Ragnarok free Reviews 2021: Season 1 Review | reviewzippers !

 Ragnarok Reviews 2021: Season 1 Review?

Netflix's Record Of Ragnarok free Reviews has had a bumpy start, rife with controversy but buoyed by fun moments. What worked, what didn't and what will come next?

This review contains some spoilers for season 1 of Record Of Ragnarok

Netflix has a mixed track record for its original anime, and its new offering Record Of Ragnarok free Reviews is no exception. Adapted from the hit manga, the series is a fascinating mess, full of bizarre choices, controversy, and some very fun moments.

Record Of Ragnarok free Reviews is a fantasy action anime, based on the manga of the same name, which centers around a series of battles to the death between thirteen of history's greatest human beings and thirteen mighty deities of various pantheons. The anime is for better and for worse, a full series length exploration of one of the most time honored aspects of action anime; the tournament arc.

PLOT AND STORY

Season one left things on a huge cliffhanger and thankfully the second series picks things up exactly where we left them. Ragnarok free Reviews I found the first series to be such a surprise hit by creating a fresh new take on Norse Mythology and I’m pleased that this developed so much more during the second series.

I like how this series educates the audience through captions or lessons from a teacher at school regarding who the Norse gods were and why they battled giants. Ragnarok free Reviews The story cleverly finds a way of telling you ‘this person is portraying Loki’s powers’ without actually saying it.

Through this clever writing and delivery the second series steps up the lore and brings not only Thor and Loki to the forefront of the series but other gods like Odin, Freya and Tyr. 

I find the way this whole show is told through the lives of teenagers to be unique and is largely why a modern, young audience will really enjoy Ragnarok. Shows like Vikings and Norsemen explore the more vulgar and violent history while Ragnarok free Reviews explores the more political aspects in a modern world while respecting the history of Viking culture.

PRODUCTION AND DIRECTION 

Much like with season 1 the show continues to shoot entirely on location in a Norwegian town using natural light, real buildings and stunning scenery. All of this contributes to the overall realistic feeling to the show and helps craft it’s own, incomparable identity. 

Not quite what I would call this a slow burn but the series moves at a steady pace while never quite running away with itself. I do feel some episodes would have benefited with a little shove to get them going but overall the consistent pace of the show makes this an enjoyable viewing with plenty of suspense, drama and snippets of action.

   

I’m not convinced some of the sub plots were required and perhaps could have dropped a few side characters to give more time to focus on the main characters as there is a lot of story to try and pack into six episodes. The six episode structure worked very well during season one but I feel this could have been pushed out to 8 episodes to complete the full journey for certain characters. 

A fight to the death

If you liked the more brutal and sinister elements of the story in season 1, you’re in luck. Ragnarok season 2 does get quite dark and includes several deaths. Of course, Isolde also died at the beginning of season 1, so it’s not like death is new to the series.

Especially Magne (the new Thor-in-the-making) struggles a lot with realizing that this is truly about life or death. There is no yielding or compromise. You either kill or be killed. Just like in season 1, Magne (David Stakston) is the gentle giant who just wants to do good. Okay, he isn’t an actual giant, but he certainly has bulked up for season 2.

There’s a whole scene about him realizing this.

Also, we get to see a lot more of his little brother Lauritz (played with perfect sass by Jonas Strand Gravli). He plays with both gender and sexuality, and their mother, Turid, consistently reacts wonderfully. Well, there are comments about Lauritz eating a lot (which he does) and she isn’t crazy about the pet he gets. Still, she listens to his reasons and they accept and love one another.

Turid is portrayed with perfect comedic timing by Henriette Steenstrup (Lilyhammer) who is the beating heart of this Netflix series.

Thor: Ragnarok is about our fathers, our leaders, and the flaws they can’t correct

Ragnarok’s writing team of Eric Pearson, Craig Kyle, and Christopher Yost has built a film that beautifully captures the shock and awe that exist on the last page of a comic book, the jarring surprise that changes the entire game. Their story picks up where we last saw Thor — zipping between dimensions, trying to make sense of his weird visions (remember that really strange pool scene in Avengers: Age of Ultron?), and doing his part to save Asgard and the world.

                   

Those of us who’ve been keeping up with the Marvel universe will recall that Loki faked his own death in Thor: The Dark World and is, by the power of illusion, impersonating Odin (Anthony Hopkins, who gets to channel his inner Loki as he once again reprises the Odin role) on Asgard. Because Thor wants to protect Asgard, he returns there — and quickly sniffs out Loki’s charade.

Asgard is rudderless and seemingly powerless without the real Odin on the throne. And compounding matters even further is the return of Hela (Cate Blanchett), the goddess of death, who seems impossibly unstoppable and glamorous, as all the very best Marvel villains are in the first seven minutes of their introduction.

Donning a retractable headdress that resembles a set of mutant deer antlers — a feature that signals she’s ready to destroy, dismantle, and obliterate — Hela and her telekinetic obsidian knives pump with an addiction for blood.

Comic books fans should be familiar with some of Kyle and Yost’s past work; the pair not only created the Wolverine clone X-23 (a version of whom is portrayed in the movie Logan) for the animated X-Men Evolution television series but also teamed up to write a run on the X-Force comic book, in which X-Men leader Cyclops forms a secret black-ops X-Men team of killers and trackers.

And while Yost and Kyle’s prior projects might seem a bit disparate compared to Ragnarok, they seem to be fascinated by the idea of how every civilization’s history is full of great men who’ve kept everyone safe, but not without consequences — the idea that the security our fathers and our fathers’ fathers have afforded us has come, like Cyclops sending in a death squad, at someone else’s expense.

What if our respected leaders are reviled by others? What if the uniforms that demand our reverence or the crowns our rulers wear function more as costumes than as important symbols of a noble past? What kind of Faustian deals have these men made, and what kind of secrets do they have?

What happens when it’s time to pay up for past sins?

Odin, from what we know of him in the first two Thor movies, certainly has secrets. But in Ragnarok, Yost, Kyle, and Pearson reveal what is perhaps Odin’s most foolish betrayal by omission — and it’s somehow completely understandable given the circumstances. But that doesn’t stop the reckoning from coming in the form of a bloodthirsty Hela.

It’s no shock to Thor to learn that his father has been withholding information about the past, because Odin keeping secrets is like Loki (Tom Hiddleston) betraying Thor at the last minute. It’s essentially a given, like clockwork. At some point, Thor, just like the rest of us, was going to have to accept that his relatives are inevitably the way they are, and always will be. Not that it makes the realization hurt any less.

FINAL THOUGHTS

Season one was a complete surprise to me back in 2020 and I have been eagerly anticipating the COVID-19 delayed season two. While the awe and magic of season one is still present here, season two didn’t quite have the same impact. That being said I still found the second season to be great fun and entertaining with a much better fleshed out story but the slow pace in some episodes lost some of the momentum. I absolutely hope there will be a third season to bring this story to a deserving conclusion. 

I watched this via my Netflix subscription and received no incentive to review this series. All images and artwork are courtesy of Netflix and their respective owners.