If you’ve been following this blog along for the past few years, you’ll know that I’m a big fan of slice of life shows. Shows in which the plot doesn’t really move forward at all, but characters just kind of exist in the world they live in. What’s vital to the success of these kinds of shows is how interesting the world they live in is. This can be achieved by creating compelling characters, a world you want to explore or a vibe that just makes you feel at ease. If anyone ever figures out how to create good vibes consistently, please teach me.
This does bring me to today’s topic: Ousama Ranking (Ranking of Kings). This was my favorite show of 2022 and right now it has a spin-off season in Treasure Chest of Courage. Three episodes have aired so far and I think that’s enough to give my thoughts on it, for those of you who might still be on the fence about watching it.
Let’s start off with the obvious question; do you need to watch Ousama Ranking to be able to enjoy this spin-off season?
Well… Yes, that’s probably for the best. A lot of these scenes take place during things that happen in the first season, and although none of it is hard to grasp on its own, it’s one of those scenarios where there’s really not much here if you’re not already invested in this world and its characters. If you’re considering watching this spin-off without watching the first season, then I think you’ve got your priorities wrong. But now you’ve gone away for a day or two and watched the first season of Ousama Ranking, should you watch this spin-off?
Let’s get the intent of this season out of the way. I knew there was more Ousama Ranking coming, but hadn’t done all too much research. It was only after I read some posts online that I realized this wasn’t a direct continuation but more a side story filling in gaps in the story of season 1. I was a little bit disappointed, but I also immediately had to think of the spin-off for Tensura, which quickly became one of my favorite shows of all time. So with that in mind I gave the show a try and I was pleasantly surprised. So far it hasn’t blown me away nearly as much as Tensura’s spin-off did, but that’s a hard one to follow up. What did immediately catch my interest is the fact that this show actually seems to fill in some gaps in the main story. The first episode didn’t get this through nearly enough to get me invested, but by the time we’ve reached the third episode, we’ve gotten solid insight into several of the characters in this show, learning things we didn’t know before that are 100% relevant to the main story. To give a clear example of this, we had no idea really who Ann was in season 1, and why she suddenly showed up alongside Hilling. Here we learn that she was an adventurer that used to travel with Hilling when she was still an adventuring cleric, before becoming queen. We pretty easily accepted this fact in season 1 as something that just kind of happened, but getting more insight into these two characters and what they mean to each other was definitely a pleasant bonus.
With all of that said, I think it’s pretty obvious what my recommendation is. I enjoyed every second of Ousama Ranking and I’ve so far been fairly invested in this spin-off too. If you like Slice of Life shows and if you liked the first season of this one, then I think you’ll like this show as well. The voice acting is as solid as ever and the enchanting art style from the first season has been converted to the second season. I admit I almost exclusively watch subs, but if you’re a dub person the Kage is once again reprised by the very talented Sungwon Cho (ProZD) and his voice is amazing. All in all, I figured I’d talk about this show because I think the first episode left something to be desired and people might have dropped it after that, even though it immediately got much better in the second episode. Are you watching this show? What do you think of it so far? Let me know in the comments down below and thanks for reading.
Opal Kaharis 