Sometimes the god of anime listens to you and you actually get that second season you wanted. I lucked out this time.
As a small reminder of what Kingdom 1 was about, have a little summary. Kingdom 2 continues the adventures of Xin and Zheng. Xin is an orphan whose dream is to become a great general while Zheng is the son of the late emperor of Qin, destined to take the throne when he turns 21. The two of them met when a coup d’état against Zheng happened at the beginning of the first season. Since then, the both of them are trying to climb to the top.
The first three episodes of Kingdom 2 I have watched aren’t too different from the ones you could see in the first season. There is a slight time skip between the two but I see the reason why and I think it was a pretty good idea. I’m not too sure I’d have been able to watch much more of Xin being himself and fighting and fighting again. He still does, but a bit less than in the first season it would seem, which I don’t mind that much. I liked all the battles, mostly because they put a lot of emphasis on the strategy aspects of each one. Somehow, it seems that the second season will rely even more on these aspects. The various strategists (and futures strategists) have already gotten a lot of screen time so I really hope it means more strategy in the battles. I also hope it means Xin will finally learn not to rush into battle without thinking. (Not that I have much hope, it’s Xin we’re talking about.)
Since I’m at it, I think Xin has matured a bit during the time skip. He still does run into battle without thinking and relies on his instincts more than he relies on his brain but he has learned to control himself a little bit. I found it pretty interesting the politicians tried to drag him into their affairs and Xin being Xin, he just cannot do what is asked of him and nearly starts a war. It was nearly cute. I’m not sure I should call refusing to assassinate someone then actually wanting to because you just can’t stand his face cute, but I do. I find Kingdom as a whole to be cute anyway.
Talking about cute, Zheng is too. He has matured a lot as well, and it seems that Kingdom 2 will focus more on his part of the story and for this I’m glad. From what I have seen of the second season, I think we are going to get a lot of political conspiracies and various plots to make the people who stand between Zheng and the throne conveniently disappear. This is going to be fun.
In short, Kingdom 2 isn’t very different from its first season. I loved the first season, I already love the second. The only problem I have had with the three episodes I have watched is that somehow, it managed to become even uglier than before.
No matter how ugly it is I will never hesitate to recommend Kingdom to anyone who seems to take even a slight interest in this. It has everything I love, it is never boring, it has interesting plot twists, interesting characters, and wonderful voice actors.