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!
