Record of Ragnarok is a manga series written by Shinya Umemura and Takumi Fukui on 2017. It will finally get an anime adaptation next month, June 2021, produced by Netflix. It is a very hype manga and you can expect a very Seinen type of story. No power of friendship things or overpowered characters since all of them are already overpowered. Insane backstory from the characters and very breathtaking fights. You can't even tell who's gonna win and even makes you a hard choice which side will you support on. In short, there is no real villain in this series. It is probably the best action manga you can find out there.
What is the story all about?
Basically the story is all about Humans and Gods fighting for the decision whether to wipe humanity or not. The judgement will be determined in a 1v1 fight between 13 gods and humans. Its all thanks to to the eldest daughter among the Valkyrie "Brunhild" that humanity got a chance to prevent an inevitable extinction from their creators.
The gods in this story is not just your ordinary greek or roman gods. They are composed of various gods from all over the world. This includes Buddhist, Egyptian, Hindus, Oriental Pantheons, Japanese Pantheon, Norse Pantheon and Philistine Pantheon. Kudos to the author for including them all in the story without making it look messy. They even made a research about their backstory. Well although it is not necessarily accurate, it is understandable cause mixing fiction and non fiction is the only way to showcase the author's creativity. And what authors did, really amazes me. They still managed to be faithful to the god's original story but added with little twists to become more interesting.
And as for Humans, it is composed of different personas from different sources. They are all composed of historical people from all over the world. Most of them are known for their achievements and feats during their times. They are titled as best among the best and clearly make a big part of human history. And I'm really happy about their choices (especially to the part where they choose Tesla over Einstein).
So isn't it exciting to think that these amazing humans in history will fight the gods in a 1v1 match. And to mind you this is not just a normal match like MMA or Boxing but a brawl to death. This what makes Record of Ragnarok super hype. The results are just unpredictable and you can't choose which side will you side on. There are times you want to support humans but there are also time you want to support gods. Just like what I mentioned earlier, this anime will never have a real villain. This is just a battle of their ideals and desires and it's pretty amazing.
What will the first season cover?
I believe the first season will be composed of the first 3 matches in the manga. It is also shown in some teaser posters and I'm quite sure since it is fit to the 12 episode of this season. The first bout will be Lu Bu vs Thor. A great first fight for this anime. This will be the first time that humans surprised the gods by how can Lu Bu keep up to the power of Thor. It is a close fight between the two and I will not spoil you all but the winner just won with a slim of victory. That's how close the first fight is. The second fight will be Adam vs Zeus. Literally my favorite so far. It is a fight between the father of human and the god among gods. The most intense fight and the winner just won against time and the defeated still won with glory and pride. And the final fight for this season is literally unexpected. It is a fight between Poseidon and Sasaki Kojiro. Poseidon the brother of Zeus against the humanities greatest loser Sasaki Kojiro. One of the best back story and even though the fight isn't exciting as the first 2 fight. It is still amazing to think that they manage to put a special message about this arc.
The first season is just an introduction to a much more interesting tournament in the future. And trust me there will be much more interesting fight in the future and some characters not yet known. Who knows, some twists are already happening in the manga.
What to expect in the possible next seasons?
Season two will most likely the next 3 fights. I'm not naming the bouts but the character in this seasons will include; Jack the Reaper, Buddha,Raiden Tameemon, Shiva, Heracles and Bishamonten/Zerofoku. This 3 fights are as hype as the first 3 and this also includes some twists.
As for the remaining characters, It is still unknown but I'm really curious about all of them. I'm dying to know about Anubis, Susano'o no Mikoto and Nikola Tesla. It is still not clear what will happen to humanity since the score is just close and who knows anything can happen in this anime. But be in mind that this is not Shounen so don't expect a happy ending.
Record of Ragnarok is very comparable to Baki and Kengan Ashura combined. If animated properly, I believe it will be the next big thing. I seriously trust Netflix over Crunchyroll so I'm not really worried at all. But yes, Record of Ragnarok is an awesome anime. You don't want to sleep on this one.
Great! Waiting for the release ☺️