China’s Warring States Period Heads West As Yasuhisa Hara’s ‘Kingdom’ Manga Finally Licensed For English Release Courtesy Of Viz Media
In an announcement worthy of the Great Generals of the Heavens themselves, Viz Media has revealed that they will soon providing English-speaking fans of Yasuhisa Hara’s Kingdom manga with an official translation of the award-winning take on China’s Warring States period.
Serialized in Shueisha’s Weekly Young Jump magazine since January 2006, Kingdom follows the exploits of Shin, a young war orphan living during China’s Warring States Era (roughly around 476-221 BCE) who despite his humble origins wishes to prove himself as one of the Qin state’s ‘General of the Heavens’.
Beginning life as a lowly slave, through little more than his own sheer determination and willingness to learn, Shin slowly begins to rise through the ranks of Qin Emperor Ei Sei’s army – though the more progress he makes, the more he learnsthat such prestige does not come without its own set of trials and tribulations, chief among them being the danger and savagery that comes with fighting in such a historical military outfit.
Beautifully illustrated and expertly written, what truly defines Kingdom is its on-the-ground portrayal of various historical battles, which rather than divorcing readers from the horrors of war not only confronts them with the (only slightly exaggerated) realities of this era’s hand-to-hand style of combat, but also explains the intricacies of the strategies and tactics being employed by each of the Warring States’ respective leaders.
Yet, despite its quality, popularity, and the fact that it has been actively running for nearly two-decades, for some unexplained reason, not a single Western manga house ever deigned to license the smash-hit for English release.
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That was until February 7th, when following the discovery of a quickly-deleted listing for Kingdom‘s second volume on both Amazon and Barnes and Nobles, Viz Media confirmed that Kingdom was the latest series to join the ranks of its licensed offerings.
“The fans have spoken and we heard you; Kingdom has come!” wrote Viz via their official Twitter account. VIZ invites readers to join us on Xin’s journey in this epic historical saga. Kingdom, Vol. 1, by Yasuhisa Hara, releases Fall 2025.”
Notably, as indicated by the fact that the manga’s lead character is referred to in Viz’s tweet as ‘Xin’ rather than ‘Shin’, it appears that Kingdom‘s English release will be using the character’s historically-accurate Chinese names rather than the localized Japanese ones used in its original publication.
Further, per the aforementioned, since-deleted Amazon listing for Kingdom volume 2, the series will be released under under the Viz Signature line, as reserved for the publisher’s more ‘edgy’ and mature titles including Rei Hiroe’s Black Lagoon, Ishida Sui’s Choujin X, Yuji Kaku’s Hell’s Paradise Jigokuraku and Taizen 5’s Takopi’s Original Sin.
As of writing, Viz Media has only confirmed the print publication of Kingdom as a series of individual volumes, and as such it is whether or not it will eventually receive an omnibus collection or some form of simulpub once the main releases have caught up remains to be seen.
Unfortunately for fans eager to hit the battlefield, it seems they’ll have to wait just a little while longer, as rather than beginning hitting shelves right away, Kingdom will begin publication sometime in Fall 2025.
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