THIS REVIEW WILL CONTAIN MAJOR SPOILERS FOR RECORD OF RAGNAROK This is my third review Story 9/10 Plot Synopsis: Should mankind go extinct? That is the question that leads us to Ragnarok the 13 vs 13 Tournament between gods and mankind. Every 1000 years all gods from various religions and mythologies Norse Greek Hindu etc. come together and discuss whether they should annihilate humans once and for all. We enter the story when the gods all make a unanimous vote... annihilate humanity. However Brunhilde a Valkyrie proposes to the gods Ragnarok? They accept and Ragnarok initiates. As the tournament moves on we get introduced to more and more characters leading to a bunch of conflicts even outside of the tournament. Review of Story: For this section Ill be reviewing every fight individually and have a separate minisection for outside conflicts Fight 1 Lu Bu vs Thor was an amazing introduction fight this fight established how cruel the gods or even humans can be to anyone and everyone and seeing Thor slowly but surely crushing Lu Bu into submission showed that these 2 respected each other and their techniques throughout the whole fight. The artwork is exquisite as well every line is drawn prestigiously and really sold us on how good every fight in the series would be from here on out. 8.5/10 Fight Fight 2 Adam vs Zeus I dont think I have to explain why this fight was so good but here I go. Adam the father of humanity the man the gods hated the most was fighting Zeus the king of the gods. Already the amount of impact this fight was gonna have was off the charts. Then the fight begins and we see this comparatively scrawny boy fighting this massive muscular man we think No way will Adam beat him. Adam then lands dozens of blows to Zeus and says the iconic line Is there any man that needs a reason to protect his own children. That line moved not only every reader but everyone in the story itself too. It was truly an emotional sucker punch. Eventually Adam knocks out Zeus and we think its over we think weve won due to Adams courage and his ability Eyes of the lord. However Zeus wakes up and goes into his final form Adamas this was terrible. The god king had woken up and Adam losing his ability slowly but surely dies. This leads to the gods second win and our despair Adam was our father and he couldnt pull through. This battle was amazing and the artwork was godlike I never thought any fight ever could top this but then Fight 4 pulled up but thats a topic for a different time. 10/10 Fight Fight 3 Sasaki vs Poseidon was a revolutionary fight giving humanity its first ever win. However the road to get that win wasnt easy. When Sasaki is first summoned we see an old man who I doubt upon first inspection all of us thought would win. Whereas the god representative for this round was Poseidon the god of the sea and explicitly called of the strongest gods. As the fight starts up we see Poseidon constantly doge Sasaki and his attacks out maneuvering him and getting quite a few counterattacks in. Showing that in terms of evasiveness Poseidon could quite possibly take the cake. However his arrogance is what got the best of him. Sasaki was cool and calculated and towards the end of the fight used his ultimate ability to its fullest. This lead the arrogant Poseidon to go all out but it was too late. Sasaki already foresaw all outcomes and much like Dr. Strange in Avengers saw only 1 premonition where he would win. He then took that chance and won against Poseidon and gave us all satisfaction. Unrelated Story Beats These are my thoughts on the story that arent involved in fights: What makes RoRs story so compelling is how simple yet effective this form of storytelling is. There are massive stakes at hand but to overcome those stakes we have to win in a tournament a relatively simple format but can be elaborated in so many ways. Take HxH for example in the final stage of the Hunter Exam there is a tournament with only 1 loser except that tournament allows participants that have worked hard more chances of success compared to participants whove more or less mooched off of others. This is the type of manipulation in tournaments I enjoy and RoR takes the fullest advantage of this by allowing unique matchups and team switchups such as Buddha fighting for humans. Speaking of Buddha hes probably the most relevant character outside of fights he gets into a fight with Loki and the Lucky Gods and he brings some of our favorite characters with him such as Sasaki. I love how this series is MAINLY focused on tournaments yet still strays away juuuuuust enough to keep us interested. Characters 9/10 Before I get into the characters themselves let me just say that the character designs in this manga are gorgeous Buddha for example looked nothing like what I thought hed look like but oh my god his design fits with his spunky personality so well. And characters like Zeus who has a robe to make him feel royal or someone like Poseidon whos hair and posture signify his arrogance really are amazing. Anyway here are my thoughts on the specific characters: Brunhilde Goll: These 2 are our main characters who oversee and basically commentate every fight unlike in the anime where it seems that commentating is Odins birds job. Brunhilde is a strong sexy and super woman who takes charge and tries to outwit the gods into losing saving humanity. Her ideals and thoughts on sacrifice for the greater good make her a really compelling character in my opinion. Goll on the other hand is a shy timid and caring young girl who just wants the very best for all her friends and that makes her a great contrast to Brunhilde. Lu Bu Thor: Lu Bu was introduced as the strongest man alive and itd be hard to argue otherwise hes big strong muscular and loves fighting. He was an amazing contrast to Thor both of whom have never lost a fight in their life and got pushed to their limits in their match. Lu Bu having his army and his horse Red Hare supporting him throughout the fight was touching and made you feel for this super powerful overlord. Thor is also someone who was looking for someone to go all out on leading to him respecting Lu Bu a human which Thor probably never assumed hed do. Its all quite cool to see these 2 giant oafs berating each other with attacks and eventually thinking If only you werent a god/human we couldve been friends. Adam: Adam was a great father figure literally. Adam showed us that we dont need reasoning to protect the ones we love. He was an inspiration and a powerhouse beating up Zeus to protect his children and that is something the whole human race could get behind. Zeus: Zeus is a great antagonist type character. He never does anything explicitly evil he just does what he needs to do and thats admirable. Zeus is the definition of dont judge a book by its cover because we see this scrawny old man turn into this mean fighting machine and the banter he has with Hermes and Ares is great as well. Sasaki Kojiro: An absolute king he completely took me by surprise in his fight and also may be the most calculated fighter other than Jack the Ripper. His backstory was also the best of the first 3 fighters in my opinion I havent read the Lu Bu spinoff however. If only there were TRANSLATIONS. Seeing him lose over and over and over and over and over again was sad to see. Even at his death he lost not even a tie. But seeing him finally win a fight and having the crowd go wild to be honest brought a loving tear to my eye. Poseidon: I hate Poseidon with all my being but thats why hes so compelling. He is the perfect example of an arrogant god and has a massive ego. This also led to us feeling so satisfied about his defeat as we hated this man for all hes worth. His backstory was one of the weaker ones in my opinion but seeing him absolutely destroy Adamas showing his power was astonishing. Visuals 9.5/10 The art in this series is in one word godlike. The artstyle feels extreme and over the top but also impactful. And I mean this in the best possible way messy. The rough artstyle provides plenty of room for dynamic shots and intimidating poses. Every character looks badass and the thick lines add to their personality and boldness for example check out Jack The Ripper in this panel: 420https://i.ur.com/xZmWigN.jpeg Even if you havent read this series you can tell how menacing this character is just from the intricate artwork and line manipulation the artist Chika Aji really knows how to emphasize how important and grueling a scene is. I cannot wait to see what she works on in the future Enjoyment 10/10 I myself am a massive fan of tournaments and fighting series. One of my favorite anime of all time is Dragon Ball known for its martial arts tournaments and superpowers. And this series is a love letter to everything a tournament should be its got amazing fights amazing pacing and amazing characters/character interactions. I was never bored or even phased out of this series when reading it and there hasnt been a single bad fight. Amazing read. Conclusion Record of Ragnarok is an amazing manga filled with gorgeous artwork wonderful character designs and godlike fights. I love a good tournament series and this is the best tournament series Ive ever experienced please have a read of Record of Ragnarok. Favorite Character: Jack The Ripper Favorite Panel: 420https://i.redd.it/q7my93vdyzh51.png Favorite Quote: Phew I guess winning for once feels pretty good huh? Sasaki Kojiro Final Score: 93/100 Recommendation Level: 5/5 This review is a work in progress I will be editing this review after every fight is completed to make sure my opinions on said fight are presented keep an eye out Thanks for reading and please leave any criticisms you have on my Profile