Not only is this absurd, it is a complete nonstarter.
Roku O Mi served under Ou Ki in Zhao when Rin Sho Jou was still alive. Since Ou Ki's passing, he's become Tou's second. He is approaching his 40s by now.
The level of experience isn't comparable.
Okay but experience does not equal talent, as you yourself just conceded when comparing the inexperienced 1K commanders Yoku and Rei vs experienced 1K Chu commanders. Rei and Yoku would be more talented despite having less experience due to how young they were.
Regardless, I didn’t even say that Heki was more talented than Rokuomi, even though there’s a very real possibility that Heki will become a Great General before EOS while Rokuomi has probably hit his peak as a General,
What I said was that their talent levels were comparable with Rokuomi being stronger. Which is quite frankly pretty irrefutable. Again, talent, not experience. Rokuomi is clearly more experienced but Heki is a (relative to Rokuomi) rapidly growing talent who has not hit his peak yet. Rokuomi has much less room for growth than Heki does.
The opinions and statements expressed by characters are not gospel and should never be assumed to be factual. Especially since we're discussing Kingdom, a series notorious for hyperbole and over the top, dramatic reactions to the mundane.
Characters will make all kinds of statements, often contradicted by others or the reality of the story. It's written that way to draw intrigue. That is Hara's primary objective - always. To tell an interesting story.
When it comes to military intel, yes the opinions expressed by military commanders is very much relevant given that each states military actively keeps tabs on enemy commanders.
But okay, let’s examine some
factual statements about the Heavenly Kings just as a brief reminder:
Genpou: stated by Renpa to be able of leading the entire Zhao military. Hundreds of thousands of men. Also personally taught Renpa strategy and tactics.
Kaishibou: stated by Genpou (a military genius) to be on par with Renpa as a warrior. Also slayed 100 enemy commanders before joining Renpa.
Kyou En: was the leader of a small state military who lead armies against 4 of the Qin 6 and Renpa himself and was a formidable foe against all of them. Also one of the Ten Bows.
Rinko: possessed offensives stated to be “unstoppable” by Renpa. Also broke through Ouki’s massively hyped defenses and wounded Ouki himself.
Now we look at Rokuomi: Stated to be Ouki’s strongest vassal and…that’s it. That’s literally it. And none of Ouki’s vassals have any factual statements that compare to any Heavenly King.
Now if you can point to something that debunks any of these
facts, feel free-and if you say stats, I’m going to put my head through a wall. On that note:
Clearly Hara doesn't see it your way because ROM has better stats than KSB and is only 1pt lower than BNJ in STR stats.
So I’m not going to explain every reason why Hara’s stat system is horrific lol, I’ll hit you with two of my favorites:
Shouheikun (91) vs Wategi (91): Shouheikun neg diffs despite each character having equal stats
Ouki (98) vs Shou Mou (93): Ouki neg diffs
Okay, so now Mougou (85) vs Renpa (97): convincing mid diff actually requiring Renpa to get serious, despite a 12 fucking point stat difference
^Square this shit, go ahead and try
Gokei: Wei’s most hyped General of all time, stated to be a Qin 6 level commander, a massive threat to all enemies of Wei, Shinryukun’s bastion of military knowledge, Experience Stat: B
Earl Shi: imprisoned for 14 years while Gokei remained an active commander, Experience Stat: A
^This is the equivalent of taking a test where the only question is 2+2, and writing Canada as your answer
So no. Stop using stats to try and make your point. I understand that you literally have no other arguments for Rokuomi, but you sound like a cocaine abuser. Anyway.
Your argument boils down to proof of absence = absence of proof.
No, my argument boils down to Akou having much better feats and therefore he deserves the benefit of the doubt, especially when Hara’s stat system has the consistency of a wounded gnat desperately buzzing around for a place to rest its wings.
Conversely, your argument is absence of proof = I can say whatever I want without having to substantiate it in any way aside from appealing to a coccaine induced stat system that possesses more blatant errors than anybody would care to count.
It hasn't served the story at any point thus far give ROM that kind of spotlight. Perhaps he'll have his moments down the line.
Rokuomi has had the spotlight multiple times now, he has simply failed to impress compared to the Generals you seem to believe he is on the same level as. He has had multiple battles where he has received focus, and 2 highlighted 1v1s against other commanders. No other commander in Kingdom has needed 2 mulligans before establishing their strength level.
Roku O Mi has better stats than Kai Shi Bou - the leader of the 4HK - what feats does he have that puts ROM to shame, destroying Kan Ki's HQ during Sanyou?
Kaishibou being the leader of the other Heavenly Kings who all dunk on Rokuomi in terms of feats, portrayal, and hype is enough to rank Kaishibou a tier away from Rokuomi, let alone Kaishibou being called Renpa’s equal as a warrior by an extremely reliable source.
Rin Bu Kun was one of Chu's best generals. There's a reason he was used specifically to hype up Tou's prowess. Why is it a knock against ROM that he lost a fight against an opponent of that calibre? That makes no sense.
In a vacuum there is nothing wrong with losing to Rinbukun. Rinbukun was very experienced and had slain “easily over 100” Baiyuu commanders, even Tou was very impressed with him in their fight.
HakuRei was also firing arrows at Rokuomi which Rokuomi had to dodge while also fighting Rinbukun, and Rokuomi still traded blows with him for a few minutes. This is quite impressive and there is nothing wrong with this feat in the right context.
But again, whether you go by bullshit stats or by in-manga portrayal, Bananji is a stronger warrior than Rinbukun, and Akou was trading blows with Bananji as mostly an equal (Akou was a bit weaker but they were quite close). Not only that, Akou’s Shells and Joints appeared to be a formation that Bananji was going to have a ton of trouble cracking on his own, if he could even crack it at all. Akou both tactically and martially proved himself against Bananji, while at best you could argue that Rokuomi maybe would’ve proved himself against Rinbukun if HakuRei wasn’t interfering.
Gyou’Un is another character superior to Rinbukun by both stats and in manga showings, and Akou gave him and Bananji a hard time even when they both hanged up on him. In comparison, Rokuomi and Ranbihaku
ganging up on Sento’Un, were unable to push Sento’Un into a bad place and it looked like Sento’Un was having fun even with both of them ganging up on him.
Again, if your argument is absence of proof = I can think whatever I want, you may not see the issues here, but Ajou objectively looks better than Rokuomi. You can’t deny this.
There is zero indication that they represent the ability of the average Chu 1K Commander during the Coalition War. That's nonsense.
Well the argument isn’t really that they do, is it? The argument is, what reason do we have to believe that Rokuomi is any more talented than the average Chu 1,000 man commander? And the answer is nothing….we have one Chu General stating that Rokuomi is on that level, no real indications that he is berating Rokuomi, and nothing else. Lol
Perhaps the character doesn't gel with you, but there is nothing substantive to your argument.
Except I never said I don’t like Rokuomi? I also never said that I really like Akou either, yes i suppose I prefer him to Rokuomi but I’m not overly passionate about either of these characters lol.
Catch me in a Shouheikun, Riboku, or Moubu thread if you really want to see my bias
