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[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/volume_01.png]]
[[caption-width-right:350: Cover for the first volume. Lu Bu (left) and Thor (right).]]
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.
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 of 2019, a spin-off centered in 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 of 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 the 18th of August of 2021, slated to air in 2023, with Graphinica's sister studio [[Creator/{{TYO}} Yumeta Company]] assisting on animation duties.
Compare to ''Manga/KenganAshura'' in the tournament-style and long, drawn-out battles. Also, compare to ''Manga/BakiTheGrappler'' in the brutality of its combat.
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!! This Manga contains examples of:
* TwoDVisualsThreeDEffects: The fight between Heracles and Jack the Ripper in the anime alternates between both 2D and 3D mediums, which is made obvious when Heracles' hair [[NoFlowInCGI remains as stiff as a brick]] when he turns 3D.
* HundredPercentAdorationRating:
** Adam, Adam, Adam. All humans fighters will obviously receive support from humanity, but Adam takes the cake. Just being the Father of all mankind already guarantees him to have filial love from his "children" regardless of races, ages, classes, good or evil; but he also backs it up by loving them in return which only makes humans adore him even more. It gets to the point that [[spoiler: all humans would rather have him lose but survive than win but lose his life in the process. Unfortunately, Adam chooses the second option.]]
** While the likes of Zeus and Poseidon are the most revered among the gods, Heracles is the most loved. Even the majority of humanity can't find any reason to dislike him despite the fact that he's their enemy. [[spoiler: His death at Jack the Ripper's hands is seen as a tragedy by both the gods and humanity. Even [[TokenEvilTeammate Jack himself]] seems saddened by his death]].
* ThirteenIsUnlucky: ''13'' Champions, ''13'' Gods, and ''13'' Valkyries. Anyone dying in Ragnarok will cease to exist.
* ActorAllusion: Both involves the Japanese and Latin American Spanish dubs and both also involves the ''Franchise/MarvelCinematicUniverse'':
** 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.
** In a non-MCU example, in the Latin American Spanish dub, Creator/MariaFernandaMorales (Brunhilde) voiced [[Manga/SaintSeiya Saori Kido, a girl with divine powers bent on protecting humanity]]. The same goes for Pedro D'Aguillon Jr. (Zeus), who voiced Mitsumasa Kido in both ''Anime/SaintSeiyaLegendOfSanctuary'' and ''Anime/SaintSeiyaKnightsOfTheZodiac'', plus some saints in the original series, and also Creator/JoseGilbertoVilchis (Ares), who voiced both Andromeda Shun and Hades, plus also voicing Disney's ''WesternAnimation/{{Hercules}}'' in the TV series and his {{Expy}} Storkules in ''WesternAnimation/DuckTales2017'', not to mention Loki in the MCU as well.
** Also, from the Latin American dub, Creator/HumbertoSolorzano (Odin) already voiced gods before, especially in ''WesternAnimation/OnyxEquinox'' as Quetzalcoatl and Hades in Disney's ''WesternAnimation/{{Hercules}}'' in the TV series.
* 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.
* 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.]]
* AdaptationSpeciesChange: Heracles, ''the'' demigod, [[spoiler: was actually born as a fragile human boy in this version of his story and only ascended to demi-godhood by drinking the blood of Zeus.]]
* AdaptationalVillainy: It goes largely without saying, but pretty much every God. [[JerkAssGods Some less so than others]] but in almost any mythology you’d care to name humanity survives solely by the patronage and protection of at least a few gods. Here, the whole lot of them are trying to end it.
* AgeLift: Several of the Einherjar, but also a number of spectators, all of whom were presumably quite old when they died. One that stands out is Miyamoto Iori, who is portrayed as a young boy when he was actually in his sixties at the time of his death. The fighters at least have the excuse of being returned to their physical prime, but the spectators have no such excuse.
%%Belongs in CrossoverCosmology* AllMythsAreTrue
* AllYourPowersCombined: [[spoiler: Kojiro manages to accumulate the experience of his fights while he was still living and hone them in the afterlife. As such, he's managed to incorporate all the techniques of the swordsmen he's faced into his own unique style.]]
* AntiHero: Jack the Ripper. The number of people who appreciates having him as one of humanity's champions can be counted on a blind carpenter's hand.
* AntiVillain: Heracles, oh so much. He may be fighting for the gods, but he thinks incredibly highly of humanity. He also outright tells Loki that he is firmly against exterminating humanity and will keep the rest of the gods from destroying them even if he wins his round.
* AnyoneCanDie: No matter how powerful or how sympathetic the fighters are, all bets are off for the combatants.
* AnArmAndALeg: The manga loves to use this trope, to the point that, except for the second fight, all the battles featured so far have presented damage made to the arms of one of the combatants.
** For the first round, [[spoiler: Lu Bu loses both of his arms after being hit by Thor's last attack, removing the right one with his teeth, even.]]
** For the third round, [[spoiler: Kojiro manages to cut both of Poseidon's arms (one first, then the other) after analyzing his pattern of attack, forcing Poseidon to hold his trident with his teeth in a last, desperate attack.]]
** For the fourth round, [[spoiler: Heracles gets his left arm sliced by the clock of the Big Ben tower when he tries to block it after Jack throws it at him, not knowing the clock had divine properties thanks to the ability of Jack's Volund.]]
** For the fifth round, [[spoiler: Shiva gets one of his (four) arms maimed by Raiden after he grabs it and crushes it. He then loses two more to Raiden's ''Yatagarasu''. Raiden also loses one of ''his'' arms to Shiva's ''Devaloka''.]]
** For the sixth round, [[spoiler:after having his left forearm cut by Buddha's [[SinisterScythe Salakayas]], Hajun brutally rips off his own wounded arm to form a hand-shaped sword with it. Unlike other cases, despite the handicap of having only one arm, Hajun manages to remain a threat and even gets to destroy Buddha's Six Realms staff.]]
* ArrogantKungFuGuy: Poseidon, who in contrast to his ever-evolving opponent (Kojiro) or Zeus and Thor before him, never bothers to adjust or improve his fighting style (that is, thrust his trident at a problem multiple times with overwhelming strength) because he believes he is an utterly perfect being.
* 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 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.
* AvengingTheVillain: [[spoiler:Following Poseidon's death, Zeus and the other Greek Gods decide to send Heracles in the next round as the representative of the gods, hoping for him to avenge the humiliation that the defeat of the God of the Seas brought to their Pantheon. This fails miserably, and Heracles is killed at the end.]]
** [[spoiler:Hades enters the seventh round, claiming to seek to avenge his brother. His servant Proteus is also on board with the revenge, supplying Hades with what's left of his master's weapon so he can indirectly help him. ]]
* BackStory: Because of the limited amount of chapters for each round, this is a must for all the fighters to flesh them out.
* BaitAndSwitchBoss: Round 6 pulls this no less than four times. Originally, is expected for Buddha to be the representant of the gods for the 6th fight, but [[spoiler:he unexpectedly deflects to the human side and goes to fight against the side he was supposed to represent. After that, the Seven Lucky Gods arrive to the battlefied, with Bishamonten apparently going to become the champion of the gods. However, [[FusionDance he instead fuses with the rest of the Lucky Gods]] and reveal they were in truth a singly divinity named Zerofuku that ends being the true fighter from the god side for Round 6. And then, after some chapters of fight, when Buddha manages to defeat Zerofuku, the misery god is possessed by the horns of his head (who become two dragons) and swallowed into an egg-shaped cocoon, summoning the demon Hajun, who then proceeds to take Zerofuku's place and confront Buddha.]]
* BeatThemAtTheirOwnGame: [[spoiler: Adam's]] specialty, on account of his [[spoiler: Eyes of God]], is to instantly copy the moves of his opponent (Zeus in this case) and turn it back on them.
* BigBad: Being the leader of the gods, Zeus is the main antagonist of the series. Unusually for this trope, he is, however, the second of the gods to fight, as opposed to being the [[FinalBoss last one]] like Brunhilde and Göll thought. [[spoiler:Since he wins his fight with Adam, he still keeps being the main villain, although now in a supporting role, as his fight is over.]]
* BigGood: The Valkyrie Brunhilde fulfills this role in the manga. She advocates for the salvation of the humans, giving them a chance to avoid extinction by taking advantage of the pride of the gods to start Ragnarok, and is the one who selects the human warriors that will participate in the tournament to surpass the gods. Also a case when she's both the leader of the good guys and the main protagonist. Despite this, she can be surprisingly ruthless and devious to assure that humanity wins Ragnarok, resorting to any kind of methods to ensure their victory.
* {{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.
* BladeOnAStick: Of the six combatants so far, two have wielded these: Lu Bu and his famed halberd, and Poseidon wielding his trident.
* 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.
* BloodyMurder: [[spoiler: Jack's final blow against Heracles has him coat his Volund gloves with his own blood, turning it into a divine weapon that he uses to impale and kill the god]].
* {{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.]]
* BreakTheHaughty: [[spoiler: Sasaki Kojiro's defeat of Poseidon, the one recognized as the most prideful of gods. Also, Poseidon's killing of Adamas.]]
* BrokeYourArmPunchingOutCthulhu: [[spoiler: Inverted. Zeus is critically injured after "defeating" Adam to the point that his wounds keep exploding when he gets even a little bit stressed. Similarly, Shiva defeats Raiden but loses three of his four arms for it.]]
* BullyTurnedBuddy: The two bullies that tormented Alcides and Castor in the past are shown in Ragnarok rooting for the former (now Heracles) during his fight against Jack the Ripper, implying that they came to respect him despite mocking and beating him before his ascension to godhood.
* BunnyEarsLawyer:
** As stated in [[CrouchingMoronHiddenBadass Crouching Moron Hidden Badass]] below, Sasaki Kojiro’s first appearance depicts him as a ditzy old man, and even in combat, he's full of laughter and relaxation. He's also the greatest swordsman of his era, beating out the majority of famous Japanese swordsman up to and including Miyamoto Musashi.
** A lot of the gods also fall into this trope; Shiva, for example, is lazy and prefers to dance instead of fight; Buddha eats lollipops and wears bizarre T-shirts.
* ButtMonkey: Shiva keeps trying to enter the early rounds of the competition, but is repeatedly vetoed by the Greek pantheon. [[spoiler:He finally gets his chance to fight in the fifth round, and ''wins''.]]
* CainAndAbel: The [[TropeNamer eponymous brothers]] are spectators during their father's fight with Zeus. Amusingly, Cain continues to beat up an oblivious Abel even as both continue to cheer Adam on.
* CanonForeigner: While all the divinities presented on the manga are figures from the mythologies from all the world, there are two gods featured in the work that are created for the series and have no known counterpart in mythology:
** The first one is Adamas, a fallen Olympian god who was killed by Poseidon before the start of the series and who was forgotten by everyone after Poseidon erased his name from history. His inclusion in the series was likely a way to show Poseidon's cruelty without wasting any of the "canon" Olympians for potential appearances in the current timeline.
** The other one is [[spoiler:Zerofuku, who is the original form of the Seven Lucky Gods and split himself into the seven due having a nasty breakdown after failing to deliver happiness to humans in the past. He reappears in the tournament after Bishamonten and the other six Lucky Gods fuse again into him to fight Buddha in the sixth round of Ragnarok, with the intention of taking revenge on Buddha, who succeeded in bringing happiness to his followers, unlike him.]]
* CastFromHitPoints:
** [[spoiler: Heracles's Hercule Exodus is manifesting one of his Twelve Labors as an attack, but causes his tattoo to grow and consume him. If it completely consumes him, then Heracles's will be completely annihilated.]]
** Both fighters in the [[spoiler:fifth]] round have this going on. [[spoiler:Raiden's muscles at full capacity are destroying his own body as he uses them, and Shiva's ''Tandava Karma'' literally burns him away to give him better attributes and a flaming body.]]
* CharlesAtlasSuperpower: Sasaki Kojiro's ability to predict as well as his superhuman swordsmanship and physical prowess stem not from his natural body but from years of training and constant defeat.
* CombatCommentator: As the tournament is set up half so that the gods can be entertained and demonstrate their might, Heimdall commentates on the tournament throughout its duration. Apart from him, there are other characters that appear commenting on the skills and feats of the fighters, the most remarkable ones being [[BigGood Brunhilde]], [[TheBabyOfTheBunch Göll]], Hermes and Ares.
* CombatPragmatist:
** After his [[spoiler:arm and trident are chopped off]], Poseidon grabs them both with his other arm, but unlike the more "honorable" previous fights, Sasaki doesn't give him a chance to reorient himself and presses onward with his onslaught as the sea god had proved himself to be a loveless snob devoid of empathy.
** Jack the Ripper serves as perhaps the ultimate example of this, as he requests a pre-designed arena that gives him an advantage, [[spoiler:lies ''multiple'' times about what his powers do, sets up traps, and lures his opponent into them, and even attacks mid-sentence.]]
* CowardlyLion: During their fateful confrontation, Ares was ready to battle Heracles to the bitter end, but was relieved when Zeus intervened to stop them from fighting further as he was aware there was a real chance the demigod would slay them if the duel had continued.
** He's also terrified when Hermes implies he'll be picked for the seventh round, and has to psyche himself up by reminding himself he's ''the god of war''. And then it turns out Hermes was talking about [[spoiler:Hades]] and hadn't even considered Ares for fighting.
* CrossoverCosmology: All gods from different mythologies fight each other. While pretty much all of the historical characters from various religions and mythologies exist in the manga, there were plenty of instances where some of the finer details were misinterpreted, changed, or had been erased.
* CrouchingMoronHiddenBadass:
** 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.]]
** Zeus. He is initially shown as a frail, senile old man, but during his fight, he is revealed to be a shapeshifting flesh monster whose speed defies the concept of time and whose durability borders on complete invincibility.
* DeadToBeginWith: All of the human audience and champions have long passed into the afterlife.
* DefeatAsBackstory: Sasaki Kojiro's entire life when he was alive.
* DefiantToTheEnd: In a world where the fate of Humanity will be decided in a fighting tournament between Man and God, you can expect moments like these to show up.
** First round: [[spoiler: With his body completely broken by ''Geirröd Thor's Hammer'', Lu Bu simply muses he gave it his all before having Red Hare charge him forward for one final blaze of glory. He gets a face full of Mjolnir for his trouble.]]
** Second round: [[spoiler: Adam dies in the midst of his punch-out with Zeus. But even in death his body relentlessly continues to punch back and only stops when Zeus is brought down to his knees.]]
** Third round: [[spoiler: While prior combatants showed respect to the humans they've defeated, Poseidon only contemptuously says that Kojiro is a piece of shit while he's dying.]]
* TheDeterminator:
** [[spoiler: Adam may just beat everyone out at this. Despite getting hit by a fist that was stated to have enough power to kill him in a single strike multiple times, Adam simply takes that opportunity to latch onto Zeus and start a pound-for-pound punch-out, taking tens if not hundreds of the aforementioned blows. He proceeds to win said punch-out despite literally dying in the middle of it.]]
** Heracles is known as the God of Fortitude, a name he more than lives up to. [[spoiler: His Herculean Exodus is explicitly stated to cause paralyzing pain that only gets worse the more labors that the user calls upon. By the end of his fight with Jack, Heracles is experiencing a magnitude of pain that makes the gods skin crawl, but never once shows it on his face or allows it to slow him down]].
* DidYouJustFlipOffCthulhu: Adam's response to the gods accusing his wife of eating the forbidden fruit? Bring two baskets of said fruit into the court of gods, chomp on each one before spitting it out, and complain about the sourness. Then he proclaims that he would go with Eve to Earth. Of course, not before he kills the Serpent.
* DidntSeeThatComing: Brunhilde gets hit with this in the first round when she assumes that destroying Thor's Jarngreipr will keep him from properly using Mjolnir, thus making him easier to beat. [[spoiler: Unfortunately, Jarngrepier's true purpose was to ''hold back'' Thor's strength to keep him from accidentally destroying Mjolnir (which turns out to be a LivingWeapon) before it could awaken. This mistake costs humanity the match and Lu Bu and Randgriz's lives.]]
** Happens to Zeus the next round when he enters his fight with Adam without his divine weapon under the assumption that he didn't need it to beat the latter. [[spoiler: This only makes him more susceptible to Adam's [[PowerCopying Eyes of the Lord]], who then proceeds to beat the holy hell out of him with his own techniques.]]
** Happens to the gods at the Third Round. [[spoiler: Sasaki Kojiro, History's Greatest Loser who outright defeated Poseidon who was hyped to be the God Among Gods sent the spectators on the gods side into stunned silence.]]
** Heracles, over and over again throughout his fight with Jack the Ripper.
* TheDitz: Sasaki Kojiro is introduced like this, appearing as an old man who seemingly stumbled into the warrior selection for the third round.
* TheDreaded: Poseidon. Even other gods are intimidated by him.
* DualWielding: [[spoiler: Sasaki Kojiro's Nito-Ganryu, the ultimate culmination of his Ganryu style of Swordsmanship combined with Miyamoto Musashi's Niten-Ichi-Ryu.]]
* ElementalPowers: Played with multiple ways for the gods.
** Played straight with Thor's lightning and Shiva's fiery dance.
** Subverted with Zeus (whose lightning abilities are depicted metaphorically).
** Downplayed with Poseidon, who uses his signature [[MakingASplash element]] in his introduction, but never uses it in his fight because he sees his opponent as an insect unworthy of making him go all out.
* EvolvingCredits: The visuals of the opening of the anime change at some parts depending on the round they cover:
** When the gods are presented, depending on the episode, the two first ones to appear change. For episodes from 1 to 4 we have Zeus and Thor, for episodes from 5 to 8 we have Ares and Zeus, and for episodes from 9 to 12 we have Loki and Poseidon.
** 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).
** Lastly, the new characters who appear in each round are also added to the final shot at the end. Also, starting from the second round, here Zeus appears in his muscular form instead of his default emaciated one.
* ExactWords: At Zeus' request, [[spoiler:Buddha]] agrees to fight in the sixth round. He didn't say ''which side'' he'd be fighting for.
* 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.]]
* GreyAndGrayMorality: In the red corner, we have Jack the Ripper, who murdered several women, mutilated their bodies, and taunted the authorities for not being able to catch him, fighting for humanity's continued survival. In the blue corner, we have Heracles, one of the most famous heroes in all of the mythology who's clearly quite conflicted over where his loyalties lie, fighting for humanity's immediate extinction. Even the human crowd doesn't know if they should be rooting for history's most infamous serial killer, even though '''literally all of their lives''' will come one step closer to extinction if he loses.
* HeroicRROD: [[spoiler: Adam]] suffers this on the cusp of his victory.
* HistoricalHeroUpgrade: Varyingly with HistoricalVillainUpgrade. The setting really pushes for making all characters as badass as they can possibly be, with that historical and mythical figures, good and bad, have their commonly known backstories completely revised if they contained any shameful moment in them, such as loss, a moment of weakness, cowardice, etc. Case in point: a common record of Lu Bu’s final moments was him throwing a fit upon being captured by Cao Cao’s forces and being denied a chance to work with their army, as he was known as a serial betrayer; this series, however, changes that event into Lu Bu being completely calm in his final moment, going as far as to say the previous record is completely false, the “truth” is that Lu Bu actually allowed himself to be captured, the man was so bored of being unmatched in battle throughout his entire life that nothing mattered anymore, so he might as well free himself of such a meaningless life.
* TheHost: The Norse God Heimdall serves as the announcer of Ragnarok, fitting since his horn announces the mythic one.
* HotGoddess: Aphrodite, naturally, is quite beautiful with large breasts and little in the way of clothing.
* HowMuchMoreCanHeTake: [[spoiler: Zeus and especially Adam. Both of them make tens, if not hundreds of blows that would turn people to paste, and Adam does this while possessing the body of a mortal.]]
* 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.
* {{Irony}}: [[spoiler: Sasaki Kojiro, the man who was known as the Greatest Loser, wins humanity's first victory.]]
* ItsPersonal: [[spoiler:As badly as Shiva wants to fight the fourth round, he's forced to hold off by the collective, [[TranquilFury quiet fury]] of Zeus, Hermes, and Ares wishing to avenge Poseidon's death in the name of the Greek pantheon.]]
* JerkassGods: All of them at the start, as they vote to end humanity. As the plot develops, it slowly becomes apparent that there are varying degrees of this among the gods.
** Arrogant, superior jerkasses who look down on humanity (Zeus, Poseidon, or Loki)
** AffablyEvil gods who are working against humanity (Shiva)
** Actual nice guys trying to convince the other gods to spare humanity (Heracles)
** Gods who might actually be working ''for'' humanity in the background ([[spoiler:Buddha]]).
** Gods who outright side with humanity ([[spoiler:also Buddha.]])
* JerkassHasAPoint: Heavily downplayed, but no attempt is ever made to disprove the gods' claim about how rotten humanity has become, with Brunhilde's plan going directly to a single-combat tournament, and even afterward the focus is more on defeating the gods rather than proving humanity's worth. The fact that so far almost all the contestants have had their flaws erased and portrayed as been recorded wrong in history, and the one pointed to as "the worst humanity has to offer" being not that evil after all, only makes it worse, since it only gives more credit to the gods' claim that humanity is getting worse. The point is very minor, since wiping out humanity is still at the ''very'' least an overreaction and the gods are shown as not being much better themselves, but in a manga about how awesome humanity is it stands out.
* KnowWhenToFoldEm:
** After Alcides' transformation into Heracles, Ares tried to stop his army from needlessly attacking someone with Zeus-tier strength, but was too late to stop what was essentially their suicidal assault.
** 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.]]
* LeaningOnTheFourthWall: When the gods' second representative is revealed to be Zeus himself a confused Göll asks "Why is the last boss popping up in the prologue?".
* LonelyAtTheTop:
** Thor and Lu Bu both share this problem, having no challenges outside of Ragnarok.
** Raiden faces this so badly in his backstory that he ''intentionally loses'' sometimes so that he can still have friends and relationships.
* MadeOfIron: Lu Bu, whose form was considered freakishly resilient even by the gods. [[spoiler: Although it allows him to survive several of Thor's swings, he is in the end broken.]]
* TheMagicTouch: This is the trick to [[spoiler:Jack The Ripper's real Volund, a HighClassGlove where everything it touches becomes a divine weapon.]]
* ManlyTears: All over the place in a series about the greatest warriors fighting to the death.
* MassOhCrap: [[spoiler:All of the gods suffer this after Sasaki Kojiro kills Poseidon in the third fight, their hubris being shattered by the realization that they could possibly '''die.''']]
-->'''Loki:''' [[spoiler:''Seriously...?'' '''''[[OOCIsSeriousBusiness This... is no longer a joke.]]''''']]
* MartialPacifist: Sasaki Kojiro never officially defeated or killed a single opponent in his life. Rather, he'd duel them, observe their techniques, train himself to surpass the moves that overwhelmed him, and then move on to a stronger opponent whilst foregoing a rematch with those that had formerly trounced him. Since he was such an affable and harmless fellow, his opponents decided against killing him which allowed for a life full of adventure and self-improvement until he found his ultimate opponent in Miyamoto Musashi who impressed him so much that he had to see that match to the bitter end.
* NightmareFace: All over the place, especially from the side of the gods. Zeus, [[spoiler:Zerofuku]] and, surprisingly, [[BigGood Brunhilde]] of all people are the worst offenders.
* NoChallengeEqualsNoSatisfaction: Lu Bu and Thor share this sentiment.
* NoHoldsBarredBeatdown: [[spoiler: Adam gives one of these to Zeus before his [[HeroicRROD Heroic RROD]].]]
* NotSoDifferentRemark: As the fifth fight approaches its climax, Brunhilde notes that both Shiva and Raiden are men whose strength increases exponentially when they have others that they are fighting for, even destroying their own bodies so they don't let their loved ones down.
* NotSoStoic: The manga loves to use this trope a lot. If a character at first appears to be serious, composed, cold, or emotionless, you can bet that at some point they will suddenly show emotions and break character. It is applied both for dramatic and comedic effects.
* OldMaster:
** Sasaki Kojiro projects this image, but it's mostly because he likes the aesthetic as he actually died fairly young.
** Zeus shows even more knowledge about other gods' moves and powers than Hermes. He also walks like the archetypical anime old master, with his arms held behind his back.
* 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.]]
* PapaWolf: [[spoiler:Adam's]] reason for fighting in Ragnarok? [[spoiler: To protect his children (all of humanity), of course.]]
* PetTheDog: Hermes doesn't really have a high opinion of Ares. Nonetheless, [[spoiler: when Ares resolves to move forward after Heracles' death, he not only doesn't mock Ares' resolve, he gives a little smile as well.]]
* PowerCopying: [[spoiler: Adam's specialty, enabling him to [[BeatThemAtTheirOwnGame beat his enemies with their own attacks.]]]]
* RapidFireFisticuffs and PummelDuel: What Adam vs Zeus eventually boils down to.
* RatedMForManly: Back-to-back brutal death fights? Check. The strongest both above and under the heavens? Check. Compelling backstories and intense action? Check.
* RousseauWasRight: The series runs on the premise that humans are basically decent and would only become malicious under extreme circumstances. Most of the human characters have their more unsavory traits [[AdaptationalHeroism removed]] (such as Lu Bu's ChronicBackstabbingDisorder tendency and Adam and Eve's willful disobedience that led to their exile). Even Jack the Ripper--a man described in-universe as "the worst humanity has to offer"-- is portrayed as a [[UsedToBeASweetKid decent child]] who only [[IJustWantToBeLoved wants to be loved]], and eventually becomes a hedonistic SerialKiller after he realizes that his mother, the only person he thought had loved him, only wanted to use him to bait his wealthy father and save her from a life of poverty and attempted to murder him after she realized that her ambitions are for naught.
* RunningGag: Despite claiming to have omniscience in all forms of violence and combat, Ares keeps missing finer details in the fights and has to be informed by Hermes, [[BlatantLies only to bluster that he already knew that.]]
* ShroudedInMyth: One common theme of the manga is that history got only the BroadStrokes of what actually happened, mostly to make the fighters even more kick-ass than their original counterparts. For example, Lu Bu didn't beg to be spared before his execution; he actually told them to get on with it already because he was just that bored with everything on Earth being unable to provide him with a decent challenge.
* SistineSteal: Reginleif's Volund with Adam has them both pose like in ''The Creation of Adam''.
* SoreLoser: [[spoiler:Poseidon]].
* SortingAlgorithmOfEvil: Inverted. Heavy hitter head gods such as Zeus, Poseidon, and Thor are the first ones to challenge humanity. The first one to follow these three is Heracles, a mere (if famous) demigod.
* 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.
* SpeedBlitz: [[spoiler: Poseidon's 40-day Flood, which is so fast that his afterimages form a dome around his opponent.]]
* SpoilerOpening: The opening visuals depicting the second fight don't have a problem revealing Zeus' [[spoiler:Adamas form]] (it's shadowed in the first appearance of Zeus in the opening, but clearly easy to see in the animation depicting him against Adam), despite being a big twist for the battle. Likewise, some of the skillsets of the gods who are going to fight in Ragnarok yet don't fight in the rounds the anime covers are shown, like Loki's chain-hooks or Shiva's dance (though this can be excused with being a mere reference to Shiva's dancing in mythology).
* StrongAndSkilled: ''The Gods.'' While all the combatant gods shown thus far have been supremely strong, demonstrating endurance and power dwarfing anything the humans can offer, they also demonstrate skills that are suited to millennia-old badasses embodying the best warriors the gods have to offer, routinely surprising the humans that expect them to be UnskilledButStrong. Fitting the trope's application to villains, this puts ''every'' god at the apex of threat for the humans.
* SuperMode:
** [[spoiler: Adamas (meaning diamond or indestructible in Greek) is Zeus's own, a state where all his muscles compress to their fullest extent. In this form, even normal punches become an OneHitKill, and normal movement is more akin to SuperSpeed with the transformation's drawback being self-destructive in this state.]]
** [[spoiler:Shiva's ''Tandava Karma'' forcibly stimulates his soul, setting his body on fire and greatly improving all his stats. However, it burns his own body, so the longer he keeps this up the greater the chance of his death.]]
* SurprisinglyRealisticOutcome:
** Sadly, blocking an attack does not mean the force of the blow is magically dissipated. [[spoiler: Lu Bu's body crumbles under the stress of stopping Thor's strikes.]]
** 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.
* ThoseTwoGuys: Hermes and Ares are generally the only non-combatant gods who show up to watch the fights, and are almost always seen together commenting on what's happening in the matches.
* TokenGoodTeammate: Heracles for the gods, but his nobility just results in the valkyries setting him up against the deplorable Jack the Ripper for what they hope will be an easy win.
* TookALevelInBadass: Sasaki Kojiro's whole schtick: he continually loses, and from those losses, grows until he realizes that he has surpassed his opponent.
* TranshumanTreachery: Demigod heroes (including Buddha) like Susanoo and Heracles are fighting on behalf of the gods in spite of how they attained fame for protecting humanity in their original legends. [[spoiler:However, Heracles aims to win but also to petition for humanity's survival, and Buddha is suspected to actually be helping out the humans behind-the-scenes and ends up fighting in the sixth round for humanity.]]
* UnconsciousObjector: Despite getting hit by Zeus' fist that was stated to have enough power to kill him in a single strike multiple times, Adam simply takes that opportunity to latch onto Zeus and start a pound-for-pound punch-out, taking tens if not hundreds of the aforementioned blows. [[spoiler:He proceeds to win said punch-out despite literally dying in the middle of it. Even after he died from the punch-out, Adam's body stands smiling, refusing to bend a knee.]]
* WeakButSkilled: Humanity as a whole serves as this compared to the gods, even if some of the challengers are superstrong 'for humans.' Generally, humanity is presented as seeking depth in their technique and skill to overcome greater opponents, something the StrongAndSkilled gods have no need for due to their unreal strength.
** Sasaki Kojiro especially embodies this, having become skilled enough to beat out the other swordsman of his era including Miyamoto Musashi.
** Jack the Ripper takes this one step further, as while Kojiro still trained hard enough to achieve the superhuman feat of the Tsubame Gaeshi, or Swallow Return, Jack had no such strength or training, yet demonstrated mastery of his weaponry enough to challenge the ultra-strong Heracles.
* WhamEpisode:
** Round 5 starts off the same as the others, [[spoiler:but it's soon revealed that Loki figured out who taught the Valkyries the Volund technique was [[TokenGoodTeammate Buddha]], and he along with Bishamonten and the 7 Lucky Gods confront him about it. Both Sasaki and Souji come to back him up, although it doesn't seem like Buddha needed much assistance.]]
** And that's child's play compared with the succession of twists that happen in the next round. For starters, when Buddha comes to the arena (after being told by Zeus to participate in the sixth match), he announces that [[spoiler:he's fighting for humans and proceeds to become the next representative of mankind, showing his true allegiance. After this, the Seven Lucky Gods make a grand entrance and reveal they're in truth a single entity named Zerofuku, who ends becoming the true representative of the gods in Round 6 and has a deep hatred for Buddha that goes back to the distant past. If that isn't enough, later in the fight, just when it looks like Buddha managed to save Zerofuku from his darkness, the horns Zerofuku was wielding take life and turn into two dragons, engulfing Zerofuku and turning him into an egg, from which emerges Hajun, a demon from Buddhism that takes Zerofuku's place in the round and is prepared to fight Buddha.]]
* WhamLine: Near the end of Chapter 43, Buddha drops a line that completely changes up how the structure of Ragnarok has worked up to this point, as well as [[spoiler:confirming his allegiance after several chapters of [[AmbiguouslyEvil ambiguity]]]]:
-->'''Buddha:''' [[spoiler:[[HeelFaceTurn I'll be fighting for humanity]], so, uh... thanks.]]
* WhatIsThisFeeling: Jack is confused at the emotions he feels [[spoiler: after killing Heracles. Hlokk tells him he's sad, and it only confuses him further.]]
* WhenAllYouHaveIsAHammer: Poseidon's fighting style in a nutshell. An enemy stands before him? Thrust his trident at it. If that doesn't work? Thrust harder and faster. Rinse and repeat.
* TheWorfEffect: [[spoiler:Poseidon is hyped up to be a dignified and almighty deity on par with Zeus, but he proves to be petulant at his core and falls to the WeakButSkilled Sasaki Kojiro, rattling his fellow gods with the real prospect of defeat and death.]]
* WorldOfBuxom: Most women of the series are very buxom, especially if they’re a goddess.
* WorldsStrongestMan: Thor and Lu Bu are viewed as the strongest god and strongest human respectively. However, this seems to only apply to absolute physical strength, as the later fighters, Adam and Zeus, are shown to be somewhat equal to them.
* WorthyOpponent:
** Lu Bu and Thor come to really enjoy their fight together, having lived their whole lives without a foe on their level.
** Zeus has the time of his life getting into an all-out fistfight with Adam.
** Everybody Kojiro has fought and lost to nonetheless respect him deeply as a master of his craft, including Miyamoto Musashi himself.
** Raiden and Shiva both acknowledge each other as the person who gave them their greatest fight and even thank each other for it at the climax of their battle.
* YouAreACreditToYourRace: Implied. Despite acknowledging the Einerjhar's strength and bravery in every round, the gods still seem to despise and underestimate mankind as a whole.
* YoungerThanTheyLook: Zeus might look like a grotesque geezer compared to his brother Poseidon, but he's actually the youngest of Cronus' three sons.
----
->Let Mortal Kombat begin!
[[caption-width-right:350: Cover for the first volume. Lu Bu (left) and Thor (right).]]
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.
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 of 2019, a spin-off centered in 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 of 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 the 18th of August of 2021, slated to air in 2023, with Graphinica's sister studio [[Creator/{{TYO}} Yumeta Company]] assisting on animation duties.
Compare to ''Manga/KenganAshura'' in the tournament-style and long, drawn-out battles. Also, compare to ''Manga/BakiTheGrappler'' in the brutality of its combat.
----
!! This Manga contains examples of:
* TwoDVisualsThreeDEffects: The fight between Heracles and Jack the Ripper in the anime alternates between both 2D and 3D mediums, which is made obvious when Heracles' hair [[NoFlowInCGI remains as stiff as a brick]] when he turns 3D.
* HundredPercentAdorationRating:
** Adam, Adam, Adam. All humans fighters will obviously receive support from humanity, but Adam takes the cake. Just being the Father of all mankind already guarantees him to have filial love from his "children" regardless of races, ages, classes, good or evil; but he also backs it up by loving them in return which only makes humans adore him even more. It gets to the point that [[spoiler: all humans would rather have him lose but survive than win but lose his life in the process. Unfortunately, Adam chooses the second option.]]
** While the likes of Zeus and Poseidon are the most revered among the gods, Heracles is the most loved. Even the majority of humanity can't find any reason to dislike him despite the fact that he's their enemy. [[spoiler: His death at Jack the Ripper's hands is seen as a tragedy by both the gods and humanity. Even [[TokenEvilTeammate Jack himself]] seems saddened by his death]].
* ThirteenIsUnlucky: ''13'' Champions, ''13'' Gods, and ''13'' Valkyries. Anyone dying in Ragnarok will cease to exist.
* ActorAllusion: Both involves the Japanese and Latin American Spanish dubs and both also involves the ''Franchise/MarvelCinematicUniverse'':
** 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.
** In a non-MCU example, in the Latin American Spanish dub, Creator/MariaFernandaMorales (Brunhilde) voiced [[Manga/SaintSeiya Saori Kido, a girl with divine powers bent on protecting humanity]]. The same goes for Pedro D'Aguillon Jr. (Zeus), who voiced Mitsumasa Kido in both ''Anime/SaintSeiyaLegendOfSanctuary'' and ''Anime/SaintSeiyaKnightsOfTheZodiac'', plus some saints in the original series, and also Creator/JoseGilbertoVilchis (Ares), who voiced both Andromeda Shun and Hades, plus also voicing Disney's ''WesternAnimation/{{Hercules}}'' in the TV series and his {{Expy}} Storkules in ''WesternAnimation/DuckTales2017'', not to mention Loki in the MCU as well.
** Also, from the Latin American dub, Creator/HumbertoSolorzano (Odin) already voiced gods before, especially in ''WesternAnimation/OnyxEquinox'' as Quetzalcoatl and Hades in Disney's ''WesternAnimation/{{Hercules}}'' in the TV series.
* 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.
* 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.]]
* AdaptationSpeciesChange: Heracles, ''the'' demigod, [[spoiler: was actually born as a fragile human boy in this version of his story and only ascended to demi-godhood by drinking the blood of Zeus.]]
* AdaptationalVillainy: It goes largely without saying, but pretty much every God. [[JerkAssGods Some less so than others]] but in almost any mythology you’d care to name humanity survives solely by the patronage and protection of at least a few gods. Here, the whole lot of them are trying to end it.
* AgeLift: Several of the Einherjar, but also a number of spectators, all of whom were presumably quite old when they died. One that stands out is Miyamoto Iori, who is portrayed as a young boy when he was actually in his sixties at the time of his death. The fighters at least have the excuse of being returned to their physical prime, but the spectators have no such excuse.
%%Belongs in CrossoverCosmology* AllMythsAreTrue
* AllYourPowersCombined: [[spoiler: Kojiro manages to accumulate the experience of his fights while he was still living and hone them in the afterlife. As such, he's managed to incorporate all the techniques of the swordsmen he's faced into his own unique style.]]
* AntiHero: Jack the Ripper. The number of people who appreciates having him as one of humanity's champions can be counted on a blind carpenter's hand.
* AntiVillain: Heracles, oh so much. He may be fighting for the gods, but he thinks incredibly highly of humanity. He also outright tells Loki that he is firmly against exterminating humanity and will keep the rest of the gods from destroying them even if he wins his round.
* AnyoneCanDie: No matter how powerful or how sympathetic the fighters are, all bets are off for the combatants.
* AnArmAndALeg: The manga loves to use this trope, to the point that, except for the second fight, all the battles featured so far have presented damage made to the arms of one of the combatants.
** For the first round, [[spoiler: Lu Bu loses both of his arms after being hit by Thor's last attack, removing the right one with his teeth, even.]]
** For the third round, [[spoiler: Kojiro manages to cut both of Poseidon's arms (one first, then the other) after analyzing his pattern of attack, forcing Poseidon to hold his trident with his teeth in a last, desperate attack.]]
** For the fourth round, [[spoiler: Heracles gets his left arm sliced by the clock of the Big Ben tower when he tries to block it after Jack throws it at him, not knowing the clock had divine properties thanks to the ability of Jack's Volund.]]
** For the fifth round, [[spoiler: Shiva gets one of his (four) arms maimed by Raiden after he grabs it and crushes it. He then loses two more to Raiden's ''Yatagarasu''. Raiden also loses one of ''his'' arms to Shiva's ''Devaloka''.]]
** For the sixth round, [[spoiler:after having his left forearm cut by Buddha's [[SinisterScythe Salakayas]], Hajun brutally rips off his own wounded arm to form a hand-shaped sword with it. Unlike other cases, despite the handicap of having only one arm, Hajun manages to remain a threat and even gets to destroy Buddha's Six Realms staff.]]
* ArrogantKungFuGuy: Poseidon, who in contrast to his ever-evolving opponent (Kojiro) or Zeus and Thor before him, never bothers to adjust or improve his fighting style (that is, thrust his trident at a problem multiple times with overwhelming strength) because he believes he is an utterly perfect being.
* 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 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.
* AvengingTheVillain: [[spoiler:Following Poseidon's death, Zeus and the other Greek Gods decide to send Heracles in the next round as the representative of the gods, hoping for him to avenge the humiliation that the defeat of the God of the Seas brought to their Pantheon. This fails miserably, and Heracles is killed at the end.]]
** [[spoiler:Hades enters the seventh round, claiming to seek to avenge his brother. His servant Proteus is also on board with the revenge, supplying Hades with what's left of his master's weapon so he can indirectly help him. ]]
* BackStory: Because of the limited amount of chapters for each round, this is a must for all the fighters to flesh them out.
* BaitAndSwitchBoss: Round 6 pulls this no less than four times. Originally, is expected for Buddha to be the representant of the gods for the 6th fight, but [[spoiler:he unexpectedly deflects to the human side and goes to fight against the side he was supposed to represent. After that, the Seven Lucky Gods arrive to the battlefied, with Bishamonten apparently going to become the champion of the gods. However, [[FusionDance he instead fuses with the rest of the Lucky Gods]] and reveal they were in truth a singly divinity named Zerofuku that ends being the true fighter from the god side for Round 6. And then, after some chapters of fight, when Buddha manages to defeat Zerofuku, the misery god is possessed by the horns of his head (who become two dragons) and swallowed into an egg-shaped cocoon, summoning the demon Hajun, who then proceeds to take Zerofuku's place and confront Buddha.]]
* BeatThemAtTheirOwnGame: [[spoiler: Adam's]] specialty, on account of his [[spoiler: Eyes of God]], is to instantly copy the moves of his opponent (Zeus in this case) and turn it back on them.
* BigBad: Being the leader of the gods, Zeus is the main antagonist of the series. Unusually for this trope, he is, however, the second of the gods to fight, as opposed to being the [[FinalBoss last one]] like Brunhilde and Göll thought. [[spoiler:Since he wins his fight with Adam, he still keeps being the main villain, although now in a supporting role, as his fight is over.]]
* BigGood: The Valkyrie Brunhilde fulfills this role in the manga. She advocates for the salvation of the humans, giving them a chance to avoid extinction by taking advantage of the pride of the gods to start Ragnarok, and is the one who selects the human warriors that will participate in the tournament to surpass the gods. Also a case when she's both the leader of the good guys and the main protagonist. Despite this, she can be surprisingly ruthless and devious to assure that humanity wins Ragnarok, resorting to any kind of methods to ensure their victory.
* {{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.
* BladeOnAStick: Of the six combatants so far, two have wielded these: Lu Bu and his famed halberd, and Poseidon wielding his trident.
* 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.
* BloodyMurder: [[spoiler: Jack's final blow against Heracles has him coat his Volund gloves with his own blood, turning it into a divine weapon that he uses to impale and kill the god]].
* {{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.]]
* BreakTheHaughty: [[spoiler: Sasaki Kojiro's defeat of Poseidon, the one recognized as the most prideful of gods. Also, Poseidon's killing of Adamas.]]
* BrokeYourArmPunchingOutCthulhu: [[spoiler: Inverted. Zeus is critically injured after "defeating" Adam to the point that his wounds keep exploding when he gets even a little bit stressed. Similarly, Shiva defeats Raiden but loses three of his four arms for it.]]
* BullyTurnedBuddy: The two bullies that tormented Alcides and Castor in the past are shown in Ragnarok rooting for the former (now Heracles) during his fight against Jack the Ripper, implying that they came to respect him despite mocking and beating him before his ascension to godhood.
* BunnyEarsLawyer:
** As stated in [[CrouchingMoronHiddenBadass Crouching Moron Hidden Badass]] below, Sasaki Kojiro’s first appearance depicts him as a ditzy old man, and even in combat, he's full of laughter and relaxation. He's also the greatest swordsman of his era, beating out the majority of famous Japanese swordsman up to and including Miyamoto Musashi.
** A lot of the gods also fall into this trope; Shiva, for example, is lazy and prefers to dance instead of fight; Buddha eats lollipops and wears bizarre T-shirts.
* ButtMonkey: Shiva keeps trying to enter the early rounds of the competition, but is repeatedly vetoed by the Greek pantheon. [[spoiler:He finally gets his chance to fight in the fifth round, and ''wins''.]]
* CainAndAbel: The [[TropeNamer eponymous brothers]] are spectators during their father's fight with Zeus. Amusingly, Cain continues to beat up an oblivious Abel even as both continue to cheer Adam on.
* CanonForeigner: While all the divinities presented on the manga are figures from the mythologies from all the world, there are two gods featured in the work that are created for the series and have no known counterpart in mythology:
** The first one is Adamas, a fallen Olympian god who was killed by Poseidon before the start of the series and who was forgotten by everyone after Poseidon erased his name from history. His inclusion in the series was likely a way to show Poseidon's cruelty without wasting any of the "canon" Olympians for potential appearances in the current timeline.
** The other one is [[spoiler:Zerofuku, who is the original form of the Seven Lucky Gods and split himself into the seven due having a nasty breakdown after failing to deliver happiness to humans in the past. He reappears in the tournament after Bishamonten and the other six Lucky Gods fuse again into him to fight Buddha in the sixth round of Ragnarok, with the intention of taking revenge on Buddha, who succeeded in bringing happiness to his followers, unlike him.]]
* CastFromHitPoints:
** [[spoiler: Heracles's Hercule Exodus is manifesting one of his Twelve Labors as an attack, but causes his tattoo to grow and consume him. If it completely consumes him, then Heracles's will be completely annihilated.]]
** Both fighters in the [[spoiler:fifth]] round have this going on. [[spoiler:Raiden's muscles at full capacity are destroying his own body as he uses them, and Shiva's ''Tandava Karma'' literally burns him away to give him better attributes and a flaming body.]]
* CharlesAtlasSuperpower: Sasaki Kojiro's ability to predict as well as his superhuman swordsmanship and physical prowess stem not from his natural body but from years of training and constant defeat.
* CombatCommentator: As the tournament is set up half so that the gods can be entertained and demonstrate their might, Heimdall commentates on the tournament throughout its duration. Apart from him, there are other characters that appear commenting on the skills and feats of the fighters, the most remarkable ones being [[BigGood Brunhilde]], [[TheBabyOfTheBunch Göll]], Hermes and Ares.
* CombatPragmatist:
** After his [[spoiler:arm and trident are chopped off]], Poseidon grabs them both with his other arm, but unlike the more "honorable" previous fights, Sasaki doesn't give him a chance to reorient himself and presses onward with his onslaught as the sea god had proved himself to be a loveless snob devoid of empathy.
** Jack the Ripper serves as perhaps the ultimate example of this, as he requests a pre-designed arena that gives him an advantage, [[spoiler:lies ''multiple'' times about what his powers do, sets up traps, and lures his opponent into them, and even attacks mid-sentence.]]
* CowardlyLion: During their fateful confrontation, Ares was ready to battle Heracles to the bitter end, but was relieved when Zeus intervened to stop them from fighting further as he was aware there was a real chance the demigod would slay them if the duel had continued.
** He's also terrified when Hermes implies he'll be picked for the seventh round, and has to psyche himself up by reminding himself he's ''the god of war''. And then it turns out Hermes was talking about [[spoiler:Hades]] and hadn't even considered Ares for fighting.
* CrossoverCosmology: All gods from different mythologies fight each other. While pretty much all of the historical characters from various religions and mythologies exist in the manga, there were plenty of instances where some of the finer details were misinterpreted, changed, or had been erased.
* CrouchingMoronHiddenBadass:
** 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.]]
** Zeus. He is initially shown as a frail, senile old man, but during his fight, he is revealed to be a shapeshifting flesh monster whose speed defies the concept of time and whose durability borders on complete invincibility.
* DeadToBeginWith: All of the human audience and champions have long passed into the afterlife.
* DefeatAsBackstory: Sasaki Kojiro's entire life when he was alive.
* DefiantToTheEnd: In a world where the fate of Humanity will be decided in a fighting tournament between Man and God, you can expect moments like these to show up.
** First round: [[spoiler: With his body completely broken by ''Geirröd Thor's Hammer'', Lu Bu simply muses he gave it his all before having Red Hare charge him forward for one final blaze of glory. He gets a face full of Mjolnir for his trouble.]]
** Second round: [[spoiler: Adam dies in the midst of his punch-out with Zeus. But even in death his body relentlessly continues to punch back and only stops when Zeus is brought down to his knees.]]
** Third round: [[spoiler: While prior combatants showed respect to the humans they've defeated, Poseidon only contemptuously says that Kojiro is a piece of shit while he's dying.]]
* TheDeterminator:
** [[spoiler: Adam may just beat everyone out at this. Despite getting hit by a fist that was stated to have enough power to kill him in a single strike multiple times, Adam simply takes that opportunity to latch onto Zeus and start a pound-for-pound punch-out, taking tens if not hundreds of the aforementioned blows. He proceeds to win said punch-out despite literally dying in the middle of it.]]
** Heracles is known as the God of Fortitude, a name he more than lives up to. [[spoiler: His Herculean Exodus is explicitly stated to cause paralyzing pain that only gets worse the more labors that the user calls upon. By the end of his fight with Jack, Heracles is experiencing a magnitude of pain that makes the gods skin crawl, but never once shows it on his face or allows it to slow him down]].
* DidYouJustFlipOffCthulhu: Adam's response to the gods accusing his wife of eating the forbidden fruit? Bring two baskets of said fruit into the court of gods, chomp on each one before spitting it out, and complain about the sourness. Then he proclaims that he would go with Eve to Earth. Of course, not before he kills the Serpent.
* DidntSeeThatComing: Brunhilde gets hit with this in the first round when she assumes that destroying Thor's Jarngreipr will keep him from properly using Mjolnir, thus making him easier to beat. [[spoiler: Unfortunately, Jarngrepier's true purpose was to ''hold back'' Thor's strength to keep him from accidentally destroying Mjolnir (which turns out to be a LivingWeapon) before it could awaken. This mistake costs humanity the match and Lu Bu and Randgriz's lives.]]
** Happens to Zeus the next round when he enters his fight with Adam without his divine weapon under the assumption that he didn't need it to beat the latter. [[spoiler: This only makes him more susceptible to Adam's [[PowerCopying Eyes of the Lord]], who then proceeds to beat the holy hell out of him with his own techniques.]]
** Happens to the gods at the Third Round. [[spoiler: Sasaki Kojiro, History's Greatest Loser who outright defeated Poseidon who was hyped to be the God Among Gods sent the spectators on the gods side into stunned silence.]]
** Heracles, over and over again throughout his fight with Jack the Ripper.
* TheDitz: Sasaki Kojiro is introduced like this, appearing as an old man who seemingly stumbled into the warrior selection for the third round.
* TheDreaded: Poseidon. Even other gods are intimidated by him.
* DualWielding: [[spoiler: Sasaki Kojiro's Nito-Ganryu, the ultimate culmination of his Ganryu style of Swordsmanship combined with Miyamoto Musashi's Niten-Ichi-Ryu.]]
* ElementalPowers: Played with multiple ways for the gods.
** Played straight with Thor's lightning and Shiva's fiery dance.
** Subverted with Zeus (whose lightning abilities are depicted metaphorically).
** Downplayed with Poseidon, who uses his signature [[MakingASplash element]] in his introduction, but never uses it in his fight because he sees his opponent as an insect unworthy of making him go all out.
* EvolvingCredits: The visuals of the opening of the anime change at some parts depending on the round they cover:
** When the gods are presented, depending on the episode, the two first ones to appear change. For episodes from 1 to 4 we have Zeus and Thor, for episodes from 5 to 8 we have Ares and Zeus, and for episodes from 9 to 12 we have Loki and Poseidon.
** 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).
** Lastly, the new characters who appear in each round are also added to the final shot at the end. Also, starting from the second round, here Zeus appears in his muscular form instead of his default emaciated one.
* ExactWords: At Zeus' request, [[spoiler:Buddha]] agrees to fight in the sixth round. He didn't say ''which side'' he'd be fighting for.
* 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.]]
* GreyAndGrayMorality: In the red corner, we have Jack the Ripper, who murdered several women, mutilated their bodies, and taunted the authorities for not being able to catch him, fighting for humanity's continued survival. In the blue corner, we have Heracles, one of the most famous heroes in all of the mythology who's clearly quite conflicted over where his loyalties lie, fighting for humanity's immediate extinction. Even the human crowd doesn't know if they should be rooting for history's most infamous serial killer, even though '''literally all of their lives''' will come one step closer to extinction if he loses.
* HeroicRROD: [[spoiler: Adam]] suffers this on the cusp of his victory.
* HistoricalHeroUpgrade: Varyingly with HistoricalVillainUpgrade. The setting really pushes for making all characters as badass as they can possibly be, with that historical and mythical figures, good and bad, have their commonly known backstories completely revised if they contained any shameful moment in them, such as loss, a moment of weakness, cowardice, etc. Case in point: a common record of Lu Bu’s final moments was him throwing a fit upon being captured by Cao Cao’s forces and being denied a chance to work with their army, as he was known as a serial betrayer; this series, however, changes that event into Lu Bu being completely calm in his final moment, going as far as to say the previous record is completely false, the “truth” is that Lu Bu actually allowed himself to be captured, the man was so bored of being unmatched in battle throughout his entire life that nothing mattered anymore, so he might as well free himself of such a meaningless life.
* TheHost: The Norse God Heimdall serves as the announcer of Ragnarok, fitting since his horn announces the mythic one.
* HotGoddess: Aphrodite, naturally, is quite beautiful with large breasts and little in the way of clothing.
* HowMuchMoreCanHeTake: [[spoiler: Zeus and especially Adam. Both of them make tens, if not hundreds of blows that would turn people to paste, and Adam does this while possessing the body of a mortal.]]
* 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.
* {{Irony}}: [[spoiler: Sasaki Kojiro, the man who was known as the Greatest Loser, wins humanity's first victory.]]
* ItsPersonal: [[spoiler:As badly as Shiva wants to fight the fourth round, he's forced to hold off by the collective, [[TranquilFury quiet fury]] of Zeus, Hermes, and Ares wishing to avenge Poseidon's death in the name of the Greek pantheon.]]
* JerkassGods: All of them at the start, as they vote to end humanity. As the plot develops, it slowly becomes apparent that there are varying degrees of this among the gods.
** Arrogant, superior jerkasses who look down on humanity (Zeus, Poseidon, or Loki)
** AffablyEvil gods who are working against humanity (Shiva)
** Actual nice guys trying to convince the other gods to spare humanity (Heracles)
** Gods who might actually be working ''for'' humanity in the background ([[spoiler:Buddha]]).
** Gods who outright side with humanity ([[spoiler:also Buddha.]])
* JerkassHasAPoint: Heavily downplayed, but no attempt is ever made to disprove the gods' claim about how rotten humanity has become, with Brunhilde's plan going directly to a single-combat tournament, and even afterward the focus is more on defeating the gods rather than proving humanity's worth. The fact that so far almost all the contestants have had their flaws erased and portrayed as been recorded wrong in history, and the one pointed to as "the worst humanity has to offer" being not that evil after all, only makes it worse, since it only gives more credit to the gods' claim that humanity is getting worse. The point is very minor, since wiping out humanity is still at the ''very'' least an overreaction and the gods are shown as not being much better themselves, but in a manga about how awesome humanity is it stands out.
* KnowWhenToFoldEm:
** After Alcides' transformation into Heracles, Ares tried to stop his army from needlessly attacking someone with Zeus-tier strength, but was too late to stop what was essentially their suicidal assault.
** 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.]]
* LeaningOnTheFourthWall: When the gods' second representative is revealed to be Zeus himself a confused Göll asks "Why is the last boss popping up in the prologue?".
* LonelyAtTheTop:
** Thor and Lu Bu both share this problem, having no challenges outside of Ragnarok.
** Raiden faces this so badly in his backstory that he ''intentionally loses'' sometimes so that he can still have friends and relationships.
* MadeOfIron: Lu Bu, whose form was considered freakishly resilient even by the gods. [[spoiler: Although it allows him to survive several of Thor's swings, he is in the end broken.]]
* TheMagicTouch: This is the trick to [[spoiler:Jack The Ripper's real Volund, a HighClassGlove where everything it touches becomes a divine weapon.]]
* ManlyTears: All over the place in a series about the greatest warriors fighting to the death.
* MassOhCrap: [[spoiler:All of the gods suffer this after Sasaki Kojiro kills Poseidon in the third fight, their hubris being shattered by the realization that they could possibly '''die.''']]
-->'''Loki:''' [[spoiler:''Seriously...?'' '''''[[OOCIsSeriousBusiness This... is no longer a joke.]]''''']]
* MartialPacifist: Sasaki Kojiro never officially defeated or killed a single opponent in his life. Rather, he'd duel them, observe their techniques, train himself to surpass the moves that overwhelmed him, and then move on to a stronger opponent whilst foregoing a rematch with those that had formerly trounced him. Since he was such an affable and harmless fellow, his opponents decided against killing him which allowed for a life full of adventure and self-improvement until he found his ultimate opponent in Miyamoto Musashi who impressed him so much that he had to see that match to the bitter end.
* NightmareFace: All over the place, especially from the side of the gods. Zeus, [[spoiler:Zerofuku]] and, surprisingly, [[BigGood Brunhilde]] of all people are the worst offenders.
* NoChallengeEqualsNoSatisfaction: Lu Bu and Thor share this sentiment.
* NoHoldsBarredBeatdown: [[spoiler: Adam gives one of these to Zeus before his [[HeroicRROD Heroic RROD]].]]
* NotSoDifferentRemark: As the fifth fight approaches its climax, Brunhilde notes that both Shiva and Raiden are men whose strength increases exponentially when they have others that they are fighting for, even destroying their own bodies so they don't let their loved ones down.
* NotSoStoic: The manga loves to use this trope a lot. If a character at first appears to be serious, composed, cold, or emotionless, you can bet that at some point they will suddenly show emotions and break character. It is applied both for dramatic and comedic effects.
* OldMaster:
** Sasaki Kojiro projects this image, but it's mostly because he likes the aesthetic as he actually died fairly young.
** Zeus shows even more knowledge about other gods' moves and powers than Hermes. He also walks like the archetypical anime old master, with his arms held behind his back.
* 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.]]
* PapaWolf: [[spoiler:Adam's]] reason for fighting in Ragnarok? [[spoiler: To protect his children (all of humanity), of course.]]
* PetTheDog: Hermes doesn't really have a high opinion of Ares. Nonetheless, [[spoiler: when Ares resolves to move forward after Heracles' death, he not only doesn't mock Ares' resolve, he gives a little smile as well.]]
* PowerCopying: [[spoiler: Adam's specialty, enabling him to [[BeatThemAtTheirOwnGame beat his enemies with their own attacks.]]]]
* RapidFireFisticuffs and PummelDuel: What Adam vs Zeus eventually boils down to.
* RatedMForManly: Back-to-back brutal death fights? Check. The strongest both above and under the heavens? Check. Compelling backstories and intense action? Check.
* RousseauWasRight: The series runs on the premise that humans are basically decent and would only become malicious under extreme circumstances. Most of the human characters have their more unsavory traits [[AdaptationalHeroism removed]] (such as Lu Bu's ChronicBackstabbingDisorder tendency and Adam and Eve's willful disobedience that led to their exile). Even Jack the Ripper--a man described in-universe as "the worst humanity has to offer"-- is portrayed as a [[UsedToBeASweetKid decent child]] who only [[IJustWantToBeLoved wants to be loved]], and eventually becomes a hedonistic SerialKiller after he realizes that his mother, the only person he thought had loved him, only wanted to use him to bait his wealthy father and save her from a life of poverty and attempted to murder him after she realized that her ambitions are for naught.
* RunningGag: Despite claiming to have omniscience in all forms of violence and combat, Ares keeps missing finer details in the fights and has to be informed by Hermes, [[BlatantLies only to bluster that he already knew that.]]
* ShroudedInMyth: One common theme of the manga is that history got only the BroadStrokes of what actually happened, mostly to make the fighters even more kick-ass than their original counterparts. For example, Lu Bu didn't beg to be spared before his execution; he actually told them to get on with it already because he was just that bored with everything on Earth being unable to provide him with a decent challenge.
* SistineSteal: Reginleif's Volund with Adam has them both pose like in ''The Creation of Adam''.
* SoreLoser: [[spoiler:Poseidon]].
* SortingAlgorithmOfEvil: Inverted. Heavy hitter head gods such as Zeus, Poseidon, and Thor are the first ones to challenge humanity. The first one to follow these three is Heracles, a mere (if famous) demigod.
* 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.
* SpeedBlitz: [[spoiler: Poseidon's 40-day Flood, which is so fast that his afterimages form a dome around his opponent.]]
* SpoilerOpening: The opening visuals depicting the second fight don't have a problem revealing Zeus' [[spoiler:Adamas form]] (it's shadowed in the first appearance of Zeus in the opening, but clearly easy to see in the animation depicting him against Adam), despite being a big twist for the battle. Likewise, some of the skillsets of the gods who are going to fight in Ragnarok yet don't fight in the rounds the anime covers are shown, like Loki's chain-hooks or Shiva's dance (though this can be excused with being a mere reference to Shiva's dancing in mythology).
* StrongAndSkilled: ''The Gods.'' While all the combatant gods shown thus far have been supremely strong, demonstrating endurance and power dwarfing anything the humans can offer, they also demonstrate skills that are suited to millennia-old badasses embodying the best warriors the gods have to offer, routinely surprising the humans that expect them to be UnskilledButStrong. Fitting the trope's application to villains, this puts ''every'' god at the apex of threat for the humans.
* SuperMode:
** [[spoiler: Adamas (meaning diamond or indestructible in Greek) is Zeus's own, a state where all his muscles compress to their fullest extent. In this form, even normal punches become an OneHitKill, and normal movement is more akin to SuperSpeed with the transformation's drawback being self-destructive in this state.]]
** [[spoiler:Shiva's ''Tandava Karma'' forcibly stimulates his soul, setting his body on fire and greatly improving all his stats. However, it burns his own body, so the longer he keeps this up the greater the chance of his death.]]
* SurprisinglyRealisticOutcome:
** Sadly, blocking an attack does not mean the force of the blow is magically dissipated. [[spoiler: Lu Bu's body crumbles under the stress of stopping Thor's strikes.]]
** 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.
* ThoseTwoGuys: Hermes and Ares are generally the only non-combatant gods who show up to watch the fights, and are almost always seen together commenting on what's happening in the matches.
* TokenGoodTeammate: Heracles for the gods, but his nobility just results in the valkyries setting him up against the deplorable Jack the Ripper for what they hope will be an easy win.
* TookALevelInBadass: Sasaki Kojiro's whole schtick: he continually loses, and from those losses, grows until he realizes that he has surpassed his opponent.
* TranshumanTreachery: Demigod heroes (including Buddha) like Susanoo and Heracles are fighting on behalf of the gods in spite of how they attained fame for protecting humanity in their original legends. [[spoiler:However, Heracles aims to win but also to petition for humanity's survival, and Buddha is suspected to actually be helping out the humans behind-the-scenes and ends up fighting in the sixth round for humanity.]]
* UnconsciousObjector: Despite getting hit by Zeus' fist that was stated to have enough power to kill him in a single strike multiple times, Adam simply takes that opportunity to latch onto Zeus and start a pound-for-pound punch-out, taking tens if not hundreds of the aforementioned blows. [[spoiler:He proceeds to win said punch-out despite literally dying in the middle of it. Even after he died from the punch-out, Adam's body stands smiling, refusing to bend a knee.]]
* WeakButSkilled: Humanity as a whole serves as this compared to the gods, even if some of the challengers are superstrong 'for humans.' Generally, humanity is presented as seeking depth in their technique and skill to overcome greater opponents, something the StrongAndSkilled gods have no need for due to their unreal strength.
** Sasaki Kojiro especially embodies this, having become skilled enough to beat out the other swordsman of his era including Miyamoto Musashi.
** Jack the Ripper takes this one step further, as while Kojiro still trained hard enough to achieve the superhuman feat of the Tsubame Gaeshi, or Swallow Return, Jack had no such strength or training, yet demonstrated mastery of his weaponry enough to challenge the ultra-strong Heracles.
* WhamEpisode:
** Round 5 starts off the same as the others, [[spoiler:but it's soon revealed that Loki figured out who taught the Valkyries the Volund technique was [[TokenGoodTeammate Buddha]], and he along with Bishamonten and the 7 Lucky Gods confront him about it. Both Sasaki and Souji come to back him up, although it doesn't seem like Buddha needed much assistance.]]
** And that's child's play compared with the succession of twists that happen in the next round. For starters, when Buddha comes to the arena (after being told by Zeus to participate in the sixth match), he announces that [[spoiler:he's fighting for humans and proceeds to become the next representative of mankind, showing his true allegiance. After this, the Seven Lucky Gods make a grand entrance and reveal they're in truth a single entity named Zerofuku, who ends becoming the true representative of the gods in Round 6 and has a deep hatred for Buddha that goes back to the distant past. If that isn't enough, later in the fight, just when it looks like Buddha managed to save Zerofuku from his darkness, the horns Zerofuku was wielding take life and turn into two dragons, engulfing Zerofuku and turning him into an egg, from which emerges Hajun, a demon from Buddhism that takes Zerofuku's place in the round and is prepared to fight Buddha.]]
* WhamLine: Near the end of Chapter 43, Buddha drops a line that completely changes up how the structure of Ragnarok has worked up to this point, as well as [[spoiler:confirming his allegiance after several chapters of [[AmbiguouslyEvil ambiguity]]]]:
-->'''Buddha:''' [[spoiler:[[HeelFaceTurn I'll be fighting for humanity]], so, uh... thanks.]]
* WhatIsThisFeeling: Jack is confused at the emotions he feels [[spoiler: after killing Heracles. Hlokk tells him he's sad, and it only confuses him further.]]
* WhenAllYouHaveIsAHammer: Poseidon's fighting style in a nutshell. An enemy stands before him? Thrust his trident at it. If that doesn't work? Thrust harder and faster. Rinse and repeat.
* TheWorfEffect: [[spoiler:Poseidon is hyped up to be a dignified and almighty deity on par with Zeus, but he proves to be petulant at his core and falls to the WeakButSkilled Sasaki Kojiro, rattling his fellow gods with the real prospect of defeat and death.]]
* WorldOfBuxom: Most women of the series are very buxom, especially if they’re a goddess.
* WorldsStrongestMan: Thor and Lu Bu are viewed as the strongest god and strongest human respectively. However, this seems to only apply to absolute physical strength, as the later fighters, Adam and Zeus, are shown to be somewhat equal to them.
* WorthyOpponent:
** Lu Bu and Thor come to really enjoy their fight together, having lived their whole lives without a foe on their level.
** Zeus has the time of his life getting into an all-out fistfight with Adam.
** Everybody Kojiro has fought and lost to nonetheless respect him deeply as a master of his craft, including Miyamoto Musashi himself.
** Raiden and Shiva both acknowledge each other as the person who gave them their greatest fight and even thank each other for it at the climax of their battle.
* YouAreACreditToYourRace: Implied. Despite acknowledging the Einerjhar's strength and bravery in every round, the gods still seem to despise and underestimate mankind as a whole.
* YoungerThanTheyLook: Zeus might look like a grotesque geezer compared to his brother Poseidon, but he's actually the youngest of Cronus' three sons.
----
->Let Mortal Kombat begin!
to:
[[caption-width-right:350: Cover for the first volume. Lu Bu (left) and Thor (right).]]
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.
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 of 2019, a spin-off centered in 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 of 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 the 18th of August of 2021, slated to air in 2023, with Graphinica's sister studio [[Creator/{{TYO}} Yumeta Company]] assisting on animation duties.
Compare to ''Manga/KenganAshura'' in the tournament-style and long, drawn-out battles. Also, compare to ''Manga/BakiTheGrappler'' in the brutality of its combat.
----
!! This Manga contains examples of:
* TwoDVisualsThreeDEffects: The fight between Heracles and Jack the Ripper in the anime alternates between both 2D and 3D mediums, which is made obvious when Heracles' hair [[NoFlowInCGI remains as stiff as a brick]] when he turns 3D.
* HundredPercentAdorationRating:
** Adam, Adam, Adam. All humans fighters will obviously receive support from humanity, but Adam takes the cake. Just being the Father of all mankind already guarantees him to have filial love from his "children" regardless of races, ages, classes, good or evil; but he also backs it up by loving them in return which only makes humans adore him even more. It gets to the point that [[spoiler: all humans would rather have him lose but survive than win but lose his life in the process. Unfortunately, Adam chooses the second option.]]
** While the likes of Zeus and Poseidon are the most revered among the gods, Heracles is the most loved. Even the majority of humanity can't find any reason to dislike him despite the fact that he's their enemy. [[spoiler: His death at Jack the Ripper's hands is seen as a tragedy by both the gods and humanity. Even [[TokenEvilTeammate Jack himself]] seems saddened by his death]].
* ThirteenIsUnlucky: ''13'' Champions, ''13'' Gods, and ''13'' Valkyries. Anyone dying in Ragnarok will cease to exist.
* ActorAllusion: Both involves the Japanese and Latin American Spanish dubs and both also involves the ''Franchise/MarvelCinematicUniverse'':
** 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.
** In a non-MCU example, in the Latin American Spanish dub, Creator/MariaFernandaMorales (Brunhilde) voiced [[Manga/SaintSeiya Saori Kido, a girl with divine powers bent on protecting humanity]]. The same goes for Pedro D'Aguillon Jr. (Zeus), who voiced Mitsumasa Kido in both ''Anime/SaintSeiyaLegendOfSanctuary'' and ''Anime/SaintSeiyaKnightsOfTheZodiac'', plus some saints in the original series, and also Creator/JoseGilbertoVilchis (Ares), who voiced both Andromeda Shun and Hades, plus also voicing Disney's ''WesternAnimation/{{Hercules}}'' in the TV series and his {{Expy}} Storkules in ''WesternAnimation/DuckTales2017'', not to mention Loki in the MCU as well.
** Also, from the Latin American dub, Creator/HumbertoSolorzano (Odin) already voiced gods before, especially in ''WesternAnimation/OnyxEquinox'' as Quetzalcoatl and Hades in Disney's ''WesternAnimation/{{Hercules}}'' in the TV series.
* 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.
* 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.]]
* AdaptationSpeciesChange: Heracles, ''the'' demigod, [[spoiler: was actually born as a fragile human boy in this version of his story and only ascended to demi-godhood by drinking the blood of Zeus.]]
* AdaptationalVillainy: It goes largely without saying, but pretty much every God. [[JerkAssGods Some less so than others]] but in almost any mythology you’d care to name humanity survives solely by the patronage and protection of at least a few gods. Here, the whole lot of them are trying to end it.
* AgeLift: Several of the Einherjar, but also a number of spectators, all of whom were presumably quite old when they died. One that stands out is Miyamoto Iori, who is portrayed as a young boy when he was actually in his sixties at the time of his death. The fighters at least have the excuse of being returned to their physical prime, but the spectators have no such excuse.
%%Belongs in CrossoverCosmology* AllMythsAreTrue
* AllYourPowersCombined: [[spoiler: Kojiro manages to accumulate the experience of his fights while he was still living and hone them in the afterlife. As such, he's managed to incorporate all the techniques of the swordsmen he's faced into his own unique style.]]
* AntiHero: Jack the Ripper. The number of people who appreciates having him as one of humanity's champions can be counted on a blind carpenter's hand.
* AntiVillain: Heracles, oh so much. He may be fighting for the gods, but he thinks incredibly highly of humanity. He also outright tells Loki that he is firmly against exterminating humanity and will keep the rest of the gods from destroying them even if he wins his round.
* AnyoneCanDie: No matter how powerful or how sympathetic the fighters are, all bets are off for the combatants.
* AnArmAndALeg: The manga loves to use this trope, to the point that, except for the second fight, all the battles featured so far have presented damage made to the arms of one of the combatants.
** For the first round, [[spoiler: Lu Bu loses both of his arms after being hit by Thor's last attack, removing the right one with his teeth, even.]]
** For the third round, [[spoiler: Kojiro manages to cut both of Poseidon's arms (one first, then the other) after analyzing his pattern of attack, forcing Poseidon to hold his trident with his teeth in a last, desperate attack.]]
** For the fourth round, [[spoiler: Heracles gets his left arm sliced by the clock of the Big Ben tower when he tries to block it after Jack throws it at him, not knowing the clock had divine properties thanks to the ability of Jack's Volund.]]
** For the fifth round, [[spoiler: Shiva gets one of his (four) arms maimed by Raiden after he grabs it and crushes it. He then loses two more to Raiden's ''Yatagarasu''. Raiden also loses one of ''his'' arms to Shiva's ''Devaloka''.]]
** For the sixth round, [[spoiler:after having his left forearm cut by Buddha's [[SinisterScythe Salakayas]], Hajun brutally rips off his own wounded arm to form a hand-shaped sword with it. Unlike other cases, despite the handicap of having only one arm, Hajun manages to remain a threat and even gets to destroy Buddha's Six Realms staff.]]
* ArrogantKungFuGuy: Poseidon, who in contrast to his ever-evolving opponent (Kojiro) or Zeus and Thor before him, never bothers to adjust or improve his fighting style (that is, thrust his trident at a problem multiple times with overwhelming strength) because he believes he is an utterly perfect being.
* 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 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.
* AvengingTheVillain: [[spoiler:Following Poseidon's death, Zeus and the other Greek Gods decide to send Heracles in the next round as the representative of the gods, hoping for him to avenge the humiliation that the defeat of the God of the Seas brought to their Pantheon. This fails miserably, and Heracles is killed at the end.]]
** [[spoiler:Hades enters the seventh round, claiming to seek to avenge his brother. His servant Proteus is also on board with the revenge, supplying Hades with what's left of his master's weapon so he can indirectly help him. ]]
* BackStory: Because of the limited amount of chapters for each round, this is a must for all the fighters to flesh them out.
* BaitAndSwitchBoss: Round 6 pulls this no less than four times. Originally, is expected for Buddha to be the representant of the gods for the 6th fight, but [[spoiler:he unexpectedly deflects to the human side and goes to fight against the side he was supposed to represent. After that, the Seven Lucky Gods arrive to the battlefied, with Bishamonten apparently going to become the champion of the gods. However, [[FusionDance he instead fuses with the rest of the Lucky Gods]] and reveal they were in truth a singly divinity named Zerofuku that ends being the true fighter from the god side for Round 6. And then, after some chapters of fight, when Buddha manages to defeat Zerofuku, the misery god is possessed by the horns of his head (who become two dragons) and swallowed into an egg-shaped cocoon, summoning the demon Hajun, who then proceeds to take Zerofuku's place and confront Buddha.]]
* BeatThemAtTheirOwnGame: [[spoiler: Adam's]] specialty, on account of his [[spoiler: Eyes of God]], is to instantly copy the moves of his opponent (Zeus in this case) and turn it back on them.
* BigBad: Being the leader of the gods, Zeus is the main antagonist of the series. Unusually for this trope, he is, however, the second of the gods to fight, as opposed to being the [[FinalBoss last one]] like Brunhilde and Göll thought. [[spoiler:Since he wins his fight with Adam, he still keeps being the main villain, although now in a supporting role, as his fight is over.]]
* BigGood: The Valkyrie Brunhilde fulfills this role in the manga. She advocates for the salvation of the humans, giving them a chance to avoid extinction by taking advantage of the pride of the gods to start Ragnarok, and is the one who selects the human warriors that will participate in the tournament to surpass the gods. Also a case when she's both the leader of the good guys and the main protagonist. Despite this, she can be surprisingly ruthless and devious to assure that humanity wins Ragnarok, resorting to any kind of methods to ensure their victory.
* {{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.
* BladeOnAStick: Of the six combatants so far, two have wielded these: Lu Bu and his famed halberd, and Poseidon wielding his trident.
* 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.
* BloodyMurder: [[spoiler: Jack's final blow against Heracles has him coat his Volund gloves with his own blood, turning it into a divine weapon that he uses to impale and kill the god]].
* {{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.]]
* BreakTheHaughty: [[spoiler: Sasaki Kojiro's defeat of Poseidon, the one recognized as the most prideful of gods. Also, Poseidon's killing of Adamas.]]
* BrokeYourArmPunchingOutCthulhu: [[spoiler: Inverted. Zeus is critically injured after "defeating" Adam to the point that his wounds keep exploding when he gets even a little bit stressed. Similarly, Shiva defeats Raiden but loses three of his four arms for it.]]
* BullyTurnedBuddy: The two bullies that tormented Alcides and Castor in the past are shown in Ragnarok rooting for the former (now Heracles) during his fight against Jack the Ripper, implying that they came to respect him despite mocking and beating him before his ascension to godhood.
* BunnyEarsLawyer:
** As stated in [[CrouchingMoronHiddenBadass Crouching Moron Hidden Badass]] below, Sasaki Kojiro’s first appearance depicts him as a ditzy old man, and even in combat, he's full of laughter and relaxation. He's also the greatest swordsman of his era, beating out the majority of famous Japanese swordsman up to and including Miyamoto Musashi.
** A lot of the gods also fall into this trope; Shiva, for example, is lazy and prefers to dance instead of fight; Buddha eats lollipops and wears bizarre T-shirts.
* ButtMonkey: Shiva keeps trying to enter the early rounds of the competition, but is repeatedly vetoed by the Greek pantheon. [[spoiler:He finally gets his chance to fight in the fifth round, and ''wins''.]]
* CainAndAbel: The [[TropeNamer eponymous brothers]] are spectators during their father's fight with Zeus. Amusingly, Cain continues to beat up an oblivious Abel even as both continue to cheer Adam on.
* CanonForeigner: While all the divinities presented on the manga are figures from the mythologies from all the world, there are two gods featured in the work that are created for the series and have no known counterpart in mythology:
** The first one is Adamas, a fallen Olympian god who was killed by Poseidon before the start of the series and who was forgotten by everyone after Poseidon erased his name from history. His inclusion in the series was likely a way to show Poseidon's cruelty without wasting any of the "canon" Olympians for potential appearances in the current timeline.
** The other one is [[spoiler:Zerofuku, who is the original form of the Seven Lucky Gods and split himself into the seven due having a nasty breakdown after failing to deliver happiness to humans in the past. He reappears in the tournament after Bishamonten and the other six Lucky Gods fuse again into him to fight Buddha in the sixth round of Ragnarok, with the intention of taking revenge on Buddha, who succeeded in bringing happiness to his followers, unlike him.]]
* CastFromHitPoints:
** [[spoiler: Heracles's Hercule Exodus is manifesting one of his Twelve Labors as an attack, but causes his tattoo to grow and consume him. If it completely consumes him, then Heracles's will be completely annihilated.]]
** Both fighters in the [[spoiler:fifth]] round have this going on. [[spoiler:Raiden's muscles at full capacity are destroying his own body as he uses them, and Shiva's ''Tandava Karma'' literally burns him away to give him better attributes and a flaming body.]]
* CharlesAtlasSuperpower: Sasaki Kojiro's ability to predict as well as his superhuman swordsmanship and physical prowess stem not from his natural body but from years of training and constant defeat.
* CombatCommentator: As the tournament is set up half so that the gods can be entertained and demonstrate their might, Heimdall commentates on the tournament throughout its duration. Apart from him, there are other characters that appear commenting on the skills and feats of the fighters, the most remarkable ones being [[BigGood Brunhilde]], [[TheBabyOfTheBunch Göll]], Hermes and Ares.
* CombatPragmatist:
** After his [[spoiler:arm and trident are chopped off]], Poseidon grabs them both with his other arm, but unlike the more "honorable" previous fights, Sasaki doesn't give him a chance to reorient himself and presses onward with his onslaught as the sea god had proved himself to be a loveless snob devoid of empathy.
** Jack the Ripper serves as perhaps the ultimate example of this, as he requests a pre-designed arena that gives him an advantage, [[spoiler:lies ''multiple'' times about what his powers do, sets up traps, and lures his opponent into them, and even attacks mid-sentence.]]
* CowardlyLion: During their fateful confrontation, Ares was ready to battle Heracles to the bitter end, but was relieved when Zeus intervened to stop them from fighting further as he was aware there was a real chance the demigod would slay them if the duel had continued.
** He's also terrified when Hermes implies he'll be picked for the seventh round, and has to psyche himself up by reminding himself he's ''the god of war''. And then it turns out Hermes was talking about [[spoiler:Hades]] and hadn't even considered Ares for fighting.
* CrossoverCosmology: All gods from different mythologies fight each other. While pretty much all of the historical characters from various religions and mythologies exist in the manga, there were plenty of instances where some of the finer details were misinterpreted, changed, or had been erased.
* CrouchingMoronHiddenBadass:
** 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.]]
** Zeus. He is initially shown as a frail, senile old man, but during his fight, he is revealed to be a shapeshifting flesh monster whose speed defies the concept of time and whose durability borders on complete invincibility.
* DeadToBeginWith: All of the human audience and champions have long passed into the afterlife.
* DefeatAsBackstory: Sasaki Kojiro's entire life when he was alive.
* DefiantToTheEnd: In a world where the fate of Humanity will be decided in a fighting tournament between Man and God, you can expect moments like these to show up.
** First round: [[spoiler: With his body completely broken by ''Geirröd Thor's Hammer'', Lu Bu simply muses he gave it his all before having Red Hare charge him forward for one final blaze of glory. He gets a face full of Mjolnir for his trouble.]]
** Second round: [[spoiler: Adam dies in the midst of his punch-out with Zeus. But even in death his body relentlessly continues to punch back and only stops when Zeus is brought down to his knees.]]
** Third round: [[spoiler: While prior combatants showed respect to the humans they've defeated, Poseidon only contemptuously says that Kojiro is a piece of shit while he's dying.]]
* TheDeterminator:
** [[spoiler: Adam may just beat everyone out at this. Despite getting hit by a fist that was stated to have enough power to kill him in a single strike multiple times, Adam simply takes that opportunity to latch onto Zeus and start a pound-for-pound punch-out, taking tens if not hundreds of the aforementioned blows. He proceeds to win said punch-out despite literally dying in the middle of it.]]
** Heracles is known as the God of Fortitude, a name he more than lives up to. [[spoiler: His Herculean Exodus is explicitly stated to cause paralyzing pain that only gets worse the more labors that the user calls upon. By the end of his fight with Jack, Heracles is experiencing a magnitude of pain that makes the gods skin crawl, but never once shows it on his face or allows it to slow him down]].
* DidYouJustFlipOffCthulhu: Adam's response to the gods accusing his wife of eating the forbidden fruit? Bring two baskets of said fruit into the court of gods, chomp on each one before spitting it out, and complain about the sourness. Then he proclaims that he would go with Eve to Earth. Of course, not before he kills the Serpent.
* DidntSeeThatComing: Brunhilde gets hit with this in the first round when she assumes that destroying Thor's Jarngreipr will keep him from properly using Mjolnir, thus making him easier to beat. [[spoiler: Unfortunately, Jarngrepier's true purpose was to ''hold back'' Thor's strength to keep him from accidentally destroying Mjolnir (which turns out to be a LivingWeapon) before it could awaken. This mistake costs humanity the match and Lu Bu and Randgriz's lives.]]
** Happens to Zeus the next round when he enters his fight with Adam without his divine weapon under the assumption that he didn't need it to beat the latter. [[spoiler: This only makes him more susceptible to Adam's [[PowerCopying Eyes of the Lord]], who then proceeds to beat the holy hell out of him with his own techniques.]]
** Happens to the gods at the Third Round. [[spoiler: Sasaki Kojiro, History's Greatest Loser who outright defeated Poseidon who was hyped to be the God Among Gods sent the spectators on the gods side into stunned silence.]]
** Heracles, over and over again throughout his fight with Jack the Ripper.
* TheDitz: Sasaki Kojiro is introduced like this, appearing as an old man who seemingly stumbled into the warrior selection for the third round.
* TheDreaded: Poseidon. Even other gods are intimidated by him.
* DualWielding: [[spoiler: Sasaki Kojiro's Nito-Ganryu, the ultimate culmination of his Ganryu style of Swordsmanship combined with Miyamoto Musashi's Niten-Ichi-Ryu.]]
* ElementalPowers: Played with multiple ways for the gods.
** Played straight with Thor's lightning and Shiva's fiery dance.
** Subverted with Zeus (whose lightning abilities are depicted metaphorically).
** Downplayed with Poseidon, who uses his signature [[MakingASplash element]] in his introduction, but never uses it in his fight because he sees his opponent as an insect unworthy of making him go all out.
* EvolvingCredits: The visuals of the opening of the anime change at some parts depending on the round they cover:
** When the gods are presented, depending on the episode, the two first ones to appear change. For episodes from 1 to 4 we have Zeus and Thor, for episodes from 5 to 8 we have Ares and Zeus, and for episodes from 9 to 12 we have Loki and Poseidon.
** 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).
** Lastly, the new characters who appear in each round are also added to the final shot at the end. Also, starting from the second round, here Zeus appears in his muscular form instead of his default emaciated one.
* ExactWords: At Zeus' request, [[spoiler:Buddha]] agrees to fight in the sixth round. He didn't say ''which side'' he'd be fighting for.
* 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.]]
* GreyAndGrayMorality: In the red corner, we have Jack the Ripper, who murdered several women, mutilated their bodies, and taunted the authorities for not being able to catch him, fighting for humanity's continued survival. In the blue corner, we have Heracles, one of the most famous heroes in all of the mythology who's clearly quite conflicted over where his loyalties lie, fighting for humanity's immediate extinction. Even the human crowd doesn't know if they should be rooting for history's most infamous serial killer, even though '''literally all of their lives''' will come one step closer to extinction if he loses.
* HeroicRROD: [[spoiler: Adam]] suffers this on the cusp of his victory.
* HistoricalHeroUpgrade: Varyingly with HistoricalVillainUpgrade. The setting really pushes for making all characters as badass as they can possibly be, with that historical and mythical figures, good and bad, have their commonly known backstories completely revised if they contained any shameful moment in them, such as loss, a moment of weakness, cowardice, etc. Case in point: a common record of Lu Bu’s final moments was him throwing a fit upon being captured by Cao Cao’s forces and being denied a chance to work with their army, as he was known as a serial betrayer; this series, however, changes that event into Lu Bu being completely calm in his final moment, going as far as to say the previous record is completely false, the “truth” is that Lu Bu actually allowed himself to be captured, the man was so bored of being unmatched in battle throughout his entire life that nothing mattered anymore, so he might as well free himself of such a meaningless life.
* TheHost: The Norse God Heimdall serves as the announcer of Ragnarok, fitting since his horn announces the mythic one.
* HotGoddess: Aphrodite, naturally, is quite beautiful with large breasts and little in the way of clothing.
* HowMuchMoreCanHeTake: [[spoiler: Zeus and especially Adam. Both of them make tens, if not hundreds of blows that would turn people to paste, and Adam does this while possessing the body of a mortal.]]
* 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.
* {{Irony}}: [[spoiler: Sasaki Kojiro, the man who was known as the Greatest Loser, wins humanity's first victory.]]
* ItsPersonal: [[spoiler:As badly as Shiva wants to fight the fourth round, he's forced to hold off by the collective, [[TranquilFury quiet fury]] of Zeus, Hermes, and Ares wishing to avenge Poseidon's death in the name of the Greek pantheon.]]
* JerkassGods: All of them at the start, as they vote to end humanity. As the plot develops, it slowly becomes apparent that there are varying degrees of this among the gods.
** Arrogant, superior jerkasses who look down on humanity (Zeus, Poseidon, or Loki)
** AffablyEvil gods who are working against humanity (Shiva)
** Actual nice guys trying to convince the other gods to spare humanity (Heracles)
** Gods who might actually be working ''for'' humanity in the background ([[spoiler:Buddha]]).
** Gods who outright side with humanity ([[spoiler:also Buddha.]])
* JerkassHasAPoint: Heavily downplayed, but no attempt is ever made to disprove the gods' claim about how rotten humanity has become, with Brunhilde's plan going directly to a single-combat tournament, and even afterward the focus is more on defeating the gods rather than proving humanity's worth. The fact that so far almost all the contestants have had their flaws erased and portrayed as been recorded wrong in history, and the one pointed to as "the worst humanity has to offer" being not that evil after all, only makes it worse, since it only gives more credit to the gods' claim that humanity is getting worse. The point is very minor, since wiping out humanity is still at the ''very'' least an overreaction and the gods are shown as not being much better themselves, but in a manga about how awesome humanity is it stands out.
* KnowWhenToFoldEm:
** After Alcides' transformation into Heracles, Ares tried to stop his army from needlessly attacking someone with Zeus-tier strength, but was too late to stop what was essentially their suicidal assault.
** 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.]]
* LeaningOnTheFourthWall: When the gods' second representative is revealed to be Zeus himself a confused Göll asks "Why is the last boss popping up in the prologue?".
* LonelyAtTheTop:
** Thor and Lu Bu both share this problem, having no challenges outside of Ragnarok.
** Raiden faces this so badly in his backstory that he ''intentionally loses'' sometimes so that he can still have friends and relationships.
* MadeOfIron: Lu Bu, whose form was considered freakishly resilient even by the gods. [[spoiler: Although it allows him to survive several of Thor's swings, he is in the end broken.]]
* TheMagicTouch: This is the trick to [[spoiler:Jack The Ripper's real Volund, a HighClassGlove where everything it touches becomes a divine weapon.]]
* ManlyTears: All over the place in a series about the greatest warriors fighting to the death.
* MassOhCrap: [[spoiler:All of the gods suffer this after Sasaki Kojiro kills Poseidon in the third fight, their hubris being shattered by the realization that they could possibly '''die.''']]
-->'''Loki:''' [[spoiler:''Seriously...?'' '''''[[OOCIsSeriousBusiness This... is no longer a joke.]]''''']]
* MartialPacifist: Sasaki Kojiro never officially defeated or killed a single opponent in his life. Rather, he'd duel them, observe their techniques, train himself to surpass the moves that overwhelmed him, and then move on to a stronger opponent whilst foregoing a rematch with those that had formerly trounced him. Since he was such an affable and harmless fellow, his opponents decided against killing him which allowed for a life full of adventure and self-improvement until he found his ultimate opponent in Miyamoto Musashi who impressed him so much that he had to see that match to the bitter end.
* NightmareFace: All over the place, especially from the side of the gods. Zeus, [[spoiler:Zerofuku]] and, surprisingly, [[BigGood Brunhilde]] of all people are the worst offenders.
* NoChallengeEqualsNoSatisfaction: Lu Bu and Thor share this sentiment.
* NoHoldsBarredBeatdown: [[spoiler: Adam gives one of these to Zeus before his [[HeroicRROD Heroic RROD]].]]
* NotSoDifferentRemark: As the fifth fight approaches its climax, Brunhilde notes that both Shiva and Raiden are men whose strength increases exponentially when they have others that they are fighting for, even destroying their own bodies so they don't let their loved ones down.
* NotSoStoic: The manga loves to use this trope a lot. If a character at first appears to be serious, composed, cold, or emotionless, you can bet that at some point they will suddenly show emotions and break character. It is applied both for dramatic and comedic effects.
* OldMaster:
** Sasaki Kojiro projects this image, but it's mostly because he likes the aesthetic as he actually died fairly young.
** Zeus shows even more knowledge about other gods' moves and powers than Hermes. He also walks like the archetypical anime old master, with his arms held behind his back.
* 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.]]
* PapaWolf: [[spoiler:Adam's]] reason for fighting in Ragnarok? [[spoiler: To protect his children (all of humanity), of course.]]
* PetTheDog: Hermes doesn't really have a high opinion of Ares. Nonetheless, [[spoiler: when Ares resolves to move forward after Heracles' death, he not only doesn't mock Ares' resolve, he gives a little smile as well.]]
* PowerCopying: [[spoiler: Adam's specialty, enabling him to [[BeatThemAtTheirOwnGame beat his enemies with their own attacks.]]]]
* RapidFireFisticuffs and PummelDuel: What Adam vs Zeus eventually boils down to.
* RatedMForManly: Back-to-back brutal death fights? Check. The strongest both above and under the heavens? Check. Compelling backstories and intense action? Check.
* RousseauWasRight: The series runs on the premise that humans are basically decent and would only become malicious under extreme circumstances. Most of the human characters have their more unsavory traits [[AdaptationalHeroism removed]] (such as Lu Bu's ChronicBackstabbingDisorder tendency and Adam and Eve's willful disobedience that led to their exile). Even Jack the Ripper--a man described in-universe as "the worst humanity has to offer"-- is portrayed as a [[UsedToBeASweetKid decent child]] who only [[IJustWantToBeLoved wants to be loved]], and eventually becomes a hedonistic SerialKiller after he realizes that his mother, the only person he thought had loved him, only wanted to use him to bait his wealthy father and save her from a life of poverty and attempted to murder him after she realized that her ambitions are for naught.
* RunningGag: Despite claiming to have omniscience in all forms of violence and combat, Ares keeps missing finer details in the fights and has to be informed by Hermes, [[BlatantLies only to bluster that he already knew that.]]
* ShroudedInMyth: One common theme of the manga is that history got only the BroadStrokes of what actually happened, mostly to make the fighters even more kick-ass than their original counterparts. For example, Lu Bu didn't beg to be spared before his execution; he actually told them to get on with it already because he was just that bored with everything on Earth being unable to provide him with a decent challenge.
* SistineSteal: Reginleif's Volund with Adam has them both pose like in ''The Creation of Adam''.
* SoreLoser: [[spoiler:Poseidon]].
* SortingAlgorithmOfEvil: Inverted. Heavy hitter head gods such as Zeus, Poseidon, and Thor are the first ones to challenge humanity. The first one to follow these three is Heracles, a mere (if famous) demigod.
* 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.
* SpeedBlitz: [[spoiler: Poseidon's 40-day Flood, which is so fast that his afterimages form a dome around his opponent.]]
* SpoilerOpening: The opening visuals depicting the second fight don't have a problem revealing Zeus' [[spoiler:Adamas form]] (it's shadowed in the first appearance of Zeus in the opening, but clearly easy to see in the animation depicting him against Adam), despite being a big twist for the battle. Likewise, some of the skillsets of the gods who are going to fight in Ragnarok yet don't fight in the rounds the anime covers are shown, like Loki's chain-hooks or Shiva's dance (though this can be excused with being a mere reference to Shiva's dancing in mythology).
* StrongAndSkilled: ''The Gods.'' While all the combatant gods shown thus far have been supremely strong, demonstrating endurance and power dwarfing anything the humans can offer, they also demonstrate skills that are suited to millennia-old badasses embodying the best warriors the gods have to offer, routinely surprising the humans that expect them to be UnskilledButStrong. Fitting the trope's application to villains, this puts ''every'' god at the apex of threat for the humans.
* SuperMode:
** [[spoiler: Adamas (meaning diamond or indestructible in Greek) is Zeus's own, a state where all his muscles compress to their fullest extent. In this form, even normal punches become an OneHitKill, and normal movement is more akin to SuperSpeed with the transformation's drawback being self-destructive in this state.]]
** [[spoiler:Shiva's ''Tandava Karma'' forcibly stimulates his soul, setting his body on fire and greatly improving all his stats. However, it burns his own body, so the longer he keeps this up the greater the chance of his death.]]
* SurprisinglyRealisticOutcome:
** Sadly, blocking an attack does not mean the force of the blow is magically dissipated. [[spoiler: Lu Bu's body crumbles under the stress of stopping Thor's strikes.]]
** 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.
* ThoseTwoGuys: Hermes and Ares are generally the only non-combatant gods who show up to watch the fights, and are almost always seen together commenting on what's happening in the matches.
* TokenGoodTeammate: Heracles for the gods, but his nobility just results in the valkyries setting him up against the deplorable Jack the Ripper for what they hope will be an easy win.
* TookALevelInBadass: Sasaki Kojiro's whole schtick: he continually loses, and from those losses, grows until he realizes that he has surpassed his opponent.
* TranshumanTreachery: Demigod heroes (including Buddha) like Susanoo and Heracles are fighting on behalf of the gods in spite of how they attained fame for protecting humanity in their original legends. [[spoiler:However, Heracles aims to win but also to petition for humanity's survival, and Buddha is suspected to actually be helping out the humans behind-the-scenes and ends up fighting in the sixth round for humanity.]]
* UnconsciousObjector: Despite getting hit by Zeus' fist that was stated to have enough power to kill him in a single strike multiple times, Adam simply takes that opportunity to latch onto Zeus and start a pound-for-pound punch-out, taking tens if not hundreds of the aforementioned blows. [[spoiler:He proceeds to win said punch-out despite literally dying in the middle of it. Even after he died from the punch-out, Adam's body stands smiling, refusing to bend a knee.]]
* WeakButSkilled: Humanity as a whole serves as this compared to the gods, even if some of the challengers are superstrong 'for humans.' Generally, humanity is presented as seeking depth in their technique and skill to overcome greater opponents, something the StrongAndSkilled gods have no need for due to their unreal strength.
** Sasaki Kojiro especially embodies this, having become skilled enough to beat out the other swordsman of his era including Miyamoto Musashi.
** Jack the Ripper takes this one step further, as while Kojiro still trained hard enough to achieve the superhuman feat of the Tsubame Gaeshi, or Swallow Return, Jack had no such strength or training, yet demonstrated mastery of his weaponry enough to challenge the ultra-strong Heracles.
* WhamEpisode:
** Round 5 starts off the same as the others, [[spoiler:but it's soon revealed that Loki figured out who taught the Valkyries the Volund technique was [[TokenGoodTeammate Buddha]], and he along with Bishamonten and the 7 Lucky Gods confront him about it. Both Sasaki and Souji come to back him up, although it doesn't seem like Buddha needed much assistance.]]
** And that's child's play compared with the succession of twists that happen in the next round. For starters, when Buddha comes to the arena (after being told by Zeus to participate in the sixth match), he announces that [[spoiler:he's fighting for humans and proceeds to become the next representative of mankind, showing his true allegiance. After this, the Seven Lucky Gods make a grand entrance and reveal they're in truth a single entity named Zerofuku, who ends becoming the true representative of the gods in Round 6 and has a deep hatred for Buddha that goes back to the distant past. If that isn't enough, later in the fight, just when it looks like Buddha managed to save Zerofuku from his darkness, the horns Zerofuku was wielding take life and turn into two dragons, engulfing Zerofuku and turning him into an egg, from which emerges Hajun, a demon from Buddhism that takes Zerofuku's place in the round and is prepared to fight Buddha.]]
* WhamLine: Near the end of Chapter 43, Buddha drops a line that completely changes up how the structure of Ragnarok has worked up to this point, as well as [[spoiler:confirming his allegiance after several chapters of [[AmbiguouslyEvil ambiguity]]]]:
-->'''Buddha:''' [[spoiler:[[HeelFaceTurn I'll be fighting for humanity]], so, uh... thanks.]]
* WhatIsThisFeeling: Jack is confused at the emotions he feels [[spoiler: after killing Heracles. Hlokk tells him he's sad, and it only confuses him further.]]
* WhenAllYouHaveIsAHammer: Poseidon's fighting style in a nutshell. An enemy stands before him? Thrust his trident at it. If that doesn't work? Thrust harder and faster. Rinse and repeat.
* TheWorfEffect: [[spoiler:Poseidon is hyped up to be a dignified and almighty deity on par with Zeus, but he proves to be petulant at his core and falls to the WeakButSkilled Sasaki Kojiro, rattling his fellow gods with the real prospect of defeat and death.]]
* WorldOfBuxom: Most women of the series are very buxom, especially if they’re a goddess.
* WorldsStrongestMan: Thor and Lu Bu are viewed as the strongest god and strongest human respectively. However, this seems to only apply to absolute physical strength, as the later fighters, Adam and Zeus, are shown to be somewhat equal to them.
* WorthyOpponent:
** Lu Bu and Thor come to really enjoy their fight together, having lived their whole lives without a foe on their level.
** Zeus has the time of his life getting into an all-out fistfight with Adam.
** Everybody Kojiro has fought and lost to nonetheless respect him deeply as a master of his craft, including Miyamoto Musashi himself.
** Raiden and Shiva both acknowledge each other as the person who gave them their greatest fight and even thank each other for it at the climax of their battle.
* YouAreACreditToYourRace: Implied. Despite acknowledging the Einerjhar's strength and bravery in every round, the gods still seem to despise and underestimate mankind as a whole.
* YoungerThanTheyLook: Zeus might look like a grotesque geezer compared to his brother Poseidon, but he's actually the youngest of Cronus' three sons.
----
->Let Mortal Kombat begin!
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* AdaptationInducedPlotHole: The anime shows [[spoiler: Poseidon's trident dissapearing 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 remainings of the trident (that in the manga don't dissapear) 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.]]
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* AdaptationInducedPlotHole: The anime shows [[spoiler: Poseidon's trident dissapearing 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 remainings remains of the trident (that in the manga don't dissapear) 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.]]
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In September of 2019, a spin-off centered in 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 of 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 the 18th of August of 2021, slated to air in 2023.
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In September of 2019, a spin-off centered in 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 of 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 the 18th of August of 2021, slated to air in 2023.
2023, with Graphinica's sister studio [[Creator/{{TYO}} Yumeta Company]] assisting on animation duties.
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* TwoDVisualsThreeDEffects: The fight between Heracles and Jack the Ripper in the anime alternates between both 2D and 3D mediums, which is made obvious when Heracles' hair [[NoFlowInCGI remains as stiff as a brick]] when he turns 3D.
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** In the Japanese side, Creator/MiyukiSawashiro (Brunhilde, a valkyrie) previously voiced ''Valkyrie'' in ''Film/ThorRagnarok'' onwards. This is a especially relevant, as it's heavily implied 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]].
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** In the Japanese side, Creator/MiyukiSawashiro (Brunhilde, a valkyrie) previously voiced ''Valkyrie'' in ''Film/ThorRagnarok'' onwards. This is a especially relevant, as it's heavily implied 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]].
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Up To Eleven is a defunct trope
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* BaitAndSwitchBoss: Round 6 pulls this no less than [[UpToEleven four times]]. Originally, is expected for Buddha to be the representant of the gods for the 6th fight, but [[spoiler:he unexpectedly deflects to the human side and goes to fight against the side he was supposed to represent. After that, the Seven Lucky Gods arrive to the battlefied, with Bishamonten apparently going to become the champion of the gods. However, [[FusionDance he instead fuses with the rest of the Lucky Gods]] and reveal they were in truth a singly divinity named Zerofuku that ends being the true fighter from the god side for Round 6. And then, after some chapters of fight, when Buddha manages to defeat Zerofuku, the misery god is possessed by the horns of his head (who become two dragons) and swallowed into an egg-shaped cocoon, summoning the demon Hajun, who then proceeds to take Zerofuku's place and confront Buddha.]]
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* BaitAndSwitchBoss: Round 6 pulls this no less than [[UpToEleven four times]].times. Originally, is expected for Buddha to be the representant of the gods for the 6th fight, but [[spoiler:he unexpectedly deflects to the human side and goes to fight against the side he was supposed to represent. After that, the Seven Lucky Gods arrive to the battlefied, with Bishamonten apparently going to become the champion of the gods. However, [[FusionDance he instead fuses with the rest of the Lucky Gods]] and reveal they were in truth a singly divinity named Zerofuku that ends being the true fighter from the god side for Round 6. And then, after some chapters of fight, when Buddha manages to defeat Zerofuku, the misery god is possessed by the horns of his head (who become two dragons) and swallowed into an egg-shaped cocoon, summoning the demon Hajun, who then proceeds to take Zerofuku's place and confront Buddha.]]
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Changed line(s) 8,9 (click to see context) from:
In September of 2019, a spin-off centered in 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 of 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 the 18th of August of 2021, with no clear airing date as of yet.
to:
In September of 2019, a spin-off centered in 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 of 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 the 18th of August of 2021, with no clear airing date as of yet.
slated to air in 2023.
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Dewicked trope
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* KnifeNut: Jack The Ripper's WeaponOfChoice.
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** For the sixth round, [[spoiler:after having his left forearm cut by Buddha's [[SinisterSctyhe Salakayas]], Hajun brutally rips off his own wounded arm to form a hand-shaped sword with it. Unlike other cases, despite the handicap of having only one arm, Hajun manages to remain a threat and even gets to destroy Buddha's Six Realms staff.]]
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** For the sixth round, [[spoiler:after having his left forearm cut by Buddha's [[SinisterSctyhe [[SinisterScythe Salakayas]], Hajun brutally rips off his own wounded arm to form a hand-shaped sword with it. Unlike other cases, despite the handicap of having only one arm, Hajun manages to remain a threat and even gets to destroy Buddha's Six Realms staff.]]
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Examples should stand on their own without relying on other examples for context.
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* AntiHero: Jack the Ripper. The number of people who appreciates having him as one of humanity's champions can be counted on a blind carpenter's hand. Appropriately, he fights...
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* AntiHero: Jack the Ripper. The number of people who appreciates having him as one of humanity's champions can be counted on a blind carpenter's hand. Appropriately, he fights...
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Incorrect formating and those tropes don't apply here anyway.
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* ArtisticLicenseHistory: Human ''history'' is stated to lasted ''7 million years'' in the work by present day. This is [["Stop Having Fun" Guys obviously]] [[The Killjoy an exaggeration]]. The start of the "Old Stone Age" was dated to be around 2.5 million years ago 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.
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* ArtisticLicenseHistory: Human ''history'' is stated to lasted ''7 million years'' in the work by present day. This is [["Stop Having Fun" Guys obviously]] [[The Killjoy an exaggeration]].exaggeration. The start of the "Old Stone Age" was dated to be around 2.5 million years ago 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.
