Record of Ragnarok: You be the judgE.
- robertse32
- 6 hours ago
- 5 min read
Record of Ragnrarok, written by Shinya Umemura and Takumi Fukui, started out as a manga series. It had its own group of loyal fans eagerly anticipating the next volume. Eventually, the powers that be decided to turn the manga into an animated series to be streamlined on sites like Netflix and YouTube. Unfortunately, the series created a lot of controversy over the depiction of its characters, the animation, and its heavy use of backstory. So, is Record of Ragnrarok a good manga, but a horrible animated series? You'd be the judge.
Some Background
But, first, some backstory about the series and how we got here ( Ironic, I know ). The manga series started back in 2017, with it being serialized in the Monthly Comic Zenon. The reaction was high praise for its premise, art style, and fight, often being compared to other series like Baki, Kengan Ashura, and other tournament-style manga. The manga, thanks to Netflix, got an anime series back in 2021, which was produced by Warner Bros Japan and animated by Studio Graphnica.
The Backstory
Now, to move on to the actual plot or backstory of the manga: the fight for humanity between humans and the gods and goddesses of mythology. On the side of humanity, you have Brunhilde, one of the 13 Valkyries, along with many historical figures like Nikola Tesla, Leonidas, Adam (yes, that Adam, but not the cause of the controversy), and 10 other fighters. On the side of the gods and goddesses of many pantheons, you have Zeus, Beelzebub, Apollo, plus 10 other gods. It is a 13 v 13 tournament to decide the fate of humanity. Brunhilde is responsible for the tournament, as it was her idea as a means to rescue her boyfriend from Hades.. She also chooses who from the human side will fight each god or goddess. Will man perish, or will humanity be saved? That is the question, and as of today, it has not been determined.
The Good and the Bad
Season 1
Now that the background has been established, it's time to get into the first season of the anime. In season 1, after introducing the characters involved in this season's tournament, the anime goes straight to the tournament battles. The first fight showed the humans that they were in trouble. In the second fight, we have king of the gods, Zeus vs the father of humanity Adam.
The fight, while adapting a lot of the source from the book, didn't transfer it well. This fight in particular was ripped to shreds for its choppy animation, its use of still shots, and its use of slide show movement towards the end of the battle. This was in part due to using a mobile game studio instead of an animation studio. The budget from Netflix may not have allowed for an animation studio.
This video shows the slide show effect used in the second battle.
Not all the animation in Season 1 is bad. This scene is also in Season 1 depicting Adam v Zeus. In this battle scene, actual animation was used.
Spoiler alert: Zeus is declared the winner.
Throughout Season 1, viewers also complained about how each fight was interrupted to tell the backstory of the characters.
I don't know if it really improves as the series progress or if those watching the anime series just got used to the interruptions.
Season 2
Season 2 had many flaws, but it also did many good things, like fixes and animation upgrades. They took a step back and parted with Studio Grahnica and went with Yumeta Company, an actual animation studio. One of the main issues with Season 2 was the depiction of the Indian god of destruction, Shiva. What should have been minor became a major issue in India. The issue stemmed from Rajan Zed, the president of the Universal Society of Hinduism, calling out the author of the series and Warner Bros Japan concerning the portrayal of the battle between Shiva and Raiden, a sumo wrestler. He wanted Shiva to be declared the winner as he should have won the battle easily as Shiva is the god of destruction.
It got so bad that Record of Ragnarok was banned in India.
Season 3
Now that we got through seasons 1 and 2, it's time to hit the high note that the community has deemed the best season so far season 3 . The fight we'll be reviewing is one of the most controversial battles in the season for a few reasons. One of those being the use of Computer Generated Imagery (CGI) for the human contestant of the round, Nikola Tesla. Thanks to his weapon being a very intricate armor, critics thought it should have been an actual hand-drawn animation instead of a CGI. This was due to how it appeared in the Season 3 trailer. However, once they actually saw it in the animate series, they changed their tune.
With the arrival of this season came another change of studios with studio Grapchinica taking a total back seat to welcome a new studio, MARU animations, to work with Yumeta Company . A lot of the fans applauded the studios for giving the show the animation it deserved as shown by the video clip to the left.
But upgrading the quality of the animation couldn't fix everything . As shown in the clip to the right, Netflix continued to still frames with added motion and effects. Fans still complained about the backstories invading and detracting from the fights, but to a lesser degree.
I showed Seasons 1-3 to a fellow WVC student, Presly White. She noted that although she had not actually watched the series, she felt that the slideshow with static motion detracted from the viewing. By Season 3, the majority of the animation issues had been fixed.
You Be the Judge
Record of Ragnarok, based on a manga series by Shinya Umemura and Takumi Fukui, can be viewed on Netflix. Its first season received a lot of backlash for its shoddy animation and the need to stop the fight scene to give the backstory. Season 2 had the series banned in India over its portrayal of Shiva, India’s god of destruction. Part of the problem was fixed in Season 3 by dropping the mobile game studio and using two actual animation studios. Season 3 has good graphics, is well-paced, and no longer relies on still frames to tell the story. If you have tried watching Season 1 and didn’t like it or haven’t checked out the series at all but have read the manga series, give the new animated series a chance and watch it.
You be the judge!
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