Forum - View topicEP. REVIEW: Ranking of Kings
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seika
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Actually a key reason for it is because the mangaka also had an unconventional start to his career, rather than him trying to cater to any specific demographic. Most mangaka begin their careers in their early 20s, but Tooka started it in his 40s. Due to the lengthier life experience he wielded as a 40 year old, he was able to use it and create a more mature and multifaceted story like Ranking of Kings. Tooka actually had aspirations to draw manga in his twenties, but for a variety of reasons, his dreams never panned out, and he like many other Japanese men, secured a regular, salaryman job. However, when he was 41, for unspecified reasons, decided to make a last ditch effort on his lifelong dreams, and quit his white collar job to start drawing Ranking of Kings on the webmanga site manga hack. If you have seen the art, you'd know that it's not really his forte (though he has vastly improved since the beginning), so the manga truely gained popularity from the sheer power of its story. I think he put in a lot of his own struggles with his own manga dreams into Bojji as well. It's an inspiring story on its own. Last edited by seika on Sat Nov 27, 2021 1:33 pm; edited 2 times in total |
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ANN_Lynzee
ANN Executive Editor
 Posts: 2945 Location: Email for assistance only |
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My bet is it's a staff of some kind which would be a cool lead up to him facing Apeas. |
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NeedMoreCats
 Subscriber Posts: 320 Location: Westchester, NY |
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A staff would be cool. But my guess is something lighter/smaller like a rapier or stiletto. It’s fun to guess, can’t wait til we find out! 
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Gina Szanboti
Posts: 11355 |
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I'm wondering if the key is whether "strength" includes stamina or not. Whatever Bojji's been doing it can't be to get stronger, but it might be to improve his stamina. Personally, I'd lump stamina in with strength, but the author might not.
I don't think it can be a knife or staff (unless there's magic involved, but in that case it could be anything). Bojji can barely lift the little wooden stick he tries to fight with, so a longer one wouldn't help and a stabbier one still requires strength. I think whatever the weapon is, Bojji has been exhausting himself to learn how to use it, rather than using any physical strength to use it. His one skill is dodging (he and Iruma-kun need to play tag together!) so it could maybe be a weapon that makes use of that somehow. I was also thinking it might be some sort of sonic weapon, since that could never be turned against him. I just can't quite shape a form for that though, and I don't know how he would recognize what it did by looking at it. The latter is a problem for any non-traditional weapon I can think up. I can also think of lots of ways to split that rock, but none of them would be useful in a face-to-face battle. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ I got it - dynamite! Just blow 'em up real good, Bojji! 
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gpanthony
Posts: 241 |
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Just to clarify, Bosse is physically the strongest, but his King Ranking is 7th.
Also, Domas knows very well that he will be executed if he returns to the kingdom, he even tells Hokuro that at the inn and tells Hokuro to abandon the kingdom to save his life as well. But because of Hokuro's devotion to Bojji, he's willing to risk his life to report what happened to Queen Hiling. This devotion and honor are what prompt Domas to try to rescue Hokuro, because they are qualities that Domas values, but was too weak to fully embrace and he didn't really want Hokuro to die for the evils he himself committed. Similarly, Hokuro knows that in order to properly protect Bojji when he returns, he needs the secrets to Domas' strength and skill. He has not forgiven Domas for his assassination attempt, but he is will to work with Domas to get what he needs. |
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JadeDahlia
 Posts: 70 Location: New York, NY |
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I was put off by how there was this cool strong buff lady who, once defeated by the king, immediately decided she didn't care about being strong anyway and the king said all sorts of sexist crap about it that apparently isn't going to be challenged by the narrative in any way. :/
Like, the king is obviously not a good guy either way, but I really can't tell whether or not the story is also siding with his view that the queen is better off being protected by the Big Strong Manly Man and I don't like that. |
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NeverConvex
 Subscriber Posts: 2304 |
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I thought the Bosse-giant lady exchange after their fight implied the story isn't taking this p.o.v.: Her: "Why was it that I sought greater strength?" Him: "Ha ha, because there were no strong men around, right?" Her: "Hmm? No, that's not why" (cue Bosse looking embarrassed) But it's not clear to me that it has much interest in following up on it further. |
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whiskeyii
 Posts: 2245 |
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My take on Bosse is that he genuinely regrets taking Bojji’s strength and seemingly never meant to take Daida’s body either. He seemed disappointed to be resurrected, and everything he did this episode has wholly convinced me he’s playing a double agent against Miranjo, who I think is angling to be his Queen or something, hence the need to assassinate Hiling. Possibly she gathers her museum/vault from the store of monsters below, which is why Domas and Hokuro are off to go get stronger. Also, my personal wager is that Bojji has mastered the whip! Takes little to no strength to use and is all about technique!
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Violet Park
Posts: 115 |
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My theory is that Bosse and Miranjo once shared a common goal and maybe mutual feelings. Bosse was a POS in his youth but it seems like becoming a father and husband changed him. Now he doesn't want to go along with Miranjo's plans, but either he still cares for her or is scared of her power, and instead of openly defying her he is sabotaging her behind her back. It's too much of a coincidence that everything he has done this last two episodes have contributed to foiling her plans.
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Errinundra
Moderator
 Posts: 6525 Location: Melbourne, Oz |
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I must admit that this episode Ranking of Kings finally had me fully engaged. In the talkback thread to This Week in Anime - Why Ranking of Kings Deserves Its Top Spot I described my negative reaction towards the series to that point, but the last two episodes (and Lynzee's defence) have turned my view around. The anime has proven Daida, Bosse and Queen Hiling especially to be more layered than I first gave them credit for. Queen Hiling has quickly become the most compelling character in the series so far. And the question of what Bosse is actually on about has got me intrigued. I hope the series continues in this vein.
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Covnam
 Posts: 3651 |
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Great episode. Even though it was a serious scene, I must admit I did laugh when Hiling told Dorshe to go get Daida, like he was just supposed to hop inside Bosse and pull him out.
Thinking about it now it reminds me of Burns telling Smithers to hop in to the Spruce Moose
So does everyone know it's Bosse by this point, or do most people just think Hiling is nuts? |
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gsilver
Posts: 617 |
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Since it's been firmly established that everything that we see is important in some way, and they were *very* clear that Bosse luring Miranjo out of the mirror to dance weakened her (at least temporarily) it's pretty clear that he has less-than-total loyalty to her. This episode looked like a test, the plan will come later.
...Though that being said, one would think that Miranjo is pretty vulnerable and limited while in the mirror. Whatever her plans are, they don't seem to involve escaping it, at least for now. |
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whiskeyii
Posts: 2245 |
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That was my impression as well. I’m not sure he’s gonna full Snape here and is playing a double-agent, but I think he’s only half-heartedly committed to at least the cost Miranjo’s plan is going to exact on his family (who he does seem to genuinely care for, at least in flashbacks), even if he does seem to support Miranjo’s plan, since he’s gone along with quite a lot of it for years, even beyond becoming kind and becoming super strong. Also, nothing to add except “Go, Hiling, go!” I think these parts of her socially awkward personality were what we viewers were missing from her previous spotlight episode (and probably what the manga readers were hinting at as missing context), but I like how it was used here. Hiling continues to be one of my faves in a cast full of colorful characters!
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Fluwm
 Posts: 889 |
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Oh, my. That's an embarrassing typo. Let's fix that up nice and quick, shall we?
Much better. |
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Picky33
Posts: 265 |
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I like what you did there. When i heard this episode was only going to be about Queen Hiling, i thought, this is probably a filler episode. but it should Hiling's genuine side, we are so used to stories of Step Mothers being awful characters, that it's surprising to see her as caring as she is. |
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