Controversial Why Riboku is the Best “Overpowered” Manga Character of All Time
- Thread starter Elder Lee Hung
- Start date
I honestly believe Riboku could be close to Ouki/Renpa in pure fighting skills if he wanted to. Just look at this dude =>
He didnt focus only on the battlefield like Renpa/Ouki but also on politics, strategies, etc. This man is the complete package.
As you said, he will resort to "cowardly" tactics if it means he could win. He doesnt give a shit about fighting 1-on-1 or using stronger people like Houken/Shibashou to fight his war. This is what makes this man unbeatable. This was clearly shown in Riboku one shot. Riboku avoided fighting Xiongnu and made them look like a joke lol. The border people, under the leadership of Riboku, won the fight by simply running away!
Also, it was said in the one shot that Riboku killed all of his enemies in his earlier days. However, he lost his comrades, friends and relatives also during that war - which made Riboku feel like he actually "lost". Thats why things like pride and dignity are trivial to this man.
P.S. Please dont compare Shanks/Garp to the GOAT. Compared to Riboku, they are trash.
He didnt focus only on the battlefield like Renpa/Ouki but also on politics, strategies, etc. This man is the complete package.
As you said, he will resort to "cowardly" tactics if it means he could win. He doesnt give a shit about fighting 1-on-1 or using stronger people like Houken/Shibashou to fight his war. This is what makes this man unbeatable. This was clearly shown in Riboku one shot. Riboku avoided fighting Xiongnu and made them look like a joke lol. The border people, under the leadership of Riboku, won the fight by simply running away!
Also, it was said in the one shot that Riboku killed all of his enemies in his earlier days. However, he lost his comrades, friends and relatives also during that war - which made Riboku feel like he actually "lost". Thats why things like pride and dignity are trivial to this man.
P.S. Please dont compare Shanks/Garp to the GOAT. Compared to Riboku, they are trash.
I honestly believe Riboku could be close to Ouki/Renpa in pure fighting skills if he wanted to. Just look at this dude =>
In hindsight, I’m glad Hara decided to deviate from one shot Riboku. One shot Riboku was like a Houken-Riboku hybrid. He was so martially powerful that he could exterminate all his enemies by himself, but he gave up that way of life because it cost him his loved ones.
I think this doesn’t characterize him as well as the way the manga portrays him. In the one shot, Riboku changes his outlook on war because he didn’t want to lose anymore friends, whereas in the final manga he changes his outlook because he was consistently failing and he lost his loved ones. It is a better lead-in to his character imo.
Also, another thing I will respectfully disagree on: Riboku definitely does prefer to hide behind martial maniacs like Houken and now Shibashou. It’s a part of what makes his methods of warfare so deceptive and underhanded. I’m glad Riboku was able to defeat Kanki without a martial 3GH to aid him, because that victory really silenced a lot of his haters, but Riboku hiding like a coward behind martial units is part of what makes him so unique (and goated) lol.
Lol true
I am not disagreeing with that. He does hide behind martial maniacs. I was saying Riboku's martial potential was really high. Hara cant give him everything - its plenty clear how much he loves this character.
Btw who hates Riboku? Those imbeciles from reddit? They are prisoner-of-the-moment reactionary readers, they are probably hating on Ousen now
But there are many hints throughout the manga that Riboku is no joke as a fighter (Shuma-vs-Riboku never happened - just like the last two seasons of GOT). It was said the Xiongnu started to tremble out of terror just from hearing Riboku's name - and it was not because of his strategies, its because of his martial might
I am not disagreeing with that. He does hide behind martial maniacs. I was saying Riboku's martial potential was really high. Hara cant give him everything - its plenty clear how much he loves this character.
Btw who hates Riboku? Those imbeciles from reddit? They are prisoner-of-the-moment reactionary readers, they are probably hating on Ousen now
But there are many hints throughout the manga that Riboku is no joke as a fighter (Shuma-vs-Riboku never happened - just like the last two seasons of GOT). It was said the Xiongnu started to tremble out of terror just from hearing Riboku's name - and it was not because of his strategies, its because of his martial might
Yes that’s right, Lee is here today with a classic Godboku appreciation post.
When I first picked up Kingdom 6 years ago, I never would have thought there could’ve been a manga antagonist who surpassed Griffith for me as a villain, but Riboku is just that guy. Riboku is the best antagonist in manga history for me, and without spoiling anything, this manga will not be the same if he were to someday exit the story.
So today we’re going to explain what makes Riboku the best “overpowered” manga character of all time.
Riboku is a subversion of what Hara’s view of a traditional General is. Generals like Ouki and Renpa view the battlefield in very romantic terms, and they find exhilaration when fighting on the battlefield itself. Riboku however:
This is arguably the strongest commander in the history of the manga, the guy who is credited with the deaths of legends like Ouki, Duke Hyou, and Kanki, and Riboku himself doesn’t even enjoy warfare. Riboku only fights for Zhao because he (correctly) believes that only he can truly defend Zhao from Qin. In reality, Riboku’s ambitions are much simpler:
This guy doesn’t want to unify China under Zhao, he doesn’t want to be the King of Zhao, he doesn’t even take pleasure in becoming Zhao’s Prime Minister or one of the Three Great Heavens, he literally just wants some quiet life on a farm until he dies of old age.
Again we see how different Riboku is from those more traditional generals like Ouki, Hakuki, or Rinshoujou. He doesn’t have some lofty ambition, he just wants to live a quiet, peaceful life.
But Riboku isn’t just opposite to people like Ouki for the sake of being their opposites, Riboku was once just like Ouki and Renpa:
The difference being that while for people like Ouki, diving headfirst into battles eventually resulted in becoming a Great General and one of the greatest heroes in China, Riboku lost everything and everyone he loved:
Riboku was not a born warrior like Ouki or Renpa, he wasn’t able to overcome brushes with death over and over again like they did, he threw himself headfirst into enemy lines and lost all of his loved ones and everything he had worked to obtain.
Meeting Houken was what changed Riboku’s outlook on life. Houken was everything Riboku could never become, an unstoppable warrior who could singlehandedly erase entire enemy units with ease, with no need for things like allies or friends or family, and it was upon meeting Houken and realizing that he could never become that, that Riboku changed his entire perception of warfare and dedicated himself to becoming a strategist. And this is when Riboku’s luck would change.
I think this is why Riboku initially trolls Shin when Shin was younger. Shin undoubtedly reminded Riboku of himself back when he considered himself a “fool”, and this is why he speaks to Shin with such condescension:
A few years later, he tells Shin this:
And every interaction Riboku has with Shin involves Riboku low-key mocking Shin to one extent or another. It’s as if Riboku is mocking the younger version of himself, the fool who charged into the enemy headfirst, and knew nothing about warfare or about life in general. It’s got to be cathartic for Riboku to mock Shin in this manner.
I think it’s no coincidence that Riboku will see Shin become a Great General through the very means by which Riboku himself failed to do so. Shin is still, in many ways, a fool who knows nothing about warfare other than to directly charge at the enemy right in front of him, but Riboku is slowly but surely watching Shin climb his way up through the ranks whereas he himself knew only failure when he viewed war as Shin does. This will be the final resolution to Riboku’s character, to see Shin succeed where he failed, and to see Shin become the type of Great General that Riboku himself could never become.
In fact, Riboku seems to look down on commanders like Ouki and Duke Hyou who Shin idolizes:
Riboku not only self-identifies as a “coward”, but also believes that it is only through his cowardice that he was able to surpass the likes of Ouki. And when you really go back and look at all of Riboku’s major victories, all of them have involved Riboku using deceptive or underhanded methods to win. But this is exactly why Riboku believes himself to be superior to guys like Ouki or Duke Hyou, those “honest fools” who were defeated and killed by Riboku’s deceptive methods of war.
For me this is why Riboku is such an amazingly written character despite being as stupidly overpowered as he actually is. Every single thing he does to win battles serves to set him apart from the generals who Hara himself idolizes and romanticizes. Riboku feels like a real person, he couldn’t surpass the likes of Ouki or Renpa through brute strength, so he surpassed
When I first picked up Kingdom 6 years ago, I never would have thought there could’ve been a manga antagonist who surpassed Griffith for me as a villain, but Riboku is just that guy. Riboku is the best antagonist in manga history for me, and without spoiling anything, this manga will not be the same if he were to someday exit the story.
So today we’re going to explain what makes Riboku the best “overpowered” manga character of all time.
Riboku is a subversion of what Hara’s view of a traditional General is. Generals like Ouki and Renpa view the battlefield in very romantic terms, and they find exhilaration when fighting on the battlefield itself. Riboku however:
This is arguably the strongest commander in the history of the manga, the guy who is credited with the deaths of legends like Ouki, Duke Hyou, and Kanki, and Riboku himself doesn’t even enjoy warfare. Riboku only fights for Zhao because he (correctly) believes that only he can truly defend Zhao from Qin. In reality, Riboku’s ambitions are much simpler:
This guy doesn’t want to unify China under Zhao, he doesn’t want to be the King of Zhao, he doesn’t even take pleasure in becoming Zhao’s Prime Minister or one of the Three Great Heavens, he literally just wants some quiet life on a farm until he dies of old age.
Again we see how different Riboku is from those more traditional generals like Ouki, Hakuki, or Rinshoujou. He doesn’t have some lofty ambition, he just wants to live a quiet, peaceful life.
But Riboku isn’t just opposite to people like Ouki for the sake of being their opposites, Riboku was once just like Ouki and Renpa:
The difference being that while for people like Ouki, diving headfirst into battles eventually resulted in becoming a Great General and one of the greatest heroes in China, Riboku lost everything and everyone he loved:
Riboku was not a born warrior like Ouki or Renpa, he wasn’t able to overcome brushes with death over and over again like they did, he threw himself headfirst into enemy lines and lost all of his loved ones and everything he had worked to obtain.
Meeting Houken was what changed Riboku’s outlook on life. Houken was everything Riboku could never become, an unstoppable warrior who could singlehandedly erase entire enemy units with ease, with no need for things like allies or friends or family, and it was upon meeting Houken and realizing that he could never become that, that Riboku changed his entire perception of warfare and dedicated himself to becoming a strategist. And this is when Riboku’s luck would change.
I think this is why Riboku initially trolls Shin when Shin was younger. Shin undoubtedly reminded Riboku of himself back when he considered himself a “fool”, and this is why he speaks to Shin with such condescension:
A few years later, he tells Shin this:
And every interaction Riboku has with Shin involves Riboku low-key mocking Shin to one extent or another. It’s as if Riboku is mocking the younger version of himself, the fool who charged into the enemy headfirst, and knew nothing about warfare or about life in general. It’s got to be cathartic for Riboku to mock Shin in this manner.
I think it’s no coincidence that Riboku will see Shin become a Great General through the very means by which Riboku himself failed to do so. Shin is still, in many ways, a fool who knows nothing about warfare other than to directly charge at the enemy right in front of him, but Riboku is slowly but surely watching Shin climb his way up through the ranks whereas he himself knew only failure when he viewed war as Shin does. This will be the final resolution to Riboku’s character, to see Shin succeed where he failed, and to see Shin become the type of Great General that Riboku himself could never become.
In fact, Riboku seems to look down on commanders like Ouki and Duke Hyou who Shin idolizes:
Riboku not only self-identifies as a “coward”, but also believes that it is only through his cowardice that he was able to surpass the likes of Ouki. And when you really go back and look at all of Riboku’s major victories, all of them have involved Riboku using deceptive or underhanded methods to win. But this is exactly why Riboku believes himself to be superior to guys like Ouki or Duke Hyou, those “honest fools” who were defeated and killed by Riboku’s deceptive methods of war.
For me this is why Riboku is such an amazingly written character despite being as stupidly overpowered as he actually is. Every single thing he does to win battles serves to set him apart from the generals who Hara himself idolizes and romanticizes. Riboku feels like a real person, he couldn’t surpass the likes of Ouki or Renpa through brute strength, so he surpassed
Riboku massively use his rethorical, diplomacy abilities, charisma, prestigious, info war and schemes to manipulate allies and kill his enemies so inevitably as a general he goes too far in my opinion
I feel disappointed especially because Riboku is too close to Zhao's corrupt politics and has inevitably being used and using them. He was even their prime minister
His goals, ambitions and dream can't be simple anymore.1. Riboku wants to stop the unification of China. 2. He wants to live a peaceful life after killing, manipulating and using dubious schemes to win his battles at all cost. 3. He always try to kill fast, easily and cowardly his top general enemies so he can't expect a happy, easy and pacific conclusion to his career
I don't hate him and I don't love him
Overpowered. Unlimited and the Ultimate Snake
