Adam from the Bible punches Zeus so hard it snaps his neck. That’s just one scene.
If someone came up to you and said “what if we made a fighting game where one side contains a selection of members of various pantheons and the other is famous figures from history,” you’d probably agree that it could at least be fun. Well, rather than make that game, someone went ahead and made a television show out of it and it is damned fun to watch. Record of Ragnarok does not mess around in the slightest, with the setup for the series established within the first 10 minutes. Basically, the gods of every religion (except Christianity so far) take a vote on whether or not humanity is worth saving. They conclude that, no, it is not (although there is a bit of a split). However, before they destroy humanity, the valkyrie Brunhilde (Miyuki Sawashiro/Laura Post) and her sister Göll (Tomoyo Kurosawa/Anairis Quinones) invoke the right of Ragnarok, which in this case is the right for humanity to challenge divinity to a fight. Thirteen humans will challenge thirteen deities to mortal combat and the first side to get seven wins is the victor. If humans win, then they get to stay for another millennium.
The key to this show is exactly how insane some of the matchups are, particularly the ones that have only been teased. I’ll admit that I was pissed off when I watched it because the tweet that got me to try this show was someone saying “If you want to see steampunk Jack the Ripper stalk Hercules through 19th Century London, Record of Ragnarok is your jam.” Unfortunately, that apparently happens NEXT season. But, the fights in this season were still pretty good and visually awesome. They usually spend an episode going into the backstories of each of the contestants, to some degree, while the fight is going on. Each fight takes 3-4 episodes, which is an absolute rapid pace for the same medium that brought us Dragon Ball Z and its 20 episode battle montages.
The show also has a fun sense of humor. It particularly likes to play around with the audience, which is composed half of every deity from every pantheon and half of almost every notable person throughout history. Random artists, warriors, and political figures will have cameos and, occasionally, some fun commentary.
Overall, if you really don’t think having Thor fight a general from the Three Kingdoms period isn’t fun, then you probably won’t like it, but otherwise this will be a heck of a watch.
The Joker On The Sofa 