Customer Reviews

Ragnarok: Complete Series Box Set

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I saw this series box set around the time I had bought Those Who Hunt Elves Set and decided for the price and the interesting storyline I thought it had to go ahead and get, and I have somewhat regretted that choice. The series isn't bad for people who like RPG games style shows or anime like Rune Soldier(An Excellent Anime) but the story plots for the reasons of why the characters are doing what their doing has been played over so many times it's a little monotonous. The series two primary characters Roan(A young wannabe swordsman who was giving the task of protecting his childhood friend by her brother) and Yufa(Roan's childhood friend who's brother was supposedly killed tries to make her living as a priestess and help her common man) after a few misunderstandings become adventurers on the road and along the way meet other wayward adventurers on their quests. The series will also have the love triangle and the usual unresolved romantic feelings between Roan and Yufa. The series big flaw for me was that like some other animes you just don't empathize with the characters to well, I mean there are some sad scenes in the anime and some of the background story-plots of some of the characters but it just doesn't really get you to care so much as for the characters as it does watching the scenes. The pro for me though was that this series will give a decent closure at the end without having to many unanswered questions, and the animation is decent as well pretty much what we see with anime series past these ten years or so. The audio is also pretty good for both the Japanese and English cast voices but the extras are pretty much nonexistent just the trailer for the Full Metal Alchemist series and a couple of trailers on the fourth dvd. The box set is pretty much what Funimation as been doing for the last few sets which is two slim dvd cases that hold two dvds in each and than put into a thin paper sleeve, but for what the price is going for with this set I can somewhat understand that. So if you like magical battles and sword fighting series or like Rpg like animes like Rune Soldier give this one a go but try not to have to high of an expectation of this series....

This series could have been so much better. The characters lack depth. The story is not hard to follow but it feels as though it is a bunch of fillers that are loosely tied together. You find yourself wondering how did the last episode help move the story along. It is quite easy to lose interest in this story. The music and animation are good but the story could be much better. I would not recommend it to any of my friends.

This anime was a good way to kill some time but I don't quite know it is worth $30. I managed to find this show for around $15 through amazon and feel that it was money well spent. As a person who played the game years ago it brought back a lot of fond memories and made me want to play again. Granted its not the best representation of the game.
A few problems I found with the show were that things were a little over done and a little frustrating at times. As an avid gamer I found myself yelling at the tv at times (something that I almost never do). I've done enough party gaming that I would have killed my healer if she acted like the shows. While people were injured she would just stand there in shock instead of healing them. There were also many times where the party would hang back while one person was getting their butt kicked instead of aiding them. Very frustrating from a gamers perspective. I would also find myself yelling "just kill the guy" (referring to the big bad guy you see often.) I understand from a writer's point of view that if you kill the main bad guy then the show is over but this just gave me horrible flashbacks to power rangers. The main characters had ample opportunity to kill the guy and they always seemed to pass it up. They would have saved themselves a lot of trouble and lives if they had just gotten it over with. So it was a little frustrating.
Another big issue that I seemed to see a bit to often is that things would end on a cliffhanger and it seemed that when you came back they had changed certain details so that they weren't quite as bad as when they had left you. This was a little cheesy.
The animation itself was good but could have been better, though it did fit the feel of the feel show. There would often be what I think was supposed to be fan service moments that was so light that it just seemed silly, but that too matched the feel of the show. In fact the entire feel of the show was a very light hearted adventure where the characters are supposed to mature but just kind of reach a standstill. Most of the characters seemed to go off on their own at some point or other on a maturing mission and would come back more skilled but still had the same immature issues that they seemed to be trying to overcome. But I stray.
Overall yes this anime is worth a watch and worth having in your library but I would not pay more than $15 for it. It is a good show to have on in the background while you do something else because it doesn't require too much thought and if you put too much thought into it you will become frustrated. I guess that's all. Enjoy.

If I were a director, and the story was going to take 27 or 30 episodes, to tell properly, to make sense. I would do all that was in my power, to make that happen. I wouldn't cut corners, or do any BS like that to the story. I would tell it properly. I would also make a memorable series.

Honestly, some parts of this anime, the directing was just horrid... then during some parts, it was good, and made sense, but the majority was utter garbage.

I am sure, that everyone has had a chance to watch those old horror movies, where the people fall at the worse times, or they just make the most idiotic decisions ever, again at the worse possible times. Yeah, you'll run into a lot of this, in this series. You'll probably be yelling at "Yuufa" to use heal spells when shes just sitting on her haunches and doing nothing.

I don't understand why the director decided to make, our main guy such a whipping boy, and then rather than see any growth at all through out 14 episodes, he just suddenly during ep 15 becomes a more reliable character. And then because he's become more reliable... we see the female lead pout? WTF?! She gets upset and throws an emotional tantrum. Runs off, and almost dooms the world of Ragnarok.

I can understand delving into humor even in a serious story, and maybe a little goofyness... but this series in my opinion does more like this:

Imagine you were looking at line graph or something, its heading from left to right in a constant little green stream, where zero, is still progress, its just the way the story is progressing "Consistency". Its all consistent, makes good sense, well the line graph can jump up to +10, or go as low as -10.. every now and then for a good story, we might see it jump to -1 or +1 and we laugh or cry, but what happened fits in the story, we might even see a gradual rise or downward track toward these higher numbers, but it makes sense..our emotions as viewers in the story aren't getting played with. With this series, it was more akin to jumping from -5 to +8... it was all over the board just crazy. And so as a viewer you get confused, your like.. "Should I be happy? should I be sad?" "Should I care for this character?" "Whats going on?" "This doesn't make sense" That kind of thing.

I watched another anime series that jumped all around like this, but the ending was so awesome, that it made up for all the crap beforehand. And this series doesn't do that... Its saving grace never seems to come about.

Animation: 8 out of 10
Audio: (Subbed version) 8 out of 10
Story: 2 out of 10

I have not read the Manga, or played the game(s). So I can't comment on those in the sense of story verses the animation...

Also I want to mention, I really really wanted to like this anime. I watched all 26 eps... trying to find some good in it. And I found it, there just wasn't much of it...I couldn't even turn my brain off so to say and just enjoy it for what it was.

So that's why I rated it a 2 out of 5. Its went down in price, so that's its only saving grace. Speaking of which, if I had spent money on this series, well its original asking price anyways, I would have regretted it big time. I was lucky to have been able to watch it for free. (free as in no money spent, but I wasted around roughly 10 hrs)

this series was quite entetaining and comedic. The two main characters Yufi and Rowan are quite a interesting and capable duo. if your looking for comedy with a bit of action and a twist of a complicted romantic deal between the two main characters, than this is the Dvd set for you

This review is from my nephew: The story is weak, not enough character depth, but the story does stay focused and there are lots of episodes.

I played Ragnarok Online for several years and I think this anime is great. It keeps enough aspects of the game and setting to feel right while still making things its own to drive the story.

this is an ok anime series. For its price its worth it. I guess its best for those whom has played the game, so you can relate to somethings.