Sorry for the giant ass essay in advance my kingdom bruddas (and sistahs if there is any)
Oh my goodness. HARA why did you read my post?!! I WASN"T BEING SERIOUS WHEN I SAID YOU'RE TRYING TO EQUAL OR SURPASS ODA'S CROSS GUILD & ONIGASHIMA WRITING!!
Me: "My boy Hara tryna rival or maybe even surpass Oda [ in bad writing related to Onigashima and Cross Guild]"
Hara: "Heh Xione, there should be no doubt I seek only the peak"
Before y'all read this, I want to preface this by saying, I could careless about JKR's character itself. Like he's not somebody I found interesting or care about in general out of the Zhao generals.
What I have been saying regarding Kanki's opposing generals dropping low in IQ is becoming even true for subordinate generals. JKR getting his head squashed by Zenou is NO PROBLEM. Zenou is squashing anybody's head if he gets their hands on them. Whether it be Moubu/Shin/etc, all of them get their lil heads squashed. So it's not an issue if Hara wants to end JKR's life by having Zenou squash his head. The issue again is WHAT LED TO THAT POINT.
What happened to JKR is essentially what happened to this young man who was climbing the ranks, and then bam head goes splash. The difference here atleast is that the man was essentially caught off guard and was against somebody in a completely different realm of martial prowess, and was never engaged in a fight. So this situation with Rankai served a great shock value scene of Rankai's power. But that's not the case with JKR. What happened with JKR is what you call pure stupidity.
Who is JKR? He is a veteran soldier under Shibashou. Not just a mere soldier but once held as the strongest in the city under Shibashou. A man with immense combat experience and who's seen various scenarios of combat, who even knows absurd monsters like Jiaga. Somebody who was dealing with Shin on par for a bit, somebody who even dealt with the archer bros. Y'all get the point he's immensely experienced and talented as a fighter.
Now let's take a look with what happened to JKR. The JKR that I just described above, in Chapter 748, cuts down Zenou down to his stomach with his glaive. Zenou who absolutely couldn't do jackshit against him.
In chapter 749, many minutes have passed, Riboku's army has succeeded in surrounding Kanki. There is no significant JKR panel.
In chapter 750, many minutes continue to pass, and the Zhao army starts making a fuss over Riboku's proposal to surrender. To which JKR lectures them to chill down, looking towards Riboku. While we see him holding his glaive with one hand. Any issues here so far? Nope. Looks like JKR finished up Zenou and now moved towards Riboku to surround Kanki as well.
In chapter 751... what do we see? Oh in essentially 3 chapters since JKR slashed up Zenou he hasn't moved an inch, despite rest of the army moving. In essentially 3 chapters, this man didn't bother taking out his glaive from a dead combatant... and decided to lecture his men while his glaive was still inside somebody. And now that same person he had his glaive in for 3 chapters, grabs his head and squashes it, while this man has 0 clue until it happens.
So this is the samething we did with Kanki, in order to make him look impressive we make Keisha/Riboku/Genpo look stupid. Now in order to make Zenou look beastly, we make JKR into a complete dumbfuck.
Can anyone point me to a single panel where a person has kept their weapon inside somebody for 3 chapters and stood there like an idiot not doing anything? You don't even need to find a glaive user, find a spear user if need be (since spears can potentially get stuck). You don't even need to find a top notch combatant, since they wouldn't be dumb like that, you can find a fodder who did it. I can't think of a single scenario...
Because it's not just that it's 3 chapters, it's that there is a lot of time that has passed over those 3 chapters. Because you can have 3 chapters take place in a minute or just at the sametime while focusing on different things on the battlefield. But here time is passing over those 3 chapters. Characters are having flashbacks, story time, philosophical discussions over that time.
JKR didn't even bother forcing his glaive down more to completely cut him in half. He stopped where the momentum of his 1st swing stopped. When he could've just pulled it out a second after, and sliced off the head clean. This man standing right next to him, didn't notice any movements (despite having instincts to block insanely fast arrows), didn't notice any breathing/wheezing see or hear any sign of life.... while standing right next to him for 3 chapters.
I legit thought Houken vs Shin was the most garbage fight written (in terms of story context, not choreography or anything like that because in that regard it was fine). But holy shit, we just had a dude who went on par with Shin, then easily overpowered a dying Zenou and nearly slashed him in half... Get treated like the common soldier from the 1st 30 chapters of Kingdom... while a dying Zenou with barely any live got Rankai treatment.
#MakeItMakeSense
Hara bro end this arc already, please don't drag this out more than it has to further. Riboku already looks like an idiot in this conversation acting all shook and surprised. JKR's entire character was murdered figuratively and literally.
And this is my clarification to Kanki fans again, this is not an anti-Kanki post. Kanki is a decent to good written character. This is about the writing that is happening around him, the writing for the other characters around him. This is essentially what Oda did with Cross Guild, where Crocodile/Buggy/Mihawk are decent to great written characters, but them looking good with forming the Cross Guild came at the expense of Marines looking like complete dumbfucks and losing all credibility as a military faction (along with the World Government).
Hara for some reason has a tendency to do that exact thing when it comes to Kanki. While writing near flawless outside of it, in terms of character consistency.
I should be hyped that Zenou while essentially dead, just took out JKR. But i'm not because it comes at the expense of destroying JKR's character.
I was hyped when Ousen was outdoing/matching up Riboku in parts of WZI, because Riboku's character was kept consistent. I was hyped about Kanki & Kouchou, because Kanki looking great didn't come at the expense of Kouchou's character, rather it built up Kouchou. But my lord this is just terrible.
@Yo Tan Wa This isn't complaining btw bro. It's simply a writing analysis of the recent events, while laughing at how bad Hara has been executing. It might seem like i'm irked or annoyed or something, but rather the opposite is just funny to me. It's just a clownfest in Kingdom right now.
Oh Kanki you GENIUS. You guys maybe missed it, but Kanki kinda set in motion the plot to kill Riboku
Kanki saying that Riboku can't change the world and will always someone else is
. Think back to Ousen inviting Riboku to join him so that they can rule China together. Riboku refused. Riboku ended up working for evil and dumb kings that have no desire to help him.
Riboku had ALL THE TOOLS to take over but he never did so. Riboku doesn't have the ambition and that what is takes to rule and make real change. Kanki was spot on with his words to Riboku and you see Riboku understanding that
I bet you Riboku will plot to overthrow the king and that will be leaked to the king, Riboku will then be executed or smth
I don't think Kanki set anything motion lol. This is essentially "if i'm going down, i'm taking you down with me" situation for Kanki, not some complex political move. Going back to his conversation with Choutou, where he said he should become the best general or some shit. In this interaction, Kanki is effected by Choutou's word, rather than simply ignoring them as rambling. And even his "save the sleep talking for when you're dead, gramps" is essentially acknowledging Choutou's words to an extent. Which is why Choutou dies with a smile on his face, because he understood the meaning behind the answer while knowing of Kanki's character and personality.
So now we come to the latest chapter, and Kanki when faced with death the very last thing he wants to do is what? Take down somebody who he considers to be the strongest, the man that is stated to be the most dangerous in china, the man who's regarded as Qin's #1 enemy. And what happens if Kanki manages to take down this man? He'd effectively be the #1 general in Qin, even if he dies few moments after. Choutou's last dying words were for Kanki to be #1 Qin general, and Kanki on the verge of death is trying to make it happen. Poetry in motion.
Things like these is why I say Kanki is a decent to good written character himself. The subtle things about him are nicely written, like the Raido thing. The subtleness is to a point where the fans who stan Kanki himself fail to understand the reality of his character. Take the Raido thing for example, myself and many others pointed out how Kanki was effected by Raido's death. The whole massacre could've been avoided had Kanki wanted to. But it was a revenge thing. Hara was very subtle about how he displayed Kanki during Raido's death, but Kanki fans themselves argued back he's stoic, his commanders dying don't mean shit to him, etc etc. (This being a glaring weakness of a general who builds himself on taking life without remorse.... yet we got "doesn't know basic strategies")
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Now as for the conversation between Riboku & Kanki. I have already addressed this similar point when the brudda
@Shanks naively claimed Riboku should've overthrown the Zhao monarchy and etc few years back. You claim Riboku has all the tools to take over but he never did so, this is just flat out false.
1st. He never had the position to even have a shot at taking over until he became a Zhao 3. And he became a Zhao 3 by his feats at Ganmon, which last a decade+. And prior to that he was just a generic Zhao general trying to climb his way up, and before that he was a soldier who lost in the circle of revenge. So he certainly did not have the tools before he becomes Zhao 3.
2nd. It's been about 10 years or so since he became a Zhao 3. In the span of that time, he's never had the actual tools to take on the Monarchy, because he was too busy strengthening the military to take on external threats, which needed to be handled. In order to increase his status. Then by the time he takes out Gekishin & Ouki, he holds incredible influence. Yet that influence still wasn't on par or superior to Shunshinkun, somebody who wasn't a King.
There is 1 person in the entire manga who came close to being a King, and would've succeeded had 1 of his underlings not betrayed him last minute. Ryofui. How long do you think it took Ryofui? DECADES. Who was Ryofui? An influential merchant who had been aiming to be a King since he was a teen. What was the main TOOL that allowed him to have such success? $$$$$$
This insane merchant who dreamed of becoming a King since he was a teen, gathered so much money that he was countering a King's influence by using just a bit of his money. It was leaving people like Rishi, a top minister of Qin Government, in shock in regards to how much money he had. That is what it takes.
What did all that money and plotting get Ryofui:
1st. Shouheikun, an individual strategically on close level to Riboku. (This includes all of SHK's underlings)
2nd. Moubu, a Martial beast arguably top 5 general in current China, top 10 easily. (This includes all of Moubu's underlings and family)
3rd. Saitaku, a highly experienced politician, who used to be a chancellor during King Sho's time. (This includes all of Saitaku's connections)
4th. RiShi, the man who's now going to be the one creating the governmental system of a unified China.
5th. Was able to seduce the Queen, and then effectively even use her.
6th. He has a whole group of politicians who had auras rivaling that of generals. These are no named politicians who were giving off incredible pressure.
So in short Ryofui who had been planning to be a King since he was a teen had to plan DECADES and get:
-> Money that would rival any King or maybe even more than any King.
-> Had SHK + all SHK underlings + Ouhon + Mouten + Moubu + Mougou + Kanki (via proxy) + Saitaku + Queen + former Qin puppet King + Qin Queen + fuck ton of generals & general level politicians
And guess what? This man failed. But you are saying that Riboku had the tools to take over. What tools did he have???
Not only did Ryofui have insane number of powerful tools, he also had the perfect situation through Ei sei being an underage King with no real power. A scenario that Riboku wouldn't get until King Toujou passed away. Where he's now plotting to have Prince Ka be the one who take control of Zhao somehow.
People keep saying Riboku should've done this, Riboku should've done that.... WHEN?? HOW?? There is literally no point in the manga where Riboku could've successfully taken over Zhao without getting Zhao into a civil war (something Ryofui avoided for a reason).
Say Riboku involves Zhao into a civil war. Do you think SHK and co would've sat on their asses? NOPE. Zhao military was already horseshit after Chouhei, then next to non-existent with Renpa leaving. Then Riboku comes in and causes a civil war in Zhao.. Perfect situation for Ryofui, who was focused on conquest as well, to get SHK to get things rolling and take advantage. Qin and Yan would've abused Zhao.
Riboku also is not someone who will throw away lives of millions for something he isn't sure will work. Even his plan for the coalition, it wasn't a complete conquest of Qin. His plan with the coalition involved attacking key cities and moving as fast as possible to Kanyou, to complete the conquering of Qin with the least possible bloodshed. Riboku also unlike Ousen/Ei Sei/etc has been living among the normal people of Zhao. They are what matter to him. Every action he takes is with them as priority.
What has Ousen accomplished with his Kingdom? Nothing, he's one of Ei Sei's many pawn.
What has Kanki accomplished? Nothing, he's one of Ei Sei's many pawns.
But Riboku isn't one of the pawns for the Zhao King. He comes to defend Zhao not in the name of monarchy, but because he wants to defend the cultures of the people of Zhao that the Qin are set to destroy for their goal of unification. He's defending the history of his people. Simply look at this random qin old guy and how much pride he has in the rice, meat, and vegetable that Qin grows and how he would feel were they to be labeled Zhao's.
This is why Renpa, when he stopped fucking with the King of Zhao, said alright peace bruh. Instead of trying to overthrow him. While Riboku on the other hand, despite the Zhao monarchy being against him, isn't ditching out on Zhao and joining Wei/Qi/etc, when he perfectly could. Why? Because those are his people, that is his culture, that is his history. And he'd take all of that to protect his people and do what is the best for them.
Because even the coalition only happened, because he saw through SHK's plan to destroy all of the other Kingdoms...was in defense of his people.
So it's not people like Riboku who're causing BS. It's people like King Toujou, like Kanki, like Ei Sei, etc those who want to rule, those who want to exert their will over others, those who don't care about life, or other various reasons.. that are the issue.
So you and anybody else who thinks Riboku should've done things differently and taken over... I simply ask... When and How?
Riboku die hard fans must admit that Riboku is naive af lol
Riboku in this arc right in this situation? Yes. Pretty sure myself and many others have already called out how stupidly written Riboku has been in this arc.
Riboku outside of this arc and in the past 500 chapters? Nope, farthest thing from what you would consider to be naive.