LogFAQs > #970485146

BONUS. Record of Ragnarok
https://myanimelist.net/anime/44942/Shuumatsu_no_Walk%C3%BCre
Summer 2021 (12 episodes)
My Score: TBA, MAL Score: 6.66/10
Best Character: Brunhilde
Recommended by: @GavsEvans123

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9FsffPTIL74

Premise: The gods have decided to destroy humanity, but the mortals still have one last chance. During Ragnarok, the thirteen strongest humans from throughout history will face off against the thirteen strongest gods in a duel that will decide the fate of humanity.

The Good: Record of Ragnarok is an action anime about historical figures dueling gods. I'll have some complaints about this, and since I haven't read the manga I don't know if this was poorly executed there too or if this is just a bad adaptation. It's disappointing in either case, because I think this is a really fun idea! Historical figures having over-the-top battles with mythical gods is great. The first battle is Lu Bu vs Thor, I mean come on that's awesome. I liked how it delved into the history of each fighter, and gave them all cool abilities. Looking at the list of fighters, there are a lot of unique choices that I'm excited to see. Conceptually, Record of Ragnarok is really cool.

The Bad: Unfortunately, I thought the execution of this cool idea was mediocre at best. It has a good art style, but the animation itself is really bad. Lots of scenes are mostly still images of characters talking or reacting. I saw a lot of comments elsewhere calling this a slideshow, and it's hard to disagree. Even when the characters fought, the battles were rarely impressive. Aside from the animation, I didn't like the pacing. There were too many reactions from the crowd, and after pretty much every attack the action paused to examine it from every possible angle. Between that and the flashbacks, each ten minute fight was stretched across four episodes. I think this would be less of a problem in manga format where the reader could read all of that without pausing the action in their imagination, but I don't think it worked very well in an anime format.

Overall: I still enjoyed Record of Ragnarok, but it was solely due to the strength of the idea. Historical figures with unique battle skills duking it out with gods is just such an inherently fun concept. Sadly, the anime itself was poorly paced and poorly animated. It made me think of The Junji Ito Collection, another anime where good ideas were held back by shockingly poor animation. Thankfully, Ragnarok wasn't anywhere near as bad as that. The art itself looked good, and the voice acting was solid. I just hope the upcoming second season handles pacing and animation a bit better. This will probably end up in the 3/10s of my final ranking, but I could easily see that rising if the next season is an improvement! In any case, thanks for recommending this, GavEvans. Watching Lu Bu battle Thor was a lot of fun, as were the other fights, and I'm genuinely excited for the duel they teased at the end of this season.