English Dub Season Review: Record of Ragnarok II Part 2

Overview: The Indian god, Buddha (Maaz Ali), faces off against the God of Misfortune, Zerofuku (Meli Grant), someone who has a nasty vendetta against him due to events in their previous life. 

Our Take: Record of Ragnarok II is, for lack of a better term, the same. A fitting analogy is that it’s similar to protein bars, ones these otherworldly gym bros probably have in bulk. It’s sugary and serviceable enough, but it doesn’t do much to truly quell one’s hunger, just like season one. 

Buddha fighting for the humans is a shocking upset and hell of a way to kick off the sixth round. His opponent is the embodiment of the Seven Lucky Gods, Zerofuku. The concept is an interesting spin on the tournament formula in two deities squaring off instead of a human and a god. There’s also new divine personalities, fleshing out the show’s slick, stylistic take on different religions and their deities. 

As backstories go, each of them have their emotional beats, intersecting together well, differing from most other gods tales. Their perspectives of happiness and how to offer it to others is captivating in how vastly their results differ. The reverence and respect Buddha receives is a point of conflict for Zerofuku in his jealousy. Zerofuku is heartfelt in his genuine compassion for humanity yet sympathetic in the pain he suffers from them. Buddha’s blissfully rebellious attitude makes for an entertainingly badgering presence during their fight. However, his kindness is also a pleasant palette cleanser, with his understanding of Zerofuku’s suffering, making them both someone to root for, despite being adversaries. Unfortunately though, the combatants suffer from the same problem as the others that came before them. 

The gods’ bite-sized backstories are hindered, due to such little fleshing out of their characters. What’s here is great, we just need more of it. Pivotal supporting characters can get left in the background with narration mostly serving to speed things along. Placing the flashbacks smack dab in the middle of fights can also deflate the pacing at times. The plethora of still shots also certainly doesn’t help, but does lead into the series’ other problems. 

Graphinica graces the show’s presence with their distinctive visual style once more. And by grace, I mean it doesn’t. And by distinctive, I mean it continues to be a glorified motion comic. At least with the first part, CG helped bring Hercules and Jack the Ripper to life, even if it was clunky in motion. While it returns here, it is minimal, mostly to flesh out hulking weapons, like Zerofuku’s gargantuan ax. 

The battles’ appeal hinges on the animation and that’s where the bulk of its entertainment value is lacking any definition. There does seem to be a minute improvement to fluidity at times, but it’s too inconsistent and minimal to make a real difference. At the end of the day, the highly detailed art still degrades greatly during action scenes with stiff, static movement. The series’ animation hiccups are ever-present and par for the course for anyone familiar with previous seasons.

Overall, the tail end of the series sophomore season does nothing to remedy its visual/narrative shortcomings. Nonetheless, part two of Record of Ragnarok II continues what it started as: an enjoyable albeit flawed fight fest.