. We don’t see full animation of the live performances, scenic shots of the city look bland, and characters often look crooked or like straight-up blobs in the distance. It hurts more because the first episode displayed the usual P.A. Works quality, but the rest of the series fell off.
The good news is that the soundtrack, arguably the most important technical part of the series, does the plot justice. Eiko’s songs are genuinely fun to listen to with lyrics that reflect her personality. Her rivals’ music is just as distinct. Pop music resembling K-pop boy bands, rock music reminiscent of J-rock, and rap battles exactly like real life rap battles pop in and out seamlessly throughout the series as the artists work together or compete for the stage. Even the non-lyrical songs are incredible. Kongming’s theme drips with historical Chinese music with recognizable sound of a bow gliding across the strings of the erhu, which pops out compared to the other characters, who have much more modern themes using electric instruments and common motifs.
I also have to give huge praise to Jake Jung, the translator responsible for bringing Ya Boy Kongming! to our screens. I am not a fluent Japanese speaker, but I am a fluent Chinese speaker. I grew up talking, reading, and writing in Chinese before I learned English, and the most incredible thing about watching Ya Boy Kongming! is recognizing childhood Chinese poems I memorized in the series.
Chinese language is historically spoken in a poetic and metaphorical fashion, so Kongming quoting poetry in his usual conversations makes perfect contextual sense. Jake Jung’s ability to translate ancient Chinese poetry from Japanese into English is authentic to the point of almost impossibility. Translating from one language to another often inevitably loses elements as direct translations are often impossible. To translate it from not even the original language and to not lose the taste, style, and beat of the original is award-worthy.
That’s not to say for all the other translations he was responsible for, including rap battles with lyrics that followed the original cadence, song lyrics that rhymed, and dialogue differences between Kongming’s manner of speaking compared to the Japanese people around him. Jung’s done incredible work in this series.
Does the incredible translation, soundtrack, and Kongming’s character hold up the series? It certainly made Ya Boy Kongming! enjoyable, but I’d say these three aspects made separate positive impacts on me rather than the anime as an entire package. There are emotional and powerful moments, but they also get undercut by the blandness of predictability in Eiko’s journey towards stardom. Watching a likable girl win all the time in a high-stakes industry just doesn’t feel right when you’re aware of the raw, unforgiving struggle it takes to reach victory.
Rating
Plot: 7 (Multiplier 3.5)
Characters: 7 (Multiplier 3.5)
Voice acting: 7
Art/Animation: 6.5
Soundtrack: 9
FINAL SCORE: 71.5
