Shock-horror, the Chinese guy wasn't blonde.

Look, you see this picture here? This is Riboku. This is the conniving, scheming bastard who values money as the solution to all of life's problems. That guy in the picture there looks an awful lot like Riboku, only with a less impressive hat/beard/stache and smaller, more realistic eyes.

However even then, that guy is Li Mu, not Riboku. Riboku is a fictional character based on Li Mu and that's what I care about. I like history, but I like Kingdom as a story more, so I don't bother tying the two together.

Yeah I know, it's VERY loosely based on reality(I didn't actually think that Riboku was Hitler's poster child, same with the 9 foot tall big lipped Ouki), I just find the disparity funny haha.

Also that's Ryo Fui(you probably realize that now haha)

**** off, it's 3 AM here. *grumpy ferret noises*

Haha now you know how I felt when I sent you that ******* weird-ass thing where someone put Ouki's lips on everyone. Only at 3 am when I'm tired, I laugh at almost anything.

Eyup. Kind of weak compared to the past few weeks and Ryofui just wrecking show with his morals. But at this point moralising is all he can really do.

And I don't think Denyu's gonna die to that.

I wouldn't say weak, we still saw progress(Better than the massive disappointment of AoT chapter 67). I think it only seems slow since now that we're both caught up, it's not as intense as having the next chapter readily available.

Anyone who believes Ryofui is a dumbass, the dude is clearly lying. Not like he'll end up getting to be king(since we know how the story goes, "Ei Sei, first king of China" and all.), but let's say he did. The man is a businessman before politician. He'd take the wealth for himself before letting the people have it. He's not dumb, he'd keep them from rebelling by not totally screwing them over too much, but there's no way he'd be able to provide for everyone with his mindset.

Denyuu survived Futei's attack, he'll probably make it. Then again, those are a lot of arrows...

Eh, I believe Ryofui's words about his intentions. Don't forget his interactions with the Queen Mother. Though he uses everyone around him as pawns we have seen him at times come out of his shell of composure and he has never been sadistic or cruel at those times. Ruthless and pragmatic, yes, but we have never seen him actually bring harm to anyone who was not directly opposing his rise to the throne.

I think he is absolutely the most arrogant person in whatever room he happens to find himself, but he is also an accomplished artist (as seen from the short touch about the scriptures he had finally finished writing), and perhaps above all else he was entirely right about what he said with regards to money and war... theoretically. Practically things never go as well as you may plan them to but were Ryofui to attract into Qin the wealthiest families in China he would absolutely be able to affect real change with that wealth. Plus, individual wealth increases the fastest when the economy grows, and for the economy to grow more people need more money.

Worst Case Scenario for Ryo: He is awful and he doesn't provide for Qin the sweeping change required.
Worst Case Scenario for Sei: Hundreds of thousands of people die in awful ways in a campaign that ultimately fails and, due to such failure puts Qin back to square one, if not further back than that, including possibly completely ending the state through over-reaching.

Best Case Scenario for Ryo: Qin becomes the economic centre of the region and eventually ends the period of war through simply making war with Qin an impossibility.
Best Case Scenario for Sei: Hundreds of thousands of people die in awful ways in a campaign that ultimately succeeds but Qin is over-reaching (like the Roman Empire) to do so and their dynasty is built atop the misery of millions.

The reason these days we prefer politicians to warmakers is that politicians like Ryo understand the best way to beat your enemies is to make them not want to fight you, whereas Sei is all about blood and thunder and carving himself his own little slice of the world. Both have noble goals but Ryo's idea, even if the joy never reaches beneath the richest in the state, is far more sustainable.

Anyway, I really want to see how this plays out.

Also, kinda random thought, but I REALLY wanna know more about Hakuki, leader of the Qin 6 generals. Looking on the wiki, the dude was BRUTAL. People say he killed over 890,000 people, some say more than 1,000,000. I wanna see him in this series more.

See that's the thing about his charisma. Maybe I'm just a paranoid ************ , but I think he's just so damn charismatic, he's even able to convince the audience that he's truly doing this for the greater good. Meanwhile, everything he's done has been in his own self interest.

That historical scroll thing he did? Gained him support from the masses. ******* the Queen mother? Gained him an alliance with the harem(plus some mad pussy). After he was done with her and they were allied, she shoved Ai into her so she'd get out of his hair. I don't think he's a bad person per se, just selfish(which isn't always a bad thing). He may have good intention on what to do with the throne, but it's mainly just a power grab.

Now this doesn't mean his ideas are bad, nor does it mean Sei's ideas are good. It all biols down to character. Ryo is naturally greedy, ambitious and intelligent. Sei is calculating, intense, but has a good heart. So it all comes down to whether it would be better to have a greedy bastard or a warmonger in control.

Plus, there's people like Riboku, Houken, Gohoumei, etc. Do you really think those generals would be content on giving up war, Houken especially. Those generals, save for maybe Riboku, and even he'd have something up his sleeve if he accepted, would never be content with just being paid off. If something like Sai happened again, there's no way Ryo would be able to rouse the people like Sei can. If the two worked together, then Qin truly could handle any threat.

Thanks for using a comparison, hope you have an excellent day!

Also **** Ou ki and his fat goddamn lips.

Just you wait. If you're at 40 you're yet to feel just how dominant Ouki's heavy presence in the story is.

Welp, I'm all caught up to chapter 417. Not used to having to wait for more of this series, but hey, I'm willing to. What days do they normally come out?

You marathoned the **** out of that.

The manga is released on either the Friday or the Saturday, I'm not entirely sure which, however the popularity of Kingdom isn't high enough for it to get a same-day fan-translation so it will typically come out around this time of the week when all of the other series start coming out.

Anyway, since you're done with Kingdom and another massive marathon might be a bit much for you at the moment why not try Boku no Hero Academia? (My Hero Academia)

It's a much softer series than Kingdom but I've found myself really enjoying it. It's got very clever writing and departs from a lot of the stuff you typically see in anime and even the pervert jokes are actually surprisingly tasteful and creative (plus, they don't happen often.) It's very well-made on a technical level alone but the art-style also works wonders and the mangaka keeps coming up with inventive and clever ways to have characters use their powers. It feels like the sort of thing that, given time, could easily grow to become this decade's Dragonball Z/One Piece/Big Shounen Series.

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Plus, it has a frog girl. That ****** cute.

yeah, took me about exactly a week to finish. I wouldn't have been able to if it weren't for the fact I have midterms going on currently(which are half days), plus the fact that yesterday and today were both canceled due to snow.

Alright, maybe I'll check it out, I think I'm gonna try other things. I got a ton of books for Christmas and I haven't touched a single one, even though they all look fantastic. I'll keep your suggestion in mind though

Aight. It's only 27 chapters at the moment though so you can easily crack that out in a few hours tops at your speed. Better to get on the hype-train early and all. The first chapter's really not too good, it's far too compressed and too much happens too quickly but that's kind of the way of things in the manga genre. Not many are able to succinctly sum up the characters and plot and effectively establish their world whilst grabbing the reader's attention and all.

However, after that you really start to get an understanding of where the series is going and it's a pretty bitching concept.

Alright, I'll keep that in mind.

You started the Buddha manga yet?

I have. It's certainly interesting but honestly I'm kinda pressed for time atm. I'm spending most of my free time working (from home) and just having FJ open in the background so every few minutes I can check a neat pic or something to stop the monotony from laying in.

I'll probably be able to get more into it once I've emptied my plate a little. Even the stuff I'm referencing with Kingdom and the altered pics I made only took about 5 minutes each since I'm a quick typer and I can navigate the series to the right page pretty well (until the chapter-names stop appearing and it's all down to numbers. From there I'm kinda ****** , but you get the idea.)

Yeah I get it. I'm in high school still, so when the regular grind returns, I'll probably be pressed for time as well. This is probably one of the first times I've been able to successfully marathon a series in a week or so.

It's cool, bro. You deal with what you've got to deal with. I'll deal with my **** . The world keeps spinning and in a few days a new chapter of Kingdom will come out. If you need someone to fangasm over it with I'm going nowhere. Same for SnK and any other manga/series you decide to pick up that I follow.

Oh, and don't watch Sword Art Online. Don't ******* bother. The reviews of the show make for better watching-material than SAO. Don't let people convince you to watch it. The show seems to think 'Loli girl who keeps getting attacked by tentacle monsters.' is a character trait. ¬_¬ ******* christ...

Yep, I've already got a few friends I talk about the AoT chapters with, but I can always use another.

Yeah, I've heard enough about SAO on here to know to stay away from it like the plague.

Just finished the Seige of Sai battle.

******* beautiful.

Heh, unimaginable.

That arc really is just insane. Kanki's cocky mastery of tactics, Ousen's absurd defensive skill, Duke Hyou's ridiculous initiative and perception, Mobu's unstoppable strength, Choutou's sheer, wheighty, meaty balls in the face of certain death, Tou's ability to carve armies apart, Ouhon and Mouten mastering their groups to such a degree, and then that isn't even the highlight of the ******* arc!

Duke Hyou deals Houken's ego another massive ******* blow followed quickly by Shin, Ten earns her stripes, and what the **** did I tell you about Sei being soooooooooo cool? Because he kicks all kind of ass.

Oh, and the look on Riboku's face when he realises Shouheikun respects his job more than him. And then again once Seikyou cockslaps that uppity ****** right in the mouth.

Seriously... Kingdom is easily one of the best things I've ever read and it just doesn't stop getting better.

All the characters, even the minor ones, have such redeeming values that it wouldn't be the same without any one of them. I know they're based on real events, but the line between reality and fiction is played so well you don't know what's real and made up in most cases. Shin actually managing to damage Houken has got to be one of the most epic moments I've seen in this entire series.

Also I lol'd at this moment.

Speaking of Kyoukai, if you've gotten that far you've seen her fight with Yuu Ren, yes?

And you probably creamed yourself during the course of it because holy ******* **** that fight blows my tiny little mind! Shin is ******* awesome but Kyoukai doesn't lose to him in terms of badassery.

Yeah dude, I def needed a change of pants after that. Kyoukai is ******* awesome, her fight with Yuu was the **** , but after something like the Coalition army arc, it just seems much smaller. Not that it takes away from how badass it was, the two are completely different fights, but the huge scale of the Coalition army arc was just massive.

Right now I'm at the "Seikyou"(really Ryofui's) rebellion. Heki is sieging the city right now.

Aye, just don't forget Mougu dying. In the midst of all the wars and rebellions and political backstabbing it can be so easy to forget the most fundamental greatness of this series.

The heart at the core of it. As badass as these characters are the series would be hollow and empty if their words, their lives, or their deaths carried any less weight than they do. These are great times filled with great men and even a man like Mougu who is seen as being an "exceedingly mediocre general" carries with him wisdom that so many people both now and throughout history sorely lack.

Exactly, each character contributes in their own small way, whether it's on the battlefield or on the political scheme, there are no filler characters. Part of that is due to how badass they were in real life, but a huge part of it is from the writing and art. Since the beginning it's been top notch and hasn't let me down.

Jesus Christ, I get a new favorite character every goddamn chapter.

Fave character of the hour is Choutou. The ************ was poisoned badly and even then he kicked Seikai's ass.

Seikyou is out.

Oooooooooooohh, dis gon be gud.

Heh, heh, heh. Seikyou ain't the same whiny little prick he was as a kid. This Seikyou kicks all kinds of ass.

And yeah, Choutou is a ******* badass. Like I said, all of Qin's generals are ******* monsters. I'm surprised you didn't comment on Duke Hyou stealing Chu's thunder, easily one of his highlights as a character.

Nah dude, Duke Hyou is a badass, but he wasn't severely poisoned when he went after them. Choutou went out with some guy he never trusted fully, kicked the armies ass and then split Seikai's head in half.

Also, Moubou just killed Kanmei, that was an awesome fight too.

Unimaginable really does this **** justice. Riboku is a ******* monster who specialises in overwhelming an enemy and then exploiting the chinks in their armour when they're too busy focussing elsewhere. It's just magnificent.

Yeah man, Riboku is far worse than Ryo.

This series just keeps upping the ante, eh?

Honestly, the ante doesn't get upped, the focus just shifts. If you keep doing the same thing over and over again you're gonna get stuck in spectacle creep where things just have to get bigger and bigger, however Kingdom deals with that in a magnificent manner.

You see, Shin's strength improves as the series goes on but it's not his strength that matters, rather it is the strength of the Hi Shin unit. The Unit's strength grows but by this point it's still dwarfed by the might of the other generals. It's clear that his unit on its own would be completely overwhelmed. This makes everything that goes on 'around' the Hi Shin unit more interesting and important.

However, more than that is how the series deals with 'Strength'. Most shounen series equate strength with one's own physical might. Goku wins because he's strong. Naruto wins because he's strong. Etc.

However, in Kingdom the only character that can just wade through the battlefield on his own is Houken. Even Ouki's might needs to be backed up by hundreds of thousands of troops. Because of this the arcs are FILLED with factors that can be tweaked and changed. The number of troops on either side. The terrain. The effective skill of each army/unit. You get the idea. Because of this, even though the next arc isn't as big as the Coalition Invasion it feels just as meaningful because the factors have been made to differ in important ways to make the whole thing feel just as important.

Anyway, just you wait until Karin gets to show her stuff. She puts Kanmei to shame.

Yeah i just got past where she lost the battle for the wall. I feel like she's not done yet though.

The focus might just keep shifting, but it's been doing nothing but creating bigger battles each day, so it sorta is upping the ante. I dunno whether they keep it up after this, but so far they've been making it more magnificent each battle.

YOOOOOOOOOOOO
I knew he would kill Rinko, but still that fight was epic as **** . After not mentioning Hyou for a while, it felt good to see that bastard again.

Yup, it kicks 100 different kinds of ass.

Honestly there are very few series that have this same factor of satisfaction in their conflict resolution. Even in AoT I never really felt as satisfied as I did watching Shin impale Rinko.

That battle is magnificent and really goes to show just what kind of a time-period we're talking about here. Both Shin and Rinko are essentially twins of each-other (though Rinko is older). They're both young wards that idolise titans of the past and seek to excel with their absurd level of martial skill.

Shin might have lucked out by being able to collaborate with Ouhon and Mouten in order to bring Rinko down to one blade but even that is really down to Shin's own capacities, being that without the Hi Shin unit that offensive would probably not have come together between three 1000-man-units at all.

But yeah, ultimately it was an amazing conflict between the pair.

The reason for that is that there's still yet to be a real "conclusion" for any fights in AoT. Any loss on the Survey Corps part, and boom, all the progress they made was for nothing. You never feel truly accomplished since even after a victory, there's still a giant looming behind you that will not leave until either humanity is dead or the titans are. In Kingdom, there's a set progression of victories and losses that assures you when something of importance is won or lost. There's none of that in AoT.

Back to the battle, I agree, this is one of the best conflict resolutions I've seen in a while. I normally dislike it if it's clear that the MC will win(hence why I like AoT. Eren most likely won't die any time soon, but there is a serious possibility of failure for his team at any given time), but Kingdom does it in a way that makes you wonder just HOW Shin will win. I like that, it's something new.

Atop that there's also the fact that the Ouki arc heavily establishes the most important point of the series, namely that you can survive losing and that even minor victories don't mean **** if you lose the war. It also establishes that a lot of characters you'll come to like are ultimately expendable and the series can and will drop them if it comes to it.

So some characters might have plot armour, but most don't and even if they don't die they can still lose and lose hard. Still, someone'll come along in the next arc that will make it much harder for the Hi Shin unit to lose... you'll understand when it happens.

For real dude, thank you so much for showing me this **** . This one of the best series I've heard of in the past few years. I do like AoT and Avatar(TLA and LOK) more, but this is definitely top 5, if not top 3.

Das coo, brah, das coo.

Good **** deserves readers and readers deserve good **** .

So Shin just groped Ten...

Like... the **** ? It's like Eren's obliviousness to Mikasa's advances all over again.

Yeah, only this doesn't become a trend. The humour between Shin not understanding Kyoukai's and Ten's genders has been there in the past but with the last hidden lady revealed there's no longer a need for that kind of humour, so I think it's nice that the joke went out with a bang.

But yeah, that aside ****** cool and Ten adds some much-needed brain-power to the Hi Shin unit. Even with Kyoukai they were really getting by on common sense alone but Ten really ends up bringing a lot to the table and is clearly instrumental in keeping all of Shin's men together on the same page. She is often seen ordering the troops and a nice touch is how often she ends up in the middle of the fray keeping order in the chaos.

I think that's one of the first overtly sexual jokes in the series, maybe one or 2 more. Yeah I got the feeling she'd be majorly important. I'm still disappointed that Shin has no strategic skill whatsoever, but he's a kid and hopefully will get some and won't use Ten as a crutch(don't tell me if he does or not, I wanna find out myself).

I'm not saying if he will or he won't because frankly even at this point in time I'm not really all too sure as to the efficacy of Shin's tactics but I'll say this much, during this arc you'll see that Shin has something that is absolutely invaluable with regards to the battlefield.

He's already pretty damn valuable, gonna be interesting to see what else he brings.

Also Hou Ken is coming back. **** . YES.

What chapter are you on?

251, Ten is talking about how Yan is all mysterious n **** . Also Houken cut down some trees and killed a tiger.

Ah **** , then you don't know how big a badass Gekishin is yet!

Damn... you're in for a wild ride.

That ***** dead.

And now you know how big a badass he is.

0.

He is 0 badass.

I hope you enjoyed that pithy misdirection. Also, because I'm listening to it atm, here is Daft Punk's Aerodynamic played on Floppy Disk Drives:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=2lq34Ob7Gsg

I was sorta hoping that was some sorta body double and he actually ends up being a badass, but nope.

Ah well, enjoy the sounds of Aesop Rock's Cat Food: www.youtube.com/watch?v=cWZ2ywhB4xg

Gekishin's death is actually an incredibly crucial event to a degree that you probably can not possibly fathom at the moment and I'm just smiling waiting for what is inevitably to come.

Heh, heh, heh, heh!

Yeah, I'm at the part where he and Houken's forces are fighting

True that.

I'm fine with a scene just being for show, if that's what the scene's intent is. It's clear that was just meant to be visual porn, as a lot of AoT is.

And trust me, I know how over the top AOT is. Remember when Pixis was trying to grab everyone's attention? Or whenever Erwin shouts "FORWARD" for no goddamn reason? But I'm willing to suspend my disbelief because of the titans. I mean, they're giant naked people with no genitals, who can regenerate limbs and weigh almost nothing. If that's allowed, I'm willing to overlook Levi's sonic the hedgehog moment. Also, AoT is meant to be fiction. When Kingdom presents itself as a story about real people, it's kinda jarring to have people 9 feet tall who can cut through 10 people with one hand. I suspend my disbelief much easier than most people, but even that I found a bit ridiculous.

When it comes to the mangas, kingdom> AoT. But the AoT anime blows Kingdom's right out of the ******* water.

I'm not saying the AoT anime isn't good, just that I'm clearly not it's target audience. But for the titan scenes I find nothing of value to me in the series. I dislike the art style for one thing, I dislike it's use of colour for another, but even if those weren't a factor I still wouldn't like those scenes I mentioned. I just can't get into a world where people behaving like that is a consistent theme.

The Titans and exaggerated violence I'm cool with, since ****** fantasy and all. Similarly I'm cool with the devastating awesomeness of the violence in Kingdom because I know it's presenting reality through a lens that mirrors the way ancient oriental tales were told, what with the focus on gods, mysticism, spirituality, and men that are stronger than others because they're just that ******* cool.

I'm just saying, Kingdom is consistent.
AoT is consistent. I just dislike the things that are consistent in AoT. They're geared to an audience that, for the most part, I do not belong to.

My taste in animation style leans much more heavily towards that of Eureka Seven:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=935szsi41Vo

The linework is sharper, the colours are more vibrant, the characters faces are better proportioned, you get the idea. Not that E7 is the only style I like (I mean, I like One Piece and One Piece has the most absurdly eclectic art-style I've ever seen in a series) but it is an example of a series that leans more on my preferences.

Understandable, I don't think I fit the target audience of One Piece either. I've tried it, I want to like it, but there's just so much wrong with it that I can't. I ******* love the art style, all the characters look well designed, and the plot is interesting, but the execution of it all falls so short that it feels pointless. But hey, we all have our own tastes and I can see why people enjoy it.

And yeah, Kanki is ****** up dude. Now I know what you were talking about with the guy shoving poles up the enemies asses. Just passed the part where he kills the old strategist dude(I really can't keep up with all these names, they're so damn similar).

Pour example:

One Piece is another series that really works best as a manga. It's long enough as it is but the filler just exacerbates things and the humour and fighting are both designed to work in a still format so they don't translate out as well to anime.

Zoro uses three swords. He holds a sword in his mouth... it looks absurdly cool in the manga but absurdly dumb in the anime.

And don't worry about the names. You remember the people you're meant to remember by their faces. Kingdom is one of the few series where you never forget who is who. Their names might slip your mind but their faces are each drawn so distinctly that you remember the people you're expected to remember. It also helpfully reminds you of people who look different to how they normally do, are not in the context they're normally in, or who you've not seen in a while. The only other series that does this is One Piece and it does it because it has such an absurd art-style that each character can have a distinct physicality, outfit, and manner about them, whereas Kingdom has a far less plastic style but still gets the most out of it.

And you'd have even more trouble with the names if they were in their original Chinese format. The manga thankfully changes them into kanji which makes the names somewhat easier to remember if you're familiar with how Japanese names work and are pronounced.

Yeah I cringed more at the humor than I did laugh at it. It might be better as a manga, but I barely have enough time to keep up with Kingdom, AoT, and school, so I'll wait for one of those to finish before starting OP.

Exactly, you show me a character of any importance, and I'll be able to tell you what they did, but I won't be able to remember their name. And I know next to nothing about kanji so I have a hard time anyways.

I'd suggest catching up to Kingdom first then giving One Piece a go.

And I assumed that kanji thing would be part of the issue for you. I read a lot of manga so I see a lot of these names so I can easily follow who is who by names alone. But it's an acquired skill, much like being able to watch subtitled anime.

I only recently started watching anime/reading mangas. I still dislike a lot of anime(only anime I've really enjoyed was AoT, I like the AoT and Kingdom mangas) so I'm a bit new. I dunno whether I'll become a full fledged anime fan or just stick to these two.

I only watch the subbed animes because a lot of dubbed shows have ****** voice acting and the dialogue is terrible as well.

That's part of the reason most people who watched subbed anime watch it subbed. Another reason is because they are written to be read out in the Japanese language which has different grammatical mannerisms to English so humour and speeches and so on don't come across as well in English as they do in Japanese.

As for further reading... yeah, you're totally gonna read more. I mean, dude, who the **** are you kidding? You're hooked on Kingdom and AoT. They're great stuff, amongst the top-tier stuff, but sooner or later when you're up to date with them you're gonna find yourself browsing about for a new story to check out, etc.

It might be the ghibli films:
(Pictured - Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind)

I've heard a lot about Studio Ghibli, and I vaguely remember watching Ponyo when I was a little kid. Heard One Punch man was pretty funny, may have to check that out too. I'll probably stick to mangas, maybe a few animes, I just like the format of manga a lot more. A lot more of the author's intention is displayed than when it's skewed into anime format.

And yeah, I'm hooked. After reading over 200 chapters of kingdom, and suffering through each agonizing month-long wait between every AoT chapter since 50, I am not giving up until the stories are done, dammit.

Not all anime are adapted from manga and, truth be told, the best are made for screen. The one I mentioned, Eureka Seven, is possibly the best anime series I've ever seen. It is just... an experience.

As for movies though nobody beats Ghibli, or more accurately Hayao Miyazaki. Nothing that man ever directed was anything other than a work of magnificence. Seriously, not many people in the history of the world have the string of artistic beauty that exists in the wake of the now sadly retired Hayao Miyazaki.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=aYAQ6ZWiZS4

Seriously... check his movies out. They're other-worldly. Not everything Ghibli made was his but Ghibli's best were all his own. Seriously, nobody in the history of film has ever captured flight as magically as Miyazaki and it is clear that he adores aeroplanes and flight and flying because it appears in some description in most of his movies. Wether it be the titanic sci-fi airships in Nausicaa or Kiki's Delivery Service being about a young witch on a broomstick or Porco Rosso, a film about sea-plane pirates that actually features a Ghibli engine, the make of engine Studio Ghibli is named after, to his final film which is about one of the men who designed the planes that flew for Japan during the second world war... this ******* guy, man... Miyazaki is the hero of many creators around the world, not just in the anime community.

Yeah I know, but judging by what I saw from the opening, it seemed not my thing. I've never been a fan of the mecha genre(I know that AoT is basically a mecha with flesh monsters instead of robots, but I like it for the terror the titans inflict and the intricate political mind games everyone plays with each other). Plus, the animation seemed... I dunno, just sorta off. Not my style, you know?

I had heard the name Hayao Miyazaki, and I knew he made movies that a ton of people love, and I know he said that the anime industry nowadays sucks(lol). I've always meant to check out his movies, but I never remember when I've got nothing to do.

So far as Eureka Seven goes suit yourself I suppose. Honestly the Mecha are more a means to an end than actually the point of the series. The heart of the series focusses around the two main characters and their relationship and holy **** man the story they go on together just hits me right in the heart. It was the only anime I've ever watched that I had tangible withdrawal symptoms after I had finished binging it.

And yeah, Miyazaki's right to be honest. These days the anime industry is a shadow of it's former self and is heavily representative of a massive problem that is plaguing Japan at the moment. In Japan lots of people just aren't having kids, or even marrying, or even having sex. Many are over-worked and push themselves to perfection for the sake of their careers. Many others are just so high-maintennance that they're not worth bothering with... this leaves a lot of people clutching for companionship and, well... that's where the anime come in.

Anime as a genre has always pandered to its audience with sexuality, often to perverse extremes, but recently it has become something really sick and twisted. It is more creatively bankrupt than ever and most series exist to sell merchandise and to get people hooked on having 'waifus', replacing the part of somebody that would have been made complete through a companion or through healthy social interaction.

Dating simulators are another big problem to the point where people are allowed to marry them and go on honeymoons with their computer girlfriends.

Pop groups called 'Idol Groups' have cropped up and the girls are often very young and the idea is for the groups to appeal to those men. These idols are half-singer half-model and often take pictures or even go on paid dates. They're sort of like poledancers/prostitutes without the sleaze... and yet somehow far, far creepier. Even anime has caught onto this trend and has anime shows about groups of anime idols, most of them being underage loli characters.

Google any of the things I've mentioned if you want to know more, Japan is in a terrifying state at the moment and it is going to devastate their economy. In the next 50 years Japan's population is set to drop by 1/3 and over half the population remaining will be over 50. It's a really terrifying state of affairs.

That's not to say there aren't still good anime coming out, just that the creative magnificence that is behind Miyazaki's work just doesn't exist in most works of anime these days. People don't care about it. They want sexual gratification through hentai or social gratification through living vicariously through idols or anime or simulators.

Miyazaki is a man whose works laid much of the bedrock for that industry... I really feel sorry for him and for what has become of what was once his life and dream, and of the country that he loves.

And don't think this is just a Japan thing. Similar things are occurring in many nations all around the world as women become more and more business minded and people in general want children less. They're expensive and time-consuming and no longer really necessary for happiness and hold you back in your life if your life's goals are more devoted.

The problem probably won't be at the same scale over the rest of the world as it is in Japan, as part of the problem comes from the culture that is unique to Japan, but ****** really scary, and the worst part about it is there's no real way to deal with it as a government. I mean... how do you deal with people 'choosing' not to marry or have kids because they've got better things to do? Take all of the unmotivated or unexceptional people and make them have kids? Spermjack the smartest men and steal eggs from the smartest women?

The implications of Japan's situation are very, very scary and do not bode well for their economy, let alone their country.

Yeah, part of the reason I despised anime so long was for the god awful fans and all the ****** sex jokes and themes, such as lolis. Like seriously, that's just pedophilia, it doesn't matter if it's a thousand year old spirit in a little girls body, you still have the desire to **** a little girls body, that's ******* pedophilia. And even when the girls are of age, the jokes about sex are just dull and unfunny to anyone over 13. I do realize anime is a huge genre, with lots of subgenres and this does not apply to all of them, but there is a grossly large amount of them.

I've never really been into the Japanese history(I prefer the Roman Empire or the Aztecs), so I've never really paid attention to their current state. In AP Environmental class, we learned about the development of countries, and Japan is post development, which means it will be going through a population loss, similar to Germany and other successful countries. If it is like those countries, the populations will fluctuate between losses and gains, but this is cultural, which makes it different.

It might be pedophillia but, like all fetishes, there's nothing that can be done about it. Once you've got it you've got it. I don't really like that it's a thing but it's better, if they have those urges, that they express them on something they can't hurt... like a drawing. You can't screw up a drawing's future or take a drawing away from it's family. It's sort of the lesser of two evils so far as I see it.

Apparently most pedophiles don't actually want to screw kids, it's just that sort of thing sexually arouses them (sort of like how most furries don't actually want to **** animals). I don't really get it but hey, I've been raised in a culture that treats sex as something deviant no matter how it's done so I suppose it's natural for me to be kinda creeped out at these things. Still, I don't feel it's a problem so long as nobody's being hurt.

However, that doesn't mean I want to see little girls sexualised in my viewing material... just... *shudder* no thank you. Keep that **** away from me. And yeah, the jokes in a lot of series are just... *sigh* no thank you. Apparently in Japanese culture they prefer more punchy humour to composed wit, which I can't really blame them for, but I don't have to like it... well, some of it's kinda cool:

www.youtube.com/watch?v=uQ4zT7h8AiU

As for developed/developing countries yes and no. Yes this is cultural but it's also economic. It is more expensive to raise children in Japan than it has ever been before and part of the problem is the acknowledgement of the civilisation as being developed as childbirth is not seen as being as important anymore. It is mostly cultural but it's hard to find sweeping cultural change that isn't at least partly affected by the nature of the culture's economy.

If you're into history though you should check out Crash Course: World History on youtube. The host is an award-winning scientist and the series is pretty good overall and it has a great sense of humour:

www.youtube.com/watch?v=oPf27gAup9U

Also, Japanese history:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=hDsdkoln59A

Seriously, youtube makes learning 10,000 times more entertaining than education at school because shocking production values are good for getting people engaged.

I agree, I would much rather have them want to **** a drawing than a real child, but like you said, keep that **** away from me. I'd be fine with sex jokes and stuff, but it has to be clever, like Futurama does it. That show can express so much in just a half hour that it just makes me angry they cancelled it and that Matt is running the Simpsons into the ground. But hey, if that's what makes the Japanese happy, more power to em, I guess.

Eh, I've had enough Futurama and I'm actually fine with the Simpsons continuing. I feel Futurama has already reached the pinnacle of what they can accomplish comedically and narratively and going any further would just not live up to the hype.

As for the Simpsons I've never really found the Simpsons to be funny, rather I've just liked the fact that they're around. They're a nice form of constancy in the world and honestly I can't say I have ever had very high expectations of the programme.

Anyway, where are you with Kingdom?

I feel like it could've gone one for a while longer, and the creators said they'd be happy to start up again. So maybe not super long, but it definitely had another season or 2 left before it would go downhill. I've never really watched the Simpsons, but whenever I have, I find myself only laughing a few times, even at the "pinnacle" of their time.

I'm at 227, Shin and Rinko are fighting again, and Mougou and Renpa are about to battle.

It might be the hilariously awesome Onepunch Man.

It might be the badass Vinland Saga.

It might be the God-Tier work by Studio Bones.

(Eureka Seven, Fullmetal Alchemist, Gosick, etc...)

Even the soundtracks to their series are just mind-blowing:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=ckOlIquCrCA

Or maybe just the cutest ******* thing ever invented, K-On.

Don't kid yourself, bro. You're already hooked and you know this **** is GOOD.

(Most of it does belong in the trash though, like most movies, and books, etc.)

Also, I just got to this scene. DAAAAAAMN

************* Kanki, man. The guy is a ******* monster. He is so good at being bad that the good guys had to employ him to do bad stuff for them because he's so ******* good at it.

This ****** ...

GOD ******* DAMMIT, OUKI DIES RIGHT AFTER I START TO LIKE HIM.

**** THIS **** , I'M OUT.

for real though, that was a ******* epic fight. That dude who shot Ouki is a ******* dick.

Damn ******* straight.

Oh yeah... and Tou also turned out to be a ******* monster, no? That's the kind of guy Ouki was, even his brown-nosing comic-relif sidekick was an obscenely powerful monster of a warrior that defies conventional logic. When you started dissing Tou all I was thinking was, "If you think Ouki's right-hand-man would be the second strongest person in his army then you're seriously underestimating the Monstrous Bird of Qin."

This is the calibre of characters in this series. That is how astonishingly awesome Kingdom is. Ouki is an obscenely powerful monster with an army of inhumanly strong warriors and he is STILL bested by Riboku... oh, and if you kept reading after that the next time Riboku shows up is just as impactful as his first appearance in the series. You'll understand sooner or later.

Been waiting to point that out to you. Oh, and... remember that Glaive Ouki gifted to Shin?

I never doubted Tou could be a badass, but we never saw him fight until then. So yeah it was a breath of fresh air to see him being so awesome.

I'm past the part where Riboku and Ryo have made their alliance, and past when Ryo is having the affair with the queen mother. I'm on 200 now, and the Hi Shin Unit is fighting for points against the other 300 men units.

Also, get Kyou Kai some lemonade, cuz that bitch is thirsting for Shin HARD.

Wasn't the Riboku vs Ryo fight just the most ******* mind-blowing **** ever?! HOLY **** THIS SERIES KNOWS TENSION! SO MANY GREAT MOMENTS IN THOSE CHAPTERS!

"I believe I shall have you die here after all."

"Rejected."

"What would you say to throwing in a city as a bonus?"

This ****** is a politician and he is toying with the life of possibly the most deadly person in the series! If Ouki won the award for ' **** Eating Grins' Ryo came in a close and bitter second place!

Yeah man, I can't tell if Ryo gives no ***** whatsoever, or gives so many that it seems like he gives none. I dunno, I think Ryo wins the *********** grin ahead of Ouki, since Ouki actually was pretty cool.


Renpa seems badass, but I get the feeling he's just a pawn for someone way higher up the ladder.

...okay I was willing to let the remarks about Tou go since it'd get royally paid off later down the line but dude you do NOT talk **** about Renpa.

Renpa is Ouki-level ***************************************************************** badass that doesn't need to screw every woman he meets because they're already passed out from the multiple orgasms and immaculate conceptions they suffer whenever they see his glorious ******* face.

tl;dr... RENPA AIN'T NOBODY'S PAWN! RENPA IS THE KING IF THE KING COULD MOVE LIKE THE QUEEN AND HAD A DICK THE SIZE OF CANTERBURY CATHEDRAL!

Aight ***** , take it down a notch. Hahaha just making guesses, you're the one who read the full thing.

Speaking of the king, Sei's plan of staying in the background might be working a bit too well. The author sorta just says "Okay yeah here's Sei doing things OH HEY LOOK SHIN IS BEING A BADASS IDIOT AND KYOUKAI WANTS HIS DIIIIIICK, SEI IS SO COOOOOOL."

I know he'll come back, but for now he's kinda out of the picture.

Well, the thing with politics is that it's a different kind of battlefield. Nothing happens until every member of your army agrees to fight for you and they can change their minds on a whim and join the opposing side and be welcomed with open arms. It's a very fickle way of making war. After the Wei war **** really starts coming to the front with the political angle but until that point it's mostly both sides playing their cards close to their chests and trying to build up enough power to avoid a civil war or to take out the other with 0 accountability.

And FYI Sei really is sooooo cool. I'm just saying... I'd have that ******* babies if he wanted me to. Hell, I'd have them even if he didn't.

But yeah, the series does really start to heat up around this point. Ouki's death sort of marks the end of one era and the beginning of the next, both in the style of series that Kingdom is and in the world itself because even though the arc after the Wei war doesn't have Ouki or Renpa in it it still ends up being an inconceivably awesome ordeal.

Yeah I get they're just building themselves up at this point, which is why they had the whole "Sei and his mom" thing. And also the affair between his mom and Ryo is important too, I feel like they'll try to stop Ryo with that info, but I doubt it will work.

It just feels unbalanced y'know? In AoT, they switch back and forth from the action and the politics, in Kingdom, it just a chapter or two and then back to Shin fighting and strategizing.


Regardless, I can't wait to see where this goes. I especially like that assassin guy who killed all those 1000 man commanders without even flinching, he's a badass(can't remember his name atm though).

1) Rinko. That badass mofukka's name is Rinko.
2) Kingdom is really held back in that regard by the real-life time-scale of these events. This series is based loosely on real-life events and it can't really deviate from them. In reality these political games were played over a long period of time with not much happening so that's sadly the way it's gotta be. You can't really manufacture new drama since it'll ultimately go nowhere since the big points of the story are already pre-decided. But suffice it to say the little titbits we've been getting this far become much, much larger and in-depth during and after the next arc.

Rinko, yes, that ************ .

I wasn't sure if it was mostly rooted in reality or not. I knew that Sei was a real person, but not about Ouki, Shin, Ryo and the rest. That makes sense, and I'm glad, because I hate when people come up with pointless filler that does nothing.

Aye. I'm not gonna lie... I don't actually look at the truth about this era of history primarily because I don't want any clues as to what's gonna happen in the story, so just understanding that it's based loosely on real events is enough for me. I know Ouki is based on Wang Yi and Sei's based on the real king too but... eh, I don't need to know more than that.

Yeah, maybe I'll look more into the story after the series is over, but for now I don't wanna spoil anything.

Funny thing, I actually saw a spoiler for Ouki's death on the wiki just a few pages before he was stabbed.

Never go to the Wikis of series you're not up to date with.

Seriously. Never a good idea. You've probably already realised this but it bears repeating.

Another thing that bears repeating is how ***** this guy is at drawing horses. Did you spot this? Did you spot this glorious image of Ouki in his battle against Houken? Because my god it's beautiful... I don't even want the horses to be drawn better this is like a mole on the face of your GF that you used to hate but now you've grown to love it.

Yeah, dumb move on my part, I just wanted to see what Ouki looked like in the anime(he looks dumb, like everyone else. In the manga, he's a commanding presence, b ut in the anime he just looks like some dud with big lips).

And yeah we had talked about that, and I did notice a lot of the horses look very ****** hahaha, didn't notice that one though.

This is the benefit of a manga over an anime. It is very hard to make a character look like an utter badass in moving pictures. Look at that picture of Renpa again and imagine what it would look like moving. It's not got the same drama to it. It's like a snapshot of the most epic part of an epic moment.

Now, this doesn't mean manga > anime, but it is just one of many other reasons as to why Kingdom works best as a manga.

I feel like it could have been a good anime, or even just a decent one, but all the ****** CGI and all ruined it. I only watched like 1/3 of an episode, but I couldn't stand it. Whereas the Attack on Titan manga used to be very poorly drawn and is better now, but it's nothing compared to how beautiful the anime looks. Like, look at this **** , you could never do that as effectively in a manga. In Kingdom though, the manga definitely works out better.

Four fun things about what you just said.

1) Look at that scene again. The background is CGI and there is only one moving hand-drawn image. Kingdom on the other hand has stationary hand-drawn backgrounds and hundreds of moving CGI constructs for the people. The sheer scale of Kingdom does not lend itself well to the hand-drawn medium and even in the second season (that skips the assassination arc entirely which is really ******* heinous in my opinion) that is focussed around the Renpa conflict has the balance between CGI and animation down better, but even then it doesn't quite capture the majesty of Kingdom even in the hand-drawn sections.

2) AoT is directed by the same guy who directed Death Note and Highschool of the Dead. This is the guy who made eating crisps and writing in a notepad the coolest ******* things imaginable. Not an excuse or a derision to Kingdom, just a fun fact.

3) Really look at that scene again... it's retarded. Some of the stuff in AoT's anime is just obscenely retarded. The scene when Armin is yelling to the guys to not shoot Eren? Yeah, that is the most astonishingly over-the-top scene I've ever seen. AoT's anime has no grasp of subtlety to the point where even the moments that are meant to be loud and dramatic are overly loud and overly dramatic.

That scene there with the 3D Manoeuvre gear is just... well it's cool and all but it's all flash and no substance. Compare this to Kingdom where you get more engagement out of two characters (Riboku and Ryo) standing in a room talking and not even that, it's just pictures of them and written words. Meanwhile AoT's anime is filled with these biiiig flashy 3D Manoeuvre gear shots that just kill the tension for me. I mean, if someone has those kinds of reactions and can move at those kinds of speeds why are titans even problems for them?

I mean, look at the **** Levy can do in the anime. He sonic the hedgehogs his way up a titan's arm... that **** kills my suspension of disbelief and look at Kingdom... I am willing to suspend my disbelief far enough to believe that the men in Kingdom really are as ******* enormous as they are and that Shin's 100 men can force their way through to and then kill Fuuki in their first outing as a 100 man group, because that's the world the story sells to me.

AoT's world is sold to me as a grim one where **** is really ******* hard and the Titans are mind-blowingly hard to kill... you get the idea.

4) I might dis the 3D gear but holy **** the titan scenes are orgasmic. This director's style is to hone in on exactly why the people who like a series like a series and express it to it's fullest extent. For me it is definitely the titans and my ******* god this guy OWNS the Titans!

Now I'm ******* pumped to read about that part.

Don't worry, give it time... oh, and... if you're at the 200 mark you're about to run into something quite special indeed. The only other character in the series thus-far who could be said to be on-par with Ouki and Riboku.

Have fun with that.

I kinda like that, it's interesting that they have different levels of death, not just " ******* EVERYONE DIES"

That's sort-of my big issue with Game of Thrones. In that series pretty much everyone dies like a dog, because in that series all of the people are dogs. There are no heroes, it's a very realistic take on fantasy in that sense. However, I don't go in for that kind of fantasy often. I like heroics.

Well I don't like how in GoT almost anyone evil lives and nearly everyone good dies. Sure, being selfish can benefit you, but not everyone evil will live and vice versa.

How far in are you?

Eh, AoT takes a very grey look at things. The only really 'evil' people are the politicians and judging from what we saw I think death would have been a kindness compared to what they're going through.

Well even they think they're doing the best for humanity. AoT is all about how everyone has differing opinions and how they can each have unintended effects. Erwin had a great idea of capturing the female titan, but that led to the original Levi Squad dying. Hell, even the titans aren't necessarily evil, considering it's likely they're just humans who were transformed. Maybe the Ape Titan is evil, but we don't know.

I was at work for a while, so I'm still on 150. Watching How to Train your Dragon 2 now, so I'll read more in a bit.

Tch, with the way this series is going I'm not convinced the titans are even evil at all. Transformed humans, sure, but the ones responsible... I guess they've gotta be ******* detestable if the series is gonna have a satisfying conclusion but I'd not be shocked to see something less traditional.

And I'm up to 163... boy are you in for some treats in the next 13 chapters.

And yes, HTTYD 2 is an amazing movie but **** me I detest some of that dialogue. I really hate when films are ashamed of themselves. HTTYD 2 is a far more serious take at worldbuilding than the first film. It really tries to embrace the nature of fantasy and holy ******* **** if you ask me it epitomises fantasy better than literally every other fantasy I've ever seen and is easily my favourite fantasy movie because of that.

But jesus christ the child characters. No, not even them, just Snotlout. Holy **** it feels like so much of these kid's dialogue is written to be "cool" and I can't ******* stand it. Sometimes a bit of reservation and silence makes the scene. And the exposition in the first third of the film is as ham-fisted as Stoic's hands wrapped in pigs.

Other than that the film is a fantastic fantasy story with a heart stronger and more powerful than almost every other film I've seen in my life. I mean... holy **** these past few years must have been a real pain for me because you have no idea how refreshing it is to have a scene where two people in love ACT LIKE THEY'RE IN LOVE!

No tongue-in-cheek "we're too cool for this" banter like with Tony Stark and Pepper Potts, no mournful staring like Aragorn and Arewyn, no absurd rom-com conveniences, just two people to whom the other's presence just lights up the world. ******* christ, man... why is it the dreamwork's film about teenagers riding dragons to fight vikings that manages to properly convey the concept of love and not ANYTHING ELSE I CAN REMEMBER SEEING!

*sigh* I like that movie so much it is just frustrating seeing films that fall short of it's standards.

Nah the titans definitely aren't evil. In one of the chapters, we see Connie's mom is a titan and is still conscious. We can assume the ape titan is the one responsible for this, but we don't know who he is. Spoilers ahead: I thought he was Grisha Jaeger, but now he's... well y'know. Then I thought it might be Rod Reiss, but he's to busy being a terrible father. Now I just think he's someone we haven't met.

It was an alright movie but yeah, the kids were ******* annoying. A lot of the dialogue seemed like it belonged in an early 2000's movie where adults still weren't sure if kids were over the 90's yet. But unlike you, I couldn't stand the interactions between Astrid and Hiccup, good god those two are forced They're realistic sure, but it was still boring when they were talking for a long-ass time in the beginning. . But the scene where Stoic dies actually surprised me. Not as sad as a lot of other movie deaths, but surprising and still a bit sad.

... Stoic and Valka. Not the strangely american viking kids, Stoic and Valka. No other movie gets 'love' right in my books. They come close and many stories convince me that their characters are 'in love' but nothing else has conveyed the idea of love as well as the few short scenes Stoic shares with Valka.

As for AoT... I want Historia to eat the **** out of Eren. It seems to me that's what they're building up, what with another Ackerman showing up for Mikasa to possibly head off with when whatever happens that stops her from absolutely demolishing Historia happens.

Well, it's either that or Historia dies and the status-quo of the three main characters is restored and **** goes back to some semblance of normalcy... or worse still she survives or some crap like that.

Ohh yeah, they had a nice relationship. Aaand then he dies. Now that I think about it, they were very realistic, and weren't boring like the MC and his forced relationship with the other MC.

Before Chapter 65, I was on board with you, I wanted Eren to finally die so they could make some ******* progress without his dumb ass. But now that he realizes how he ****** up so much, and would willingly give up his dream and his life for humanity, I'm not so sure. I didn't hate him because he's stupid, a lot of people in the show are. I hated him because, unlike every other character, he was neither interesting nor was he making any progress towards becoming interesting. Now that he realizes just how many people have died because of him, I hope he starts to change and become worthy of being the main character of such a great series.

Either that, or he dies and Jean becomes the MC and gets to finally **** Mikasa by the way I'm not Jean .

The problem is it's too little too late with Eren. He possesses no skills of repute nor any personality traits of worth nor even a good backstory. I mean, **** happens to him but a good backstory's only good if it does things to the character like how Mikasa's raging ladyboner comes from her backstory with Eren. The only thing Eren's backstory gave him was a hatred of the titans... yeah, him and every other human in the series.

**** him. Feed him to Queen Titan.

And historia needs to snap the **** out of whatever she's doing, Reiss is clearly manipulating her.

She needs to chew on Eren's face a little bit first. Y'know... for science.

I thought the same thing about Korra in Legend of Korra. For the first season, and half of the second, she's nothing but an intolerable bitch who I thought could never redeem herself. But then, something happens to her(not gonna say what in case you haven't seen it. I highly recommend it, the third season is even more epic than season 1 of AoT, and it only has around 13 episodes) and her personality completely changes. She goes from a hotheaded cunt with no self control to a capable avatar who is willing to sacrifice herself for the sake of the world. I'm hoping this moment will do the same to Eren, so he finally chills the **** out and becomes a capable titan shifter.

Then again, I could be completely off and he stays the same. In that case, let Historia mangle that ****** , only one who'll care is Mikasa, and she'll get over it soon enough.

Eh? I really like Korra for all but the first half of the second season. She's headstrong and naive and acts like someone her age would act. Unlike Eren who really only has the one personality trait of hating titans Korra was constructed from the ground up to have more depth.

Uh... Mikasa will go ******* insane and try to kill everything that moves... which would be beneficial to the story as she'd make a neat villain. Whichever way the story goes it has promise.

She was still kinda bitchy in S1, remember what she did to Bolin and Mako? She did redeem herself though, until the second season where she went full bitch mode again(and then lost her memory and redeemed herself). And she does learn, much like anyone would, which is why I think it's important she acted like a bitch(just because it's realistic doesn't mean she wasn't bitchy)

That's an interesting point, I never thought about if Mikasa was a villain. Like she goes off on her own and tries to kill anyone nearby, like a berserker mode.

I just finished the arc where Shin takes down Fuuki.

Only time my heart was beating that fast while reading something was when (AoT spoilers ahead, be warned) Eren was fighting the Armored Titan and then had to escape his grasp.

I knew Shin wouldn't die, and they would still win, but just the way they handled the charge, 100 men vs. 10,000, that's pretty ******* epic.

Yup. This is where Kingdom excels. I told you about how it manages tension better than any other series I've come across and now you see what I mean.

Let's just hope nothing happens during the night...

Also Tou's entire point of existence right now is simply to provide exposition on what going on. Seriously, someone needs to shove Moubu's staff down his throat.

I also like how there's actual military strategy involved. AoT had a bit, but it's mostly with Erwin and Pixis, and they sadly don't appear enough(I'm gonna compare the two because they're the only manga series that I've read, I have yet to start One Piece's). I don't even want to join the military or have any militaristic career, but I ******* love strategy and stuff.

Also **** you, now I have to keep reading to see what happens.

You have no ******* idea how great the strategy-porn in Kingdom gets, bro. I have wet dreams about the troop-movements in this series and each general has their own style. Ouki is a ******* master at the game, hence how he relies on what most people would consider to be luck but what to him is actually well calculated estimation. He took a 2-1 conflict and turned it into a huge success, granted casualties happened but considering the numbers it's pretty impressive.

Ouki is perfectly happy to let everyone unimportant on the battlefield die if it gets him his victory, he just never has to because he's that good. Duke Hyou from the war with Wei is an instinctive sort of guy who changes his plans on the fly as the shape of the battlefield changes. Mougou does **** by the book (though his vice-generals are ******* monsters... you'll find out sooner or later).

And yeah... Tou's kind of a toady. I really like him though. There's something he really adds to the series that will probably become more evident as this war goes on. Plus, his ******* face. His face is almost as absurd as Ouki's.

**** yeah, I love the strategy porn. A lot of people hated the military coup arc in AoT, but I ******* loved it just to see Erwin being a tactical badass. And yeah Ouki is growing on me, but his lips still piss me off. But if it wasn't for them, then he'd be much less memorable.

Kinda random, but I remember the only other manga series I ever read. Have you ever read the Buddha manga by Osamu Tezuka(same guy who created Astro-Boy)? It's a bit like Kingdom, but more focused on philosophy than strategy. Surprisingly violent for a manga about the most peaceful person in histroy. But regardless, it's a fantastic series, although I didn't realize it was a manga when I first read it a few years ago. If you want, read it here. www.mangareader.net/buddha/1

I'll give it a look. Currently trying to keep up with you on Kingdom so I can be a cunt and tease **** for you. What chapter are you on?

Hahaha well I'm at 133, so you'll be teasing me for a few weeks at most. Moubu's been kicking ass left and right, but I get the feeling he's gonna get injured or die and Shin will have to step up.

And tease I shall...

I learn from the best.

**** off Ouki, I wanna find out myself! Haha I'm not really good at predicting where a series will go except when it comes to character deaths. Only time I've been proven wrong in that regard time and time again is in Legend of Korra. But in my defense, that was a kids show, so having lots of death was really out there.

I have no complaints.

How goes the Kingdom-ing? What chapter you at?

Just made it to 150, Ouki is about t clash with Shoumou

Aww, I was hoping to hear your thoughts on Houken wrecking shop. Re-reading this arc I was like "Hang on, why don't these characters appear later on in the story." and then I get to Houken and I'm like "Ah... of course."

Yeah, Houken is ******* crazy man.

It's a shame though, I liked Bitou, more so than his bucktooth brother.

I like quirky characters like Bucktooth and Tou, so I'm fine with how things turned out.

I don't want Bucktooth to die per se, but Tou was cool, I was hoping he made it. And the way he died, that was sad as **** man.

Yeah, people in this series die in 3 ways. Like dogs, like heroes, or like kings.

You'll see what I mean sooner or later.

DAMN, THAT ***** GOT KICKED OFF A GODDAMN MOUNTAIN

I didn't like Ouki at first, but he's actually pretty funny, even if his lips are still annoying as **** .

Told you I knew you would.

But yeah, Ouki is an overwhelming presence and his capacity to **** with anything and everything he chooses to at any given time plus his strange mixture of teasing and wisdom make him a really engaging presence.

And honestly... those lips really grew on me. Seriously, behind warfare and annoyance Ouki's most notable skill is *********** grins, so he really needed the lips to convey that level of smugness.

Now that you mention it, I don't I've ever seen him NOT smiling. He's a **** eating douchebag, but he's an entertaining one.

All of the big generals have great quirks and personalities to them and Shin rubs elbows with a lot of them as he progresses.

Just met Man Goku, the naked guy you were talking about. ****** already gives me the creeps. But I feel like he's gonna die.

You don't say...

I dunno, something about a dude whose introduction is him sitting nude on top of a bunch of naked dead women is a bit unsettling. Just a little thing I noticed.

The implication is that they were raped and killed.

The order in which that happened is up to you to decide. Give it a good think and see what comes out of it.

Judging by what I've read from him, he probably did it at the same time.

Responding to below up here.

Yup, I'm a bit past 100. A few comments:

-getting really tired of the whole "_____ is a girl in disguise?!?!?!?! WHAAAAAT?". Not only is it painfully obvious in most cases(only one I was surprised at was Yotanwa, and she had a mask and we couldn't hear her voice). With that said though, Kyou Kai is indeed a badass and deserves respect after all the **** she's been through.

-It takes a lot for a character to intimidate me. Examples would be the titans in AoT, Zaheer in Legend of Korra, and Walter White in Breaking Bad. Let me just say, Ryo is ******* intimidating already and he's barely even appeared. That is ******* good character writing.

All in all, the past few chapters have done nothing but boost my interest in this series. Even lippy-ass Ouki hasn't bugged anyone in a while.

To be fair, it's kind of a thing in Chinese history that if you want to get onto the battlefield or to even be treated reasonably on the battlefield you have to have earned your penis (hence the story of Mulan, though in the story nobody actually found out.) Don't worry though, it only happens with the three characters it's happened to thus-far.

And trust me, Ryo makes a big impression early-on but his crowning moments don't come until after this next arc... seriously... it blows my mind how Ryo just talks to this one guy but it is the tensest thing in the series by that point because holy **** when Ryofui negotiates with people you know that not a toe gets put out of place by either party because the moment it does, BOOM, they go at you like sharks.

And yeah, if you're at chapter 100 or so you shouldn't be running into Ouki for... a while... just bear in mind when you do, his Lieutennant Tou... keep an eye on him, because he is the most astonishing brown-nose I have ever seen. Like, literally I think Ouki has to fight to keep Tou from wrapping his puckered anus around Ouki's cock at every available moment he is that much of a brown nose... It's just great having the two in the same scene together.

I realize that about the society back then(that's how it was with most societies back then), but I'd really like it more if some chick was open about her gender, people made fun of her and she kicked their ass rather than 3 stories of 3 girls hiding their gender. But I realize this is (loosely) based on a true story, so I understand why he didn't.

I really can't wait to see Ryo be badass. I've always enjoyed watching the villains more than the heroes. Because most heroes(especially in anime/manga) are very similar, but the villains are all very diverse in their motivations.

I've always been kinda turned away by Tou, he seems like he's not even nearly as strong as most other characters and just kisses Ouki's ass in order to save himself.

Well, if Ten had shown her gender she'd probably have been raped, if Kou had she'd have had to have dealt with unnecessary bother, and Yotanwa didn't really hide her gender, she just has a huge-ass mask and is called 'King'.

Kingdom really stands out in the sense that none of its heroes are very similar, nor are they too typical. Of course some of them do fit certain stereotypes but the majority of them really feel like their own characters. You'll come to realise soon enough that 'hero' and 'villain' in Kingdom don't mean **** , it's all just 'badasses' and 'trash'. In fact there's a guy who at one point in the series impales about 400 people through their arseholes and stands them on pikes just to intimidate his enemies... he's on Qin's side.

And yeah... that sure sounds like Tou.

I realize the issues with it, I'm just spitballing ideas. Also, Kou seems like she could deal with almost any "unnecessary " bother she runs into.

So far, Shin seems like Eren Jaeger, only Shin is actually competent. I'm hoping he develops more, but I almost know he will. Sei is the typical cold hearted badass of the series, and I dunno enough about the other protagonists off the top of my head, but they seem pretty original.

If people tried to rape her in her sleep and she killed them she would be the one at fault because she cost the army men. She could sleep nowhere on the battlefield that would be safe for her and would have to be wary about all the food she eat and all the people around her. It would be a lot of bother to deal with which can just be avoided.

Sei's hardly cold-hearted though. He's business-minded and decisive, and a little self-important though that's forgivable in a king. Shin is very similar to Eren but whereas Eren is propelled forwards by his hatred Shin is driven by his aspiration. Both have goals that lead to a lot of people dying, but for Eren that dying is the goal itself, whereas for Shin the goal is something far more admirable.

Ten really doesn't have much personality as a kid. She's kinda typical and adventurous but she comes into her own as she grows up. Kou is closer to a Tsundere sort of character however her naivety and vendetta work well to frame her personality. She has a lot of things she wants to do and wants to get distracted, but knows she can not. Her progression is by far the most interesting in the series.

What chapter are you on?

I see what you mean. You know more about the series than I do, I'm just noting what I notice about the characters so far.

I've been busy today. Midterms, then picking up my dad from the hospital, and now playing Fallout New Vegas, so I haven't read much more. I'm at about 101 now.

Hue hue hue... I'm just waiting for you to hit chapter 106... you'll know why once you're done with it... ******* hell I love that cunt so much.

Aww yiss, can't ******* wait. Might be later tonight before I go to sleep, I'm gonna be busy for most of today. I'll let you know when I get there.

Oh... I know you will... I know you will... *disappears into the darknet*

Well that's not ominous at all.

I get the feeling he's gonna be very important, and I kinda hope he stays a villain. He doesn't seem like he'd fit in as a good guy so it'd be kinda weird.

It is incredibly weird. You'll see. This series is filled with astonishing power-house characters that just dominate the atmosphere. If you think Ouki is a monstrous presence just wait until you meet Renpa, Riboku, Ryofui, Gaimo, Mobu... you get the idea. The best part about it is the story doesn't follow them, it follows the younger generation and it just builds such enormous boots for these characters to fill. As the story progresses more and more contenders for those boots show up and it just feels awesome.

Don't tell me whether they do or not, but I really hope the mountain people come back. Those masks of theirs reminded me of some **** you'd see in the Bone series, it's so badass

I won't tell you if they will or if they won't, but it bears clarification that, since you're considering either possibility, as to the nature of the arcs in this series.

Kingdom is not like Fairy Tail, wherein the arcs are mostly unrelated with some continual themes extant through them by way of the main characters participating within them. Kingdom is a series that goes hard as a ************ in every aspect and what you need to understand is that you're not reading a series with arcs, more that you're reading a snapshot of a world.

Just because the manga is no longer focussing on certain characters does not preclude them from returning. As a matter of fact, many characters I thought were gone for good or were initially unimportant make repeat appearances when I least expect them to do so. This is because in this world all of these characters are living lives and very occasionally they will cross paths with the main characters.

So the mindset you need to be in with this series is that everybody is important. Every event that happens has powerful and long-reaching consequences and though people fall into and out of the eye of the story it does not mean they only progress when they are viewed.

To be fair, there are some characters who have yet to re-enter the gaze of the story, but for the most part the only way characters leave the story is through being killed or disappearing only to re-appear later.

Plus, even if the Mountain Tribes never show up again their continued existence is important not simply for the chance of them possibly showing up down the line, but because they protect Qin from invasion from the rear. Even if they never showed up again their existence would be an important factor in Qin's military campaigns, so them re-appearing doesn't need to happen for them to be relevant.

I like that about the story, I ******* hate it when shows create these awesome characters and then just shrug them off and never show them again.

That's just poor storytelling.

Anyway, what chapter are you up to?

Up to chapter 80 now. In the middle of Sei's backstory with the merchant lady.

Oh... oh, then you've not gotten to the...

Have fun with that.

**** , that can't be good.

I use the same tone of voice when referencing the AoT manga to someone who's only watched the show.

**** .

I don't want to ruin anything.

I'll just let it be a surprise.

Like a blade in the night.

Oh joy, hints. I ******* LOVE HINTS.

For real though, don't spoil anything for me, but can you tell me if I'm close to that chapter or not? Not necessarily the chapter it's in, but whether I'm close or not.

It starts round about chapter 83 when the a-... when a bunch of nasty people meet for a sinister purpose.

Awesome I'm almost there. Expect a "WHAT THE **** " or "that was underwhelming" comment from me in the near future.

It'll probably be closer to a 'Holy **** that was cool!' if anything. But in fairness the arc after the one I'm talking about is when you really start to understand exactly where Kingdom is going. The first 100 or so really just lead up to it and it sets a precedent for basically everything that comes after.

As expected. I mean, you need to establish the world before you go an explore it, so that just makes sense. I'm excited to see where this is going, if it sucked I would've given up by now.

You'll see...

Give it time...

******* be cash, yo.

Hell yeah, can't wait

You got to the Six Generals yet?

No I'm the best ferret.