Kingdom is an anime series focusing on Ancient China during the middle of an war. The story the focuses on two teenage boys dreaming of leaving their abusive adoptive family in order to become warriors. Main characters Piao & Xin train by sparring with each other in extreme wooden sword fights everyday in an effort to mentally escape their lives, one day they come across an older man who changes both of their worlds.

Kingdom is an 2012 seinen anime series, it is produced by Studio Pierrot and licensed by Funimation. It is currently available on DVD and Blu-Ray.

War rages on.

Kingdom has an interesting story that will appeal to history fans that just so happens to be fans of anime. And for the most part it works, but a lot of other problems clearly present themselves throughout the series. These included, but are not limited to lame dialogue and choppy CGI.

Xin with his war colleagues.

THE GOOD: The main take away from Kingdom is the story, it’s by far it’s most powerful tool. Based on the Warring States period of China, Kingdom goes into detail about the warring states and touches on some key issues such as poverty and violence during time. And the characters by design are interesting enough to keep it together.

Xin preparing for war.

THE BAD: Kingdom is decent for what it is, but several issues hold the series back. The dialogue is horrible, especially in the dub (even by usual dub standards), the voice acting felt unemotional at the worst times, and a lot of the animation and CGI was very off putting and choppy.

Xin and Piao as teens.

OVERALL THOUGHTS: If you can see past it’s many technical issues Kingdom is pretty ok. It also helps if you’re an history buff. However for the average anime fan, the early episodes may be enough for you to tap out. Otaku Dome gives Kingdom: The Complete First Season an 67 out of 100.