This can be described by two words, epic and awesome. I will give it two types of reviews a short and another long one.
Short review
This is a MUST WATCH. It has intense suspense, grand wars, awesome strategies, politics, cool characters, solid storyline. Easy 10/10.
Long review
Imo, kingdom is probably one of the most underrated anime. The main reason for its unpopularity is that the first few episodes of the first season were over animated (which led to half of the people immediately dropping the series). But hey, no pain no gain. Also the uncomfortable animation dies down after a few episodes. Season1 might have depressed some due to its slow pace and apparent cliche plots. Added to it was the problem of pronunciation : the spellings and pronunciation didnt match up. And thus many dropped it before the epic war started (around ep20 of season 1).
But season 2 has made this a 100x more awesome.
The story revolves around a young boy Xin who aims to be a great general. Seems childish but the way it is executed makes it too epic. And that's where the story just starts and it has lots of plot twists and It covers two very very epic wars.
Coming to war, a mundane thing in action animes, but boy this is on a completely different level. This is unlike many stupid wars driven by emotions, it is driven by ambition and tactics. In an epically epic manner it shows the war psychology. Moreover since this is a historical anime there are no guns or canons, but only swords and arrows. And the incredible strategies that are planned keeping in mind the terrain of the battlefield, timing of the war, abilities of the opponents, their expected reactions, considering any unexpected moves and information suppression and the fact that all this is explained to us using narration makes it no less than a masterpiece.
If u think thats all then u r gravely mistaken, because season 2 comes with added epicness and that is POLITICS. The king vs his own chancellor, what does the king do, how does he prevent the rising power of his chancellor and what are their plans of outshining each other has been covered so nicely that I dont have words to express its magnificience.
All this comes in two packed seasons, and when coupled with some incredible osts and good Voice acting (Xin is voiced by the VA of ichigo from bleach) makes this no less than a perfect anime. The reason I am pointing out voice acting is because it is different from most animes. When a general comes the thundering roar and momentum the fleet of soldiers is just awesome. That simply adds to the grandioseness of a great general.
Finally the characters, they are too good. And this is one of those rare animes in which u can't hate the opponents. Thats because all of them are looking for glory, and every moment they try grasp an opportunity to outsmart their rivals. Also the character development of Xin is just incredible, he starts from a foot soldier to...... For that u have to see the anime. Apart from Xin, there are other characters also who have elegant development, supported by back stories.
I thoroughly enjoyed this anime, and the intense pressure and suspense this anime was able to create, just made my day. On the whole this was too good and I can just pray it gets a Third season. For anyone who hasn't watched even season 1, do watch it with a bit of patience and ignore the animation in the first few eps. For those who have dropped it in season 1 do consider watching it, because it is really good, and u will probably not regret it. For those who watched season 1 completely do watch season2, and I don't think anyone who started season 2 would have any incentive to drop it.
