Chapter 752 has finally dropped and with the chapter's release, we bid farewell to our beloved troll general Kanki. This will be the final part of my Kanki analysis series covering his role in the story, and the messages that we the audience can take away from his character.
If you haven't already, I strongly recommend you check out parts 1 and 2 in the series before reading this one. Part 1 explored Hara's use of dialogue and narrative devices to establish Kanki's character and motivations, while Part 2 delved into Kanki's relationships with other characters and how they contribute to his portrayal. I'll leave a link to each part below:
Part 1 - https://worstgen.alwaysdata.net/for...cterisation-great-general-kanki-part-1.39827/
Part 2 - https://worstgen.alwaysdata.net/for...cterisation-great-general-kanki-part-2.40393/
This analysis will focus on the following three topics:
1. Kanki as a mirror foil character
2. The world of Qin - how kingdoms create their own monsters
3. Rage against the middle class - is Kanki all edge and no point?
4. Conclusion
Unfortunately, Kanki was the only character in Kingdom that I truly felt invested in to this extent. The series will be much duller without him around; however I hope that in future, Ousen and other characters can step up to fill the gap. If you're interested in being tagged in any future Kingdom threads I make, lmk in the comments below. If you're still here after reading the walls of text in parts 1 and 2, thanks for sticking around; hope you enjoy the finale.
Kanki as a mirror foil character
Many readers familiar with literary tropes have already pointed out that Kanki serves as a foil to Shin and Sei. But what does that actually mean? Tvtropes defines a foil character as:
'But wait!' you might say, 'Kanki, Shin and Sei are actually pretty similar! They're not that different!' And you would be right; Kanki is actually a mirror foil character. He has a similar background to Shin and gives us a glimpse of what Shin could have become if no one had filled the void left by Hyou's death. Kanki and Sei might be completely opposed ideologically speaking, but both experienced the loss of an influential female figure and are revered by a small group of people (Sei's inner circle, Sai militia vs the Saki/Kanki clan) who they personally inspired and encouraged. Tvtropes explains the overlap between mirrors and foils as follows:
The mirror/foil dynamic becomes pretty obvious every time Kanki interacts with either Shin or Sei. While Sei and Shin are compared to the sun, and Sei believes that the true nature of humanity is that of light, Kanki has been called the 'king of darkness' and many of his key character scenes (avenging Shou, conversing with Choutou, his last interaction with Naki) take place at night. Sei is hailed as a one-in-a-million leader - brilliant, compassionate and insightful, but possesses the drive and determination to drench all of China in an ocean of blood in his quest to unify the other six states. Kanki is seemingly the opposite - petty, spiteful and needlessly cruel - but actually possesses many of the same traits as Sei. It is only his own dim view of humanity and his emotional guardedness that leave him unable or unwilling to extend his positive traits beyond a very select group of individuals. In other words, Sei is a luminous messianic figure but conceals the darkness of his past and grapples with the brutal warmongering path ahead. Kanki on the other hand appears to be immersed in darkness, yet everyone, from common bandit thugs to Sei himself and even Riboku can see the light that shines within.
As mentioned in parts 1 and 2, Kanki and Shin both overcame poverty and their low social status to rise to the rank of general. Their presence at the front and on the battlefield inspires their men to strive for greatness and they both deeply care for members of their inner circle. However, while Shin and Sei believe in humanity's innate goodness (or at least humanity's capacity to do good) and insist that their men try to uphold moral standards, Kanki has accepted humanity's vices (cowardliness, greed, selfish self-preservation) and does not insist that bandits act like proper soldiers or even decent human beings at all. As evidenced by Kokuyou Hills arc, he thinks that by requiring his men to engage in self-denial, Shin is being childish and naive. Shin and the HSU's outlooks runs almost completely counter to how Kanki believes humans will behave when faced with temptation.
When ascending the central hill at Kokuyou, Kanki thinks of Shin and hopes that by achieving outstanding results on the battlefield, he can make Shin renounce his hardheadedness and naivete. Despite Kanki and his army's disgusting behaviour, one cannot argue against the fact that individual soldiers of the Kanki army do get to live a better life, far better than being born a peasant or a slave would allow. Realistically speaking, it is very, very difficult to get others to follow you solely because they believe in your dream. In the end, even Bihei, Ryuusen and the others have families and loved ones that would benefit from pilfering a bit of extra wealth on the side. People usually do require some sort of extrinsic motivation; the HSU is just extremely unusual in this regard.
Don't believe me? Imagine this: you are an uneducated, illiterate peasant man from the Qin countryside. Your only career options are back-breaking farm or construction work for pennies in your tiny backwater burg, or joining the military as an infantrymen. By some random stroke of luck you end up in the Kanki army where your bosses and big boss will happily turn a blind eye if you slip a ring, a bracelet, a coin purse from an enemy soldier or unlucky Zhao villager you killed. Your house's roof is leaking. Your 12 children (3 of whom died from whooping cough as babies) need food and clothes. Would you not take the opportunity instead of risking your life day after day, camped miles away from your family and dining exclusively on meagre army rations? The Kanki army is a poor man's paradise. More on that later in this analysis.
The one thing Shin was wrong about, however, was that Kanki and his commanders are not empty. Kanki is a disappointed idealist filled with (justified) anger towards the state of the world and Qin's complete abandonment of the lower class. His commanders follow him because he gives meaning to their lives and forged a path to greatness that they ever even thought was possible. Despite the brutal massacres he perpetrates, Kanki has demonstrated instances of courage, respect and even kindness in honouring Choutou and Koku'Ou's last words. It could be that because they are so similar, Kanki and Shin cannot truly understand why the other chose such a different path in life.
Early in the series, Sei showed that he was different from Seikyou because he has lived and fought for his life alongside the common folk. He tries to understand them and chooses to listen to their perspectives, even if they tell him things he doesn't like to hear. Sei believes that people are good at heart, but commit evil acts due to having lost their way. Conversely, Kanki seems to believe that people can be good but they are the exception, not the rule, and that kind people end up being victimised the most. Given what we've seen throughout the series, it's hard to disagree with Kanki. Kisui sacrificed a crucial strategic outpost because of his love for Rigan and Earl Chouki of Gyou caused Zhao's defeat by refusing to abandon thousands of refugees. Kanki is more of a foil to Sei than he is to Shin - his cruelty, cynicism and toxic reputation in other states contrast Sei's image as a fair, hopeful and benevolent ruler.
The world of Qin - how kingdoms create their own monsters
In order to understand Kanki's motivations and character, we need to take a look at the current sociopolitical state of Qin society. What exactly did Kanki mean when he told Riboku that he and Sei had 'set their sights too far outside themselves'? Let's start from the beginning as Hara established the rules of Qin society early on through Shoubunkun and Heki. Multiple characters have praised Qin for being a meritocracy and to some degree it is. Qin allows peasant conscripts to attain commander ranks, promoted several foreigners (Saitaku, Ryofui, Mougou) to high ranking officials and is generally less corrupt than the other states at an administrative level. However, not everyone is able to participate in this meritocracy:
To even become a foot soldier, one requires a house and above average wealth. This automatically eliminates a lot of people, even those who have the innate talent to become generals (Maron, Koku'Ou, Raido, Shin, Hyou and Kanki). Because 99% of Qin society is illiterate, uneducated and lacks access to key resources, this means that their only path to fame, glory and wealth is through the military rather than a civil or administrative job. However, they can still be excluded from that pathway for being too poor! People like Shin, Hyou and Kanki would have been destined to live pitiful lives, trapped in eternal poverty without the intervention of a high ranking member of the military or nobility that allowed them to pursue their dreams. Even when these economically disadvantaged young men joined the military, they had to compete with soldiers from noble families such as Ouhon and Heki who had received formal training in tactics and had access to equipment like siege towers. The deck is ridiculously stacked against poor soldiers trying to climb the ranks to general. Qin might be more meritocratic than its peers but regardless continues to squander the talent of its lower class.
With zero prospects of becoming wealthy and facing numerous structural barriers to climbing the social ladder, what is there for ambitious young boys like Shin and Hyou to do? Oh that's right... become a bandit lol.
If there is no hope for one to ever become a respected member of society, why should one productively contribute to that society and wish for its prosperity? The Kanki army's commanders don't have any on-panel backstories, but Ringyoku and Koku'Ou both allude to being oppressed in the past. Kanki's backstory also shows the Rouho bandit clan owning a large number of child servants, hinting that this practice is much more widespread than we've seen. If even a bandit clan of all things can own a small army of child soldiers, it is very likely that Qin's society as a whole has a scourge of child slavery propping up middle to high class households across the state.
At first glance, Kanki seems to be talking about the various evil or otherwise self-interested kings that govern most of the other states when he criticises Riboku for looking too far outwards. After all, how can Riboku condemn others when he himself enables the whims of a mad perverted tyrant? Riboku outright refused to commit regicide - his original plan was just to sit back, take a royal dicking and hope to god that Prince Ka would ascend the throne someday. Riboku's passivity ensured that King Toujou got to give him the middle finger one final time before he kicked it, dashing Riboku's hopes for a morally upright royal successor. But I think there's more to it than that.
Because Zhao made Sei a scapegoat for the grudge of Chouhei, Sei became a king who wished to end wars and massacres, paradoxically believing that the only way to do so was through invading and crushing the other six states. So in that sense, Zhao did indeed create its own worst enemy. But what about Qin? Kanki is right that Riboku is by and large a status quo enabler, hence why he cannot change anything, but what about Sei? Sei has a grand vision indeed, to turn China into a land of laws instead of feudalism, but as mentioned in part 1 of my analysis, Sei's plan is truly doomed to fail without supporting institutions such as universal education and non-partisan judiciary and law enforcement. There cannot possibly be a land of laws when the vast majority of the population is too impoverished and uneducated to even understand what those laws mean and how they protect them. Sei also wishes to eliminate discrimination and internal strife by breaking down state borders, but seems to have zero interest in removing discrimination against slaves and the lower class. Even when lower class individuals such as Shin, Kanki and Ryofui do manage to succeed, they are still treated with contempt and derision from arrogant nobility (looking at you, Ouhon!) and military officials. Several members of the military objected to Shin becoming a 1000 man commander because of his slave upbringing. Mougou being the king that he is, refused to even entertain the thought, but this certainly indicates that Qin is nowhere near as meritocratic as it likes to think it is. With Sei seemingly pouring most of the royal budget into his unification campaign, one has to wonder how much the peasantry and slave class will have to go without. I believe that Kanki is arguing that people should look inwards - to reflect on their own biases and their society's structural deficiencies - instead of thinking that external action (unification, war etc) is going to solve their problems.
Rage against the middle class - is Kanki all edge and no point?
Now that we've gotten this far, you're probably wondering why Kanki directs his rage towards the middle class, and not towards the likes of Sei. Well don't worry, he's got plenty to say about Sei. For now, let's take a look back at Kanki's backstory, the speech that had the fandom crying 'edgelord'.
Kanki appears to agree wholeheartedly with the statement "the only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing", a saying often misattributed to the 18th century Irish philosopher Edmund Burke. He considers middle-class apathy a greater evil than the upper class's misdeeds; a position that seems befuddling at first glance. Although it is true that the upper class often create systems and institutions that oppress the poor and minority groups, these systems and institutions would not survive if not for both the explicit and implicit support of those in the middle. Consider the following scenarios:
In both scenarios, you already know or expect that the chancellor's son and the company management are complete dirtbags. You likely gave up on them ever doing the right thing long ago. What would enrage you most, however, is that classmates, colleagues, people in your community decided to turn a blind eye to these wrongdoings and in fact hindered you when you attempted to pursue justice for yourself and others. This herd mentality and groupthink is what Kanki is referring to in his speech. Imagine if Sei announced that he would abolish slavery tomorrow. All slaves must be freed and given housing and employment so they can meaningfully participate in society. Both the middle and upper class would be foaming at the mouth with rage. This is why Kanki believes that unjust societal structures won't change - the middle class also has a vested interest, or is simply too apathetic or cowardly - to support or persuade their leaders to correct injustice. Kanki's speech forces the audience to question whether things really will improve under Sei's reign for the dispossessed and disadvantaged.
Wanna know who is actually an edgelord? This guy:
Not only does Kochou bring up his painful past completely unprompted, he and his men insist that Kanki is inferior (even as they are getting their asses kicked lmaooo) because he does not 'know true pain'. Kochou attempts self-harm in an apparent temper tantrum after Kanki shuts down his monologue before remembering that he is actually a general and finally tries to reclaim some of his now-nonexistent dignity by fighting to the death. Ultimately however, he ends up on the ground, a true embarrassment to his country while Kanki literally looks down at his corpse. The use of panelling in the double page spread below demonstrates his complete military and psychological defeat.
Similarly, Mangoku goes down after being verbally bitchslapped by Ten, requiring Shin to physically grab his collar and turn him over as he lies face down in the dirt. Both Kochou and Mangoku met sad, pathetic ends because they were empty behaved like petulant teens with nothing else to do in life. On the other hand, Hara repeatedly tells us that Kanki never lost the spark in his eyes - he never stopped trying to protect the Saki clan and chose to sacrifice himself for the new generation to live on. Though he may have rebuffed Choutou’s concept of how a general should act, his last moments impressed Riboku and even Futei with his refusal to retreat and his singleminded endeavour to claim Riboku's life. At the very end, he truly embodied the notion that 'a general should not show his back and flee'. Whether he liked it or not, Kanki did indeed personify the essence of a great general, culminating in a worthy death that paralleled Ouki's death at Bayou:
Both Ouki and Kanki left their subordinates (Tou, Maron, Ogiko and the Saki clan) with clear instructions to live on and not follow them into death. Both went on a rage-induced rampage before their deaths and their final visions were bathed in a heavenly light. Even though Shin never truly understood Kanki and hated him to the end, Kanki placed his trust in Shin like Ouki did years ago, implicitly appointing him as his Great General successor. Ouki showed Shin how the battlefield could be a place to achieve greatness while Kanki taught Shin the true cost and horrors of war.
Conclusion
As @Elder Lee Hung pointed out in the comments of part 2, Kanki is, at heart, a highly empathetic and idealistic individual. Even Riboku recognised this and Shio suggested that Kanki's insight and knowledge of the human condition contributed greatly to his suffering and rage.
We saw Kanki display compassion towards the Saki clan when he took them under his wing and became incensed when he witnessed their suffering. It is because Kanki deeply understands honour, love and sacrifice that he is such a master of psychological warfare, always knowing just the right way to get under his opponents' skin. It is also the reason why Kanki was willing to bet everything on Kisui abandoning Kokuyou Hills to save Rigan. Where Shouheikun, Ten and other traditional strategists see pieces on a board, Kanki sees human beings with weaknesses and foibles to exploit. Kanki was completely convinced that Kisui would decide with his heart and not his head because he knew Kisui was just like Shio. And that Shio would have done the same.
Hopefully this analysis has made a decent case for why it is unfair for the fandom to write off Kanki as a two-dimensional edgelord and how such an interpretation fundamentally misunderstands the character and his purpose in the story. Kingdom has produced some incredible villains and secondary characters who pose intellectual and ideological challenges to our heroes such as Ryofui and Ouken, the king of Qi. Kanki takes that ideological conflict from the palace halls to the very battlefields frequented by Shin and the HSU, making it clear that Shin will need to devise his own answer to Kanki's claims and push for the changes he wants to see in the world.
Congrats for reading this far, pour one out for our boy Kanki and hope that Hara has something up his sleeve to fill the massive shoes that Kanki left for the remaining cast. Happy break month boys; I will see you on the other side.
If you haven't already, I strongly recommend you check out parts 1 and 2 in the series before reading this one. Part 1 explored Hara's use of dialogue and narrative devices to establish Kanki's character and motivations, while Part 2 delved into Kanki's relationships with other characters and how they contribute to his portrayal. I'll leave a link to each part below:
Part 1 - https://worstgen.alwaysdata.net/for...cterisation-great-general-kanki-part-1.39827/
Part 2 - https://worstgen.alwaysdata.net/for...cterisation-great-general-kanki-part-2.40393/
This analysis will focus on the following three topics:
1. Kanki as a mirror foil character
2. The world of Qin - how kingdoms create their own monsters
3. Rage against the middle class - is Kanki all edge and no point?
4. Conclusion
Unfortunately, Kanki was the only character in Kingdom that I truly felt invested in to this extent. The series will be much duller without him around; however I hope that in future, Ousen and other characters can step up to fill the gap. If you're interested in being tagged in any future Kingdom threads I make, lmk in the comments below. If you're still here after reading the walls of text in parts 1 and 2, thanks for sticking around; hope you enjoy the finale.
Kanki as a mirror foil character
Many readers familiar with literary tropes have already pointed out that Kanki serves as a foil to Shin and Sei. But what does that actually mean? Tvtropes defines a foil character as:
Jewelers often put shiny metal foil underneath a gem to make the stone shine brighter, or display them on dark velvet to bring attention to their brightness. A literary foil serves a similar purpose; it is to provide contrast to another character by accentuating their differences.
Sidekicks often serve as the hero's foil: a calm and pragmatic sidekick will accompany a hot-headed hero, for example, or a conventionally-brave hero will drag a Lovable Coward. In the classic story of Good vs. Evil, the hero and villain play the other's foil, in that each acts to show how the other behaves in certain situations. But virtually any story with multiple characters can use contrast to show greater depths to them; two persons do not have to be on opposite ends of the moral spectrum to be foils.
Foils need to be seen together; the interaction between the contrasting characters is what makes this trope work. A pair of foils may be strangers when the story begins, but they need to come together at some point in the story and let their opposed personalities shine through. Otherwise, we just have a pair of characters with different personalities.
Sidekicks often serve as the hero's foil: a calm and pragmatic sidekick will accompany a hot-headed hero, for example, or a conventionally-brave hero will drag a Lovable Coward. In the classic story of Good vs. Evil, the hero and villain play the other's foil, in that each acts to show how the other behaves in certain situations. But virtually any story with multiple characters can use contrast to show greater depths to them; two persons do not have to be on opposite ends of the moral spectrum to be foils.
Foils need to be seen together; the interaction between the contrasting characters is what makes this trope work. A pair of foils may be strangers when the story begins, but they need to come together at some point in the story and let their opposed personalities shine through. Otherwise, we just have a pair of characters with different personalities.
'But wait!' you might say, 'Kanki, Shin and Sei are actually pretty similar! They're not that different!' And you would be right; Kanki is actually a mirror foil character. He has a similar background to Shin and gives us a glimpse of what Shin could have become if no one had filled the void left by Hyou's death. Kanki and Sei might be completely opposed ideologically speaking, but both experienced the loss of an influential female figure and are revered by a small group of people (Sei's inner circle, Sai militia vs the Saki/Kanki clan) who they personally inspired and encouraged. Tvtropes explains the overlap between mirrors and foils as follows:
Much like a Foil character mimics tinfoil used by jewelers to emphasize the shine of a gemstone with their differences, a Mirror Character reflects a character's traits to highlight the similarities.
Mirror Characters, also known as Parallel Characters in some literary circles, almost certainly share personality traits, values, similar skill sets, and possibly even goals and likely a narrative arc. They may have the same or similar background, whether they're from the Wrong Side of the Tracks or born a Royal Brat. They might have have shared the same mentor in the past (or even the present). If they have none of the same backstory at all, their similarities will be significant for coming about regardless of their environment.
Think of them like the character versions of Bookends: the similarities serve to highlight something important about the characters and their story.
Typically, Mirrors will be antagonists of some sort, especially an Arch-Enemy. They are almost certainly The Rival, as two characters reflecting each other so strongly on the same side is often jarring.
While a Mirror is seen as the literary opposite of a Foil, in truth the tropes often overlap and a character's Foil and Mirror can be the same character. Call them Mirror Foils, and both the Evil Counterpart and Shadow Archetype are often used to create one.
Mirror Characters, also known as Parallel Characters in some literary circles, almost certainly share personality traits, values, similar skill sets, and possibly even goals and likely a narrative arc. They may have the same or similar background, whether they're from the Wrong Side of the Tracks or born a Royal Brat. They might have have shared the same mentor in the past (or even the present). If they have none of the same backstory at all, their similarities will be significant for coming about regardless of their environment.
Think of them like the character versions of Bookends: the similarities serve to highlight something important about the characters and their story.
Typically, Mirrors will be antagonists of some sort, especially an Arch-Enemy. They are almost certainly The Rival, as two characters reflecting each other so strongly on the same side is often jarring.
While a Mirror is seen as the literary opposite of a Foil, in truth the tropes often overlap and a character's Foil and Mirror can be the same character. Call them Mirror Foils, and both the Evil Counterpart and Shadow Archetype are often used to create one.
When ascending the central hill at Kokuyou, Kanki thinks of Shin and hopes that by achieving outstanding results on the battlefield, he can make Shin renounce his hardheadedness and naivete. Despite Kanki and his army's disgusting behaviour, one cannot argue against the fact that individual soldiers of the Kanki army do get to live a better life, far better than being born a peasant or a slave would allow. Realistically speaking, it is very, very difficult to get others to follow you solely because they believe in your dream. In the end, even Bihei, Ryuusen and the others have families and loved ones that would benefit from pilfering a bit of extra wealth on the side. People usually do require some sort of extrinsic motivation; the HSU is just extremely unusual in this regard.
Don't believe me? Imagine this: you are an uneducated, illiterate peasant man from the Qin countryside. Your only career options are back-breaking farm or construction work for pennies in your tiny backwater burg, or joining the military as an infantrymen. By some random stroke of luck you end up in the Kanki army where your bosses and big boss will happily turn a blind eye if you slip a ring, a bracelet, a coin purse from an enemy soldier or unlucky Zhao villager you killed. Your house's roof is leaking. Your 12 children (3 of whom died from whooping cough as babies) need food and clothes. Would you not take the opportunity instead of risking your life day after day, camped miles away from your family and dining exclusively on meagre army rations? The Kanki army is a poor man's paradise. More on that later in this analysis.
The one thing Shin was wrong about, however, was that Kanki and his commanders are not empty. Kanki is a disappointed idealist filled with (justified) anger towards the state of the world and Qin's complete abandonment of the lower class. His commanders follow him because he gives meaning to their lives and forged a path to greatness that they ever even thought was possible. Despite the brutal massacres he perpetrates, Kanki has demonstrated instances of courage, respect and even kindness in honouring Choutou and Koku'Ou's last words. It could be that because they are so similar, Kanki and Shin cannot truly understand why the other chose such a different path in life.
The world of Qin - how kingdoms create their own monsters
In order to understand Kanki's motivations and character, we need to take a look at the current sociopolitical state of Qin society. What exactly did Kanki mean when he told Riboku that he and Sei had 'set their sights too far outside themselves'? Let's start from the beginning as Hara established the rules of Qin society early on through Shoubunkun and Heki. Multiple characters have praised Qin for being a meritocracy and to some degree it is. Qin allows peasant conscripts to attain commander ranks, promoted several foreigners (Saitaku, Ryofui, Mougou) to high ranking officials and is generally less corrupt than the other states at an administrative level. However, not everyone is able to participate in this meritocracy:
To even become a foot soldier, one requires a house and above average wealth. This automatically eliminates a lot of people, even those who have the innate talent to become generals (Maron, Koku'Ou, Raido, Shin, Hyou and Kanki). Because 99% of Qin society is illiterate, uneducated and lacks access to key resources, this means that their only path to fame, glory and wealth is through the military rather than a civil or administrative job. However, they can still be excluded from that pathway for being too poor! People like Shin, Hyou and Kanki would have been destined to live pitiful lives, trapped in eternal poverty without the intervention of a high ranking member of the military or nobility that allowed them to pursue their dreams. Even when these economically disadvantaged young men joined the military, they had to compete with soldiers from noble families such as Ouhon and Heki who had received formal training in tactics and had access to equipment like siege towers. The deck is ridiculously stacked against poor soldiers trying to climb the ranks to general. Qin might be more meritocratic than its peers but regardless continues to squander the talent of its lower class.
With zero prospects of becoming wealthy and facing numerous structural barriers to climbing the social ladder, what is there for ambitious young boys like Shin and Hyou to do? Oh that's right... become a bandit lol.
Rage against the middle class - is Kanki all edge and no point?
Now that we've gotten this far, you're probably wondering why Kanki directs his rage towards the middle class, and not towards the likes of Sei. Well don't worry, he's got plenty to say about Sei. For now, let's take a look back at Kanki's backstory, the speech that had the fandom crying 'edgelord'.
Kanki appears to agree wholeheartedly with the statement "the only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing", a saying often misattributed to the 18th century Irish philosopher Edmund Burke. He considers middle-class apathy a greater evil than the upper class's misdeeds; a position that seems befuddling at first glance. Although it is true that the upper class often create systems and institutions that oppress the poor and minority groups, these systems and institutions would not survive if not for both the explicit and implicit support of those in the middle. Consider the following scenarios:
Your child is assaulted at a college party by the chancellor's son. You are completely outraged and attempt to file a police report about the incident. The officers interviewing you and your child are blatantly unhelpful and suggest that your child brought this upon themself. While you try to escalate the case to your superior, you discover that the chancellor's son and his friends have initiated an online smear campaign to damage your child's reputation. Your child's classmates have interacted with their posts but have not expressed any support for your child, nor have they attempted to stop the bullying. The university staff are similarly unhelpful and actively ignore the bullying taking place under their noses.
You have collected evidence that your employer is involved in large-scale waste-theft. The wage theft is also fairly common knowledge among the staff. You file a report to the labour board, requesting corroborating statements from your coworkers. Instead of assisting your case, your coworkers berate you for rocking the boat and complain that because of your actions, your manager is going to have a hard time. You are befuddled because the wage theft has resulted in both you and your coworkers being shortchanged thousands of dollars.
In both scenarios, you already know or expect that the chancellor's son and the company management are complete dirtbags. You likely gave up on them ever doing the right thing long ago. What would enrage you most, however, is that classmates, colleagues, people in your community decided to turn a blind eye to these wrongdoings and in fact hindered you when you attempted to pursue justice for yourself and others. This herd mentality and groupthink is what Kanki is referring to in his speech. Imagine if Sei announced that he would abolish slavery tomorrow. All slaves must be freed and given housing and employment so they can meaningfully participate in society. Both the middle and upper class would be foaming at the mouth with rage. This is why Kanki believes that unjust societal structures won't change - the middle class also has a vested interest, or is simply too apathetic or cowardly - to support or persuade their leaders to correct injustice. Kanki's speech forces the audience to question whether things really will improve under Sei's reign for the dispossessed and disadvantaged.
Wanna know who is actually an edgelord? This guy:
Both Ouki and Kanki left their subordinates (Tou, Maron, Ogiko and the Saki clan) with clear instructions to live on and not follow them into death. Both went on a rage-induced rampage before their deaths and their final visions were bathed in a heavenly light. Even though Shin never truly understood Kanki and hated him to the end, Kanki placed his trust in Shin like Ouki did years ago, implicitly appointing him as his Great General successor. Ouki showed Shin how the battlefield could be a place to achieve greatness while Kanki taught Shin the true cost and horrors of war.
Conclusion
As @Elder Lee Hung pointed out in the comments of part 2, Kanki is, at heart, a highly empathetic and idealistic individual. Even Riboku recognised this and Shio suggested that Kanki's insight and knowledge of the human condition contributed greatly to his suffering and rage.
We saw Kanki display compassion towards the Saki clan when he took them under his wing and became incensed when he witnessed their suffering. It is because Kanki deeply understands honour, love and sacrifice that he is such a master of psychological warfare, always knowing just the right way to get under his opponents' skin. It is also the reason why Kanki was willing to bet everything on Kisui abandoning Kokuyou Hills to save Rigan. Where Shouheikun, Ten and other traditional strategists see pieces on a board, Kanki sees human beings with weaknesses and foibles to exploit. Kanki was completely convinced that Kisui would decide with his heart and not his head because he knew Kisui was just like Shio. And that Shio would have done the same.
Hopefully this analysis has made a decent case for why it is unfair for the fandom to write off Kanki as a two-dimensional edgelord and how such an interpretation fundamentally misunderstands the character and his purpose in the story. Kingdom has produced some incredible villains and secondary characters who pose intellectual and ideological challenges to our heroes such as Ryofui and Ouken, the king of Qi. Kanki takes that ideological conflict from the palace halls to the very battlefields frequented by Shin and the HSU, making it clear that Shin will need to devise his own answer to Kanki's claims and push for the changes he wants to see in the world.
Congrats for reading this far, pour one out for our boy Kanki and hope that Hara has something up his sleeve to fill the massive shoes that Kanki left for the remaining cast. Happy break month boys; I will see you on the other side.
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