Ranking of Kings: The Treasure Chest of Courage Review

Ranking of Kings was one of the biggest anime surprises of the past couple of years, a fantasy show with an exquisite character world and storytelling whose picture-book aesthetic concealed its dark, violent, action-packed nature. With the first season adapting most of Sōsuke Tōka’s original manga, there isn’t enough material for a full second season, so Ranking of Kings: The Treasure Chest of Courage takes a different approach, filling in backstories, side stories, and generally offering “filler” meant for a specific audience – those already familiar with the first season who simply want to spend more time with these characters. But these episodes still offer a payoff to some of the plot lines of the first season, all the while teasing the next chapter of the story and retaining the heart of what’s come before.

The Treasure Chest of Courage is essentially an anthology, with each of its 10 episodes divided into two unconnected tales. Some, like a look at how Queen Hilling recruited help in her fight against Bosse, take place during the events of season 1. Others take place before, like the tragedy of Ouken and the Underworld brothers. And a few take place after the events of the first season, showing what happened to Bojji, Daida, and the kingdom after Bosse was defeated.

Like any anthology, quality varies between episodes. There’s something lost in the transition to this format, particularly in the stakes and sense of urgency. The thrills and danger are missing, as most of the stories are rather small-scale and disconnected from the main story of the first season and from each other. And yet, The Treasure Chest of Courage continues the previous season’s focus on character work. We get a deeper look into characters like Bosse and Bebin that make them more complex as characters. Then there’s the tale of Ouken, which is the most lore-heavy part of the season and arguably the show at large. How the knight became an immortal monster is heartbreaking; we see how deeply it impacted Ouken’s siblings and how his transformation came to define their lives. Meanwhile, the siblings’ attempts at bringing Ouken back connect to the overall mythology of the titular ranking of kings and the magical parts of the world, expanding the lore and mythology of the show while teasing what’s to come from Ranking of Kings.

Likewise, getting to see Bojji after the events of last season and how he acts as king – as well as how Daida adjusts to his new role – brings closure to the first season’s story. Bojji has always been the secret sauce that makes Ranking of Kings work, and each one of his Treasure Chest of Courage spotlights gives us memeable facial expressions and acts of kindness that show how why Bojji is such an endearing character and how much he’s improved the lives of everyone around him. It also helps that the penultimate episode – which serves as a coda for this phase of Ranking of Kings – plays the very first opening of the show, “BOY” by King Gnu, which helps make Bojji’s tale feel even grander and emotionally charged because of how much he accomplished.

The Treasure Chest of Courage continues the previous season’s focus on character work

Of course, it wouldn’t be Ranking of Kings without some impressive imagery, and WIT Studio surpasses itself by allowing animators to experiment with camera angles and even the visual language of the show. The animation of episodes 8 and 9 is like a picture book come to life: a papercraft aesthetic gives the mighty giants Bosse and Shiina a tactile appearance, while animator Akino Fukuji draws on the look of her season-one ending sequence for young Miranjo’s meeting with a demon – contrasting the character’s childlike innocence with the darkness that is to come in her future. It’s stories like these that make good on the endless possibilities of an anthology of fairy tales.