Collaborative Project: Araki, Inoue, Terada, Yasuhiko and More Draw "Kingdom"
The legendary Social Kingdom project is finally making a grand comeback after a long gap of 14 years. For those who don't know, this is a very unique initiative where readers and famous celebrities come together to draw every single panel of Yasuhisa Hara's masterpiece, Kingdom, to recreate the manga. It is set to go live on a dedicated website starting midnight on March 19th, under the new title Social Kingdom Rekindling.
Originally, the first "Social Kingdom" happened way back in 2012. In that version, around 1,153 people collaborated to draw all the panels from Volume 26. This new Social Kingdom Rekindle project is being organized with a lot of updated content to celebrate the 20th anniversary of the Kingdom serialization, which hits in January. It is truly a massive scale event for the fans who have been following the series for so long.
Legendary Stories and Soul-Touching Episodes
This time, the creator Yasuhisa Hara has personally handpicked 20 specific episodes from Volumes 1 to 78. He describes these as "episodes that touched my soul." The goal is to work with readers and celebrities to create a total of 2,289 frames. That is almost double the number of frames from the previous edition! It is a huge task, but it really shows why Kingdom is a must watch for anyone who appreciates deep, historical narratives and intense art.
One very exciting part is that for each of these 20 episodes, there will be one special guest participating in the drawing process. They will also be releasing their own special illustrations. The guest list is actually quite mind-blowing, featuring some of the biggest names in the industry:
- Hirohiko Araki (JoJo's Bizarre Adventure)
- Takehiko Inoue (Slam Dunk, Vagabond)
- Sui Ishida (Tokyo Ghoul)
- Hiroya Oku (Gantz)
- Katsuya Terada
- Yoshikazu Yasuhiko (Gundam)
- Masanori Morita, Kengo Hanazawa, and many more.
In total, 20 people are participating as main guests, including celebrities like So Takei, Ryuichi Hamaie (Kamaitachi), and Ryota Yamasato (Nankai Candies), plus one of Hara's own assistants. It is going to be a very interesting mix of different art styles coming together for one project.
How to Participate and Rewards for Fans
If you are a fan and want to join in, you just have to visit the special website. You can select and secure one specific frame you want to draw and then upload your work. Applications for 5 episodes will be opened at a time, starting from March 19th. The organizers have also planned some very cool rewards based on your "martial deeds":
- Participation Booklet: Everyone whose work gets accepted will receive a physical booklet containing all 20 episodes of "Social Kingdom Rekindled."
- Hara Yasuhisa Award: The creator himself will pick his favourite panels. Winners of this award will get a framed copy of their own illustration.
- Hyakunin General Award: This goes to the person who gets the most positive reactions from viewers for each episode. They will receive a special acrylic keychain.
Yasuhisa Hara mentioned in his comments that it really doesn't matter if your drawing is good or bad. He said they are looking for all types of art—whether it is "ugly," "scary," "glittery," or "cool." His main message was to just have fun while drawing and create a version of Kingdom that is unique to this project. It is a very sweet way to involve the community in such a big milestone for the manga.
