Oussama Ranking Episode 17: The Curse of Immortality - Full Review

“Boji can never defeat him. He’ll be killed”. Things don’t look good for our protagonist in this episode.

Satun is the father of Death-Par, Death-Har, and Ouken and the previous king of the Underworld. Satun is said to be a god who’s about to extinct, so he’s done a lot of research on immortality and killed many of his citizens. He believed that through giving birth to children living creatures extend their lives. Considering it as a clue to immortality, the creepy king married a human woman and gave birth to his three sons who will later kill him and take the throne because of his countless atrocities. This resembles the myths of Cronus being overthrown by his son, Zeus. The elder son, Death-Har, inherited his father’s godly power of lightning (another parallelism with Zeus), Death-par was born as a powerless human but inherited a small amount of his father’s might, and Ouken, the third son, possessed great physical abilities and was combat-oriented. However, at the age of 25, Ouken started to show signs of immortality, and knowing that it would lead him to lose his humanity, he asked for the help of his brothers. We then see that nothing stopped Ouken from becoming an empty shell and Death-Har had no other choice but to imprison him as a criminal of the underworld.

This flashback highlights perfectly the relevance of Ouken in the episode and the story as a whole, and how similar he is to Boji; both of their fathers sought forbidden ways to achieve their selfish goals at the cost of their children’s misery and life. Keep this in mind because the fight between the two will become an important event in Boji’s development in the story.

Back to the present, we see Boji and Kage having a nice conversation about who won the climbing race, which brings back Boji’s delightful face again after the mixed feelings he had upon meeting with Dormas. Kage proves again to us that he’s the closest character to Boji and understands him more than anyone else. Boji and Kage then drop by Apeas, who’s lost consciousness after the underworld criminals took him by surprise. Kage suggests that they take him to Hilling, while Miranjo summons Ouken, who breaks his bones to free himself and then paralyzes the Captain of the Order of the

Underworld (what a long name) and Death-Ha. Apeas starts explaining the current situation in the royal palace and reveals what seems to be the true intentions of Miranjo: she wishes to remain by Bosse’s side and to accomplish that she is willing to kill Hilling and destroy the kingdom. We were slightly surprised that this simple goal was hidden behind this well-constructed plan. Miranjo has been displayed as a rational mastermind like every typical villain, but since Deida met the kid Miranjo in Bosse’s heart (or his), this image started to change, and with this revelation, we can’t tell anymore what Miranjo’s true personality is. We hope to see in the next episodes a flashback that clarifies everything for us and Boji as well, who’s as confused as we are.

Apeas, as Miranjo’s servant, tries to stop Boji but is quickly intimidated by Boji’s presence, and it was nice to see again how strong our hero has become. Apeas notes how Boji has gained both confidence and a very reliable friend. Apeas’s contradictions do not stop here, where he also says that Boji might be the hope of the kingdom. As Kage and Boji hurry to catch up with the criminals, Dormas and Hokuro destroy the entrance to the underworld as requested by Bosse. Dormas

notes that the entrance was made possible by manipulating the Shadow Clan who were betrayed and exterminated. Dormas's statement, "I have a bad feeling about this," could point to many possibilities of Kage's clan being involved with Miranjo's plan or even related to the Demon, especially given that Miranjo personally chose Hilling as Bosse's wife, who is from the Light Clan, the Shadow Clan's ultimate enemy.

Ouken arrives at the palace and kills Black, the other criminal, while Boji and Kage watch from behind. Zokku (the criminal with a mustache) then runs away, and Ouken and Boji chase him. He attempts to poison Boji with gas after realizing that he has no chance against him, but it didn’t affect him, as Miranjo says that human poison doesn’t work on giants. Boji succeeds in capturing Zokku and Ouken finally faces Boji and is willing to fight, while Miranjo realizes that Kage is from the Shadow Clan and says that she a caught whiff of tragedy from him, again setting more emphasis on the relationship of this clan with the history of the kingdom and Miranjo herself. Ouken is the ultimate enemy of Boji, not just because he cannot kill him, but also because he is invincible against Boji’s technique which essentially stops the flow of blood and causes internal damage that is hard to recover from. Even if blood circulation is blocked in one area, his body functions won’t stop, and if we add this to his instantaneous healing abilities, Boji’s attacks will be mere needlesticks. Death-Par, who realizes this, wishes that Kage stops Boji from fighting him as he rushes towards their place with the captain.

We then see Hilling, Drushi, and the others following a mouse who leads them to Apeas, who is in critical condition with blood coming out of his mouth. Although not mentioned, we can expect that Miranjo is the one controlling that mouse. Returning

to Ouken vs. Boji, the latter seems to have the upper hand but he can’t deliver the final blow due to his immortality. An interesting thing to note here is Boji’s ability to dodge the stones that paralyze while the captain and Death-Par couldn’t. Miranjo says that people are capable of anything if someone purely believes in them which is a direct reference to Apeas’s development. To our and her surprise too, Miranjo advises Kage and Boji to escape, but Boji can’t do it because if he doesn’t stop Ouken here, everyone will get killed, just like every time he thinks about others before himself. As Miranjo is deeply moved because of Boji’s resolve, a quick flashback shows kid Miranjo and possibly her mother helping a woman with money, and she’s happy about it too. When Boji is told that he can’t defeat Ouken, he runs for the moment to the top of the wall, but Ouken immediately tries to kill the captured criminal. The episode ends with Boji challenging Ouken again and Miranjo revealing her name to Kage.

In this episode, we learned about the underworld’s history and how Ouken became immortal which highlighted the value of humanity and lineage. We also learned that Boji, at his current level, is no match for Ouken, despite Death-Par’s training and belief. Belief in others is a theme that has been showcased in previous episodes, but this one solidifies it and rejects it at the same time through Boji’s fight with Ouken, which was handled perfectly. The two major turns of events (Miranjo’s intentions and her controlling Ouken) will raise the stakes even higher and bring the arc to the climax, and it will (probably) be reached in the next episode titled "The Conflict with the Gods," which will air on Thursday, February 18.

What do you think about this episode? And what do you expect to happen in the next one, especially when you see that hyped title? Leave your thoughts below in the comments and share the review with your friends.