English Dub Review: Ranking of Kings “The Return of the Prince”

Overview (Spoilers Below):

Dorshe is about to fall and Queen Hiling with him when the two-headed snake Mitsumata arrives to step in and fight the giant Gigan. While the snake is able to save the two of them, he sadly falls just in time for Bojji to see him suffering. Bojji begs with Hiling to heal the snake, but she can’t—until Kage comes through with a variety of helpful magic potions. While his mother heals the snake, Bojji conquers Gigan and earns another follower. Meanwhile, Despa and the Captain of the Guard deal with Oaken.

Our Take:

The fourteen episode of Ranking of Kings isn’t the same action-packed story we saw last week. The Return of the Prince is filled with as much healing as hardship, and it demonstrates the connections that Prince Bojji has made and continues to form as he grows as a person and as a royal. It’s a solid episode for the most part, but the ending left a bitter taste in my mouth due to how it handled the threat of Oaken.

The majority of the episode is spent on Hiling and Bojji’s battle with Miranjo’s minions at the palace. Dorshe can’t quite best the beasts until Hiling helps him out with her healing powers. It’s a sweet moment that kind of makes me ship Hiling and Dorshe, despite the fact that there’s a bit of a power imbalance there. What, Bosse isn’t good for her! When the giant Gigan attacks, another supporter of the royals arrives in the form of Mitsumata, the snake Bojji befriended and learned his agility moves from. Not even Mitsumata can best Gigan, however, and the fight is a quick one.

Bojji steps in then, and things get a little less exciting but perhaps more interesting. This is the first time that his stepmother has seen him in a while, and it’s definitely the first time she’s seen him since he gained friends, training, and most importantly, confidence. It’s easy to tell that Hiling is a little unsettled by this new take-charge, lip-reading son of hers, and I’m curious to see how their dynamic will evolve going forward.

My favorite moment of the episode had to be when she met Kage, though, who instantly offends her by calling her a jackass. Some of the best pairings are characters who come across as exact opposites, and Kage and Hiling are that for sure. She can’t quite believe that her son would befriend such a creature, but Mitsumata tells her that Kage has saved Bojji’s life many times and is a loyal servant. (Though Bojji insists he prefers the term ‘friend’.) Then Gigan shows back up and Bojji defeats him easily with Despa’s weird psychological warfare? It’s still a little unclear to me what exactly Bojji learned from the guy, but hey, at least he’s quickly picking up new comrades.

After spending so much time at the palace, we cut back to the town, where the worst part of the episode is for me. The battle with Oaken happens almost entirely offscreen, and his capture by Prince Despa lasts a mere minute or two, tops. For a guy who was quickly becoming my favorite villain of the show, it’s a little disappointing to have him dispatched like this, and by a strike of lightning no less. (Did Despa somehow summon that? I’m beginning to think his teaching is more metaphysical than people think.) Oaken gets a bit of random backstory thrown in at the end, too, which makes me hopeful he’ll stick around.

Finally, we’re left with an image of King Desha finding the gate to the underworld, and the tease that there’s a reason for the attack he’s planning on Miranjo. All in all, a much slower episode than the previous one, but some good connections were made with Bojji and Hiling, and it’ll be interesting to see how Gigan figures into things. I just wish Oaken had gotten more screen time and a cooler fight scene.