Ousama Ranking

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]

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

Cook, Justin Producer

Okada, Maiko Producer, Production Manager

Inoue, Megumi Producer

Herek, Samantha Assistant Producer

Reviews

May 9, 2025

Evans_Born

Recommended

Having finished Ousama ranking, it must be said there is little to object to, and there is much to praise this show in terms of it's narrative merits, and artistic qualities. On the surface it looks like a kid's show, taking many fairy tale tropes and combining them. It then takes them all and re-contextualizes them in a complex narrative frameworks. There is much kids would miss even though they have much to learn and enjoy within it. What is has to say overall is better understood by the mature and sensible. This anime in many respects is written for those who grew up with ... fairy tales, and as adults forgot all the lessons that were therein. Just like the fairy tales the lessons within make sense for adults and prepare children for some of the challenges of adulthood. Children already know dragons exist, what they need to learn is dragons can be defeated, so Chesterton reminds. The bulk of the artist merits of the work is in the thematic unity, in art, narrative, character and music.

Narratively, it takes time to show the various connections and storylines intersect, and everything is built towards that. Visually it looks like a kids show. The art style is cartoony. A decision that fits with the theme and works in tandem with the story being told. So those who share my sensibilities who love detail and realism should forgive this show, in that regard and give it a chance. The stylistic choice is part of the story. I think the decision makes sense as the story draws to a close. While I have misgivings for the aspects of it that count as "genre deconstruction" (fancy way of saying it breaks some of the unwritten rules and expectations we come to have from this style of story); this is not another brainless isekai looking to entertain with pop culture references and power fantasy. The story has much to say, and it does. Explaining the themes explored cannot be done without spoiling the show but the author manages to fit in everything that there is to say about "kings and heroes" in 20 episodes. This is is the kind of anime that can be used by a book club discussion. From my own notes, it can serve as a launch pad to discuss the 7 Cardinal virtues and how they related to family, politics, desire, responsibility and duty. The only thing it didn't or couldn't tackle was ultimate concern.

The music and animation is not exceptional. The music however is used well, and they are clever with how they use music and silence. The music is used to bolster the drama and to pull us into the mental states of the characters. The art is cartoony but it's all for a purpose. It is made to look like a kids show. This words because of the themes of the story and what the author is trying to help us see and understand. The narrative is well crafted and tackles big questions anime shy away from. Themes that made the "stories for boys" great in the centuries past following the Arthurian legends, and the adventure tales they inspired. The characters work well for the story, the setting is unique despite having many familiar elements. Which is something that can be said of every element of the story. There are many familiar elements given a unique twist. For this reason this is a good anime. Even better if you have a love for philosophy, theology or heroism as explored through story.

As an anime it's a 7.9 out of 10. As a story it gets a 9.5 out of 10. There is little like it. It takes time to get going, but it is worth it. The finale needs reflection and discussion to show how it fits, to help gift a sense as to why it went that way. Average art and music, epic narrative composition, praiseworthy characterization and a very unique entry into the anime tradition.

It is an anime worth watching, and such writers really do need to be rewarded. It does not feel derivative. It does not feel boring, and you will not predict everything perfectly. So this is why it is worth watching, even if it isn't your normal cup of tea. This story was written with love. For that I hope you would choose to watch it.

Reviewer’s Rating: 7

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Nov 17, 2024

markphp

Mixed Feelings

Minor spoilers ahead.

Ousama Ranking wants to be unique among the other shows in this era, and to some extent, it is, but only among Japanese ones. The setting is very similar to a classic European fairy tale, and even the story somehow manages to go in that direction. Still, it fails the litmus test very badly, in the sense that after the first couple of episodes, which are very similar to what I used to watch when I was a kid in Disney movies, the author of the series manages to reward the villain, the same villain that wanted to ruin the lives of millions ... of inocents, because she was a misunderstood woman all along.

The setting/world-building is not at all impressive, just like I said earlier, it's a classic fairy tale world (Some random towns each and there, some evil hole and that's pretty much it), it's clear that the show doesn't want to impress the audience by the world in which the action happens. (I'm talking solely on the anime)

I found the story very underwhelming, it's nothing new, and the only things that want to make the show "unique" are the very bad decisions of the characters. For example, one character loses his body, because a woman in the mirror tells him to drink a potion, telling him he will become stronger if he does, hence starting all this mayhem. Fake deaths are very common and the villains are turned into misunderstood guys with a last-second flash-back. Talking about villains, the characters are mostly bland, they fit in the archetypes they were created with and never tried to escape or be unique in any way.

One of the positives of this show is the art direction that it took, if you don't care about the previously mentioned points you will get the dopamine rush sought by so many. Notice I've decided to put "Mixed Feelings" just because in this day and age, I feel like a good animation will get you further than a good written story.

This is one of my very first reviews, if you have any tips for me/any books that might help my phrasing, please let me know. Have a good day!

Reviewer’s Rating: 4

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Dec 5, 2023

douve_atomique

Not Recommended

What happened to Ousama Ranking's story? Did someone kidnap the author halfway in and force him to write a mediocre battle shounen with terrible pacing? This show is incredibly confusing.

In short, Ousama Ranking felt like watching two different shows. Its first half or so was actually very enjoyable, making use of complex and interesting characters in a context à la Game of Thrones topped with gorgeous art and symbolic writing - albeit as subtle as a brick through a window -, but then the fire nation attacked the mangaka or something must have happened because everything turned to trash. After the first half I just ... kept wondering what happened, what caused such a shift in quality, I was so focused on this that I could barely comprehend what I was watching anymore but maybe that's a good thing, in a way I got spared.

I don't want this to be a full review of the show, so I'll just briefly talk about the most important aspect of any show for me: its characters. Ousama Ranking's characters are surprinsingly good, or that's how they seem to be at the start of the show. They all have their backstory, allegiance and motivations and even those that appear shallow at first end up being interesting. Two characters have to be talked about: the two princes, Bojji and Daida. Daida is the second prince, he is gifted, strong-minded, ambitious and uncompromising. Even though he seems to be a complete asshole at first, it turns out that he has standards, morals that he's not willing to abandon. Bojji is the first prince, he is exactly the opposite of his brother. He is weak, cursed, and not fit to be a king. He is also deaf and mute.

This next paragraph contains spoilers
These two princes are interesting because of how drastically different they are and because they are basically competing for the crown after the death of their father. Even though Daida is most fit to become king, he's the second prince so Bojji should take the crown instead. This premise is very solid. It made me wonder how Bojji was going to deal with conflicts. Being deaf, he cannot hear what people are saying to him. Being mute, he cannot speak to them. Being extremely weak physically, he cannot resort to force to solve problems. How is he going to deal with his brother and everything else? What an interesting conundrum! Well, guess what... Everything that was established through the first half of the anime is simply thrown out the window. Daida is manipulated by a mirror and removed from the story because his father is reincarnated in his body and Bojji undergoes training which makes him the strongest character in the show (this is not a conjecture, it is stated in the anime). Daida's complex struggle to emulate his father's strength is gone. Bojji's physical handicap is gone; him being mute and deaf doesn't matter because he can read lips and people somehow understand him when he's 'speaking'. Thus, the anime turns into a battle shonen where there is absolutely no tension, people are gravely wounded but then healed, wounded again but healed again, and wounded one more time and left for dead just to be healed again because why not. Nothing seems to happen for the remainder of the show. We learn about the main antagonist's backstory which apparently is some sort of Japanese nationalistic memorandum. I was at first very confused by this backstory but it now unfortunately makes a lot of sense.

One last thing to mention is the series' main antagonists and one word to describe them is boring. The series goes into such great lengths to make them complex and misundertsood that it forgets to actually make them interesting.

If you really want to watch this series, just pretend it's 10 episodes long and has an ambiguous ending and call it quits, or turn your brain off and watch the whole thing.

Reviewer’s Rating: 5

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