History
Kingdom is a historical Seinen based on the Warring States Period in China. A time of constant war between the 7 states of China, it would last for 500 years until a King would unite all the states under one flag. The author uses information from the Shiji a historical document that covers China’s beginnings, the Warring States Period, and even beyond that. It was written 200 years after the story takes place. The story itself is about 70% fact and the other 30% the author’s touches. I used those percent’s because the Shiji and a couple other documents are the only known forms of written history from this time in China. Not much is known about the exact details in Qin’s quest to unify China, but all the events, people, and wars that were written down in the Shiji are present in the manga and he follows what was written, but the Shiji does not go into great detail into the events so the author had to put his own spin on it to make the story interesting. Besides a few most characters including our main character Xin were actual people, but their background may not be exactly what happened.
-Side note – Most of the characters names in the manga are slightly different due to their being no Chinese characters in Kanji for the author to use. Also most of the names of these historical people use such old characters of Chinese that most citizens wouldn’t know what it means.
*WARNING RESEARCH THE HISTORY OF CHINA AT YOUR OWN RISK IT MAY CONTAIN FUTURE SPOILERS*
I didn’t follow this advice and have been spoiled to the possible events that will happen past chapter 403
Story 9/10
The story starts off with our main character Xin (Shin) a war orphan who is a servant along with his best friend Piao. Their dream is to become a Great General under the Heavens. Piao is noticed by a noble and is sent to the capital to serve as the Kings body double. I won’t go more into the story, because I don’t want to spoil it. Some say this arc may be cliché but it’s done perfectly. It will go on to get better and better with each arc. I would like anyone that wants to read Kingdom to have a spoiler free experience.
Battles 10/0
What makes Kingdom one of my favorite manga’s of all time is the Wars itself. What you expect is just a bunch of fighting with lots of blood and gore. All those things are present, but it does one thing I haven’t seen done yet and that is the strategy and tactics used in war. It is continuously switching between characters throughout battles to give the reader a better understanding of how armies were led. It will go from brutal battles on the front line to the headquarters where the strategists and commanders of both armies are thinking of ways to counter each other. The fighting in the battles are awesome, I believe they are on par with the battles seen throughout the Golden Age Arc in Berserk.
Characters 10/10
This is where Kingdom excels there are so many characters in this story that you will hate and love. Xin our main character is awesome, he doesn’t care what your rank is he’ll tell you how we feels. He seems to be like your typical main character, loud, obnoxious, and an idiot, but you will only grow to love Xin and the rest of the main characters. I just got to say Ou Ki is a God and you’ll know what I mean later if you read it. The story just doesn’t focus on its main characters there are many commanders, generals, soldiers, and politicians that the story focuses on. There is a lot of character development from this story, the main characters grow and develop in many different ways showing just how far they have come since the beginning. Even some foot soldiers that survive continue to grow and rise up from peasant farmer turned soldier to a glorified 100 man and 1000 man commanders. I could go into so much greater detail about the character development, but I don’t want to spoil the story, just trust me that it is there and is done excellently.
-Side note: There are female characters in this story even on the battlefield so if you think it’s just going to be a sausage fest you are wrong. More than likely the people that some female characters were based on were more than likely men, due to women rarely being seen on the battle field.
Art 8/10
The art in this story is hit or miss to some. I think personally the art is good, at times it can be a little cluttered, that could be, because I am reading online since the manga is not published in America. The faces of the characters themselves are always drawn in extreme detail; the emotions they show also are done really well. There wasn’t a moment where I thought the art was terrible and it never turned me off, that could be because the story is so good I looked past it, but I can understand how some could be turned off. However everyone interprets art in their own way so I will let you be the judge.
Overall I believe any fan of Seinen and history buffs should definitely check this manga out. I promise you won’t be disappointed and I suggest reading the first arc in one sitting, it isn’t too long and will grasp your attention. If you love Berserk you will love Kingdom. Thank you for taking the time to read this and I hope you fall in love with this series like I have.
