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sarisasenshi's Ragnarok the Animation Tv Review

Ragnarok the Animation

Ragnarok the Animation tv Review

Story & Characters

The story of Ragnarok the Animation entails the adventures of Yuufa, an Acolyte, and Roan, a swordsman, as they set out across the Rune-Midgard Kingdom. Having emotionally recovered from the death of her older brother Keogh during a crucial mission in Glast Heim, Yuufa and Roan set out on a new journey that will open them up to many mysteries and even more dangerous situations. Along the way, they are joined by a merchant named Maaya, the magician Takius, the hunter Judia, and their old companion, the assassin Iruga. Iruga was Keogh's childhood friend, and had saved from Yuufa and Roan from the terrible dangers of Glast Heim.

As the story unravels, the personalities of each character developes to a point where you are able to learn more about their lives, personal strengths and weaknesses. You get the chance to learn about each character individually, and how they become who they are today. Also, you start to get involved in a bigger mystery, as the conditions of the Rune-Midgard Kingdom suddenly take a turn for the worst, and an unexpected figure makes his appearance among the most devious of enemies. As the world begins to become wrapped up in a struggle between good and evil, Yuufa and Roan soon find themselves in the midst of the chaos.

Will the heroes be able to overcome their own weaknesses in time to save the world from a terrible fate? Well, you'll just have to wait and see.

Rating: 7

Art

The animation style of Ragnarok the Animation is fairly basic, but definitely up to snuff. in this reviewer's opinion.

While the characters in the series stay true to the designs of the classic MMORPG down to the letter, they still retain the lack of realism that comes with the majority of series within the anime genre. This is not necessarily such a bad thing, as the designs seem very fitting of the Rune-Midgard Kingdom. It allows enough detail to be given to the characters to make enough of an eyecatch, but not enough to distract the viewer of the storyline. Also, it can be a great indication of a given character's mood, personality or motives in a flash. I think the style chosen for this series achieves this kind of objective very well in my experience.

While Ragnarok the Animation lacks some of the fancier, CG-ed stylings of some of the more recently famous anime series, it can still catch your eye with stunning painted backgrounds and some of the finer attention paid to even the smallest details. If you are a former or even a current player of the MMORPG version of Ragnarok, then you will feel very much at home with all that you see. Otherwise, I do think that the art style of the series does show much promise to those who have never played the game before.

Rating: 7

Sound

Personally, I really enjoyed hearing some of the audio tracks featured throughout the series. But because of memory or a slow start, there is much that I am not able to remember in terms of music during the first half of the series. My only explanation for that is that I might have not been able to find a lot of the music that was featured during the first half very interesting, except during moments of action-intense battle when the mood intensified the music and some elegence was added with the sound of a flute playing.

Later on, I really began to take notice of the music as the drama within the series began to intensify. For me, there was never a dull moment. I found the music that was played throughout the remainder of the series highly appropriate, as well as very original. Though some of the tracks were reused for battle scenes, many others had come into play to keep the overall soundtrack fresh and appealing. It was one of the first times that I have ever heard such a unique combination of instruments, and I still am highly considering the purchasing the soundtrack for this series one day. Now, if only the opening theme didn't have to ruin a bit of the dramatic tension in the later episodes of the series a bit....

Rating: 8

Presentation

As a veteran of the Ragnarok Online beta-testing period, I was instantly drawn to this series through my love for the game. While the series wasn't what I expected, as I was hoping that it would be based on Mugin-Lee's Ragnarok manwha, I was still pleased with what I had to see. The series contained some pretty original bits of humor, as you witness poor Roan playing the part of a packmule to Yuufa in the first half of the series. Others included flirts with danger in all the wrong places to seeing some of your favorite characters such as Iruga getting dragged into crossdressing for a costume party. Most of the humor is still admittedly cliche in some parts, but the rest is fairly unique and really circumstancial.

The thing that I really liked the most, in fact, was how realistic the situations Roan and his friends got to be in. When characters got injured physically or emotionally, they wouldn't feel it for just one episode; no, they would feel it for a few episodes, depending. Events reflect on the characters, just as they would in real life. This is an element I feel many of the best anime series are lacking, and Ragnarok the Animation really hits the mark to the point of seeming really dark to most viewers. So, if you are looking for a happy, fluffy adventure into the world of Ragnarok Online, then this series is not for you. But if you are looking for a true-to-life tale involving some unique characters taken from that world, complete with emoticons and the whole class shpiel, then be my guest.

Rating: 7

Final Verdict

7.1667 (above average)

Reviewed by sarisasenshi, May 08, 2006

Comments

  1. Kidder May 09, 2006

    I think this is one of those shows where you HAVE to have played the game to really enjoy the anime (like the .hack series of animes). I haven't played the game before, and generally don't enjoy RPG's so I got bored of this anime very quickly. Animation and character designs were decent, as in nothing bad or good really stuck out. Story was fairly interesting, although it did take a while to develop. Ragnorak: the Animation didn't leave a lasting impression on me and I doubt I'll ever consider watching it again.

    One of the things I found with Ragnorak:the Animation was that at times the story seemed to be going in circles, much like in .hack//SIGN although not as bad. I guess MMORPG players can relate to things that happen to the characters in the anime, so MMORPG fans will probably like this anime. More action-packed than .hack//SIGN and certainly less boring, some non-gamers might enjoy this, but otherwise I suggest that most non-gamers avoid this show.

  2. Clarryn May 15, 2006

    First of all no offence but this review is not tat interesting. I'm a RO player too for abt 4 yrs and I really had been been totally drawn to it for like 3 yrs and now i'm not tat addicted.

    I've watch this animation till the ending and it disappointed me as a RO player because everything is like a disaster and they didnt introduce any new skills at all and it's only tat few basic skills of each profession. And the places only involve Prontera, Morroc, Ant Hell, Geffen, Geffen Dungeon, Aldebaran, Alberta, Lighthouse, Payon, Payon Dungeon and Glast Heim. Although it sounded alot but it's on the 5 cities and their dungeon and fields. The characters they didnt introduce much oso and dun mention their jobs.

    The creator of this story only focus on the five main chararcters and some of the side characters only. Whenever there's a battle in the city or in the dungeon, only that particlar party is there.

  3. buwaha May 19, 2006

    This anime seems pretty interesting when i just watched the first few ep. But it disappointed during the the event that they encounted the Golden Thief Bug.
    When this series is trying to follow what is in the game, the GTB was so easily killed, which suppose to be an MVP.
    It also dropped a card, which only has one appearance. (They can easily defeat that wizard teacher of takius easily with that card, since it shld giv immunity to magic to the user)

  4. kaze555 May 23, 2006

    i love to play ragnarok online and i enjoy the anime of ragnarok too.

  5. RaiMinakami Jun 01, 2006

    I think "Ragnarok The Animation" is best suited for those who actually played ragnarok online...

  6. BlueAngel17 Jun 23, 2006

    I agree. If you don't play it, then you don't get what's going on around there.. and i'm quite disappointed on how the story went. only the ending was quite a-ok. i wish they never made the series instead.

  7. Leosam096 Jul 09, 2006

    yeah, i think so too.

  8. Rhyme097 Sep 14, 2006

    ummm it's not as fun as i thought when i saw it for the 1st time ...

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