Ranking of Kings #19 — Milking a Non-Death Scene

February 24th, 2022

 

What on earth happened to this show in its second season?

Impressions:

I can't believe we're still fighting some random jerk from the knockoff Ginyuu Squad for… what? The fifth episode in a row now? Maybe they'll show that his weakness is magic another three or four times before someone decides they should follow up on it. But most of the episode, damn near 15 minutes, is spent doing "will they, won't they" over whether it's going to kill off most of the protagonists. Which, again, would be the first deaths in the present time of the show. We can pretend all you want, show, but you have less credibility on this front than even Dragonball. At least death there was a temporary vacation.

There's also crazy witch lady getting yet another backstory rewrite. Turns out she didn't do jack squat to the evil villagers of Evilville. Bosse did out of rage over them mutilating and torturing her. So I guess she embarked on her campaign of remorseless mass murder and child torture a few years later than previously indicated. That… is supposed to change something? Should've taken the Hyakkimaru approach, girl. Oh, and the evil gods? I sarcastically commented last week that it seemed like just up and futzed off for no reason. Turns out that's literally exactly what they did. Just immediately after that decided "the time of gods is over. Peace out, dudes!" What does one even do with this writing and characterization? Okay, I get that you can think it's all emotional and Miranjo is actually good at heart because it keeps declaring that, but in the same way you can eat around a diaper you found in your lasagna.  

Next Episode:

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Posted in Ranking of Kings | 2 Comments »

2 Shouts From the Peanut Gallery

  • ZakuAbumi says:
    February 27, 2022 at 3:08 am

    For what it’s worth, I think the show has characters that mostly work, it’s exciting enough and has some pathos because otherwise, you couldn’t sell me on “fantasy war series where everyone dies but nobody ends up dead”.

    The Big Four vs Ouken I can also get behind. And it was pretty well-animated. It’s just a shame that Ouken is such a boring antagonist with the sole power of “Regenerates. Again.”

    I’m also not sure why none of these characters think of a way of confining him in a tight space. Fighting immortal enemies can be fun and creative. Ajin and MahoIku proved that. But that requires more than constant killing and regeneration. And Ouken is sadly what the second half is more or less about.

  • Anonymous says:
    February 28, 2022 at 3:27 pm

    I guess next fleshback change will have details on the devil boy and how boss pushed miranjo into evil/made promises to her he would not keep so he could build his own kingdom.

    It might end with everyone just hugging it out or having their souls saved. It feels very much like a medieval conflict where rulers and factions are fighting because of poor communication and old grudges that they feel semi strongly about with common people dying left and right.