True colors emerge around episode three, and I would say this episode should provide an excellent barometer to determine if you want to continue watching. How does it fare? Let’s find out!
Let’s start with the good. Given the lack of female characters so far, it’s pretty obvious who the mysterious healer of our little prince is. I thought the queen’s backstory was pitch perfect – anyone with kids knows how drastically the firstborn’s treatment changes when a second comes along. Coupled with the complication of a natural vs step-son, I really liked the deeper look into the queen’s relationship with Bojji – not black and white as it appeared in the earlier episodes. I also ADORE when a healer mechanic comes with a personal cost (like taking on the pain); that’s probably one of my favorite evolutions in the genre.
Secondly, more of Bojji’s friends are coming out of the woodwork. Not sure I would have befriended the many headed snake, but it was pretty clear the second you saw it that Bojji had helped (and I suspected the queen’s involvement as well). I wouldn’t call this power of friendship, more the power of being a good person? Regardless, it fits the theme and lays the groundwork for Bojji’s conquering through kindness. I dig it.
Now for the problems, and yes – there are several. First, the visuals – my goodness, I love the fight scenes. But I hate every single character design (minus the grumpy princess who had like 5 seconds of screen time). Secondly, this episode lacked our little assassin boi – I didn’t realize how integral Shadow (I’m still calling him that) is until he was absent for the second half. If he has an extended absence, this is going to be painful. And the reason for that is…listening to Bojji isn’t fun. I get it, that’s how it’s supposed to be. But it’s not something people voluntarily subject themselves to and enjoy. I think there’s been pretty good direction in minimizing it, but you can’t avoid the awkward noises. And I think as the season goes on, it’ll become more pronounced (you can’t avoid major screen time for the main lead).
And that’s what it comes down to – while I like some of the characters, I don’t love them. The visuals are such a contradiction (beautifully animated ugly characters) that I can’t justify continuing based solely on that. I wouldn’t say the story is a mess, but it hasn’t gone anywhere yet – there’s this nebulous king’s ranking (tournament? competition?) that’s been discussed but not shown. So far, it’s been little kids in court intrigue. And that weird demon thing? Wtf was that?
What’s the verdict? I’m not jumping ship here, but I think there are fundamental flaws that I don’t see being corrected or even correctable. Maybe this new journey will introduce enough new characters and challenges to get me fired up, but as of right now, my hype is severely diminished. What do you think? Is our little king doomed or will he turn it around and win out in the end?
Really? You cannot love the cast because if the character designs. How shallow are you? Looks are not everything and character is more fucking important dude
Also the fact you think people will hate the lead because of his disability shows ste narrow minded you are! Deaf people will relate to him and others will love him for his personality because it is what is inside that counts.
Never have I said people will hate the lead due to the disability. I said it’s unenjoyable to witness – which is frankly true, no matter how much you want to sugar coat it. Of course, I’m rooting for him to overcome it.
As Armi says in her comment, I hadn’t considered the potential emotional payout for when he does…that would make the unpleasantness worth it.
Anime is a visual media, featuring idealized and simplified caricatures of people to emphasize certain features and qualities. How many people do you see with blue hair and giant eyes walking around?
My issue is with this particular character designers choices to emphasize features that aren’t commonly done in anime – particularly enlarged, pointy noses. What’s the reason for that? When people see parts of a human face exaggerated, it causes dissonance in the part of our brain that recognizes faces: it’s our brain saying, hey, something’s not quite right here. Clown faces have features such as bright red noses or white painted skin for this reason – it’s to show this shouldn’t be viewed as someone’s real face and instead is making a point. My problem is – what point does the emphasis in this show serve? In anime, often times you’ll see overemphasized noses in bad guys (see MHA Destro) – is everyone in this show bad? With the exception of One Piece (where all the characters are out the window), I’m having trouble thinking of another show with similar designs that I enjoyed.
As a visual media, I think it’s perfectly fair to judge anime by how it looks. It’s judging an artist’s work and saying, that’s not for me. And that’s a fair thing to say – I’m not saying that someone else won’t appreciate it, and I certainly wouldn’t judge them for doing so.
But fine, looks aren’t everything. We’re 3 episodes in, and the only character who has stood out to me (as I said in the post), is the one whose design I hate the most: Shadow…and he looks to be out for a while. The queen had some nice moments, but she’s about to be relegated to a very minor role due to the upcoming journey – she’s played her part. The entire court is entirely forgettable and the bad brother is as bland as can be. There are too many characters who have gotten screentime and honestly we haven’t had much development from Bojji himself – he lost a fight and jumped out a window.
So I’m still hopeful, but these are red flags to me.
I do agree Amun that the character designs are not traditionally appealing especially when compared to modern anime. Still, I wouldn’t go so far as to call them ugly. They’re very faithful to the storybook designs of old and I personally believe that for this series, they work perfectly well. Especially considering that most children’s stories (which is what Ousama Ranking misdirects the viewer to think of it as) are told from a child’s perspective. And children exaggerate everything, especially people’s appearances. It’s what helps them distinguish between everyone around them. But I can totally see why you might not find such designs appealing.
Secondly, coming to the point of hearing Bojji talk, well, I personally do not mind it at all. It sounds just about the same as a child learning to talk. Which is exactly what it should sound like. I know that no one actually enjoys listening to a person having a speech impediment make the attempt to form coherent sentences and repeatedly fail, but I do believe that it isn’t something that’s being done just for the sake of it. More than anything, it’s a desperate attempt on Bojji’s part to communicate, to be heard. And I can appreciate that. And who knows? Maybe somewhere down the line, we will have Bojji learn to say a word or two. Something like “mom” or “friend”. It will be a small victory but for a child, even small victories are huge triumphs 🙂
I’m in a house with a child learning to talk, so…that’s why I may be a bit biased ^_^. Thanks for pointing that out.
You make a great point – celebrating Bojji’s first word will be incredibly worth it, and I hope we see it this season.
I’m not sure if I like the idea of Bojji learning to talk to others verbally. He can’t hear, and people who are deaf use sign language to communicate. Sign language is just as valid a means of communication as verbal speaking, and the latter works better for Bojji. I’m probably projecting here, but I’ve seen a lot of stories centering on disabled people where their development is considered only valid if they change themselves to be more like everyone else, such as, in the case of autistic people, putting your own needs last so you won’t weird everyone out. Bojji shouldn’t be forced to communicate like everyone else does if that method doesn’t work for him, and there’s a million different ways to communicate, not just one.
Oh, no. I didn’t mean Bojji saying his first word in a validating sense for him. Ideally, it would surely be best if he was just left alone to his own devices but this story is of an entirely different time and place, one that’s definitely not as progressive. Bojji is also supposed to be the hereditary heir to the throne. Any person in that position would be put under much harsher scrutiny. And any possible shortcomings they might have would only be criticized further. Besides, he is but a child and wants to stand up to his critics. He wants to tell them he is capable and most of them could not be bothered to learn sign language just to understand him. So, in this exceptional scenario, he puts in so much effort just to have his (symbolic) voice heard, and him saying his first words at some point is merely conjecture on my part – a little something a child may get to have as a reward for all his effort ^_^
I am on the opposite side, I started this anime because of the character designs. One pet peeve I have with anime is how similar most characters look (and how many different series resemble each other) due to everybody being forced to be attractive (and young, skinny and noseless). Even regarding that I tend to favor the uncommon ones. Yes, I genuinely consider Hiling (Healing?) attractive, I love noses!
So for now at least I enjoy how vastly different Bojji looks from Daida, Domas from Apeas and BeBin and so on.
Personally I didn’t notice Kage’s absense either. My main focus and the more relatable MC to me is Bojji, so there is nothing for me to dislike about this episode. I am actually very hyped to see how this anime is developing.
It makes me realise how needed actual fantasy is. Oh and yeah, the choreography in that fight, 10/10. Makes me wonder if we will be lucky enough to see longer fights in the future. I also have to say that the music is great so far. Nothing that stood out too much, but the melodies they played so far were nice to listen to imo fitting.
If you love Pinocchio noses, then this is your anime!
I’m glad it’s hitting the spot for you – I agree that the fight scene’s look fantastic. Hadn’t thought about the music, but I’d say it fits – it’s doing its job if you aren’t bothered by it imho.
Agreed. We need more pure fantasy anime and less boring isekai trash.
This post really resonated with me. Personally, I feel that the industry’s best animators should be reserved for shows with nerdy teenage MCs and their inexplicably hot female companions, not series with atypical heroes and charming art styles. I’ve had it up to here with anime studios hogging all the best artists for their ambitious projects, while the shows that people actually want to see are left out in the cold. Spread the wealth, I say – give all those series starring some version of Makoto Blandtagonist a few decent-looking fight scenes, for Miyazaki’s sake!
Aye! Go on, preach the gospel, lad! 😤
Whewie, I got everyone hot under the collar here! TIL everyone gets upset if you criticize pointy noses….^_^