This was a really fun manga. The main character was interesting, the plot enthralling and the ecchi aspects did make me laugh- in a good way! My only negative is that I thought this would be something I enjoyed but the actual premise of the manga turned out not to be one of my tastes.

Accomplished strategist and General of the Three Kingdoms, Kongming makes a wish on this deathbed to be return in peaceful times. He awakes in current Tokyo having regained his youth and finds himself in a club not long after “falling” for a songstress called ‘Eiko’. Enthralled by her performance he decides to help her become famous.

It’s a ridiculous plot and the book commits to that. I am not sure is I want to continue with this series because it’s so silly or if it’s too much. Eiko is a rather standard nice person character and Kongming is over the top in everything but also sincere.

I didn’t dislike the first volume, but I also didn’t love it. It’s one of those that I think needs another volume you help make up the reader’s mind. That said the artwork was a tab hit and miss for me. Given how much manga rely on the visual style that impacts as well.

This was bonkers.

I have to applaud the creativity. The concept is wacky, and I had to try it out, but it also seems a bit wasted in this manga. The idea of a famous historical figure coming to the modern era has bounds of potential, but here I didn’t feel like it was explored well. You have one of the greatest tacticians of Chinese history, and all he’s doing is helping a girl make it in the music business? Is that really it? Why?

I hadn’t heard of Kongming before picking this up, so I think a lot of the Chinese history references went over my head. I’m not sure how well Western audiences might respond to this because Chinese history isn’t taught here, especially not in my school.

But some of the humour works. The opening chapter had me cackling, but i also found it inconsistent. There were many moments where it got a bit boring, before throwing in another great joke, but it says a lot about the story if it can’t keep you engaged without the humour.

Overall, I don’t think this is bad. It’s definitely a bizarre read that has some great jokes, but if you can suspend your disbelief enough then it might work for you.

Amazing, gripping, and enthralling as a spectacular visual adventure. An enjoyable graphic novel read.

This reincarnation comedy centers around the rebirth of an old Chinese general from the Three Kingdoms era who wishes to be in a peaceful place in his next life, only to be reborn in the center of modern-day Tokyo right in the middle of a Halloween parade with his memory, youth, and clothes intact! So starts Kongming's new life as the manager to a rising club singer named Eiko as he uses his ancient wisdom to make her a star.

I liked the ridiculous humor of this and overall found it to be a good, fun read that I would recommend. There were a few aspects surrounding Kongming's rebirth that I would have liked to see done differently, but he grew on me quickly as a character. I also didn't care for the intense sexualization of Eiko when Kongming was over at her apartment the day after he was reborn. I normally don't care about that sort of thing, but it was really intense across a couple of pages and then very laid back both before and after, so it was a jarring tone shift. That along with the oddly inconsistent art style in that chapter gave this a rocky start, but by the end, I was rooting for both of them and will definitely be keeping an eye out for the next volume!

Ya Boy Kanming is another in a series of comedy time travel manga in which a person from the past gets magically transported to modern-age Japan. Think Thermae Romae but instead of Roman bath architect, a Three Kingdoms-era Chinese general wakes up in Tokyo. And instead of inspecting baths, he gets sucked in (no pun intended) the club scene in the capital.

Kongming is a genius Chinese strategist whose only wish before he dies is to be reborn at a time when there's no war. And yet, he gets immediately spirited away to contemporary Tokyo, which though not suffering from wars per se, seems to be very similar to the time he wishes to escape from. If not even worse. That's because rather than killing one another, the people in this modern world fight one another through popularity and social media followers. So, instead of attaining peace after the numerous fights he masterminds in Ancient China, the faces his most difficult quest so far - making the unknown singer Eiko no one pays attention to a famous star.

As a person who is very interested in music and the music business as a whole, I found the premise of the manga incredibly interesting, funny and engaging, though, of course, not particularly realistic. The comparison between the battlefield and the modern social media-saturated world is funny, if not somewhat cliched by this point, and the use of war strategies boost the popularity of an underground singer, equating modern music with ancient war.

I am looking forward to the next volume!

This a a very silly and very fun Manga. Kongming, a Chinese statesman and military strategist from the Three Kingdoms period at the end of the Han dynasty in 250ish AD dies after a long and fulfilling life and....wakes up younger and in contemporary Tokyo with him memories intact? And decides to put his considerable strategic and tactical genius toward.....helping a talented yet naïve young singer become popular? At base it's a silly story, the application of Three Kingdoms strategy to the music industry is a bit far fetched at times, and there is a bit too much cheesecake / fan service in the art, but at the same time I had a lot of fun reading this. It was a fast paced and interesting story and I'm looking forward to the next volume.

I was left disappointed in reading this. The humor just didn't hit the mark, like it would if it was something you were watching instead of reading.

Overall I was left feeling really meh about this. There are some really interesting pieces of history that you learn about. But it's not enough to make up for the lack of on point humor.

I won't be continuing this manga, but if it did get an anime I'd consider trying it.

I did not know what to expect when reading this title, but I was pleasantly surprised! It was a solid first volume, and I will be looking out for the second volume!

Ya Boy Kongming! reminded me of Hikaru no Go on some level. Kongming used to be a general of the Three Kingdoms and at the end of it all died only to wake up in our time 1800 years later in Tokyo. He first thinks he's in hell of sorts, but soon meets Eiko, a young singer. The girl's singing captures the heart of the man and he starts to help the girl to succeed the cruel world of music by using the war tactics from his past. The setting is interesting and I do love the cover. Kongming's character is great and I really enjoy his scheming. Eiko then doesn't really have a persona at all, but the manager is awesome and a big fan of the Three Kingdoms. Perhaps everyone gets used to Kongming too fast and suddenly Kongming himself is OK with the modern time too easily to lay better and more realistic base for this.

The art looks nice, although perhaps nothing spectacular, but works. The faces look slightly bland compared to everything else, but either way, this looks OK. The humor is nice at times, although perhaps repetitive and making all the other people in music industry nasty is kind of old school. I do wish Eiko gets more character in the future. Alas, an interesting series yet still.

The title starts with Kong Ming, a general of the three armies of China on his deathbed with the desire to be reborn into a more peaceful world, cue modern day... Tokyo? Ya Boy Kong Ming! is a nice title if you enjoy comedy, and light hearted manga.

#YaBoyKongming1 #NetGalley

This is a story about an ancient general who desired he lived a peaceful life after his death. So, he reborns in actual Japan and begins to help her friend, that dream of becoming a singer, using his experience as a soldier.

This is such a lovely story, I loved how it is comic and how the drawing is also great. They used ancient history in a pretty nice way and made this be one of my favs of this year. The only issue that made my grade go lower is the fetishization they did with the main female character.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the opportunity of reading this book in exchange of an honest review!

A great Chinese military leader, at least 1,800 years ago, wished on his deathbed that his next life would not be filled with so much violence and bloodthirstiness.
And fate decides to play with him.
Fate sends him to modern Japan (and yes, he also admits with amazement that he just knows the language, nothing that he comes from China).
Kongming is not so shocked by his fate, but rather grateful for the chance. Of course, he has no idea what kind of world he is in (along with his traditional clothes, hat and fan!). However, he learns super fast - in seconds he have mastered the trick of Wikipedia and self-test!
By chance, he comes across a girl with a nice voice and is so inspired that he decides to be her personal tactician for career success. Relying on his very good ancient Chinese military education, of course, what else?

Very nice and light story, exactly in the categories I like - somewhat clichéd, but without blabbering on. A strange bird falls into a strange world and trouble and chaos just happen. Jumping in time is always a huge plus for me.

The original opinion is in Bulgarian, I apologize for the translation errors. I am adding a link.

What a joy this was to read! I really needed something that would life my spirits with a laugh and this delivered! If you're looking for a fun and light-hearted read, then I would definitely recommend this one! Kongming is brought back to life in the modern world and of course he's met with some skepticism as to whether he's who he says he is or is simply an oddball. Luckily, he meets up with a Three Kingdoms enthusiast who understands him completely. It was really cute to see how Kongming and Eiko, a singer he met, quickly became friends and how he wanted to repay her for her songs by being her manager. I foresee lots of shenanigans in the future for these three!

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher Kodansha Comics for this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

The great general of the three kingdom, Kongming at his deathbed made a wish to be reborn in a "peaceful world" and he will see it being granted by the universe when he wakes up to a modern Tokyo where he will meet or be found by a girl Eiko outside a club who aspires to become a famous singer. As an amazing tactitian on battlefields, Kongming will be helping his lady Eiko to fulfill her dream of becoming a top singer by using his genius and adapts it to the modern society.

It is this kind of absurd comedy, funny-ish Japanese mangas that are so irrealistic that make you ask yourself the what if questions like what if it was Napoleon or Alexander the Great and so on? Can you imagine them in our time with all the technology. I think that.the authors started it this way and selected Kongming from the characters of history.

It was so-so for me, a crazy idea that made me curious about how are they going to make it work and what are they going to make Kongming do and work. It was a strange mix of music theme and history but it wasn't so much interesting as the story goes on.

As someone said regarding this manga, you would understand it more if you are into your Chinese history regarding the three kingdoms . Anyhoo it’s about Kongming, who was transported into the modern world. He then meets a girl who aspires to be a singer and meets other peeps in the club scene later on. While the description is interesting from an outsider point of view and reading the rest of volume 1, I found reading it boring at times (again not knowing much about the Chinese history stuff) and in order to hear the FL sing properly, it is usually best in anime format.

Thanks Netgalley and Kodansha for giving me volume 1!

4.5/5 I really enjoyed!

I'm not a big fan of clubbing and club music but I really enjoyed this manga! It was funny and heart warming and inspiring all wrapped up in a few chapters. I expected this to be a 3ish star since its not always my taste but I am glad I picked it up anyways because it was so good! It was a fairly quick read for a manga and the art is really good as well! I'd recommend this if you like music, contemporary, humor and older teen manga! definitely will be picking this up for my physical collection at some point!

Disclaimer: I read this in advance on Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

Thank you to NetGalley, Kodansha, Yuto Yotsuba, and Ryo Ogawa for the opportunity to read this book in exchange for an honest review.

I requested this manga because I thought it looked like it had the potential to be absolutely hilarious, and I am certainly not dissatisfied!

Kongming is reincarnated as his younger self in modern day Japan. He appears on Halloween night, so it's not too out of place that he is wearing ancient Chinese regalia. He meets a singer who takes him home when he nearly freezes to death. After Halloween, everyone thinks he's just an out-of-place cosplayer.

Amateur singer, Eiko, helps Kongming get a job with her current employer. Lucky for Kongming, Eiko's employer is a HIGE Three Kingdoms fan (and assumes Kongming is just a fan as well and not the real deal). Kongming ends up using his tactical strategies to help Eiko excel in her singing career.

The Three Kingdom's references add some hilarious, and at times absurd, humor. Kongming trying to make his way through modern day, from something as simple as a mirror, to the complexity of cell phones, adds a great element to the humor. This was an enjoyable manga with great artwork, and a relatively goal-worth follow-your-dreams type of plot strung along with comedy throughout.

This is probably the weirdest manga I have read. It was funny at times, and kind of boring at other times. If you're really into Chinese history then you'll probably enjoy this more because they make a lot of references. There's also a lot of somewhat technical stuff about music that did not personally interest me, but might interest others!