Kingdom

mouthpiece

5 years ago

THE STAFF\r\n- Animated by Studio Pierrot, which automatically means a shounen show with average to bad production values. In this case, very bad.\r\n- Directed by Kamiya Jun, who has a most unimpressive roster. His best work was Blue Seed and even that was just an average watch.\r\n- Based on a manga nobody knows about, written by a guy nobody cares about.\r\nThere didn’t seem to be much to expect from this show and as soon as it began WHAT A SURPRISE it was indeed nothing. This anime is the perfect example of what a blunt anime is all about.\r\n\r\n1) Boring title\r\nKingdom??? Just kingdom? Why not the\n ...\n Seven Kingdoms? Why stop there with the trimming; how about just King?\r\n\r\n2) Horrible CGI\r\nThe series is made with cell-shaded polygons and it looks completely low quality. Everything feels crude and artificial, from body motions to action scenes. It’s like you are watching cut scenes from a decade old videogame. I give them a credit for trying to experiment on 3D effects in order to better use them in later shows but this leaves the show as nothing more than a crude and eventually failed experiment.\r\n\r\n3) Unimpressive soundtrack and dumb dialogues\r\nThere are no interesting songs and the dialogues are all very silly and typical. Nothing to bother listening to.\r\n\r\n4) Lame action\r\nThere are lots of action scenes and they are all very basic. Despite having huge armies clashing with each other, you hardly feel any excitement coming out of that. Aside from the fact the soldiers move in a very crude way, they also never get any wounds despite occasionally bleeding a bit. Heck, the mooks don’t even have eyes most of the times to the point they don’t look like people but rather like mass produced blind robots. Even when the main characters are fighting, you hardly get any actual battle choreography, as it is mostly static people jumping around with a few rays of light to substitute motions. Doesn’t that render the whole use of 3D pointless? You are supposed to have polygons for elaborate perspectives and complicating body motions and instead you get the usual frozen cardboards. This doesn’t look any better than your typical 2D shonen show.\r\n\r\n5) Basic story\r\n- The story takes place during the warring states period of China and plays out as basic as possible. If you happen to have watched or read The Romance of the Three Kingdoms or at least be aware of a few well made Chinese war films, this will feel completely dull and childish. I mean the setting is better suited for an epic saga full of politics and hundreds of characters and all you get is a simplistic fighting shounen revolving around a dozen people.\r\n- So what is the story you may wonder? Well, there this bunch of nations fighting each other. A prince is hunted by his usurper brother and befriends a villager boy whose best friend was used as a look alike for the prince. Together they fend off some assassins and head to the mountains where they ally themselves with the mountain folk and they storm the usurper\'s fortress. These three lines of text took 15 whole episodes to happen and everything else in-between was either dead time or shounen bs.\r\n- The second arc is supposed to make things more interesting by including battles with thousands of warriors. There are absolutely no significant politics, mind games, field tactics, or common sense; it’s just some imba guy attacking and winning.\r\n\r\n6) Annoying characters\r\nNot only the cast is as generic as it gets, separated to black and white and be easily described in two lines of text, but they also behave in a most immature way. Which makes sense since this is a shounen story. But then again the setting is making you think it will be dark and complicating, when it hardly is and everybody behaves like an angry dumb teenager. It just doesn’t feel plausible.\r\n- The villains are complete assholes with absolutely no depth or redeeming qualities to have a reason to like them even for being evil.\r\n- Damn how I hate how fake everybody acts during fights. They are mostly talking than fighting for their lives. Especially when it comes to mini bosses, they kill mooks in seconds without exchanging a word but when they face the hero they just can’t shut up and just kill him. They also constantly don’t try to slay him in one strike but keep playing with him, as if this is not a duel to the death but a childish game.\r\n- And you think the hero is any better? He will constantly be acting like a delinquent who loves to scream for no reason and will be winning against elites who have decades of experience. He otherwise has no experience at all and wins with nothing more than willpower. You call that compelling characterization? I call it bullshit!\r\n- Even the reactions of the characters feel completely bullocks. Imagine a scene where a professional assassin kills someone. All you see is a ray of light (since the show is not making use of its own technology) followed by a most ridiculous remark by the victim’s friend. “Hey, I know this style of fighting; let me describe it to you in 5.000 words.” Aside from the fact this nobody magically recognizes a fighting style just by looking at a simplistic ray of light, he also does nothing more than infodumping us instead of saying something more natural, such as “OMG HE KILLED MY FRIEND!”\r\n\r\nThus all you get is a big zero of a show.\r\n\r\nAnd now for some excused scorings.\r\nART SECTION: 4/10\r\nGeneral Artwork 0/2 (shitty 3D)\r\nCharacter Figures 1/2 (generic)\r\nBackgrounds 1/2 (basic but fitting with the feeling of the series)\r\nAnimation 1/2 (basic)\r\nVisual Effects 1/2 (basic)\r\n\r\nSOUND SECTION: 6/10\r\nVoice Acting 2/3 (corny but fitting with the feeling of the series)\r\nMusic Themes 2/4 (average)\r\nSound Effects 2/3 (ok I guess)\r\n\r\nSTORY SECTION: 4/10\r\nPremise 1/2 (typical)\r\nPacing 1/2 (erratic)\r\nComplexity 1/2 (not much)\r\nPlausibility 0/2 (none)\r\nConclusion 1/2 (cheesy)\r\n\r\nCHARACTER SECTION: 6/10\r\nPresence 1/2 (generic)\r\nPersonality 2/2 (rather cheesy but well founded)\r\nBackdrop 1/2 (generic and simplistic but it’s there)\r\nDevelopment 1/2 (overblown but it’s there)\r\nCatharsis 1/2 (overblown but it’s there)\r\n\r\nVALUE SECTION: 1/10\r\nHistorical Value 0/3 (none)\r\nRewatchability 0/3 (no reason to rewatch)\r\nMemorability 1/4 (no reason to remember)\r\n\r\nENJOYMENT SECTION: 1/10\r\nArt 0/1 (shitty 3D)\r\nSound 0/2 (sounds meh)\r\nStory 1/3 (as basic shonen as it gets)\r\nCharacters 0/4 (they are annoying)\r\n\r\nVERDICT: 3.5/10

Rikuson1

6 years ago

Kingdom (English Dub) Review\r\n\r\n\r\nStory (5/10) Average (Because of this adaptation changes) \r\n \r\nThe 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\n ...\n 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) \r\n\r\n\r\nArt and Animation (3/10) Poor\r\n \r\nOh 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. \r\n\r\n\r\nSound (6/10) Fair\r\nMore Specifically (6.75/10) Fair+\r\n\r\nThe 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. \r\n\r\n\r\nCharacters (7/10) Good\r\n\r\nWhen 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. \r\n\r\n\r\nEnjoyment (2/10) Dreadful \r\n\r\nDreadful 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?' \r\n\r\n\r\nOverall (4/10) Bad\r\nMore Specifically (4.75/10) Bad+ \r\n\r\nI 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.

Antikollektivist

7 years ago

Compared to the Manga this Show is bad.\r\nThe first Season is almost unwatchable because its very poorly animated.\r\n\r\nBut compared to average Shows its still good.\r\nShin is like a combination of Ruffy and Guts.\r\nBut Shin is not the secret to Kingdoms greatness.\r\n\r\nThe secrets are the epic full scale wars.\r\nGreat generals like Kanki and Ousen.\r\nBattle of Wits on the Battlefield but also in Politics which is displayed here also.\r\n ...\n \r\nThe english Dub is great.\r\nThe Story is of course epic.\r\nAlso the animation in the second Season is way better.\r\n\r\nIts similar to the Berserk Goldenage Movies:\r\nYou can watch it but its way better to just read the Manga

Cinefil_original

8 years ago

Intro: It is sad, it is funny, it is thrilling, it is catchy. An anime series based on actual historical events that unfortunately has many flaws.\r\n\r\nAnime vs. Manga character names:\r\nKing Zhen = Ei Sei\r\nXin = Shin\r\nQiang Lei = Kyou Kai\r\nLi Mu = Riboku\r\nWang Qi = Ou Ki\r\nMeng Wu = Moubu\r\nFei Xin Unit = Hi Shin Unit\r\n ...\n He Liao Dao = Karyo Ten\r\nLian Po = Renpa \r\n\r\nStory: 7/10\r\nThe 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.\r\nKingdom 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.\r\n\r\nThe plot is fairly complex and highly entertaining but it does have multiple flaws and holes:\r\n1. 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.\r\n2. Wang Qi goes from being gay to being pedo, wanting to marry a 16 years old girl.\r\n3. Some of the war tactics are hard to believe.\r\n4. These generals appear to have infinite strenght, with one sword swing they can blow away 10 soldiers.\r\n5. The Pang Nuan scenes are just dumb.\r\n6. The battles are unrealistic.\r\n7. 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\r\n8. Why does Xin not wear the armor he owns?\r\n9. Do the mountain people not have human bodies? After being stabbed, shot with arrow, etc. they get back up and keep fighting.\r\n10. 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.\r\n\r\n\r\nCharacters: 6/10\r\nThe characters are failry generic but they are decently characterized and get some development.\r\n\r\nXin, 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.\r\n\r\nZheng 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.\r\n\r\nWang Qi is a great general and an important character that greatly influenced the development of the story and Xin\'s character.\r\n\r\nThe rest of the support characters are fine, nothing special.\r\n\r\n\r\nAnimation: 6/10\r\nThe 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.\r\n\r\nSound: 8/10\r\nThe 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.\r\n\r\nEnjoyment: 7/10\r\nKINGDOM is an entertaining series with good plot and decent characters but the censorship and lack of gore ruined many great scenes.\r\n\r\nOverall: 6/10\r\nA good series that has the positives outnumbering the negatives and is very much worth the watch. I recommend giving Kingdom a try.

ggultra2764

8 years ago

Kingdom is a historic war-action series focused on Xin, a war orphan living in China\'s Warring States period who aspires to become a general. Coming across the exiled prince Ying Zheng, Xin assists Ying with trying to reclaim rule over his kingdom of Qin and unify all of China under him.\r\n\r\nTo my understanding, Kingdom mixes around historic facts and fictional storytelling in its exploration of Xin\'s struggles as a number of major characters are based on real-life historical Chinese figures. I am not well-versed enough in Chinese history to understand how much of what is depicted in the series is historically accurate. But in regards\n ...\n to the characters seen throughout the series, they are a bit of a mixed bag. Some of the major characters follow stock archetypes typical of shounen battle anime as Xin feels too much like the hot-headed, dense and battle-loving action hero that the genre loves to milk and He Liao Diao mostly serving as a sidekick character. Many of the battles in the series also have the feel typical of a shounen battle anime with characters blindly charging into battle and taking plenty of punishment in fights, yet continuing to persevere and eventually overcome their foes. Not helping matters with the battles in the series are the show\'s awkward efforts to mix its regular animation, with CG animated sequences that are quite glaring to see when scenes switch between the different animation styles and the fact that the rendering of characters in said CG sequences look quite rough compared to the regular animation.\r\n\r\nOn the plus side, the historical elements implemented into Kingdom allow its storytelling to have some elements of sophistication that give it a smidge more depth compared to most shounen battle titles. A number of characters are given a good deal of dimension and depth to explore their personalities and what drives them in making the decisions they do. The developments in a decent chunk of Kingdom\'s first half lead to growth in the characters of Xin and Zheng. Also with the great deal of focus on planning for warfare provided at a number of points in the series, the more battle-savvy leaders in the series are shown to deploy a good amount of tactics and strategy when leading their squadrons against enemy threats.\r\n\r\nIn spite of the praises though, Kingdom suffers quite a bit in having an uneven focus with how it wishes to portray itself between wanting to be a historical war title dabbling into military strategy and famous figures of the Chinese Warring States period or a shounen battle anime that dabbles into a number of the typical cliches of the genre. If Eastern historical anime titles grab your interest, Kingdom is certainly not one of the best offerings of the genre and I would certainly not be in favor of watching it more than once.

forgo911

9 years ago

Well where to start. I came upon Kingdom one day while I was searching the great archives of MAL for something to watch. I saw the picture and read the synopsis and said wow sounds really entertaining. I scrolled down to check out the reviews and saw that is was getting 8s and 9s. 'Sounds like Kingdom might be a gem,' I said to myself, 'I should check it out.' So I found it and started watching it and oh boy what a gem I found myself in for.\r\n\r\nStory:6\r\nI have to admit at this point, I\'m only done watching episode 2 and can\'t really go\n ...\n in-depth at this point. Seems to be an average story so far. On to the next point.\r\n\r\nArt:2\r\nAt this point I would like to say something positive about Kingdom. The 2D art is beautiful to look at. Now you might ask me, 'If the 2D art is so impressive why would you give it such a low score?' Well I\'m glad you asked. See Kingdom likes to think that it is special, and instead of gorgeous 2D animation it decided to use 3D animation that is less impressive than what ReBoot had over in 94. The animation looks bad, especially during the fight scenes. Now this wouldn\'t be such an issue if the main genre that Kingdom goes for is action. If I had to come up with a sentence to describe how the fights look it would be this. Remember when you were a child playing with action figures? That is remarkably close to how it looks in Kingdom. Needless to say I was far from impressed.\r\n\r\nSound:5\r\nFrom a musician\'s view point, the OP and EP were both good pieces that you could skip and not miss a thing. The music during the anime is fine, just completely unmemorable \r\n\r\nCharacter:5\r\nNow because I haven\'t seen a whole lot of the anime at this time, I can\'t really say if the characters get flushed out to any good degree. On to enjoyment.\r\n\r\nEnjoyment:9\r\nI feel like I\'m going to have to explain this one a little. See it started at about the 5 min mark of the first episode. The characters were talking to someone and I realized something, this might be the worst dialogue I have ever heard in my life. Cheesey doesn\'t even begin to describe how awful it is. As an example at one point a character is on the ground saying 'I\'ll kill them' and he has to say this about 10 times in a row. The delivery is beyond incredible. In fact it wouldn\'t surprise me to learn that the Actor had a stroke in the middle of the line and the director just said, 'Eh, F it. It\'ll do.'. Every single moment that characters are speaking is a gold mine of laughs.\r\n\r\nTL;DL\r\nThis is an example of an anime being so bad it\'s good. Voice acting is bad, writing is awful and the animation is disgusting. If you can get past that bad animation you can have a few laughs.\r\n\r\nOVERALL:3 out of 10

dissipated

9 years ago

First 14 episodes = 4/10\r\n14–20 = 5/10\r\n20+ = 6/10\r\nAverage=5/10\r\n\r\nIn episodes 20–38, a few episodes deserved 7-8 scores, noticeably the penultimate episode.\r\n\r\n_\r\nComments on plot and characters\r\nplot=5\r\n ...\n Comments for episodes 1-20:\r\nThe plot is garbage. It just relies on cheap cliff hangers and plot twist to keep the audience watching every single episode.\r\n\r\nThe characters are bad. They are superficial, so little is known about them which obscures any possible affections for them. Their dialogue is also atrocious.\r\n\r\nThe protagonist is illogically over-powered, and he incessantly spews cringe-evoking dialogue.\r\n\r\nThe humour is forced and inserted wherever possible.\r\n\r\nThe execution is subpar.\r\n\r\nIt is difficult to take this show seriously when its logic is absurd. \r\n\r\nThe 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. \r\n\r\nA 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.\r\n\r\nA 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.\r\n\r\nThere were no redeeming factors until episode 20.\r\n\r\nEpisodes 20+\r\nPass 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.\r\n\r\nSome 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.\r\n\r\nIt 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.\r\n_\r\nCharacter=4\r\nMost characters were ridiculous and/or unlikeable. These ratings are based on the character design and how well they were used.\r\n\r\nZheng=bad\r\nPiao=fine\r\nXin=bad\r\nLei=average\r\nDiao=bad\r\nBi=average\r\nWei, Ping=good\r\nWei, Dao=good\r\nWang, Qi=fine\r\nPang=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.)\r\n_\r\n\r\nArt=9\r\nThe 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.\r\n\r\n_\r\n\r\nSound=9\r\nMost 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.\r\n_\r\nEnjoyment =5 \r\nOverall=5

Toshi_

9 years ago

The Art and Animation in this Anime can make anybody think twice about watching it, i even dropped it half way through the first episode. But when you actually sit down and just watch the Anime it\'s a whole new level.\r\n\r\nThe MC, Story and Character development is Amazing, they way it builds up, the fighting, Character Relations you can\'t get enough of it. It makes up for the terrible Animation and makes you just want to watch more.\r\n\r\nThe MC overall is someone most people want in a Protagonist. Strong & Ruthless, He doesn\'t care about his own well being and relies on brute strength but\n ...\n can also be quite cunning. \r\n\r\nThe story revolves around a lot of Strategy type war over Land across China, I\'m really looking forward to see what direction the creator takes this Anime, The upcoming battles & Struggles is full of Hype and Anticipation.\r\n\r\nOverall worth while watch 8.8/10

Seffir

10 years ago

Summary:\r\n\r\n(Character names are written differently in different translations)\r\n\r\nThe time is warring states of China. Young Xin and his childhood friend Piao, were both orphans who lived as slaves in a small village. At that time a slave had no choice but to be a slave for the rest of their lives. Xin and Piao did not agree with that, so they decided that they will become the greatest generals in all of China. So they trained every day while they were still working as slaves waiting for the right moment to strike. Fate began to move and Piao was noticed by some nobles and taken\n ...\n to the capital while Xin was left in the village. Turns out Piao was used as a double for the new young king Zheng who was fighting a rebellion by his half brother. In an attempt to assassinate Zheng, Piao gets heavily wounded. Piao manages to reach the village where Xin lives and asks Xin to protect Zheng in his place and then falls to his wound. Xin enraged decides to avenge Piao by killing king Zhao. After meeting and talking with Zhao, Xin decides to follow him as Piao had wished. Here starts the adventure of Xin to become the greatest general in China.\r\n\r\nStory\r\n\r\nIn my opinion the story is really good, especially if you like history and historic wars. The state of China at that time is really well explained. This anime covers both sides, the battle against the other nations and the battle inside the nation itself. The tactics and organisation of armies are also really well explained and shown, which is the most important in an anime like this.\r\n\r\nThe story progresses fine and does not get in useless episodes. It is well written and makes you want to watch more as Xin climbs the ranks in the army.\r\n\r\n8/10\r\n\r\n\r\nAnimation\r\n\r\nNo matter how much I love this anime I can\'t defend the animation. The animation was just horrible. I already am not a fan of 3D animation and in this anime it just looks disgusting. It was really really bad but the story started so intensely that it made me not mind the bad animation.(the animation gets much better in season 2)\r\n\r\n4/10\r\n\r\nSound\r\n\r\nThe sound was good but nothing impressing. Voice acting was well executed and the OST was solid.\r\n\r\n7/10\r\n\r\n\r\nCharacters\r\n\r\nThe anime contains a lot of great characters but I will focus on the main 4.\r\n\r\nXin:\r\nThe main character. At first glance he is like a normal shonen main character but the difference is that Xin has no problem killing his opponent.Well it is a war after all. His resolve and will are strong which makes him a good main character.\r\n\r\nZheng:\r\nThe illegitimate son of the late king of the state of Qin. He is the successor for the throne but his half brother does not agree so a fight ignites between the two. Zheng is strong and always looks like he has the situation under control. He does not show his emotion and his look is always firm, this makes him fit to be a leader.\r\n\r\nDiao:\r\nAn orphan from the mountain folks. He helps Xin and Zhao escape from an ambush and latter joins them in the fight against he rebellion. Diao is young and smart but has no fighting strength. That is why Diao decides to become a strategist instead of a warrior.\r\n\r\nLei:\r\nAs member of the female assassin clan 'Chi You' Lei is a highly skilled swordsman. Meets Xin on the battlefield and becomes drawn to him for reasons she can\'t comprehend. Her only purpose in life is getting revenge for her sister. But as she gets to know Xin more will she get another purpose in life? She is by far the strongest among the foot soldiers and is a great help to Xin.\r\n\r\noverall characters get:\r\n\r\n9/10\r\n\r\nEnjoyment\r\n\r\nI did enjoy this anime a lot. Even if the animation was shit I could not help myself but enjoy this show. I simply love everything about it.\r\n\r\n10/10\r\n\r\nOverall\r\n\r\nThis show would get an 20/10(yes 20) if it was not for the shitty animation. That is why I will give it only nine out of ten.\r\n\r\n8/10

Helios33

11 years ago

A brave anime in an era of fan service and product placement.\r\n\r\nImagine a large production that has nothing to do with high school, with no fan service, with a well thought and developed story that actually takes its time to mature, strong characters and actual moral impact. Such a thing cannot exist in a time when costs of animation sore, and yet it does, almost a miracle.\r\n\r\nIt is an enjoyable series that has taken many risks, from the animation point of view with its 3D effects, to the moments when the story stops to explain medieval military tactics, and last but more shocking the fact\n ...\n that deals with the tale of one of China\'s greatest heroes in a moment when the relation between both nations is in an all time low. \r\n\r\nI hope it goes on beyond the 2nd season.

DiLiNiTi

11 years ago

Have you ever wandered why Dynasty Warriors was not an anime? Well, Kingdom is pretty damn similar. Kingdom is an anime that amazingly and almost perfectly portrays strategic war in medieval China.\r\n\r\nStory: 10/10.\r\nAt first, I was a bit sceptical about the idea of an anime based on medieval Chinese war. I thought that there would be a lack of a protagonist, that the whole anime would revolve solely around the strategy involved in medieval warfare. However, I was amazed with the layout and structure of the story, and how it caught my interest from the first episode. Kingdom\'s protagonist, Xin, is a young, but vastly\n ...\n strong boy, whose goal is to become \'the greatest general under the heavens\'. The anime brilliantly shows his progression as he participates in battles to obtain achievements, and seeing him edge closer to his goal makes the anime that much more enjoyable. It may seem strange that an anime based on war in medieval China would revolve around a boy, when one man may seem so insignificant to whole wars, but Xin upholds his protagonist aspect as he makes large differences everywhere he goes.\r\n\r\nArt: 8/10.\r\nThe three dimensional art of Kingdom may put some off, however, it enhances the sense of Chinese war. Seemingly unique, this art style looks very similar to some Japanese style games, such as Rogue Galaxy. I was a bit sceptical of it at first, but as I breezed through the anime I grew to like it, as without the strange style, it would seem more like a Japanese war, which clearly is not Kingdom\'s intended style.\r\n\r\nSound: 10/10.\r\nThe soundtrack of Kingdom is simply amazing, and it is always timed right where it needs to be. Uplifting music when a general is shouting a morale lifting speech, intense and fast soundtrack when a battle is commencing, it all holds the anime together and makes it all the more enjoyable. \r\nThe voice actors starred in Kingdom are also spectacular. Morita displayed outstanding voice acting in this anime. After hearing him voice Ichigo\'s calm, soothing tone for so many episodes of Bleach, I could hardly believe it was him voicing angry little Xin in Kingdom. But not just the protagonist has incredible voice acting, every single character does, including the minor foot soldiers that only speak one sentence. \r\n\r\nCharacter: 10/10.\r\nEach character is developed incredibly. Xin, being angry and blunt. Piao, being intelligent and modest. Zheng, being high, mighty and fair. All of these aspects are conjured brilliantly by each character\'s reaction to different happenings. Each general has his own strengths and weaknesses, and no two of them are the same, or even remotely similar. Some may ignore strategy and go full on attack, while others may spend nights dreaming up new tactical defences to best their opponents. While some characters may seem a little useless (yes, that\'s right, I\'m looking at you, Ten), they too of course have their strengths. Some surprising aspects may emerge from some characters occasionally, which of course is necessary for every anime, and each character has a personality that is finely clipped and demonstrated perfectly.\r\n\r\nEnjoyment: 10/10.\r\nI wasn\'t sure I could enjoy an anime based on medieval Chinese war. The most I\'ve looked into this topic is playing Dynasty Warriors 4 on my PS2 for a few hundred hours. However, the strategies displayed in Kingdom are carefully demonstrated to the audience in a way so that anyone can understand, and be a part of. Having a protagonist like Xin in an anime like this gives the watcher another reason to cheer at their laptop like an idiot, and a few other ridiculously overpowered characters bring tears of joy to the audience\'s eye.\r\n\r\nOverall: 10/10.\r\nThrough an overwhelmingly well displayed storyline, art that strongly creates an atmosphere of medieval China, soundtracks that bring shudders to your spine and incredible enjoyment, Kingdom has earned itself a place in my top 10 anime. If you don\'t like the concept of the anime - Chinese warfare, strategic battles, etc - then there is still a high chance of you loving Kingdom.

pluslethatminun

11 years ago

I\'ve never been a fan of warfare or of the same sort, but Kingdom intrigued me in a lot of ways. So I gave it a try. I\'ve never seen a detailed anime than Kingdom when it comes on old warfare.\r\n\r\n\r\nStory : 8\r\nThe story is set on middle kingdom, where 6 states are at war to further their own states. The story revolves around a young slave named Xin. Xin dreams of being the greatest general in middle kingdom. As he pursues this dream of his, a lot of tragic happenings will befall him. His wits will be tested, A LOT. Anyway, that\'s the main\n ...\n plot though. This particular season contains 3 arcs, and I\'m only going to tell the first one, and its up to you if you\'ll watch the series. The first arc is centered on Zheng, the king of Qin, which Xin(seriously, this names are confusing me in a lot ways.) lives at. Zheng\'s throne has been stolen from him, and after some tragically happenings which made me shed a tear or two. Xin will accompany Zheng on reclaiming the throne that was stolen from him. I found every arc interesting so I gave it a 9.\r\n\r\n\r\nArt : 7\r\nThe first reaction I made when I first saw Kingdom\'s art was 'WTF is this sh**?!'. God, it was horrible(maybe its because I\'ve only been watching recent animes, so that\'s why I was expecting great art.). Kingdom really emphasized the usage of CG\'s. A lot of scenes were made with CG\'s, so its not unusual to see awkwardly running characters and movements. I considered dropping the series, but! You\'ll eventually get used to it though. I would have given it a higher score if they stick on their drawings, I mean, look at those battle scenes which weren\'t done by CG\'s! Its effing gorgeous! But worry not my fellow art critic! The art in here is constantly improving.\r\n\r\n\r\nCharacters : 8\r\nCharacters on Kingdom really stand out, every main and supporting characters were drawn good. I like how they made some characters look weird. Background characters looked like each other. But its okay, its a warfare series! Who in the staff would want to draw individual looks on one background character if he\'s air time is only 3 seconds?!\r\n\r\n\r\nMusic : 7\r\nNot much to mention on this one. Kingdom has 1 OP and 3 ED. I only listened to the OP though, it was made by Nothing\'s carved in stone. \r\n\r\n\r\nEnjoyment : 8\r\nAs far as the story goes, I enjoyed it.\r\n\r\n\r\nOverall : 8\r\nIt might be weird to say this, but I cried a lot in this series. Now that I think about it, its really hilarious! I want to laugh at myself now. Well, it just might be in the spur of the moment. The camaraderie on Kingdom is really admirable, and the way they make things more tragic amazes me in a lot of ways. The series though is an action packed anime, and I love the strategic things they make, and the way they explained it and how it works in quite good too! Overall, this series is really good. And if you\'re looking for action, I highly recommend Kingdom. That\'s about my review on Kingdom! Happy watching!

Kenyanke

11 years ago

This Anime would not be well knonwn to the common eye, originally a friend\r\ntold me about it, which I reluctantly researched here and further aside.\r\nI came to the conclusion that I\'ll get it and give it a go in the near future.\r\n\r\nI flicked through some shows that I was going to watch having taken a break\r\nfrom watching the 10th last episode of Beelzebub. Watched the first episode,\r\nwhich I thought was only 24 mins long turned out to be a double episode.\r\n\r\nPaced myself and got into it, the opening song doesn\'t really appeal to you\r\nuntil you start watching and watching it, by episode 20 you\'ll like\n ...\n it.\r\nAs for the endings, composed of 3 different ones, #1 and #3 won\'t appeal\r\nto most people as they\'re quite bad, but #2 was brilliant.\r\n\r\nThe artistic style of the anime is weird, at some points it looks like\r\nit hasn\'t been hand drawn digitally or on paper, but like a game with\r\npeople on axcel movements, but you\'ll overcome that if you continue\r\nwatching the show.\r\n\r\nThere\'s two main protoganists, Zheng and Xin. Zheng is the King of Qin,\r\nwho has a goal to unit China under one king, while Xin\'s goal is to\r\nbecome the Greatest General among the Heavens and serve under Zheng.\r\nIt\'s quite a simple story, but throughout the anime you meet new people,\r\nnew stories unfold and new paths are forged.\r\n\r\nMany people will be turned off by the low score of this anime, but heathe not,\r\nthis anime may be a seven out of ten, but does not subsuquently mean it\'s bad.\r\nAs the story is quite simply, the anime is overly enjoyed, I\'ve had a break\r\nfor summer holidays for over three months, and throughout that time, I \r\nbarely watched more then one episode of an anime all through the day.\r\nNormally I watch it at night time, when it\'s not as roudy.\r\n\r\nContinuing above... After watching the first 5 episodes, I got into the anime\r\nand I started watching it during the day, taking breaks eat, rest or play\r\nLeague of Legends (3 matches from level 30 on EUW!), only anime\'s I\'d of\r\ndone this for would be Naruto, Bleach and Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood.\r\n\r\nBut it\'s not the greatest anime you\'ll come across but hey, it\'s not about being\r\nthe best, it\'s about whether you enjoyed it or not, doesn\'t matter what other\r\npeople think about it, so long as you enjoy it, that\'s all that matters.\r\n\r\nAs this review is just about finished, I will say, for those whom liked\r\nFMA or Bleach\'s Voice actors, then this would be for you. If i\'m not mistaken\r\nXin is Kurosaki Ichigo and another person is Alphonse Elric.\r\n\r\nIt\'s quite weird hearing Ichigo in another anime, but oh well, \r\ngive it a go, see what happens, and most of all, enjoy!

lyuhak

11 years ago

DO NOT TURN AWAY FROM THIS SERIES BECAUSE YOU ARE PUT OFF BY THE 3D ANIMATION!\r\n\r\nThere are a few things that really stood out to me about this series.\r\n\r\n1. The morals of the story: Unlike most shounen, Kingdom doesn\'t fluff up the fights. If a character is stabbed in the chest, he\'ll die. If the enemy has a huge advantage, they\'ll win. And willpower can only get you so far when you\'re out of stamina. \r\n\r\n2. The main character: Xin. Xin doesn\'t hesitate to kill, he doesn\'t pity the enemy, and his goal isn\'t to get everyone home safely. His goal, to become a great\n ...\n general, requires sacrifice... and although sometimes he has a hard time with it, he\'s able to make a cool headed decision that isn\'t emotionally influenced. \r\n\r\n3. The 3D animation: 3D isn\'t something I prefer... and was what made me almost shut episode 1 off halfway through. But, I didn\'t, and I\'m glad I didn\'t. The animation switches between using the 3D and not using the 3D (so it\'s not 3D the entire time). And just like how watching something in Japanese for the first time sounds strange, but begins to sound more natural the more you watch, the animation will also grow on you throughout the show (especially since the story\'s so great). The second season isn\'t in 3D... the art is rather magnificent, but you won\'t get to enjoy it unless you finish the first season!\r\n\r\nThat is all.

Zee530

12 years ago

'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.\r\n\r\nYasuhisa 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\n ...\n 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.\r\n\r\nKingdom 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.\r\n\r\nKingdom 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.\r\n\r\nThe 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. \r\n\r\n3DCGI 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. \r\n\r\nKingdom 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. \r\n\r\nOnce 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. \r\n\r\nDespite 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.\r\n\r\nKingdom 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.\r\n\r\nThe 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.\r\n\r\nKingdom 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.\r\n\r\nTo 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.

bennyaltuca

12 years ago

A hidden Jewel is a way to describe this show, it started with an average story and graphics and art that where way under achieving but the story was decent enough to keep me watching. Eventually this show became something to look forward. The accomplishments of Xin are something to be seen, the war strategies are fun to watch and even though the show crosses the line into the supernatural it does it in a tasteful way.\r\n\r\nThis show has a lot of potential and the art has gotten better, or i have become more accustomed to it, i almost dropped this show right off the\n ...\n bat because of the art but after the first 6-10 episodes it gets exponentially better. More excitement, drama and comedy. Love starts to show its rear side and so does mystery. \r\n\r\nThis show is a very complete show with a great story if you go past the beginning and let yourself be taken for a ride you wont regret.\r\n\r\nThe potential for this show to end up with a 10 overall is high if played right, though it can also be dropped to a 7-8 if not. As the story goes at this moment it definetly deserves the 9 I offer it.

whitejaw

12 years ago

KINGDOM sure has underrated rank \r\n\r\nafter the 20th episode of this anime and the low rank it has i decided to write a comment\r\n\r\n\r\ni\'m a fan of this anime:but only after i looked into the first 5 episodes i grew to love it so those who cannot connect with the anime should give it a try until the 5th episode and after that they are sure to like it \r\n\r\n\r\nthe story is about war and not with guns or any mechanic item but swords spears and souls those who love dynasty warriors/swords fight/large scale battles in their anime will sure get to love this one\r\n\r\n ...\n \r\nbut what got me into it the most??\r\n\r\nno superpower just the logic of:strong and skilled fighter can win against few unskilled or trained soldiers\r\n \r\nlarge scale battles-thousand/hundred/10s\r\nyou get to see an army fight with tactics and their skill fighters clash into each other\r\n\r\nscenery that will not disappointed you when they fight!!!!!\r\n\r\nstory of conquest-i was waiting for one like this now i got it\r\n\r\n\r\nstory-9\r\nart-7\r\ncharacters-8\r\nlook forward to the next episode-10 :D

Persius

12 years ago

***updated ***\r\n\r\nThis review is based on all the episodes that had been aired till now [as its an ONGOING Anime] so this review will be updated from time to time.\r\n\r\n Story development is interesting . You will get to see all the twists and turns in this anime story , there are many shocking , touching and emotional moments in this anime . The pace of the story is neither very slow, dull nor is it rushed .\r\n \r\n \n ...\n The animation art is a bit different , sometimes it feels like something less than a 3D game art and sometimes its like the normal animes that we watch but hey still its okay and let it not stop you from watching this anime orelse you will miss something really amazing.\r\n\r\n Both the opening and ending theme song are nice . The voice actors have really brought out the life in the anime characters , very nicely done especially for Shin [the protagonist - slave boy ] the way he express his feeling , his views so blatantly, it really bring him to life in the anime. his voice is done by 'Morita Masakazu' the same guy who has done Voice Acting Role for Ichigo Kurosaki from the anime - Bleach . Also you will notice similar effect in Ei Sei [the other protagonist - he is the King od Qin Empire] character but in a different way .\r\n\r\n About Character development , well whatever characters have been introduced till now , their nature , history has been well brought out slowly through the episodes till the current episode , there are many more character who are yet to introduced , as you know this is ongoing anime so the best dish will be served at the last [hope you understand what i want to say] Anyways you will enjoy both the main character - Xin and Sei , their personalitites, their look at the outer world and their response to various situations, crisis around them and other characters too.\r\n\r\n Overall i have enjoyed watching this anime right from episode 1 and i am looking forward to watching the next episode when they air . I wholeheartedly recommend it to anyone to watch this anime .\r\n\r\nIts a MUST Watch Anime , you just cant miss it !!!

5HAD0WFREAK

12 years ago

This is a somewhat content based review.You should have at least some knowledge before reading my review. *there are some slight spoilers in it* \r\n\r\nSTORY: 8\r\n\r\nThe story at first seemed to start off rather weak, but became very interesting later. It\'s about two slaves who are as close as brothers; they are always fighting and training against themselves to become stronger. They have a dream to escape slavery and become great generals. their ambition is what fuels them to advance and work hard. At first I didn\'t understand why they were so eager to become warriors from them just seeing a battle, but it later\n ...\n became clear as we find out that that is how they intend to escape their current social stature as slaves. They are orphans who were taken in as slaves, they have a dream and they train tirelessly to achieve it. Later Hyou dies and that\'s where things get serious. When he died, I have to admit it gave me goosebumps and really made me empathize with Shin and the pain that he felt. An anime that can make me feel something emotionally is certainly a well done anime. That what I have to say about that. \r\n\r\n\r\nART: 6\r\n\r\nI give the art a six because it really throws me off. The animation is far different from traditional animes. I don\'t know if it\'s something new, or if they purposely wanted to make it this way, but is almost feels like a poorly developed 3D game if you know what I\'m getting at. I personally think that the animation could have been better.\r\n\r\n\r\nSOUND: 8\r\n\r\nI give the sound a 8 because the voices are certainly awesome. They main character\'s voice is actually Ichigo\'s from bleach. Hyou is also some famous voice, but I don\'t quite recall what it is. And the guy that narrates for background information is the same guy who does it for one piece. I personally really liked the voices and I think that they fit quite well. The only thing that threw me off a little is Shin\'s and Hyou\'s voices. the voices seemed a bit too mature for their age, they\'re like kids or mid-teens yet they have grown up voices; It throws you off a little.That\'s the only thing I don\'t like about it. But other than that, I\'d say well done on the sound.\r\n\r\n\r\nCHARACTERS: 9\r\n\r\n I don\'t know why but apparently, Hyou, the more outgoing of the two is favored more by others more than Shin is. The family who he is enslaved to treats him better and even the old royal guy who offered him to come with him to be an officer seemed to want him more. I suppose it makes sense though because Shin is more rough around the edges than Hyou (more rude and upfront). But I personally like Shin more, I feel like he has a stronger personality than Hyou. Their relationship is as strong as brothers and they are easy to like. I also feel like the kid\'s strength is greatly exaggerated for their sizes. They carried a basket that was like 4 times their size. And shin plowed through a huge group of strong bandits.I get that they are strong, but it makes no sense how they can do all that with their size and proportion... \r\n\r\nThe Characters I don\'t like is that old royal asshole who only offered a position for Hyou and wouldn\'t take Shin when its clear they would both make excellent soldiers. I also hate the family that the two of them are enslaved to. They are spoiled little pricks who deserve to die, or at least in my opinion. And lastly, the King\'s little brother really pisses me off. He\'s jealous of his brother who is the king and starts a revolt because of it. He is the most spoiled little bitch I have ever seen. My anger towards him only show how good of a job this anime did in making a decent supporting side character. I also think it\'s stupid that anyone would follow a little midget who has no power and thinks he\'s something special. It never does make any sense to me why people would follow such a pathetic excuse of a human being. \r\n\r\nOverall though, I like the characters introduced thus far, and It certainly makes me think more of this anime for it.\r\n\r\n\r\nENJOYMENT: 9\r\n\r\nMy enjoyment to this point is fairly high and I\'m interested in what\'s going on. I feel like this is going to be a successful anime based on what I saw so far to this point.\r\n\r\n\r\nOVERALL: 8\r\n\r\nI give this an 8 total because of the average of all the scores, and I feel that it describes my thoughts on it quite well. I would definitely recommend this anime. At the very least it is worth seeing yourself.

yamuraaiha

12 years ago

Kingdom is an anime based on the Warring States period of China. It features Hyou and Shin, two orphan slave boys who lost their families to one of the many wars that took place between the families of the seven kingdoms. \r\nThe plot is set right off the bat, when it is discovered that Hyou looks identical to King Ei Sei of Qin (who later grows up to be the infamous Qin Shi Huangdi). Hyou is recruited as a decoy for the king, who is facing rebellion from his own brother within his court. A coup d\'etat soon ensues and Hyou is killed in the\n ...\n battle, believed to be King Ei Sei. He manages to return to Shin long enough to tell him to go to a specific location, where the real Ei Sei is awaiting him.\r\nThus, the story begins. It isn\'t far along at all; only 6 episodes so far. But the story and plot are interesting. If you\'re into history, and enjoy the Warring States period, or if you merely only like shounen anime, this is a good one and shouldn\'t be passed up!\r\nThe only complaint I have is the animation. I have NO idea what happened there, but for some reason, the animation is shoddy at best in some parts. Particularly, the fighting scenes, or scenes with excessive movement, have very poor quality animation, resembling a video game at times. But, if you can look past the animation (as I have been forced to do) this anime is a definite must!