Even if you don’t watch anime, check out Ranking of Kings

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Ranking of Kings has just wrapped its first season, which means you can watch the entire show from start to finish on Crunchyroll without having to wait for the next episode. Readers, this is exactly what you should do!

Ranking of Kings is a modern masterpiece. It’s not just us who get overexcited in the newsletter. We’ve already named the show as one of the best anime of 2022 and one of the best TV shows of 2022. As Kambole Campbell wrote, it’s “one of the cutest and most heartwarming shows of the year.”

But what is Ranking of Kings?

The series follows Bojji, a crown prince who was born unusually short and dumb. Denied his throne because others perceive him, the boy mates with a renegade shadow creature named Kage, who serves as his bodyguard and most ardent cheerleader. Together they try to take back what rightfully belongs to Bojji.

Bojji is the star, but the adventure quickly expands, giving the audience time to learn what drives each character. This is not a story with many simple heroes and villains. The result is a chopped lettuce with a fairytale structure, game of Thrones castle intrigue, Lord of the rings Fraternity, tender domestic drama, and some of the most breathtaking moment-to-moment animation this side of a Ghibli film.

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This week on YouTube | “Actor Ben Schwartz, star of Sonic the Hedgehog, made us a promise: If sound 2 got the green light, he would return to our studio and do another speed interview with Polygon’s Patrick Gill. Well, things didn’t quite go as planned. but Sonic the Hedgehog 2 out April 8, 2022, and a facsimile of Ben Schwartz HAS ARRIVED… to once again cross swords with his greatest rival.”

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Four stories to read

Image: A24

Porn returns to multiplexes in sneaky, provocative ways | “In a film landscape defined by its total lack of eroticism, films like Ti West’s new horror film x use sex – and especially films set in and around the world of pornography – to provoke audiences and grab attention, while also possibly bringing some erotic heat back to the cold multiplexes.

The behind-the-scenes story of Paul McCartney’s work on Destiny | The corporate intrigue behind Destiny’s score is more intriguing than Destiny’s original story. You know things are going badly when it comes to bringing Sir Paul McCartney on board light Part.

Horizon Forbidden West pretends to be post-racial — but it’s not | The distant future setting of the Horizon Zero Dawn series is said to be “post-racial”. This has not prevented racist expressions from appearing all over the world.

Our Flag Means Death fan art is out of this world | The growing mountains of fan art will have to satiate us until the show’s second season.

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Four things to see

Image: Marvel Studios

moon knight on Disney Plus | moon knight might be one of the more interesting TV shows in the MCU… but it’s hard to feel much of anything after the first episode. However, the creators have many interesting directions to go with the source material. Marvel gave moon knight‘s Friend of God Khonshu is rooted in real Egyptian myths. And the Moon Knight character has changed in interesting ways over the decades of comics.

Baahubali: The beginning and Baahubali 2: The Conclusion on Netflix | RRR is one of the most exciting action films in years, but it has a limited theatrical release. However, you can watch the director’s previous epic (split into two parts) on Netflix right now.

disease in theatres | The Morbius movie wants what Venom has. We recommend this heavily delayed film only to the most dedicated fans of the Spidey universe.

Also everything new in streaming: Death on the Nile, singing 2Netflix the bubbleand more!

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Play three games

Image: Kojima Productions/Sony Interactive Entertainment via Polygon

Death Stranding Director’s Cut | The best version of Hideo Kojima’s most controversial game has finally made its way to PC. The Director’s Cut won over Polygon’s Mike Mahardy when it released on PlayStation 4 last fall. “Some art will change with time alongside us,” wrote Mahardy. “Some art will quietly, even stubbornly, wait for us to return with a fresh perspective. death strandingin my estimation, did a bit of both.” Available on Windows PC and PS4.

Patrick’s Parabox | This puzzle game contains a variety. The goal is to solve puzzles by moving crates into crates into crates into crates. The recursive design has already earned this game the Independent Games Festival award for Outstanding Design and IndieCade’s Developers Choice. Available on Windows PC, MacOS, SteamOS.

Norco | We’ve been working our way through this fantastic narrative adventure and will be posting our thoughts next week, so don’t be surprised if this comes up again in a future patch note. In the meantime, we think you should check it out! Available on Windows PC and MacOS.

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Free game of the week

Image: Arboreta Games

The Black Iris | PC Gamer’s Andy Kelly vouched for this nerve-wracking sci-fi outing. Here’s how he succinctly describes the premise in his review: “Somewhere in rural Scotland in the 1980s, a secret research facility is overwhelmed by a cosmic, unknown horror known as Black Iris. Some of the scientists begin to worship this powerful being and create a bizarre religion around it, resulting in the facility being mysteriously abandoned. This is the brilliantly creepy premise of The Black Irisa stunning horror game from solo indie developer Jamie Ferguson.” Available on juck.io.

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The best of the rest

Graphics: James Bareham/Polygon