Record of Ragnarok Review

The premise sells itself. Humanity is condemned in a divine assembly, a valkyrie forces a stay of execution, and the result is a bracket where Lu Bu fights Thor and Jack the Ripper fights Heracles, each bout built on a stated gimmick and a long flashback explaining who the fighter was before the match. On the page it moves. Azychika's art is all wind lines and impact, and the pleasure is watching a historical figure recast as a monster.

Graphinica's adaptation is where it falls down. The first season repeatedly holds on a still frame at the instant a blow lands, pans across an illustration instead of animating it, and pads rounds with commentary from the stands. The Adam bout became the example everyone cites, and fairly. Later seasons improve visibly as the staff changes, which makes the early run feel like a production shipped before it was ready rather than one that could not do better.

The characters are why it survives. Every fighter is built with a clear grievance and a clean silhouette, the announcers do real work setting stakes, and the flashbacks land often enough to make an obvious bracket feel like it matters. This is a good comic watched through a window that keeps fogging up.