A month before the official release of Record of Ragnarok anime adaptation, I already made an article that given a few insights about this anime. The manga is excellent and highly recommended if you are not satisfied with the anime. For this article, I will share my review and thought about the first season of this fantastic series.
First, let's have a quick summary of what is the story all about.
"The seven-million-year history of mankind is about to end. It is not due to nuclear war or an invasion by an alien race, or even a collision with an asteroid. Mankind now faces its extinction, its end, at the hands of none other than the creators of mankind, themselves, the gods."
As it's said, the human now faces the most significant threats that they meet for the past millions of years as they become more toxic and unhealthy for the earth and to the gods, the decision to end the human race has been finalised. However, the Valkyrie named Brunhild opposed this decision as for her, it is not fair for humans to be wiped out without defending themselves. That's where she proposed the final fight, which decides the survival of humanity which allow 13 gods to fight against 13 strongest humans in a battle to the death. It is called Ragnarok.
I like this idea of fighting cause it prevents the logic of "Power of Friendship" from intervening. It is a cruel death battle that the author has no attachment to the defeated character at all. The manga is magnificent, but what about the anime? Did it give justice to the story at all?
The anime contains the first three matches in the manga. And here are the matches that season 1 have included.
Lu Bu vs Thor
I started to get hooked to Record of Ragnarok manga because of this first match. Lu Bu is a Chinese Military General and Warlord from the early dynasty of China. And Thor, as we all know, is a Norse god of Lightning and iconic for his hammer. As I said in the previous article, the characters in this anime are not accurate and have been altered for the sake of the plot. So it's not surprising that Lu Bu might look dignified and calm even though in the real story, he is famous for being a traitor and casually switch sides to different parties. The fight is enjoyable, and they adapted the manga faithfully. But the backstory of Thor is awful. It should be the best backstory in the story for its dark and gory theme. But the anime made it look like a PowerPoint presentation. It's worst and disappointing.
Adam vs Zeus
In the second match, Adam, the first man, will face the god named Zeus. It is also my favourite match cause of how well made the character of Adam is. In the manga, I enjoyed this part, but in anime, it feels something is missing even though there isn't. The Garden of Eden parts is high quality though, and it's funny how they focus on that part while the other parts are awful. This match is perfectly adapted from manga, but it looks like the fighting scenes is a bit lacking in terms of the surprise factor. It's good and probably the only watchable part.
Sasaki Kojiro vs Poseidon
This entire match is a disappointment for various reasons. The first two fights are fantastic and exciting because right from the start, both fighters are at the same strength. But in this fight, Sasaki should be at a disadvantage because their differences in power are ridiculous. Sasaki Kojiro is a Japanese swordsman in history, and his true story is interesting. It's almost the same as the anime, except he is not a loser. Yes, Sasaki was defeated by Musashi, but before that, he is already a great swordsman.
On the other hand, the backstory of Poseidon is inaccurate. We all know him as the brother of Zeus and the God of Seas. But it is never mentioned that he killed their other brother named Adamas as per the anime portrayed. Adamas is a character made up by the author to make an interesting backstory for Poseidon. It's not surprising because I wouldn't say I like it since the manga version. Sasaki should've lost to this fight, but for some reason, he didn't, and it isn't enjoyable.
My Thought for This Season
Overall, this season is not recommendable. It's an obviously low budget, and the animation is unpleasant. Nevertheless, I still want to commend that they didn't rush the story. It's still right on track, and it's very similar to manga. I also like the character design cause they didn't mess up with this, especially Eve and Aphrodite. Season 2 is already announced, and I'm both excited and worried. I'm excited about the next few matches because it will probably be Jack the Reaper vs Hercules, Raiden Tameemon vs Shiva (this is also great) and Buddha vs Bishamonten. And worried because the animation might not improve. This should be a good fighting anime, but for some reason, the Animation looks like a PowerPoint presentation. Season one is obviously low budget and I hope they will do better this time.
@Ruffa napanood mo na to dear? Since ang hilig-hilig mo naman sa anime.