Kings and Cursed Swords

I’m a week late. But, Ranking of Kings: The Treasure Chest of Courage Episode 10 was the best episode of the season. It followed Desha, Despa, and Ouken, who are some of my favorite characters. And it gave us a lot of lore.

At the start of Episode 10, we see King Desha looking through the treasures in the vault. And the items that first catch his eye are swords with glowing text on them. According to the ranker (I guess we’ll call him that), every previous king chose one of these swords.

So, what makes these swords so special? Apparently, if you’re able to figure out what the text on them says, you can have any wish granted. If Desha translates the text, he’d be able to restore Ouken’s humanity. But, Desha chooses to pass over these swords.

Why would he do that? Well, Desha is the first king to rightly see that these are cursed swords. Or, maybe other kings recognized that fact but didn’t care. How are they cursed, though? As Desha says, they have a very strong bloodlust. These swords require a blood sacrifice.

What that means is that the kings who chose these swords were compelled to fight. They always needed to be going to war in order to give the swords more blood. But, why would they do that? Do the swords force them to do this? Not quite.

You see, when exposed to sunlight, the swords begin disintegrating. And the only way to prevent this is to give them blood. So, the reason the kings had to keep going to war was to keep the swords from disappearing. If their sword disappears, they can’t have their wish granted by deciphering its text.

Prince Ouken Returns

After passing up on the cursed swords, Desha goes deeper into the vault. On his way, he passes what appears to be the corpse of a slain king. Nobody knows who he was. But, due to the location of his corpse, I’m going to guess he was the first king.

Beyond the corpse is where the real treasure lies. There are cells housing demons. One has a mature, dried-up demon within it. But, another has a child demon, ripe for granting wishes. And this is the treasure Desha selects. He’s going to make a deal with a devil.

And, it turns out that Desha’s wish came true. The contract was a success and Ouken regained his mortality (and humanity). But, this is a contract with a demon. At first, I forgot about that. I was thinking that he got a wish granted at the expense of the demon child.

So, what did Desha give the demon in exchange for Ouken’s humanity? He gave up himself. Desha traded his memories for Ouken’s mortality. And that’s why we saw him disheveled on the side of the road at the start of the episode.

He’s forgotten who he is.

Of course, it doesn’t take long for Despa and Ouken to realize something is wrong. Desha stops responding to Despa’s messages. So, Ouken heads to the vault to find out what happened to his older brother. And, he was able to make his way in with little resistance.

Throughout the first season of Ranking of Kings, it was Desha and Despa who were trying to save Ouken. But now, it’s Ouken and Despa who are trying to save Desha. Does this mean something’s going to happen to Despa next? Will Desha and Ouken have to save him?

The Truth of the Ranking of Kings

There are many mysteries surrounding the ranking of kings. For starters, why does it exist at all? Why does the #1 ranked king get to choose an item from the vault? Who’s in charge of the whole process?

Even the ranker doesn’t seem to have the answers. When Desha opts not to choose one of the cursed swords, the ranker thinks he may be the “chosen one.” He thinks Desha may be the one who can unravel the mystery of the ranking of kings.

There are more mysteries than just those, though. Whose corpse is in the vault? Why are there demons caged in the vault? And, who are the shadowy figures who appear to preside over the vault? We don’t have answers to any of these questions. But, I have a bit of a theory about that last one.

After meeting with the shadowy figures in the vault, Ouken changes his tune. He went there ready to fight. But, something he saw in there changed him. That’s when he learned that Desha lost his memories. So, who are those figures?

My guess is that they’re the #1 ranked kings.

One of the shadowy figures looks a lot like Desha. And it’s after leaving that room that Ouken fights a god king. During this fight, he thinks back to something Desha once told him. He should avoid fighting gods unless there’s something he needs to protect.

So, what was it that Ouken needed to protect here? His brother. But, how could Desha be in the vault? We already saw him out on the side of the road. I’m predicting that the shadowy figure in the vault is what used to be Desha. It’s the memories he lost to the demon.

Conclusion

What do you think of Ranking of Kings: The Treasure Chest of Courage Episode 10? Would you have picked one of the cursed swords? Did you expect to see Ouken’s humanity return in this episode? And, what do you think the truth behind the ranking of kings is? Let me know in the comments.

If you enjoyed this review, remember to click the like button down below. Also, follow me on your social media of choice — links are in the footer.

Finally, I’d like to thank Roman and JasonHK for supporting DoubleSama.com at the Heika tier this month. And I’d like to thank Key Mochi for supporting at the Senpai tier. To learn more about becoming a supporter of this blog, check out Patreon.com/DoubleSama.

Miranjo and the Demon

Ranking of Kings: The Treasure Chest of Courage Episode 9 did a stylized story right. The story of Miranjo and the Demon was way better than the story of Bosse and Shiina. And I’m not just talking about the story itself. I mean how it looked.

The art style of these two stories wasn’t the same. But, they had some similarities. However, the big difference was the animation. The animation in Episode 9 was way better than the animation in Episode 8. And that’s why Episode 8 looked bad.

But, let’s go over the content of this story because it’s actually pretty interesting. We learned a few things about the demon and demons in general. And the first thing we learned is that there’s an entire civilization of demons. Before this, I thought demons were rare, solitary beings.

Apparently, the demon civilization exists. And not only that, but people seem to know about it. In one scene we saw a king from another country making a deal with one of the demons there. So, it would seem that some kings travel to this country in search of power.

But, when Desha heard about the possibility that a demon could save Ouken, he didn’t appear to know of them. And the reason for this could be that the demons live on a different continent. We saw that the child demon who eventually befriended Miranjo fell into what looked to be the ocean.

He was then washed away and woke up on the bank of a river near Miranjo’s village. That doesn’t quite make sense because rivers flow out to the ocean, not the other way around. But, it might not have been the ocean. The demons might live far upstream.

The Prince and His Treasures

Episode 9’s second story is about Bojji preparing to go on his next adventure with Kage. It takes place at the very end of Season 1 when Bojji leaves the throne to Daida. Before he heads out, though, he wants to give gifts to everyone in the castle.

These gifts Bojji is handing out are his treasures — his prized possessions. He wants everyone else to have them because he believes they’ll bring everyone good luck. And also maybe he wants them to have something to remember him by while he’s away.

Oh, and Bojji had been keeping all these treasures in a chest in his room. Is this chest the titular treasure chest of courage? You could make the argument that Bojji’s treasures are what give him courage. They remind him of the good times he’s had with everyone.

So, what gifts did Bojji give to everyone? Well, Bebin’s gift was first and I can’t say it’s that great. Bebin got some skin Mitsumata shed as a small snake. Still, that’s probably better than the cicada shells Bojji gave to Hokuro and Domas. Those were the worst three gifts.

In the next tier up, we have the gifts Bojji gave to Apeas and Dorshe. Apeas got a piece of flint that looked like a spear tip. And Dorshe got a fang of some kind. Not great gifts, but not terrible.

Then, there are the gifts Bojji gave to the two random old guys in the castle. They each got a doll of some sort; not bad gifts, but I have no idea who those guys are.

Hiling, Daida, and Miranjo got the best gifts. Hiling received a feather to wear. Daida received a sentimental acorn to plant. And Miranjo got a crystal ball.

Bojji’s Journey Continues

Episode 9 felt like the final episode of the season. The second story ends in the same place as Season 1. And it appears to set up the next season well. But, this isn’t the final episode. There’s still one more.

I’m curious to see what this episode is going to be about. I think we’ve already covered everything shown in the OP. So, what’s left for the final episode? My hope is that it’s a lead-in to the next season. Though, as far as I know, a second season isn’t coming anytime soon.

What could a lead-in episode look like? One obvious option would be for it to follow Bojji and Kage as they prepare for their journey. We could see them do things like gather any additional items they need. Or, we could see them plan out their destination or route.

Another option would be for the episode to focus on other characters who are going to be important. Rather than following Bojji and Kage, it might follow Desha. At the end of the first season, we saw Desha become the #1 ranked king and enter the vault.

So, could this last episode pick up where the last episode of the main series left off with Desha? Might we get to see what item Desha picked from the vault? I’d like it if that was the case. But, that also might be too important to cover in this spin-off.

It’s also possible that the final episode could introduce some new characters. We could get a sneak peek at where Bojji and Kage are heading. Or, it could set up whatever the next conflict of the series is.

Of course, the episode might do none of this. It could be another normal episode.

Conclusion

What do you think of Ranking of Kings: The Treasure Chest of Courage Episode 9? Were you surprised to learn that there’s an entire demon civilization? Which of Bojji’s treasures do you think is the best? And what are you expecting from the final episode of the season? Let me know in the comments.

If you enjoyed this review, remember to click the like button down below. Also, follow me on your social media of choice — links are in the footer.

Finally, I’d like to thank Roman and JasonHK for supporting DoubleSama.com at the Heika tier this month. I’d also like to thank Key Mochi for supporting at the Senpai tier. To learn more about becoming a supporter of this blog, check out Patreon.com/DoubleSama.

My review of Episode 10 is available now.

Kage’s Yearning

Ranking of Kings: The Treasure Chest of Courage Episode 8 wasn’t that good. Neither of the stories in this episode was particularly interesting. But, if I had to choose between the two, I’d say I liked the first story more. And not because it was about Kage.

Kage’s backstory isn’t the best. There are many better characters in Ranking of Kings than him. However, this story also featured Sir Kyo, the ultimate chad of the Kingdom of Bo. Sir Kyo is the top knight of the kingdom and the one all the children want to emulate.

Because of his face, mostly his eyes, Sir Kyo doesn’t seem like a nice guy. I was expecting him to perpetuate the stereotype that the Shadow Clan is evil. Though, is it really a stereotype if they are actually assassins? Either way, I thought he’d be mean to Kage.

However, what we see from Sir Kyo is that he cares about all citizens of the kingdom. Sure, he was probably a bit suspicious of Kage when he first saw him. After all, as I mentioned, the Shadow Clan members are assassins. But, that didn’t stop him from saving Kage when he was in danger.

You could argue that Sir Kyo only saved Kage because Kage saved the other child. That doesn’t seem right, to me, though. And my reasoning is that Sir Kyo did more than save Kage. He also inspired Kage to want to help more people.

When Kage asks for his name, he says his name isn’t important. He’s a knight, and a knight’s job is to protect the citizens. And, more than that, he commends Kage for his bravery. He wouldn’t have done all that if he only saved Kage out of obligation.

A Great Mother

The second story of Episode 8 is where things really get bad. First of all, we’ve already seen a decent amount of the content from this story. For example, Bosse meeting Shiina was already covered in the main series. The extra stuff we got here wasn’t that important.

Did we actually learn anything new about these two from this episode? We already knew Shiina was a great mother. She gave her life to protect Bojji from Miranjo. And, we already knew Bosse actually cared about Bojji, as well. None of that was new.

What was new was the art style for this story. I get that it was stylized. But, stylized doesn’t mean good. Well, the art itself was fine. But the animation was bad. And because the animation was bad, it made the art look worse. I don’t know why they chose to do this.

Alright, well, I guess I have to actually write about the things that happened in this episode. So, Queen Shiina stops a girl from stealing a baguette. But, this girl has a sob story about how her father can’t work because he’s hurt. So, Shiina hires her on the spot.

Now, I expected this woman to then be the one who raised Bojji. But, that’s not the case. She’s just a maid. And, I don’t believe we’ve ever seen her in the series before in other flashbacks. From what I remember, there was an older woman who often looked after Bojji.

There was one thing we learned from this episode, though. Bojji was born before there was even a castle in the Kingdom of Bosse. That means Bojji is the same age as the nation. We don’t know exactly how old Bojji is, but that means everything happened fast.

Bosse Baby

I said there wasn’t really anything new in this story about Bosse and Shiina. But, that’s not entirely accurate. This may have been the first time we learned why Bosse wasn’t the #1 ranked king on the list. I could be wrong, but he was #2 or #3.

At one point, Desha of the Underworld was #2. And at the end of the first season, he was ranked #1. But, he might have been #3 until Bosse died. I don’t actually remember. But, what’s important here is that Bosse wasn’t ranked #1 despite having the potential to be.

So, why didn’t Bosse become the #1 ranked king? He simply didn’t care to be. That’s right. The Bosse who was so obsessed with becoming the strongest man in the world didn’t care about being the #1 king. He didn’t care about the treasure vault which could have made him even stronger.

After having his first son, Bosse no longer cared about being the strongest. All he wanted was to give Bojji everything he could ever want. And that’s not new information. We already knew that part. But, we hadn’t seen Bosse turn down competing for the top ranking.

Shouldn’t Bosse have wanted to be the #1 king for Bojji’s sake, though? And, we know he later reconnects with Miranjo and seeks out power then, too. So, why did he turn down the ranking this time? I’m not sure. You could say it was Miranjo who corrupted him.

But, that still doesn’t explain why Bosse wouldn’t want more power for Bojji. And, let’s not forget the treasure vault. Bosse could have found an item in there that would restore Bojji’s power. Desha wanted to be the #1 king for a similar reason — to save Ouken from his curse.

Conclusion

What do you think of Ranking of Kings: The Treasure Chest of Courage Episode 8? Do you think we’ll ever see Sir Kyo again? How did you feel about the art/animation of the second story of the episode? And, why don’t you think Bosse wanted the #1 ranking for Bojji’s sake? Let me know in the comments.

If you enjoyed this review, remember to click the like button down below. Also, follow me on your social media of choice — links are in the footer.

Finally, I’d like to thank Roman and JasonHK for supporting DoubleSama.com at the Heika tier this month. And I’d like to thank Key Mochi for supporting at the Senpai tier. To learn more about how you too can become a supporter of this blog, check out Patreon.com/DoubleSama.

My review of Episode 9 is available now.

The Snake Charmer with the Crooked Smile

Ranking of Kings: The Treasure Chest of Courage Episode 7’s first story follows Bebin as a younger man. I always assumed Bebin was the oldest and longest-serving member of the Big Four. Apparently, that’s not the case.

I still believe he’s been a member of the Big Four longer than Domas, and possibly Dorshe. But, we now know that Apeas was one of the Big Four before Bebin. And not only that, but he was an established member of the Big Four when Bebin joined.

We also see that Bebin wasn’t exactly Big Four material at the start. Despite being appointed to the elite unit by King Bosse, he doesn’t appear to have been very strong. He had the fundamentals of combat down. But, I wouldn’t say he stood out in any particular way as the Big Four we know in the modern storyline do.

So, as any aspiring soldier does, Bebin headed to the Underworld in search of Prince Despa. That’s right, Bojji and Bebin have the same swordsmanship instructor. And, in fact, at the end of the story, we find out that it was Bebin who wrote Bojji’s letter of introduction.

That detail might have been in the main series. If it was, I didn’t remember it. From what I remember, Bojji had a letter of introduction in his bag, but we didn’t know who it came from. Either way, we know it came from Bebin now.

Anyway, it was Despa who picked out and gave (sold to) Bebin the serpentine sword he uses today. I assumed Bebin would have been the one to select this sword due to his connection with snakes. But, no. While Bojji picked out his own weapon, Despa picked the weapon he thought suited Bebin.

Prince Despa’s Power

I don’t think I realized what Prince Despa’s power actually was until now. I assumed he was just an excellent strategist and tactician with a wealth of knowledge. But, based on what we saw in this episode, he actually has a superpower like his brothers.

Again, this might be something I missed in the main series. It might even be something I missed in one of the earlier episodes in this series about Ouken. However, I don’t care. I’m seeing it now, and that’s what matters to me.

So, what is Despa’s power? Well, it appears to have a few components to it. And the first of those components are the things I already knew about him. He’s very good at figuring out a person’s strengths and weaknesses. That ties into his knowledge of strategy and tactics.

The other component of Despa’s power is his ability to convey his knowledge to others. This is the real superpower Despa has. In Episode 7, we see Despa take Bebin’s hands and transfer some of his knowledge to Bebin. After this, Bebin understands how he needs to train and what he needs to work on to get stronger.

Despa also does verbally mention what’s holding Bebin back. You know, for those of us who didn’t have his knowledge beamed into our brains. Bebin’s problem is that he’s too rigid. He has his understanding of how one should fight and he has trouble thinking outside of that box.

This is why Despa chose the serpentine sword for Bebin. Bebin previously believed a sword had to be straight. So, to help Bebin open his mind to other possibilities in combat, Despa chose a sword that wasn’t straight. The point of this sword was to change Bebin’s perspective.

The Big Four’s Banquet

After Bebin’s origin story, we got a second story in Episode 7 that focuses on the Big Four. This story takes place at the end of Season 1 when Daida is king once again. And it’s about Daida tasking the Big Four with rebuilding the wall that was destroyed in the battle.

However, the Big Four don’t typically get along very well. They each believe themself to be the strongest, most capable member of the group. So, rather than working together, they argue over who should be in charge of the project.

Seeing this problem, Daida tasks Hokuro with bringing the Big Four together. As someone who has experience working with them before, he’s the only one Daida can rely on to get the job done. And so, Hokuro hatches a plan to trick the Big Four into putting their differences aside.

First, Hokuro tricks the Big Four into showing up at the local bar together. Next, he has another man in the bar instigate a fight with the Big Four by calling them weaklings. Then, Hokuro proposes the Big Four arm wrestle this man in place of having an actual fight.

The man Hokuro hired to arm wrestle the Big Four is actually a professional arm wrestling champ. And per their deal, he’s supposed to throw the final match to let the Big Four feel like they defeated him. But, that’s not how things end up going once the Big Four themselves put money on the line.

Hokuro was paying the man 10 gold coins to throw the match. But, if he wins, the Big Four are offering 600 gold coins. So, the man decides to go for victory. Unfortunately for him, it turns out that what brings the Big Four together is a common enemy.

Conclusion

What do you think of Ranking of Kings: The Treasure Chest of Courage Episode 7? Do you want to get backstories for the other Big Four members now? Did you understand the true nature of Despa’s power before this episode? And which of the Big Four could you beat in arm wrestling? Let me know in the comments.

If you enjoyed this review, remember to click the like button down below. Also, follow me on your social media of choice — links are in the footer.

Finally, I’d like to thank Roman and JasonHK for supporting DoubleSama.com at the Heika tier this month. And I’d like to thank Key Mochi for supporting at the Senpai tier. To learn more about how you too can become a supporter of this blog, check out Patreon.com/DoubleSama.

My review of Episode 8 is available now.