Ranking of Kings

 Ranking of Kings (王様ランキング) is a 22 episode fantasy series based on the manga of the same name by Toka Sasuke.  The series was produced by Wit Studio and aired in Japan between the Fall of 2021 and Winter of 2022.

     Bojji is the oldest prince of a peaceful and powerful kingdom in an unnamed fantasy world.   His father is one of the strongest kings, a literal giant named Bosse.  Bosse is nearing the end of his successful life.  All not well in his kingdom, his heir apparent, Bojji, is unnaturally weak, deaf and mute and considered a simpleton by everyone around him.  The prince is mocked and despised by everyone around him, commoner, servant and family alike.  Instead of letting the kingdom collapse when Bosse dies, Queen Hiling, Bosse's second wife, has plans to put her son, the second prince Daida on the throne.

    Bojji holds an unrealized potential in his small hands.  What everyone considers gullibility and ineptitude, hides his strength of will and unwavering compassion.  As plans beyond his control begin to move he is thrust upon a journey to awaken his latent potential.  The boy who the world struggles to communicate with must convince people who are significantly more powerful than he is to lend him their strength.  Even with his determination there are forces more powerful and sinister than anyone realized at work, threatening the very existence of his world.

    Ranking of Kings has been referred to as the anime version of Game of Thrones.  That is not entirely accurate but not wrong either.  The simplistic and unusual animation style coupled with the incredible positivity of the main character does a lot to dampen the brutality of the story.  Along with that though, the habit of death to not be permanent in the story severely dampens the terror...as well as any realistic risk.  Bojji is a character that you want to root for in every encounter and his journey is endearing and heart warming.  Yet he suffers from plot armor in more than one occasion and that plot armor extends to other characters, which lessons the real impact of the story.  The biggest complaint with the story is the ability of its characters to survive death and severe structural damage, trappings of shonen action stories that severely hamper the stories impact.

    With that said though, this is an a amazing story that becomes better with each new episode.  From the beginning Bojji is a lovable character, that the viewer will root for at every step.  As the characters around him are revealed and given back stories of their own does his journey become more endearing.  The story is emotional and moving.  Some of the characters come from tragic backgrounds, ones that shape their personalities in terrible ways, but they also contain their original humanity.  Like life, no one is purely evil in the story and those that seem to be villains at one point have the potential for redemption later on.  The artwork it's self befits the story, even if it looks simplistic and childish.  It helps to lessen the darkness of the events while paying homage to classical French animation, finding its own voice in a land of copy cats.  Ranking of Kings makes me think of Berserk that exudes hope within the darkness.  In the end I heavily enjoyed this story, even if it seemed to be unwilling to kill off many characters and got a little too positive in the end, but its a great story, great word and Bojji is one of the best protagonists around.  Here's to more of the story being produced, because there is so much more story that can be told...and there is a lot more manga.

    Ranking of Kings is currently available streaming in North America.