I ran into this anime on Netflix and I was somewhat apprehensive about it because the title is Ragnarok. I had a horrible experience with a previous show called Ragnarok and while it was also about gods vs humans, this anime had a totally different spin.
Record of Ragnarok is a chronicle of various battles between gods and men from different cultures and timelines respectively. The battle of Ragnarok as it is called was described as a gag created by the gods that were meant to be activated when the gods make an unfavourable decision and humans want to challenge them.
In this scenario, the gods decided that they wanted to destroy mankind. However, a Valkyre wasn't having any of it and decided to implement the Ragnarok rules, and so the battles began.
There were supposed to be 13 battles in the whole tournament and the first to win 7 battles is the overall winner. As I said earlier, each battle will be between a god and a human from any timeline.
Fun fact
Every character represented in the anime was based on real people for humans and some deity or mythological being. I also enjoyed the fact that there were various historical accounts about each character represented in the anime.
In the first season, three battles were settled and the fourth battle was introduced. The next three paragraphs will briefly discuss the characters in the first three battles and I'll let you decide who you think is the winner, assuming you haven't watched it before.
First fight: Thor vs General Lu Bu
This battle seemed like a mismatch from the beginning when Thor, who was regarded as the most powerful god was paired against Lu Bu. Thor is a well-known character that has been represented in movies and various literature as the Norse God of thunder.
In this anime, he's represented as a badass looking individual with long flowing red hair and a killer look in his eyes. He was placed as the first fighter for the gods in a bid to demoralise humans.
However, his opponent is a legendary Chinese warlord that was renowned for ass kickery back in 199. He did a lot of bat shit crazy things in his time and in this battle with Thor, we could see why he had so many followers.
The battle turned out to be closer than expected with both men looking evenly matched at times.
Check out the full fight between them in the video above.
Second fight: Adam vs Zeus
This fight was rather interesting because there was a switch in the battle characters along the line. Adam wasn't originally supposed to fight Zeus but after Zeus let his excitement get the best of him, he forced his way into the second fight.
Zeus is the Greek god of Olympus that has also been described in games, movies, and literature. Adam, on the other hand, is the first human to be created by the gods.
According to the anime, Adam and his wife Eve lived with the gods. In fact, the anime depicted Adam as being someway like the gods. The anime went as far as quoting a bible passage to explain Adam's ultimate(only) move called Divine reflection.
It turned out to be a very interesting fight with an emotional ending. It's once again another use of fantasy that was totally intriguing.
Third fight: Posseidon vs Sasaki Kojiro
This fight was pretty cool too and brought a new character to light. We all know Poseidon is the Greek god of the sea but no one knew Sasaki.
Sasaki Kojiro was described as the greatest loser in the anime and a quick check discussed his Samurai career. Poseidon was described as a no-nonsense god that brought fear to the hearts of other gods.
The battle lasted like 13 minutes according to the anime and it was a very intense sword. I totally enjoyed this particular battle because of the backstory.
Opinion
I thoroughly enjoyed this anime because it was straight to the point and the action began from the first episode. I enjoyed the fun backstories and the fact that the anime made me do some research about various characters.
I liked how they connected each individual's anime profile to their real life and the myths that surround them. Each character's profile was developed to perfection and personally tallied with the reflection that was intended.
My only issue is that while I enjoyed the backstories, sometimes it felt like we spent too much time on that and not enough time on the action. I want to see ass-kicking with a storyline but not too much talking.
Overall, I think this anime is awesome and you should check it out on Netflix, whenever you can.
- Rating: 7/10
