In the end, probably what strikes me most after watching that finale is just how far outside the target audience for this series I turned out to be. I never changed of course (far too set in my ways) but it did. It sort of comes down to the whole show being built around the idea that this song (and the music generally) had the power to change the world. And for me, the only exceptional piece of music in the whole enterprise is the OP.
That’s the nut of it, exceptionality – and the lack of it. In the final analysis Paripi Koumei chose to focus on that which was generic over that which was distinctive about it. For me there’s no big deal about generic pop songs like “Dreamer” for example, which means the whole grand dramatic climax is a washout. And while there are innumerable interchangeable anime about perky cute girls and very few about time traveling Chinese tacticians, Paripi Koumei decided to be a show about the former. It’s just another anime worshiping at the altar of the cute girl doing cute things, really.
Was it ever likely to be more? Well, I thought so for a while. The first few episodes had a genuine spark of originality to them. And even as things sort of petered out the show had an easy likability to it that never went away. But whatever opportunities were there were pretty much squandered – at least where the tiny sliver of the audience with me in it is concerned. Kabe, for example – my goodness, all that time wasted and that was his big moment of importance? I suppose he represented a break from the CGDCT but I struggle to find any reason to think he was necessary to the story.
Then we have Karasawa. He was a troubling and frankly badly-written character, but at least that makes him stand out. I guess it’s a plus that in the end it was acknowledged that he actually did a lot for Azalea – he took three girls who were on course to being flushed out of the business and made them popular (and a lot of money). It’s too bad he was a straw man because there would have been a lot of potential in that thread if it had been written with any nuance or subtlety. Goc knows anime is more than overdue for a really biting critique of the idol mafia, but that sure as hell wasn’t it. Especially with the cliched happy ending.
Obviously the biggest opportunity lost was Koumei himself. In making him a MacGuffin rather than a protagonist Ya Boy Kongming lost its best chance to be something really distinctive. Certainly nothing that happens in the plot would be possible without him, but as to who he is as a person and how (and why) all this happened to him, that ended up being pretty much irrelevant. He was like oxygen – you need it to exist, but it’s not like you’re thinking about it all the time.
This was, as noted, the first manga adaptation P.A. Works ever did. Yet, oddly, it played very much like an original series – and a PAW original at that. Right down to the loss of narrative momentum in the second half and chickening out of really biting industry criticism, unfortunately. Talking of chickens, there may be a chicken and egg element to this – did they choose the manga because it fit with their narrative aesthetic, or did they tweak it to meet that aesthetic? I suppose in the end it doesn’t matter that much but it’s an interesting question to ponder on.
Looking back, there’s just not much “there” there for me. Paripi Koumei was a series that acted like what was happening was a lot more important than it felt like it was to me. And that’s a hard thing to get past, unfortunately. That said it seems to have been very successful, which isn’t all that surprising given how popular generic pop music and anime about CGDCT are. So a second season certainly would shock no one (especially with an “important announcement” scheduled for later this month), although I have no idea whether there’s enough source material to do it soon. I’ll forget about it pretty quickly myself, I suspect. But at least that OP really kicked ass…
Porn
June 17, 2022 at 8:46 pm[i]In making him a MacGuffin rather than a protagonist Ya Boy Kongming lost its best chance to be something really distinctive.[/i]
Yep, this is.
Instead of an anime telling us about Kongming being a simp to some singer and trying to make her worth more than Cai Wenji, Diao Chan and Madame Zhang (Zhang Xiu’s auntie that made Cao Cao risk himself for a netorare route), Two Qiaos of the south and Zhen Ji (Cao Pi’s wife who is said also being fought over by Cao Zhi) combined … we are here to see him pay very little role in the story and instead the attention went to three uninteresting characters with their so called dilema and melodrama… who instead of painting them as sympatheticm they instead look privilige, entitled and annoying to watch…. well historically , Kongming is renowned as bad judge of people’s character and has no eyes in picking beauties as his wife…. so, i gave the author that for that fridge brilliance.
Yes;
a girl who contemplated suicide because she is not allowed to sing, and so easily considering quiting her ambition because she stumbled the first rock he encounter on her road. Even knowing later her lifestory from manga just make the facepalm deeper…. typical teenage drama.
Some dorky dude who the author tried to sell us as loner but suddenly he was said to be hottie and chicks all dig him, having psychosomatic episode and made a drama all about it…. ya know if a simple TCM concoction can easily cure himself, ….. he is just exaggerating stuff with his ulcer, being drama queen and all…. and he still do that bad life habit as some soft drink junkie that i suspect filled with sugar, caffeine and some sipping of alcohol…. as if it was the strong zero. Sorry pal, go martell or johnnie at least to make watcher have sympathy.
And nanami, goddamn nanami. ….. just go live the life of unsuccessful Korean actress or Failed japanese idol first before you cry a river and complain as if you are the most miserable…. i don’t see a single jav starring you , for the love of…. but i do hope you and eiko have a lot of h-doujin in this year c100 , better yet , if ntr.
Joshua
June 17, 2022 at 11:31 pmThe sad part about Karasawa is that he wasn’t even written well as a strawman antagonist. In the attempts to humanize him to make him not so one-dimensional, they did their job too well and he actually came off as incredibly reasonable despite his tough demeanor and the way he looks. And in turn, it utterly deflates Nanami’s own character arc that she’s not getting the respect that she deserves despite the fact that the producer gave her and her band everything, making her seem like the entitled brat. We’re just supposed to believe that Nanami was always in the right despite things to the contrary. And in the end, he chooses to give in to their demands anyways, rendering this whole major conflict in the second half pointless.
Also really dislike how the character arcs were so easily taken care of and disposed after they are resolved since Kabe is literally given nothing to do after his rap battle, and Eiko is reduced to little more than a walking stereo for her deus ex machina song. And that three episode stretch where Kongming was completely sidelined was the worst part. How did this finale compare to the manga supposedly?
One more thing, I don’t see good things coming from PA Works after this. It’s clear that they’ve been struggling for some time now (even having to push NFTs to no one’s surprise), but I see bad times coming for the staff involved, especially since I saw that DR Movie did a lot of the heavy lifting for the animation. Cygames used them for that horse girl gacha adaptation UmaMusu, took them to Studio Kai for s2 (where it inexplicably became the best-selling anime of all-time), and it looks like they’re circling the studio to poach them permanently for an in-house produced s3 and beyond, potentially crippling PAW. If that’s the case, then for all their faults, it would be a sad day to see their decline.
Joshua
June 24, 2022 at 8:52 pmhttps://youtu.be/tDPaiz4ValU And as I was saying about CyGames circling PAW because they smelled blood in the water…
Marty
June 18, 2022 at 8:13 amA dissapointing original concept or an overachieving Idol show? In my opinión it comes down to perspective.
While the first episode promised a much different show, at least I can solidly say that its probably among the best of its gente (CGDCT or Idol shows), simply because it wasn’t completely insufferable.
Low bar, but it crossed it for me nevertheless.
Joshua
July 8, 2022 at 4:48 amAnd that “important announcement” that this series made? It was merely announcing some concert event that’ll play those accursed songs live this September. Oh well.
https://ibb.co/8g60g0B
Guardian Enzo
July 8, 2022 at 7:56 amYea, I saw. I bet it gets another season eventually though.