Record of Ragnarok is one of those absurd animes that leans into its premise and revels in its absurdity. It takes place entirely during a tournament- and it’s not just any tournament. Thirteen gods and humans go up against each other. If the gods win, then humanity will be destroyed, and if the humans win, they get to survive.
The first season takes place during the first three of these thirteen bouts. From the human side, we see warriors from various periods such as the Three Kingdoms era, the Edo period and even the beginning of humanity. With the gods, we see interesting reinterpretations of popular figures such as Thor, Zeus and Poseidon.
Each fight takes up around 4 episodes. Not only do the fights progress at a snail’s pace reminiscent of the infamous ‘five minutes’ stretch of episodes from Dragonball Z, but the anime also mixes in extensive backstory through flashbacks that build up the characters. The fights themselves are absurd and the kind of stuff you love to see if you are a fan of shounen anime, especially battle anime in particular.
The new takes on the characters are also noteworthy. Thor’s hammer, Mjolnir, is gigantic here, easily the height of a minivan, and seems to be alive as well. Zeus is an ancient, lecherous man who buffs himself up into fighting shape, a transformation that’s reminiscent of All Might from My Hero Academia. Poseidon is reframed as a deadly killer that all gods stay clear of. The Valkyries are also given an interesting role to play in a way that raises stakes.
However, the biggest drawback of Record of Ragnarok is the animation.
There are plenty of stills which are fitted with speed lines or camera shakes to give the illusion of motion. There’s an extended sequence near the end of the second fight that consists entirely of slideshows. Maybe the blame falls upon Netflix, which has gained a reputation of producing cheap anime.
Record of Ragnarok has no delusion of being more profound or grander than it appears on the surface. This is a straight forward story of a group of underdogs going up against ultra-powerful bad guys. The pacing of the first season suggests that there will probably be around four or five seasons. Let’s hope that they have better animation and are less indulgent than the first season.