Ósama Ranking

Ranking of Kings is an anime series that managed to keep surprising me. The characters are good and overall I have only two minor criticisms which do not stop this anime series from being good. If you have empathy, you will have no problem empathizing with the characters' motivations, quickly growing to like the main male protagonist and rooting for him. There are other unforgettable characters. I never expected to be so strongly affected by the backstory of what looks like a black blob with two eyes or to consider the best character of the entire first season to be the main male protagonist's stepmother. There are surprises around every corner, and what makes this anime series stand out above the rest is how it manages to deconstruct typical narrative tropes and clichés. When the anime's creators introduce someone, they do it so that you do not waste time wondering what the person is like, and you quickly get an idea of them. However, when you think you are sure about them, the narrative changes your view completely but naturally, and the twist is not only surprising, but more importantly, it all makes perfect sense. This anime series is brilliant at filling out the individual characters, their strengths and weaknesses, and their resulting behaviors. Almost every important character is portrayed in a very complex way, so there are enough details about each one, and you are going to remember some important moments with almost all of them. They are surprising, you learn even more about them that way, and they are unforgettable. Logically, the narrative is also full of surprises, and it is not just some simple fairy tale, as it may seem to some at first glance. After all, fairy tales do not have severed limbs, and only the bad guys die. In addition, they do not deal with more complex themes such as prejudice and insecurity. In other words, it is way too deep, unpredictable, and occasionally gory for it to be a fairy tale. The setting is very interesting and the comprehensive narrative gives a respectable overview of its history, diversity, and weirdness. Of course, here comes the first minor criticism (one of the two mentioned); I feel like many things were underused in the first season and I wanted to know more, although I did not get that. The potential of the show's world is huge; its magic can be very powerful, even though I feel like I have seen and heard less of it all than I would have liked so far. On the other hand, the last episode gives me hope that it is the exploration of the world that might be the focus of a possible follow-up and that I might see the characters who were only briefly present in the story but still manage to intrigue me into wanting to know more about them (I am thinking mainly of a certain girl from the second episode and then perhaps a certain strange king from episode four). Anyway, now the second criticism is the overall pace of the narrative. The first few episodes work well; however, I found some of the events too rushed (such as Bojji working himself up from 0 to 100), and then in the second half, I found all the fighting to be unnecessarily stretched out again. Fortunately, this unbalanced pace does not affect the storytelling. In my opinion, everything feels natural and logical. The story never ceases to surprise, especially in the final episodes. Everything leads to a satisfying conclusion (which could be described as the penultimate part) and there is even a strong hint of a future follow-up (the last episode) which I am already looking forward to. Ranking of Kings caught my attention, charmed me, and convinced me of its qualities, both in production (the animation and soundtrack are wonderful) and narrative; I enjoyed most of this season and want a follow-up. That is why Bojji and Co. earned a 9/10 from me. (24.03.2022) (mniej) (więcej)