Ousama Ranking (Ranking of Kings)

The people of the kingdom look down on the young Prince Bojji, who can neither hear nor speak. They call him "The Useless Prince" while jeering at his supposed foolishness.

However, while Bojji may not be physically strong, he is certainly not weak of heart. When a chance encounter with a shadow creature should have left him traumatized, it instead makes him believe that he has found a friend amidst those who only choose to notice his shortcomings. He starts meeting with Kage, the shadow, regularly, to the point where even the otherwise abrasive creature begins to warm up to him.

Kage and Bojji's unlikely friendship lays the budding foundations of the prince's journey, one where he intends to conquer his fears and insecurities. Despite the constant ridicule he faces, Bojji resolves to fulfill his desire of becoming the best king he can be.

[Written by MAL Rewrite]

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Background

The sign language depicted in Ousama Ranking is supervised by the Tokyo Foundation of the Deaf. The series was released on Blu-ray and DVD from January 12, 2022 to July 20, 2022.

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Adaptation:	Ousama Ranking
Other:	Oz.

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Characters & Voice Actors

Bojji

Main

Hinata, Minami
Japanese

Kage

Main

Murase, Ayumu
Japanese

Hiling

Supporting

Satou, Rina
Japanese

Despa

Supporting

Sakurai, Takahiro
Japanese

Desher

Supporting

Shimoyama, Yoshimitsu
Japanese

Daida

Supporting

Kaji, Yuuki
Japanese

Dorshe

Supporting

Tadokoro, Hinata
Japanese

Bebin

Supporting

Ueda, Youji
Japanese

Miranjo

Supporting

Sakamoto, Maaya
Japanese

Hokuro

Supporting

Yamashita, Daiki
Japanese

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Staff

Okada, Maiko

Producer

Hatta, Yousuke

Director

Fuchigami, Makoto

Director

Ebina, Yasunori

Sound Director

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Opening Theme

	"BOY " by King Gnu
	2: "Hadaka no Yuusha (裸の勇者)" by Vaundy (eps 12-23)

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Ending Theme

	"Oz. " by yama
	2: "Flare" by milet (eps 12-23)

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Mar 24, 2022

23 of 23 episodes seen

Overall Rating: 10

KANLen09 (All reviews)

460 people found this review helpful

From a classic folktale (The Emperor's New Clothes) to an allegory that's worth more than a thousand words, absolutely NO ONE ever could've fathomed that mangaka Sosuke Toka's work would become more than just a classic underdog story. And instead, it took us the audience to new foundations and heights that really stand amongst the best of the best in the only way that this relative unknown author could've done, teaching us cases of human charateristics in morality, friendship, sacrifice and so much more that we just underestimated how grand everything just naturally works in every step of the way. Simply, wow, and I mean, WOW.

The thing that makes Ousama Ranking a.k.a Ranking of Kings work feels childish (or childlike rather) and tomfoolery, but trust me, it just simply works and exudes nothing but quality and quantity as the series progresses with each mysterious step into pure whimsical fantasy as one could get. And for a show that really is this coming-of-age story that's set in medieval times about a deaf boy becoming king and his Shadow companio escaping the treaches of malign, I'd thought that I was watching the game "A Boy and His Blob" come to life, and it is THAT engrossing to seal the deal about the protagonist Bojji and his companion Kage about their own life journeys. But what Sousuke Toka did to elevate a simple story, to simply say that we weren't prepared for what's to come, is truly an understatement to how this is a classic case of subverting tropes and naturally glossing them together to make a plot so life-manipulatively magnificent to knock our socks away. It's a tactic building upon tactics that just warrants you to pay VERY CLOSE attention every minute and every second, because one blink, and you'd miss a beat (unlike SOME people who just chooses to be ignorant and remain full of bias). Case in point, I would've never thought that the generic clash of "good vs. evil" will have that many metaphors built right into it, and Ousama Ranking is without a doubt, the new master in knowing what makes the core theme work without having to fall behind to tropes (y'know, just like all shows out there being so generically contagious). This adventure fantasy feels tight, slick, filled with all of the feelings and emotions that would wreck any viewer (plus yours truly), and above all, shines best in its own right that there's no equal out there that could match the likes of Ousama Ranking.

To wedge the knife cutting deep into the heartstrings, how does one manage to do character writing so deep and rich in philosophical humanity that there's always answers for every question? Only Sousuke Toka can do that, and for all the basis of watching Ousama Ranking in these past 6 months, I have felt nothing but happiness, love, sadness, anger, and the most important of all: the fear factor that continues to shake as the series progresses. Every character is not just a cardboard cut-out, because each and every one of them has a purpose to carry their own dreams and ambitions to the extreme points of sacrilegious lamentation, even going as far to the point of pursuing infighting when things go south. I don't wanna go too deep with the characters here, because that would make for an absurdly long essay that could match the likes of Wikipedia (and technically spoil the series for what's to come). But, make no mistake that from the simplest (Bojji and Kage) to the most complex (kings Desha and Bosse) of characters, nothing says more than rareified exquisity when human beings (plus a shadow) can very naturally be their imperfect versions of themselves the way they see others too, topping up with the mysteries of their own backstories that filled with tremendous amounts of weight that is both heartfelt and relatable. This is to the point where I can finally mention the currently famous meme out loud: *smack slipper on the floor* "E-M-O-T-I-O-N-A-L D-A-M-A-G-E"! And boy, Ousama Ranking is truly an emotionally damaging series for all the right reasons, which are layers upon layers of what defines perfect, yet imperfect humans, with no-nonsense "padding" drama.

Author Sousuke Toka's manga art style isn't the best and feels rough, and that's where Wit Studio under the guidance of debut director Yousuke Hatta comes in, and it truly elevated this unknown manga that has gone without an English translation right until the anime came out.

Speaking about Wit Studio first, the animation studio is obviously going through a transition phase that's leaning away from the days of Attack on Titan and (hopefully not) Vinland Saga. And what came out of it is a totally brand new Wit Studio that is once again ready to experiment on shows of other formats like Great Pretender, Vivy: Fluorite Eye's Song and the upcoming season's Spy × Family collab with CloverWorks, all while retaining the same quality that the studio has garnered the notoriety from all these years. And I still have to say that ANY Wit Studio production will never ever miss the mark when it comes to strikingly beautiful visuals and breathtaking animation, and Ousama Ranking is no different in that regard. Being a childlike fantasy that meanders close to Studio Ghibli's stories, and filled with an action-packed adventure that can rival studios like Ufotable and Studio Bind (because Mushoku Tensei really set the bar too high to insanity), Wit Studio always delivers, and delivers hard with passion and dedication to the craft that it's basically next to flawless at all.

And what's a studio without the dedication and hard work of the staff team behind Ousama Ranking, most particularly debut director Yousuke Hatta. Having worked as episode director with high-profile people like Shingo Natsume (One Punch Man S1, Boogiepop 2019, ACCA: 13) and Yuzuru Tachikawa (Death Parade), it left more than enough experience for the newbie director to execute his own craft in Ousama Ranking, and it really shows considering the unique and vibrant aesthetics with distinctive art style with simplified faces and expressive animation that fits well, almost the point of paying an omage within the lineage of the directors who helmed Sonny Boy and Mob Psycho 100 respectively. The staff team under Yousuke Hatta also MUST be given props for going above and beyond to adapt the manga up to 11, because it could not be said enough that this was a team effort that's a match made in heaven.

Most crucially, what's an anime without music, and while most cases the music always is anime's saving grace when everything else fails, but Ousama Ranking just clearly defies logic to present 2 sets of OSTs that just more than fits the theme and mood of the series. And while I prefer the 1st Cour's arrangement with King Gnu and yama, Vaundy and milet aren't slouch musical artists either, and all 4 songs are great in their own right. In the 1st Cour, the happy-go-lucky aesthetics served Bojji and Kage's journey well with King Gnu's OP song "BOY" which is one hell of a bop, and yama's ED song "Oz." that's a reference to The Prince of Oz to signify the symoblism of a not-so-simplistic fairytale journey. And when the 2nd Cour came in with Vaundy's "Hadaka no Yuusha", that's when all hell broke loose with a slow, but steady gung-ho song with the finest sakuga OP animation heralded by Jujutsu Kaisen's OP director Shingo Yamashita, it's yet another impressive work in the books and you can feel every inch of that influence. milet's ED "Flare" is a nice song to purposefully round things up as a whole, or should I say "People makes the world go round".

To say that Ousama Ranking is perfection, more than subjectivity and the classic tale of what it means to be an underestimated underdog's rise to success, I'd think that there's a better way to sum this show as a whole, and that's starting and ending with metaphors. See, this show has laid the hidden meaning of "A chain is only as strong as its weakest link", and putting this in Ousama Ranking's context, realistically sums it up as: "You're as strong as your weakest link." There is NOT a single shred of doubt in my mind that Ousama Ranking will be remembered for months and years to come, and it's the new, modern classic of jaw-dropping, awe-inspiring motivation at its finest.

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Mar 24, 2022

23 of 23 episodes seen

Overall Rating: 5

RebelPanda (All reviews)

381 people found this review helpful

Is it better to have loved and lost than never have loved at all?

I wish I could spend this whole review showering WIT Studio with praise for the gorgeous animation, outstanding sword fight choreography, consistently on-model character designs, and grand orchestral music, as many already have and will continue to. But unfortunately, while these features certainly made Ranking of Kings a spectacle and never boring to watch, the presentation isn't enough to make up for the disappointing writing.

(Spoilers in a marked section of the review.)

Underdog stories have always appealed to me, which drew me into Ranking of Kings premiere. The plot follows Boji, a young prince who is deaf, mute, and considerably weaker than most kids his age. He is first in line to inherit the throne after the untimely death of his giant father king Bosse; the problem is, no one takes him seriously. Citizens and knights consider him a weakling unable to carry the crown. Even his sympathetic stepmother Hiling views him as a hazard rather than a potential king. Upon meeting his only friend, a shadow creature named Kage, his journey to claim the throne begins. Boji is immediately likeable because he strives to achieve his dreams despite the odds stacked against him. It is satisfying to see other, stronger people judge him, then him beating them in a duel with his hidden skills. The artists so fluidly animated his graceful dodging and subtle rapier swipes that it's hard not to be amazed by him. Characters around Boji progress throughout the show as they learn to sympathize with him; they become better people when they regret their wrongdoings towards him and gain faith in his capabilities as king. Boji's cruel half-brother Daida is the main antagonist of the first arc—doing everything he can to prevent Boji from claiming the king's throne. Daida is guided by a dark spirit living within a mirror, not unlike the evil queen's Magic Mirror from Snow White.

Ranking of Kings' tone is deceptively joyful at first, in part due to the colorful background art, smooth character designs, and bright lighting, but it quickly becomes dramatic. Every few minutes, a character is crying, usually Boji. The first and second episodes had me tearing up because of Kage's depressing backstory and seeing Boji get beat up for the first time. I was numb to it after the third time he got his ass whooped. Not to mention, any time a named character is in danger, you know for sure they'll be saved at the last minute or healed after a foe beats them half to death. There are only so many melodramatic speeches and surprise rescues I can take before calling out emotional manipulation. Boji is not an overpowered protagonist; however, he is wrapped tightly in plot armor, and tears aren't enough to distract from that glaring issue. A bloodthirsty enemy could chuck a dozen boulders at him and miss. What he lacks in physical strength he makes up for with nimbleness that allows him to evade damage. The times he gets bruised, you can count on someone to heal him.

A director can weaponize crying in tandem with tension built up by the script. Overusing sentimentality lessens the effect over time because these scenes lack a long-term setup or a satisfying payoff—a problem many people had with To Your Eternity. One of the most egregious uses of emotional manipulation is showing last-minute flashbacks to redeem villains. After a character has betrayed the hero, saving them is a complex undertaking. Still, the author takes a shortcut to redemption by blending sentimental flashbacks, sobbing, and self-pitying monologues from the villain to manipulate us into forgiving them. Demon Slayer is another fantastically animated, awfully written, anime that attempts to redeem monsters moments before their death with a corny backstory. They don't do the work to make up for their faults—these sudden twists and turns make the story seem lazily written with minimal forethought.

(Spoiler section)
Boji is a very empathetic boy to a fault—even wanting to spare bloodthirsty killers, wolf beasts, and people who attempted to kill him. The furthest he goes is forgiving Miranjo, the evil spirit living in a mirror who convinces Daida to betray his family. Although Miranjo killed Boji's birth mother in front of him, he has no good reason to forgive her. Miranjo created a potion to turn Daida into an empty husk for King Bosse to reincarnate into—trapping his soul eternally alone in a void Essentially a fate worse than death. Miranjo is willing to kill anyone to stand by Bosse's side once again as she used to. When Boji nearly loses a fight, Miranjo advises the retreat, suggesting she feels empathy for him. Witnessing him fight an immortal knight futilely gives her flashbacks to her mother, a kind woman with a solid moral compass. Eventually, we learn she caused the deaths of tons of innocent people, carrying out the order herself. That the author would attempt to redeem her through pitiable flashbacks is appalling. There is no justice served. Instead, everyone lets Miranjo off with a slap on the wrist and a marriage proposal from Daida to keep her safe in the 22nd episode. The author desperately tries to make us love her, as all the other characters curiously do, and fails spectacularly. She is a floppy noodle of an antagonist and would have easily been a more significant threat by tweaking the flashbacks and reactions from characters. Bosse reincarnated as his son Daida is another limp antagonist. To call his, and everyone else's, motivations confusing would be an understatement. He switches between wanting to murder everyone and healing them just to fight again. The adaptation failed to convey that he is a psychopath who loves manipulating his enemies' expectations or that the author had no idea what direction to take each character. In other words, pick a lane and stay in it!

Boji’s mentor tells him 'believing in yourself, and 'self-confidence' is what granted him power, which would contribute to the show’s themes if it were entirely true. Boji trains to fight with a sword, but his high skill level comes from his royal genes. Aptitude derived from luck at birth is similar to My Hero Academia's quirks. Due to these natural abilities the story is more about reclaiming is ‘rightfully his’ then rising up as an underdog. The obstacles he has to overcome are other people who stand in the way of his path to the throne. Many of his allies double-cross him for personal gain, usually out of loyalty to others or for money. However, when they witness his fiery passion in battle and unwavering empathy, they have no choice but to stand by his side! One or two betrayals-turned-allies are understandable. Unfortunately, the author doesn't stop at two and keeps going; it's predictable, obnoxious, and makes sense that someone with a victim complex writes the story. Thankfully the egotism of the author doesn't seep through into Boji's character—who is arguably the most respectful portrayal of a disabled person I've seen in anime. However, the author's biases do radically impact the series in episode 18 and onwards, causing one of the worst declines in writing quality I've seen in an anime since Wonder Egg Priority.

In the 18th episode, King Bosse retells Miranjo's origin story in a lengthy exposition dump. (One of my favorite parts of the script is how lore was delivered naturally, NOT by a talking head reading off a script.) Miranjo lived with her mother in the Homura kingdom, a stand-in for Japan, and the Gyakuza Kingdom, a stand-in for Korea. The comparison is immediately apparent when you see how the Gyakuza houses are identical to those in pre-industrial era Korea. Bosse explains how Homura gave the Gyakuza all kinds of benefits, such as teaching them magic, but they took advantage of them by stealing, murdering, and deceiving. The author portrays Homura's colonization of Gyakuza as a net-positive and their rejection of their 'generosity' as ungratefulness. At the time, Bosse witnessed the merciless mutilation of Miranjo by Gyakuza civilians, which spurred him to murder all of them he could find—ethnic cleansing. Their motives are, as Bosse explains: "But different countries have different cultures." Blaming culture for socio-economic problems is a frequent tactic used by Japanese nationalists when criticizing Korea. Western viewers may miss this allegory, but all it takes is briefly seeing the Japanese audience's response to the series to understand how appalling this message is by portraying the Gyakuza as sadistic criminals who mutilate innocent children. There is no room to interpret them as anything but pure evil—making Miranjo their victim of theirs was a tactic to make us pity her, then eventually excuse her actions. There's no nuance to these villains; they're corrupt because they're a manifestation of the author's demonization of Korean people. These villains stand out mainly because, time and time again, the show redeems even the vilest of individuals. This is not to say redemption is necessary, but nuance is.
(Spoilers end)

The show’s central themes are self-confidence and forgiving those who wronged you—the latter was horribly executed for all the reasons I've said. Everyone, no matter how horrible, is forgiven except for one ethnic group. At the very least, Boji’s coming of age journey to gain self-confidence works. Labeling Ranking of Kings "Average" is generous at best. Without the artists' spectacular audiovisual heights, it would most certainly be an immediate skip. As the writing quality rapidly declines, the visuals become even more impressive as if to compensate for the flaws. For the ones with a brave heart and solid moral compass, watch on, but prepare yourself for disappointment.

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Mar 24, 2022

23 of 23 episodes seen

Overall Rating: 5

BigDaddyTuesday (All reviews)

194 people found this review helpful

TL;DR Ranking of Kings had several amazing first few episodes and if the rest of the series followed it could have easily been a 9. There were legitimate stakes, the mystery surrounding the characters was intriguing, and the struggles of the protagonists were well handled. The middle half of the show is not as gripping as the first handful of episodes. Character motivations get spelled out for the most part and they do not live up to the mystery and intrigue shown at the beginning of the show. There are also issues with pacing, an overuse of tropes, and some characters getting completely shafted in read more

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Mar 24, 2022

23 of 23 episodes seen

Overall Rating: 5

LordSozin (All reviews)

148 people found this review helpful

***THIS REVIEW CONTAINS SPOILERS***

Just like Studio Wit’s first project, Attack on Titan, Ranking of Kings succeeded in making waves across the anime community. In comparison to their other projects that I've watched, both series’ first couple of episodes contain some of the best attention grabbers in anime. Ranking of Kings in particular excelled in selling profound and heavy emotions to the viewers. After all, Ranking of Kings is a story about a child who was born with physical disadvantages and his struggle in the journey to becoming someone who would gain respect from everyone. The way Ranking of Kings manipulates its viewers is by demonstrating Bojji’s tough inner will as an inherently weak person. This results in the earlier episodes being incredibly inspirational to watch. However, the constant usage of tears and plot conveniences throughout the show abates the actual message that the series tried to convey.

It all starts with Kage, a creature with the appearance of a black puddle whose clan was wiped out for the sins the family members committed in the past. Kage was generally hostile all-around before witnessing Boiji’s heroic losing fight against Diada. Even though Bojji was broken to the bones by his brother during that gut-wrenching sword fight, Boiji’s unwillingness to give up stirred up emotions within Kage. And later, their heartfelt swore of comradery scenes brought more emotions to the screen for the viewers. It was genuinely a good sequence because it was moving. But like I said, the show was dependent on this aspect too much. You’ll see Bojji and Kage cry again; the supporting characters like Apeas and Domas also shed a tremendous amount of tears throughout the show, which isn’t as nearly focused or emotionally developed as the other two. The issue lies with these scenes is that they’ll be used in situations that aren’t required later on. These later scenes don’t hold the same thematic values that the earlier episodes entailed. Which then significantly deteriorates the overall quality of the show for me.

Once King Bosse died, Bojji’s stepmother, Queen Hiling, ousted Bojji as the next in line to the throne and put her son, Prince Daida on the absent throne instead. This setup created an interesting conflict between the two brothers. Bojji, who, by the rule of Daida, was kicked out of the kingdom and begin his journey for the eventual return and confrontation with Daida.

I would argue that the stronger parts of Ranking of Kings aside from the earlier episodes were the ones focused on Prince Daida and his dynamic with his big brother, Bojji. Even though the show is about Bojji’s journey in becoming a king, his story isn’t exactly new or innovative either. But Ranking of Kings did have one massive potential in the character of Daida. The inner conflict and vulnerability of Daida’s character provided the needed nuances in the show more than Bojji ever did. And the earlier episodes demonstrated some promises when Ranking of Kings presented some elements of contrast between the two, unlike brothers. However, the anime then stopped exploring Daida’s character and added the character of Miranjo.

Once the original potential of the plot was shifted by taking Prince Daida out of the equation, a new antagonist was introduced: Miranjo. This part of the narrative was the least interesting shift plot-wise because we learn that Miranjo was just a tragic girl who wanted nothing more than just to make her savior, King Bosse, happy. The gist of Miranjo’s relationship with the previous king is that of atonement by King Bosse. After he failed, however, it was Bojji and Daida who ultimately saves Miranjo. And because Daida, who supposedly have seen Miranjo’s tragic past, decided to marry her out of pity. This is where I lost it. The more Ranking of Kings continued, the more the series derailed from its initial promises. Initially, Ranking of Kings presented some of the most interesting character explorations of Daida, the story of the conflict between the two unlike brothers, and they were all thrown out of the window for a tragic girl plot!

This is along with Bojji, whose journey is filled with noticeable plot conveniences. It’ll become very apparent later that Ranking of Kings ceases to be what it once was because the show shifted from a genuinely inspirational story to a show full of fake deaths and superficial emotions. There are numerous times when a character in the series got revived back to life after suffering a major death blow. This is all done through Queen Hiling, and later, through some bullshit circumstances without a clear-cut explanation, Bojji too. I swear every single episode in the second half of Ranking of Kings has a scene or two where someone gets killed. Dead. But got revived back to life because it was supposed to have resonated with strong emotions. The constant usage of this dying and reviving undeniably annoyed me because it took away the good tension and story that the first couple of episodes established. Oh, Boiji also learned his way of sword fight that shatters armors and bigger opponents with just a tiny needle. Yeah, that’s bullshit.

Score: 5/10

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