The Reason Why Kingdom Is Great and Different From Any Popular Manga

    The first time I heard about Kingdom was exactly 3 years ago, at that time I just felt this manga was bad just because I didn't like the art, because the characters looked so weird and I thought historical war manga would be boring, with each chapter just going to be full of characters with the same face. But over time, this manga is getting more attention and popularity. Surprisingly, at the end of 2019 Kingdom sales jumped to 3rd position, which made me wonder what made this manga so famous. Then I tried to read the first chapter of this manga because I was very curious about the story and what made it great. At the beginning of the first chapter, I felt that the two protagonists in this manga are ordinary because they are similar to other shonen characters who compete with each other to achieve their dreams, such as Asta and Yuno from Black Clover, but the last part of the first chapter surprised me, I didn't expect that such an event would happen so quickly. After that, I read the next chapter, and then the next chapter again, since then I can't stop reading Kingdom, it took me a whole week to read 600 chapters in that time, but it was a week full of most enjoyable adventures with Kingdom being one of my favorite manga.

Seinen Manga with Shonen Protagonist

Ou Hon, Shin and Mou Ten, three rookies who will become Great Generals in the future

  

    Kingdom genre is seinen, it means that the story must be complex with some vulgar and graphic violence, including their character, but Shin as the main protagonist doesn't seem like that. He is just a simple orphan boy whose dream is to become a great general, and much of the fighting that he wins is with brute strength and less tactic. At first glimpse, his characteristic is much more similar to the shonen protagonist, and many people can seeing it as one of the flaws in this manga, but this one is also one of the reasons that make this series unique. As a leader of the Hi Shin Unit, Shin always put morality in his army. This was something that many people with higher ranks, saw as naive. Even a General like Kanki questioned his morality, of how could Shin be a general with this kind of morality when winning on the battlefield was more important than anything else.

    Most of the main characters in seinen manga are made as detailed and realistic as possible with actual human characters, where each main character has a unique background problem that shapes their personality in the future. This is of course different from the main characters in shonen manga, whose personalities tend to be one-dimensional and for the most part can be identified immediately due to their resemblance to the main characters from other shonen manga. This is what happened in Kingdom, even though it is a seinen manga, but some characters act more like shonen characters. Besides Shin, several characters have the same goal as him, namely Mou Ten and Ou Hon. If we look deeper, the three of them remind us of the three rookies in One Piece who are none other than Luffy, Law, and Kidd, where the three of them also compete with each other to achieve their big dreams. While there are certainly some differences, there is something that makes them similar to each other. Luffy is similar to Shin, Ou Hon is similar to Kidd and Mou Ten is similar to Law as he is the smartest in the group and tends to be more suited as a strategist than a fighter.

    Friendship also plays a role in this story, it can be seen how Shin is very close to Ou Hon and Mou Ten even though both are rivals of Shin. Sometimes their friendship gets them in hard times, especially in war. For example, Mou Ten argued with Ou Sen and his men because he didn't seem to care about his son's life, while Shin went straight to the battlefield without a second thought to save Ou Hon from the massacre. Both of their actions show us how immature they are in terms of war, but in other ways, their characters make the story deeper because the conflict is not always about other countries, but with fellow comrades or even with himself.

It's Hard to Choose The Best Arc Because Every Arc is The Best

The generals of Qin prepare for battle at Kankoku Pass

    From the first arc until the latest arc, every story in this manga is the best in its own way. That's because every arc offers something new and different from the previous arc. Yasuhisa Hara as the author of Kingdom can create a story where every part is important and full of joy. This manga isn't always about large-scale war, it's also about politics, drama, social class, culture, and the economy, but when it comes to the war, Kingdom can make it feel like it's on another level. The Coalition Invasion Arc and the Western Zhao Invasion Arc are arguably the two best war arcs in this story. This story shows how each general gives his best strategy to achieve their goals, be it defending the city or trying to occupy another country. Both of these arcs are considered to be the longest in the story, with each of them running more than 100 chapters.

YoTan Wa and her army of the Mountain Tribe

    A story certainly will not be good without the great characters in it. This is another important element that makes Kingdom such an outstanding manga, where each character has fairly adequate character development. Even side characters like Kanki, Ousen, Mou Bu, and Tou have their own place and time to shine, and each of them has a distinct personality and strategy, which can allow us as readers to distinguish them from the rest. Kanki was easily recognized as the most ruthless and cunning of the Qin generals, meanwhile, Mou Bu could be considered the strongest general in terms of brute strength and was always at the forefront of warfare. They could also be seen as a benchmark, how Shin and the other rookies could become great generals in the future. Outside of war, the political aspect also has a very important role in the development of the story, here people like Sai Taku and Ryo Fui, who are prominent diplomats and politicians respectively, have important control over how domestic or foreign policy can work well. Ei Sei who is the current king of The State of Qin has also played his role very well so far, about how a king should act and have a vision and mission that far surpasses the previous kings. Even the female characters have built really well, that they are not buried under their male counterparts. Kyou Kai, Yo Tan Wa, Ka Ryo Ten, Ka Rin are the most badass female characters in the series, each with a different important role in the story. This shows us, how Yasuhisa Hara is so good at making and developing characters, where everyone has been given enough portions and no character is too excessive in its development.

    Last but not least, the story of the Kingdom can be said to be far from the end because there are still many mysteries that need to be revealed and the story itself is just starting to enter the early stages in Ei Sei's long-term plan to unite all the states in China. But there was a potential problem that might arise in the future, namely that Shin and the Qin Army would have less challenging enemies in the future. By far, the State of Zhao posed the biggest threat to Qin in the long-term plan to unify the entire state, because not only did they have a large army but were also led by the best people in their fields, such as Ren Pa, Ri Boku, Hou Ken, and maybe later Shi Ba Shou. As long as they can conquer the State of Zhao, in the future, it will be easier for their plan to unify China, maybe the State of Chu and Wei can become formidable opponents, but it seems that the two states are not as strong as the State of Zhao. This of course is just a prediction of what might happen, but Yasuhisa Hara can always make surprises that make stories from Kingdom always interesting to follow.