Kingdom

The first time I know about Kingdom is from their figures (Figuarts ZERO). They were discounted so I was tempted to buy. In the end I never bought any of the figures or checked out the manga because I am not a fan of the art style. I am aware of the movie when I saw some promotional materials during my trip to Japan this April. I wanted to watch it, despite not knowing anything about it, because historical war movie like this should be quite exciting. Too bad I missed it as it was released on the same week when I had to travel to Manila in June. It comes to a full circle now that I watched it on my flight to Manila last Sunday.

I find lack of originality with the plot: two war orphans dreaming of getting out of poverty by joining military, one gets chosen (unknowingly as a double for the king due to their physical similarities) and ends up dying due to some palace intrigues and this causes his to avenge, the friend ends up helping the dethroned king to claim back the throne, the king getting help from hidden tribe which used to be old ally of the kingdom but was betrayed. It feels like a mix and match of plots of various manga/anime/movie previously. I guess it is sort of unavoidable for a story based on war and history.

Kingdom is based on the story of Qin dynasty which unified China. Some of the characters are based on historical characters but with Japanese name. Shin is Li Xin and Eisei is based on Qin Shi Huang. The movie ends with Eisei returning to claim his rightful throne. I googled and found out that the manga is still ongoing and is currently at volume 55. Wow.. I guess the manga really continues all the way until the Qin dynasty is established.

After watching, I don't find the movie that exciting but I also don't regret spending time watching it. But one thing for sure, it still does not pique my interest to check out the manga. Hahaha...