I have heard praise for this title for years. The first time I tried to watch it was during my first days in the UK about 7 years ago, but after 2 episodes, two things turned me down - PS2-level CGI animation (or even worse) and an unattractive beginning. But I knew that sooner or later I would have to repeat the screening and this time watch at least the first season. I have read too much praise about it, especially from my friend Rafał. At the time of writing, I have 3 or 4 episodes left and I know that I will definitely watch the rest (and in 2022 there will be 4, so probably by the end of next year I will be up to date with the anime). It's not perfect and there are a few things that bother me during the screening, but I try not to pay too much attention to it - there are too many good things for me to worry about a few medium-essential things. Or differently - they are so important that I cannot treat this anime on a par with "Legend of the Galactic Heroes", "Full Metal Panic", "Gundam the Origin". There is also "Vinland Saga", but since both titles suffer from the same problem - too many elements characteristic of shounen manga, I treat them equally. True, I could find a few such elements in FMP, but these are mostly comedy and side-plot elements - when it comes to really meaningful content, FMP is closer to LotGH and the "Mobile Suit Gundam" prequel. Is too much fantasy (far too strong heroes, magic elements etc.) a disadvantage? Let me put it this way - they didn't bother me, except that they made me laugh at times. But I will not be surprised how it will be different for you. Such a feature of this genre, similar to action movies, where we also have too many unrealistic ideas. However, it is worth ignoring these elements, because all the rest compensate us for these shortcomings. The beginning may bore you, you may also find that I am raving, but I will tell you what Rafał told me when I complained - Wait until the first big battle. This one starts around Episode 19. If you don't like it, you can stop at this point. However, I encourage you not to do this, because the level only increases.
The action of the series takes place in the Warring States era (475‑221 BCE) in China, specifically the Qin state. It is a time of endless wars and competition for spheres of influence. Kings, local warlords and generals fight among themselves. The main characters are Shin and Hyou, who are war orphans. To put it brutally, nobody cares. This is because there have always been a lot of people there, so according to the law of supply and demand - if there is too much of something, it has less value. I can be wrong (because I am not a history expert, especially in Asia, so I rely on what I have read on various historical blogs, heard from historians or Chinese lovers) and if that is the case, please correct me. Shin and Hyou share a dream - they want to become the best generals in the world. They both train hard for this - they fight with swords, train to develop their strength, stamina, dexterity and other attributes necessary for survival on the battlefield. One day, Hyou gets a job offer at the royal palace - it results from the fact that he is deceptively similar to a young pretender to the throne. And since in China, as in Europe and probably every region of the world, rulers and influential persons were often exposed to death, especially in unstable periods, doubles were willingly used to protect their lives. Thanks to this event and several other factors, Shin gets a chance by fate to meet the decision-makers, and thus - to skip several stages that he would have to go through before becoming a famous warrior. This is the beginning of his road to making his dreams come true.
The beginning sounds like a standard shounen. These associations are not accidental - "Kingdom" is a manga combination for teenagers and older audiences - something like "Hunter x Hunter" or "Fullmetal Alchemist". The anime is quite realistic in terms of politics, political intrigue, diplomacy and shows quite well (at least for my amateur eye) the military from the point of view of command, army management, interaction between soldiers and the commander (and other things that or not I noticed or am too ignorant to describe it correctly), but it has quite a lot of elements characteristic of "Dragon Ball Z" manga. I know Kingdom fans don't like these kinds of comparisons, or at least from what I noticed from some forums or newsgroups, but ... Sorry, to put it mildly - I disagree. Or less delicately - you look at this comic through rose-colored glasses. But just so that you can understand me well - I see many realistic elements in this title that I have heard about on various occasions throughout my life. For example, how important are the relations between the commander and his people, or that the commander should know his army very well, both strong and weak elements in order to command it well (which was particularly important in those times when communication due to technological limitations was difficult). Not to mention politics, diplomacy, or partly resource management, which I know a bit better because of my political science education. As Rafał says, the best things are ahead of me - he mainly thinks about the things that I like so much in "Legend of the Galactic Heroes", or other similar titles that we like to discuss.
So, since I appreciated "Kingdom" during the first season, it's at least not bad in terms of realism. Unfortunately, when it comes to battles, too often I have to turn a blind eye to what I see on the TV screen. I am talking about the plot-armor of many important characters who are too often untouchable until the author decides that now is the right time to hurt them. I am also talking about superhumanly strong and enduring generals who would normally die in no time. Or about the endless rain of arrows in one of the battles where archers must have hauled a sack of amphetamines to shoot their opponents non-stop (and then their fingers and hearts have been fucked up), or the cavalry that pierces through legions of foot soldiers as if they were children armed with sticks soiled with the deadly weapon of our childhood - shit. Not to mention, they seem to have collective resistance to damage, like a highly advanced hero in a WarCraft 3 game - no spear or arrow can hurt them. This applies not only to troops, but also to commanders, who sometimes go solo against the army and fuck it up too much. Of course, some of them are true, after all, the slogans like "rain of arrows" did not come out of nowhere, just like the effectiveness of horse warriors who often crushed the infantry, or the fact that there are people who have won their lives already at the stage of the genetic lottery and are bigger, stronger, wiser, more fortunate etc. but the manga author exaggerated too much. However, whether it disturbs you is entirely up to you. Yes, it is a truism that anyone can say, but with such titles it is worth remembering. If you do not like anime (or this genre), and you are reading this text because it attracted your attention, I recommend that you watch the titles beforehand that will immunize you to Japanese style and aspects in which they exaggerate. Some things disturbed me so much that I have repeatedly recalled comments that could be summarized this way "Kingdom is one of the most realistic manga". Are you fucking kiddin 'me? 5 meter jumps? Destroying a few soldiers with one sword, if you are not a giant like Thorkell, or the hero of the Polish book "Ogniem i Mieczem", who cut 3 heads with one move of the sword (or the historical figure that Sienkiewicz - Spirydjon Ostaszewski modeled on)? Shall I mention a few other things? xD Nevertheless, battles involving millions of soldiers are as effective and satisfying as in "Legend of the Galactic Heroes". If only the audio-visual setting was at the level of at least 8/10 ...
On the other hand, I have to defend Kingdom. Yes, it pisses me off with such sci-fi every time I see it, but if you get used to it, maybe it will be an added advantage - if only because the plot can be more attractive thanks to it. I know, the story has so much interesting content that you can easily make an equally fascinating story without resorting to fantasy a'la "Dragon Ball Z". but this style is more attractive to most. And hence - greater popularity and even more money. Besides, it is enough to accept this style and stop complaining, thanks to which it will be easier to see references to history, and there are many of these (e.g. at the beginning of season 2 it was very nice to refer to Sun Zi). Anyway, as a battle-shounen fan, I shouldn't complain - I love watching inhumanly strong people. On the other hand, it does not bother me in such manga, because they do not pretend to be realistic titles, so they can afford more. Well, as I said, you can get used to it if you get used to the fact that ordinary soldiers can't hurt strong characters. If in 1vs1 fights they will not have plot-armor, as it was so far, then I will complain less, and maybe even start praising it over time.
Speaking of unrealistic moments, as I said, one of the undisputed advantages of battle-shounens is that you don't have to worry too much about them and you can show women more often. Contrary to what the (to put it mildly) progressive left fucking, the average woman doesn't stand a chance against the average guy. It goes against biology and any logic. And yes, there are women who can knock a comparable male to the ground, but this (if any) happens in the average weight class. The heavier the man, the more impossible it is (due to e.g. muscles, resistance to physical damage, fat distribution on the body, weight), although I have heard of a few exceptions where a large and heavy woman was able to beat large men ( or at least fight them on an equal footing). Nevertheless, these are only exceptions, one in at least a few thousand, if not even less. However, this type of manga, as well as American comics, may ignore this fact - since guys are superhumanly powerful, what's the obstacle to adding women a big boost to their statistics? The more that this is a gigantic field for development - many manga lack powerful women who could compete with the strongest male characters. It didn't bother me in the past, but today, when I know the world and people's capabilities better, I would love to watch as many female warriors or female generals as possible. This is because women see things that the male eye and ego either don't appreciate or ignore (hence their famous slogan that ladies often tell guys to - "guess what I mean, hihi"). They can also read emotions better, have greater mental resilience and see guys inside out, which is of great importance in combat conditions - whether it is when assessing the enemy's forces (which is a very important aspect that many people who are not interested in the military or war), or strengthening the morale of their own army. In that regard, Kingdom is great. It is true that so far there were not too many of such heroines (and later I will not get to know too many of them, or at least this is what I conclude after a cursory review in Wikipedia, when I was looking for a heroine for a new avatar for the blog), but each of them satisfied me with cleverness, intellect or ruthlessness . Because yes, in this matter women are also more dangerous, and therefore more effective than men. Unless, of course, they can afford it (in the sense that they are not in danger and have all the possibilities to act.
As for the characters, I will talk about them on the occasion of season 2, when I will not have to pay attention to what I write and I will have full freedom. For now, I will say that it is at least good. The main character is quite interesting - at first I thought I would not like him, but despite the rather standard outfit, I would rather include him in this more interesting group. As is usually the case, the side characters are much more interesting. It is true that I do not know most of them by name, but this is due to the unusual subject matter - I do not have much contact with Chinese culture, so it is something new for me. The advantage of this situation is that as long as I do not see pictures showing who a given character is, I can read about them freely without fear that I will run into a spoiler that will spoil my fun.
First of all, the manga anime looks like animal vomit. The comic looks beautiful, I think I can easily compare it with "Berserk" and titles on a similar level. Some say it's the prettiest Japanese comic they've seen. I will neither confirm nor deny it, because I would have to see a dozen, if not several dozen, chapters. What I saw is nice, I do not deny it, but far from "One Punch Man", which is the cutest manga I've ever seen. But I can judge anime that looks like crap. A ... I already wrote that, so ... Let me say this, until the middle of Season 1 it looks very poor, but then the level improves a bit. The S2 looks fine and although I still can't say it's a very good animation, I can easily judge the technical version of 7/10. When it comes to music, I find both openings weak - the music doesn't suit me, scenes in 1 are crap, 2 is noticeably better. The endings are good and the soundtrack is good at best. There are some nice songs, but I don't think I would remember them or listen to the anime anyway. Generally, I have no reason to criticize, but I also don't see anything that I can praise "Kingdom" for in this matter.
To sum up, if you endure a dozen episodes, poor technical implementation and you won't be disturbed by fantasy elements, you will rather like "Kingdom". Oh, I would forget - there is also censorship (the manga is brutal, more or less on the level of "Berserk"), but it didn't bother me - I was used to covering blood, brutality and sex. As long as you like politics, wars and everything related to them, of course. The second season is already better in all respects and you can see that the manga author has begun to do his job. I enjoy watching 2 episodes every day. From me, the rating is 6.5 / 10. I know, a little low rating, but recently I decided to push my expectations a bit, because when I looked at reviews of some movies or anime, I rated them too positively and sometimes I gave away 8, 9 and 10 too often. Since the second season is so good and the level is supposed to be it grows even more, then I will not give the final 12/10, right?