One of the favorite concepts of the shonen anime is the tournament, where a number of fighters come together, occasionally to kill each other, in order to win a trophy and glory, with these episodes usually being the apogee of the style and aesthetics of the category. Furthermore, quite frequently in anime, there is a distinct disregard for western or any kind of mythology and religion, with the creators using them in order to suit their needs, occasionally in ways that could be described as preposterous and blasphemous even. “Record of Ragnarok which is based on the homonymous manga written by Shinya Umemura and Takumi Fukui and illustrated by Ajichika, brings both these elements together, as the whole story is actually a tournament, while the fights go as far as to pair Adam (yes, the first human) with Zeus.
Every 1000 years, the Gods' Council assembles to decide the fate of humanity. After 7 million years of human history, the gods come to the decision that humans are irredeemable and must go extinct. However, the valkyrie Brunhilde proposes to give humanity one last chance to prove their worth and the gods agree to hold the battle of Ragnarok, a tournament with 13 notable humans from across history against 13 of the most powerful gods engaging in duels to the death. Humanity will be spared if their side achieves seven victories in the competition. To even the odds, each human is granted the assistance of a valkyrie who transforms into a powerful weapon tailored for their user's combat style called “Volund”, at the risk of losing her life if the user is killed.
If I could describe “Record of Ragnarok” with two words, they would have to be ‘preposterously impressive'. The work done in the various characters, both in terms of story and visual presentation, may have nothing to do with the actual myths or religion, with Okubo presenting concepts like Adam being an intense hater of all the gods, but remains spectacular. In that fashion, the backstories are rather detailed in their excessiveness, while the battles themselves, truly epic. This last aspect benefits the most by the drawing, with Masaki Satou's work resulting in characters that are similarly majestic or preposterous, with the first fight between Lu Bu and Thor being a sample of the first, and the one between Zeus and Adam, of the second. The brutality of the fights adds even more to that regard, with the endings in particular being rather bloody, while the presentation of each participant, in a style that would make Paul Bettany in “A Knight's Tale” blush with shame, is equally impressive as the duels themselves.
Lastly, the arena and the audience, both as a whole and individually, are of equal “quality”, with the fighters not participating, and particularly Aphrodite, who is presented with huge breasts held by her assistants (could be statues too) being among the most memorable.
The animation by Graphinica implements all the aforementioned elements in the most fitting way, with the same applying to the mostly epic music, while the editing, particularly during the fights, which also includes the reactions of the audiences, is top-notch. Somewhere here, however, is where the main fault of the series lies, with the back stories and the overall lagging during the fights being quite extensive, to the point that some duels end up being almost dull as a whole, before the actual finale of each one compensates. Furthermore, the way the fights unfold could be perceived as somewhat jingoistic, although I will refrain from commenting on the battles anymore, since the surprise element from both participants and the conclusions of the fights is one of the main aspects of the narrative.
“Record of Ragnarok” premises are so ridiculous and stripped of any kind of realism or accuracy, that the title does not stand up to any kind of criticism. However, the viewer who will not take anything seriously here, will definitely have lots of fun, particularly if he/she is a fan of shonen anime.
