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In conversations about the top fantasy anime of recent years, certain titles are frequently mentioned. Surprisingly, Ranking of Kings is often overlooked in these discussions, despite deserving a spot among the best. While the series quickly cultivated a dedicated fanbase, it never quite captured the widespread attention that its quality warranted.
What sets Ranking of Kings apart is its emotional depth and visual brilliance, qualities that are rare in fantasy anime from the 2020s. The show’s unique aesthetic, which might initially be dismissed as simplistic or overly gentle, actually conceals a narrative rich with adventure and sharp storytelling. As the franchise continues to expand, it’s encouraging to see more viewers beginning to appreciate its true worth.
One reason for the show’s initial underappreciation is its departure from the typical fantasy anime blueprint. It eschews the usual trappings of elaborate armor, dark palettes, and complex lore-laden monologues. Instead, Ranking of Kings presents itself with a charming, almost storybook-like visual style. This rounded character design and lively animation can be misleading, causing some to underestimate its narrative depth.
Ranking of Kings Never Looked Like a Typical Prestige Fantasy
One major reason why Ranking of Kings remained under the radar for so long is that the show never showed up with the packaging people expect from serious fantasy anime. The series doesn’t hide behind things like intricate armor design, dark colors, and monologs about lore. Instead, it looks almost storybook-like. The rounded character designs and expressive animation made the series seem approachable in a way that some viewers mistook for lightness.
That first impression, however, proves to be completely misleading. Ranking of Kings is not an easy fairytale. It’s a deeply bruised fantasy drama about inheritance, grief, betrayal, disability, violence, and ugly systems. The brilliance of Ranking of Kings lies in its confidence that viewers will pick up on the amount of pain and complexity that lies beneath its beautiful aesthetic. That is what makes this anime feel so special on re-watch.
Once viewers know what kind of story the series is actually telling, every early scene starts to hit differently. The sweetness is there, but so is the dread. The innocence is there, but so is the understanding that this world is far crueler than it initially seems. Ranking of Kings was underappreciated because people judged it on its art before they judged it on its ambition.
Bojji Is One of the Best Fantasy Protagonists Anime Has Produced in Years
Fantasy anime is full of powerful protagonists, but few have been written with the same emotional depth as Bojji. On paper, Bojji is someone who should be easy for those around him and those at home watching to look down on. He is small, physically weak, and also deaf. He is treated by much of his world like an embarrassment. In a lesser series, that setup would exist only to make his eventual triumph feel predictable.
Ranking of Kings does something smarter. It makes Bojji’s vulnerability the center of the story without ever making him defined by it. The reason why Bojji makes for such a good protagonist is that the series has a more nuanced view of strength than most fantasy stories do. Bojji is perceptive and emotionally giving. His courage is moving because it’s not performative. He keeps trying, even when the world has given him every reason to shrink.
The anime also resists turning his goodness into naivety. Bojji is kind, but he is not written as a symbol of innocence floating above the messiness of the world. He is hurt by cruelty, he is shaped by humiliation, and he grows through grief. That gives his victories real texture. Viewers are not cheering for an abstract idea of purity. They are cheering for a child who keeps choosing dignity in a world that constantly tries to deny it to him.
WIT Studio Turned an Already Great Story Into One of Modern Fantasy Anime’s Finest Adaptations
Even among fans who love Ranking of Kings, there is a tendency to talk about the show mainly as an emotional story. That is true, but it also undersells just how exceptional the adaptation itself is. WIT Studio gave the anime a visual identity that feels deceptively effortless. The movement is expressive, the action is clean, and the direction constantly finds small ways to make emotions land harder than dialogue alone ever could.
One of the anime’s greatest strengths is how well it balances delicacy and force. A moment of hesitation can feel just as tense as a sword fight. That is not easy to pull off in fantasy, where bigger often gets mistaken for better. Ranking of Kings knows spectacle matters, but the show also knows spectacle means nothing without emotional framing. The adaptation’s sense of rhythm is especially impressive.
The series never rushes the tenderness, and never undercuts the darkness just because the characters look soft and animated in a storybook style. Instead, Ranking of Kings leans into contrast. The result is a fantasy anime that feels alive in every register. It can be funny, painful, triumphant, eerie, and devastating without clashing. That level of control is rare, and a huge reason why the series has aged so well.
The Timing Is Finally Right for Ranking of Kings to Be Reassessed as a Modern Classic
Sometimes, an anime is underrated simply because it arrives at the wrong moment. The anime gets admired, but not fully absorbed into the wider canon because of bigger shows. That has always felt true of Ranking of Kings. The series never lacked praise, but it often felt like the show people passionately recommended rather than the one the broader fandom fully embraced. That gap may finally be closing.
Part of that comes down to time. Once the seasonal noise fades, the shows with real substance tend to stand taller. Ranking of Kings benefits from distance because its strengths are not trend-based. Its emotional writing, visual storytelling and moral complexity do not feel tied to a moment. They feel durable. That is exactly the kind of anime that gets rediscovered and reevaluated once people look back at the decade more seriously.
It also helps that the franchise feels alive again. That naturally gives newer viewers a reason to start, while longtime fans get another chance to argue what they have been saying for years. Ranking of Kings is not just a lovely underdog fantasy with a memorable lead, but one of the most carefully made fantasy anime of its era.