Tbf to Kanki, his theme as a brigand who uses psychological warfare in the most ruthless fashion out there is pretty dope
I pretty much agree with this this.
Hara wrote his flashback masterfully, marking him as a true leader who works for his people instead of personal glory.
This is where I stop agreeing. Lol.
I probably would have had no problem with this statement for Pre-WZI Kanki. Pre-WZI Kanki was noted for his preservational results (e.g. the Hare Call and Ten salivating over his loss ratio taking Kokuyou Hills). Kanki came across as a man that had a method to his madness that worked superbly and got his boys good loot.
Post-WZI Kanki however went full on meat grinder in his tactics. He nearly lost his whole army against Kochou, nearly lost Ouhon's Army and would have lost the battle had Shin not come a 1/2 day early. Then against Riboku, he lost nearly everybody going after Riboku's scalp while completely ignoring the campaign objective.
I can't buy Kanki caring about his people when he spends their lives like pennies. Lol.
Mogging Genpou, the poison dude, Keisha, Kisui and Kouchou were all well written tactics that added some flavor to the manga, the reader is constantly mind boggled by what Kanki is plotting same as his enemies and allies, which is pretty dope lol
Most of these I am fine with since the majority of them were Pre-WZI. Kochou was a friggin disappointment though. He pretty much existed for the sole purpose of making Kanki look good. That arc was where I started disliking Kanki. It was a combination of Kochou being disrespected on all fronts in order to make Kanki look good, Kanki having a temper tantrum at somebody finally doing to him what he does to everybody else and Ei Sei of all people backing down to this uneducated bandit that got to me. Lel.
It all went wrong in the end not because Kanki is a shit character, but because Zhao retaliation arc was complete trash
In that arc, Kanki was trash, Riboku was trash, Riboku's yes men were trash, Kane and the whole arrow shots sequence 💀, Riboku almost dying to Shuma and Ringyoku 💀, the tactics used were abysmal, and the talk no jutsu at the end was nauseating. I prefer to remember Kanki for his previous showings lol
Kanki's last charge plus his flashback were dope though
Yeah, the entirety of that arc was weird but a lot of the weirdness of that arc surrounded Kanki or more specifically, how characters interacted with Kanki. Shin being weepy eyed for him was weird. Riboku wanting to talk no jutsu him was weird. Naki in general was weird.
Also, I personally did not care for that flashback. It wasn't a Kanki flashback, it was a Saki Clan flashback. I still have no idea why Kanki holds the views that he does or how he became the depraved degenerate that he is.
In short, I enjoyed Pre-WZI Kanki. Post-WZI Kanki can sod off though. Lol.