History Manga / RecordOfRagnarok

* DeconReconSwitch: Of KillTheGod storylines. [[spoiler:Two absolute powerhouses, Lu Bu and Adam, are the first representatives of humanity in Ragnarök and would easily fit into a standard RageAgainstTheHeavens series. However, even with the support of Valkyries bolstering their formidable natural powers, they end up losing regardless. The simple reason why is that the gods are just that, '''gods''', and humans cannot match them in the long run; Ragnarök seems poised to end in Humanity's loss so most of the gods simply treat the whole thing as a harmless spectacle. However, Sasaki Kojiro is able to successfully defeat Poseidon in the third round, scoring a win for humanity by playing it cautiously, analyzing different scenarios of defeat until he found the ones that led him to victory. And afterwards, Jack the Ripper uses misdirection and trickery to win his own round, scoring another win for mankind. From there on out, there is emphasis placed on the skills, intelligence and techniques of the Human combatants, so it turns out the key to defeating the gods isn't to fight harder, it's to fight ''smarter''.]]

* DeconReconSwitch: Of KillTheGod storylines. [[spoiler:Two absolute powerhouses, Lu Bu and Adam, are the first representatives of humanity in Ragnarök, yet even with the support of Valkyries bolstering their formidable natural powers, they end up losing regardless. The simple reason why is that the gods are just that; '''gods''', and humans naturally have no way of truly outmuscling them, so Ragnarök seems poised to end in their loss; most of the gods simply treat the whole thing as a harmless spectacle. The reconstruction starts however when Sasaki Kojiro successfully cuts down his opponent, scoring a win for humanity, using the best gift humans are known for; their wits and cunning, as he himself visualized potential routes until he found the one which could take him to victory. And afterwards, Jack the Ripper uses misdirection and trickery to win his own round, scoring another win for mankind. From there on out, there is emphasis placed on the skills, intelligence and techniques of the Human combatants, so it turns out the key to defeating the gods isn't to fight harder, it's to fight ''smarter''.]]
%%zce* DefeatAsBackstory: Sasaki Kojiro's entire life when he was alive.

* ArtShift: Every so often, the art style will change to depict the characters in a way more fitting to their era and home of origin, [[https://manga4life.com/read-online/Shuumatsu-No-Valkyrie-chapter-18-page-31.html first seen]] during Sasaki Kojiro's fight where a flashback to his infamous duel against Miyamoto Musashi is briefly drawn more like a set of ''ukiyo-e'' art pieces.

The end is nigh for humanity. The gods have called together their convention, and at last, decided that humanity must be eradicated. Yet, there is one last hope: the ultimate battle between mankind and the gods themselves, Ragnarok. Set forth by the Valkyrie Brunhilde, the tournament for the fate of all of humanity begins.

!!''Record of Ragnarok'' provides examples of:

* ThirteenIsUnlucky: ''13'' Champions, ''13'' Gods, and ''13'' Valkyries. Anyone dying in Ragnarok will cease to exist.

** In the Japanese side, Creator/MiyukiSawashiro (Brunhilde, a valkyrie) previously voiced ''Valkyrie'' in ''Film/ThorRagnarok'' onwards. This is a especially relevant, as the MCU Valkyrie's real name is also ''Brunhilde''. Likewise, this is not the first time Sawashiro has voiced someone related with valkyries [[VideoGame/OdinSphere before]].
** In the Latin American side, Thor's voice actor, Andrés Gutiérrez Coto, dubbed his [[ComicBook/TheMightyThor super hero equivalent]] as well in the franchise.

* AdaptationInducedPlotHole: The anime shows [[spoiler: Poseidon's trident disappearing along with his corpse to Niflhel after he gets killed by Kojiro Sasaki.]] However, this contradicts a later event from the manga in which [[spoiler: Poseidon's servant Proteus gives the remains of the trident (that in the manga don't disappear) to Hades before his fight in Ragnarok begins so he can avenge Poseidon using something that belonged to him, with Hades fusing it with his bident to make his revenge more meaningful.]]

* DarkestHour: In the third round of Ragnarök, Kojiro's sword is shattered by Poseidon. Since he has no means of harming the god, everyone believes it's over for him. Humanity seems poised to [[spoiler:lose 3 times in a row]]. [[spoiler:Until Kojiro's resolve reforms the broken sword into twin swords.]]

** During the middle part of the opening, the Einherjar who fights in the episode appears along with his valkyrie fighting against the god he must face. The sequence changes depending of the contestants of each round, featuring Lü Bu and Randgriz vs Thor (episodes 1-4), Adam and Reginleif vs Zeus (episodes 5-8), and Kojiro and Hrist vs Poseidon (episodes 9-12).

* BloodKnight: From the very first match, where Lu Bu let himself get hanged so that he could escape the boredom of having not a single worthy foe before returning for the tournament, and Thor came to respect his adversary for giving him the first true battle of his life, it was made clear that this whole series was going to be a series of battles between people whose greatest passion is combat. It's almost easier to count the combatants in the series who ''don't'' either live for the joy of fighting or use battle as a means of expressing themselves or coming to an understanding. (For the record, Poseidon, who's such a miserable prick he doesn't like ''anything'', the Buddha and [[spoiler: Zerofuku]], whose battle is more of a personal grudge match, and Adam, who's just [[PapaBear defending his family]] without being too worked up about it.)

* {{Bookends}}: Before Sasaki passes to the afterlife, he is killed by a cross-slash from Musashi. [[spoiler: Fittingly he ends the fight against Poseidon with a cross-slash of his own.]]

** Sasaki Kojiro. [[TheDitz The ditz]] as mentioned below and portrayed both in present and past as a warrior with a seemingly total lack of will for victory turns out to be the one considered humanity's greatest swordsman. [[spoiler: Hell, he's even the one who pulls of mankind's first victory.]]

* DeagedInDeath: Inverted for Sasaki Kojiro who, despite dying as a young adult, has the appearance of CoolOldGuy when fighting in Ragnarok. This is because the souls of the combatants take the form they had at their golden age, and since Kojiro is always improving himself, his peak should have happened years after his death.
* DeaderThanDead: The ultimate fate of any losing combatant in Ragnarok. For humans, this is due to already being dead to begin with, while the gods simply have no known afterlife. So far, [[spoiler:Lu Bu, Adam, Poseidon, Heracles, Raiden Tameemon, Bishamonten/Zerofuku/Hajun, Hades, Nikola Tesla and Leonidas]] have suffered this fate.

* DeconReconSwitch: Of KillTheGod storylines. [[spoiler:Two absolute powerhouses, Lu Bu and Adam, are the first representatives of humanity in Ragnarok, yet even with the support of Valkyries bolstering their formiddable natural powers, they end up losing regardless. The simple reason why is that the gods are just that; '''gods''', and humans naturally have no way of truly outmuscling them, so Ragnarok seems poised to end in their loss; most of the gods simply treat the whole thing as a harmless spectacle. The reconstruction starts however when Sasaki Kojiro successfully cuts down his opponent, scoring a win for humanity, using the best gift humans are known for; their wits and cunning, as he himself visulaized potential routes until he found the one which could take him to victory. And afterwards, Jack the Ripper uses misdirection and trickery to win his own round, scoring another win for mankind. From there on out, there is emphasis placed on the skills, intelligence and techniques of the Human combatants, so it turns out the key to defeating the gods isn't to fight harder, it's to fight ''smarter''.]]

** Fourth found: [[spoiler:Actually subverted as after Heracles is impaled by [[ItMakesSenseInContext Jack's blood]], he simply opt to hug him instead of attacking. However, in a way, it plays straight on the fact the Heracles didn't give into fear like Jack wanted]].
** Fifth round: [[spoiler:Subverted once again. After Raiden's arm is blasted away, he simply stands and accept defeat, waiting for Shiva to finish him off]].
** Sixth round: [[spoiler:Hajun tries to sucker punch Buddha even as he's dying. However, he dies before he could hit him]].

* IntimidationDemonstration: Pretty much almost every combatant's entrance, but the one who took the cake was Sasaki Kojiro who stilled the turbulent waves of the ocean with a single move of unsheathing his Nodachi in front of ''the god of the sea'', and completely cementing him as ''THE'' MasterSwordsman.

** After [[spoiler:taking Shiva's ''Devaloka'', Raiden realizes he has lost]] and asks his valkyrie to cancel the Volund so she can survive. [[spoiler:Unfortunately, she refuses, and they both die together.]]

--> '''Heimdall''': Seriously? Why does every human has to be a total ham about it? Challenge accepted!

* TheMagicTouch: This is the trick to [[spoiler:Jack The Ripper's real Volund, a HighClassGlove where everything it touches becomes a divine weapon.]]

* OurDemonsAreDifferent: The other more notable species in the story after the gods and humans are the demons. They're unearthly, chaotic, evil beings who inhabit in the third realm of the world of the manga, Helheim (that comprises the Underworld and Hell of every known mythology), and have also waged brutal wars with Valhalla (the god realm) in some instances. The first member of them to appear is a rather unimpressive lust demon known as Incubus, who is quickly killed by Thor when he was molesting Brunhilde after Ragnarok was decided, but their true power is truly shown when [[spoiler:a more stronger and destructive demon called Hajun (who destroyed half of Helheim in the past) appears in the 6th Round of Ragnarok after being revived by Beelzebub using the body of Zerofuku as a vessel, unexpectedly taking Zero's position as fighter of the gods for the remaining of the round.]]

** The Gods representing the Heavens are the Warriors; participating in Ragnarok to them is a source of fun and enjoyment, and later, as they start taking losses, a means to redeem their wounded pride.

* SparedByAdaptation: Unlike in the manga, Zeus doesn't kills his pet dragon due his excitement at starting Ragnarok in the anime, just limiting himself to excitedly approve the tournament.

** [[spoiler: Tesla may have had a powerful suit and weapons only he could employ, but he was a scientist in life, not a warrior. Against the more experienced and battle-honed Beelzebub, he ends up losing.]]

* ArtisticLicenseHistory: Human ''history'' is stated to lasted ''7 million years'' in the work by present day. This is an exaggeration. The start of the "Old Stone Age" was dated to be around 2.5 million years ago[[note]]With anatomically correct humans only coming into existence 300,000 years ago[[/note]] at most while the Bronze Age was around 5000 years ago, in which the latter is defined as "early human history". The closest to the figure stated would be the formation of the ''homo sapien'' genus itself, which took place around 6-7 million years ago.

* AdaptationalHeroism: In the Biblical myths, Eve was convinced by the Serpent to eat an apple from the Tree of Knowledge and did so of her own volition. Here, she was actually ''framed'' by the Serpent in an act of spite after he tried and failed to force himself onto her. Similarly, Adam was convinced to eat the apple by Eve in the Bible, but here, he does it voluntarily as an act of bold defiance to the gods.

* AdaptationalHeroism: In the biblical myths, Eve was convinced by the Serpent to eat an apple from the Tree of Knowledge and did so of her own volition. Here, she was actually ''framed'' by the Serpent in an act of spite after he tried and failed to force himself onto her. Similarly, Adam was convinced to eat the apple by Eve in the bible, but here, he does it voluntarily as an act of bold defiance to the gods.

** Round Nine: [[spoiler:Apollo's ''Argurotkuns'' where he shot himself out of a massive bowstring constructed by the ''[[HumongousMecha Moonlight of Artemis]]'' and, after encasing his right arm in an arrow-like gauntlet, threw an almighty punch enhanced by the force of the shot that broke through Leonidas' shield and punched a hole in his torso.]]

** Zerofuku’s attempts at making humans happy basically amounts to taking away all the bad misfortunes happening to humans of the land and leaving only good fortune. Unsurprisingly, this wealth of good fortune turned the land into a den of depravity where the humans indulged in worldly vices and were in fact more miserable than they were before.

* ForWantOfANail: As noted by the Narrator in Adam and Zeus's fight. Even the tiniest thing could have gigantic after effects. The fight itself is ultimately decided when [[spoiler:some blood gets into Adam's eye, blinding him and letting Zeus get the opening he needed to achieve victory.]]

* BloodKnight: From the very first match, where Lu Bu let himself get hanged so that he can escape the boredom of having not a single worthy foe before returning for the tournament, and Thor came to respect his adversary for giving him the first true battle of his life, it was made clear that this whole series was going to be a series of battles between people whose greatest passion is combat. It's almost easier to count the combatants in the series who ''don't'' either live for the joy of fighting or use battle as a means of expressing themselves or coming to an understanding. (For the record, Poseidon, who's such a miserable prick he doesn't like ''anything'', the Buddha and [[spoiler: Zerofuku]], whose battle is more of a personal grudge match, and Adam, who's just [[PapaBear defending his family]] without being too worked up about it.)

* DeaderThanDead: The ultimate fate of any losing combatant in Ragnarok. For humans, this is due to already being dead to begin with, while the gods simply have no known afterlife. So far, [[spoiler:Lu Bu, Adam, Poseidon, Heracles, Raiden Tameemon, Bishamonten/Zerofuku/Hajun, Hades, and Nikola Tesla]] have suffered this fate.

** Eighth round: [[spoiler:A variant. Rather than attacking Beelzebub after being impaled, Tesla [[RousingSpeech addresses Humanity]] and encourages them to continue progressing, firmly believing that they can avert their extinction by doing so and explicitly defying the will of the gods despite his loss.]]

** [[spoiler:Heracles, Raiden, Hades and Nikola are the ones who are (visibly) shown to accept defeat but probably all the others who died are of the same caliber but only kept going because DefiantToTheEnd]]. [[spoiler:Except Poseidon. Before dying he insults Kojiro]].

In September 2019, a spin-off centered on UsefulNotes/LuBu's past life was released, with the name of ''Shuumatsu no Valkyrie - The Legend of Lu Bu "The Flying General"'', written by the same authors but with a different artist (Takeo Ono). It published its first volume on the 20th of April 2020. An anime, produced by Creator/{{Graphinica}}, was announced with the release of the 9th volume. The anime adaptation was released on Netflix, on the 17th of June of 2021. A second season was announced on the 18th of August of 2021, slated to air in 2023, with Graphinica's sister studio [[Creator/{{TYO}} Yumeta Company]] assisting with animation duties. In October 2022, a spin-off centered on UsefulNotes/JackTheRipper's past life was released, called ''Shūmatsu no Valkyrie - Jack the Ripper Case Files'', written by the same authors but with a different artist (Keita Iizuka).

Written by authors Fukui Takumi and Shinya Umemura, and with the art done by Aji Chika, the manga began publication on November 25, 2017, under the title of ''Shuumatsu no Walküre'' in ''Monthly Comic Zenon''.

In September 2019, a spin-off centered on UsefulNotes/LuBu's past life was released, with the name of ''Shuumatsu no Valkyrie - The Legend of Lu Bu "The Flying General"'', written by the same authors but with a different artist (Takeo Ono). It published its first volume on the 20th of April 2020. An anime, produced by Creator/{{Graphinica}}, was announced with the release of the 9th volume. The anime adaptation was released on Netflix, on the 17th of June of 2021. A second season was announced on the 18th of August of 2021, slated to air in 2023, with Graphinica's sister studio [[Creator/{{TYO}} Yumeta Company]] assisting with animation duties. In October 2022, a spin-off centered on UsefulNotes/JackTheRipper's past life was released, called ''Shuumatsu no Valkyrie - Jack the Ripper Case Files'', written by the same authors but with a different artist (Keita Iizuka).

* BloodKnight: From the very first match, where Lu Bu let himself get hanged so that he can escape the boredom of having not a single worthy foe before returning for the tournament, and Thor came to respect his adversary for giving him the first true battle of his life, it was made clear that this whole series was going to be a series of battles between people whose greatest passion is combat. It's almost easier to count the combatants in the series who ''don't'' either live for the joy of fighting or use battle as a means of expressing themselves or coming to an understanding. (For the record, Poseidon, who's such a miserable prick he doesn't like ''anything'', the Buddha and [[spoiler: Zerofuku]], whose battle is more of a personal grudge match, and Adam, who's just [[PapaBear defending his family]] without being too worked up about it, are about the only two so far.)

* BloodKnight: From the very first match, where Lu Bu let himself get hanged so that he can escape the boredom of having not a single worthy foe before returning for the tournament, and Thor came to respect his adversary for giving him the first true battle of his life, it was made clear that this whole series was going to be a series of battles between people whose greatest passion is combat. It's almost easier to count the combatants in the series who ''don't'' either live for the joy of fighting or use battle as a means of expressing themselves or coming to an understanding. (For the record, Poseidon, who's such a miserable prick he doesn't like ''anything'', and Adam, who's just [[PapaBear defending his family]] without being too worked up about it, are about the only two so far.)

* BloodKnight: From the very first match, where Lu Bu let himself get hanged so that he can escape the boredom of having not a single worthy foe before returning for the tournament, and Thor came to respect his adversary for giving him the first true battle of his life, it was made clear that this whole series was going to be a series of battles between people whose passion is battle. It's almost easier to count the combatants in the series who ''don't'' either live for the joy of fighting or use battle as a means of expressing themselves or coming to an understanding. (For the record, Poseidon, who's such a miserable prick he doesn't like ''anything'', and Adam, who's just [[PapaBear defending his family]] without being too worked up about it, are about the only two so far.)

* BloodKnight: From the very first match, where Lu Bu let himself get hanged so that he can escape the boredom of having not a single worthy foe before returning for the tournament, and Thor came to respect his adversary for giving him the first true battle of his life, it was made clear that this whole series was going to be a series of battles between people who live to fight. It's almost easier to count the combatants in the series who ''don't'' either live for the joy of fighting or use battle as a means of expressing themselves or coming to an understanding. (It's pretty much just Poseidon, who's such a miserable prick he doesn't like ''anything'', and Adam, who's just [[PapaBear defending his family]] without being too worked up about it.)

* BloodKnight: Thor, Zeus, and Lu Bu, with the latter, even simply letting himself get hanged so that he can escape the boredom of having not a single worthy foe. Hell, this applies to most of the combatants in the series who either enjoying fighting outright or are perfectly fine using a battle as a means of expressing themselves or coming to an understanding.

* {{Bishonen}}: For the father of all mankind, Adam sure looks a lot like a teen idol. Of course, he's still absolutely shredded, though he's more toned than bulging with muscle.

* RatedMForManly: Back-to-back brutal death fights? Check. The strongest both above and under the heavens? Check. Compelling backstories and intense action? Check.