Ousama Ranking – 20

「不死身”対”無敵”」 (Fujimi” tai” muteki”)
“Immortal vs. “Invincible””

The character that’s been sidelined for most of the series was bound to make his influence felt sooner or later. Names are more than just names in Ousama Ranking, and “Bosse” is hardly called that by accident. But that moniker may hold more than one meaning in his case. Obviously Bosse is the guy in charge, but I suspect that what we’re building towards here is his being the “top boss” of this arc – the big obstacle that Bojji must overcome to lift himself (and the series) to the next level.

I have two niggling issues (which I’ve discussed already) with Ousama Ranking, basically, and they were both on display this week. The first is the seeming plot armor attached to- well, just everybody who wasn’t already demised when the series started. That’s a function of much of the cast being from a kingdom of magicians but it’s still a bit irksome (even if a lot of the people being not dead are ones I’d rather see not dead). It was played rather elegantly this week, I’ll give the show that – even if it’s Bosse’s soul inside that’s still Daida’s body, and as such there’s no reason to think he couldn’t have inherited “hilling” ability from his mother.

The other is perhaps the profounder problem, because the rehabilitation of Miranjo is so fundamental to the story. There’s a little too much consequentialism in this series for my tastes generally, but I’m just not buying into Miranjo being excused from her crimes because she had a painful life. That said, I do buy that people like Bojji and his mother are much kinder and wiser people, and capable of viewing her with pity rather than what would frankly be pretty justified hatred. For the second episode in a row we got a really heartbreaking moment with a boy and his dead mother, but poor Bojji didn’t even get to talk to Shiina. As for Miranjo’s memories, one can’t help but wonder what that first broken promise was.

Despa is the real deal, there’s no question about that. He’s every bit as kind and savvy as he appears to be, and his affection for Bojji is totally genuine. He’s the one character I most wanted to survive that I seriously felt could go (obviously Bojji and Kage were going to survive). When Miranjo goes on tilt from her mother and Shiina’s pity and ends her connection to the world of the dead, everyone wakes up in just as bad shape as they were – which is pretty bad. Ouken is a wrecking ball, leaving dying foes everywhere no matter what’s thrown at him. Bojji throws himself of Kage (already healed by Miranjo), who’s about to be struck down by Ouken, despite his grim condition. But it looks like a futile gesture at best.

That’s until Bosse finally decides it’s time to get back in the game. He roughs everybody up a bit with his Flintstones club, but he also heals them – and seemingly more powerfully that even Hilling could have. Did Bosse choose this moment to intercede in order to protect his son, in spite of Bojji being a fated rival? Whatever his reasons, this is a fascinating dynamic. As Despa muses, it’s hard to know who he should be rooting for here. Kage declares (though he later retracts it) that Bosse should win, because Bojji can take him down later. But Despa is probably right that the best thing would be if they took each other out.

Bosse is a freak, no question about it. Despa theorizes that all that giant power contracted into Daida’s grade-schooler body has made him even more powerful, and the way Ouken’s sword basically bounces off it gives no evidence to the contrary. Bosse is certainly strong enough to give Ouken a beatdown, but it’s his mind that allows him to truly settle affairs. And it must be said this is an existentially brutal fight, and the aftermath of it almost manages to make me feel sorry for Ouken (which is made easier knowing that unlike Miranjo, his turn to evil truly was involuntary). That’s a terrible fate Bosse has subjected him to.

On paper, this seems even worse for the good guys – Bosse is essentially the enemy, surely, and he seems more unbeatable even than Ouken, But given what we know of Bosse’s power and what it’s derived from, I’m not so sure. In boxing they say that it’s all about matchups, and Bosse – as OP as he is – seems a much better matchup for Bojji than Ouken. The problem is, Bojji doesn’t seem like the sort of boy that would be able to put down his father – even killing the woman who murdered his mother is too distasteful for him.