The animation film called Kingdom is in Japanese and is illustrated and written by Yasuhisa Hara. It is a manga series which provides a fictionalized story of the period when the states of China were warring with each other. This story is portrayed by Yasuhisa Hara through the eyes of the orphan, Xin. This Xin was orphaned during the war and now he and his comrades are all fightings in the war. In the end, Xin becomes the greatest general in Chinese history. While becoming the greatest general, Xin also unified the warring states of China for the first time in its history.
This animation series by Pierrot studio had thirty –eight episodes and was televised from the 4th of June, 2012 till 25th of February 2013. The second season was televised from 8th of June 2013 till 1st of March 2014. The license for the English version of this animation movie went to Funimation. The cover of the first volume of this Japanese animation movie called the Kingdom anime was released on 19th of May, 2006 by Shueisha in Japan. This is an action-packed drama based on historical events of ancient China. The first season of the animation series has been directed by Jun Kamiya while the second season was directed by Akira Iwanaga.
Kingdom Anime: Information, Plot and Much More
The plot of this animation movie is based in the period when the states of ancient China were warring against each other. In the kingdom of Qin, there were two war-orphans, Piao and Xin who dreamed of rising beyond their lowly station and becoming the greatest generals of the heavens. Unfortunately, Piao is separated one day as he is taken by a minister to the palace. Xin was left alone in the peasant village as a slave in a household.
After a few months have elapsed, Piao returns but he is on his deathbed. He urges Xin to come with him to another village where Xin comes in contact with a look-alike of Piao by the name of Ying Zheng who is actually the current king of Qin. Xin now knows that Piao was taken to act as a double in place of Ying Zheng and suffered his mortal wounds during a struggle for power in the palace.
Xin is initially very furious at Ying Zheng for being the cause of the death of Piao, then he realizes the opportunity presented to him. Xin decides to help Ying Zheng in overthrowing his brother and getting back the Qin throne. Xin succeeds in helping Ying Zheng in reclaiming the Qin throne and becomes his commander of the army and starts his warring with the other warring states of ancient China with only one goal in mind – to become the greatest general of the heavens. In this capacity, Xin helps Ying Zheng to achieve his dream of unifying the entire territory of ancient China and thus end the incessant warring once and for all.
The voice for the protagonist of the story was lent by Masakazu Morita. The goal of Xin is to become higher than the ‘three great Heavens’ and even greater than ‘the six great generals’. At the beginning of the story, he is just a war orphan living in a peasant village as a slave. His dreams are of becoming a general in the Qin army so that he can escape from his lowly life.
After aiding Ying Zheng, the actual king of Qin, to regain his throne, Xin fights with distinction against the Wei army and gets promoted as a commander of a 100 man unit from a foot soldier. During the story, his unit gets proclaimed by Wang Qi as the “Flying Xin Unit.” This “Flying Xin Unit” is not detailed to any particular unit but is an independent unit. This unit is utilized as a trouble shooter unit to reinforce the other units in times of battle. His 100 man unit by chapter 130 is reduced to 83 and then by chapter 149, his unit has only 36 soldiers in it.
Xin slowly and steadily as the series progress, gains strength physically and mentally amidst many scrapes, cuts, and experiences of near death. He is promoted as a commander of 300 men by chapter 174. Xin has just five years before the coming of age of Ying Zheng and of becoming a general in Qin’s army. In chapter 193, Xin killed a commander of 1000 men though he himself was still commander of 300 men. He killed the commander for committing unjust acts. He gets a temporary promotion of being commander of 1000 men in chapter 200. He then proclaims that he will get the head of one general or the heads of three commanders of 1000 men. He does get the head of a general in chapter 231 and gets a promotion in the nobility of three ranks and also an award of gold of 500 units and a treasure measuring 5 units. He is also promoted to the rank of commander of 1000 men. He is also in chapter 243 awarded charge of the Kaku’s troop of soldiers.
Xin succeeds in a multitude of military campaign as described in chapters 129, 195, 206, 231, 250.1, 258, 288, 350, 401, 429, and 472, whereby he wins accolades and earns many ranks subsequently rising to be the commander of 5000 men. He is now just one step away from achieving his dream of becoming a general.
After facing myriad defeats, Shin in chapter 244, comes very close to getting stripped of his rank. This all happens because Kyouki, their strategist has left for revenge and until the time her replacement Ten takes charge. From then on his unit and his name in particular strike fear in the hearts of others. In chapter 288, he lays Mangoku and commits many other deeds of valor against the Coalition Army and is promoted by one rank of nobility. His current resident territory, ‘Fuuri’, also gets enlarged and he also receives gold of 500 units and treasure of 5 units.
He also gets a promotion to the rank of commander of 3000 men and also a charge of the Duke Hyou’s troop of soldiers in chapter 355. In chapter 373, the unit grows to 5000 with Kyoukai getting promotion as commander of 1000 men and Shin as commander of 4000 men. The unit in chapter 373 utilized this 5000 men when Kyoukai came back to join the Hi Shin Unit. With the defeat of Riou of the Fire Dragons of Wei in chapter 401, Shin receives another promotion as a commander of 5000 men in chapter 407. In chapter 438, both Shin and Sei make a promise to become one of the Six Generals. In chapter 473, the Zhao commander, Keisha is killed by Shim. After being at the end of countless hits by Rinko, Shin is shown to evolve to the status equaling Rinko. In chapter 275, he saves Duke Hyou which awakens his instinct to become a general.
Though by a sheer twist of fate, the Hi Shin Unit happens not to be in full armor throughout the first half of the series, they have no care that they are full of commoners. But by chapter 244, this unit is in full military armor. Shin received the glaive from the famous general Luke in chapter 172 and in chapter 325 he received the shield from Duke Hyou. He left them at the palace with Sei in chapter 356.
Since the start of the story, Shin does not wear his sword at the hips as most of the soldiers do but wears it on his back. Till chapter 373, Shin used Hyou’s sword. From chapter 373, he started using a glaive as practice before using the glaive of Ouki. He also reached the height of Heki. In chapter 499, Shin decides to finally use the glaive of Yuki during the war to unite the country. When the story starts Shin is shown to be of 13 or 14 years of age, but by chapter 498 he is shown to be 23 years of age.
Conclusion
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