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Live-Action Ya Boy Kongming! Film's New Clip Previews Utaha's Singing
posted on by Anita Tai
The staff for Ya Boy Kongming! the Movie, the live-action film of Yuto Yotsuba and Ryō Ogawa's Ya Boy Kongming! (Paripi Kōmei) manga, revealed a new clip from the film. The clip showcases the in-story character shin (played by Wednesday's Campanella member Utaha) performing the insert song "again and again." Singer-songwriter Soushi Sakiyama (Jujutsu Kaisen, My Hero Academia) wrote the song specifically for the film, and he makes a cameo in the clip as an audience member.
The film is set during "Music Battle Awards 2025," a music festival in which Japan's three major labels compete for the top spot.
The following cast reprise their roles from the live-action TV series:
- Osamu Mukai as Shokatsu Kōmei (Zhuge Kongming, better known in history as Zhuge Liang)
- Moka Kamishiraishi as protagonist Eiko
- Dean Fujioka as Liu Bei
- Mirai Moriyama as Owner Kobayashi
- Koharu Sugawara as Mia Iriomote
- Ryūbi Miyase as KABE Taijin
- Rikako Yagi as Nanami Kuon
- Mandy Sekiguchi as Keiji Maezono
- Win Morisaki as RYO
- Kyūjitsu Kachō as Nanbō
- Huwie Ishizaki as Higashiyama
- ELLY as Sekitoba Kung Fu
- Ryōsuke Nagaoka as Steve Kido
- Tomoaki Honma as Guan Yu (name spelling not official)
- Tōgi Makabe as Zhang Fei (name spelling not official)
- Riko Ishino as Girl in Glasses
New cast members include (name spellings not official):
- Fūju Kamio as Sima Jun
- Wednesday's Campanella member Utaha as Shin
- Boy band &TEAM as themselves
Utaha will also sing in the film as her character.
In-story artist Mia Iriomote (played by Koharu Sugawara) will perform the insert song "New Zone," composed by Dos Monos hip-hop group member Zo Zhit. Lilas Ikuta, who is the vocalist for the YOASOBI duo under the name ikura, is returning to the film to compose the ending theme song "Sing along!!!" This will be the second theme song Ikuta composed for the franchise, after the insert song "DREAMER" for the live-action series.
Series director Shūhei Shibue will return as director for the film, along with Nonji Nemoto as scriptwriter.
The Paripi Kōmei Road to Summer Sonia compilation film for the anime series screened in Japanese theaters in March 2024.
The live-action series premiered in September 2023 on Fuji TV's "Shinsui 10 Drama" timeslot and ended in November 2023.
Kodansha USA Publishing began publishing the manga digitally in English on June 1, 2021. The company describes the manga:
General of the Three Kingdoms, Kongming had struggled his whole life, facing countless battles that made him into the accomplished strategist he was. So on his deathbed, he wished only to be reborn into a peaceful world... and was sent straight to modern-day party-central, Tokyo! Can even a brilliant strategist like Kongming adapt to the wild beats and even wilder party people?!
The manga launched on Kodansha's Comic Days website in Japanese in December 2019, and also began running in Kodansha's Weekly Young Magazine in November 2021.
The manga inspired a television anime in April 2022. HIDIVE exclusively and simultaneously streamed the series, and also streamed an English dub. Sentai Filmworks licensed the anime and released it on home video in April 2023.
Sources: Shochiku's YouTube channel, Comic Natalie
