Let's Talk About Something[By Hex]

Let's Talk About Kingdom

I've always wanted to talk about this Manga, I forgot to include it in my recommendations during the LTAS Manga chapter but this Manga needs more recognition.

Let's start from the beginning, what is Kingdom?

Kingdom is a Historical, Military, Seinen, Action manga that takes place in China during the 500 year war. It was known as the Era of Warring States.

The manga is written and drawn by Yasuhisa Hara and was first released in January 2006.

Kingdom is about a young boy born in a low-class family who dreams of becoming the "Great General of the Heavens"; and the young prince of an empire whose goal is to conquer and unite all of China's States. 

You follow as these two young boys with different motivated goals come together and make progress in getting their dreams to come true.

(just a Warning, Do not ever look up on Wikipedia (or any other website) about the Warring States of China/The 500-year war or else you will actually get spoiled. Its a Historical manga after all and surprisingly very accurate when it comes to the events that take place in the story.)

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So you may be wondering, what makes Kingdom so unique?
You may say that "it looks generic, It's historically accurate which means that it's boring and that it's about China and nobody likes China because Japan is cooler and I can't be a weeaboo if the story isn't at all related to Japanese culture".
(If anyone actually thinks like that then fuck you)

Well, I'll give you my reasoning and I'll (again) separate it into several sections which are Characters, The Art of War (pun intended) and The Hype Factor and then end off with a conclusion.

Alright guys, LET'S JUST JUMP RIGHT INTO THIS!

THE CHARACTERS

To get the first thing out of the way, Kingdom has A LOT of characters, some of them have in-depth backgrounds, characteristics and personalities and others that have some semblance of background and personality. I don't think there has ever been a single character so far who doesn't feel believable and that's because these characters are actual people from real life history who partook in these wars with some playing big roles in the warring states era, it just goes to show how clever and talented Yasuhisa Hara really is. 

Another thing to mention is that there really is no clear villain in Kingdom, sure there are antagonists who stand in the path of the characters but they don't feel like evil villains, just people who have their own motivations, backgrounds, passions, and dreams in the battlefield. This makes it so that many of the antagonists are understandable from a reader's point of view. Even if we want the main characters to win, we can understand why some of the antagonists will want to stand in the MCs way. 

Now to begin with who the main characters actually are. 

Let's start with my comrade, my Brotha, MY BOI!

Shin (Chinese version of the name is Li Xin)