Ya Boy Kongming!

Paripi Kómei is by far the biggest surprise of the Spring 2022 anime season, and I almost feel like the creators used several well-established strategies to ensure its success. What do I mean by that? For example, they released the first episode as the very first anime of the spring, at a time when there was no other new show to watch, so even people who might not have initially been interested in the series gave it a go. Another successful move was the choice of the opening theme song. Since it's a music anime, the music is important, and the opening is probably the first thing you notice. And someone in the creative team obviously thought that the unknown disco song they heard on vacation in Hungary could be a perfect fit for this series. By deciding to cover this song, they created the best anime opening of the entire spring season, which caught almost everyone’s attention, and created a lot of buzz. It was quite amusing to see how this song made its way through the internet and accumulated around ten million views across various channels within three weeks (it has almost tripled that since then). The number of viewers also went up, as the show managed to maintain people’s attention thanks to its qualities. But it's not just the opening that was great; the singer who lent her voice to Eiko was also excellent. Her first song in the opening episode had a similar effect on me as it did on the famous Kongming. I really liked her voice, and Kuroneko showed that she can sing very well in English too (which is an achievement in itself because you know how it is with English in anime). It wouldn't be a good anime without compelling characters and a good story, and this series has both. Kongming is an incredibly charismatic protagonist—intelligent, kind, simply put, a likable character. Eiko is also great, and her character truly matures as a person during the series, finding confidence and purpose, and the whole journey is beautifully portrayed. Kongming shows us how character development should be done. It’s nice to watch the characters realize things and find answers to their questions on their own. With just a little, but well-thought-out, help from our strategist. Even Kabetaijin, Nanami, and many others have their great moments and storylines, and everything is presented in an incredibly charming and human way. The individual strategies also worked, although I sometimes questioned their morality, but so did the authors, and Kongming always managed to smoothly maneuver through it all without his reputation suffering a blow. The emotions and atmosphere are also excellent — it is often suspenseful, other times pleasantly satisfying, and mostly just plain enjoyable to watch. The animation is also quite well handled. There is great work with color and effects, and lights are used very well to enhance the impression of a musical performance. Paripi Kómei deserves its success, just as its main characters deserve it on their journey. The creative team really seem to know what they're doing. If Spy x Family wasn't airing in the spring season, this would unquestionably be the anime of the season for me (excluding sequels). This way, it's "only" a 9/10 and I hope there will be another season soon. (16/06/2022) (less) (more)