As part of a project to commemorate the 20th anniversary of the popular manga "Kingdom" by Yasuhisa Hara, which is currently being serialized in "Weekly Young Jump" (Shueisha), it has been announced that the reader participation project "Social Kingdom," which was implemented in 2012, will be revived for the first time in about 14 years. The content will be updated as "Social Kingdom Rekindled," and will start on March 19th at midnight on a special website.
"Social Kingdom" is a project in which readers and celebrities each drew one panel from the 26th volume of the manga, with 1,153 people completing the manga. "Social Kingdom Rekindled" will feature 20 passionate and soulful chapters carefully selected by Hara from volumes 1 to 78 of the manga that have been released so far. The number of panels included is 2,289, which is about double the number from the previous edition.
A total of 20 impressive guests will be participating, including Yoshikazu Yasuhiko, Hirohiko Araki, and Takehiko Inoue. One guest will take part in the illustrations for each episode. The guests scheduled to participate include Yasuhiko, Araki, and Inoue, as well as Sui Ishida, Oku Hiroya, Kasahara Maki, Cookie, Shibata Yokusaru, Takei So, Terada Katsuya, Tsuneda Shintaro, Hanazawa Kengo, Hamaya Ryuichi, Matsubara Toshimitsu, Matsumoto Jiro, Mizuno Yoshiki, Morita Masanori, Yamauchi Kenji, Ryota Yamazato, and one assistant from "Kingdom," for a total of 20 guests.
Hara commented, "At the request of the creator himself, the hugely popular Social Kingdom is back! (laughs) Last time, I was amazed and amused by everyone's high level of arrangement sense. As some of you may already know, it doesn't matter whether you're good at drawing or not. Awkward pictures, scary pictures, sparkly pictures, cool pictures - anything is welcome. However, pictures that are too extreme may be rejected (laughs). I hope everyone will have fun drawing each panel and let's create a kingdom that is unique to this place!!"
"Kingdom" began serialization in Weekly Young Jump in 2006. Set in China's Spring and Autumn Period and Warring States Period, it depicts the exploits of Shin, who aspires to become the greatest general in the world, as well as the drama of heroes such as King Ei Sei of Qin, who later becomes known as the First Emperor. In 2013, it won the Manga Grand Prize at the 17th Osamu Tezuka Cultural Prize. The comic has sold a total of over 120 million copies.
The TV anime series has also gained popularity, with the first series airing from June 2012 to February 2013, the second from June 2013 to March 2014, the third from April to October 2021, the fourth from April to October 2022, the fifth from January to March 2024, and the sixth from October to December 2025. A sequel to the sixth series has also been announced. The live-action film adaptations have also attracted attention, with the first series released in 2019, the second in 2022, the third in 2023, and the fourth in 2024. The fifth film in the series will be released on July 17th.
