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Osama Ranking is a disappointment with a lot of wasted potential. It is a show with a nice premise and a strong opening trio of episodes that slowly descends into an average revenge story and bad Deus Ex Machina.

Let me explain:
(Minor spoilers ahead)

Bojji is a mute-deaf Prince in a medieval European setting with the dream of being the best King in the world.
The first impression is that the story is going to be about the emotional journey of Bojji overcoming abuse and prejudice of society and family, doing the best for his kingdom despite his disabilities. The first emotional aspect is that Bojji is ... incredibly aware of the mockery he is submitted to, which he can tell by not only the physical language of others but also through reading lips. Now, I get that Bojji knows he is being abused but how can a Mute-Deaf know exactly what people, and even animals say about him if he never heard a single word in his life? Not that I was expecting realism but the shows opens with heavy emphasis on Sign Language, so one would expect that this would a reoccurring element of the show, but the moment other characters learn that Bojji can read lips sign language gets thrown out of the window and characters that know it stop using it completely. The author/show had the opportunity to teach something to the audience but instead just ignore one of the distinguishing elements of the story.

The biggest problems I have with the story is that the show had the opportunity to show how medieval people lived with disabilities, build a long arduous story of overcoming the odds and becoming the best King in the world but after a few episodes Bojji starts getting thrown into the sidelines and a succession conspiracy starts taking place but instead of him being directly involved in unfolding the mystery, he goes into a Training Arc while the mystery slowly unfolds regardless to him. The mystery has indeed something to do with him and he gets involved but it doesn’t feel like he truly contributes heavily nor did it feel like his accomplishments and power were truly earned.

Just to add a final note on presentation and music:
The art style is highly reminiscent of Princess Knight, Heidi of the Alpes and anime from the World Masterpiece Theater. Personally I love it, I grew up in Europe in the 90’s and these anime were popular on TV, the style is Old School but not necessarily bad.

Music is great, it is very medieval with orchestral elements and a lot of 3/4 and 6/8 time signatures which are part of the Medieval/Renaissance style of composing.

All in all, Ousama Ranking anime could have brought a lot fresh air to the anime landscape with it’s Old School style and standout premise but went to an unsatisfactory fantasy mystery I personally did not find necessary or interesting.

As a silent Manga, trying to review Gon like traditional Manga is quite difficult and most likely unfair to each side but it is definitely interesting to compare both.

Gon is a small Dinosaur that somehow survived the extinction of his kind and travels around the planet having fun, eating and interacting with all kinds Post-Cretateous animals.

As a reader you should ditch out any expectations of a deep complex plot and view the series as a particular gem of the medium. Despite this, Tanaka sensei explores different types of narrative throughout each chapter, while the first third of Gon focuses exclusively on comedy, you start ... noticing that the author is definitely experimenting with more dramatic storylines that involve survival and the hardships of mother nature.

Gon is mostly a Neutral character, it does and eats whatever it wants, sometimes helps other animals, other times doesn’t though he always helps those that help him. He and other animals have some level of morality and human qualities but not so much that makes them not feel animal, just enough to drive a narrative.

The manga’s highest achievement is the artwork, its ability to convey the animal’s feelings and emotions through stellar drawings is only paralleled with the immersive natural environments that Gon travels through. Every panel is extremely detailed and the fact that such detail is presented in black and white makes it even more impressive. When a big panel comes in, it is always spectacular and immersive, I always spent some time on these just to try to find every small animal and imagine what kind of technique and pencil was used to draw them.

My only wish was for the series to be longer so to be longer so that I could enjoy Gon's adventures and see what can be achieved with this type of narrative.

One of Leiji Matsumoto’s quintessential works, Captain Harlock depicts a crew of renegades in search of freedom in the sea of stars.

This is a relatively short story when compared to long running Shonen works, the Seven Seas English adaptation is published in 3 large volumes, despite this, the characters are very well fleshed out with even the most minor characters showing their ideals and personality in their breve appearances. With the more permanent characters, you get small glimpses of their personality, backstory and what led them to the Arcadia as the story progresses. In the Arcadia every crew member is, quite literally, free to do ... whatever they want which makes their personality shine immediately, whether Stoic or care-free. Overall, the story is well paced

The manga exposes very clearly certain ideals that can throw off readers that have a modern or progressive mindset, things such as what a Man should or should not do, Warrior’s Pride and beauty standards are things that some readers can consider outdated ideals or patriarchal. Nevertheless there are moments where these masculine ideals are criticised, particularly when a female pilot lets herself purposely vulnerable for a male pilot to save her, with her and another female crew member commentating “A man’s pride is easily wounded”. There are some purposely loose ends in the story which you will only find out if you read or watch other of Leiji's works. If you are into the Leijiverse you are already used to this but for outsiders it could a big turnoff.

In the Character Design department you have the classic Leiji style which generally falls into three styles: Men with aerodynamic hair, slender women with long hair, and potato-looking people. A recurring problem with Leiji’s design is that characters look too much alike, this could cause some confusion as to who is who, when I watched Galaxy Express 999 it got to the point where I thought certain characters came back, thankfully the overall number of characters in this Manga is relatively small so you won’t have such an issue.

I would like to take some time to talk about the differences between the Manga and the animated version, I watched the animated version long before reading the manga and there are deviations on the characters but not so much on the plot itself. The biggest differences are in the ending and in two major characters which don’t exist in the Manga, these are the Earth’s Army General and the daughter of Tetsuo, Harlock’s best friend. These characters have such a focus on the Anime that I would swear they were in the Manga, but alas they are not. Tetsuo’s daughter in particular gives meaning to Harlock’s struggle to protect the Earth as that is where the girl resides but since in the Manga the character does not exist, it makes you wonder why Harlock protects the Earth in first place. Surprisingly, are also more loose ends on the Manga version.

Overall, the Manga is definitely interesting even if just for historical value, but your enjoyment might differ on wether you find the moral aspects of it outdated, if you are not into other Leiji stories or not willing to explore deeper into the Leijiverse.

"The World is full of lonely men and women, both young and old. I'm here to fill the gaps of your lonely souls. Completely free of charge I might add. A satisfied costumer is the only compensation I desire."

-Warau Salesman opening line.

Warau Salesman is a work by the legendary duo Fujiko Fujio, creators of classics such as Doraemon and Ninja Hattori-kun. The series follows Fukuzo Moguro, a salesman with a permanent grim smile that offers his services to struggling citizens, with quite disastrous results. Like the aforementioned works, Warau is an episodic anime with each one being 10 min in duration.

... What makes this series stand out from Fujiko's catalog is the mature overtones of this work, deviating from the childlike nature of their most famous works, Warau Salesman's dark comedic elements come from the characters's misfortune and the unreal situations that they experience under Fukuzo's guidance, often ending up with their lives ruined.

Every episode is unrelated and they follow a very simple formula: There's a citizen with a problem, (work, family, love, boredom, etc...) Fukuzo approaches them, hands a business card and convinces them he has a solution, it turns out that solution is either quite extreme or Fukuzo himself sabotages the situation and the poor citizen gets screwed. All the development is done within those 10 minutes and that's it.
There isn't any kind of deep lesson to be learned other than the usual "be careful what you wish for", "greed is bad", that sort of thing, in fact, one of the things that surprised me the most is the fact that most of the people are quite innocent and end up traumatized for life. I personally advise not to question his methods as Fukuzo is inhumanly resourceful and preforms quite amazing feats sometimes so just assume he is some kind of demon and just go with the flow. Because of this, the best way to enjoy the series is to simply to go in with the mentality that you're going to get a laugh through someone else's misfortune. If this kind of comedy is not your thing or you don't enjoy episodic anime maybe this is not for you.

The art is fairly old school with very simple character designs and everyone seems fairly short in height as if they all suffer from Dwarfism, with some of them ending up looking the same. This is a problem that some old Anime/Manga have. Personally, I grew up watching Doreamon and Ninja Hattori and it's quite nostalgic seeing those designs again. Also, the character's names are quite often related to the theme of the episode as their names are written with the Kanji for "Clumsy" or "Unlucky" for example, this is something that a normal viewer would not notice unless they are fluent in Japanese or in my case, having the translators pointing it out on the subtitles.

The music is handled by Tanaka Kouhei who is well known for the One Piece soundtrack and it fits the mood quite well though don't expect to hear orchestral music of Wagnerian proportions. It is compromised mostly of Orchestral and Jazz pieces and some incidental music well arranged for the situations presented, the pieces that play during Fukuzo's opening lines are short but they set the mood for the anime very well, the Demon's Nest, a pub where Fukuzo takes some of his clients has a very good Cool Jazz piece that gives the scene that 1950's/60's warm and dirty feel.

Overall, I believe that your enjoyment of the series depends mostly on your personal taste and sensibility in regards to humor and plot, if you like old school anime and you are having a bad day, I'm sure you'll get a good laugh or two from this one, plus each episode is 10 minutes long so you can watch it even on lunch break. If you are looking for a new perspective on the universe and your own existence I believe you won't get that experience from this series.

One of Leiji Matsumoto's Masterpieces, this is one of those unique exprerience anime that come once in ten years, a classic of Space Operas, Galaxy Express 999 is a life Journey.


Our Journey takes place in a rather futuristic setting where humans are able to transfer their minds to a mechanical body in order to achieve enternal life. While this seems to be a somewhat perfect world, it is in reallity a dystopian Universe full of opression, suffering and tragedy for the poor and the weak ones. Our Protagonist, Hoshino Tetsuro,a proud and rightous young boy boards the Galaxy Express 999 with help of mysterious Maetel ... in order to reach the planet where you can get a mechanical body for free. If you are familiar with Leiji's works you will know what kind of Journey you will expect, for those who aren't, this will be a Journey full of Painfull situations, tragic heroes and shatered dreams, in other words, the definition of Drama.

While the Story seems rather episodic, from time to time, you will get a tiny revelation about the storyline, which in my oppinion, is a boost in the morale of the viewer since it can be sometimes tyring to watch such a long anime.

The art is that from Leiji's previous and future works, beautiful long-haired and fragile looking women, aerodynamic haired and proud males, small and sometimes comic looking elders. One small flaw I think is that, at some point females look like revamps from one another wich is a consequence of the large number of characters throughout the series.

The Soundtrack is very good in my opinion, whether it is a comic or serious situation it addapts to the moment you are experiencing, you will sometimes listen Beethoven's Moonlight Sonata and songs sang by characters that add an even more dramatic tone to the scene.

What I really want to say about this series is that this is a life learning experience, in each of the 999 stops you will get your persona lifel lesson out of the diferent situations that our protagonists will enconter, I felt that I learned something valuable from characters experiences, that is, in my oppinions, the greatest thing about this Anime.