Ranking of Kings (Anime TV Series) Review.

 Featured Image: Ranking of Kings: Beautiful Anime Gem From Wit Studio You Shouldn’t Sleep On

I am sat with my family and friends and we are raising an eyebrow. A person on screen uses sign language imperfectly and not too far before this, I was crying and now am left sort of bereft and confused, actively making fun of a moment in a show that I have enjoyed. And do a bit longer after this but then return to that same earnest emotion. I'm confused, because what I've watched has provoked a severe series of emotions within me over a period of my life that has gone on longer then this.

 

Ranking of Kings, is about what makes a ruler. Body? Soul? Heart? Who is worthy of leading others and being looked to? And it does so by introducing the son of a giant King, Boji, who is deaf and is mostly non-verbal though can be understood by those who know him. He is gentle, bright hearted and earnest but is commonly made fun of and looked down on by so many. And when he meets a being made of shadow, an oppressed final member of a genocided clan, Kage, they reach out and learn to support and uplift one another. And over the years myself and my family spent time with one another, we practiced that same care for one another in the face of our own adversity. Time drew on and we slowly made our way through this show.

 

The story has a large number of emotive moments that have resonated with me over moments where I've felt disconnected the last few years. At the core of this show, the nature of empathy and what happens when its stretched to its limit are confronted. Multiple characters are given chances to do better and it's hard to say whether you feel they've earned it or not. But the nature is about redemption and whether you judge someone worthy of having earned it or not. The show has a rather mixed putting it kindly, moment or two involving that and some bizarre ways, one very particularly bad bizarre way to achieve that clemency. But; the kindness and love of the central character ride on and dictate so much of the good in the show that bar this one massive sticking point, the show rides high on the desire to understand and know better of even the most damned. It is a show that asks the leniency of understanding even when it misses the mark and very much once, does it critically wrong.

 

The colours, the animation, the style of this show is distinct, bright and sincere. It's palette and brightness do not detract from the cruelty and horrors visited upon those within it and lend deeper still to the issues that perhaps this world faces more than ever. The idea of lurking within the watercolour, true shadows of evil and they do not look akin to what you think they may. It's a good story for the way that darkness can lurk but it's also a story about belief and hope triumphing. I enjoyed that the story travelled the path it needed to.

 

I will say; before I finish, much like the path to get here, Ranking of Kings ends on a flawed but still upbeat note. Watching people I love debate the ending and yet knowing the length of the journey, I can still recommend this story; redemption and understanding in an era where maybe that message should be taken more sincerely (bar on those extreme moments).

 

Picture sourced from animecorner.me 

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