Ranking of Kings Review: The Weakest Prince in the World Sets Out to Become the Greatest King

Quick Take

• The manga that made the entire manga community cry with the force of its protagonist's kindness — Bojji is the most purely good protagonist in manga, and the series is built to make you feel exactly what that goodness is worth
• The art style's apparent simplicity conceals genuine emotional precision; this manga made people who were skeptical of the art cry repeatedly
• Ongoing; the anime adaptation brought huge Western audiences to the source manga

Who Is This Manga For?

• Readers who want fantasy manga with genuine emotional warmth at its core
• Anyone who responds to protagonists defined by kindness rather than power
• Fans of the anime who want to continue or revisit the story in manga form
• Readers who can be patient with apparent simplicity that accumulates into something emotionally large

Content Warnings & Age Rating

Age Rating: T (Teen) Content Warnings: Fantasy violence; court political intrigue with betrayal themes; some characters' backstories involve tragedy and dark circumstances; Bojji's treatment by some characters is painful

The darkness serves the story rather than being gratuitous.

Yu's Rating

Category	Score
Story Depth	★★★★★
Art Style	★★★★☆
Character Development	★★★★★
Accessibility for Non-Japanese Readers	★★★★★
Reread Value	★★★★★

Story Overview

Bojji is a prince who cannot hear and cannot speak. He is physically weaker than anyone in the kingdom. In a world ranked by strength, he is ranked last — the weakest prince, pitied and dismissed by nearly everyone.

He meets Kage: the last surviving member of the Shadow clan, a small creature who can travel in shadows, who was living as a thief and scavenger, who mocks Bojji at their first meeting and then realizes that Bojji, who cannot hear the mockery, is simply being kind to him. No one has been kind to Kage. He doesn't know what to do with it.

The series follows Bojji's journey — with Kage beside him — to become the greatest king despite having none of the conventional qualifications. The court politics around the succession, the secrets of Bojji's father and the nature of the world's ranking system, and the cast of allies and antagonists who surround him develop into something more complex than the premise suggests.

Characters

Bojji — His kindness is not naivety — it is a practice. He is genuinely good in ways that cost him things, and the series does not protect him from those costs. His growth is not into power but into the capacity to use his genuine strength — which is not what anyone expected.

Kage — His arc — from self-preservation to genuine loyalty to something he still can't fully name — is the series' most affecting emotional development. His relationship to Bojji is the manga's heart.

Daida — Bojji's brother, whose ambition and complicated relationship to his father contain more genuine tragedy than the initial prince-rival framing suggests.

Art Style

Toka's art style is deliberately simple in its character designs — round shapes, uncomplicated faces — and uses this simplicity as a precision tool. The emotional weight of each moment is carried by the specific placement of simple expressions, and it works more effectively than elaborate artwork would. The contrast between the simple character designs and the genuine darkness of some story content is itself expressive.

Cultural Context

Ranking of Kings started as a webmanga on a self-publishing platform, drew a huge audience before being collected, and was then adapted into an anime that became one of the most critically acclaimed anime of its season. Its origin as independent webmanga gives it freedom from conventional shonen magazine constraints.

What I Love About It

The scene where Kage first realizes Bojji can't hear him. In their early interactions, Kage is saying cruel things to Bojji who is smiling and being kind in return — and the moment Kage understands that Bojji cannot hear the cruelty and is simply responding to the person in front of him with warmth, something shifts. It is the cleanest possible statement of what Bojji is: kindness that does not require the other person to deserve it.

What English-Speaking Fans Say

Western readers describe Ranking of Kings as the manga that surprised them most — the initial appearance (simple art, child protagonist) concealed emotional depth that accumulated to something devastating. The Kage/Bojji friendship is consistently cited as one of manga's most affecting central relationships. Many readers note they were skeptical of the art and then found themselves crying.

Memorable Scene ⚠️ Spoiler Warning

The sequence where Bojji demonstrates what he has actually learned during his training — what his specific form of strength actually is, in combat — recontextualizes the entire premise of the series in a single sequence. It is the most satisfying payoff in the ongoing story so far.

Similar Manga

• Frieren — Fantasy epic that accumulates emotional weight through small moments
• Witch Hat Atelier — Fantasy with unusual protagonist, similar visual warmth
• Dungeon Meshi — Fantasy with emotional depth beneath accessible surface
• The Ancient Magus' Bride — Fantasy with protagonist defined by unexpected connection

Reading Order / Where to Start

Volume 1 — Bojji and Kage's meeting is the series' perfect opening.

Official English Translation Status

Viz Media is actively publishing the ongoing English edition. Check for the latest volume.

Pros & Cons

Pros

• Bojji is one of manga's most affecting protagonists
• The Kage relationship development is genuinely beautiful
• The apparent simplicity conceals genuine emotional precision
• Ongoing with consistent quality

Cons

• Ongoing — some story threads remain unresolved
• The simple art style requires adjustment for readers who prioritize visual complexity
• The early volumes' pacing is deliberately gradual

Format Comparison

Format	Notes
Individual Volumes	Viz Media; standard
Digital	Available

Where to Buy

Get Ranking of Kings Vol. 1 on Amazon →

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