Kingdom 4 – 01

OP: “Ray (黎-ray-)” by SUIREN

Kingdom sure is reliable.  You can always count on the writing being very high quality, and on almost no one talking about the anime.  It’s one of the best-selling manga of all-time, owner of multiple awards, and an absolute staple of the military history genre.  But the anime has no tropes and little flash, and the people who watch it probably track pretty far from the typical anime fan culturally and demographically.  I’m used to it by now, but it strikes me anew every time another season rolls around.

Happily, the wait between seasons was far shorter this time – only six months.  It almost feels like we never left, though the nature of this story is that even after the huge gap between Seasons 2 and 3 one gets pulled back in very quickly.  In many ways Kingdom isn’t an especially tough series to blog – it always cranks a ton of story and character movement.  But in one notable respect it’s very difficult, and that’s names.  I have no doubt this is the toughest series I’ve ever covered in terms of tracking character names – not only are there a shit-ton of characters, their names all have two readings.  And that’s where the layoffs especially throw me off.

It was implied in the epilogue of Episode 26 last season (and the promo image for this one) that Season 4 will focus more on politics and less on warfare.  That’s a natural thing – the seven kingdoms have just come off a massive confrontation, and that has after-effects in both the winning and losing camps.  One of the realities facing Qin is that they’re basically down to two “great generals”.  And one of them, Meng Ao, is about to punch his ticket.  The truth is Meng Ao never considered himself a great general in the first place (even the Coalition invasion targeted him as a weak point).  But here, in his final hours, we get a better look at what made the man tick.

It’s hardly a surprise that the deeply unsentimental Meng Wu didn’t show up at his father’s deathbed.  But Meng Tian did and not only him, but Xin as well.  Both youngsters cried over Meng Ao’s death, and one of the things that stands out about Xin is how deeply human he is.  It’s clear at this point that the big three of that generation are destined to become great generals (Meng Ao certainly urged them to do just that) but now Qiang Lei has decided to throw her hat into the ring as well.  And not only that, but to have Xin’s child – though that proves to be a subject on which she’s dangerously naive.  This is played for laughs to be sure, but I think it makes it pretty clear that the series is going to pursue that route.

Indeed, there are only two major battles taking place in the year after the failed invasion of Qin.  Qin’s generals Huan Yi and Wang Jian are taking a couple of castles from the neighbors – Huan Yi adding some atrocities for good measure, and Wang Jian showing his intense practicality.  That “swear allegiance to me and live” tactic is one many generals of the time would never deign to employ, but Wang Jian isn’t burdened by that sort of pride – his allegiance is only to power and success.

No, most of the battles are taking place in the courts of power.  The losers face reckoning for failing, up to and including Li Mu.  He’s been demoted to a field supervisor but still has his head, which is really the only part of him that matters.  He’s down but not out – even more comfortable in the world of machinations than military tactics.  But the winning side has its own shaking out to do, since Zheng’s heroism in the war has greatly increased his influence in court (and his child has been born, though it would have increased his influence more if it’d been a son).  In Xianyang it’s long been Lu Buwei who pulls the levers of power, and this is a zero-sum game.  As Zheng’s authority increases, it can only come from one source.

It’s no secret that Zheng’s half-brother (and mother) is going to factor into this.  Zheng installed him on the throne by necessity while he was out saving the kingdom, but there’s only room in the capital for one of them, seems to me. Obviously Lu Buwei will use Cheng Jiao as a blunt instrument to strike at Zheng’s authority.  There’s a great sense of generational change at this point in the story – one great war has ended, and the next one will see the roles of the combatants largely reversed.  The old generals are passing from the scene and young ones struggling to take their place, and in every capital those who seek change are doing battle with the old guard.  It’s a different sort of drama than we’re used to for Kingdom, but one no less rich in dramatic potential.

ED: “Genyou (眩耀)” by Haku (珀)

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18 comments

  1. S

    I’ve been catching up with Kingdom these past weeks and I’m currently watching the 3rd season. But I’m not sure yet if I’ll watch the 4th weekly since it’s the kind of series that I prefer to binge.

  2. I can see that. Lots of clihhangers.

  3. D

    Did the same last year when season 3 started. Such a binge-able show.

  4. A

    The names are actually one of the main reasons I couldn’t get into the series. When the plot centers around intricate politics and different character motivations, it’s critical to connect a name to a face and I just could’nt do it.
    Add that to the amount of episodes (with the not so good production values) needed to catch up and you end up with a pretty steep barrier of entry.
    But the story seems so up my alley that I’m trying to catch up with the current season through the manga

  5. See, for me, it’s mostly an issue as a writer more than a viewer. The absolute core people I obviously remember the names, and with the others, I kind of have my emotional response to that person just based on the face.

    In terms of the production values, they certainly have gotten better. Are they lavish? No – but they are acceptable and have been for a while.

  6. A

    The production values have certainly improved based on your screenshots. My only experience with the anime were the couple first episodes with the really off putting cgi models. Is there a point in the anime you would recommend to jump back to from the manga?

  7. Things never get remotely as bad as they did in the first cour after that. I would say it’s a gradual improvement. S2 is acceptable, S3-4 are another leg up from that. One could jump back in at the start of S3 (Coalition Invasion Arc, pretty much) and feel safe they were never getting below-average production values. But in truth it’s not like S2 is all that bad.

  8. A

    Thanks! I think I’ll try to jump back on from season 3 if that’s the case

  9. K

    I love this from the old Legend of Galactic Heroes series. Each time a character appeared on the screen, they put a text with their name, rank and possition.
    Very useful when you have more than a hundred talking characters.

  10. i

    Ah Kingdom, you magnificent beast. Its great to have you back.

    This show is definitely getting watched even if its not talked about. I feel like the general demographic watching this show are generally not the people engaging in seasonal anime discourse.

  11. Well yeah, that was my point in the post.

  12. M

    While the lack of anime hype for kingdom is sad but understandable (people can be quick to judge and even faster to discard and forget), but what I STILL cannot comprehend is how a manga as popular in Japan and as well-regarded doesn’t have an official English release. THAT’S the insane part for me.

    People’s taste may differ, but I struggle to think of a manga, if not story in any medium, that can handle the battlefield tactics and political machinations as well as Kingdom does. From the macro geopolitics to the tale of individual soldiers, I cannot see a case why Kingdom wouldn’t be in the GOAT conversation of manga at least, if not military storytelling.

  13. K

    They have started publishing it here in Spain. I have all the published volumes. 🙂

  14. O

    I don’t really think that Kingdom is unappealing to mainstream anime viewers. In my experience when someone asks about kingdom people tell you to read the manga because the anime is heavy CG (fair or unfair) and praise the manga highly. I think some of those big anime youtubers mentioned this, too.

    If you’re looking at MAL Kingdom is the 11. Highest rated manga and 61 in popularity. And that’s for a manga worth no official English translation and release.
    In that aspect it’s a little similar to Legend of the galactic heroes, which is one of the highest rated anime on Mal, but had no official release until a few years ago.

  15. L

    After reading the manga which in my opinion is an masterpiece its almost impossible for me to get into the anime adaptation. Specially cant get over the CG / animation overall. Stil happy it gets recognition in Japan and hope, someday, it will reach other countries.

  16. How far into the anime did you get? Because the use of bad CGI nosedives after the first cour.

  17. L

    Interestingly, only the first cour. I might try to give it another shot

  18. This is the correct answer.

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