Caption / King Ranking "There is no 'king' and there is no 'ranking'. ”
Domestic animation audiences may not have looked forward to it, and the "King Ranking" animation production company Hegemony Society can be a "original shredder" and "magic change" the follow-up plot of the comic.
After all, when the animation first began broadcasting in October 2021, it earned enough tears from the audience with its innovative character settings and anti-routine plot. "King Ranking" avatars, wallpapers, memes and many second-hand creations once brushed the screen on social platforms, and even many young people in China who are not very exposed to animation have willingly entered the pit to become Boji's "mother powder" and the "tap water" of the incarnation works.
However, with the arrival of January and the continued renewal of the second half of the animation, the past experiences of the supporting characters have gradually unfolded, and more and more viewers have said that they "can't understand the direction of the plot". Along with the spoilers of the comic party, "King Ranking" broke out in controversy among domestic audience groups, and currently 180,000 viewers on Station B have scored 8.7 points for this work.
The latest episode of the anime is a hit
The audience's evaluation of "Ranking of Kings" changed from "moving and encouraging" at the beginning of the broadcast to "I don't understand", what really happened during this period?
A controversy sparked by supporting characters
In fact, after the announcement of the animation of "Ranking of Kings" and the early stage of the animation, some comic readers once reminded the social media platform that if the animation producer did not change the subsequent plot of the original work, it may be a "lightning point" for the audience. What has caused controversy today is actually the hidden dangers buried in the plot setting of the original comic itself.
(Spoilers included below)
The culprit of Poggy's weakness is his father Perth, who also plans to take possession of the body of another child, Dada, to be reborn in order to satisfy his desire for power. Miranda, who lives in the mirror, is an important promoter and helper for Perth to realize his self-ambition, hurting many innocent people, but her ending is not the "reincarnation of the heavenly path" and "evil retribution" expected by domestic audiences, but has won the forgiveness of everyone.
In the eyes of domestic audiences, the thoughts and actions of the two are out-and-out "villains", and the "reunion" followed by the original work is "uncomfortable". However, when The King's Ranking announced the animation, the comic had already told the story of Miranda and Perth's past behavior and final ending, so the animators did not change it, perhaps because they did not think that such a plot direction would have a huge impact on the popularity of the work. In this way, the source of controversy in "Ranking of Kings" is not only the characters and plot, but the concept conveyed by the creators in the works, which is different from the cognition of domestic audiences. The most obvious of these is the difference in cognitive boundaries between right and wrong.
The American anthropologist Ruth Benedict, in his 1946 book Chrysanthemum and the Knife, mentioned his views on Japanese moral concepts. According to the book, the Japanese moral system is in a multi-layered and decentralized state, and when judging people's behavior, "good and evil" is not the primary consideration, but whether it meets the criteria of loyalty, filial piety, righteousness, benevolence, and human feelings. The author summarizes the characteristics of Japanese culture as "shame culture", believing that its coercive power lies in the external society rather than in the human heart, that is, the Japanese people are more concerned about society's perception of themselves than the inner repentance after doing evil deeds, and further understand that they want to be forgiven rather than make up for their mistakes.
Although the views expressed in the book are debatable and not sufficient to fully represent the situation of contemporary Japanese people, the original character characteristics of the Japanese people expounded by it are still helpful for us to view the plot contradictions of some Japanese cultural and entertainment works. For example, in "Ranking of Kings", the plot setting of "the evil person apologizes and can get the understanding of all the members" cannot be understood by the Chinese people, and many anime viewers have only left a "worthy of being Japanese" evaluation after completing the original work.
In addition to "Ranking of Kings", many Japanese literature, live-action films, television, and anime works often show that "there are no absolute good people and bad people in the world." Taking anime works as an example, in platforms such as Zhihu and Tieba, "whether there are no real evil people in Japanese anime" and "whether XX anime characters are forcibly whitewashed", some plots of works such as Hokuto Shinken, Naruto, Inuyasha, and Gintama are often discussed as cases. If the plot settings of these works are applied to the "concept of good and evil" to explain, there must be over-interpretation, but it is undeniable that for the creators, if there is a more comprehensive explanation of the motivation of the character's behavior, it is undoubtedly beneficial to the dramatization of the work and the integrity of the human setting - even if the character is initially positioned as a villain.
"Human complexity" and "forced whitewashing" are actually between the readers and the audience's thoughts, and the creators are needed to provide persuasion. In addition to the growth of the protagonists Poggie and Kak, the current story line of "Ranking of Kings" includes "Magic Mirror" Milanjo, "King" Perth, "Princess" XiLin, "Sword Saint" Domas, "King's Gun" Apis, "Princess Shield" Derusi, "Snake Rider" Babin... Each of the characters seems to have a past worth mentioning.
The complex relationship between the characters and the meticulous portrayal of the supporting characters test the control of the creators' group portrait drama. Once the amount of information is too much, the main plot process slows down; the reversal is not enough, and it will also make the audience feel abrupt - this is also a major reason why domestic audiences believe that "the protagonist role of the king ranking is compressed, the supporting role is repeatedly jumped", "the subsequent plot of the animation is as incomprehensible as the original", and finally broke out of the controversy.
Regardless of the difference in concepts or the narrative ability of the creators, the audience's evaluation revolves around the content of "Ranking of Kings". As an adapted animation introduced, "Ranking of kings" has undergone a change in public opinion in China from "deeply loved" to "controversial", which proves the importance of the audience's "psychological expectations" to the reputation of the work.
Audience expectations are also the key to influencing the reputation of animation
From webcomics to animation, the transition from content carriers means an expansion of King's Ranking audience. As the tenth anniversary of the Hegemonic Society, the animation production lineup of "Ranking of Kings" is luxurious, and the excellent performance of the early animation is beyond doubt.
In China, the number of anime followers has exceeded 9.3 million and 370 million plays, which is enough to see the super popularity of "King Ranking". The audience expressed their love for Poji's bravery and innocence on major platforms, and also lamented the selfless love and dedication of her stepmother Xi Lin, and also moved by Kak's desire and protection for friendship... These discussions around the characters and plots naturally label the work as "healing tears" and "blood inspirational". The controversy faced by subsequent animations also happens to be related to these two labels. The so-called "healing tears" is nothing more than the story can bring emotional resonance to the audience. Boji, who can't hear and speak, gets the beginning of being beaten into a trough, and the protagonist's optimistic attitude is enough to soothe people's hearts. The supporting characters are even more so: Kak, who appears as a "robber", will actually firmly support Poggy's dream; the seemingly mean stepmother Shireen puts herself in Pogie's shoes; And bebin, a gloomy and elusive snake rider, is protecting Poggy at critical times. The early plot plays the character's established routine reversal handily, and the unexpected setting can always successfully mobilize the audience's emotions, while also giving the audience a sense of healing that "you are not alone, there is always someone who is in love with you".
Whenever the audience begins to define the character, the animation shows its hidden side, and whenever the character is in trouble, the blink of an eye will be dark and bright, and the audience's expectations will continue in this setting. However, it is not difficult to find out from the evaluation of the villain role mentioned above that such a technique is not applicable to all characters, and the frequent use of reversals will reduce the freshness of the audience a lot.
In addition to "healing tears", the overall framework of the main line of "Ranking of Kings" follows the conventional setting of the "King's Road Blood" comic, that is, the protagonist sets a goal, relies on his own efforts, and finally succeeds, and then moves towards the next goal. Even in recent years, there have been some changes in the theme of hot blood - "One Piece", "Naruto" and other works, the protagonist strives towards a grand goal and continues to become stronger, while popular works such as "Ghost Blade" and "Spell Return" have added a lot of psychological portrayal, emphasizing the friendship, family affection, and love bondage between the characters, and the protagonist's motivation to become stronger has also become "guardian", and from time to time to explore the heavy topic of "death" with tragic colors - but what remains unchanged is the "hot blood" content of the story, and there is no shortage of lively fight scenes. There is no shortage of character growth portrayals.
However, in "Ranking of Kings", Porgy's growth comes very suddenly. Poji has its own attributes of dodging full points and ineffective toxins, and can become "the strongest in the world" with special training, quickly finding opponent weaknesses in battle. Some spoiler-filled viewers were confused about the protagonist's setting after learning that "Poggie finally left the throne to find Kak, who had run away from inferiority" and had left.
Because the subsequent unfolding deviates from the "healing" and "hot blood" presented in the original presentation, and does not even explain the "king" and "ranking" that the audience wants to know, it is no wonder that the later "Ranking of kings" was spat at by the audience as an "off-topic essay" and "suggested to be renamed "The Wonderful Adventure of Milan jo". The development of the animation plot does not match the audience's expectations, and the easier it is to bring negative word-of-mouth fermentation. Just like the "New Home Supplement Recommendation" produced by netizens a few years ago, the "pit new list" is still enjoyed by anime fans today.
According to the speculation of the audience at the beginning of the "Ranking of Kings", the story will tell how the physically handicapped but kind-hearted prince broke through the siege in a world where force is respected; seeing The two "little pitifuls" of Poji and Kak meet, the audience expects the two to support each other and make progress together; the plot develops until After Pogie leaves his country, everyone wants to see that in the journey, Poji attracts more like-minded partners with the power of gentleness and dreams... None of the above audiences' assumptions have been realized.
Young people choose to chase animation in the current many entertainment methods, in fact, they are expecting the work to provide corresponding emotional feedback. Viewers realize that "Ranking of Kings" is not the expected "inspirational tear-jerking story", which naturally creates a huge sense of gap. Coupled with further spoilers from the web platform Comics Party, the villain's actions were all forgiven, which did not match the concepts of domestic audiences, making the word-of-mouth differentiation of the work more serious.
Even if some comic book readers say, "Compared to the original work that is still serialized, the content covered in the first season of the anime adaptation is just the beginning." "But it's clear that many domestic audiences have run out of patience for King's Rankings.