English Dub Review: Ya Boy Kongming!”Borrowing Arrows With Straw Boats”

Overview

The climactic final battle is upon us! With Summer Sonia on the line, Kongming must devise the ultimate stratagem to bring about total victory and secure 100,000 likes…

Our Take

The stage is set for the final battle for 100,000 likes between Azalea and Team Eiko under the dense fog in Shibuya. Azalea’s manager has already put in motion to secure 100,000 likes by putting on a surprise concert and having the fans buy a ticket to purchase those likes via QR code. Kongming used the dense fog to his advantage by having Eiko’s group appear where the fans just so happen to be gathering and Eiko sing Azalea’s song while throwing up their QR code. This cheeky little tactic gave them a good head start, at least until the real Azalea band showed up and they started performing beginning a tug of war for the likes.

Nanami, however, was suffering on the inside as she was forced to do her manager’s bidding and when she saw Eiko in the crowd she couldn’t stand the sight of being seen by her while wearing that ridiculous outfit on stage. Now Kabetaijin improvises a diss rap on the spot that turns the crowd’s words around and baits the masses into dismissing them as “fakes”. And to further add to the chaos, Kongming indirectly spreads a rumor that Azalea’s QR code is a scam causing among their fans, so far Kongming’s stratagem of Alienation is proving to be a success. All that’s left is for Eiko to perform her song to deliver the crushing blow…

This was one hell of a cliffhanger to end the episode. I loved the opening as it showed a clear contrast between Eiko and Nanami, with Eiko smiling as the sun was shining brightly on her face, juxtaposed to Nanami who was more into the shadows and had a depressed look knowing there was something internally wrong with her. It’s an example of visual storytelling done right. As for the tricks KongMing had up his sleeve, It’s such a cheeky tactic that uses their opponent’s already dirty strategy to his advantage.

By the end of the episode, it’s essentially just a Twitter battle in musical form. From ripping off Azalea’s song, tricking the mindless audience to scan the QR code and like Eiko’s post, to then causing further confusion within Azalea’s fanbase. Granted, it’s all fair game, if Azalea’s manager is a greasy bastard who’s willing to buy likes with money rather than earn them through his band’s own talent. But at the very end of the day, Eiko will shine brighter and take that W home. Damn, one last episode, I can’t wait to hear Eiko’s new song that’s been built up at this point!