#kingdom by hara yasuhisa

[itoendme]

kinda obsessed with the character archetype that’s like: horrible person but so charismatic that you can kinda understand why they have such a devoted band of followers

some examples would be tsurumi tokushirou from golden kamuy, askeladd from vinland saga, and kan ki from kingdom, three characters that i have many thoughts on, so i want to look at some similarities

these three all are cunning manipulators who pretend to work for their country’s govt despite having no real loyalty to or respect for (and even despising) their country's leader, use a mask of charisma to cover their emotional turmoil, are haunted by the loss of a loved one, and constantly break the law without getting much punishment for it because they are either in positions of power or enabled by those who are

*spoilers ahead*

tsurumi and askeladd both pretend to display a sense of camaraderie towards their men when it suits them, while using them as disposable pawns

(left: one of tsurumi's subordinates realizing he never saw any of them as anything more than pawns / right: askeladd admitting to his men that he always hated all of them and was just using them)

askeladd and kan ki are both bandits with troubled childhoods who started killing by the age of 13, deeply despise the society they live in, and have some level of fondness for their respective mcs despite never getting along with them

(left: askeladd encouraging thorfinn(the mc) to do something meaningful with his life / right: kanki's subordinates telling shin(the mc) that kan ki was fond of him)

kan ki and tsurumi both display a sadistic cruelty and viciousness, seen to be practiced in torture and using that as an outlet for rage, and have a thing about liberating the oppressed

(left: kan ki expressing that ri boku(an enemy general) cannot understand him because he doesn't understand what it's like to be oppressed / right: tsurumi expressing a (somewhat performative but also serious) desire to liberate those oppressed in the aftermath of the war)

there are a lot of similarities between these three, but they differ from each other in their motivations, goals, and roles in the story, making them unique. although they all fall under the umbrella of this certain type of character, they aren't interchangeable because each of them is so multifaceted

would love to write a more in depth character analysis for each of them someday, but for now just thinking about the parallels

[chaos-of-the-abyss]

it seriously depresses me that despite all the bad blood and history between them, zheng and chengjiao had hints of what could have developed into a strong, genuinely close bond. zheng trusted him with xianyang when he went to fight at zui, and even though there was no real warmth between them, chengjiao followed through on his implicit promise by keeping the capital out of lü buwei's hands. and although he still resented zheng on a certain level, chengjiao canonically came to respect and want to understand him. he even!!! decided that he would be zheng's mental and emotional shield against the toll that unification might take on him, and that if his brother ever began to falter from the strain, he would be there to finish the job for him. and even though they still weren't close by the time of chengjiao's death, his last words were asking xin to be zheng's shield in his stead and protect him from the brutality of the world, since chengjiao himself could no longer fulfill that role. not to mention he posthumously continues to help zheng by making arrangements for liu yi to take over as the head the chengjiao faction, and keep up the support of his brother even after he (chengjiao) dies. ugh. it's such an underrated relationship imo. in their youth chengjiao incited a rebellion and tried to kill zheng, and almost succeeded! piao was killed because of him! yet zheng trusts chengjiao and doesn't believe the trap framing his brother as the culprit of a second rebellion, and chengjiao, man - chengjiao actually wanted to help zheng in any way he could. plus if you believe in the more supernatural aspects sprinkled here and there in kingdom, chengjiao's spirit is one of the ones explicitly there supporting zheng during his debate of ideals with lü buwei. their association with each other was ostensibly based on utility and political convenience, but it's clear that there was more there. the events of the series kicked off because chengjiao ousted and tried to kill zheng, but in the end, zheng sincerely trusted chengjiao, and chengjiao died wanting to protect him.

[haveyoureadthismanga-poll]

[demifiendrsa]

Kingdom chapter 723 color page

[whothecrappadoodlecares]

bit of a spoiler but not big

Shin, for the first time (to my memory), wearing actual expensive formal clothes instead of workout rags, finally happens on page.

Is it in an important event at the palace? no.

Is it with the king and other nobility? no

Is it when he gets awarded the title of general? not even.

it's officiating a marriage for a childhood friend in his village. not a single noble or rich person in sight. just farmers, hunters, soldier of the unit amongst their shacks.

I absolutely love that shin shows more respect towards his tried and true friends and allies than the ones the he traditionally should.

and i love that the ones who deserve that respect don't care, and the ones who demand that respect aren't worth it.

[kayscarsetta]

[nenenenely]

Ok, i've just read Kingdom 768 and I knew this would happen sooner or later, so this is why i'm gonna talk about Karyo Ten and not about Shin and Kyokai

🚨Spoilers Kingdom 768🚨

Everybody knows that Shin sees Ten as a sister so it's a great chance for her to move on and go for another guy. Here is my theory. Who would be a good husband or who's the best choice for Ten??

We know that people she knows outside the HSU are Mou Ki and ShouHeiKun from strategist affairs. Between this two guys, i'll personally choose SHK. Why? Why would i go for a small fish as Mou Ki if i can choose a bigger one?? Idk about Mou Ki's background but SHK is the head of Strategist affairs, chancellor of the right and has his own army and I believe he isn't married so that's my reason i ship them. I don't like the age gape but in this period of time such silly thing didn't matter.

But in case SHK is married, he may have concubines but idk if Ten would like to be a second wife. I got the feeling that she wants a family and not being part of a family...

What are your thoughts??

[daydreaming-juna]

Kingdom's Chapters 759 & 760

by Haru Yasuhisa

My brain loved it because:

The old debate of “Are humans inherently good or evil?” is a fav topic when it comes to morally grey characters,

When diplomacy and mind games come into play for a bit instead of the typical blood and war (don't think I don't enjoy the war strategies, cuz I do a lot),

When winning over the enemy scholar falls in the hands of the dumbest and most instinct-based character AND it works with sound reasoning! (Surprise, cuz normally they are just straightforward and basic with their arguments).

[queenbananya]

Shin is an idiot. But he's a good person. I know that's a widely accepted fact but this panel here, his face-- he hasn't forgotten about Hyou and who exactly his killers are. Or perhaps it's more accurate to say that he HAS let himself forget and move on, to his own life, his own dreams. He's grown. Where 16 chapters ago he would have jumped at the chance to insult and attack Shoubunkun, at this particular moment he knows what's important: Sei. For just this small moment, he lets himself remember and ache.

In the first few chapters, I often wondered, Shin, whatever happened to your revenge? This single minded fool should by all means slaughter Sei for his revenge, but here he is now, attached to him and risking his own skin to protect him.

But really, Shin is only 14 here. He's allowed to move on. He's also allowed to be a fool and kill Sei and particularly Shoubunkun in his revenge. Yet he doesn't. He found strength from the death of Hyou, and while Shoubunkun knows exactly what he's doing-- making himself vulnerable and apologizing at this crucial time because he needs Shin, at the end of the day Shin is just a boy. Hearing a sincere apology now, after he has calmed down and isn’t so angry anymore, it's all he really wanted from these people. With this, he can finally and truthfully move on.

[artisautismtic]

I love kingdom (manga) so much it pains me to see barely no fanfics on it

[itoendme]

[chaos-of-the-abyss]

random evening thoughts about zheng and his mother

one of zheng's meatiest character connections in the series is with his mom, imo. kingdom really did something special with those two because while bi ki's treatment of her son is inexcusable, it's also (much to my initial surprise) made clear that she's meant to be a character we have sympathy for. zheng is traumatized by her treatment of him and knows that they will never have a good relationship, and he also knows that she will never love him. and while he has every right to resent his mother for everything she's done to him, he understands how much she suffered because of his birth - which she never wanted - and has empathy for her. like it must be a double whammy for zheng, because bi ki loves the children she had with lao ai. she shows that she would be willing to give her life for them if she needed to. this is undeniable proof, right before zheng's eyes, that bi ki IS capable of loving her children - and yet she can't love him, yet she only has hatred for him. but, crucially, zheng understands that his mother had agency in the birth of her children with lao ai, while she had no such agency in giving birth to him. that's why, as hard as it must be to accept that his own mother will never love him, he doesn't begrudge her for it.

and interestingly, bi ki doesn't try to excuse herself either. she makes her hatred of zheng clear and she makes it obvious that she blames him - or rather his birth - for her shitty situation in the state of zhao, but she never acts like she has the moral high ground over him, or that he actively chose to ruin her life and therefore deserves her loathing and abuse. she's never apologetic to zheng and she never regrets that she treated him so horribly, but she doesn't act self-righteous about it either. and i think their ending is nice closure for both of them. there's no way that they can ever make up or truly be parent and child with each other, but they've at least accepted and tied off the loose ends between them.

not to mention, i actually really love how hara wrote bi ki. like in some ways it still falls into very typical "man writing a promiscuous female character" tropes (for example, all the fanservice she's used for), but the narrative still treats her as someone who's ultimately meant to be pitied. it's a far more complex depiction of a female character who is genuinely a terrible, abusive mother to her son, and who turns to sex to distract herself from her trauma, than i thought i would get from a male author. imo, bi ki is not slut-shamed and punished for her promiscuity in the way i would have expected from a seinen manga. unfortunately, though, the fandom is still misogynistic as hell towards her, vastly more so than the actual story is.

regardless, i absolutely adore how, in the end, even though she initiated a coup and tried to kill him, zheng still treats his mother with compassion and respect. and this isn't some sanctimonious "i will be better to you than you were to me because i'm a better person than you" schtick. zheng does not think that, because he knows that his mother suffered in a unique way that he, for all his own (also unique) suffering, did not. and he truly understands that his birth, which bi ki didn't even want, was ultimately what sentenced her to a life of misery and ostracization and years of trauma and hardship. his desire to ease his mother's pain, even though he knows she hates him, is genuine. at the same time it's not a shallow, hamfisted "you should forgive your abusive parents bc they're human too!1!!1" message, either. i do think that the story indicates that zheng sincerely forgives his mother, but the focus is not and has never been on him giving her "forgiveness" for her abuse of him. and nor is this forgiveness lauded by the narrative as some grand indication of his kindness and generosity and how much of a Good Person he is - because it would have been just as valid and understandable of him to not forgive her. he would have still been a good person if he didn't forgive her. zheng's forgiveness itself is neutral in the story; a choice that he made and had the right to make, but if he had chosen differently, he rightfully wouldn't have been condemned for it, either. rather, instead of forgiveness, the narrative focus is on the two of them finding closure from each other and the part that they played in each other's lives, and acknowledging that yes, bi ki is an abusive mother, but that doesn't negate the fact that she's suffered. and while they will never be close, zheng knows what his mother has been through, and he actively chooses, at every turn, to have compassion for her.

all that to say, their final scene together, when zheng asks her to take care of herself, to not let herself waste away - wow. i have feelings. let me go stew in my feelings.

[demifiendrsa]

Kingdom chapter 707 color page

[kitamuratakumi]

Kingdom (2006 - present) Table of Contents Art by Yasuhisa Hara

[saki-693]

Drafts of Kanki & Shio from Kingdom by Yasuhisa Hara.

I do love them. I do love how they had genuinely tender, loving and healthy relationship. They connected deeply even after Shio was perished. Kanki's feelings for her were intensely strong, like, he can build pile of bodies for her (literally), but also they were very...pure🥺

By the way, somehow I have an image that Kanki'd like to keep his top off😂

Kingdom story sets up in ancient China based on historical facts, the era always had war and strong feudalism, but no social welfare and human rights, not even concept of them. Obviously, Kanki & Shio were living cruelly tough world. They were kids with no protector and social status when they were lovers.

Young Kanki was dying on mountain path, he said he had nowhere to go. Shio was, ex-servant who trafficked and abused, but escaped from there, founded a clan with kids with similar situations to help each other, and protect younger children. Shio & her clan members build small and peaceful village. Kanki was saved by them, then Shio, her clan and their village became "homeplace" to him. Kanki also saved her from messed up adult-bandits by killing them, when they came to her village, not only they killed and hurt her clan members, but also tried to assault her. He told Shio and her clan members it is NOT RIGHT that they were being mistreated - those kids had to "get used to" being abused to live, because they were powerless - later, he devised a way of defending themselves.

Kanki & Shio had each other's back, they were understanding each other very well, including their suffering. They shared similar spirits, both of them had tender hearts with caring and sympathy for others, also they had abilities to take action. Kanki especially had empathy for the pain of others. The mistreatments Shio & her clan members suffered under absurd feudalism world full of people who ignored those innocent kids, were the root of his rage.

However, his "humane" spirit was the element why he became "inhumane".

According to Shio's clan member, Kanki changed after Shio was perished. She was butchered by the order of a castle-town lord as an example to Kanki, because he was conspicuous in the lord's area. The reason, the way of her gruesome death were just condensation of absurdity and cruelty of feudalism society, which is thing Kanki was angry about. After the incident, he left his beloved's clan, and started building his own bandit-clan. After years of growing, it became as big as army. Then, he attacked the castle-town of the lord, beheaded all of humans inside the castle by his own hands as the vengeance of his beloved. However, even after this successful revenge, he was never convinced of Shio's cruel murder. That drove him into the dark path of intense rage and never-ending vengeance against the world.

Later Kanki became a general of Qin country, because of his strength in battles. He never lose since he was a bandit leader. Eventually, he even became one of the Great General of Qin, which is a top member of the army. General Kanki was well know for his strength, but also notorious for his cruelty. He had no hesitation to kill not only enemies, but also surrendered soldiers and general citizens. He's willing to use inhumane tactics to win, committed massacres in some battles. Even the king of Qin* got angry at his actions. (*Qin king is the one who ordered invasion war, and he was mad at Kanki because he slaughtered too many "surrendered" soldiers. But of course, killing tens of thousands of them "in battle" is considered as great victory......🤔 Kingdom story tells how messed up war is, very well). However, Kanki didn't do that for Qin and the king. He never had loyalty to them, even said he does not care if the country is dying. He had no great cause. He had no ambition. An executive of Kanki-clan said "We had nothing before, but we obtained many things now" - I'm pretty sure Kanki got nearly everything compared to young age. Property, fame, social status, some authority etc. - "But why is Kanki still so thirsty?" was the line the executive said after that.

Kanki's motivation was always rage. Intense rage against the world that mistreated and butchered his beloved and loved ones. That never changed.

His army, most of Kanki-clan members were also definitely not peaceful people, some members said they have no military discipline, loyalty, and even betrayals happened often 'cause they're group of bandits.

Surprisingly, despite his cruelty and the nature of his army, the story shows Kanki was not a type of leader who bound his men with fear and violence. Many clan members, especially executives, purely adored him. They considered they were saved from terrible life by Kanki, because they've enjoyed living since they met him. Some executive members said Kanki is family to them. The story even showed genuinely funny moments between them, and Kanki-clan actually had "silly" type of members. For Kanki, at first he just build his clan for vengeance of Shio, but in the end, the members became family for him too. He actually wanted to take his "rootless wonderers" family along to homeplace, after he was convinced of everything, after he made world pay the price of mistreatments Shio & her clan members suffered, and of course, Shio's gruesome death. However...those aren't going to happen while he's alive, because, who can be "convinced" when your beloved one had been murdered?

The battle of Hika was the first battle Kanki lost, which means his last battle. He lost a large number of his army, and was almost driven to the point of certain defeat. He never gave up fighting and winning until the very end, but also he showed unexpected side this time. Despite he's been a general willing to sacrifice his own troops to win, he let the protagonists & some of his clan members escape by using himself as the decoy. He even ordered one of an executive to stay alive, to organise remaining Kanki-clan soldiers after his death to prevent them from living terrible life again.

Shio's gruesome death sent Kanki down the dark path. However, at the same time, he did not lost her completely. Kanki held Shio as the last light in the depth of his spirit. This is the reason why Kanki-clan members adored him, and they could be family in the pure sense. We can see the light in his spirit clearly through his last fight.

In the death, Kanki & Shio could finally reunite. There's no words like "we finally meet again" between them. They were talking like there's no time and distance gap, they had conversations just like they had been together all the time. She led him and his family(died Kanki-clan executives) to their homeplace, a peaceful village she and her clan members build, a place they called "sanctuary".

Okay. I do love them. I do love their relationship, and I do love the truth that Shio gave "home" to Kanki when she was alive, but also gave "family" even after she's gone. I do love how Kanki held his beloved as the last light in the depth of his spirit. I really love how character like Kanki, a coldblooded warlord, just wanted to live with beloved one & loved ones in homeplace without being them mistreated. In addition, Kanki was actually did not despair of the world completely. He couldn't, because he met Shio, loved her, and kept holing her as the light. That's why he was staying in intense rage, not despairing and emptiness.

These complex elements of Kanki & Shio's story are, the reason why I love them, but also, the reason why I can't stop crying for them. That's really distressing that Kanki's "inhuman" actions came from rage, and it came from his "humane" spirits and love. His cruelty tells more than anything else that how much pain and rage he was feeling since Shio had been murdered, which is how deep his feeling for his beloved were. He knew the pain and suffering of having beloved one taken away from you better than anyone else, and yet, he committed massacre, again and again. His actions are just creating heavy chain of grudge and vengeance (and actually, Kingdom story shows that in great way). But I think, he may understood what he was doing exactly, because he never defended or justified his actions, not even said "I do it for you", he only said "I'm just angry on by own". Another interesting thing is, Kanki was the one who said " 'Invasion war for peace' is just big genocide and big plunder, that never ever can unite people's hearts" to the protagonists and the king of Qin. He saw the world too well since he was a kid - that never changed even after Shio was perished. Those elements make me think, Kanki also may be aware or unconsciously feel nothing can convince him about the beloved's murder, and vengeance journey leads him nowhere. I imagine the existence of Shio was way bigger to Kanki than we think. Not only she saved his life, gave love, family and homeplace to him, I think she also was the light and hope of cruel world, literally. As I mentioned at the beginning, Kingdom story sets in strong feudalism society with no social welfare and human rights. The lords who mistreated and butchered Shio and her clan members were not charged with any crimes. Parents can sell their children without being convicted. Orphaned children had to become servant, or starve to death. General people either turned a blind eye to mistreated vulnerable, or accepted those things 'cause they were all too common. In such world, Shio and her clan members genuinely helped each other, and protected younger kids. They didn't turn blind eye to more vulnerable children despite they also had been though horrible times. They really had tender, sweet hearts. It's just...it is just not right that people with kind hearts suffering the most at the hands of cruel people, because of social structures, power relationships or other messed up reasons (I understand it's fictional story, but also I feel the themes and story of Kingdom has universality that translates into reality). I do not defend what Kanki did, but I can empathies his anger.

The beauty of Kanki & Shio's story is, they were connected deeply beyond death. I really love how Kanki kept holding her as the light of his spirit, and Shio led him to their homeplace. Kanki and his clan members may need to go to Hell, but I hope Kanki & Shio can spend tender, peaceful time together after their death😭

[teragames]

ONE OK ROCK emociona con su tema para "Kingdom: Daishougun no Kikan"

La banda de rock japonesa ONE OK ROCK revela su tema en el nuevo avance de la película de "Kingdom: Daishougun no Kikan" (@kingdomthemovie).

El sitio web oficial de la serie de películas de acción real Kingdom, basada en el manga de aventuras históricas de Yasuhisa Hara, lanzó nuevos avances de su cuarta entrega, Kingdom: Daishougun no Kikan (El regreso del gran general). Los vídeos presentan el tema principal “Delusion:All” interpretado por la banda de rock japonesa ONE OK ROCK. La banda cantó previamente el tema “Wasted Nights” para…