English Dub Review: Ranking of Kings “The Kingdom in Turmoil”

Overview (Spoilers Below):

Queen Hiling arrives at the castle ready to fight, but Miranjo and her cohorts are more than prepared. A slew of wild beasts are unleashed on Dorshe, while a couple of the thugs keep Hiling’s soldiers occupied. Only the captain, Ann, is able to stick by Hiling’s side, but she’s no match for Prince Ouken. Apeas begs Miranjo to have mercy on the queen, but her chance of survival is still slim.

Meanwhile, Dumas and Hokuro sneak into the palace underground while Prince Bojji and his legion of Desha’s soldiers arrive in town. They see Ouken massacring the townspeople, but Despa has instructed the Captain not to let Bojji fight the demon prince. He orders Bojji on to help Hiling, while he and his companions take on the formidable foe

Our Take:

Ranking of Kings returns this week with another dubbed episode, and boy is it a meaty one! The Kingdom in Turmoil pits Miranjo against Queen Hiling, and the results aren’t pretty. The episode is primarily concerned with scenes of deadly battle, and by the end of it there’s been more than enough carnage to last us through to next week’s episode.

It all starts with Hiling’s arrival at the palace, where she’s greeted by Miranjo, whose current goal is to kill all of King Bosse’s family for some reason. The matchups between Miranjo and Hiling’s cohorts are a little boring to start off with — Dorshe takes on the same beasts he already has beaten once, and three expendable soldiers get taken out without much fanfare. But as the battle heats up, things get more exciting, especially when Ouken arrives on the scene. He’s still stealing the show, and how easily he dispenses with Hiling’s guard Ann is remarkable. (Speaking of Ann, didn’t it seem like she just showed up out of no where? Like, it seems that she and Hiling have backstory, but as far as I remember Ann was never even shown in the show before.)

Ouken is creepier than ever as he butchers the townsfolk, and I’m totally here for it. Not only are his powers a mystery, but his identity, too, along with his motivations and goals. Combine all those unknowns with his creepy helmet and you’ve got yourself a fun bad guy. At this point, the only thing we’ve seen have any real effect on him is Hiling’s blast of holy light, which probably is no coincidence. Ouken is a creature of darkness, and so the light might just be the best attack against him. It’d be pretty badass if Hiling eventually takes him out with that, since she kind of plays a supporting role in her own attack this time around.

Apeas is an interesting character to study. He’s been sort of a passive protector of Miranjo up until now, but he finally shows some backbone and objects to Hiling’s treatment here. The way he serves Mirnajo while also trying to remain compassionate toward his former masters is commendable, but maybe not the  wisest move on his part. I liked the way Miranjo gave in seemingly, but only when he promised never to question her again—and then she didn’t really lose any ground, since Dorshe got killed anyway.

All this action happened and Bojji hadn’t even gotten to the palace yet. He arrives with a group of Desha’s soldiers to find Ouken wreaking havoc on the village. Bojji tries to intervene, but apparently Despa instructed the Captain of the guard not to let Bojji fight Ouken because Ouken is the perfect foil to Bojji’s fighting style or something? Not sure what that’s about, but I don’t like the guards chances of survival without Bojji and Kage there.

The episode leaves off as Bojji rushes to Queen Hiling’s side, so I’m sure next week’s episode is only going to up the ante from here. The Kingdom in Turmoil gave us plenty of exciting action sequences, but didn’t really give us many answers as to the why behind everything. In fact, it only opened new mystery’s, since we now know that Miranjo is the one who pushed for King Bosse to marry Hiling in the first place. Why bring them together only to try and tear them apart now? Solely to produce another heir? Maybe we’ll find out for sure next week!