Ranking of Kings

Episodes 22-23

It's time for the epilogue of Ranking of Kings. Bosse is dead, Daida is back in control of his faculties, Ouken is compressed inside of a giant boulder, and all the major players are alive barring a few missing limbs. The final two episodes seek to put a bow on most of the straggling threads and reassert the series' overall thesis of abandoning malice for empathy and forgiveness. Ranking of Kings has long been married to this idea that there is no true villainy (sans episode 18) and while I can appreciate its commitment, it's asking a lot of its audience in these final moments.

Primarily, it's asking us to forgive Miranjo, a horrifically abused woman who nonetheless orchestrated the murder of Bojji's mom, influenced Daida to have his brother assassinated, attempted to have Hiling torn apart by mind-controlled beasts, unleashed Ouken on the general populous, recommended the process of stealing Bojji's physical strength, and betrayed Daida so he would be possessed by his father. And now Daida wants everyone to forgive her and intends on marrying her. Miranjo could best be described as Daida's mentor/step-sister/step-mom, and I couldn't even estimate their age gap. This isn't so much a case of "she's too old for him" as Miranjo, despite all her scheming, has seemed somewhat emotionally immature throughout the series.

The issue is that I've head-canoned Daida as maybe 14 throughout most of the series and I take his love confession with about the same amount of seriousness. I can believe that he already had a trusting relationship with Miranjo over the course of her mentoring him while she was in the mirror. I can believe that he gained a sense of protectiveness over her after he witnessed her childhood and spent time with that child version of her inside of his father's memories. However, I don't perceive Daida as a "man" and so all of his proclamations, as genuine as they seem to him, still sound like they're coming from a little kid.

I'm also just a little pissed off that his recklessness lost Despa his chance to cure his brother and likely set into motion what would be the next act of the story: Desha's choice to accept a gift from the vault. While this part of Ranking of Kings' world is still a mystery, we can infer that the Ranking system and the cursed treasures are likely some kind of ploy by the gods to keep the humans from gaining too much power and overthrowing them. I'd love to see this expanded on in a second season, but until then, this development remains an enticing cliffhanger.

Also, while it's entirely out of left field, shout out to Kingbo for arriving late to the party just to dropkick Ouken's head into a lake. Chaotic king shit.

Most of the final episode is an extremely well-animated (watch for the many POV shots) bit of closure with a minor conflict. We see Bojji accepted as king (Hurray!) and that being king is kind of boring (bureaucracy, boo!) especially without your best friend by your side. Kage takes off for a bit of ham-fisted emotional conflict in the final moments but it isn't all just to kill time: it also gives Bojji and Hiling a moment to reconcile some of the emotional damage that her step-son carries and she reassures him that it is okay for him to want things for himself even when he has a responsibility to his people. The result? Bojji still has a lot of the world left to see and he's fine letting his brother manage things in his stead while he goes off on the journey he always wanted, with his best friend by his side.

When I first started reviewing this series, I talked about how Bojji held special importance to me as a parent. His journey has unfolded over the last half year and I often found it reaffirming. If Bojji could find a best friend like Kage, a supportive ray of sunshine, then my son could, too. The series often showed that even in a world with unimaginable depths of cruelty, a community can still be forged in empathy and kindness. I think all of us need to know that.

Rating: (episode 22)
Rating: (episode 23)
Ranking of Kings is currently streaming on Funimation and Crunchyroll.