50 Fun Facts About Kingdom (Manga and Anime)

In Kingdom, a minister takes Xin's best friend Piao from their village to the royal palace to serve as what?

The king's body double was the job, offered because Piao looked identical to Ying Zheng. He dies of wounds from an assassin, and his last words send Xin to find the real king.

Kingdom's boy king Ying Zheng is based on the real ruler who unified China in 221 BC under which name?

Qin Shi Huang was China's first emperor. He invented the word for emperor himself rather than reuse the old title for a king, and Chinese rulers kept it for two thousand years.

Kingdom's author wanted the usurping prince in the 2019 live-action film modeled on which Game of Thrones character?

Joffrey Baratheon was the model he insisted on. The author had followed Game of Thrones since its fourth season and joined a roundtable with its two showrunners that same year.

The real Meng Tian, Kingdom's flamboyant young commander, later led 300,000 men north and began work on which landmark?

The Great Wall grew out of the defences he started after driving the northern nomads back. A forged imperial letter later forced him to take his own life in prison.

As the mortally wounded General Wang Qi dies in Kingdom, which of his weapons does he hand to Xin?

His glaive passes to Xin moments before the general dies on horseback. With it comes a refusal: he cannot train the boy, who must learn from the battlefield itself.

The real ruler behind Kingdom's Ying Zheng was buried near which discovery made by farmers in 1974?

The Terracotta Army turned up when farmers were digging wells. Each life-sized clay soldier came from mix-and-match molds and was then individualized by hand.

Which star of Netflix's Alice in Borderland plays the war orphan Xin in the live-action Kingdom films?

Kento Yamazaki first played Xin in a three-minute short made for the manga's tenth anniversary in 2016. He kept the part when the first feature film arrived three years later.

The first two seasons of the Kingdom anime were made with which technique, dropped for hand-drawn 2D in season three?

CGI rendering was used for characters and backgrounds, most heavily in season one. Season three arrived with an entirely new production team to cover the manga's Coalition Invasion arc.

Which animation studio, known for Naruto and Bleach, has produced the Kingdom anime since its first season in 2012?

Pierrot shared the third season with its subsidiary Studio Signpost, when the series brought in a new director, new writers and new character designs.

In Kingdom, Xin and Piao train every day in their village dreaming of earning which title?

Great Generals of the Heavens is the dream the two boys share. Xin goes on to chase it under a king who wants to unify China for the first time in 500 years.

Which younger half-brother of Ying Zheng seizes the Qin throne in the opening arc of Kingdom?

Cheng Jiao, called Sei Kyo in Japanese, is ousted when Xin and the mountain tribes help the king retake his palace. The real prince later defected to Zhao.

In Kingdom, which Mountain King agrees to lend Ying Zheng an army after four centuries of broken ties with Qin?

Yang Duan He, called Yo Tan Wa in Japanese, is won over by the king's promise of better ties and his dream of unification. She goes on to gather the scattered tribes under her own rule.

Which Kingdom character, the last of a mountain tribe, hides that she is a girl and later becomes a strategist?

He Liao Diao, called Ka Ryo Ten in Japanese, studies strategy and returns as the Fei Xin Unit's tactician. She first meets Xin while helping the king escape his pursuers.

In Kingdom, the swordswoman Qiang Lei was raised in which clan of female assassins before joining the Fei Xin Unit?

Chi You candidates rise by killing their rivals in deathmatches. Qiang Lei walked away to hunt the woman who won a rigged round of those duels, then found a home in the unit.

In Kingdom, Wang Qi is the last survivor of which elite group of commanders from King Zhaoxiang's reign?

The Six Great Generals were Qin's most feared commanders a generation earlier. Ying Zheng later revives the title for six new commanders charged with unifying China.

Which Zhao strategist, one of the Three Great Heavens, engineers Wang Qi's death on the Mayang plains in Kingdom?

Li Mu, called Ri Boku in Japanese, keeps a whole army hidden until his trap closes. The real general twice crushed Qin invasions, so Qin bribed his own court into removing him.

Which Zhao warrior, who calls himself a god of war, deals Wang Qi his mortal wound in Kingdom?

Pang Nuan, called Hou Ken in Japanese, is about to lose the duel when an arrow hits his opponent from behind. The same man had already beaten him once, nine years earlier.

Which woman general, betrothed to Wang Qi and secretly a king's daughter, died years before Kingdom's Mayang campaign?

Liao, called Kyou in Japanese, wore a mask to hide that she was King Zhaoxiang's child. Her betrothed had promised in childhood to marry her once she became a general and took a hundred castles.

Which chancellor, once a wealthy merchant, is Ying Zheng's most powerful rival inside the Qin court in Kingdom?

Lü Buwei, called Ryo Fui in Japanese, bought his way to power by backing a minor hostage prince who became king. The real chancellor also sponsored the encyclopedic Lüshi Chunqiu.

Which exiled former great general of Zhao commands Wei's army against Qin in Kingdom?

Lian Po, called Ren Pa in Japanese, left Zhao after a new king stripped him of command. The real general once carried thorn branches on his bare back to apologise to a minister he had resented.

Which Qin general in Kingdom is a former bandit leader nicknamed the Beheader who favours psychological warfare?

Huan Yi, called Kan Ki in Japanese, rises from outlaw to one of Qin's highest commands. The historical general vanishes from the main chronicle after a crushing defeat by Zhao.

Which Kingdom general is based on the Qin commander who demanded 600,000 men after a rival failed with 200,000?

Wang Jian, called Ou Sen in Japanese, got his army, then kept loudly demanding rewards on campaign so that a distrustful king would think he craved riches rather than the throne.

Which rival of Xin in Kingdom is a master spearman who leads a cavalry unit drawn mostly from the nobility?

Wang Ben, called Ou Hon in Japanese, is strict where his fellow young commanders joke around. The historical general won a siege by diverting river water to flood an enemy capital.

Which headmaster of Kingdom's strategist academy is based on a Qin noble who died as a rival state's last king?

Lord Changping, called Shou Hei Kun in Japanese, commands all of Qin's armies in the story. An earlier one-shot by the same author shows him defecting to his homeland when Qin invades it.

Which fake eunuch in Kingdom becomes the Queen Dowager's lover and leads a doomed revolt against Ying Zheng?

Lao Ai was slipped into the palace by a chancellor eager to end his own affair with the king's mother. Some modern historians doubt that he ever existed.

The real Li Xin, the general behind Kingdom's hero, lost an army of 200,000 while invading which rival state?

Chu struck by surprise after his early victories and burned two large camps. It ranks as the worst setback of Qin's unification wars, and a veteran needed three times the men to finish the job.

Tradition credits the real Meng Tian, known as Mou Ten in Kingdom, with inventing which writing tool?

The ink brush is his by tradition, though wrongly, and a pen festival in Huzhou grew out of rites at his family temple. He is also credited with the guzheng, a bridge zither.

Zhao's hatred of Qin in Kingdom goes back to which general's killing of 400,000 surrendered soldiers?

Bai Qi, called Haku Ki in Japanese, led the previous generation of Qin's top commanders. In Kingdom a Zhao army massacres a Qin town in open revenge for what he did.

Ying Zheng rules Kingdom's Qin from which capital city, burned in 206 BC after the dynasty he founded collapsed?

Xianyang kept one last secret for him: when the emperor died on tour, his ministers hid the death for the whole two-month journey back to the city.

Which manga artist created Kingdom and said in 2015 that he planned to run the series to 100 volumes?

Yasuhisa Hara nearly gave up on manga first: when his early one-shots went nowhere, he spent three years as a systems engineer, work he calls crucial to how Kingdom turned out.

When early Kingdom chapters risked cancellation, which manga artist told the author that the hero's eyes were too small?

Takehiko Inoue, the creator of Slam Dunk, had employed him as an assistant for several months. The remark showed the author he had favoured story over art, and he reworked the style.

Kingdom has been serialized since 2006 in which seinen magazine, also the home of Tokyo Ghoul and Golden Kamuy?

Weekly Young Jump began in 1979 as a biweekly and went weekly two years later. The Young in its name marks the target reader: young adult men.

Which award's top honour did Kingdom win in 2013, when a judge said he read nearly 30 volumes in a row?

The Tezuka Osamu Cultural Prize is sponsored by the Asahi Shimbun, the newspaper that founded it in 1997. Kingdom took its Grand Prize seven years into its run.

Which North American publisher announced in February 2025 that it would release the Kingdom manga in English?

Viz Media started publishing that November, almost twenty years after the series began in Japan. Each volume also goes onto its digital manga service after release.

Which ancient Chinese history, read during his years as an engineer, inspired Kingdom's author?

Records of the Grand Historian, written by Sima Qian in the Han dynasty, covers 2,500 years of Chinese history. The author had started reading it for his studies and was hooked.

Kingdom's third anime season stopped after four episodes and later restarted from episode one because of what?

The COVID-19 pandemic froze the season in April 2020. The broadcast began again from the first episode a year later and ran all 26 episodes through October 2021.

Which composer joined Kingdom's third anime season at the personal request of the manga's author?

Hiroyuki Sawano, the composer of Attack on Titan, scored it with Kohta Yamamoto. They and the director chose modern instruments over traditional Chinese ones, despite the setting.

Which voice of Ichigo Kurosaki in Bleach also plays Xin in the Japanese version of the Kingdom anime?

Masakazu Morita is also Tidus in Final Fantasy X and Whis in Dragon Ball Super. In Kingdom he voices an impulsive orphan who still inspires everyone fighting beside him.

The Kingdom anime premiered in June 2012 on the BS Premium satellite channel of which Japanese broadcaster?

NHK ran the first season for 38 episodes through February 2013, and the second season followed little more than three months later.

In the live-action Kingdom films, which actor plays both King Ying Zheng and Xin's doomed friend Piao?

Ryo Yoshizawa won a newcomer award at the 2020 Elan d'or Awards partly for the film. The anime plays the same trick, giving both characters one voice actor.

Which director, who also brought Gantz and Bleach to live action, has directed the Kingdom film series?

Shinsuke Sato also co-wrote the first film's screenplay with the manga's author, who sat in on the script meetings and praised the budget as unprecedented.

Which Japanese band recorded Wasted Nights, the theme song of the first live-action Kingdom film?

One Ok Rock came back five years later with the theme for the fourth film, the one that closes General Wang Qi's story.

Which voice actor, known as Lelouch in Code Geass, plays both Ying Zheng and Piao in the Kingdom anime?

Jun Fukuyama doubles the roles because the two characters look identical. His other parts include Koro-sensei in Assassination Classroom and Joker in Persona 5.

Which actress joined the live-action Kingdom series in its second film as the swordswoman Qiang Lei?

Nana Seino debuts in Kingdom 2: Far and Away, where her character fights beside Xin on his first great battlefield and then rides off on a mission of revenge.

In Kingdom, Qiang Lei leaves the Fei Xin Unit for a time to avenge the killing of which person?

Her older sister, Qiang Xiang, died in a rigged series of deathmatches inside their assassin clan. The live-action films send her off on that hunt at the end of the second movie.

After Sony's acquisition, the English-language Kingdom anime moved from Funimation to which streaming service?

Crunchyroll inherited the series along with an English dub that had recast Xin, the king and other leads between the second and third seasons.

Kingdom's author entered design school hoping for which career before deciding manga let him do everything himself?

Film director was the plan until he learned how hard it was to make a living in movies. He had drawn plenty of storyboards at university, but never a manga.

In Kingdom, Xin ties his own dream to Ying Zheng's unification of China by declaring he will be the king's what?

Sword is the word he chooses, and it sets the shape of the series: one of them fights on the battlefield while the other fights his rivals at court for the power to rule.

Before he ever joins the army, Kingdom's hero Xin grows up in a poor Qin village as what?

A servant is all he is at the start, and the first live-action film makes it harsher still: there he is sold as a slave after war leaves him an orphan.

Before Kingdom, its author spent three years as a systems engineer at which Japanese electronics company?

Fujitsu taught him how teams hold together: when a mistake of his cost the company money, his bosses and seniors protected him, and he calls those years crucial to the series.