The best way I can explain Ragna Crimson is that it’s metal as hell. This world is dark and brutal as hell and the show does a good job of showing how no one in this story is safe. Death is always lurking around the corner and due to the strength gap between dragons and humans, human life feels so fragile and fleeting. The author doesn’t shy away from killing off characters either. It’s gritty, dark and at times seemingly hopeless. That is, until we get to Ragna’s power up. One of the coolest things about the story is how Ragna’s future self and his present self interact and share knowledge and power. I don’t think I’ve ever seen anything like this before. Yea, we’ve had isekai and reincarnation stories where people bring knowledge from previous lives, but never one quite like this.
An integral part of the story is the relationship between Ragna and Crimson which I loved. They’re polar opposites, but their shared goal of wiping out the dragons unites them and their abilities complement each other so well. The banter, slice of life moments and planning with them is so fun and they gradually influence each other as well. It really feels like a buddy cop dynamic with the good cop and the bad cop. While both are motivated by mutual desire for revenge, the story doesn’t get too edgy which is a testament to good writing. A lot of times stories like this end up being an edgelord’s fantasy.
The abilities of each character in the story are so well thought out and useful in their own way. Definitely one of the more unique power systems I’ve seen. Whether it’s the Argentum corps or the dragons themselves, there’s a wide variety of power ups making the fights interesting. Ragna’s abilities in particular are unique since they involve silverine, to which dragons are weak. Can’t express how much fun I had seeing him wipe the smirk off the dragons’ face. After years of dominating humans and doing whatever they want, finally someone is able to stand up to them and give them a taste of their own medicine.
That leads me into the one big problem I had with this show. The story, worldbuilding, characters and everything else are solid. But God, the production values are really bad in this, which is such a shame. There’s so many interesting fights in the show that just didn’t hit as well as they should’ve because they look like power point slides. I mean it even got to the point where the mangaka had to take to twitter to tweet out what he intended for the fight to look like, so that people don’t judge him for how bad it looks in the anime. I know animation is such a taxing profession and I’m sure they did the best with what they could, but this staff needed more time or better leadership because after the first couple of episodes things were rough. The character designs were solid, though. Some might point to the pacing as another issue, personally I didn’t mind it too much as cliffhangers keep me looking forward to the next episode, so I’ll never complain too much about those.
I was hooked from the very first episode of Ragna Crimson and maintain that it’s one of the most underrated shows of 2023. Production issues aside, the story is well written, characters are fun and even with the bad animation fights still manage to be hype. As much as I’d love a second season of this, I doubt we’ll get it. Onto the manga it is.
Ragna Crimson gets a 9, out of 10.
