King of Ls - RI BOKU || How Yasuhisa Hara crafted the Greatest Antagonist in all of Manga

[Xione]

The various worlds of manga contain various villains and antagonists from the likes Griffith to King Bradley to Frieza to the likes of Madara Uchiha, Aizen, Doflamingo, Hisoka, L and many more. A lot of these antagonists are from series that are way more renowned than KINGDOM is, despite their manga quality being subpar compared to KINGDOM. You see what a lot of these antagonists have in common is that their main "L" as antagonist really only comes in their final showdown with the MC or the MC's group. Because normally when an antagonist keeps on taking Ls after Ls after Ls in major events they lose their credibility as far as being an antagonist goes... however Yasuhisa Hara despite giving this character major Ls throughout the series has managed to craft him into the GOAT antagonist in all of manga.


Now I use the phrase "King of Ls" partially to tease with the Riboku haters, but also because it is facts that he's taken some major Ls, but regardless Hara still turned him into GOAT antagonist.

Riboku's Character Progression:


I. The Introduction:

- Riboku's first appearance in this manga happens when he comes to the lookout tower that was being used by Mouki, Karyo Ten, and their fellow strategists. Him and Kaine arrive there being very very nice. The man even goes out of his way to handover his sword to them, despite having the ability to essentially just 1-shot them.

- Then shortly after this we learn about a mysterious Army of Zhao's that had eliminated 100k mountain men in the Northern parts of Zhao, from Yotanwa. Who then leads on Ei Sei to realize how dangerous of a situation they're facing right now with the battle of Bayou going on. And the leader of this army is then revealed to be none other than Riboku, the nice guy standing next to Mouki & Karyo Ten.

- Chapter 156. Then starts off with that Zhao army coming in and Riboku being officially introduced as a Zhao Three Great Heaven aka Qin's worst enemy.

Spoiler

- As the battle of Bayou reaches it's climax, Riboku then proceeds to eliminate a fan favorite character, Great General Ouki. But you see doesn't do it in an "honorable" 1v1 manner or anything such like that. But rather in a manner that would be considered disgraceful by China, by allowing his underling to interfere with an ongoing duel. Establishing that this nice dude has no issues using underhanded tactics.

Spoiler

- After eliminating Qin's biggest general, the man has the guts to walk straight into the Qin palace and offer up an alliance. And this had a lot of fans like..
"Bruh this man didn't really just come in here expecting to be buddy buddy with the Qin now did he?" Well yup he did, this dude come in prepared and even ended up persuading mfing Ryofui of all people bro. I personally def. was like of man I can't wait until Shin fucks him up.


II. Becoming the most hated

- Right after getting the alliance Qin & Zhao start to do their own thing for their benefits. Qin goes ahead and takes Sanyou, Zhao takes some of Yan land and eliminated Gekishin. Riboku here built with eliminating the top general of Qin & then top general of Yan. But see sum happens, he over there looking at Shouheikun.. "oh you think you slick with taking Sanyou? not on my watch boy".

- The man proceeds to convince fucking all of the Kingdoms into going to war against the Qin. "Yea y'all want that unification? Not on my damn watch boy!" And when that coalition army y'all know our damn reaction was: Fuck you Riboku.

- Then when it all seemed good for the Qin in the Coalition arc, this dude pulls his stunt again and proceeds to eliminate another fan favorite character, Duke Hyou. And proceeds to go on a rampage taking Qin cities after cities. Going all the way to Sai, where our boy Shin eventually had to go to avoid being hunted down.

- But then we started off the battle of Sai, with people like myself just wanting Shin and co to mess him up good. Then when they broke down the gates.. But then Yotanwa came in with the clutchness and our boy Shin made Houken back off, forcing Riboku to retreat. And it was like.. yo finally this mf got put in his damn place.

- Nope, even though the dude got put away from the Zhao military, the mans still start planning his next moves. Then when Qin starts to go on a role again with Kanki finessing Keisha and with Shin eliminating Keisha... But here he comes "Kanki's weakness"... but not just that mf comes back with two unknown generals.


III. Becoming the "Good Guy"

- So as the Qi King comes to see Ei Sei for his meeting, this mf Riboku does his finessing and comes along to confront Ei Sei himself. Now this is where his character takes a whole turn in my opinion.

You see his reason for doing the Coalition war was so to stop the Qin from starting the conquest of China. And in his discussion with Ei Sei find out why.. and it's because he doesn't believe that Ei Sei has the moral justification of bringing peace after laying waste to millions of peoples of China. This right here essentially establishes him the "good guy", who's trying to prevent a mass tragedy that would cause the deaths of millions within few years.

Spoiler

While Ei Sei here turns into the "bad guy" who is willing to slaughter millions to achieve his dream that he believes might end all warfare:

Spoiler

So Hara here pulls a weird role-reversal of Riboku & the Qin, where originally Riboku was portrayed as the mf trying to mess with the Qin, it's not revealed that his true intentions were all along to prevent the Qin from starting that unification crusade, that he believes will cause the greatest of tragedies.

- He leaves the meeting by declaring that no matter who Qin send at him, they won't be able to do shit to him, and he was pretty much right about it. Since the Qin were on the verge of taking a L, were it not for the meddling Pedo King. And that brings us to the next point of how Oda continues the "Riboku = good guy".

- Man after reading this mf trying to handle everything, like mfin everything regarding Zhao, from it's political well-fare to the various battlefields that he laid plains, while also taking on Ousen in a direct showdown... only for him to get stabbed in the back by his own damn nation before he could hand the Qin a giant L for this whole campaign... it was the ultimate "This dude is THE good guy" thing Hara could've done. Like yo this dude out here giving his all to the fucking nation and the benefit for it's people... so it's people can keep their culture/identity/etc. But the dude gets backstabbed by the leaders of his very nation. Even while in prison the man was thinking about the safety of his nation rather than making plans to escape.

Like yo when this panel happened.. is like yo I can't cheer against Riboku no more bruh. Now myself and few others that I know who read this are cheering for Riboku to lay whooping on the Qin and as well as show up the Zhao heirarchy.

Spoiler

And the thing is this whole situation with him made me realize how pirviliged mfs like Shouheikun/Moubu/Tou/Ousen/Ei Sei/RiShi/Ryofui etc are/were for having so many talented like-minded individuals working together.

Like think about Riboku's story from then in simply 8 years he had taken a Zhao that was completely devastated and was arguably the weakest military wise after Renpa was kicked out. He within a year of Renpa's departure takes over, proceeds to eliminate Ouki & Gekishin, the biggest threats to Zhao. Then builds up the military infrastructures & defenses for Zhao to make it nearly impenetrable to invade. Then actually is very close to handing a L to the Qin in their Zhao campaign, but gets recalled back by the King before he can deliver the finishing touches. Gets imprisoned, gets hunted down... and STILL Wants to comeback and defend his motherland Zhao. That's about as much of a "Good guy" you're gonna find in Kingdom when it comes to non-civilians. Can't even root against the man.

IV. The Ls:

- Riboku gets built up with taking down Ouki and then follows it up with Gekishin, to ultimately take a L at coalition war.
- Then he's brought back with a newer squad Bananji/SSJ/and such, with confidence unlike any before, declaring himself superior to the combination of all generals of Qin. Then puts SHK & co in check. Which then ends with him take a L to the Qin in the Zhao invasion.

So he's taken two massive Ls against the Qin. However, you see both of these times that he's taken a L... Hara has made sure that it's not because of Riboku being inferior to his opponent or anything of that manner. Rather because:

-> Surprise ally Riboku has no clue about coming out of nowhere
-> Progression of the MC & his generation
-> Didn't have the full support of his leaders

1st. For example why did he take the L at Sai? Because it wasn't that they couldn't take on the Mountain men & Yotanwa, it was because the hope for Kanyou after beating Sai wouldn't be possible, thus the better option being to retreat and saving pointless death. Yotanwa being an ally that Riboku simply never would've known about.
Shin's & Karyo Ten's progress throughout that arc was insane.

2nd. For example, in the Zhao invasion arc, Riboku could've finished the off the Qin easily had the King let him utilize the strongest armies of the land, but nope. Then Qin tried the surprise factor of Qi, but this time Riboku had info on the Qin-Qi connection and was able to deduce that Qi could come to aid, but what happens? He gets recalled back before he could finish the campaign completely. Then of course the progression of Mouten/Shin/Ouhon being the crucial factor in his L at Shukai Plains.


What Hara does is that he creates these situations for Riboku, that even when he's taking a L, Hara hypes this mf up. Then everytime he's brought back, he brings him back in a fresher manner, and this time he'll be coming back with Shibashou and more than likely other strong mfs.

Concluding:

Hara over the course of 500+ chapters created this magnificent character who stands as the biggest opposition to not only the MC but the MC's entire nation. However, normally when you have such a character they're "evil" or "really bad guy"... but Hara has managed to turn this character of Riboku from being somebody that many hated because of what he's done to some fan favorite character and continously messing with the MC & his, into being a character that people feel sympathy for... a character that fans can actually cheer for against the MC & his crew and not feel bad about supporting "the bad guy" because he's not a bad guy. And what's also unique is that normally when you have such a long-term "Big villain"/Antagonist the way that writers tend to write them normally is by having them have limited involvement before the climax. Riboku is the damn opposite. The man has been the big baddie for multiple arcs now and has had very very relevant on-screen time. Yet despite that Hara has managed to keep him fresh for being able to use him down the line, rather than it feeling like "same old shit".

And we really haven't even gotten into his backstory fully yet, there are still mysteries regarding that have yet to be explored, that will be explored by Hara as the series goes on, so there's still a good amount of character to explore and character depth to be given to him. What you might also notice is that Hara does this with Riboku:

-> Big baddie arc
-> Break and focus on other stuff
-> Big baddie arc
-> Break and focus on other stuff.

This keeps a refreshing feeling when it comes to Riboku. I rarely see other mangakas implementing such technique for a long-term villain.


So yea, that's my short version of why Riboku is the GOAT antagonist of all time, while others like Hisoka/Aizen/Griffith/etc are all well-written, they just ain't on that Riboku level man. Hara also created another Top 5 all time manga villain in Ryofui, but I don't want to go into him as well, since it already took a lot of time to lay out this short version of Riboku being the GOAT antagonist.


But I hope you all enjoyed it, please let me know your opinions on where Riboku stands in your all-time antagonist list!! Much Love

 

[Xlaw]

I agreed ! Riboku had many flip flops , and when you remove Houken from his arsenal he did not accomplish much by himself.
His biggest achievement in my opinion was managing collaboration among states.
And his biggest L was in recent war against Ousen . Zhao king was just an excuse , dude has so many opportunities to finish Qin generals.

Let's see how he manage to redeeme himself against

Spoiler

Kanki

without Houken by his side..

 

[RayanOO]

Obviously Riboku is one of the best character in the show. When I began reading Kingdom I hated him, the bitch who slayed Ouki etc but the guy is a chad and a great character.

It shows that the world is not black and white : the Mc is not in the angel side and the « bad guy » is not on the devil side. People with different « valid » opinions can clash and to win you have to beat them.

Post automatically merged: Aug 12, 2021

I don’t know Riboku and RyoFui ranking in the all time villains in manga. They are both awesome (I prefer RyoFui but both are top tier).

There are other great villains out there : Reiner Braun, Zeke, Meruem, Johan Liebert, Griffith, etc.

But they are défo top 10/15 of what I read

 

[MarineHQ]

Riboku is the best written character in Kingdom imo and easily in the top 10 of the best antagonists of all time. Really glad he didn't get killed of in the last campaign, there is still much more lore left to explore for his character. One of the main reasons Zhao is my fav state is because of Riboku. He is just a man with a good heart that earnestly tries to protect his state, from their perspective the Qin are the "bad" guys with individuals like Hakuki, Ousen and Kanki at the head of the military.

Riboku will regain a lot of respect in the near future and one of the Qin's generals will get washed by him.

 

[Warchief Sanji D Goat]

Riboku is basically the better Aizen.

Goated.

 

[RealD]

even with Houken, he got spanked by Ousen.

Ousen >>>>Riboku

 

[Topi Jerami]

Great post
Next please do an essay about Chancellor Ryofui @Xione

 

[Elder Lee Hung]

@Xione simply magnificent post. Riboku is easily an S Tier villain without a doubt.

I think there are two crucial aspects of Riboku that you missed that I wanted to mention, and damnit I don't have the panels but maybe you do lol. So for me, here is really what makes Riboku a god tier antagonist within Kingdom:

Riboku Dislikes Warfare

Riboku first makes this comment when we meet him at Bayou, but Riboku is the strongest general of his era of Generals, he straight up defeated both Ouki and Gekishin, he became a household name as the most dangerous man in China and the General at the top of his era...and yet Riboku himself does not like warfare and stated that his ideal life is to live quietly on a farm somewhere. This is in stark contrast to figures like Ouki and Renpa, some of the strongest generals of all time who actively enjoy the battlefield and spent their lives pursuing their passions through battle. Riboku surpassed both of them, and yet he himself views war as tragically violent and unfortunate. Which brings me to point 2:

Riboku is a Self-Described Coward

When Riboku and Ryofui talk, Riboku describes himself as a "coward," standing again in stark contrast to figures that Shin idolizes like Duke Hyou who charged headfirst into a 100K man Wei Army with only 5K men at his back, and Ouki who charges into enemy armies if they just so happen to be standing in the way of a hill that he wants to stand atop. This subversion of our expectations of what it is to be a traditional Great General within the world of Kingdom-and exemplified by the most important antagonist in the story so far and the Great General at the top of his own era, truly makes Riboku stand out as a Great General and as an antagonist in general, as someone directly opposed to the type of valorous General that Shin himself aspires to be. Shin wants to be an Ouki or a Duke Hyou: some legendary figure who charges headfirst into battle without fear, and amping the morale of his own men to insane levels, and Riboku...is just a quiet tactician who commands his army from the rear, dislikes warfare, describes himself as a coward and doesn't have any romanticized views of warfare like Shin and our main Qin characters do.

Couple this with the fact that Riboku actually does invent his own tactics from his own personal experience of miserable failure as a frontline warrior, and you have the makings of a truly exceptional foil to Shin/Ouki/Duke Hyou. Whereas Ouki and Duke Hyou found enormous success on the battlefield by charging headfirst into adversity and overcoming that adversity through combat, Riboku found that charging headfirst into battle robbed him of everyone in life that he was close to, and it wasn't until Riboku threw away that simplistic view of warfare that he began to find serious success on the battlefield.

And funnily enough, the Zhao Monarchy also view Riboku as a coward. They view his tactics as cowardly and weak for the sole reason that they are so different from the valorous tactics of frontline generals. The Zhao court do not like Riboku because they view him as the coward that he says he is. But at the same time, Riboku is pretty much the sole reason that Zhao has not been annihilated by the Xiongnu, as no other Generals the Zhao have thrown at them have been able to break them, while Riboku committed a Xiongnu genocide so horrific that the Xiongnu didn't dare to fuck with Zhao for the past decade. When Ousen took Gyou from Riboku, Riboku did not view the battle as having ended yet, correctly recognizing that victory and defeat are nothing more than states-of-mind, but the Zhao court was convinced that Riboku had been defeated and thus removed him from his post despite the fact that had they left him alone, he would've foreseen Ousen's plot to receive aid from Qi and could've potentially countered it, which in the long run would've cost Qin the battle and likely would've resulted in Qin's unification plot ultimately failing. In real time, we witness Riboku's own unique methods and philosophies on warfare paying off, while the perception of him as being cowardly because his methods are so different than that of a traditional general ends up costing him.

I think I've rambled enough for now but...Riboku to me is incredible because he subverts that expectation of what a typical Great General is supposed to be in this manga. He serves as such an excellent foil to the characters we are supposed to love, and he does so in a way that is executed so well within the story...like dayum. Riboku is truly a one of a kind antagonist that I doubt Hara will ever surpass. This character may in the end be remembered (by me at least) as Hara's best.

 

[Xione]

@Xione simply magnificent post. Riboku is easily an S Tier villain without a doubt.

I think there are two crucial aspects of Riboku that you missed that I wanted to mention, and damnit I don't have the panels but maybe you do lol. So for me, here is really what makes Riboku a god tier antagonist within Kingdom:

Riboku Dislikes Warfare

Riboku first makes this comment when we meet him at Bayou, but Riboku is the strongest general of his era of Generals, he straight up defeated both Ouki and Gekishin, he became a household name as the most dangerous man in China and the General at the top of his era...and yet Riboku himself does not like warfare and stated that his ideal life is to live quietly on a farm somewhere. This is in stark contrast to figures like Ouki and Renpa, some of the strongest generals of all time who actively enjoy the battlefield and spent their lives pursuing their passions through battle. Riboku surpassed both of them, and yet he himself views war as tragically violent and unfortunate. Which brings me to point 2:

Riboku is a Self-Described Coward

When Riboku and Ryofui talk, Riboku describes himself as a "coward," standing again in stark contrast to figures that Shin idolizes like Duke Hyou who charged headfirst into a 100K man Wei Army with only 5K men at his back, and Ouki who charges into enemy armies if they just so happen to be standing in the way of a hill that he wants to stand atop. This subversion of our expectations of what it is to be a traditional Great General within the world of Kingdom-and exemplified by the most important antagonist in the story so far and the Great General at the top of his own era, truly makes Riboku stand out as a Great General and as an antagonist in general, as someone directly opposed to the type of valorous General that Shin himself aspires to be. Shin wants to be an Ouki or a Duke Hyou: some legendary figure who charges headfirst into battle without fear, and amping the morale of his own men to insane levels, and Riboku...is just a quiet tactician who commands his army from the rear, dislikes warfare, describes himself as a coward and doesn't have any romanticized views of warfare like Shin and our main Qin characters do.

Couple this with the fact that Riboku actually does invent his own tactics from his own personal experience of miserable failure as a frontline warrior, and you have the makings of a truly exceptional foil to Shin/Ouki/Duke Hyou. Whereas Ouki and Duke Hyou found enormous success on the battlefield by charging headfirst into adversity and overcoming that adversity through combat, Riboku found that charging headfirst into battle robbed him of everyone in life that he was close to, and it wasn't until Riboku threw away that simplistic view of warfare that he began to find serious success on the battlefield.

And funnily enough, the Zhao Monarchy also view Riboku as a coward. They view his tactics as cowardly and weak for the sole reason that they are so different from the valorous tactics of frontline generals. The Zhao court do not like Riboku because they view him as the coward that he says he is. But at the same time, Riboku is pretty much the sole reason that Zhao has not been annihilated by the Xiongnu, as no other Generals the Zhao have thrown at them have been able to break them, while Riboku committed a Xiongnu genocide so horrific that the Xiongnu didn't dare to fuck with Zhao for the past decade. When Ousen took Gyou from Riboku, Riboku did not view the battle as having ended yet, correctly recognizing that victory and defeat are nothing more than states-of-mind, but the Zhao court was convinced that Riboku had been defeated and thus removed him from his post despite the fact that had they left him alone, he would've foreseen Ousen's plot to receive aid from Qi and could've potentially countered it, which in the long run would've cost Qin the battle and likely would've resulted in Qin's unification plot ultimately failing. In real time, we witness Riboku's own unique methods and philosophies on warfare paying off, while the perception of him as being cowardly because his methods are so different than that of a traditional general ends up costing him.

I think I've rambled enough for now but...Riboku to me is incredible because he subverts that expectation of what a typical Great General is supposed to be in this manga. He serves as such an excellent foil to the characters we are supposed to love, and he does so in a way that is executed so well within the story...like dayum. Riboku is truly a one of a kind antagonist that I doubt Hara will ever surpass. This character may in the end be remembered (by me at least) as Hara's best.

Ayeee bruhz Lee coming in with the in-depth post.

I gotchu on the panels, as far the series is concerned, I believe this is really the only panel:

Spoiler

Allow me to build upon what you've stated by using a source that is outside of the series, but is by Hara and essentially serves as a tiny part of his background.

Spoiler: Credibility of the "Li Mu" one-shot

Words from the mangaka himself that he might add this story to the main manga for their background, but it might be awkward since it's already a 1-shot (I highly doubt he will, rather we'll get the story of a different time with Riboku).

Spoiler

Riboku's body is emphasized in the one-shot just as it was emphasized in the KINGDOM main series, scars and everything:

Spoiler

Riboku's whole backstory with him being once a young dude thrilled about warfare and such that was mentioned in the Gyou invasion arc:

Spoiler

This is also the same as the one-shot, except Riboku in the one-shot describes the events that happened before meeting Houken:

Spoiler

So imo, it's safe & credible to use this as part of Riboku's backstory, unless something in the manga ends up contradicting. But nothing is contradicting it, rather building up from it.

So when Riboku describes himself as a coward, this is essentially based on the way people viewed him tactically, Kaine here labeled Riboku's tactic of not fighting the mountain people as "cowardly":

Spoiler

A sentiment that the Xiong Nu also shared with Kaine:

Spoiler

Riboku then explains why he is using defensive measures in a strategical sense. Adding that, he's simply not going to throw away the lives of his comrades over some taunts of people calling him a coward:

Spoiler

Now Riboku continues to lecture Kaine, and ends with this panel below. This is also where the idea of Riboku not liking warfare stems from. Because he doesn't underestimate the value of lives.

Spoiler

This value of lives is also exhibited also when he opposes Ei Sei and emphasizes to him the sheer loss of life that will take place in Ei Sei's vision to unite China, something to him is completely unacceptable. Especially since he believes Ei Sei's vision of everlasting peaceful China after unification is a baseless vision. Even though he himself is also a person who wants to see the era of warfare come to an end, he's not going to slaughter lives on an unimaginable scale to achieve it, especially for some baseless Utopian vision:

Spoiler

This plays directly into the whole coward thing, because here again Riboku is not going to risk the lives of millions boldly like Ei Sei/SHK/etc. He instead works on an alternative around the situation, the All-China alliance, a solution that many would label as the "cowardly" solution instead of the "warrior/brave/etc" solution that the unification would be perceived as. Because see how the likes of Renpa view the unification of China as this great legendary feat. These dudes who as Gaimou pointed out about had dreams or w.e of warfare.

Spoiler

But for Riboku it's essentially like "nah bruh, we ain't slaughtering millions just for you to prove your self to be top general in history or sum shit." :yasu:


But getting back into the coward stuff, Riboku is then reported as a coward to the Zhao capital, where he's then removed from that area.

Spoiler

After he leaves that area takes hard casualities in the Xiong Nu raid, which results in Riboku's return as they realized Riboku was doing something right. And to the Kaine he mentions her now having to follow his cowardly orders again, with a giant smile on his face:

Spoiler

So I suppose it's not that he actually considers himself to be a coward, but rather he calls himself a coward because that's how people on the outside (the likes of Ryofui and such) would/will perceive him due to his tactics, that generally revolve around the preserving of life.

It's weird when I was making this post, it's like the man is essentially the "good guy" of the series when look at it from a real life point of view. Shin/Ei Sei/etc are all willing to slaughter millions to achieve their Utopia of no warfare, which as Riboku pointed out is a baseless vision, and of course to become legendary generals who will go down in history. But Riboku on the other hand is like, nah nah nah nah, human life is too precious, we'll instead find an alternative to end this era of warfare without the need to slaughter.

That's a damn mind twister stuff for the readers that Hara got going on over here man ahahah.

 

[Nel-Zel fiasco]

The various worlds of manga contain various villains and antagonists from the likes Griffith to King Bradley to Frieza to the likes of Madara Uchiha, Aizen, Doflamingo, Hisoka, L and many more. A lot of these antagonists are from series that are way more renowned than KINGDOM is, despite their manga quality being subpar compared to KINGDOM. You see what a lot of these antagonists have in common is that their main "L" as antagonist really only comes in their final showdown with the MC or the MC's group. Because normally when an antagonist keeps on taking Ls after Ls after Ls in major events they lose their credibility as far as being an antagonist goes... however Yasuhisa Hara despite giving this character major Ls throughout the series has managed to craft him into the GOAT antagonist in all of manga.


Now I use the phrase "King of Ls" partially to tease with the Riboku haters, but also because it is facts that he's taken some major Ls, but regardless Hara still turned him into GOAT antagonist.

Riboku's Character Progression:


I. The Introduction:

- Riboku's first appearance in this manga happens when he comes to the lookout tower that was being used by Mouki, Karyo Ten, and their fellow strategists. Him and Kaine arrive there being very very nice. The man even goes out of his way to handover his sword to them, despite having the ability to essentially just 1-shot them.

- Then shortly after this we learn about a mysterious Army of Zhao's that had eliminated 100k mountain men in the Northern parts of Zhao, from Yotanwa. Who then leads on Ei Sei to realize how dangerous of a situation they're facing right now with the battle of Bayou going on. And the leader of this army is then revealed to be none other than Riboku, the nice guy standing next to Mouki & Karyo Ten.

- Chapter 156. Then starts off with that Zhao army coming in and Riboku being officially introduced as a Zhao Three Great Heaven aka Qin's worst enemy.

Spoiler

- As the battle of Bayou reaches it's climax, Riboku then proceeds to eliminate a fan favorite character, Great General Ouki. But you see doesn't do it in an "honorable" 1v1 manner or anything such like that. But rather in a manner that would be considered disgraceful by China, by allowing his underling to interfere with an ongoing duel. Establishing that this nice dude has no issues using underhanded tactics.

Spoiler

- After eliminating Qin's biggest general, the man has the guts to walk straight into the Qin palace and offer up an alliance. And this had a lot of fans like..
"Bruh this man didn't really just come in here expecting to be buddy buddy with the Qin now did he?" Well yup he did, this dude come in prepared and even ended up persuading mfing Ryofui of all people bro. I personally def. was like of man I can't wait until Shin fucks him up.


II. Becoming the most hated

- Right after getting the alliance Qin & Zhao start to do their own thing for their benefits. Qin goes ahead and takes Sanyou, Zhao takes some of Yan land and eliminated Gekishin. Riboku here built with eliminating the top general of Qin & then top general of Yan. But see sum happens, he over there looking at Shouheikun.. "oh you think you slick with taking Sanyou? not on my watch boy".

- The man proceeds to convince fucking all of the Kingdoms into going to war against the Qin. "Yea y'all want that unification? Not on my damn watch boy!" And when that coalition army y'all know our damn reaction was: Fuck you Riboku.

- Then when it all seemed good for the Qin in the Coalition arc, this dude pulls his stunt again and proceeds to eliminate another fan favorite character, Duke Hyou. And proceeds to go on a rampage taking Qin cities after cities. Going all the way to Sai, where our boy Shin eventually had to go to avoid being hunted down.

- But then we started off the battle of Sai, with people like myself just wanting Shin and co to mess him up good. Then when they broke down the gates.. But then Yotanwa came in with the clutchness and our boy Shin made Houken back off, forcing Riboku to retreat. And it was like.. yo finally this mf got put in his damn place.

- Nope, even though the dude got put away from the Zhao military, the mans still start planning his next moves. Then when Qin starts to go on a role again with Kanki finessing Keisha and with Shin eliminating Keisha... But here he comes "Kanki's weakness"... but not just that mf comes back with two unknown generals.


III. Becoming the "Good Guy"

- So as the Qi King comes to see Ei Sei for his meeting, this mf Riboku does his finessing and comes along to confront Ei Sei himself. Now this is where his character takes a whole turn in my opinion.

You see his reason for doing the Coalition war was so to stop the Qin from starting the conquest of China. And in his discussion with Ei Sei find out why.. and it's because he doesn't believe that Ei Sei has the moral justification of bringing peace after laying waste to millions of peoples of China. This right here essentially establishes him the "good guy", who's trying to prevent a mass tragedy that would cause the deaths of millions within few years.

Spoiler

While Ei Sei here turns into the "bad guy" who is willing to slaughter millions to achieve his dream that he believes might end all warfare:

Spoiler

So Hara here pulls a weird role-reversal of Riboku & the Qin, where originally Riboku was portrayed as the mf trying to mess with the Qin, it's not revealed that his true intentions were all along to prevent the Qin from starting that unification crusade, that he believes will cause the greatest of tragedies.

- He leaves the meeting by declaring that no matter who Qin send at him, they won't be able to do shit to him, and he was pretty much right about it. Since the Qin were on the verge of taking a L, were it not for the meddling Pedo King. And that brings us to the next point of how Oda continues the "Riboku = good guy".

- Man after reading this mf trying to handle everything, like mfin everything regarding Zhao, from it's political well-fare to the various battlefields that he laid plains, while also taking on Ousen in a direct showdown... only for him to get stabbed in the back by his own damn nation before he could hand the Qin a giant L for this whole campaign... it was the ultimate "This dude is THE good guy" thing Hara could've done. Like yo this dude out here giving his all to the fucking nation and the benefit for it's people... so it's people can keep their culture/identity/etc. But the dude gets backstabbed by the leaders of his very nation. Even while in prison the man was thinking about the safety of his nation rather than making plans to escape.

Like yo when this panel happened.. is like yo I can't cheer against Riboku no more bruh. Now myself and few others that I know who read this are cheering for Riboku to lay whooping on the Qin and as well as show up the Zhao heirarchy.

Spoiler

And the thing is this whole situation with him made me realize how pirviliged mfs like Shouheikun/Moubu/Tou/Ousen/Ei Sei/RiShi/Ryofui etc are/were for having so many talented like-minded individuals working together.

Like think about Riboku's story from then in simply 8 years he had taken a Zhao that was completely devastated and was arguably the weakest military wise after Renpa was kicked out. He within a year of Renpa's departure takes over, proceeds to eliminate Ouki & Gekishin, the biggest threats to Zhao. Then builds up the military infrastructures & defenses for Zhao to make it nearly impenetrable to invade. Then actually is very close to handing a L to the Qin in their Zhao campaign, but gets recalled back by the King before he can deliver the finishing touches. Gets imprisoned, gets hunted down... and STILL Wants to comeback and defend his motherland Zhao. That's about as much of a "Good guy" you're gonna find in Kingdom when it comes to non-civilians. Can't even root against the man.

IV. The Ls:

- Riboku gets built up with taking down Ouki and then follows it up with Gekishin, to ultimately take a L at coalition war.
- Then he's brought back with a newer squad Bananji/SSJ/and such, with confidence unlike any before, declaring himself superior to the combination of all generals of Qin. Then puts SHK & co in check. Which then ends with him take a L to the Qin in the Zhao invasion.

So he's taken two massive Ls against the Qin. However, you see both of these times that he's taken a L... Hara has made sure that it's not because of Riboku being inferior to his opponent or anything of that manner. Rather because:

-> Surprise ally Riboku has no clue about coming out of nowhere
-> Progression of the MC & his generation
-> Didn't have the full support of his leaders

1st. For example why did he take the L at Sai? Because it wasn't that they couldn't take on the Mountain men & Yotanwa, it was because the hope for Kanyou after beating Sai wouldn't be possible, thus the better option being to retreat and saving pointless death. Yotanwa being an ally that Riboku simply never would've known about.
Shin's & Karyo Ten's progress throughout that arc was insane.

2nd. For example, in the Zhao invasion arc, Riboku could've finished the off the Qin easily had the King let him utilize the strongest armies of the land, but nope. Then Qin tried the surprise factor of Qi, but this time Riboku had info on the Qin-Qi connection and was able to deduce that Qi could come to aid, but what happens? He gets recalled back before he could finish the campaign completely. Then of course the progression of Mouten/Shin/Ouhon being the crucial factor in his L at Shukai Plains.


What Hara does is that he creates these situations for Riboku, that even when he's taking a L, Hara hypes this mf up. Then everytime he's brought back, he brings him back in a fresher manner, and this time he'll be coming back with Shibashou and more than likely other strong mfs.

Concluding:

Hara over the course of 500+ chapters created this magnificent character who stands as the biggest opposition to not only the MC but the MC's entire nation. However, normally when you have such a character they're "evil" or "really bad guy"... but Hara has managed to turn this character of Riboku from being somebody that many hated because of what he's done to some fan favorite character and continously messing with the MC & his, into being a character that people feel sympathy for... a character that fans can actually cheer for against the MC & his crew and not feel bad about supporting "the bad guy" because he's not a bad guy. And what's also unique is that normally when you have such a long-term "Big villain"/Antagonist the way that writers tend to write them normally is by having them have limited involvement before the climax. Riboku is the damn opposite. The man has been the big baddie for multiple arcs now and has had very very relevant on-screen time. Yet despite that Hara has managed to keep him fresh for being able to use him down the line, rather than it feeling like "same old shit".

And we really haven't even gotten into his backstory fully yet, there are still mysteries regarding that have yet to be explored, that will be explored by Hara as the series goes on, so there's still a good amount of character to explore and character depth to be given to him. What you might also notice is that Hara does this with Riboku:

-> Big baddie arc
-> Break and focus on other stuff
-> Big baddie arc
-> Break and focus on other stuff.

This keeps a refreshing feeling when it comes to Riboku. I rarely see other mangakas implementing such technique for a long-term villain.


So yea, that's my short version of why Riboku is the GOAT antagonist of all time, while others like Hisoka/Aizen/Griffith/etc are all well-written, they just ain't on that Riboku level man. Hara also created another Top 5 all time manga villain in Ryofui, but I don't want to go into him as well, since it already took a lot of time to lay out this short version of Riboku being the GOAT antagonist.


But I hope you all enjoyed it, please let me know your opinions on where Riboku stands in your all-time antagonist list!! Much Love

i like your opinion about riboku n i agree with almost all of your post
But however i want to point some of Riboku ... maybe some critcism or weakness or bad side with fans
1. Houken ... now lost of fans say that houken is "free jail card for riboku" or Riboku pokemon lol n i agree partially with them because houken always show up when rbk in danger or close to failure
in first apperance houken was used by rbk for bait ouki n thats work because ouki have grudge with houken if houken not exist will ouki show up ? n if ouki manege to cornered by rbk tactic will ouki die? propably not because he has a power to get out from that trap + shin n Tou
when rbk attack sai n losing because of yotanwa houken show up n fight shin BUT IF RBK Stand His Ground n keep fighting will he win??? yes yotanwa is strong but don,t you think rbk too fast to pull out his troop? we can see IF RBK TACTIC FAILURE HE ALWAYS PULL OUT because he is STRATEGIST NOT FIGHTER like shin or duke hyou even though he have houken
2. riboku army ... now this is maybe zhao fault or hara fault because HISTORICALLY ZHAO IS WEAKER THAN QIN so rbk always play defensive is gyou arc but after that arc ( i still read ch 676 n counting) Zhao still have 240K ARMY ???!!! WHERE THE FUCK THAT NUMBER COME FROM ?!
in gyou arc we see bananji army cut in half gyou,un army wasted n keisha remnant army getting wiped out yes rbk pull out with his army but zhao loses quite big in gyou arc so where this new army show up? imperial army in kantan maybe 100-150k n that elite guard ?!


if i want to be honest i think hara should go to route as historically riboku(Li Mu) in history zhao always underdog after alliance battle n have LESSER ARMY THAN QUIN the only reason zhao can survive it,s because riboku is GENIUS STRATEGY WHO EXPERT AT DEFENSIVE WAR VS QUIN by doing that fans can appericate riboku than made him meme on reddit

oh yeah i dont hate riboku i think he is good antagonist but i think hara can improve him more

 

[Destroya]

Riboku should have died instead of Houken.

 

[kom5]

Riboku should have died instead of Houken.

Nah Riboku isn't done yet he is too cool
Only with Riboku strategy they did put an hold on Qin invasion despite losing the second most important city

Without Riboku Ousen would wipe away Zhao easily

 

[Xlaw]

He was pretty unlucky with his King also , if they had send royal army in a time , they would would have won.
So it's not like he was failure in this particular war.

Post automatically merged: Aug 29, 2021

Ri Boku spammed Houken against his enemy just like Voldemort spammed Abracadabra lol...

This arc actually showed his strength like using different formations etc...Hara should have focused on that .
As soon as Houken died , he got cornered . In my opinion , if author wanted to kill Houken he should have died in different battlefield.
The last chapters got the impression that he was nothing without Houken. Which is not true..
Even Ousen and Kanki are kicking asses without having strong general.

I wanted him to overwhelme his opponent with his strategy and formations (without houken involved)

Spoiler

against Kanki i guess he is going to use sleeping tiger, hope not

 

[Jailer]

He was pretty unlucky with his King also , if they had send royal army in a time , they would would have won.
So it's not like he was failure in this particular war.

Post automatically merged: Aug 29, 2021

Ri Boku spammed Houken against his enemy just like Voldemort spammed Abracadabra lol...

This arc actually showed his strength like using different formations etc...Hara should have focused on that .
As soon as Houken died , he got cornered . In my opinion , if author wanted to kill Houken he should have died in different battlefield.
The last chapters got the impression that he was nothing without Houken. Which is not true..
Even Ousen and Kanki are kicking asses without having strong general.

I wanted him to overwhelme his opponent with his strategy and formations (without houken involved)

Spoiler

against Kanki i guess he is going to use sleeping tiger, hope not

Riboku got cornered because of that stupid King not because of Houken, a better King would have mobilized the kantan army under Riboku's command, his strategies, the number of the army, the amount of elites among them would have wiped out the Qin army, Ousen himself basically saya that.

That's what happens when you have a trashy King

 

[MarineHQ]

Riboku keeps getting bashed on for things he had no control over.

- He cleverly built a city in order win precious days by letting the enemy waste time to take a city that is easy to recapture.
- He reshaped the region of Kokuyou in a way where it is impossible for Qin to threaten Zhao.
- The lord of Gyou is at fault for opening all gates for the civilians.

Riboku was working Ousen's ass for nearly the entire battle. He set up and personally joined the battle to slay Makou. He also found the weakness in Akou's defence which was said to be equal to Ousen's iirc.

Ousen only ever impressed with his Crane formation, that one Riboku looked totally helpless against but for the most part Ousen was sitting around and trusting that his superior subordinates pull through.

 

[Xlaw]

Riboku keeps getting bashed on for things he had no control over.

- He cleverly built a city in order win precious days by letting the enemy waste time to take a city that is easy to recapture.
- He reshaped the region of Kokuyou in a way where it is impossible for Qin to threaten Zhao.
- The lord of Gyou is at fault for opening all gates for the civilians.

Riboku was working Ousen's ass for nearly the entire battle. He set up and personally joined the battle to slay Makou. He also found the weakness in Akou's defence which was said to be equal to Ousen's iirc.

Ousen only ever impressed with his Crane formation, that one Riboku looked totally helpless against but for the most part Ousen was sitting around and trusting that his superior subordinates pull through.

Unfortunately this manga follow historical events , so there is a limit how much author can hype and give fake achievements to certain characters....
He still has one opportunity to shine tho

 

[Blother Fertitta]

I hated rbk at first
Now I sympathize with him
He just wants the best for his kingdom
And unfortunately he’s alone in that

 

[God Buggy]

Riboku is great, definitely one of my favorite characters.

Side note, at times I think I think that there is a good amount of bias against the guy. I ran into nonsense like:

- "Riboku only beat Ouki having the great numerical superiority, Ouki is the better general" as if the whole situation wasn't carefully prepared by Riboku who manipulated everything to his advantage and outsmarted Ouki, reaching this exact situation. That is literally the point through which Riboku demonstrated his superiority to Ouki LOL. @Fleet Admiral Lee Hung You'll like this one 😂😂

- Downplaying him in regard with Ousen, after the big Zhao arc. Ousen is my favorite general in Kingdom and I think he and Riboku are pretty much equals but I think some who downplay Riboku like to ignore the fact that he lost time sending a message back (Riboku ultimately had figured out the Qi card), as he was being transported away. Had Riboku remained where he was, it's uncertain how the situation would have turned out and who would have ultimately prevailed there.
The whole point in this arc. is that Riboku and Ousen really are evenly matched in warfare, overall.

- He failed to take Sai but...Sei put up a performance that king Sho wouldn't have been capable of. Sei was extraordinary there.

 

[Jailer]

- Downplaying him in regard with Ousen, after the big Zhao arc. Ousen is my favorite general in Kingdom and I think he and Riboku are pretty much equals but I think some who downplay Riboku like to ignore the fact that he lost time sending a message back (Riboku ultimately had figured out the Qi card), as he was being transported away. Had Riboku remained where he was, it's uncertain how the situation would have turned out and who would have ultimately prevailed there.
The whole point in this arc. is that Riboku and Ousen really are evenly matched in the art of warfare, overall.

Those are no different from Ousen's fodder men and skipped all the dialogue:

Spoiler

 

[Elder Lee Hung]

- "Riboku only beat Ouki having the great numerical superiority, Ouki is the better general" as if the whole situation wasn't carefully prepared by Riboku who manipulated everything to his advantage and outsmarted Ouki, reaching this exact situation. That is literally the point through which Riboku demonstrated his superiority to Ouki LOL. @Fleet Admiral Lee Hung You'll like this one 😂😂

Riboku was such a mad genius that he actually crafted a strategy that convinced Ouki to come out of semi-retirement and actually lead a Qin army into battle. Lol

But I think this also speaks to how Riboku is subversive like I mentioned in my post above. Riboku in terms of straight up army vs army warfare is not the best General of his era or of all time. He admitted this himself when he claimed that he would lose a head on conflict with Renpa.

Riboku is the greatest General of this era (and any era) because of how he manipulates the terms of the battlefield to his advantage before the fighting even starts. It’s one thing to be so versatile that you can be thrown up against any army and still win (Ouki/Renpa), but it’s a whole other thing to be capable of manipulating the terms of war before the war even starts.

This is partially why Riboku is viewed as a coward by the Zhao court, and also why Riboku described himself as a coward when talking to Ryofui. He’s not some valorous warrior who charges into armies head on, he uses “cheap” tactics to score massive victories while hiding behind his men.

Renpa fought Ouki multiple times, neither one of them could kill the other. Riboku and his cowardly tactics faced Ouki exactly once and defeated him in an overwhelming fashion. Then he did the same thing against Gekishin.

The reason I think Riboku is Hara’s best character, is because on some level he actually is a coward who uses cheap tactics to win. However, it is exactly by using these cheap tactics that he was able to overcome two of the greatest generals of all time.

Riboku is simultaneously a coward who uses cheap tactics, while also being the Greatest General of his era who overcame all of the past legends. That is why I think he is awesome lol.