The Spring 2021 Manga Guide

Ya Boy Kongming!

What's It About? 

General of the Three Kingdoms, Kongming, had struggled his whole life, facing countless battles that made him into the accomplished strategist he was. So on his deathbed, he wished only to be reborn into a peaceful world... and was sent straight to modern-day party-central, Tokyo! Can even a brilliant strategist like Kongming adapt to the wild beats and even wilder party people?!

Ya Boy Kongming! is scripted by Yuto Yotsuba and drawn by Ryō Ogawa and Kodansha Comics released the manga's first volume on June 1.

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Is It Worth Reading?

Rebecca Silverman

Rating:

From the title and the premise, it's easy to conclude that Ya Boy Kongming! is strictly a fish-out-of-water comedy about one of the greats from Chinese literature being transported to modern day Tokyo. And it is that – but it's not only that. In fact, as the story goes on, it becomes less a straight comedy and more a story about how looking at the world in a slightly different way can help you to succeed, although I'm not entirely sure that the creators would describe it that way. But either way, it's definitely a lot of fun.

The first chapter follows a basic comedic plotline: we open in Ancient China, where the great Kongming is dying of old age. His final wish is to be reborn in a world of peace like the one he was striving for during his lifetime. The next thing he knows, he's young again and standing on a crowded street in a strange city. Seeing people dressed as zombies and skeletons for Halloween, he immediately concludes that he's in purgatory – and since it's Halloween, the partiers all assume that he's just dressed up for the holiday. Taken under a couple of guys' wing, Kongming ends up at a club listening to a young woman named EIKO sing. He's never heard anything like the music she's making, and he falls hard for her sound. Flash-forward to the next morning and EIKO (in her everyday life as Eiko) finds Kongming on the street, takes him home, and somehow ends up helping him figure out how to live in the modern world. In return, he promises to become her “strategist” for music – you know, what everyone else would call her manager.

It's at this point that the story really finds its balance, which is ultimately a good thing, because while the humor of a denizen of the Three Kingdoms wandering around modern-day Shibuya is funny, it's not really enough to hang an entire series on. Instead things shift over to Kongming using his ancient (and brilliant) strategies to promote EIKO's career, and while he may appear unhinged to people who just look at his funny “cosplay,” he's definitely earning his reputation as a brilliant tactician. Eiko's boss at the club where she usually performs is basically a male Mayaya (from Princess Jellyfish), so Kongming can discuss his plans with Boss, who almost takes it as a given that Kongming really is THE Kongming. By the end of the book we've got a story that's both funny and an interesting take on the music industry, because if there's one thing that's undeniably true, it's that Kongming believes in EIKO's music.

This may not have been the straight-up comedy I was expecting, but it's definitely still a lot of fun. Seeing Kongming waltz around in his original outfit is great, and I think the story is settling in to be a good one.