Kingdom

China’s Warring States period, a raging dragon that would raze the land for 500 years, saw many kingdoms rise and fall, making way for the next generation of kings and generals to fight for supremacy. Eventually, seven powerful states emerged from the endless cycle of warfare.

In the kingdom of Qin, Xin, a war-orphaned slave, trains vigorously with fellow slave and best friend, Piao, who shares his proud dream of one day becoming a Great General of the Heavens. However, the two are suddenly forced to part ways when Piao is recruited to work in the royal palace by a retainer of the King.

After a fierce coup d'état unfolds, Piao returns to Xin, half dead, with a mission that will lead him to a meeting with China's young King, Ying Zheng, who bears a striking resemblance to Piao. Kingdom follows Xin as he takes his first steps into the great blood-soaked pages of China's history. He must carve his own path to glory on his long quest to become a Great General of the historic Seven Warring States.

[Written by MAL Rewrite]

Xin Main

Morita, Masakazu Japanese

Lei, Qiang Main

Hikasa, Youko Japanese

Ying, Zheng Main

Fukuyama, Jun Japanese

He Liao, Diao Main

Kugimiya, Rie Japanese

Wang, Qi Supporting

Koyama, Rikiya Japanese

Gong, Biao Supporting

Saitou, Shirou Japanese

Li, Mu Supporting

Morikawa, Toshiyuki Japanese

Duanhe, Yang Supporting

Sonozaki, Mie Japanese

Teng Supporting

Katou, Akio Japanese

Chang Pin Jun Supporting

Suwabe, Junichi Japanese

Kamiya, Jun Director

Takakuwa, Hajime Sound Director

Noshitani, Mitsutaka Episode Director

Kawai, Shigeki Episode Director

Reviews

Feb 25, 2013

Zee530

Recommended

"War educates the senses, calls into action the will, perfects the physical constitution, brings men into such swift and close collision in critical moments that man measures man." – Ralph Waldo Emerson, 1882.

Yasuhisa Hara’s Manga takes place in the warring state period of China, as the country is divided into seven smaller nations, each trying to conquer the other. It follows a young war orphan named Xin from the Country Qin, who one day on his way returning to his village with his best friend witnesses a battle between two armies, inspired by the spectacle before him, he vows to one day become one of ... the greatest Generals alive. The first arc of the show serves as an introduction to the warring times, demonstrating the harshness of living in such times and the brutal power struggles. At this time Xin meets the young king Ying Zheng and after offering his assistance and proving himself, gets drafted into the army and given a chance to turn his ambitions into reality.

Kingdom showcases some extremely large scale military battles and for the most part does an outstanding job in capturing the atmosphere on a battlefield. Kingdom doesn’t always revolve around the fighting, but on the different strategies the Generals implement to try to gain the upper hand over an opponent. The strategies remain diverse and differ depending on the general and may change at a moment’s notice depending on the situation on ground, showing that adaptation is an important factor. While it does contain an abundance of strategies, it does well in the fact of not overwhelming us with too much of it, the ‘brain vs. brawn’ argument is also laid bare and the series hints at reading the flow of battle, anticipating what your opponent will do and knowing the right strategy to apply always wins the day.

Kingdom also demonstrates that a battle is never a one man mission, it requires co-operation between several squads and sub-squadrons given different tasks to carry out that ensure victory. Our protagonist, Xin, is indeed powerful when compared to a normal soldier, but the series carefully makes sure not to depict him as over-powerful, and it never tries to make the mistake of making him take center stage in a battle, as of course an overpowered MC from the get-go would indeed be boring. At every battle Xin’s squad is given a particular task to perform on the battlefield, this task may mildly or adversely affect the whole state of the battle and after which he withdraws to a supporting role as other squads and different part of the army take the center stage. In the rare cases Kingdom does shy away from the battlefield it deals with simple character interactions or matters of Diplomacy and state.

The emotions the show throws at you are also immense, battles get so tense it may literally have some people at the edge of their seats and just writhing in agony at the prospects of what may happen next, more so when characters find themselves in a seemingly hopeless situation. Survival is of course the main objective but the soldiers also display a sense of chivalry about them, in the sense of even when greatly outnumbering an opponent, once their commander is killed, they usually withdraw. The pacing remains almost flawless all through, never dragging on but also not moving too fast for audiences to lose sight of it. The script is also very well written, while not too simplistic or psychological, characters engage in smart dialogue that doesn’t seem redundant and is always straight to the point never beating around the bush. Even those pre-battle speeches a commander gives, serves as more than just a morale booster.

3DCGI has always looked wonderful in games and full CG animations, why? Because these forms of animations have always been aimed at making the art of the show look as close to real life as possible. However, when incorporated in anime, which takes its pride in being different from real life, it’s a completely different story. Its plastic appearance and mechanical motion has made a great number of anime that incorporate heavy use of CG to be assessed as mediocre.

Kingdom makes extensive use of CG animation, first of all the CG actually has varying qualities, there are times when it looks as terrible as it’s known but other times it’s truly a spectacle to behold. I find myself most frustrated with the quality of the CG at the start of the show, the quality of the first couple of episodes was quite poor and did nothing but chase away any potential viewers who might have wanted to stick with it to the end.

Once you get past the bad quality of the initial episodes, the animators reward us with some high quality CG that certainly impresses with some great choreographed action sequences. The studio also didn’t fail to take full advantage of the CG on the battlefield, the number of characters drawn on the screen was indeed much but they always made sure these characters moved independently for the most part and not the ‘Foosball table’ combat one may have anticipated. 360 degree camera rotations and different camera positions are also plentiful.

Despite the shows seemingly low production values, it had a number of very popular seiyuus, the likes of Fukuyama Jun and Morita Masakazu grace us with some very powerful performances, almost all the seiyuus left powerful impressions on their characters. The soundtracks in Kingdom mostly comprise of orchestral pieces and the sound director did a great job of adding the right track to suit a situation, be it a dramatic, comedic or tense moments. Kingdom also spans an OP and three ED songs.

Kingdom features one of the greatest character growths I have ever witnessed in any anime. Our protagonist Xin, not only grows physically in his strength and sword fighting skills but also grows mentally, when we first meet him, he is your everyday brute that solves all his problem with the throw of a punch or the swing of his sword but as he gains experience in battle he starts to use a bit of intellect to his duties. One can’t help but feel proud of the young lad who rose from obscurity when we see him gain accomplishments on the battlefield and one can’t help but do a victory dance every now and then when he succeeds with all the odds seemingly stacked against him. Even simple events like Xin receiving his first ever payment or him buying his first ever piece of armor are events that truly warm the heart.

The supporting characters also receive a decent slice of the pie, their personalities of most of them are unique and also at the same time enjoyable, the show has no shortage of standout characters and you may have a hard time picking a favorite. The majority of the female characters in the show in particular, although few and far in between, were all great, they never act weak, play the damsel in distress or used for profane fan service and actually are capable of single handedly dismantling a large number of their male counterparts. Despite the large number of cast, Kingdom does a great job in developing most of them in very enjoyable fashion whilst keeping the pacing near flawless, I was honestly shocked by the amount of content that went into 38 episodes and the show never beats around the bush with needless flashbacks and dragging themes but always stays precise and straight to the point.

Kingdom has indeed for me been a diamond in the rough, it had a lack luster opening but slowly grew into something impressive. The CG may bring it down a notch or two but it more than does enough to cover for it in with its vibrant story and great characters. The decision of the author to put character growth ahead of everything else has indeed proven a perfectly worked out formula. While the large, heart-wrenching and pulse-pounding battles will receive the most attention, we can’t deny that it was a show that attempted to impress in all departments.

To create a show with such a large world that almost accurately captures the principles and aesthetics of ancient warfare is indeed quite a feat, but to execute it with so very few flaws, absolutely boggles the mind.

Reviewer’s Rating: 9

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Dec 22, 2015

dissipated

Mixed Feelings

First 14 episodes = 4/10
14–20 = 5/10
20+ = 6/10
Average=5/10

In episodes 20–38, a few episodes deserved 7-8 scores, noticeably the penultimate episode.

_
Comments on plot and characters
plot=5
... Comments for episodes 1-20:
The plot is garbage. It just relies on cheap cliff hangers and plot twist to keep the audience watching every single episode.

The characters are bad. They are superficial, so little is known about them which obscures any possible affections for them. Their dialogue is also atrocious.

The protagonist is illogically over-powered, and he incessantly spews cringe-evoking dialogue.

The humour is forced and inserted wherever possible.

The execution is subpar.

It is difficult to take this show seriously when its logic is absurd.

The characters have logic defying strength and super jump. The problem is the show offers no explanation for the unnatural strength of the characters, so it cannot be accepted as anything but a flaw. The only exceptions are the clans that call upon God’s strength because there was at least a modicum of explanation.

A myriad of plot conveniences run rampant, especially in battle spoiling the mood. Also, the protagonist Xin receives special treatment because he’s the main character as opposed to any logical consequence of the plot.

A few plot holes are apparent: Xin buying armour and never using it in combat; the absurd battles throughout the anime—a tiny group against thousands; the part where Wei, Ping elected to be a decoy by leaving a blood trail, yet he was able to escape. That must mean they never followed him or caught up which is near impossible; there are also those preposterous premonitions that frequently occur.

There were no redeeming factors until episode 20.

Episodes 20+
Pass that, it’s actually enjoyable. Wang, Qi and his army became likeable despite previously being loathsome. Xin is still annoying. The only other likeable characters were the brothers that helped Xin out.

Some of the negatives mentioned above are experienced to a much less degree or are unrealized. The major flaws are still present, so this arc receives a 6.

It should be emphasised that armour cannot be easily penetrated with generic swords. A specialised weapon or sword suited to combating each specific armour is needed.
_
Character=4
Most characters were ridiculous and/or unlikeable. These ratings are based on the character design and how well they were used.

Zheng=bad
Piao=fine
Xin=bad
Lei=average
Diao=bad
Bi=average
Wei, Ping=good
Wei, Dao=good
Wang, Qi=fine
Pang=bad (Too little is known about him, and he defied his own logic when he didn’t beat Wang with his own strength. Also, how the army found him to begin with is rather dubitable.)
_

Art=9
The animation style (3D and high detail) complemented the war and action theme of the anime. The 3D aspect evoked a vibrant experience. However, seldom are the wounds shown upon contact of the blade. This detracts from the show’s realism.

_

Sound=9
Most of the sounds were appropriate, and the sound tracks were superb. However, one absolutely detestable thing was that song or tune that played every time Lei danced. It was abject cringe.
_
Enjoyment =5
Overall=5

Reviewer’s Rating: 5

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Jul 4, 2018

Rikuson1

Not Recommended

Kingdom (English Dub) Review


Story (5/10) Average (Because of this adaptation changes)

The story for Kingdom I thought in this anime adaptation was mediocre at best, not nearly as good as I wanted to be because of the reasons I will explain below. Firstly the censorship, I am someone who is coming fresh off of the manga and with that being said hell yes I am once again pissed off at Studio Pierrot for butchering and so poorly handling a great manga like this. They've done it with Tokyo Ghoul and then they've done it here with Kingdom, one of Young Jump's to best selling ... manga in recent of all time doesn't deserve this. The reason I feel the censorship in a series like this isn't doing it justice is because firstly this is a seinen with war and death thrown in your face constantly watering it down to shonen levels of censorship is a blatant disrespectful for the truly mature rated series that Kingdom should be treat as. One would say "oh all that dismemberment and nudity doesn't make that much of a difference" and to you I say "I feel the series and others like it ie Berserk would have never have sold as much as they did if didn't have such content, it's integral to what makes them what they are and removing/censoring it makes the scenes that were showcased in the manga have far less impact than it should have had." Not only that but then when it comes to the actual story, although debatable if the Assassination Plot Arc and the Training Arc were truly important I personally feel they the reason they were removed weren't because "oh you can live without them" but when you look at characters like Lei, Qiang (btw all the names I refer to is what MAL calls them) majority of her characterization happens within those two arcs we get a deeper understanding of her and also the fight between her and Li, Xin which was great and also removed. This I feels should not have been skipped over and it I felt it hurt the overall story's quality. To be honest the only true reason Studio Pierrot removed those arcs was not because they were short but because like they wanted to cut corners and save a buck here and there. (like damn near every category when it came to this adaptation)


Art and Animation (3/10) Poor

Oh man oh man where the hell do I start.. this is by far the biggest offender to this entire adaptation of one of my favorite manga. Studio Pierrot I hate your decisions with a burning passion! I know the genre that Akatsuki no Yona is similar to that of Kingdom and although I have not watched that series yet I doubt that from an animation standpoint that war anime series was not butchered as badly as this was. This is by far some of the worst CG I've ever seen in an anime for the time it came out, this is definitely down there with Berserk 2016/2017 honestly I would put this below them because at least in that dismemberment censorship wasn't a thing. You would think for the serious and most important fight scenes in the Arcs that were adapted by Studio Pierrot they would do it justice NOPE damn near all in censored CG bullshit. And even when it was in hand-drawn only like small percentage of the time did it look the way it should. There were scenes where also the hand drawn scenes just looked down right dreadful also and I was more even than offended when I saw that.


Sound (6/10) Fair
More Specifically (6.75/10) Fair+

The sound for Kingdom I feel was one of the little things Studio Pierrot got right at least. For the most part for sound effects, voice actors (which I'll get to in a minute) and definitely background music they did quite a good job. If there's anything I enjoyed the absolute most was the opening anime theme song for this adaptation, I never skipped it because I love the song that much same can be said about the first ending song I loved it, the other ones not so much. As far as the English Dub is concerned I felt majority of the voice actors they chose fit the characters they were assigned to which is very good but when it came to the voice acting that the voice actors gave off they where hit or miss most of the time for me. Damn near all of the voice actors sometimes instead of acting out their lines just sounded like they were just reading their lines off the script and forgetting to put the right amount of emotion behind said lines when needed. They would also do this weird pause within a middle of a sentence that isn't completed, this pause would be like a second and a half before they continued and that broke the immersion a lot for me multiple times, it felt like they were reading their lines, got to a point where they had to think before they read the rest of the line and then continue the rest of the script, it was mad annoying and for season 2 I will be watching it in sub.


Characters (7/10) Good

When it came to adapting the characters Studio Pierrot did an ok to good job they didn't really fuck anything up here, majority of the characters were adapted well. Like I said though with the removal of the two arcs I feel that was a hit on the characterization of Lei, Qiang and at least for the Dub voice actor the character of Nuan "Hou Ken" Pang they made him speak in Thous and Shalls which felt extremely out of place since the manga did not do this for him and even if it did no other character spoke like this so it I felt out of place and it kind of ruin the character who "as far as the manga portrayed" as a character to be feared wasn't as fearful to me. Wang, Qi 's english voice actor I felt sounded exactly the way he was suppose to but there were times in his final fight I felt his rage was not portrayed correctly either that's more of the voice actors fault though. Other than those three characters all of the other ones where nigh perfectly adapted.


Enjoyment (2/10) Dreadful

Dreadful is definitely the first word that comes to mind when I think about my enjoyment level when it came to this adaptation. I heard it was bad but I just had to see for myself. To be honest I wouldn't be surprised if the reason I put this entire series on hold 3 years ago and didn't come back until now was because of how terrible this adaptation was. The censorship in nudity and dismemberment, the English dub's spotty voice acting and last and definitely not least the pathetic CG animation quality and spotty hand drawn animation quality are all some of the biggest insults you can give to any manga series when it comes to adapting it into anime format. I was frowning for damn near my entire time watching this adaptation in my head constantly was telling myself "why the fuck I'm I watching this garbage?"


Overall (4/10) Bad
More Specifically (4.75/10) Bad+

I rarely give out 4s let alone finish them or even go as far as to write a written review about them, but as a Kingdom fan I feel I have to give my full thoughts on this and my constant hatred for Studio Pierrot continues to burn. Studio Pierrot other than like Yu Yu Hakusho I feel have let me down time and time again recently, I heard GTO and Akatsuki no Yona aren't bad but man everything damn near else they just can't help to not do a great job on in my eyes. Kingdom as a series deserves far better than this and this anime adaption will make many newcomers to the series that don't read manga stay as far away as possible which sucks. I heard many many people say that Season 2 isn't nearly as bad as the first so I'll see about that when I get there.

Reviewer’s Rating: 4

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