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Anyone who’s stuck with Kingdom from the beginning had to be a bit unnerved by some of the battle sequences this week. They were, in a word, fugly – a clear reminder of some of the shockingly bad CGI that was the scourge of the first half of the first season. If this were another show it might not be such a concern, but this is like seeing someone you love who’s been in rehab have a couple of beers – for most people it wouldn’t be a big deal, but… Let’s just say I’m a bit worried, what with so much of the season still to come and the really big set pieces yet to be animated.
Let’s set that aside, pretend we never saw it and focus on the content instead. And as usual, Kingdom continues to deliver on that score. After much buildup we’ve finally arrived at the moment of truth – Wei’s forces under Lian Po (technically not, but practically so) finally meet Meng Ao’s Qin army on the battlefield. There’s one twist tossed in at the last minute – the Supreme Commander of Wei’s army is actually not Lian Po but Bai Guixi, a Wei native best known for fleeing “at one glance” from Wang Qi. His four aces are horrified, but it says something for Lian Po that he’s not so proud as to let this bother him – he knows he doesn’t yet have the full trust of the King, and that the Wei soldiers’ morale will be better if they think they’re fighting for one of their own. Lian Po even includes Bai Guixi in his odd “hug yourself into battle rage” ritual with his top generals – even managing to hug some GAR into Bai in the process. Kingdom is like the Oofuri of military epics (stay with me here) in that it manages to make most of the opponents as interesting as the heroes, and sometimes even more so.
There’s another tangible benefit to Lian Po’s arrangement, and it’s one that his opponents are immediately aware of – not being tied down to headquarters makes Lian Po that much more dangerous. He can now go wherever he’s needed, and it’s much tougher to hit a moving target. While we haven’t seen all of his inner circle in action, it’s hard to believe any of them could be stronger than Lun Hu, who’s pretty much a one-man wrecking squad. The true nature of his assassination mission becomes clear now, as he leads the Wei vanguard into battle. He specifically targets the units that have weak leadership – namely the ones created as a result of his killing spree that left so many thousand-man generals dead.
Meanwhile, we finally meet the notorious Vice-Generals that are the real strength of Meng Ao’s army. I was half-right about their identity – one is indeed the legendary Wang Jian (though I suspect he may in fact be the Dread Pirate Roberts), Wang Ben’s father and one of the most famous generals of the Warring States period. The other is Huan Ji (sometimes written as Huan Xi) who’s someone I don’t know as much about – he was important in several battles (especially with Li Mu and Zhao) but as far as I know isn’t considered one of the uppermost level of the era’s military leaders. Each, as Meng Tian explains to Xin, has a “reason” for why they haven’t advanced further. For Huan Ji it’s the fact that he’s a former thief with a legendary cruel streak (once having beheaded an entire defeated castle). For Wang Jian it’s simply that he’s “the most dangerous man in Qin” – apparently because he has designs on the throne for himself. Well – who doesn’t around here?
The focus for now is on Wang Ben, who’s been included in the Qin vanguard. Xin is jealous but the savvier Meng Tian recongnizes that this is probably not something Wang Ben would have chosen – the vanguard is a horrible place to be in any battle, especially when 70% of your fighting force are strangers to the other 30% (and their commander). Indeed, despite Wang Ben’s skill and savvy his unit does prove weak, and thus becomes a target for Lun Hu, leading to a one-on-one faceoff on the battlefield. It seems too early in the story for Wang Ben to die, but it’s just as difficult to see him besting Lun Hu as he is right now.
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Altritter
October 8, 2013 at 6:07 pmHeh, your analogy for the CG cropping up more in this episode was pretty apt. I'm not too worried, though; they were really only using it for large numbers of soldiers and whenever they actually clashed and such it switched back to 2D. I also don't expect any one-on-one fights to be animated with CG because that hasn't been the case so far, and this war has a lot of those.
thedarktower
October 8, 2013 at 6:25 pmkingdom never gave up on CGI animation. even S2 had some CGI with the mini-battles at the beginning of S2. yet it's true that now with the real clash of full armies, we could see that very clearly. despite the animation has improved extremly between s1 and s2..that CGI..reminded me the awfulness of s1 animation. but as you said, kingdom is kingdom so we sometimes "burn" our eyes with CGI but still enjoy so much of kingdom.
and finally the real clash of armies and men(mostly the aces) has started. still, things must stir up a little bit quicker..it is war. and I want to pace to level-up a bit more. but clearly the next episodes will be thrilling and intriguing like that last arc with Wang QI in the previous season. and we got cliffhanger too.
and we have some interesting Caliber on both sides. those badass vice-generals in Qin and those "four" of Lian Po(Renpa).
FIGHTOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO 😛
admin
October 8, 2013 at 11:12 pmIt isn't just a question of CG period – yes it's always been there, but this was the really bad CG of the worst moments of the first season. And it was used in character scenes, and stuff like a horse riding into the background. Not pretty.
Calde Ailis
October 9, 2013 at 12:36 amIf there aren't any CG's, good or bad, there should be whole a lot of still pictures. It's a pick-your poison situation, still pictures or poor but moving CG's.
thedarktower
October 9, 2013 at 6:31 amwell…the second half of Shingeki no Kyojin was with lots stills picture..but it didn't really annoy anyone..right?
but yes I agree with your statement about "poison situation"..but CG can be a bit more elegant, for example – Berserk movies.
Zeta Zero
October 9, 2013 at 7:05 amHand drawn 2D stills > hackneyed 3DCGI.
elianthos80
October 8, 2013 at 7:48 pmEnzo, that guess of yours about Wang Jian is…unconceivable.
About Wang tight-ass Ben-baby (he gets my sympathy as the poor chap got a whole bad CG scene all for himself this week) I think his duel with Lun Hu will get stopped by other people/events. Plot logic seems to demand a non-final outcome at this point at least.
About the CG I'm hoping they're using it -still sparely all things considered – now to save the hand-drawn goodness for later, similarly to what happened last season :,).
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Did Lian Po tease his ponytailed subordinate on top of his ribs-crushing GAR hug/transfer btw? Dat blowing in his ear 8D.
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Meng Tian is a horseriding cluster of smexyness (mole included). Clever clever boy. Makes infodump pleasant. Infodump-relatedly is anyone else expecting Xin to run into trouble with the beheader Vice General sooner or later?
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Thou shall not tempt me wih Oofuri comparisons oh silver-tongued blogger. Thou shall not. Catching up with Major will be a daunting task already *gulps*. Oro.
Ronbb
October 10, 2013 at 5:08 am"Let's set that aside, pretend we never saw it and focus on the content instead."
That's a great attitude…lol. Like you said, for someone who have followed Kingdom since the start of season 1, the bad CGI this week is bearable. However, it does stand out in a season that's chock-full of eye candy. Hope that doesn't put the new viewers off big time.
Lian Po comes off as a rowdy general who wins because of his raw power, but he's actually someone who possesses tactical skills — besides his giant body-build and loud noise — and he doesn't mind being sneaky for as long as it can make him win.
Wang Ben is quite an aloof and arrogant fellow, but I'm starting to accept him more. Of course, Meng Tian is still more interesting as a character. One thing that makes me feel sad is to see generations of the same family fighting side-by-side. I would be devastated to see my parents, grandparents, or children get killed with my own eyes, but it probably means glory to people living in that era.