Review of Ya Boy Kongming!

Once in a blue moon you come upon an anime that makes you think "This sounds so stupid, there's no way this can be good". Animes like Spice and Wolf with it's grand story of "merchant travels with a godess and does economics stuff". But then you give them a watch and... it just works. You don't know why or how this stupid, boring setting just does everything you want it to, but it does. This is one of these animes. A reverse Isekai about some old time war tactician being reborn in modern Shibuya to produce a singer? Stupid. But Kongming and Eiko havesuch a charming back-and-forth that first episode that you give it another go. Then the opening kicks in and then you know this is it. This anime works.

Obviously, as an anime all about music the sound design is amazing, the characters are quirky in a charming way, that makes them so outlandish that they are likeable right away. The story follows much the same way, being so stupid that it just makes it FUN.

This anime isn't deep or serious and it's not trying to be. While it does have one or two more serious moments, it's clear that the focus on the story is just to entertain and spread some good vibes. And it does accomplish exactly what it sets out to be. Three Kingdoms Tactician Zhuge Liang aka Kongming treating the production of Eiko as the same as the wars he used to wage and recreating the tactics he used to win deceisive battles throughout his real-life legend are nice nods. Indeed there is quote a number of "easter eggs" for those who are knowledgeable about the legends of Zhuge Liang, but no knowledge is required to enjoy the simple, underlieing story of this anime.

If you want to complain about something, it's probably that the animations can be a bit wonky at times. It's pretty clear that the budget for art and animations for this anime were on the lower end, although the quality does ramp-up towards the final few episodes.

All in all, it's hard to pin down why exactly this anime is as amazing as it is, apart from having the best opening of the season, and maybe even one of the best openings in anime as a while. But it's definitely worth the time. And I sure hope that a second season will be on it's way soon. It's one of the best anime of 2022, hands down.