Kingdom (ã‚ングダム, Kingudamu) is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Yasuhisa Hara. The manga provides a fictionalized account of the Warring States period primarily through the experiences of the war orphan Xin and his comrades as he fights to become a Great General of the Heavens and, in doing so, unifying China for the first time in history. The series was adapted into a thirty-eight episode anime series by studio Pierrot that aired from June 4, 2012 to February 25, 2013. A second season was announced and aired from June 8, 2013 to March 1, 2014. An English language release of the anime was licensed by Funimation Entertainment.
Plot
In the Warring States period of ancient China, Xin and Piao are war-orphans in the kingdom of Qin with dreams of becoming "Great Generals of the Heavens". One day, however, Piao is taken to the palace by a minister to be used for an unknown purpose, and leaving Xin alone as a slave in a peasant village. A few months later, Piao returns to the village on the verge of death, urging Xin to travel to another village. There he meets a boy who looks nearly identical to Piao, Ying Zheng, the current King of Qin. Xin learns that Piao served as a body double for Ying Zheng, and was mortally wounded in a power struggle for the throne. Seizing the opportunity, Xin aids Ying Zheng to restore his position as King of Qin. Successful in this endeavor, Xin then begins fighting in many battlefields with the goal of rising to a "Great General of the World", and to help King Ying Zheng achieve his dream of unifying China.
Characters
Main Characters
- Xin (ä¿¡, Shin)
- Voiced by: Masakazu Morita
- The protagonist of the story, Xin aims to become the "World's Greatest General". He begins the story as a war orphan with dreams of becoming a General for Qin in order to escape his lowly station in life. After helping Ying Zheng restore his position on the throne, Xin fights on a battlefield against a Wei army, and rises to the rank of a 100 man commander. Subsequently, his unit is named the "Hi Xin Unit" by Wang Qi. After success in multiple major military campaigns, Xin earns many accolades and rises to the rank of 5000 man commander, only a single rank away from his goal of becoming a General.
- Ying Zheng (嬴æ"¿, Ei Sei)
- Voiced by: Jun Fukuyama
- The young king of Qin who bears a striking resemblance to Piao. Ying Zheng will go on to become the infamous Qin Shi Huang, the first emperor to unite China with an iron fist.
- Piao (漂, HyÅ)
- Voiced by: Jun Fukuyama
- Xin's childhood best friend and fellow war orphan who also aims to become a general renowned throughout all of China. He is offered a position in the Qin palace as Zheng's body double, which he accepts, only to die at the hands of an assassin hired by the Cheng Jiao Faction.
- He Liao Diao (河了貂, KaryŠTen)
- Voiced by: Rie Kugimiya
- The last descendant of her Mountain Tribe. After playing a crucial part in the campaign to restore Ying Zheng to his throne, she seeks to improve her military worth by training as a strategist. Lacking the means or connections to do so, she seeks the aid of Qiang Hui. This results in her training as a strategist under Lord Changping, who is loyal to the opposing Lü Buwei faction. After succeeding at the school, she joins the Hi Shin Unit as its chief strategist.
- Changwenjun (昌文å›, ShÅbunkun)
- Voiced by: Yutaka Nakano
- A formerly skilled warrior who worked his way up to Chancellor of the left, a senior adviser of the king. He is shown to be extremely loyal to the Ying Zheng faction, aiding him in both reclaiming the throne and the current in political struggle against Lü Buwei.
- Bì (å£, Heki)
- Voiced by: KÅji Yusa
- Chang Wen Jun's loyal subordinate. At the series start, Heki was a 1000 man commander. After fighting alongside Xin in many military campaigns, he rises to the rank of General and is currently seeking greater heights to earn more influence for Ying Zheng.
- Qiang Hui (羌瘣, KyŠKai)
- Voiced by: YÅko Hikasa
- The heir of the legendary assassin clan "Chi You", Qiang Hui initially meets Xin during the Battle of Dakan Plain, where she proves her value as both a soldier and a strategist and subsequently joins the Hi Shin Unit. Early in the series, Qiang Hui is obsessed with getting revenge on sister, "Xiang"'s, murderer. Despite bonding with Xin and the unit, Qiang Hui leaves in order to seek out her sister's killer. After succeeding in her revenge, Qiang Hui returns to the Hi Shin Unit and rises to 1000 man commander with the intention of one day becoming a General. She currently commands 3000 men.
Zhao
- Li Mu (æŽç‰§, Riboku)
- Prime Minister of Zhao and hailed as the slayer of general Wang Qi, he serves as one of the series' main antagonists. A brilliant strategist, he relies solely upon strategy and maneuver warfare, vowing never to lift his sword. He seeks to destroy the state of Qin as revenge for their mass killing of Zhao civilians.
- Hou Ken (é¾ç…–, Houken)
- A warrior-monk known as a "Bushin". While a technically a general for Zhao, he doesn't take command of any troops. Instead he relies on his pure strength, which can be used to inspire troops. Under the command of Ri Boku he defeated General Ouki. He seeks to prove that he is the strongest being alive.
Chengjiao Faction
- Chengjiao (æˆèŸœ, SeikyÅ)
- Voiced by: KÅki Miyata
- The half-brother of Zheng. Initially self-centered and arrogant. Early on in the manga, Chengjiao usurps Ying Zheng's throne and crowns himself king, only to have Ying Zheng regain the throne with the help of Xin and the mountain tribes. Ying Zheng decides to spare Chengjiao's life after stopping the coup, and instead places him in prison. After a year in prison, Chengjiao is freed by Ying Zheng on the condition that he will help with Ying Zheng's political power struggle against Lü Buwei. Chengjiao gradually starts to sympathize with his half brother's ideas, and eventually grows into an admirable man. He later dies after become embroiled in Lü Buwei's plot to turn him against his half brother.
Lü Buwei Faction
- Lü Buwei (å'‚ä¸éŸ‹, Ryo Fui)
- Voiced by: TesshÅ Genda
- A former merchant with intentions of becoming king of Qin. Dangerously ambitious, Ryo Fui rose to prominence with the court of Qin after helping Ying Zheng's father be crowned king of Qin despite being seventh in line for the throne. Ryo Fui has curently allied himself with the Queen Dowager Faction and seeks to remove Ying Zeng from the throne in order to crown himself king. He currently holds the position of Qin's Supreme Chancellor after the numerous political and military accomplishments of his "Four Pillars".
- Changpingjun (昌平å›, ShÅheikun)
- Voiced by: Junichi Suwabe
- A prince of Chu who is one of the "Four Pillars" of Lü Buwei, his pillar being strategy; he also holds Ryo Fui old position of Chancellor of the Right. He was essential in preventing the destruction of Qin during the Coalition Army arc.
- Meng Wu (è'™æ¦, MÅ Bu)
- Voiced by: Taiten Kusunoki
- One of the "Four Pillars" of Lü Buwei, Mo Bu specializes in warfare. He is known as an extremely strong but reckless general. He defeated the strongest General of Chu during the coalition arc, after learning from Wang Qi during his previous battles.Mo Bu is the father of Tian and Yi.
- Li Si (æŽæ–¯, Ri Shi)
- One of the "Four Pillars" of Lü Buwei, his pillar being legal matters. He later served Ying Zheng as his chancellor of Qin.
- Cai Ze (è"¡æ²¢, Sai Taku)
- One of the "Four Pillars" of Lü Buwei who was the chancellor of Qin during the reign of King Zhao. Cai Ze is former resident of the state of Yan and is chief of diplomatic relations with the other states. His work was crucial in the victory against the coalition army, which prevented one of the warring states from aiding the fight against Qin.
Queen Dowager Faction
- Queen Dowager of Qin (秦国太åŽ, ShinkokutaikÅ)
- The Queen Dowager of Qin and Ying Zheng's mother. She is head of the of the royal harem, which controls who the king will marry and therefore who will give birth to the King's children. She is resentful of Ying Zheng because of their past as political hostages for the state of Zhao, a state which resented her for giving birth to the prince of a rival nation. Despite being Ying Zheng's mother, she is currently one of his most bitter rivals.
- Xiang (å', KÅ)
- A plain looking palace maid who is genuinely devoted to Zheng. She gives birth to his daughter.
- Yang (陽, YÅ)
- A palace maid who is Xiang's best friend.
Other
- Wang Qi (王騎, Ō Ki)
- Voiced by: Rikiya Koyama
- One of the Six Great Generals of Qin, a group which was given complete autonomy to wage war under Ying Zheng's father. He played a large role in making Qin the superpower state it currently is. He is killed at the Battle of Bayou by Hou Ken after being hit by the arrow of a dishonorable soldier. He passes on his glaive to Xin, having briefly served as Xin's mentor, and dies wishing to see Yin Zheng's dream of uniting China come true.
Media
Manga
The manga series Kingdom is written and illustrated by Yasuhisa Hara. In January 2006, the manga debuted in an issue of Weekly Young Jump seinen manga magazine. The succeeding chapters are still being serialized weekly in the magazine. The first tankÅbon volume was released by Shueisha in May 19, 2006; as of January 19, 2015, thirty-seven volumes have been released.
Video Games
A PlayStation Portable beat 'em up styled video game was released on November 2, 2010 entitled Kingdom Ikki Tousen No Tsurugi. The game was released only in Japan.
Historical context
The story of Kingdom is a fictional adaptation of the Chinese history period known as the Warring States period, which ended in 221 BC when Ying Zheng, king of Qin, succeeded in conquering the other states and unifying China.
Several of the characters are based on historical figures. Many times characters will take the names of people in history, and other times they will have completely different names. Often times this is a result of Japanese Kanji borrowing from Chinese characters, meaning that there are some Chinese names that have no equivalent characters in Kanji. For example, Ou Ki's (王éª'), name is a slightly altered version of Wang Yi, 王齮, because the last character of his name, é½®, does not exist in Kanji. There are many instances of characters being derived directly from historical figures i.e. Ei Sei is based on Ying Zheng, while his half-brother SeikyÅ is based on Chengjiao, and his father and grandfather are based on King Zhuangxiang of Qin and King Zhaoxiang of Qin. Ryo Fui is inspired by Lü Buwei. His supporters ShÅheikun and Ri Shi are based on Lord Changping and Li Si, and the MÅ family (MÅ Bu, MÅ GÅ, MÅ Ten, MÅ Ki) is based on the Meng family (Meng Wu, Meng Ao, Meng Tian, Meng Yi).
Reception
Kingdom was the grand prize winner for the Tezuka Osamu Cultural Prize in 2013 with one judge commenting, "I can't remember the last time I read nearly 30 volumes (of a manga title) in a row feeling this excited."
The manga also earned a Guinness World Record on December 12, 2012 for Manga written by the most people. The record was due to its "Social Kingdom" campaign in which fans and other artists were given the task of redrawing the entire 26th volume. Participants included manga creators Eiichiro Oda (One Piece), Masashi Kishimoto (Naruto), Hirohiko Araki (JoJo's Bizarre Adventure), as well as voice actors and fans.
References
External links
- Official website (Japanese)
- Kingdom (anime) at Anime News Network's encyclopedia
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