Kingdom

2024 and it's still going strong. Shin has become one of the generals and will be a great general soon with Kyoukai and other characters while Riboku still as the main antagonist, if the story follows history accurately, Riboku will be killed soon from internal conflict...
For now, it's 10 for me. After reading hundreds of chapters I made that conclusion.

What makes this manga stand out is there are no bad guys, every side of the war has a story. While other mangas try to emulate this by making the enemy team have a tragic backstory near the last minute. This manga is able to protray the two sides amazingly. While i am routing for shin and his dream, learning more about the opponents, you feel guilty for them.

He finally asked her...After everything...Countless battles...the years apart...Hou Ken...He finally asked her

I started kingdom a few weeks ago and honestly the story is awesome, the characters are great (there is not a single character a find annoying), the growing each arc provides brings satisfaction and this is the best war story I have read so far. The fights dont drag too much...I don’t know is a nice manga.

There's a lot of chapters but it's not dragged out at all. The action is great and well done. The author clearly did his research because of how well the battle tactics are. Not only is it just war, but also intricate politics and ambitious people. Each chapter will have you on the edge of your seat. Kingdom has made me a Qin loyalist! Beautiful artwork and amazing story that doesn't drag and is very true to history for the most part. Don't skip this one. Its amazing

This is the best war manga I've read thus far, and it's a historic manga so it's amazing reading on how the author storytelling weaves actual facts with some imaginary ones to fill in the blanks and the results are just great. And since the events are real the strategy employed in the battles are solid too, not just some ridiculous crap that makes no sense as it often happens. Man this is how I would have liked to learn history in my school haha.
The main flaw of the manga is the MC as others say but fortunately the mangaka routes this in a good direction with Karyo Ten and the "instinctive generals" notion, little by little he stops being just an impulsive idiot.
For anyone into war stories, don't miss this. And for those who give up because of the main char, give it some times (long time), he grows up.

Also, reading this always makes me want to play civilization haha.

At first glance, this manga might seem to be just another shounen battle manga but with a lot more blood. I cannot fully deny that claim but I can at least say that this manga tries to address the political, social and economic factors of war. This fact alone is what elevates Kingdom above all the typical shounen drivel to me. Numbers matter, politics matter, strategy and tactics matter, geography matters, history matters, there are important characters besides the protagonist, his friends, and his enemies. Finally! In a sea of "war" series where war is used mostly as an interesting back-drop to the main characters' personal problems, finally there is a manga that focuses on the actual war!

 If you want to give this manga a chance, wait until Shin's first campaign (from ~ch48 to ~ch73) to decide whether or not to keep it. The first 47ish chapters are basically a prologue. It introduces the setting, the main characters and their motivations and provides enough intrigue and combat to keep you from getting bored. However, the true showpiece of this manga: war, begins with Shin's first campaign. I think Yotanwha (mountain tribe leader in the manga) said it best: it's a "carnival of blood." And as Shin (as a rank and file foot soldier) is tossed to and fro in a massive battle, it truly feels that way. Each of the different parts of the battle feels like a different, perverted ride in Murder World. Have you ever wondered what it was like to be in the first row of an human wave infantry charge into a wall of shields and spears? How about being in the path of huge war chariots as they plow through your comrades like a lawn mower? What about being part of a desperate charge at a group of archers that are killing everyone around you? If Shin's first campaign doesn't grab you, then nothing in this manga will. To back up an earlier point: numbers matter in this manga and this is one of the primary characteristics that separate this from so many other shounen manga. Granted, there are plenty of hot-blooded duels (of both the mental and physical variety) between officers, but there are no one-man-armies except for one guy (and screw him). The manga makes a point in saying that although the general may head the charge, the strength of the charge comes from the men who are charging with him. I still find that personal strength holds undue weight on the battlefield but the mere fact that people besides the named characters effect wars is such a refreshing step up from other "war" series that I can hardly complain.  The fact that numbers matter also adds some new dimensions to the traditional shounen bag. Most shounen battle manga have only one way of measuring effectiveness in battle: combat power. If a character's combat power is higher than their opponent's, (or they have a "final form" that is more powerful) they win. Simple. In this manga, at least, there are three ways of measuring effectiveness in battle: strength, knowledge, and leadership. Thus, a character with high knowledge but low strength might be able to outsmart a physically stronger opponent and defeat them (and this happens often) or vice versa (this also happens often). Simply having more than one way to measure battle effectiveness adds much needed variety in the battles. It also gives Kingdom a leg up on other shounen battle manga where you basically wait until everyone is out of final forms and such to find out the victor. As for the characters, they are fairly good. It's particularly refreshing to have grown men as important characters, even if the teenagers steal the show. Shin is your typical, hot-blooded, big-dreaming, shounen protagonist with the exception that he's okay with killing people. Maybe his character type is over-used, but it does the trick for me. He's also incredibly manly. Kingdom also has a secondary protagonist in Sei. This is the guy who eventually unites all of China. The author wanted to make Sei the main protagonist but he was afraid that Sei wouldn't appeal to mainstream audiences. I don't know if the author does Sei justice, but he's at least not like other characters. He tends to play Spock to Shin's Kirk (as rare as they interact) but he is also extremely motivated and holds a rather unique position in the manga. Also, I don't want to spoil too much, but there's a female character in this manga who is pretty kick-ass. I especially like that the kick-ass female character isn't out to avenge her father (or something) for once.  The story is good. It features plenty of political intrigue to you keep you engaged if Shin's story doesn't grab you. The art is also good. You don't notice it in the page-to-page manga, but the spreads are amazing and brutal. Also, maps! I actually know what's going on in the battles! Amazing!

TL;DR: What appears to be yet another shounen manga with blood is actually much more. Give it a try.

This author knows what he is doing. The story is consistently great and it's incredibly refreshin to have a weekly SEINEN battle manga to look forward to. It's amazing. A grand mixture of War, Strategy and Politics with new friendships being formed and enemies made all the time.

The main character is the most light-hearted aspect of the story in my opinion. If he weren't so upbeat most of the time, it would give me more of a Berserk type of vibe. But don't be discouraged. He is no cliche Shounen protagonist even tough it may seem that way at the beginning. He has some of those qualities it's true such as his silliness and occasional naivety but he will just as soon hack you apart as he will drink with you.

The characters are a huge part of this story's greatness. The main protagonists in general as very likable and there are strong female leads, not half-witted weaklings that depend on others. And the antagonists are simply excellent. It's not even easy to tell who the main antagonist is. As far as I'm concerned there are multiple at any given time.

The Kingdom story spans several years with all the main characters developing beautifully and many antagonists doing the same as the prominent ones typically are not 1 Arc wonders. I highly highly recommend this manga.