Is Ranking of Kings Worth Reading? Review & Where to Read

Quick facts
Format	Manga (shōnen)
Run	2017–present · ongoing
Community score	AniList 7.7
Content	Violence, emotional themes
Where to read	BookWalker Global — official

Overview

Bojji is the eldest son of the king of Bosse, and by most standards, an unlikely heir. He's small, can't hear, can barely speak, and everyone assumes his younger half-brother Daida will take the throne instead. But Bojji has a kindness and a quiet determination that nobody around him expects, and when he befriends Kage, a shadow-being with a dark past of his own, the story quietly turns into a much bigger, sadder, and more hopeful thing than its premise suggests.

What it does well

Bojji is the reason this works as well as it does. Deaf, small, and physically outmatched by nearly everyone around him, he could easily have been written as a pity case or a joke — instead, his kindness and refusal to give up are treated with total sincerity, and it makes him one of the most quietly lovable protagonists in recent fantasy manga.

The art style is a big part of that. It's simple and almost storybook-like at first glance, but that simplicity is doing real work — silence, small gestures, and expressive faces carry entire emotional beats without needing a word of dialogue, and it hits harder because of how unassuming it looks.

The supporting cast backs this up. Kage, Daida, Miranjo, and the rest all get real motivations instead of falling into clean hero-and-villain roles, and the political maneuvering around the throne of Bosse gives the story real stakes beyond Bojji's personal journey. When the story reaches for a gut-punch, it's earned — the groundwork is always there first.

Where it falls short

The art style is genuinely a hurdle for some readers. It's unconventional enough, closer to a children's storybook than typical fantasy manga, that it takes real adjustment if you're expecting more traditional character designs or action choreography.

Some arcs also slow down considerably to handle worldbuilding and court politics, and that pacing shift can test your patience if you came in purely for Bojji and Kage's story rather than the wider kingdom drama around them.

Verdict

One of the gentlest, saddest, and most purely well-drawn fantasy manga running right now. Its unconventional art style and occasional detours into political worldbuilding ask a little patience, but Bojji's story is sincere enough, and earns its emotional moments honestly enough, to make Ranking of Kings worth the read.