The Medieval Fantasy Anime With The Most Underrated Hero Of All Time

Ranking of Kinga follows the story of Prince Bojji, a small, innocent boy who is unable to speak or hear and is rather weak. The show is very loosely based on the fairytale “The Emperor’s New Clothes,” even featuring a scene where our innocent protagonist gets tricked just like the emperor in the original story.

Bojji, isolated from much of the world due to his disabilities, meets a shadow who is the last surviving member of an assassin clan. The two can communicate and they form a close bond as they train and work hard together to become the best king possible.

The first thing to mention about this anime is that it’s from Wit Studio (Attack on Titan, Spy x Family), and it’s very apparent. Though the show has a rather simplistic, fairy-tale design, every scene is hand-drawn and features incredible detail. The animation alone is enough to draw in fans.

The opening and ending songs are also quite amazing. For most series, I usually skip the songs after hearing them the first time. But with Ranking of Kings, I found myself watching them every time, they were just that good.

Of course, brilliant animation and catchy songs aren’t enough to keep people interested. A good story and deep characters are also important and this show delivers on both, which is why it has an impressive 8.51 on My Anime List.

At the beginning of Ranking of Kings, it’s easy to categorize almost every character besides Bojji and Kage. However, as the series progresses, every character reveals their motivations and goals, leaving fans to realize there isn’t something as simple as heroes and villains in this show.

For the first 12 episodes or so, I was sucked in. I wanted to understand why the characters did what they did, and how Bojji was going to survive against his stronger, smarter, and more experienced opponents. Every betrayal of this innocent prince felt like a twist of a knife.

Based on the first 12 episodes alone, Ranking of Kings easily sits in my top 10 anime. Unfortunately, the series tends to lose steam in the second half of the season.

The animation was still great, and we got more background on many of the characters I was excited about. It’s by no means a bad second half to a show. But when the first cour stood out so brilliantly, the flaws in the second cour were much more obvious.

The biggest issue was that there were a lot of plot holes only vaguely explained. Sometimes the character motivations, especially of Bojji’s dad, were confusing and felt a little weak.

Still, despite these plot holes, I loved Ranking of Kings, from beginning to end. The characters were strong, each facing their own problems. Despite having such different goals and motivations, they all managed to come together in the end to have the best ending for their kingdom.

I think the way the ending is wrapped up is also reminiscent of the fairy tales that the series references. Everyone is happy, and the villains are forgiven once they realize their mistakes. It’s a bit of a childish ending, but Bojji is childishly innocent, despite all he’s faced, and it solidifies that he’s the right person to be king.

GFR SCORE

I acknowledge that there are some plot holes, and the show isn’t perfect, but it’s still great nonetheless, and I won’t hesitate to recommend it to anyone looking for a new series to stat.

All 23 episodes of Ranking of Kings are available to stream on Crunchyroll. It’s not part of the premium tier, so you can watch the show even if you don’t have a membership. However, if you do have Crunchyroll Premium, there’s also a series of 10 shorts available when you’re done with the main show called Ranking of Kings: The Treasure Chest of Courage that’s worth watching if you want to see the background of some of your favorite characters.