Kingdom #1-8

Kingdom #1-8

Originally released in 2006

Written by Yasuhisa Hara

Art by Yasuhisa Hara



The manga Kingdom was recently added to the Shonen Jump app.  I've heard it's supposed to be really good, though I knew nothing about it going into it. It's based on Chinese history, specifically a period of civil war before China was unified into one empire, but my familiarity with Chinese history is limited so I'm not sure how much of this is based on historical details and how much is the equivalent of Arthurian legend.



The manga focuses on Xin, a child war orphan turned slave who (along with his best friend Piao) wishes to rise through the ranks and become a general. Opportunities for leaving a life of slavery are extremely limited, with the military seemingly being the only way out.



A member of the king's court sees Xin and Piao sparring, and within a few days, he offers to take Piao to the court and make him part of it.  At first, my assumption was that he recognized Piao's strength and wanted to hone him into being a bodyguard for the king (who is too young to rule on his own), but the truth is less altruistic than that.



This is a period of upheaval, and Xin is caught up in it.  Xin is what you'd expect from a manga protagonist - hot-tempered, lacking in social graces, but extremely skilled when it comes to fighting, even at a young age.  Naturally, he's not well-suited for looking after a king, even one who's the same age as him, but circumstances force them together.



I found it a little difficult to keep track of some of the characters, though their designs do a good job at making them stand out in spite of the series being firmly grounded in realism. (the bird person in the picture above is a human wearing a costume)  The armours have very intricate designs and the landscapes are also quite detailed, whether the series is depicting peasant villages, palaces, or wilderness.

  


I reached the end of the first volume; as I'm not sure how long this arc is going to last (or if this series is even divided into arcs), it seemed like a good place to pause.  So far, I'd say it's all right, though I feel like having more familiarity with the historical context might help improve my views of it.  Then again, my lack of familiarity with the historical context might make the twists and turns more difficult to predict.

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