English Dub Review: Ranking of Kings “The Prince and Kage”

 

Overview (Spoilers Below):

Bojji has challenged his younger half-brother to a duel, and the results aren’t pretty. At first everything is fine, with Bojji using his skills at dodging and escaping to land strategic blows on his foe. But his sneaky methods make the viewers start to turn against him, and eventually Domas instructs him to fight like a king. This leads to his prompt downfall, and he’s battered to the point where he looks nearly dead. But even though it seems like no one else is on his side, Kage has found a friend.

Our Take:

Ranking of Kings is still pretty new, so I wasn’t sure what to expect from its second episode. Last week’s premiere got things off to a rather slow start. I was thinking this week’s episode might kick things into gear, but it seems like this anime is destined to take things one step at a time. If the premiere was all about introducing Prince Bojji, the follow up is all about Kage.

Not entirely, of course. Bojji is still the main character destined to be king here, but for a good chunk of the episode we get to go back to the past and see how Kage came to be the crusty and cantankerous little shadow creature that he is. It’s a tale of loneliness and poverty, but it’s pretty standard stuff. We see big humans hunting his family and mistreating him, tailor made to try and garner as much sympathy as possible in a short amount of time.

Because the story switches back to Prince Bojji’s battle with Daida for the latter part of the runtime. It’s about what could’ve been expected last week on one hand—Daida is clearly the better swordsman and has the advantage of height and build. But Bojji has a style all his own, and the way he utilizes it makes him a sneaky adversary. Unfortunately, sneaky isn’t what people want to see in a future king, and the crowd turns against him. Despite his positive progress, Domas signs for him to fight more like a king and trade blows with his brother. That, of course, is a recipe for disaster and Bojji is beaten to within an inch of his life. It’s kind of hard to watch and I’m not exactly sure it’s worth it for the audience. The one thing it does bring about is Kage’s commitment to friendship.

The Kage backstory was a setup to lead into this act of goodwill. It’s definitely rushed, considering how Kage treated Bojji just last week, but hey, at least the kid’s got someone on his side for sure now. And a member of a shadowy assassin’s guild, too… I wouldn’t be surprised if Kage tries to take out Daida eventually. I’m still not sure how brutal the show is going to be—on one hand it looks and feels more like an all-ages show, especially with Bojji as the star. But given the treatment he received here, I’m not writing off the possibility that we see more brutality before the story’s over. I just hope the stakes will be a little more exciting than this.