Ousama Ranking (Ranking of Kings)

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Alternative Titles

Synonyms: King Ranking

Japanese: 王様ランキング

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Information

Type: TV

Episodes: 23

Status: Finished Airing

Aired: Oct 15, 2021 to Mar 25, 2022

Premiered: Fall 2021

Broadcast: Fridays at 00:55 (JST)

Producers: Aniplex, Dentsu, Fuji TV, Kadokawa, Bandai Spirits

Licensors: Funimation

Studios: Wit Studio

Source: Web manga

Genres: Adventure, Fantasy

Duration: 22 min. per ep.

Rating: PG-13 - Teens 13 or older

Statistics

Score: 8.53¹ (scored by 314,875 users)

¹ indicates a weighted score.

Ranked: #112²

² based on the top anime page. Please note that 'Not yet aired' and 'R18+' titles are excluded.

Popularity: #340

Members: 601,431

Favorites: 12,271

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@osama_ranking

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Funimation

8.53

Ranked #112Popularity #340Members 601,431

Fall 2021TVWit Studio

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Episodes: /23

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Synopsis

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.

Episode Videos

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Related Anime

Adaptation:	Ousama Ranking
Other:	Oz., Ousama Ranking Movie
Side story:	Ousama Ranking: Yuuki no Takarabako

More characters

Characters & Voice Actors

Bojji

Main

Hinata, Minami
Japanese

Kage

Main

Murase, Ayumu
Japanese

Hiling

Supporting

Satou, Rina
Japanese

Despa

Supporting

Sakurai, Takahiro
Japanese

Desha

Supporting

Shimoyama, Yoshimitsu
Japanese

Ouken

Supporting

Yusa, Kouji
Japanese

Bebin

Supporting

Ueda, Youji
Japanese

Dorshe

Supporting

Tadokoro, Hinata
Japanese

Daida

Supporting

Kaji, Yuuki
Japanese

Miranjo

Supporting

Sakamoto, Maaya
Japanese

More staff

Staff

Cook, Justin

Producer

Okada, Maiko

Producer, Production Manager

Herek, Samantha

Assistant Producer

Hatta, Yousuke

Director, Episode Director, Storyboard

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Opening Theme

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

Edit

Ending Theme

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

Reviews

Mar 24, 2022

KANLen09

Recommended

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

BigDaddyTuesday

Mixed Feelings

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 ...

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Mar 24, 2022

katsucats

Not Recommended

Note: I tried to make everything as vague as possible but this review contains minor spoilers.

King's Ranking seems to have taken the community by storm due to its quirky, wholesome development and unlikely protagonist. However, it uses a disingenuous formula of gimmicky writing to shape moods by withholding information, or telling you the wrong set of facts, and it's a shame people still fall for this amateurish tactic. The show features the not very creatively named Bojji, a corruption of "bocchi" meaning a lonely person, a deaf prince that is underestimated by nearly everyone in his kingdom. All of the king's advisors, including ones that ... have been assigned to oversee his training, initially show outward contempt and disgust, admonishing him for being weak, and even arranging duels with unfair referees to get his ass kicked. His own brother wants him dead to usurp the crown, including his godmother (and the mother of his brother), the not very creatively named Queen Hiling, corruption of "healing".

So it appears to us that the deck is fully stacked against Bojji. Except in a sequence of, depending on your perspective, unreliable narratives or character inconsistencies at best to plot holes at worst, none of what I just described is true. All these characters in fact love Bojji and wish for his success, but they didn't express it -- but they wanted to kill him (!) -- but their earlier "versions" are just conveniently forgotten at some opportune point. The first to flip is Queen Hiling, whom when her own life was in danger, it was revealed that she's actually a good person! And then the person who ordered the hit on Queen Hiling was revealed to be a good person! And one by one the dominoes come crashing down and everyone, practically the entire cast, turn from villains inexplicably to feelgood heroes, completely forgetting all the atrocious acts they've committed. This unlikely contrast creates a sort of cognitive dissonant, fooling you into thinking that the whole cast is wholesome by the juxtaposition, when in fact it would have just been normal if the author hadn't intentionally made everyone evil in the first place.

To make this gimmick work, every character has a childishly optimistic disposition, such that they forgive every transgression when a character flips. Did you murder dozens of civilians? Oh, but you're a good person underneath and you could be forgiven. Did you conspire to sack an entire kingdom, hiring serial murderers to attack and burn the city? Oh, but you had a poor upbringing, so marry me! Did you try to assassinate your decades-long friend? Oh, but you were ordered and you're actually just a loyal person, so it's cool. Did you take advantage of me? Oh, but you apologized, so here, take more money!

As amazing as it is that a kingdom was successfully built by a team of gullible adults with the emotional quotients of children, not everything worked out. You see, if a whole race of people didn't let their enemies step all over them with this ridiculous optimism, then the entire chain of events would have never happened. If the characters at the beginning of the show acted true to their later revealed hearts, then the entire chain of events would have never happened. But the writer had to use this gimmick to create a plot!

The only saving grace -- and I do mean only -- is that Bojji, being demure in stature and lacking strength, develops a cool fighting style that exploits the weakest point in the opponents defense at any time. Thanks to that, we get a few interesting fight scenes, while his friend has a lovely chat with the helpless mastermind at the time and decides not to finish the show 5 episodes early.

In short, nobody in this show acts in ways we would expect of reasonable people, and nobody responds to others in ways we would expect of reasonable people. People who claim to love others try to assassinate them, or manipulate and groom them from childhood, or engage in deals without telling them the full terms, and everyone is unconditionally forgiven afterwards without a second thought. And this all heads to an atrocity when a woman who's at least 100 years old accepts to marry the 12 year child whose aunt she has murdered in cold blood, and the child she tries to kill but fails. Wait, what?!

I feel like the writing of King's Ranking is on the level of a One Piece filler.

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Ousama Ranking

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Information

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Synopsis

Background

Episode Videos

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Related Anime

Characters & Voice Actors

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Opening Theme

Ending Theme

Reviews

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