Ya Boy Kongming! has been building up the tension for its grand finale, only for Episode 12 to contain little to no drama.
The following contains spoilers for Ya Boy Kongming! Episode 12 “Eiko’s Song,” now streaming on HIDIVE.
There is always that point in every anime season where finales start dropping one right after the other, and it’s now Ya Boy Kongming!‘s turn. Presented as a cacophony of themes and tropes, Ya Boy Kongming! has received mixed reactions from its viewers — especially with an ending where all of its characters wind up pleased and placated.
Ya Boy Kongming!‘s latter half focused on the rivalry between Eiko and Nanami, who started as strangers but met each other by chance. Their friendship grew as they busked together, and Nanami even helped Eiko further her singing skills. However, the drama grew when Nanami’s real identity was revealed, as she turned out to be Azalea’s vocalist and Eiko’s primary competition for the Summer Sonia slot.
Episode 11 of Ya Boy Kongming! ended just before Eiko was about to sing her new song. The rapper Kabetaijin had already riled up the crowd by dissing Azalea, though not necessarily for Eiko’s benefit. Eiko only managed to perform without any interruptions when Nanami asked the crowd to give her a chance. The amateur singer-songwriter then blew the audience away with her new song, earning her enough likes to secure a spot on the Summer Sonia lineup. Even though they already lost, Azalea remained true to themselves and likewise performed a song of their own.
The bigger surprise came during Eiko’s celebration party. Not only did Azalea come, but even their manager, Karasawa, was present. Karasawa was chatting with Kongming when the latter revealed the former’s backstory. It turns out that the manager-producer was formerly a band member whose group suffered from a betrayal. This is also the reason why he was so fixated on Azalea — he didn’t want the young girls to suffer the same fate they did. When Nanami and the others heard that, they took the opportunity to apologize for their impudence and once again ask for Karasawa’s guidance.
Ya Boy Kongming! has always depicted Karasawa as a coldhearted manager whose only priority is earning money, but he has proven his capabilities multiple times. That being said, viewers had expected a bigger falling out between Nanami’s group and Karasawa — or even between Karasawa and Eiko’s group. After all, he spent a lot of money to market Azalea. Him suddenly getting soft like that seemed rather out of character, making the finale feel a bit off. After all, there is no justification for Karasawa to forgive Azalea after what they did, and, more so Kongming, who literally stole his resources.
Given the way Ya Boy Kongming! was hyping up its season finale, viewers had steeled themselves to witness some drama. In the end, Episode 12 turned out to be rather tame. Karasawa accepted Azalea’s apology quite easily, and it doesn’t seem like they will be having a fallout soon. Despite its ultimate lack of drama, it seems like everybody in Ya Boy Kongming! only has brighter days ahead of them.