Ousama Ranking is back after two weeks of other anime activities! And it’s…a mixed brace of episodes. There are things I love and a few points I have a problem with. Let’s take a look!
Let’s start with what I love – actually, who: Hiling. My goodness, she has gone from a generic villain to someone I absolutely cheer for every time she’s onscreen. The mechanic where healing others brings her pain is excellent – I hope other series draw inspiration from that. Her continual awkward kindness is simply adorable – and that hug shows how she really is Bojji’s mom. I also love how she healed so hard, flowers grew up under Drushi – a great visual to help the viewers understand the effort being put in. The mana potions in the armor? Brilliant – I love it. Every moment since episode 1 that she’s on screen is a treat – this isn’t typical tsundere either, this is tsundere royalty. Hiling is hoarding all the good moments so far this season, and I’m here for it. Like Bojji, I’m sorry I doubted you!
Some other points: I really liked seeing Bosse’s inner struggle in the dungeon. It’s obvious he can break out but realizes he’s in a delicate position. I’m not sure how to feel about Bojji having the ability to determine the molecular weak points of all matter – that seems a bit of a stretch. We’ll see if it ends up just being something to suspend belief over or if it’s expounded on a bit more.
Now…my issues. “Kingdom in Turmoil” wasn’t a great episode by any means, but I understand the need to transition arcs. No, my problem, which I mentioned in passing earlier in the season is this: Ousama Ranking seems intent on maiming, but not killing, its characters. Let’s take a look – who has actually died in Ousama Ranking? Looks like Bojji’s birth mother, but I’m not even sure of that at this point. Everyone else has come back, albeit with physical sacrifices. And this brings me to what makes me uncomfortable – I get it, Ousama Ranking is trying to emphasize that the world isn’t only for perfect people. And that’s a wonderful message. I just don’t want to see the entire cast artificially given an impediment…without letting anyone die. It’s the strangest of plot armors, and it feels like a half measure – they want the emotional impact of Drushi’s loss of an eye and foot but aren’t willing to make his sacrifice complete. Maybe it’s just me, but it feels disingenuous – this unwillingness to sacrifice characters just takes away from an otherwise very engaging and complex plot. Come on, Drushi and Anne were dead there. Even some other instances of major injury, like Dormas cutting off his hand, felt a little forced. Ousama Ranking is intent on building Bojji’s kingdom to include subjects of all physical and mental states but having a major wound shouldn’t be a requirement for entry. I want to see Bojji as the legitimate leader of all his people – not “in the land of the blind, the one-eyed man is king”. I also feel like Daida is getting set up for a physical loss – I just hope Ousama Ranking doesn’t continue in that direction, but I’m concerned that’s how it’s looking. Who knows, I could be completely off-base here, but that’s the impression I’ve gotten from these last two episodes.
So as Ousama Ranking starts off the back half, there’s plenty of good here: the animation is still crisp, the characters still great, and the stage of the Underworld battle is pretty set. Just a few quibbles here, but there’s still plenty of positives, so I’ll count my blessings instead of complaining too much.
Yeah, the lack of major character deaths is definitely an issue. And more generally, the series suffers from a bit of tonal whiplash imo, like it can’t decide whether it wants to be a mature story or a simplistic fairy tale. On the one hand, many of the characters are far more complex and interesting than they at first appear, and rather than being straightforwardly good or evil, the characters often tend to fall in various shades of grey: for example, though Hiling is a good mother in many ways, she’s also very overprotective of Boji, pushed her own son for the throne, and was apparently blind to his very serious faults. But on the other hand, the show can feel very childish at times, especially when the story centers around Boji: his power-up (becoming one of the strongest characters in the world in a matter of weeks despite his serious lack of physical strength) is rather fantastical (and doesn’t really feel earned), and although I’m sure Boji will end up on the throne in the end, the show has never really made a strong case why he’d make a good king (he’s still incredibly naive and simple-minded – he seems super immature even compared to his supposedly younger brother – and his near-constant outbursts of gibberish – when he could just use sign language – make him seem like an idiot, even though he’s supposed to be quite smart). And as you said, the fights suffer from an overabundance of plot armor, as well as (I would add) a heavy reliance on worn-out clichés (the villain who leaves when victory is already certain, thus giving the heroes a chance to survive; the underdog who swoops in for the rescue) and a general lack of realism (doesn’t the kingdom have anyone to defends its castle aside from a handful of escaped convicts and monster beasts? and if targeting weak points is so ridiculously effective in this universe, why is Boji apparently the only one using this method?). Like you, I’m still enjoying the show quite a bit, but I really wish it’d make up its mind what kind of story it wants to tell sometimes.
“Tonal whiplash” – I like that, I definitely agree. I guess the goal is a mature take on a simple fairy tail (hehe), but it doesn’t always work out. I’m still glad Ousama Ranking is trying though – anime could certainly use something different than the billionth isekai classroom.
also why is it that heroes can walk away from explosions and everything works out (they never get hit in the head or anything). Bad guys turn their backs for one second and their brilliant plans all fall apart. Terribly unfair.
If you want examples of Badguys who are steps ahead of the good guys, you should check out Monster. The villain in that series was terrifying.
You do not need major deaths to tell a good story. That said I find it annoying when the author teases a death but then goes back on it. Example: One Piece. As much as I like the series thr fake out deaths are very annoying.