#The Master of Ragnarok & The Blesser of Einherjar

[shipcestuous]

Recently, I've watched an Isekai anime loosely based on Norse mythology, called Master of Ragnarok and Blesser of the Einherjar. I honestly didn't find it anything to write home about (too much moe girl/loli fanservice for my liking - even if I admit I'm not really the right target for that, maybe fans of that kind of thing would appreciate it - plus some interesting ideas and characters that I thought weren't developed in ways that did justice to their potential, a story that somehow rushed by too quickly while also making it feel not much was really happening, and a very rushed ending) but there were some things in it that caught my attention in... an incesty way, so to say.

The anime's about a Japanese boy, Yuuto, who is accidentally sucked into the land of Yggdrasil in the Bronze Age. Yuuto thankfully has his smartphone on him, which is solar-powered and somehow still has a working Internet connection, and he essentialy uses online articles on the historical development of several technologies and military strategy to A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court his way into becoming the Patriarch (chieftain) of the local Wolf Clan and help it progress economically and socially while battling its enemies, with the eventual goal of giving everyone in Yggdrasil, a land of warring clans, a chance at a peaceful life so he can hopefully focus on finding a way to go back to his time and the girl he's in love with. In the process, he ofc gets a bunch of badass girls with all sorts of skills swearing fealty to him as well as becoming romantically interested in him despite him insisting that he's already taken... oh, and he also inspires stories that will one day develop into an oral tradition that will form the basis for Norse mythology.

Thing is, in Yggdrasil, the Patriarch of a clan binds their followers and allies to them by making them take a sacred oath that makes them honorary family. Which is why the girls mentioned above are referred to as his Daughters or Little Sisters according to their rank, and refer to him as either Father or Big Brother in turn. Cue a lot of the fanservice scenes being along the lines of "I want to help Father wash his back in the bath!" "Only after I've had my turn, you're just his Daughter but I'm his Little Sister!" and even some more serious plot points having that "Big Brother, now that we've joined our clans, it would be even more politically convenient if you married me and gave me your seed so I could carry your heirs!" flavor...

But ofc, if it was just that, I'd been sending this ask to your other blog! There's also two biologically related siblings I ship, personally...

Now, the story starts in medias res, with Yuuto already being a successful Patriarch with a formidable reputation. But in later episodes, we find out that when he first dropped into Yggdrasil, he was taken in by the Wolf Clan when he didn't yet know anything about the land or its peoples. Felicia, the daughter of the former Patriarch, was the one who accidentally summoned him, so she took it upon herself to teach him everything he needed to know, falling in love with him in the process, but he also made friends with Loptr, Felicia's older brother, who then became Yuuto's sworn Big Brother. Eventually, however, Loptr and Felicia's aging father, Farbauti, noticed Yuuto's developing skills and literal otherworldly knowledge, and when it came time to name his successor, he picked him over his own biological son. Loptr, who'd always expected the title to pass on to him, was enraged and tried to kill Yuuto, but Farbauti put himself between them and took them blow, dying by Loptr's own hand. After this, Loptr fled and, blaming Yuuto for supposedly scheming to get Farbauti to pick him as heir while pretending to be Loptr's friend, as well as coping with his own patricide by misremembering it as having happened because Yuuto hid behind Farbauti and consciouly used him as a human shield, he swore revenge against Yuuto and married the Panther Clan's Patriarch, Sigyn, to make her give up her position to him and have an army at his disposal to fight the Wolf Clan.

Yuuto blames himself for how things turned out, thinking of himself as some arrogant kid who ruined everything for the Wolf Clan's ruling family by showing off skills that didn't even belong to him but to the historical generals and politicians he read about online, but is willing to fight Loptr to protect the Wolf Clan. Felicia, on the other hand, is still deeply troubled by what happened, but she both loves Yuuto and thinks he's a great Patriarch, so even if it pains her, she'll pick him over Loptr every time.

As for Loptr... he's willfully bling to Felicia's real feelings. And I say "willfully" because, when things were fine between the three of them, he was very aware of Felicia being in love with Yuuto and even gave him a cheerful yet not-so-joking "you make my little sis suffer and I kill you" speech. But when he later writes her to ask her to ditch Yuuto and join him and she sends a reply along the lines of "back off, the only older brother I'm loyal to is Big Brother"? Clearly his beloved sister could have never written anything like that, that dastardly Yuuto just sent him back a fake letter to try and tear down his morale! It takes him attacking Yuuto directly during a battle and Felicia literally jumping in between them to convince him that no, she's not actually on his side... and let's just say, he doesn't take it well, violently throwing her aside. Yuuto even seems to believe he might kill her over it, as he references Farbauti's death by saying he doesn't want anyone else to die for his sake! Unfortunately, we kinda have to take his word for it as, due to the abrupt ending, we don't really know if Loptr could have really gone that far, but I choose to believe he wouldn't. Like, he'd probably fight her and harm her, but kill? She's the only family he has left and, despite everything, he still loves her... or at least, he feels very possessive of her.

Something else that might be interesting from a Loptr/Felicia shipping perspective is Loptr's marriage to Sigyn. In the anime, she's clearly in love with him and he at least seems to like her well enough: she's always initiating physical affection but he never shies away from it, they're briefly shown having sex and cuddling and talking after, he thinks of her as a great resource on the battlefield, and the one time he gets mad at her is when Yuuto knocks Loptr out and she uses her magic (she's one of the most powerful witches in Yggdrasil) to send him back to modern Japan out of fear Yuuto may kill him, depriving Loptr of the chance to get revenge, but even then, he calms down pretty quickly when she cuddles up to him and tells him she only did it because she couldn't lose him as both the Patriarch of her clan and her husband. However, I've read that in the light novel the anime is based on, Loptr is apparently very cold to Sigyn, explicitly seeing her only as a tool that allowed him to rise to power and an advantage in battle, and when she sends Yuuto back, he's a lot angrier, stopping just short of hitting Sigyn herself. Which sucks, obviously, and I'm glad the anime didn't go to that extreme and made him a bit more likeable and their relationship healthier... but it also makes me wonder if Felicia was really the only important woman in his life in the light novel!

... Oh! Master of Ragnarok anon, here again! I was so focused on Loptr and Felicia that, somehow, I completely forgot about another ship! Albertina and Christina are twin sisters and princesses from the Claw Clan. Their father sends them to Yuuto so that he may take one of them as his bride and the other as concubine, but they end up becoming his Daughters instead, working for him as bodyguards and information gatherers. Albertina is the oldest, but she's very naive and childlike. Christina is the youngest, but she's very mischievous and loves to tease people. They both develop a certain attraction towards Yuuto, but Christina is also very possessive of Albertina and, in the end, she mainly just seems to want her twin all to herself... it doesn't hurt that her favorite target for her pranks is Albertina, and no matter how much she embarrasses her and berates her, in private and in public, she seems to do it at least in part because she finds Albertina irresistibly cute when she's flustered. Their very introduction has them falling on top of each other in a rather suggestive way due to one of Christina's pranks. Because of how inseparable they are, Yuuto ends up combining their nicknames, Al and Chris, and calling them Alchris when he's addressing both of them, like they're a single unit.

This sounds so angsty and painful! As wrong as Loptr is, I can't help but feel sorry for him. I'll be imagining a happy reconciliation for the siblings!

Albertina and Christina sound very shippable!

Thanks for the message!

[sigyn-foxyposts]

Sigyn, Witch of Midgardr and the wife of Loptr.

I'm admittedly not a fan of "The Master of Ragnarok & Blesser of Einherjar" and their depiction of Sigyn like:

Her relationship with Loki being painted as toxic or a one sided relationship.

Her manipulating and trying to seduce Loptr for attention. (Not that being seductive is a negative thing!)

Her design, mostly outfit as a whole. It's just too revealing!!

I thought it would be fun to do my own little spin on her! Writing and design wise, so here's how i re-wrote her character, but I'm still sticking with most of her given lore!! :)

!Spoilers ahead for some actual lore, not all was made up by me!

"Sigyn, is one of three powerful witches in the world, known in her region of the world as the Witch of Midgardr. Sigyn was the former founder of the Midgardr tribe also known as the Panther clan, until her marriage to Loptr who she now shares that title with. She's a calm and gentle woman, who takes her role as a leader together with Loptr very seriously.

She's very skilled in magic and through her Inchanting dances casts spells on anyone she targets! Which is probably how she caught Loptr's eye, but it was actual true love. Together they have at least one known son to the public named Narvi, who helps them spy and gain information from any rival clans. Any siblings could be possible, just unknown."

This is most definitely a one time thing, so feel free to take these ideas, since I'm not really into the anime where her character originates from, fun none the less! :)

Now about the changes to her design!

I kept most of her color scheme and tried to stay true to her original design. Small details like moles and tattoos. But I made her hair a darker shade and I also added freckles!

I tried to make her hair more curly or what I can do to make it look anything but straight to give some representation since she looks like a person of color!

I'm aware I made her a look a little more chubby than she actually is, because she's actually very skinny. That wasn't intentional but ngl it's kinda cute! It can be her later in life even 😼✨

[somewhere-in-a-microwave]

Does anybody have any ideas on how they could rewrite/revamp MORBOE? (Master of Ragnarok and Blesser of Einherjar)

Like any redesigns, rewrites and anything, please contact here.

[itmustbek8]

Have you ever heard of "Master of Ragnarok & Blesser of Einherjar"? It has bad "animation"(if you could even call it that), bad plot, a harem, time skips, awful battles, and worldbuilding that makes no sense! It's twelve episodes long and has both a sub and dub on Crunchyroll.

(Also yes, hi, same person who asked about "Mr Villains Day Off", and "Elegant Yokai Apartment Life" here! Sorry for bombarding your ask in-box, i'll stop for now, until I have more suggestions (maybe))

I don't know if I've heard of that one but i may just file all anime with "Ragnarok" in the under the same tab in my brain

Also it's all good! Suggestions are always welcome!

[tlaquetzqui]

Having a genuinely hard time thinking of a romance from an isekai harem that is not better-written than Vi and Caitlyn in Arcane. Though I guess I never did watch In Another World with My Smartphone or This Title on a Show of This Quality Can Make Christians Feel that We Have Blasphemed Odin Master of Ragnarok and Blesser of Einherjar.

Because I just saw someone claiming Vi and Caitlyn’s romance in Arcane is an exemplar of romance writing. And not a negative “what not to do” one, either. No, they contrasted it with shallow ship-pandering—a contrast traditionally known as “six vs. half a dozen”.

Shipping should be classed as a neurotoxin.

[heuristicallyprogrammed]

My biggest commission to date! Took 29 hours total. Done as a Christmas gift for the commissioner's friend. All the characters are from animes they've watched together.

[velarixion]

This anime was practically something I’ve been looking for for a couple of years now.

[millennialdemon]

Have you ever seen two teens any more over their heads than these two teens abandoning their families and friends to marry each other and elope to the fucking Norse-mythology flavored BRONZE AGE and adapt to life in constant warfare without electricity or health care.

Well. This is the finale of The Master of Ragnarok & Blesser of Einherjar... Sigyn thanos snaps Yuuto back to this own world and then he quickly decides he needs to go back to his helpless harem because it was bad timing, and he brings his girlfriend turned wife with him so it’s uhh... it’s the uh. The Good End. 

It’s folly to criticize a story for the elements it doesn’t have, but I like the idea of a fantasy story pivoting into a more mundane story (like Alice & Zoroku) where we see someone cope with living a normal life after having lived such a dangerous and fantastical one -- but I don’t think Ragnarok could have ever remotely succeeded in that way because it didn’t go from a dangerous and fantastical life to a mundane one, it went from a ridiculous and offensive magical harem, and I don’t think that could have been reconciled. It’s kind of like regardless of where the story went, it would be bad, because it’s a terrible concept with terrible execution throughout...

So never mind the inevitably boring ending possibilities, because nothing that could have happened would have made up for: 

First and foremost, rampant p-dophilia throughout. Yikes. 

Being yet another rancid entry into the tragically growing list of recent isekai titles that have, specifically!, underage slaves in the harem  

The obviously fetishistic and vile inc*st elements

The designs... character designs, clothing designs... bad. 

Just being an ecchi, period. The inherent misogyny of that really does render a series unsalvageable for anyone with brain cells!

All of the women/girls in the series, despite almost all of them being warriors, were either wildly under-used (Sigyn) or inexplicably useless (everyone else, save for Siegrune but even then she was pathetically obsessed with Yuuto)

That episode where the archaeologist lady proposed that Yuuto is Fenrir and he’s living in Norse Mythology World and made comparisons from Norse Myths to the characters for a good 5 minutes straight

ONE (1) CAMEL defeating an entire army because the smell of ONE CAMEL made the hundreds, maybe thousands, of horses turn tail and run

And probably many more things I’m not remembering off the top of my head. So the final verdict is that - despite Scarfior and Sigyn who deserve to be in better anime - this series is badly written, badly animated, badly designed, and just plainly disgusting. It’s barely deserving of the 2/10, just for being a smidge less awful than Death March to the Parallel World Rhapsody.

[ultimateincorrectquotes]

Stubbornness is your superpower, you should use it for good, not evil.

-Makoto to Byakuya

[shujinquotes]

Stubbornness is your superpower, you should use it for good, not evil.

-Makoto to Sae

[sigyn-foxyposts]

I like you :]

*fixes your Loki and Sigyn from The Master of Ragnarok & Blesser of Einherjar*

Ps: I'm obviously joking here!! I thought it would be fun to redesign these two slightly because 1. Sigyns clothes i- 😃 no.

I am not proud of what I gave as sigyns outfit wise but I am proud with the small details I added!

I gave her more lips and a better shade, small freckles to match the mole on her chest and took away her weird ponytail. I also fixed her necklace!

Idk why I gave Loki eyes through his mask uhh, but he's slightly tan and a little sunburnt! because he's white..

I have these struggles too 👁👄👁

[waveriderquotes]

Stubbornness is your superpower, you should use it for good, not evil.

-Nate to Mick

[pkjd]

A new key visual for this Summer's "Hyakuren no Haou to Seiyaku no Valkyria" anime has been unveiled. Broadcast begins July 7th (EMT Squared)

via: http://moca-news.net/article/20180518/2018051816000a_/01/

[njotaku]

A swords-master should always have good form...even in the bath...

[quirklessquotes]

Stubbornness is your superpower, you should use it for good, not evil.

-All Might to Bakugo

[millennialdemon]

Be grateful your wife has mercifully let you rule her clan and has saved your ass, presumably numerous times

We... I don’t know why I say “we” when I know I’m the only person on earth who cares about this even remotely, but listen. I need to talk about how powerful Sigyn is. 

The magic in whatever world Yuuto is in is usually pretty benign. Steinphor has increased physical abilities. The twin girls have good hearing and increased stealth abilities. One girl just has a magic rune that gives her good blacksmith abilities. Loptr is... uhm. He’s just literate, really. 

Later on we’re told there’s a few extremely powerful magic users. One of them is a famous princess who visits Yuuto for whatever reason and is good at some kinds magic, but piss poor at other kinds. I really don’t care about her at all because she doesn’t really do anything or show us much magic. Sure she’s able to transport Yuuto from the modern world, but she apparently needs the Special Magic Mirror to do it, I Think.

Then there’s Sigyn...

In the first battle against the Wolf Clan, Yuuto creates a barricade with iron-plated wagons around his main camp that in combination with crossbow fire, is giving the Panther Clan a lot of grief... until Sigyn uses a magical chant that not just re-invigorates the tired and injured soldiers, but makes them into “berserkers”. They seemingly go mad and just rush the wagons and push them out of the way or climb over them, ignoring the attacks of Yuuto’s soldiers. Let’s See You Google A Solution To Magical Zombie Warfare Tactics...

That battle ridiculously ends with a win for Yuuto by use of... one camel... which drove away hundreds of horses because they don’t like the smell... which is already unbelievably contrived, but what about all the berserker soldiers still there... my point is OP wrote himself into a corner because he made Sigyn too powerful and the only “solution” to the fight was something stupid. 

In the next and final battle of the series though, Sigyn reveals much more powerful magic. First she uses a magical chant that paralyzes all of the soldiers defending Yuuto’s position, so that Loptr can just rush through them and go straight for Yuuto’s jugular. Which is bonkers. If the story actually utilized her magic in a way that made sense, that would be some war ending shit - you don’t even have to make your soldiers into berserkers, you just immobilize swaths of the enemy’s army and pick them off. Imagine if she rotated those spells. What would a barricade of iron-plated wagons be worth then... Lord. 

As if those 2 spells alone weren’t enough to win pretty much any war against a completely non-magical opponent like The Wolf Clan in any series that isn’t a garbage ecchi harem, it is then revealed that she is so powerful that she can... blip Yuuto back out of existence?

When Loptr gets to Yuuto they get in a sword fight. Loptr loses (okay) and when Sigyn sees that he lost the bout, she uses her magic to send Yuuto back to the modern world. Oh, the thing Yuuto has been trying to figure out how to do for years? Sigyn just decided the fight was getting too dangerous to her snusband, and snapped her fingers and ERASED HIM. 

To review. This brown lady named Sigyn who we barely know anything about and who has barely any screen time or spoken lines can: 

“Revive” injured and tired soldiers, and then make them into fearless berserkers

Immobilize large swaths of soldiers, rendering them pretty much completely defenseless for an undefined portion of time

Forcibly send enemy generals to other dimensions

How is Sigyn not a huge deal in this story “because it’s a very bad story and a very bad anime” I Know But Oh My G