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Ranking of Kings Manga's Retranslation for BookLive Completed
posted on by Rafael Antonio Pineda
E-book publisher BookLive announced on Wednesday that the retranslation of Sōsuke Tōka's Ranking of Kings (Ōsama Ranking) manga is complete, and will be available after a review on online bookstores. It is also available for free for those who have already purchased the previous version of the manga. BookLive credited the Crunchyroll translation team for the retranslation of the manga.
BookLive added that it has filed a "strong complaint" and proceeding with legal action against the orginal contractor Dragon Digital Japan Co., Ltd., who handled the original version. BookLive noted that Dragon Digital Japan supposedly plagiarized part of the translation from a pirated release of the manga. The previous version contained typographical errors and inadequate translations, and BookLive suspended the distribution of the manga in March 2022.
Tōka has been serializing the manga on the user-submitted manga website Manga Hack and other venues since May 2017. Kadokawa published the 15th compiled book volume in December 2022.
The web manga centers around Bojji, a deaf, powerless prince who cannot even wield a children's sword. As the firstborn son, he strives hard and dreams of becoming the world's greatest king. However, people mutter about him behind his back as "a good-for-nothing prince" and "no way he can be king."
Bojji is able to make his first ever friend, "Kage" (shadow) — a literal shadow on the ground who somehow understands Bojji well. (Kage is a survivor of the Kage assassin clan that was all but wiped out. No longer a killer, Kage now makes ends meet by stealing.) The story follows Bojji's coming-of-age as he meets various people in his life, starting with his fateful encounter with Kage.
The manga inspired a television anime that premiered in October 2021, and ran for two continuous cours (quarters of the year). Funimation streamed the anime as it aired in Japan, and it also streamed an English dub. The anime will have a special episode titled Ōsama Ranking: Yūki no Takarabako (Ranking of Kings: Treasure Chest of Courage) that will premiere in April 2023.
Source: BookLive
