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
