When the first season of Record of Ragnarok dropped on Netflix it’s safe to say that a lot of fans of the manga were pretty disappointed. That’s part of the reason why it’s surprising that we got a second season of the show so quickly. With Record of Ragnarok Season 2 now being on Netflix, has the show redeemed itself or is it continuing to disappoint fans?
That is the question that we are going to be trying to answer with today’s review!
Table of Contents
- Plot
- Animation
- Characters
- Conclusion
Record Of Ragnarok Season 2 Review
Plot
Record of Ragnarok season 2 picks up where the last season left off. After winning their first victory Brunhilde and Goll are discussing who they will put in the next round of the tournament. They then discover that Hercules, a former human who became a god who is also beloved by both sides, will be fighting next on the side of the gods.
To counter the hero that represents the good of both humanity and the gods, Brunhilde decides she needs a champion of humanity that embodies the depravity and malice of the species, so she goes with none other than the infamous Jack the Ripper.
Unlike the last season, which feature 12 episodes and three different fights, Record of Ragnarok season 2 only has 10 episodes and only has two tournament matches. This season does focus a bit more on the fights, not only the action but also the backstory of the combatants.
We also get more scenes outside of the fights themselves and they actually do a good job of not only introducing new characters but also giving more depth to existing ones but we will get more into that later.
These outside of the fight scenes are also pretty fun usually and give a nice bit of brevity between the fight scenes, which are much tenser than the ones in the last season.
Animation
The first thing that you will notice if you watched the last season of the show and compare it to this one is that the animation quality is vastly increased. The characters actually move, as opposed to most of the show being basically a slideshow with a few effects like it was in the first season.
This is obvious from the first scene where we see characters actually walk and not just talk standing still. This is obviously a welcome change if not one that should be expected from an anime, which literally means animation, which somehow the first season lacked.
That is more for the general animation but how is the animation for the fights? Happy to say that it is also drastically improved from the first season. The characters actually have more than two or three seconds of movement in shots. This is most obviously seen in the first fight of the season between Hercules and Jack The Ripper. Jack, being the smaller fighter, is forced to use his movement ability to get around the arena and dodge Hercules and it actually looks pretty good.
However, there is one animation quirk that does need to be mentioned. Like several other Netflix-produced anime, Record of Ragnarok season two uses 3D animation to supplement some of the more movement-heavy scenes in the show, more so in the first fight of the season. It wasn’t actually used in the second fight but if it is, it was not noticeable at all.
While 3D animation does get a bad rap and it is very obvious and jarring when they use it in Record of Ragnarok season 2, this is still better than the mostly still images of the first season.
Overall the animation in this new season is pretty good and a massive improvement to whatever you can call what we got in the first season.
Characters
Now finally we are covering the characters and their development in this new season. Overall the focus is a bit tighter in this new season, partially because there are fewer fights and also because, with this being the second season, there is less need for introducing so many characters.
The four fighters in this new season or given much more depth than they were in the first, probably because there is more time for them and it really makes you emotionally connected to them. It’s safe to say that in the fights for Record of Ragnarok season 2 you aren’t actually sure who you want to win, as opposed to the last season where you were clearly pulling for all the human champions.
Keep in mind that we are supposed to cheer for humanity because if they lose we all die but both the fighters for the god’s side are relatable and very likeable.
We also get more scenes with Brunhilde and Goll and we get to see the emotional toll that these fights are having on them. Remember that to have a chance against the gods, each human fighter fuses with a Valkyrie, which Brunhilde and Goll are, and if the human loses and dies, that means the valkyrie dies too. Meaning that not only is humanity on the line, the lives of Brunhilde and Goll’s sisters are too. This trauma is shown to us and it is handled pretty well.
Conclusion
Overall Record of Ragnarok season 2 is a massive improvement on the first in pretty much every way, especially when it comes to the animation. Honestly, if you haven’t seen the first season it’s worth skipping, watching some breakdown of it and then watching this new season. If you are a fan of the manga, you might still be let down to a degree, but this is way less of a disappointment than the first season. If you somehow managed to like the first season then this will probably be mind blowing to you as the characters actually have a level of movement.
Now that you’re caught up to Record of Ragnarok season 2, why not check out some of our other reviews for other big anime like Re:Zero?
