Record of Ragnarok Volume Two concludes the battle between Thor and Lu Bu, and the second battle of Ragnarok begins.

Record of Ragnarok Volume Two
Written by: Shinya Umemura and Takumi Fukui
Publisher: COAMIX, Inc.
English Publisher: VIZ Media
Release Date: April 19, 2022

The first two chapters focus on the ongoing battle between Thor and Lu Bu. Right at first, each time that it looks like Thor is going to win, something happens that allows Lu Bu to continue. Overall, these first two chapters are a rather quick read due to all of the action associated with the battle. Lu Bu has a very impressive final move, and I appreciated getting to see a flashback of how he developed his weapon in order to come up with his final move. Unfortunately, though, it’s just not quite enough to keep Lu Bu in the fight. But considering he was a human up against a god like Thor, he actually did a lot better than the gods (or anyone else, really) thought he could. Unfortunately, this was still a loss, so it’s not a great start for trying to save the existence of the human race. I will give a brief content warning for this battle and say that the depiction of Lu Bu’s defeat is on the gory side.

It’s up to Brunhilde to choose the next fighter for Ragnarok. The person she picks is a bit of a surprise at first, but after she explains her choice and we see the actual battle, it makes sense. Her choice: Adam (the first man). Out of all the people on the human fighter list, he would be the one who would have the most reason to hate gods. But when Adam makes his appearance in the ring, though, I almost laughed. In this series, Adam is given a “bishonen” look, and all he’s wearing is a strategically placed leaf. You can’t blame the gods for wondering why this scrawny guy who doesn’t look terribly strong has been called to fight.

Adam was supposed to battle the Hindu god, Shiva. However, there’s a change in plans with Zeus interferes and forces his way into the battle. Wow, Zeus is…… something else. He’s an old man who tries to make a “flashy” entrance into the ring, and he comes across as an old guy who’s “trying too hard to be hip.” That had to be kind of embarrassing for the gods to witness. And I can’t blame Brunhilde for getting pissed that Zeus went out into the battle, especially with that display he put on.

But this means that the second battle turns out to be against the father of man and the father of the gods. Before their fight begins, Adam merges with Reginleif, the seventh Valkyrie sister, and this gives him brass knuckles for his weapon. It turns out Zeus is going to fight bare handed, so this ends up being a better weapon for Adam than anyone initially expected. Their fight goes for the remainder of the volume, but it turns out it’s not going to be as easy for Zeus and he expects, because Adam has an ability that no one is aware of, and it’s actually pretty impressive. I don’t want to spoil the explanation, so all I will say is that when you read the explanation, it makes perfect sense. It appears the winner of this battle is decided at the end of Volume Two, but there’s always the chance that the one who’s down may not necessarily stay down when the action in Volume Three commences.

Overall, I enjoyed reading Record of Ragnarok Volume Two, although I still can’t get over the design choice for Adam. To be honest, I hadn’t expected him to be portrayed with a “bishonen” look. I wasn’t expecting a buff guy or anything, but I was expecting him to be a little more… “average.”

The ending of the Thor and Lu Bu fight was the realistic way to conclude it. While I was cheering for Lu Bu, I knew deep down that there was no way that he could possibly win against Thor. There were a lot of action panels included throughout this volume for both of the fights, but there was also just enough character development and explanations included to balance out the action.

If you’ve read and enjoyed the first volume of Record of Ragnarok, then I think you will be satisfied with how the story continues in Volume Two.

The reviewer was provided a review copy by VIZ Media

Additional posts about Record of Ragnarok:

• Manga Review: Record of Ragnarok Volume One

Record of Ragnarok Volume One sees the gods assembling to decide if humanity is worthy to continue its existence or if it should be destroyed.

Record of Ragnarok Volume One
Written by: Shinya Umemura and Takumi Fukui
Publisher: COAMIX, Inc.
English Publisher: VIZ Media
Release Date: January 18, 2022

At the meeting of the gods, it’s established to the reader that many well-known gods and deities are in attendance (including Zeus, Shiva, Aphrodite, and Odin). Later in the volume, the reader is introduced to other gods and deities as well, but these are the ones that are specifically pointed out at the meeting. When it looks like the gods will vote to destroy humanity, a Valkyrie named Brunhilde steps forward and suggests testing the humans. She invokes Ragnarok, which is a battle between the gods and humanity, which is buried within the Valhalla Constitution. In a Regnarok, each side has a team of 13 fighters, and the first team with seven victories wins. At first, the gods laugh and sneer at this idea, because it’s inconceivable that mere humans could defeat gods. But once Brunhilde insults the gods by insinuating that they’re afraid of fighting the humans, the gods are goaded into agreeing.

After the meeting, it’s insinuated that Brunhilde had once been transformed into a human, which is why she has such empathy for them. But this is the only time this idea is even touched on, so I’m hoping we can learn more about this plot point in a future volume of the series. After an encounter with Thor, Brunhilde begins hatching her plan by selecting 13 of the ultimate warriors from seven million years of human history.

From here, the story transitions to the first battle of the Ragnarok, and this first battle takes up the remainder of Volume One. It’s revealed that Thor is fighting for the gods, and the warrior for the humans is Lu Bu Fengxian, a military warlord and general from the three kingdoms. There are a lot of action panels during the fighting, which helps to make parts of this volume a quick read. Interspersed in between the fighting, though, are backstories for both Thor and Lu Bu, as well as reactions from Brunhilde and the other spectators. There’s also a surprising twist with Lu Bu, when it’s realized that he seems to be Thor’s equal. Zeus realizes that this due to something that Brunhilde has done.

Although something that jumped out at me with Thor’s backstory is the invasion of the giants where Thor ultimately defeats them all on his own. When the giants make their approach and ultimately breach the wall into the village, I was really getting some Attack on Titan vibes as I read this section.

The fight between Thor and Lu Bu does not conclude in Volume One, but right at the end of the volume, the 13 fighters for both the humans and the gods are revealed. There are many expected names for the gods, but some of the names on the list for the humans are… intriguing. I hope to be able to read future volumes of Record of Ragnarok in order to learn why Brunhilde chose some of the fighters that she did.

I thought the art style worked really well for the tone of the series’ story. One of the best drawn characters in this volume was Brunhilde, and there were several panels that featured her that really jump out at the reader. But I have to give the artist credit for the fact that each character has their own unique look, and that none of the major characters can be mistaken for someone else.

Record of Ragnarok is off to a strong start, and enough information and character development happened in this volume to make me want to read the next volume to find out how this story will continue. I think that this series will have a strong appeal to manga readers who also enjoy mythology, and to readers who like reading shonen manga that focuses on fighting and battles.

The reviewer was provided a review copy by VIZ Media

Additional posts about Record of Ragnarok:

• Manga Review: Record of Ragnarok Volume Two