English Dub Review: Ranking of Kings “The Order of the Underworld”

Overview (Spoilers Below):

Leaving Dorshe and Hiling behind to rest, Prince Bojji, Kage, and their new giant friend Gigan head into the castle to find the door to the underworld. But when they arrive, they find they aren’t the only ones in the palace chambers—Domas and Hokuro are there already, locked in a battle with Desha and the Order of the Underworld. Can Bojji overcome his trauma and stop the fighting before it’s too late?

Our Take:

Ranking of Kings returns with this week’s dubbed episode, The Order of the Underworld. After two episodes of fairly intense and exciting battles, the show was due for a drop off, and I’m afraid to say that this episode was pretty dull to sit through. Domas and Bojji and Desha all in one room should make for some entertaining stuff, so what was the trouble? I think it all just got off on the wrong foot.

The episode teases us with an intro showing Bojji, Kage, and Gigan on their way to the underworld portal, but then completely forgets about them for around 3/4 of the episode runtime. Instead, we get to watch Domas try to figure out what’s going on when he and Hokuro encounter a squadron of soliders from the Order of the Underworld, along with King Desha himself. The plot slows to a crawl, with Domas monologuing about how he doesn’t know what’s going on, then defeating an entire group of soldiers, and then repeating the process until King Desha shows up. Meanwhile Hokuro is just hiding behind a pillar the whole time.

That’s basically all that happens for most of this week’s episode. I understand that not every week can bring nonstop thrills and things like that, but I wish the show would’ve spent this time exploring more interesting territory. We know Domas is a beast, we don’t need to see him whacking random guards over and over again. I think it might’ve been better if Bojji had gotten down there quicker, and more of the screen time was used on his reaction to Domas, as well as Domas’s reaction to him. Because once the prince arrives, that’s when things get crazy quick.

Bojji breaks down blubbering and Kage has to comfort him with a ‘we’re all here for you Bojji’ speech that he already did once at the beginning of the ep. Then Domas says he must atone for trying to kill Bojji by throwing himself headfirst off the stairs? It’s super funny but is unfortunately like the only bit of humor in the episode. Domas survives, of course, and then Hokuro gets a little chance to shine in the spotlight by reminding his master that he should just keep on living and join Bojji’s harem.

Overall, Order of the Underworld is one of the weaker episodes of the show in a while. It’s always frustrating when two forces are fighting for reasons only the viewer knows are nonsense, and especially so when the battles are this boring. Domas non-lethally beating guard after guard gets grating after the third or fourth time, but the show just kept those brutes coming. Desha’s mind game with Domas is maybe the most exciting part of the episode, but it was too little too late. In the end, I’d have to agree with the lord of the underworld in saying that this episode was “all rather farcical.”