Damn lol. I knew Dumpling Sama was about to bite it soon but these Qin monkeys have no respect lmfao.
So I guess that wraps up Eikyuu then. Well, it’s clear as day now that my initial prediction that the HSU would be defeated here was very wrong, but I must say that if Kochou ends up dying because he simply moved 5,000 men incorrectly, I’m going to be very disappointed as Kochou has been hyped for over two years now and that seems a rather trivial fatal mistake lol.
But I guess for Eikyuu in retrospect: I am very impressed by Shin here. A lot of people will look down on Gakuhaku Kou for losing here but the truth is that there isn’t a single character in China right now who Shin can’t defeat in a 1v1 duel. Houken himself was proof of that at Shukai Plains, and Gakuhaku Kou is further proof of this fact right now. The sheer fact of the matter is that Shin is just a very, very strong and dangerous warrior at the moment.
And this battle was a huge showcase for Shin’s intelligence. I recall when Ousen was pursuing Riboku during the rush to Gyou, and Riboku ordered flanking attacks on Ousen and Shin was just completely blindsided by that maneuver, that people were disappointed by how little Shin still seemed to know about the battlefield, when every other commander present knew full well what Riboku was doing but Shin was still unable to read him.
Fast forward to Eikyuu, and Shin really showed us this battle just how much he has learned. Not only did he have the presence of mind to attack the Zhao before they were organized in order to save Ouhon (he even noted that the Zhao were not ready for a fight yet), but Shin was also smart enough to change up his fighting tactics against Gakuhaku Kou, and Shin overall just seemed much more mature and composed in his first real battle as a General than he previously has seemed, without losing any of that fierce fire that he has.
This goes to showcase how amazingly Hara has developed Shin. We see him maturing, growing smarter and more experienced, we see his demeanor change from loud screaming Shonen protagonist to calm and composed battlefield General with a valorous heart gradually and in a way that feels believable, and I really appreciate that about Shin and Hara. Not enough series develop their characters properly and Kingdom is one of the ones that does this shit amazingly well.
I really enjoyed that one panel where we saw Shin’s squad leader from all the way back in Dakan Plains alongside Hairou (I think that’s his name?) who also lead a separate squad back then. Even with no dialogue you can tell exactly what these guys are thinking and feeling as both of them were there when Shin was a nameless grunt, now serving under him as a General who just defeated an opponent who crushed multiple Qin armies (including the Gyoku Hou) overwhelmingly. And was it just me or was Kyou Rei blushing when she was talking to the boy from Sai? There’s a little something something going on there for sure lol.
So overall I felt Eikyuu was really enjoyable, and I was secretly hoping Dumpling Sama would join the Qin as the final member of the Qin 6 am still looking forward to Kochou’s defeat even though the hype surrounding said defeat just isn’t quite there for me yet.
Looking forward to the continued ownage of these Zhao dogs lol.