"The King's Ranking," a manga posted on the manga sharing website "Manga Hack," is a popular work with a cumulative circulation of over 1.5 million copies. The anime adaptation, which aired in 2021, also garnered significant attention. While the illustrations are cute, like a picture book, the story is profound, featuring complex human relationships and the protagonist's struggles. Are you curious about the author behind this masterpiece? In this article, we'll introduce you to the author, including the story behind the creation of "The King's Ranking"!
Author: Sousuke Toka
The author of "The King's Ranking" is Sousuke Toka. Born in 1975, his birthday is unknown, but he turns 48 this year. While it's likely a pen name and not his real name, the name suggests he's male. His face photo has not been made public. While researching Toka, I discovered many interesting facts about the creation of this work. Information about the author is essential to know before watching the new series, so I'd like to share it with you all in this article!
After Aspiring to Become a Manga Artist, He Worked as a Salaryman
Originally, he only read boys' magazines. When he was 20 and aiming to become a manga artist, he would read any manga he could get his hands on to study. However, he says that the influence he received from the works he read at the time never made it into the manga he drew. He didn't start seriously aiming to become a manga artist until he was 23 years old. He submitted his manga, but it didn't catch on, so he gave up. He then drew a picture book to continue drawing, and won a grand prize for it. Riding on this momentum, he published a book, but the publishing company went bankrupt. He gave up on becoming a manga artist and began working as a salaryman. His experience as a salaryman made him reexamine his own style, which had been self-centered until then, and he was able to learn important things about drawing manga. During his time as a salaryman, he worked in web-related jobs, and experienced both black companies and white companies.
Unable to give up on his dream of becoming a manga artist, Toka decided to quit his job.
While working, Toka began to think about making a living as an artist. He quit his job in October 2016 (at the age of 41) and began drawing manga in January 2017. When Toka first left his job, he considered drawing picture books, but he realized there were few openings and that the other contributors were young, which made him feel like it would be too difficult for him. That's when he discovered webcomics and realized that the web could reach a wider audience. When writing manga, he wanted to use the best-selling manga as inspiration, and when he read "One Piece," he found it "incredibly interesting." This was apparently the trigger that led to the title "Ranking of Kings." He was probably greatly influenced by the fact that it was an adventure manga with a classic plot. Toka originally liked Jump works, so he says that the influence of the manga he had read in the past is finally starting to show. Incidentally, Toka has also released an essay about his own experiences, "Quitting his Salaryman and Trying Again as a Manga Artist at 41 - Until Ranking of Kings Goes Viral," so if you're interested, be sure to check it out.
"Ranking of Kings" serialization begins
In 2017, I began serializing "Ranking of Kings" on the online manga posting site "Manga Hack." I currently work solely as a manga artist, with no side jobs. When the series first began, his pen name was "goriemon," but on Nico Nico Seiga he used "aaa" and on Toka's homepage he used "Tokatada." He used multiple pen names depending on the medium. The reason he was so particular about his pen name was that when his real name was fortune-told, it was "very bad," so he had to desperately think of a pen name. He changed his name from "goriemon" to his current name because it was "difficult to write vertically." It's true that writing vertically in romaji seems difficult. Growing up in a household where his parents forbade him from watching manga or anime, he has kept his manga writing a secret from them. However, now that he has created such a popular work, Toka's parents would surely be pleased. He began to attract attention after trending on Twitter in 2018, and his popularity soared, winning the Manga Taisho and Comic Taisho awards.
About Toka's Character
Toka's hobby is video games, which he uses to take a break from writing. Toka says he empathized strongly with the "silent protagonist" in RPGs. Indeed, there are games in which the protagonist only provides minimal back-and-forth, and the story progresses through the dialogue of surrounding characters. There are also cases where the protagonist can be entertaining even without speaking, or where a silent protagonist can play without disrupting the worldview, or where a silent protagonist makes it easier to empathize with the protagonist. Toka says he was inspired by these aspects when creating the character of Bojji.
About His Style
He strives to use simple illustrations that make his characters relatable and easy to empathize with. The artwork for "The King's Ranking" is characterized by the cute, simple style of Ehoncho. His style is also characterized by a visual appeal and minimal dialogue. At the same time, he places importance on content and is conscious of developing a story that resonates with adults.
About the Author
Sousuke Toka has had many twists and turns, including setbacks, a stint as a salaryman, and finally quitting his job, but he is now a renowned manga artist who has produced masterpieces. Quitting his job must have been a courageous decision, but his success story of not giving up on his youthful dreams and achieving them is deeply moving. I'm even more excited for the new series starting in the spring! That's all for now. Thank you for reading.
