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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terms of development and screen time. What follows is a resolution that does not fix the previous issues and instead makes weirdly questionable decisions morally.
There are also some badly injected takes on real world events concerning Japan and Korea that paint Korea as one-sidedly evil. The politics do not apply to most viewers; however, they are concerning when viewed in a vacuum.
The art style invokes that of a clean looking storybook fantasy and holds up for the most part. The opening and ending songs and visuals are stellar throughout the run of the show as well.
I don't normally watch shows as they air, but Ousama Ranking's first half had me gripped to the point where I wanted to see everything that followed as it unfolded. What I got was disappointment. Below is a much more in depth look at why I feel this way. Spoilers are present to fully explain why I gave this show a 5.
------------Story and Characters - 5------------
What initially drew me to Ranking of Kings, the story, starts out with immense promise. Two competing sons for the right to the throne; Bojji, the designated successor yet crippled from birth as well as kindhearted and talented in his own right. The other Daida, a younger stronger and much more arrogant prince. The first few episodes of the show revolve around who supports which prince, with each character having various stated and unstated reasons for doing so. Characters with development at this point were multilayered and had compelling individual struggles.
The protagonist Bojji struggles to fit in because he is weak, small, gullibly kind, deaf, and mute. He finds a friend in Kage who recognizes his will and talent in combination with his kindness as something great. The sword master in charge of Bojji struggles between loyalty to his master and the potential he saw in another. Queen Hilling was shown at first to be harsh towards Bojji for his gullible demeanor and fully supported Daida over him, yet it is also shown how much she truly cares for him as her son. The mysterious Spear Master and Snake Charmer had their own reasons for being loyal to Bojji and Daida respectfully with each showing potential for further development. Daida himself is power hungry and craves to be as strong and as great as his father. Together with a magic mirror giving advice, Daida was willing to do anything to cement his rule. When first watching the show, I was not sure what to expect from any of the characters and I found myself pleasantly surprised at the quality of writing despite the simplicity of the premise. Eventually, the contention between the two princes is put on hold and the rest of the show starts to slowly falter.
There are many debates as to whether or not the second half of the show is worse or not. Some say the quality is the same, some say it is not. I'd say the second 2/3rds of the show start to show significant problems and do not hold up overall. There are a handful of reasons for this being the character developments, the plot as a whole, pacing, the political allegory, and the tropes used.
-----SPOILERS------
Starting with minor complaints, some segments of the show focused one-sidedly on either Bojji and Kage or people living in the kingdom. Some episode plots were paced weirdly and going up to two episodes with barely any development for Bojji's plot thread felt weird after seeing him every episode. Similarly, suddenly cutting to the kingdom which had been irrelevant for several episodes was also jarring at times. There are also multiple unresolved plot threads and characters introduced that go nowhere or are irrelevant. The source material is a web manga currently being published so I hope they eventually go somewhere meaningful.
As far as characters go, everyone from the underworld remains fine as a character, the spearman is the most compelling of the four knights and Hilling is fine aside from one aspect. The rest of the cast did not fare well in terms of development. The biggest aggressor to this is Kage, who started out as gruff yet supportive and ultimately ended up as nothing but a mouthpiece for Bojji. His troubled past led to a sour demeanor that eventually changed when he decided to support Bojji, which he did by protecting his life and paying for his training. After this, Kage does not do anything of note except talk for Bojji because he is mute, give play by play commentary during fights and altercations, and cry. Kage hardly ever shows off his once gruff personality, instead it feels as if he was created to serve as a way for the viewer to understand Bojji's every mumbled word. In particular, his emotional crying is overused to a ridiculous degree.
The swordsman tries to kill Bojji in episode 5 and then spends the next 18 episodes wallowing in pity over the fact that he betrayed his master. He went from driven and experienced to being lectured by every character in the show and being treated like a child. His student, a supporter of Bojji from the beginning, is portrayed as inexperienced and naive yet he is shown in a more mature and knowledgeable light than the swordsman on multiple occasions. In addition to this, the swordsman resorts to comical levels of self harm and pity on multiple occasions. Even after swearing newfound loyalty to Bojji, he constantly looks for ways to get himself killed in atonement even after multiple characters tell him he is wrong for doing so. What started out as an experienced tutor who questioned loyalty over potential was reduced to a bumbling sob story who can't decide between loyally serving, killing himself for redemption, or crying on the floor for forgiveness. In particular, his crying is overused to a ridiculous degree.
The spearman is the most compelling of the initially introduced knight cast, struggling between two factions of loyalty. This isn't particularly groundbreaking and his hypocrisy and wishy washy nature is even frustrating at times, but, comparing him to other cast members he oddly stands as one of the few mildly decently handled characters. Like others, he still breaks down and cries but not to the point of significant overuse.
The snake charmer does not get any character development aside from a handful of lines and scenes that show he is kind but pretends to be mean as a facade. He doesn't cry which makes him alright.
Last of the knights is the big muscleman in charge of protecting Hilling, he does just that and is one of the few characters to actually suffer consequences from being attacked. You could easily argue that this makes him the best character between the four knights which I find sad considering he barely has any nuance in his personality.
Overall, each of the knights showed promise at the beginning and by the end two were barely developed. One was bastardized from a multilayered man with ambition and drive into a devout Bojji afficionado who can't control his suicidal impulses or his waterworks, and only one of them ended up being passable as a character. An additional small gripe I have with all of them is that they decide to support Bojji over their king in the end. Even the Snake Charmer who was entirely in support of Daida and Bosse decides to support Bojji.
Speaking of Bojji, some find issue with the fact he went from essentially powerless to potently strong in a 4-episode training arc. Personally, I don't have issue with it because the logic behind why it worked flowed well. Bojji was initially already very swift, he was just taught how to take advantage of that. I don't have many issues with Bojji as a protagonist, but he does cry too much for emotional scenes to feel effective.
I do take issue with the fact that nearly every single one of his doubters form the beginning changes their tune with ease. Bojji went from misunderstood as stupid and naive to being seen as a driven saint compared to everyone else. I wish that other characters were not as quick to immediately fall head over heels for the newly strong Bojji.
Daida is betrayed by the mirror and locked away and his consciousness in his body is replaced by Bosse. During this confinement Daida has a complete change of heart from entirely ruthless to sobbing over the misfortune of the brother he ordered executed. The Mirror, a woman named Miranjo. becomes the primary antagonist. Bosse is left ambiguous for most of the show, all that was known about him was that he was a strong king. Through flashbacks, we find out that Bosse one dimensionally cared about strength and the relationships he developed aside from Miranjo were all superficial. There isn't anything inherently wrong with this development, however the writing concerning the events and how Bosse developed as a character leave much to be desired. All the loyalty and trust he inspired as well as the loving relationships he had feel hollow and pointless in the grand scheme of things. He claims to love Hilling and his sons yet could care less about their deaths. Bosse cried at least 4 times about Miranjo, yet he did not have a single emotional crying scene for either of his sons or wives. More meaningful content happened in flashbacks and past events than anything that Bosse did in real time during the story.
We also find out that Miranjo basically caused every single bad thing to happen in the entirety of the story. I wont go into specifics but Miranjo made Bosse a king because he made her happy. Then she wanted to spend more time with Bosse which involves stripping him of his kingdom so she tries to get everyone in his family killed. Bosse just sits back and agrees with this because all of his relationships are superficial. The ultimate resolution to this is Bosse rightfully dies and Miranjo is completely forgiven and Daida decides he wants to marry her. Daida decides to do this because he spent 17 episodes in a mental prison watching her past unfold. After watching the 3 to 4 year old and cradling her, he watches her grow up and develop feelings for his father. After all of this, he decides to marry her. This single development brought down the score of the show from a 7 to a 6 for me, it completely comes out of nowhere, is morally questionable, and the resolution for the cause of all their suffering is given a '''''happy''''' end. We are then left with the horrendous quote 'hate the sin not the sinner,' which is horribly ill fitting considering a particular aspect of the flashbacks shown.
Some argue that the author wanted each character to get a happy end and that is the purpose for why he wrote this story. There is nothing wrong with that, but the way he did it was horribly executed. In multiple flashbacks throughout the show, characters die, are disfigured, tortured, and have lasting consequences. During the real time events of the show not a single major character dies. There are multiple fake out deaths of which include multiple characters getting stabbed through the chest, given poison, ripped in half, mauled by beasts, and bonked on the head really hard. Every single one of these mortal injuries was cured by Queen Hilling's healing powers. By the third or fourth complete reversal of death on hilling's behalf it became apparent that there were literally no stakes in the second half of the show. Even towards the end when her healing abilities were spent and everyone was essentially dead everyone was miraculously brought back to life. The way in which this story was written established death and stakes before immediately backing out and taking away the possibility entirely.
Emotional fight scenes are undermined by the fact that they probably have no real stakes when the only shown stake can easily be fixed with healing magic. Emotional scenes in general rely far too much on characters crying, realizing the error of their ways and then resolving to change or just keep crying. It is easier to name members of the cast that do not break down and cry than it is to name each one that does. I have brought the subject of crying up multiple times because I personally believe that its overuse to a ridiculous degree was that detrimental to the quality of the show.
My final large complaint concerns the flashbacks to a conflict between two cultures. One culture is fighting for freedom and helps out a poor culture while the poor culture turns out to be entirely evil and sadistic and willing to betray the kind culture at the drop of the hat. What we are given is a thinly veiled allegory for Japanese and Korean conflict, with the Japanese depicted as the benefactors to an ungrateful and 'evil' Korean culture. I am in no position to lecture anyone on the morality behind the political allegory used in this show, however, from an outsider's perspective, the author let his politics get in the way of conveying a story. That awful quote from before 'hate the sin not the sinner' loses all meaning when you look at how the author portrays the Korean people. They are literally irredeemably evil and torture an innocent girl for the sake of doing so. The audience is not meant to sympathize them, but we are meant to sympathize with the girl they tortured who ended up doing just as many horrific actions because she wanted to make someone else happy. There is no moral ambiguity for the Koreans in the flashbacks, the audience is fully meant to hate the sinner in this case. Again, supposedly the author wanted a fairytale everyone is happy ending, yet he decided to make one sided ethnic racism a key component to his happy feel good story. I am in no position to lecture anyone on their politics but I found this incredibly distasteful and immensely detracting from the show.
------------ Overall 5 ----------
I really wish the rest of the series was as good as the first few episodes. The author wanted a happy fairytale where everyone got a good ending yet set the scene for a completely different story. Emotional development is reliant on crying, there are no real stakes, and characters are a mess by the end. The best part of the show is that the art style is clean aside from a few minor animation issues and the opening and ending songs and animation are good. If you can overlook those aspects, then maybe you'd enjoy Ranking of Kings. I did not end up enjoying anything past maybe episode 8, but those first few episodes were good enough to not bring this show down even lower.
Alternative Titles
Synonyms: King Ranking
Japanese: 王様ランキング
More titlesInformation
Type:
TV
Episodes:
23
Status:
Finished Airing
Aired:
Oct 15, 2021 to Mar 25, 2022
Premiered:
Fall 2021
Broadcast:
Fridays at 00:55 (JST)
Licensors:
Funimation
Studios:
Wit Studio
Source:
Web manga
Duration:
22 min. per ep.
Rating:
PG-13 - Teens 13 or older
Statistics
Ranked:
#1442
2
based on the top anime page. Please note that 'Not yet aired' and 'R18+' titles are excluded.
Popularity:
#314
Members:
695,059
Favorites:
13,210
Available AtResourcesStreaming PlatformsMay be unavailable in your region. | Reviews
Filtered Results: 28 / 249
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Your Feelings Categories Mar 24, 2022
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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Dec 10, 2021
Ousama Ranking had a ton of hype, a passionate fandom and excellent reviews. The reviews mentioned, among others, a layered and nuanced story with deep, realistic characters and great originality. All those were nowhere to be found.
First of all, the positive: The art is very good. It looks a bit simplistic but it has nice, simple character designs, facial expressions and backgrounds and it is pretty fluid. Additionally, the worldbuilding is pretty interesting, the world looks vast and full of different peoples and places to explore. Now, off to the negative. First of all, the story is NOT realistic in any meaningful way. The anime is trying ... May 13, 2023
Osama Ranking is a disappointment with a lot of wasted potential. It is a show with a nice premise and a strong opening trio of episodes that slowly descends into an average revenge story and bad Deus Ex Machina.
Let me explain: (Minor spoilers ahead) Bojji is a mute-deaf Prince in a medieval European setting with the dream of being the best King in the world. The first impression is that the story is going to be about the emotional journey of Bojji overcoming abuse and prejudice of society and family, doing the best for his kingdom despite his disabilities. The first emotional aspect is that Bojji is ... Nov 18, 2021
Most reviews are extremely subjective, so I am going to summarize the facts first and leave personal opinion at the very end, so one can skip it.
Let's start with the main thing - this is an anime. Realism in anime is as rare as the eclipses. Nonetheless, the industry is doing well without it. This particular series, however, tries to include reasonable behavior of things for no apparent reason. The MC is made prince, since a boy with disabilities would not survive even in that utopic feudalism, then display him as a complete dimwit that does not understand the impression he makes by walking half-naked ... Aug 10, 2022
This show had potential.
My main gripes were with the lack of character depth, and how unnatural the plot development felt; going completely off the rails as it unfolded. A more simple and linear plot line could have bumped the score up to a 5 or 6 by allowing its positive aspects to shine. If you expect anything relating back to title of the series, then you'll be disappointed; because the ranking system explained in the introduction is probably mentioned less than ten times in next 22 episodes. Original ideas and themes are nowhere to be seen in Ousama Ranking, as we are shown the same,'' OMG!!! ... Apr 2, 2022
The first five episodes of Ousama Ranking are the best first five episodes of an anime I've ever seen. No exaggeration: the art and music is top-notch; characters defy easy categorization and feel lived-in, each one capable of both mistakes and heroic moments of growth; the world is built on childish whimsy and nods to old fantasy tropes, but the story is deceptively mature, balancing light comedy with family drama, political intrigue, and sudden violence; the fights are visceral, gorgeously animated, and *restrained* to a degree nearly unprecedented in the genre. This is masterful stuff.
It's such an incredible shame how the writing nosedives after that. ... Mar 24, 2022
Ousama Bojji
The first half of this anime was fun and heartwarming. Bojji is very cute, and I wanted to see his journey to overcome his challenges. Also, there’s a main mystery plot that got me excited and more invested in the outcome. The animation might throw some people off because it is simple and made the show leaning towards to kids. But I didn’t mind it because of the story that built up. However, the second half where everything went down was a major disappointment. The character decisions at the end were both surface-level and baffling. It’s not often that I see an ending that threw things ... May 20, 2022
Ranking of Kings is one of the first anime with a score higher than 8.5 that was a complete disappointment for me. And I will explain why considering what was the anime's main purpose and what it really became after everything ended.
The purpose: Ranking of Kings was supposed to be a different fantasy story. It shows a little prince called Bojji, a deaf and mute boy that expects to be the king of his kingdom, but is ignored and despised due to his physical conditions. Nor the people of the king and not even his relatives trust him to be the future king when ... Aug 9, 2024
A would-have-been masterpiece, Ousama Ranking is a show that got quite lost from its unique direction, then finally shattering everything in 1 episode.
At the start, a lot of people might be repelled by the art style of this show, or the ordinary characters. You really shouldn't though, as the plot and characters are more complex than it seemed. In fact, the first half of this anime featured one if the most colorful and sophisticated cast in anime. All characters except MC were flawed in some way. We have a stepmother who isn't evil but at first doesn't know how to love, and a wise ... Mar 24, 2022
Ousama Ranking (aka Ranking of Kings) is what you would call the “Underrated Hidden Gem of the Season” with it’s first two episodes being standouts in the anime community due to the story’s underdog Bojji, the protagonist of the story who even while being the son of the king, is deaf and mute and his nice to a fault personality causes the townspeople to make fun of him and insult him. This, along the sad backstory of Kage, a sentient shadow looking creature who becomes Bojji’s friend, makes the audience care for this story’s two main characters and root for them in the mission of
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Mar 27, 2022
I really wish I could give Ousama Ranking a higher score, but I honestly don't think I can. It had a really great start, and if it kept going with the momentum it gained from those first few episodes I really think I would have easily given it an 8-9, or maybe... just maybe... a 10. The art is beautiful and the story and characters start out really strong, but over time it keeps getting worse and worse.
The story of Ousama Ranking is probably one of its bigger problems. It starts out great; it has plenty of emotional drama, tension, and some great characters. But ... Apr 25, 2022
I was all in for this show. And then the second half happened. I didn't want to think that the quality would dip so far. But when the main antagonist, who is not that solid of an antagonist not only suffers for the consequences of her actions, but is somewhat rewarded for them by the person she may have outright abused the most.. Like come on.
Bojji is still a standout protagonist, though sadly he seemed to plateau in quality as a character as time went on. I did not mind though as he had plenty of development. Hilling was great too. Otherwise... I could take ... Jun 17, 2022
This started out so well I almost wasn't annoyed by the premature reviews heralding the newest anime masterpiece. Then, however, the standout story degraded into a never-ending whack-a-mole of a battle with a lot of psychodrama and endless ressurections, like the worst of mainstream kids titles. In the end, a lot of it just doesn't make sense and what sense there is, is rather primitive. Also, even though I'm not entirely against the idea that everyone can and should be forgiven and/or find the redemption, the way this already suspect idea is delivered here was mindless, just plain out dumb. To hell with these speculations
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Aug 18, 2022
It had the makings to be a really good story but severely lacking in consequences and felt like the whole story just started resolving on it's own without needing the protagonist to earn it or even the antagonists to earn a satisfying result.
It starts off super light hearted and you're met with depression. You're on this adventure and you don't know what to expect because if you came in expecting 23 episodes you'd expecting a lot out of the story but the whole thing concludes relatively quick in the story time-line that you can't help but feel the whole pacing was dragged on for way ... May 1, 2023
Ousama Ranking is one of the hardest anime to grade. The initial part of the show got me hooked to a point I have rarely been regarding animes, with character writing and plot development reminiscent of the early seasons of Game of Thrones (hell, it even has a prince charming losing his hand) but was only to be followed by a disappointing and cliche second act.
What is most noticeable about Ousama Ranking is arguably its very special artistic design. I cannot point out precisely what it is, but its graphic style is similar to animations in the 90's creating a more childish illusion. While being ... Apr 14, 2023
The animation, character design and lighting are top tier but there really isn't much else
The start sets it up to be a great series but it falls off hard around half way, there are far too many plot twists that make it so there is no distinct villains by the end of the series and It also lacks reason behind many of the plot points , together this makes it very confusing. The fights are great and very well animated but lack the length to really be called an actual fight scene. Finally the ending is very poor and lacks reason behind its decision as well ... Nov 14, 2024
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 ... May 24, 2022
RANKING OF KINGS REVIEW
(I had to make this review, I am insanely disappointed with this show) [SPOILERS AHEAD] Does a mute and deaf person have the right to be a ruler of a country? What does it truly mean to be a king? Why do good people turn evil? TLDR: Ranking of kings had a massive potential to be a solid 9/10 or even a 10/10, however, they screwed up big time. The first half of the show was intensely good, however, the middle part to the ending was an absolute clusterfuck. What in the world was happening? Why did they deviate from the plot? They could ... Apr 1, 2022
------ SPOILERS FOR FULL SEASON AHEAD -------
Gonna stay quick cuz I see plenty of other reviews with my similar opinions: - Initial impressions were really high. - Cool characters, fun world building, decent back stories being portrayed for each character. Stuff I enjoy. ... Apr 11, 2022
A bit spoiler but not so-so
I really like the art style, first thought it's just a children's anime but it's not. The protagonist and his friend is wholesome makes my heart flutter, it's just a disappointment that there's not enough screen time for them. Suddenly the MC is stronger, that no one can stop /defeat him. First half of the season is good, but going to the second (episode 8) goes flat and really disappoint me completely especially the last 3 episode. It's because of the antagonist, It's another "pitiable antagonist" who deserves to be in the pits of hell but the author said "No, it's ... |