Ranking of Kings: The Treasure Chest of Courage Episode 1

The Treasure Chest of Courage

Ranking of Kings: The Treasure Chest of Courage is not the second season of the Ranking of Kings anime. I just want to get that out of the way right at the start. This series is a collection of side stories that take place throughout Season 1.

It’s a spin-off series. And as such, it’s likely not going to be required viewing material for Season 2 (if there ever is a Season 2). If you don’t care about seeing these bonus stories, you’re not going to miss out on much, based on this first episode.

With that said, I’m hoping that some of the future episodes of The Treasure Chest of Courage have more going on. As far as I’m aware, the content of this series isn’t original. It’s extra stuff that Season 1 cut because it wasn’t necessary for the progression of the story.

Episode 1 featured 2 stories of Bojji and Kage doing odd jobs while staying with Despa in the underworld. But, that’s not to say that every episode will be like this. It’s possible that future episodes actually give us additional character backstories. For example, we might learn more about Desha, Ouken, or Bebin.

The OP features all three of these characters. And in the cases of Ouken and Bebin, I’d say it implies we’re going to learn more about them. With Ouken, we get to see shards of his mask coming together onto his face. This could mean we’re going to learn more about his immortality.

And with Bebin, we actually got to see what he looked like when he was younger in the OP. To me, that almost confirms that we’re going to get some sort of backstory for him. Will we learn how he became an assassin?

Kage’s Errand

The first story in The Treasure Chest of Courage focuses on Kage. Despa wakes up to find an age spot on his face and has a complete meltdown. And, he insists that he can’t train Bojji because of it. But, Kage’s not about to let Despa get out of his training duties.

Kage offers to go to the market and purchase something to get rid of the spot for Despa. But, only if Despa trains Bojji in the meantime. Despa accepts this deal and tells Kage of a special mushroom that should supposedly do the trick.

We then get to see Kage traveling around the market looking for this mushroom. And, much to my surprise, he’s not chased out of town. I guess this is because he’s in the underworld. It could be that people down there don’t know of the Shadow Clan. Or, it could be that they don’t care.

Eventually, Kage finds a shopkeep who tells him where he can find the mushrooms. They’re in a forest nearby. But, to get to the mushrooms, he’ll have to sneak past a monster. And if he’s caught, he’ll never escape.

Right from the start, I had doubts about that story. I know this is a fantasy series. But, I couldn’t see Kage having to go up against a dangerous beast of any kind. And as soon as the old woman was introduced, I saw where this story was going.

In defense of Kage’s overactive imagination, there was a dangerous bear. But, the danger the shopkeep was actually warning him about was the old woman. She distracts anyone who tries to get their hands on the mushrooms and has them do her chores.

The implication here was that she’s stopping people from profiting off the mushrooms.

The Prince and Money

After Kage’s errand, we get a story about Despa getting Bojji and Kage to go out and make some money. As we know from the main series, Despa loves money just as much as he loves himself. And in exchange for training Bojji, he wants money.

Of course, Kage is immediately suspicious of Despa. He sees that Despa is only after money. But, Despa convinces him (and Bojji) that there’s a practical reason for his request. You see, Bojji is royalty. And if he’s going to become a good king, he needs to understand the people.

By working around town, Bojji will learn what regular people go through. He’ll learn of their struggles and the effort they put in when doing their jobs. At least, that’s how Despa frames it. In reality, I doubt that was ever his intention.

Because of his disabilities, Bojji isn’t very good at any of the jobs they try. He’s not strong enough to lift objects. And because he’s deaf, he’s unable to communicate with customers. Even though he can read lips, he doesn’t know when customers are calling for him. And they can’t understand him, either.

Eventually, Kage has the idea to use Bojji’s skills to their advantage. Bojji has the exceptional ability to dodge any attack. So, they set up a carnival stand. For 10 bronze coins, patrons can throw a beanbag at Bojji. If they’re able to hit him, they’ll win 100 gold coins.

Their business is a success and they make enough money to appease Despa. But, they also swindled the last bit of money a poor girl had from her. So, when the pair gets back home, they insist Despa use the money to help the girl and her sick mother.

Conclusion

I’m not going to pretend like Ranking of Kings: The Treasure Chest of Courage Episode 1 was great. It was fine. However, I enjoy the world and characters of Ranking of Kings. And that’s why I’m hopeful for the future of this spin-off series. But, what do you think? Let me know in the comments.

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My review of Episode 2 is available now.