Ousama Ranking: More than just Fluff

Ousama Ranking is a show that wears its heart on its sleeves. Episode 1 and 2 has no doubt tugged onto everyone's heartstrings. The struggles of Bojji and Kage are simple and yet instantly palpable. The blob-like designs and pastel colors are childish and yet infinitely expressive. Both elements lend to incredible scenes where every emotion are painted in the most beautiful way possible, so much so that you may not even need context for you to "feel it". 

It is with these type of expectations did my heart gleefully awaited episode 3. But what I was left with when I finished the episode was a profound respect not for the animators of the show, but for the scriptwriters. You see, for a show that thus far had such a simple story, what was brought onto the table was a script that was far more complex and masterful than it deserved to be. And what I am talking about is it's ability to play with expectations and write multi-faceted characters.

Writing a good mystery

Queen Hiling easily embodied the "evil step-mother" role. In her first interaction with Bojji, she was shown towering over him, lecturing him about his un-kingly mannerisms and denouncing his right to the throne over her much more capable son. 

For us audience, we instantly understood what we are supposed to feel in this scene; We are supposed to dislike the Queen. After all, Bojji looked incredibly nervous and even intimidated by her. She was dominating the conversation, not letting him explain himself. She talked without sign language, giving off the impression that she doesn't care to communicate on his wavelength. Furthermore, she could have been said to be berating him. After all, our introduction to Prince Bojji was him making a promise to his late mother to become King. And here we have someone who seemed like she is not only unsupportive of that promise, but is premised to be an obstacle. It certainly didn't help that her design, mannerisms, right down to having an entourage, screamed "evil step-mother" too -- Or at least, that was the expectation that the show-writers planted into us.

Episode 3 rolled around and we had our first mystery of the show. 

A mystery lady healing our young Bojji? Who could it be? Furthermore, it is someone Kage recognizes? It couldn't be the Queen... Could it? But if so, why then did she act like such a bitch in episode 1?

Because the show neither confirmed or deny that hunch of ours. Us audience were left to doubt ourselves. After all, it not being the queen would leave little to no female characters, but it being the queen would be counter to all our expectations thus far. But far more than a sense of confusion, did it imbue a deep sense of curiosity. We want to know the truth after all. Having our expectations played with, we can't help but to scrutinize the Queen. Thus, with every interaction between her and Bojji, we became hyper-sensitive like some detective.

The late King has left a will for Bojji to become King. Hurray for our Prince Bojji! And yet, the Queen came in as a foil. She tore the will and seems to be pulling some underhanded shenanigans. She only wants that ass-hole of her son to be the king after all. Danggit, I guess it couldn't have been her after all huh?

But wait! Why is she now saying that she wants to educate him? Wouldn't sending him off to some far-away place be beneficial to her cause as there would be one less rival for the throne? Am I just wrong about her? Oh shit, now she is doing sign language?! So she can communicate with Bojji and now she seems like she actively wants to protect him...?

Holy shit, she just jumped out of the window! So she does care! Oh man, she's the healer! She cares since day one!

The push-and-pull of expectations, to me, is what makes mysteries so compelling. Episode 3 had me doubt myself about the queen so many times. I was constantly unsure of what to think about her, and that in extension, made me so much more invested than any normal episode could've. After all, I had all these questions brewing and all these theories stewing; It's almost like I am cooking up the script myself. What's better is that this sense of mystery is completely intentional on the show-writers part as well. It is because we were left in the dark of her mystery lady's identity could the seeds be sown. 

For any mystery, the pay-off has to be satisfying. It has to be an answer that does not mock our expectations but instead change our perceptions. Queen Hiling did not just undo her characterization just so that she can surprise us with her nice side. She was always nice since day 1. In her first conversation with Bojji, she was mean because she was overprotective. She criticized him for his un-kingly image because having a dignified one is important for a prince. Look at what happened to Bojji after all. He perused around town without a care for the world and he was dismissed and disrespected by everyone. Queen Hiling's strictness was simply a way for her to instill that discipline into him. Similarly, her not allowing Bojji to be King was not some oversight, but a clever misdirection. By playing off on the "villain stereotype" that has been cultivated, we had been led to believe that she only wanted the worse for Bojji. But the truth of the matter was, she simply thought that being king would have been too difficult for him and that he needed more time to grow. With this line of thought, the one rule I always follow to determine a good mystery from a bad one, is to go back and re-watch all of its "previous clues". If for example, you read a line of dialogue that made you think, "well that was just ambiguously written", then that means the mystery has disappointed you. But if you read a dialogue that made you think, "ohhhhhh so that's what she means", then that is good writing.

But more important, for any mystery as well, the pay-off has to be timely. All too often am I left with a mystery that is left unanswered for for so long that I either forgot about it or stop caring. I vividly remember in my first viewing of Game of Thrones when that accident happened to King Joffrey. I was super invested. I wanted to know who it was that caused that accident and I wanted to know the how and why. Welp, turns out, I wouldn't get any answers for the next three seasons and by the time someone confessed to doing it, I had already forgotten that the accident even happened. Simply put, keeping your audience in the dark for too long runs the risk of being too drawn-out and boring. The simple solution however, is to "give some and keep some". In episode 3, a lot of mysteries were alluded too. A few examples being the demon who was conjured by the late King, the magic mirror and the fate of Bebin, which remains unsolved. These mysteries would propel our interest into future episodes, but to appease our appetite, some mysteries were introduced and immediately solved for us as well; Namely, Queen Hiling and the debt Mitsumata owed Bojji. By having a perfect balance of unsolved and resolved mysteries, we always feel a sense of progression and resolution.

Multi-Faceted

Perhaps equally as impressive as its play of expectations, is how Ousama Ranking writes multi-faceted characters. Queen Hiling, in episode 3 alone, had an entire character arc established and resolved. She begun with being very overprotective of Bojji; Shielding him from being a king, locking him in his room and rejecting all his decisions. However after hearing the chambermaids laugh at Bojji and remembering the words of Daida, she begun recalling all her past moments of Bojji, when she poured her love for him and when he reciprocated. In those day, Bojji seemed truly happy. Juxtaposing those warm memories were her more recent conduct, whereby each and everyday she grew stricter with Bojji and lectured him for all his decisions. Firmly implanted in her mind then was that one face from Bojji when he cried and rushed out of her room. "Is Bojji really happy here?" She reflects, and she regrets. Having been too restrictive on him, she finally allows him to go on a trip, putting aside her desire to protect Bojji and prioritizing his happiness instead. Perhaps something worth taking note of is that none of that was explicit by the way. We were only shown her reactions and her recalling her memories, but none of her internal conflict and reflection was verbalized. Instead us audience simply needed to see her "think", for us to piece together the puzzle. And what a satisfying puzzle it was.

The multi-faceted nature of the characters lend for some great conflicts and mysteries as well. Domas, for one, is shown to be someone who cares for the development of Bojji as a Prince but possess dubious methods. He allowed Bojji to be beaten to pulp without stopping Daida all for the name of a "lesson". Going forward, can we expect one of those "lessons" to put Bojji into true peril? Similarly, other characters are already hinted to have dynamic allegiances. Bebin seems to follow the orders of Daida. However, he also knows about the existence of the magic mirror and questions its influence on the king. Apeas also claims that he wants to make Bojji king, but because his motivation remains unanswered, we have to question why he puts so much faith into him. With dynamic allegiances, we can no longer expect unwavering loyalty but a loyalty that changes according to circumstances. It is with this unpredictability does it pave way for future surprises, similar to how Queen Hiling was for us.

And lastly, without even accounting for all the ongoing mysteries and dynamic characters going ahead, the fact that Kage has been relegated from a buddy to an uncertainty in one episode, is impressive to me. I cannot emphasize how simple it would be for Kage to just become the inseparable glue to Bojji. He would always be there acting as emotional support, giving advice and even acting as Bojji's ears if needed. However that itself would undermine the character journey that Bojji himself needs to learn; That of self-esteem and independence. Having Kage around would make Bojji's life too easy after all. Therefore, instead of just sticking to what is comfortable, the show-writers turned Kage's presence into a conflict for Bojji instead, to propel him to make his own journey and to discover his own path. This decision for me, marks the vision this show has. It never intends to just tread the common, episodic story structure where everything is familiar. Instead, it has its own grand narrative that it wants to tell, enough to harbor a dozen mysteries and complex characters. Heck, if we are talking about mixing up the structure, we might even be in a situation of an A-plot-B-plot with Kage acting as his own protagonist to spice things up. Only time will tell, but what truly matters has already been effectively communicated -- Ousama Ranking is a special show and we are in for a good time.

Afterward

Well, this is a short one for me and truth to be told, I don't think I am saying much that no average person can figure out as well. But even with all that said, I still wanted to write a piece just admiring how good the show has been thus far. And honestly, I would rather sing simple praises for the show than to end up not praising it at all, so I hope you enjoyed reading this piece. 

As my reaper dad would say: Peace!