it seriously depresses me that despite all the bad blood and history between them, zheng and chengjiao had hints of what could have developed into a strong, genuinely close bond. zheng trusted him with xianyang when he went to fight at zui, and even though there was no real warmth between them, chengjiao followed through on his implicit promise by keeping the capital out of lü buwei's hands. and although he still resented zheng on a certain level, chengjiao canonically came to respect and want to understand him. he even!!! decided that he would be zheng's mental and emotional shield against the toll that unification might take on him, and that if his brother ever began to falter from the strain, he would be there to finish the job for him. and even though they still weren't close by the time of chengjiao's death, his last words were asking xin to be zheng's shield in his stead and protect him from the brutality of the world, since chengjiao himself could no longer fulfill that role. not to mention he posthumously continues to help zheng by making arrangements for liu yi to take over as the head the chengjiao faction, and keep up the support of his brother even after he (chengjiao) dies. ugh. it's such an underrated relationship imo. in their youth chengjiao incited a rebellion and tried to kill zheng, and almost succeeded! piao was killed because of him! yet zheng trusts chengjiao and doesn't believe the trap framing his brother as the culprit of a second rebellion, and chengjiao, man - chengjiao actually wanted to help zheng in any way he could. plus if you believe in the more supernatural aspects sprinkled here and there in kingdom, chengjiao's spirit is one of the ones explicitly there supporting zheng during his debate of ideals with lü buwei. their association with each other was ostensibly based on utility and political convenience, but it's clear that there was more there. the events of the series kicked off because chengjiao ousted and tried to kill zheng, but in the end, zheng sincerely trusted chengjiao, and chengjiao died wanting to protect him.
i really love the callback to piao and xin that kingdom does here with ji aga and kan saro. despite his friend ("friend" bc hara just loves making every comrade-in-arms/best friend relationship in kingdom extremely sus, these two swore they were one body and soul while commemorating their union with a drink of blood) being dead, kan saro considers ji aga's soul to now be with him - and that together they are going to save shi ba shou. it's similar to piao asking xin to "take me with you" as xin rises to the heavens and ascends to the position of great general; piao and ji aga might be dead, but to xin and kan saro, their spirit will always be with them regardless. they are one body and soul, and they can't be separated.
So I watched Kingdom's first live action and it was pretty neat !
Of course it's not perfect but I don't think an adaption of a fantasy manga can be. And most of the bad parts are the same I found while watching the beginning of Kingdom. Maybe they even succeeded in making it a bit less slow.
In a nutshell it's a nice movie, with people who did their best to play their roles and you can feel it. I really look forward watching the second one and hope for a third one !