As it turns out I could – theoretically – have left Kingdom off the Top 10 list and made that agonizing #9-10 decision a little easier. But given that today’s sequel announcement contained no air date, I think it would technically be wrong to call this a split cour. In fact it’s very likely the (next) sequel, whenever it airs, will be called “Season 7”. And the fact is, I would have made an exception to LiA convention and referred to this episode as a Season Finale even without an announcement – it’s not like the adaptation was going to stop. Kingdom is one of the most popular manga of all time, and there’s not an ounce of hyperbole in that statement.

It’s interesting that Season 6 (presumably) concluded with eps focused on Meng Tian and Wang Ben, and even the sequel announcement trailer (all of 9 seconds long) had no sign of Xin. All in all this was probably the least Xin/Fei Xin involvement of any Kingdom season. They were in focus so rarely in fact that Diao and Qian Lei frankly had almost nothing to do. This last round was mostly about frustration for Xin. His turn will surely come (as he tells his bored and bickering squadron). But when you’re sitting on 77 volumes with 120 million sales, the long game can be very long indeed.

Wang Ben is the man of the hour here for sure. He’s the focus of the enemy’s attention, the head they’re after. Zhao Elong has a very clear plan to get it, and he’s convinced that between his and Ma Nanci’s armies, the young scion has no escape route. But Wang Ben has one of those moments Meng Tian described to him – a “great general” moment. He sees the whole battlefield, and his place in it. Meng Tian told him that great generals are all about ego – they see themselves as the central character in every battle, and make everyone else dance to their tune. I don’t know enough about military tactics to confirm or refute this, but in this time and place I’m guessing there’s something to it.

Wang Ben sees a way out, in fact. He slices between the enemy armies and heads for the weak point of their formation, the corner of Ma Nanci’s army (on the Qin left). In theory his force is too small to inflict much damage, but he’s counting on Ya Guang to see what he’s doing and respond in kind. Which he does, effectively fighting the Zhao pincer movement with a pincer movement of their own, against Ma Nanci. Zhao Elong sees this too of course, and sends a thousand cavalry off to ruin the Wakagimi’s day. But Ya Guang’s secret weapon has taken the field – the bombastic Ya Huajin (Tachibana Shinnosuke). He moves to head off the incoming cavalry, leaving Wang Ben to proceed with his stratagem.

We don’t know much about Ya Huajin – as far as I remember this is the first time we’ve met him. But he’s clearly annoying based on how the officers talk about him. And the most indispensable man in Ya Guang’s army, apparently, which leads Wang Ben to send a few of his own elite troops with him to make sure he doesn’t get himself killed. Wang Ben’s gambit has turned the tide of battle, and while no rout the day’s fighting on Qin’s right flank trends in their favor. Especially as Ma Nanci’s army suffers critical damage during the day’s combat.

It’s safe to say from his reaction that the day’s fighting didn’t go as Li Mu planned. He turns to Yao Yun (Mano Kyousuke) as his difference-maker for day three. This is another new name as far as I recall, but Yao Yun seems to be a man of some stature – the top aide-de-camp for one of Zhao’s three greats. He takes ten thousand and goes to the aide of the Zhao left flank, facing Ya Guang and Wang Ben. Initially this is something of a downer for those forces, but Wang Ben seizes the metaphorical mic and spins that on its head. This war is all about weakening the center of either army, he says, so Wang Jian or Li Mu can overwhelm the other. Ten thousand men on the right are ten thousand Li Mu had to weaken his center by. And you know, he’s absolutely right.

The Western Zhao invasion arc has already seen Wang Ben and Meng Tian level up (in the latter case literally by rank, too). Xin’s frustration here is perfectly natural – these are technically his allies, but the three of them are racing to snatch the same prize. And time is of the essence – rations have already been reduced, and Qin has abandoned their supply lines to pursue Wang Jian’s desperate gamble. Obviously patience isn’t a natural strength for Xin. But he has to keep his army calm and focused, knowing their moment will certainly come.

Patience is something Kingdom fans are well-practiced in, given the wait we’ve sometimes has to endure between seasons. Those seasons have gotten shorter, but the trade-off is that they’ve become more closely-packed. In effect this entire adaptation is one giant split-cour, and I wouldn’t expect the wait for the next round – be it Season 7, Season 6 Part 2, whatever – to be an especially long one. Kingdom is about as reliable as anime gets, and any season is markedly better for having it on the schedule.