Forum - View topicKingdom (TV).
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Gina Szanboti
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It's pretty annoying, though he does tone it down a little later on. But "the pure burning shonen screaming power of Shin" is a pretty good description of the tone of the series.
Endure the CG if you can, the second season looks quite different. Hope you enjoy it! |
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Gina Szanboti
Posts: 11586 |
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Episode 57
I love how straightforward Shin is: "Great plan, but it won't work 'cause we're too stupid to be able to carry it out."
Episode 60 Though I doubt they'll ever elaborate, what I really want to know now is how Lun Hu/Yin Ko managed to land a non-fatal blow on Ou Ki and yet lived to tell the tale. 
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MaxSouth
Posts: 1363 |
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Why, why this anime has be so conflicting? Some aspects of it really good, but there are lot of things that annoy you to no end.
Why the hell viewers should believe that commanding officer and his best soldiers would only wear rags? Almost every second of this anime screams "bullshit". And the dumb roarer as main character is even more unbelievable as supposedly future great general than ever. |
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Gina Szanboti
Posts: 11586 |
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I've been watching the dub of Kingdom and am completely baffled by it. For one thing, the Japanese is the default track, like they just assume hardly anyone is going to listen to the dub anyway. Second, after watching 20 episodes, there still are no English dub credits. No cast, no ADR director, no scriptwriter, just the translation and DVD authoring credits. Maybe they'll put something on the last disk in the set or series?
What they do have is ALL the credits for the Japanese production translated. An entire screen packed with dozens of names of the key animators, another for the 3DCG animators, every cast member down to Foot Soldier, everybody. I can't even imagine the effort it must've taken to translate all those names, since you can't always be sure about how to read a name without asking, and I imagine that very few, if any of those people ever got a credit in English before this. But why did they bother? Normally you're lucky to get the main cast and staff on the Japanese side, especially with Funimation dubs. So how 'bout that dub? Well...it's not a top shelf effort, that's for sure, but it's not uniformly terrible either. It seems like they gave a lot of newbies a chance to get some experience in the studio, which leads to a lot of awkward phrasing and pauses. But I think the fault actually lies with the scriptwriter(s) who don't seem to have written the dialog with the lip flaps in mind at all, and a director who's apparently accepting all the first takes. So the actors are left struggling to bridge the gap. Some are better at this than others. But for practically everybody, you can hear the difference in their delivery when the character's mouth isn't visible or when they think rather than speak. And a good portion of the actors are veterans. I'm not sure how they found out, but word is that Justin Cook is playing Shin (I don't know his work well enough to know if that's true or not, but I guess he sounds enough like Yusuke Urameshi that it could be so), and I am absolutely certain that Kirby Morrow is voicing Corporal Ze Gui (aka Taku Kei) and 90% sure Brad Swaille is behind We Ping (Bi Hei), the original squad leader and the buck-toothed brother in Shin's first unit, respectively (the translation went with the Chinese names). I'm about 99% sure Swaille is also doing Yuan (En) and Li Mu (Ri Boku), though he is making an attempt to step outside his usual sound for the different characters (yelling always gives people away though, and they do a lot of yelling in this). Morrow might also be doing one of the pillar generals, but I haven't heard enough of him yet to decide. And I finally placed He Liao Diao (Ka Ryo Ten) as Misa Amane's voice actor Shannon Chan-Kent. I think some of the other actors are also Death Note alumni, but I just don't know those voices well enough to pin them down. But these would suggest this is a Canadian dub, and Justin Cook has worked with Ocean Group when he was the producer on Black Lagoon for Funimation, and he produced this too, so... Anyway, even these seasoned pros are having trouble with the dialog pacing. So over all, it's a really uneven dub. Some of it is quite good, while other parts are 80's quality. It's listenable. It's gradually improving over the course of the first season (or I'm just getting used to it, like the CG). I even prefer Shin's dub voice to the Japanese, for the most part. I just wish I knew why someone twisted Funimation's arms so hard to make them give this a dub in the first place, and why they're so determined to shield everyone who worked on it from discovery. I mean, you should see the font on the box that credits Cook, et al, as the producer. It's so tiny you can barely even tell it's print without a magnifying glass.
Edit 7/17: Hmm, now the Encyclopedia says Shin's VA is Cole Howard, and I can't say if that's right either. It also no longer lists Justin Cook as producer, but does list Azur Studios as the dubbing studio (and their website also claims it). But the dvd packaging lists Cook, Carly Hunter and Michael Harcourt as producers, so I wonder if Cook asked for his name to be removed from the Encyclopedia entry?  Curiouser and curiouser.
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Tony K.
 SubscriberModerator  Posts: 11440 Location: Frisco, TX |
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So a friend recommended this series to me, and I binged all of S1 in 3 days. From the first handful of episodes, I thought this was gonna' turn into a Game of Thrones kind of show with lots of political intrigue, power struggle conspiracies, and backstabbing betrayals. But to my surprise, it got way more shounen-y and along the lines of Dynasty Warriors with the large number of characters, over-the-top army battles, and the occasional general duel. Warring states eras have always interested me (both Chinese and Japanese), and Romance of the 3 Kingdoms was a little before the time I could get into it for the Chinese side, so DW was my go-to, since it was easier to find and more accessible with its hack-n-slash gameplay. Some of the things I really like about this show are the scope of the story and the little details in the narrative.
Scope-wise, we're essentially seeing the Xin (Shin) go from a nobody to a somebody. But as loud-mouthed and hot-headed as he is, he also learns stuff along the way, and I find that coming of age and balanced progression pretty satisfying. There's also a ton of politics that I feel can be a little overwhelming, initially, but it tends to resolve itself after the big battles. I especially like how it keeps compounding the decisions and consequences of, both, victory and defeat for Qin (Chin) army and its characters. What impressed me the most, though, are the details in the strategic and tactical display. A lot of military titles usually break their plans down in a nutshell, or sometimes not at all, but I was amazed at how in depth and intricately explained it was. In fact, I think its a big reason I enjoy the scale of the show and how it has these huge army battles ending in a duel of generals, just like I'd hear about or play in the DW games. On the downside, the only thing that really bugs me is the animation. I most people frown at 3D CG in anime. If done well, however, I think it can have its place, particularly in sci-fi titles, which this obviously is not. And then I looked at the credits and saw this was animated by Pierrot, who, to me, is essentially the McDonald's of anime studios these days: high quantity, mostly low, sometimes mid quality. If you got a long series to animate on a budget, Pierrot's your studio. Not to say they still can't tell a good story with low production values, but that CG does feel awkward in spots. I'm actually gonna' try to read the manga to match up for each season, as well, and see if there are any big differences (and maybe the art is a little better). Also, I admit it's a little weird seeing the Japanese romanized names, instead of the Chinese ones, so hopefully whoever translated the manga kept those in Chinese. I gave this an Excellent (9/10). |
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Gina Szanboti
Posts: 11586 |
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In spots? It really is a shame that first season was so atrocious-looking, because it nearly killed the franchise (anime-wise) as most people took a look and noped right on out. I honestly was stunned it even got a second season, and delightedly gobsmacked for a third.
Anyway, you've got good friends! There's a reason the manga is a record-setter (and even gets a nod in Dragon Pilot: Hisone and Masotan). And I agree the dual (or more) names for everyone is muy confusing. Dunno how they handled it in the manga. |
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Tony K.
Subscriber Moderator Posts: 11440 Location: Frisco, TX |
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They might even be raising the budget for S3. I mean, they got Hiroyuki Sawano and (his protégé?) Kohta Yamamoto doing the music, and pretty much any score Sawano composes makes the show super freaking epic. And then Pierrot is teaming up with their subsidiary, Studio Signpost, for animation.
Maybe they had to be really cheap in S1 and just wait till the show gained enough steam to eventually afford better production value. Heck, maybe all this COVID downtime gave them the opportunity to get some things in order for that big comeback in the spring. |
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Gina Szanboti
Posts: 11586 |
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So Kingdom is back, again! I just started Season 3 from the beginning this time, since it had been so long since I watched Ep. 1, but now I'm caught up. Ep.1 was a pretty good catch up and table setting for the dire straights Qin is in with all the other kingdoms gunning for their heads. Ep. 2-4 were kind of a slog with a lot of battle formations and a ton of new shoguns to keep track of. Ep. 5 finally took off and feels more like what got me interested in this in the first place.
I'm never going to remember anyone's name in this, because I'm terrible at names and everyone has spoken Japanese and subbed Chinese names which scrambles my brain toward fixing a handle on anyone (my post up above I had to do a lot of looking up for all those names I mentioned). I think my favorite bit so far was two shoguns facing off in a duel, and then another one rides up and says, "Say, before you kill that guy, I've got a question I need to ask him. ::looks at said guy:: Dude, what were you thinking with that hairstyle?!" I think the siege towers were kind of a disappointment. The idea was clever, but the defense against it was so pathetic I couldn't even just chalk it up to complacency. Like couldn't they have gotten some dudes on ax duty while others were shooting at the climbers, and chop the ends off the lattice? Throw some rocks? Or, I dunno, have some soldiers picking off the invaders as they reached the top? There was one weird shot where it looked like archers on top of the tower were above the defenders on the wall, which was just wrong. Anyway, nice cliffhanger for Ep. 5. Looking forward to the next. |
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Gina Szanboti
Posts: 11586 |
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Ep 6-7
Nice to check in with Kyou Kai, but sad she's still sidelined with her revenge tour. Go Team Fei Shin! There's so many battles going on at once it's hard to keep track, but this was the best episode of the season so far, focusing on the Shin vs Goth-boy Wan Ji face-off. Great battle, clean animation, nice close-up art, despite the supernatural shenanigans. Also really happy to see He Liao Diao (Ten) diving into the battle and getting some quality screen time instead of just wringing her hands behind the lines and sending messages. She won that battle for them, what with rounding up all the scattered troops and all the other strategic shit she pulled off.
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Gina Szanboti
Posts: 11586 |
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Ep 8-9
That's one tall woman. I kinda like her. I have to say, the defenders of the wall are driving me nuts. They have a massive height advantage but don't use it to fire anything but ordinary arrows at the enemy. Where are my fire arrows? Where are the catapults with pots of boiling oil and other noxious, murderous payloads? While of course history tells us they won't lose the entire war, I think they'd deserve it if they lost the wall, just for being so complacent and unimaginative. Heh, leave it to a woman to bring spoiler[elephants] to a cavalry battle. |
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Gina Szanboti
Posts: 11586 |
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Ep 13
Ha, the battle between Han Ming and Meng Wu was quite something, what with all the explody clothes and flying shrapnel from their battle maces. But once again, I gotta give props to their horses! They're the unsung heroes in all these one-on-one super battles. Not just acrobatic with impeccable balance, they're smart too! Smarter than the idiots riding them. I wonder what Wa Lin has up her sleeve. I'm not sure if she realizes yet that Meng Tian and Wang Ben are on her tail or not. And I just can't believe that Meng Wu is out of the game either. It's just a scratch. Spit on it and it'll be fine. |
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Gina Szanboti
Posts: 11586 |
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Ep14
Ok, so Meng Wu made it through, but now it's Meng Tian who could use a styptic pencil and some bandaids...ok, maybe staples. And Wa Lin has out-maneuvered them all. Unless Shin comes charging in or something. He's not gotten more than a few seconds of screen time these last few episodes. I really love the new ED, with all the characters as figures in the Terracotta Army. That's a nice touch (though I guess it kinda foreshadows Ei Sei's future descent into madness). |
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Gina Szanboti
Posts: 11586 |
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Ep 17
And another shogun bites the dust.  Well, at least he didn't get an arrow to the back like Wang Ki did. Just a ringer to fight instead. And Shin inherits another magnificent piece of battle gear he probably won't use for a few years. So maybe next episode Shin will get some screen time? He hasn't had much to do this season so far.
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Gina Szanboti
Posts: 11586 |
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Ep 18
We must never leave the king alone! Wait, where'd he go? 
Heh, I recognized that little weasel's voice before they even showed him. Given how drastically so many of the character designs have changed this season, had it been reversed, I'd have been going, "Who dat?" I sure never thought I'd be glad to see him though. How fun to see Shin and Ei Sei together again, plus many old comrades. Lol at Shin's troops calling him a liar and being stunned he actually knows the King, whom none of them recognize. Really, how could they? Even if his picture is on the money, if it is, they still wouldn't be able to. Looks like the King will be giving a barn-burner of a speech next week. I keep hoping Kyou Kai will drop by to have another go at Pang Nuan, but that's looking more and more unlikely. I think she may need a whole mini-arc to herself to wrap up her revenge and make it back to the boys. Still wondering if Meng Tian got saved or not. |
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Gina Szanboti
Posts: 11586 |
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Ep 19
Ok, that was a pretty good speech, as these things go. I have trouble relating to the mindset of "OMG, the King deigned to visit us, we're not worthy!" but he did make an excellent point of, "I know you don't want to fight, but either we win this, or the whole kingdom is toast and you'll all be slaves." While I might not be inclined to fight for the sake of the politicians and elites who run things, I'd be pretty up for fighting invaders who'd enslave me. I do hope we get to see Shin and Ei Sei (and He Liao!) getting ripped together.
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