This week’s Ousama Ranking comes as a doubleheader – for an unusual reason. Normally, when I don’t get around to writing for a week, it’s a personal issue of time management. In this case, our double feature comes because I just didn’t feel I could fairly judge episode 7 “Prince’s Apprenticeship”, without seeing the following episode. Let’s take a look!
“Prince’s Apprenticeship” is an episode that’s entirely dependent on what comes next. If episode 8 had been a let-down, then all the effort of “Prince’s Apprenticeship” would have been a waste, and I would complain bitterly. If episode 8 is brilliant, then a “Prince’s Apprenticeship” is a necessary transition.
First of all, my goodness, does this show have great visual depth. I think that some of the backgrounds are CG (they have to be, right?) but the foreground characters are drawn in perfect perspective, with perfect lighting, so it’s making me wonder. I like the new depth of focus that’s come over from live action – I bet it’s way easier to do in anime, but it gives shots some nice “pop”. I think the heavy contouring of the characters helps with the shot depth – it’s funny, because I complain about the character designs but compliment the overall visuals.
As far as the content of episode 7 – it’s a bit of a head-scratcher. I said a few posts back I wanted to see a training arc in the Underworld and we have….sort of. We know Bojji’s training – we just haven’t really seen it. Which is okay, but I’m not that interested in watching Shadow do house work. The awful food is notable since we know Bojji is a tiny giant, but the laughs didn’t really hit for me. We have the big mystery of how Bojji is now the strongest man on earth (which we find out next episode), but I’m sure there’ll be some explanation here shortly.
All this brings us to “Sacrifice of Dreams.” While this isn’t at the level of episode 5 “Intertwining Plots”, “Sacrifice of Dreams” is a good highwater mark for Ousama Ranking. The reason? Great writing and characters – Bosse (and to a lesser extent Domas). Quick note: the change in Daida’s body language (plus the addition of the giant club) is fantastic – it’s just slightly different but still familiar. Bosse the character has a lot of development here. I’m reminded of what the king ranker said previously: if the Ranking of Kings was on strength alone, Bosse would have been the unquestionable number one. I think this is going to be the thesis of the show: what makes a great king. As we see here, strength isn’t the only consideration – despite Bosse being willing to sacrifice his family for it. I want to look at that further – Bosse, being a giant and apparently an orphan, didn’t even understand the concept of family. The second he has a son, and realizes what his ambition did to this child and everything changes. For someone whose strength means everything, seeing his tiny son was quite the shock and something of an unforgiveable sin. Which brings us to present – it looks like Bosse is running a bit of game on our magic mirror by dispatching Domas and Hokuro to destory the underworld. The plot (like his old body’s potion) thickens! Poor Daida though.
I’m happy where Ousama Ranking is and where it’s going. While it’s not the showstopper I had hoped for, this looks like it will be a quality adventure series, week in and week out. The pacing is back on track and direction on point – it’s great when a show reveals just enough to keep you hooked but leads you into a deeper and deeper mystery. Until next week!
