Shuumatsu no Walküre
Record of Ragnarok

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Okay, this isn't going to take too long. First of all, this is my first review, and my english isn't perfect, so sorry for that. That aside, let's get to the point:

This is just amazing. It is a pure shock of endorphins. I've never felt like that reading a manga.

Story: 5/10
Okay, this definitely isn't the main purpose after this series. If you are expecting to get into an awesome story that will change your life forever... well, just skip it.
The plot is very simple: every 1000 years the gods (from the Greek deities to de Indian ones) make a meeting where they decide if ... the human being shall continue existing or not. This time they decided that they shouldn't, so they decide to exterminate them, but one Valkyre interrupt the meeting, since due to a old law, they humans had the right to fight for their existance in the Ragnarok, a short of 1vs1 tournament between 13 gods and 13 humans. Thats the whole story, simple as that. There is also a kind of coup d'etat from the Valkyries, but nevermind that. Basic as it is, it works perfectly for the main objective of this manga: show outstanding and over-the-top fights.

Art: 10/10
What to say, this is probably the main appeal of this. Everything and everyone look so fucking gorgeous. The art is incredible, and it have some panels that will make you scream due to the emotion. Just see it by yourselves, everyone looks so badass, it's just perfect

Character: 10/10
Okay, i wasn't so sure about what score I should give, but this should be fine. Okay, to the moment only 2 and a half fights has happened, but every character is so fucking charismatic, cool and badass. It's easy. They show you a flashback about each of them, the god and the human, wich is enough to catch affectin to each of them, dunno how. Oh, and speaking abou the humans, they are not random ones, they are the strongest humans that has existed in the whole Earth's story. (spoilers incoming i guess? ) Lu Bu, a badass beast. Adam, best daddy. And Sasaki Kojiro, cool as always. The gods are super dope as well, every one of them. Dunno, all the carachters are perfect for this kind of story.

Enjoyment: 10/10
Of course, it has to be a 10. This manga has probably some of the best fights I've ever seen. Dunno if I'm overhyped, but it has been amazing. The art is awesome, the carachters are super cool and the fights are just incredible.

Overall: 9/10
This isn't a masterpiece because of its simplicity, and it's far from ending. Maybe in 3 or 4 years it become one, or a mediocre manga, we will see.

Nevertheless, to have a great time, I doubt there is a better manga. Just give it a try. Oh, and a personal tip, read it while playing some Two Steps From Hell music, it's just the best.

Honestly this manga is one of the most overhyped things for little reason. I'm pretty perplexed.

Story: 4/10. There really is none, at least none of substantial note. 99% of the 'story' is just fights after fights. The fights are very hit or miss so far, I'd say right now the series is 2-2 (good-bad), possibly 2-3 since this current fight is extremely uninteresting and plain.

The fights themselves try to balance certain themes and character moments, but the funny thing is a lot of these break down if you think about it for just a second or two, and you're just left with a ... string of nonsensical, incoherent arguments made by the characters.

For a battle royale series, moreover, the series relies a lot on gaps in logic, nonsensical power scaling and strategies that make no sense in the context of the series. There are also narrative points and set up that are just never explained at all, I will avoid spelling them out since this is spoiler free, but some of the foundational elements of the battle royale are just handwaved away.


Art: 10/10. Excellent artwork, although sometimes it's hard to tell whats going on in some panels. But seriously, the artist is incredibly talented, and is able to invoke a sense of realism to the characters.

Character: 7/10. The author tries to flesh out each individual fighter, whether god or human. The quality of these backstories range from absolutely mundane and cliche to really interesting and well done. I actually enjoyed a good amount of them, but only one character had a backstory and was personified in a way I'd consider superb. If the writing for this character was injected in all the other characters, easily a 9 or 10/10 here, but nope.

Enjoyment: 7/10. Despite the asspulls, flaws, lack of logic in the worldbuilding/overall narrative cohesion/some of the fights, I can turn my brain off for a bit and enjoy the series as a battle royale.

Overall: 6/10. A slightly above average battle royal, mainly due to the incredible artwork and some interesting fight situations. However, a ton of flaws hold it back from reaching what could be an 8/10 series.

Pros:
+ Some of the fights are pretty decent if you ignore the whole premise and just imagine they are two superhumans facing off.
+ Incredibly detailed artwork fitting for an action manga. (though I'm not a fan of character's expressions)

Cons:
- Horrible writing in terms of the story, character backgrounds and character dialogue.
- Awful representation of gods/demi gods from various Mythos and real historical figures.
- Pathetic abilities given to the so called gods in the series, not even having powers related to their domain.
- Fight scenes constantly interrupted by character's narrating their poorly written backstories (Buddha for example) or the crowd piping in throughout the fights.

Overall score: ... 2/10