Review of Ya Boy Kongming!

*Light Spoilers Ahead*: The OP to this anime is a complete bop, the best of the season by far. An earworm like that really gets you pumped up to watch the anime following. However, even though the OP can really set a great first impression, it's worth nothing unless the show itself can handle the bar set by the OP. Paripi Koumei, not only reaches the bar, it exceeds it by a mile. The premise of this show is extremely unique, with a mix of strategy that reminds you of some psychological anime mixed entirely into the music genre. It seems like a weird combination at first,but with the competitive nature of the music industry, it meshes quite well. Kongming, the namesake of the show, is isekaied into Tokyo, where he instantly meets Eiko. Enchanted by her singing, Kongming vows to be her tactician where he'll use strategies he's learned from the war so that she'll rise to the top in Tokyo.

The premise is great, but it relies on the strength of the characters to succeed. Who cares about somebody rising to the top of the music industry if that character is bland, boring, and hard to root for to succeed. Fortunately, Eiko, the star of this anime, is none of those. With her infectious cheerfulness and charm, she shines brightly in the forefront of this anime. Her blissfulness, yet hard desire to succeed makes it virtually impossible not to cheer for her during the anime.

However, in the second half of the anime, it takes on a new major theme, self-identity. Through the characters, Kongming and Eiko interact within the second half of this anime, self-identity plays a huge role, and certain characters find their own identity throughout the industry. Finding one's own self-identity can be challenging at times, so the sheer emotion that was presented through this theme was quite a nice contrast to the overall cheerfulness and blissfulness of the first half of the anime.

Overall, I'd rate Paripi Koumei a 9/10, for its uniqueness of the premise, the charm of the main characters making you'll root for them as you go, and the extremely well-executed use of a theme that really made me reflect on life in general. You might have come for the CHIKI CHIKI BAN BAN, but the anime itself is the real star of the show.