Anime vs. Manga character names:
King Zhen = Ei Sei
Xin = Shin
Qiang Lei = Kyou Kai
Li Mu = Riboku
Wang Qi = Ou Ki
Meng Wu = Moubu
Fei Xin Unit = Hi Shin Unit
He Liao Dao = Karyo Ten
Lian Po = Renpa
Story: 7/10
The story revolves around the slave boys Piao and Xin who share the dream of becoming The Greatest Generals under the Heavens. After tragic events Piao dies asking Xin to make their dream a reality, saying goodbye to his best friend. With his friend's death, Xin's journey for revenge and achieving their dream begins, on this journey Xin will meet the fallen king Zheng, and toghether they will work towards achieving their goal of uniting all China.
Kingdom has great worldbulding that is surprisingly well executed. I also liked how they portrayed the political struggle and battles between the king and his brother, later the king and the chancellor.
The plot is fairly complex and highly entertaining but it does have multiple flaws and holes:
1. Piao and Xin, two slaves boys trained each other in swordsmanship to the extent that Xin is able to defeat enemy generals and such. That is very, very difficult to believe and very improbable.
2. Wang Qi goes from being gay to being pedo, wanting to marry a 16 years old girl.
3. Some of the war tactics are hard to believe.
4. These generals appear to have infinite strenght, with one sword swing they can blow away 10 soldiers.
5. The Pang Nuan scenes are just dumb.
6. The battles are unrealistic.
7. How did Wei Ping escape when he was leaving a trail of blood that enemy soldiers were following?Piao and Xin, two slaves boys trained each other inswordsmanship
8. Why does Xin not wear the armor he owns?
9. Do the mountain people not have human bodies? After being stabbed, shot with arrow, etc. they get back up and keep fighting.
10. Liao's past is hard to believe. FYI, Liao was one of the 6 Great Generals of State of Qin at the age of 17. Hmm, something is not right.
Characters: 6/10
The characters are failry generic but they are decently characterized and get some development.
Xin, the MC, is the typical shounen protagonist that is dense and dumb, has a short temper but is very strong and can defeat just about anyone throuh the power of being the MC. Xin is so dumb that he can not create a succesful strategy, he oftens says cringy lines, his only strenght is his body and the ability to raise the moral of his soldiers. Xin has the dream of becoming a great general, which is impossible with the simple mind he was born with but he will somhow succeed in following that dream. I believe Piao would have been a much better main character.
Zheng is the king of the State of Qin. Zheng is a higgly intelligent boy who will face many future obstacles in the pursuit of his goals. With Xin's help, Zheng regained the power after being dethroned by his brother and toghether they will help each other and follow their dreams.
Wang Qi is a great general and an important character that greatly influenced the development of the story and Xin's character.
The rest of the support characters are fine, nothing special.
Animation: 6/10
The animation for the first 2-3 episodes is bad (beacuse of CG) but it gets better with each episode, being fluid and having nice art. What I found extremly annoying was the censorship pf the gore. The show contains almost no blood or gore and that is just ruining the mood and the hype.
Sound: 8/10
The opening theme is good, the ending theme is nice and the OST is well suited to the tone of the show, the voice actors do a good job as well. The result is an overall good sound experience.
Enjoyment: 7/10
KINGDOM is an entertaining series with good plot and decent characters but the censorship and lack of gore ruined many great scenes.
Overall: 6/10
A good series that has the positives outnumbering the negatives and is very much worth the watch. I recommend giving Kingdom a try.
