Ranking of Kings

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About

Ranking of Kings, also known as Ousama Ranking, is a Japanese manga and anime series created by Sosuke Toka. The series follows young Prince Bojji, a small, mute and deaf child, and his friendship with Kage, a lively shadow creature who can communicate with him. Adventure unfolds around the pair as they get caught in the various political machinations of the kingdom following the death of King Bosse, Bojji's father. The series became a critical success, particularly after the release of its well-received anime adaptation.

History

Ousama Ranking was written by Sōsuke Tōka and has been serialized on Echoes' Manga Hack since May 20th, 2017.^[1] The series has been published in 12 volumes by Enterbrain.

On November 5th, 2020, Wit Studio announced it had picked up Ousama Ranking for an anime adaptation to be released in October 2021.^[2] The series' first trailer was released on September 7th, 2021 (shown below), and the anime premiered on October 15th, 2021. As of March 8th, 2022, there have been 20 episodes released.

Reception

Ranking of Kings has been widely praised by fans and critics online. The manga received accolades from Kono Manga ka Sugoi!^[3] It was nominated for Anime of the Year at the 2021 Anime Awards,^[4] and Bojji won "Best Boy" at the same awards show. Online, the series was largely popularized through word of mouth. On MyAnimeList,^[5] the series has a rating of 8.8/10 based on ratings from over 85,000 users. It was also widely praised by anime reviewers on YouTube. YouTuber Akezura called it an "anime master class" in a review that gained over 410,000 views (shown below, left). Super Eyepatch Wolf called Ranking of Kings his favorite thing of winter 2022 in a video that gained over 197,000 videos in two days (shown below right).

Online Presence

In addition to the praise the series has received on YouTube, many YouTubers also post reactions to the series, with multiple YouTubers claiming the anime "broke them" in two episodes (examples shown below). There is a small subreddit for the community, /r/osamaranking,^[6] which has gained over 3,600 subscribers since its November 5th, 2020 creation.