Warning: SPOILERS for episodes #1-5 of Season 2 of Record of Ragnarok.The first cour of Record of Ragnarok‘s Season 2 has landed on Netflix in January 2023, and the over-the-top battle series opens with its craziest fight yet: Jack the Ripper vs Heracles. After the first three epic battles pitching mighty gods against heroic human warriors in Season 1, fans may have been surprised by Brunhilde’s choice of “history’s most infamous serial killer” as her fourth champion. The gods, instead, send out the mighty Heracles to avenge their loss in the battle between Kojiro Sasaki and Poseidon. Despite the odd pairing, Jack’s bout against Heracles turns out to be not just the craziest, but also one of the best battles of the entire series.
Record of Ragnarok is a Netflix anime series based on the manga Shūmatsu no Warukyūre, “Valkyrie of the End”, by Shinya Umemura, Takumi Fukui, and Ajichika. After gaining worldwide popularity with its anime adaptation in 2021, the series left an impression among the fandom for eschewing every superfluous plot element besides its simple premise (the Valkyrie Brunhilde selects 13 human warriors from history to fight in a tournament against 13 gods with the survival of humanity at stake) to focus on epic battles and over-the-top characters. After the first three battles shown in Season 1, the gods are leading 2-1 in Record of Ragnarok‘s Season 2, and that’s when the oddest couple of fighters take the stage: the serial killer Jack the Ripper and the Greek god of fortitude, Heracles.
Jack The Ripper vs Heracles Is Record of Ragnarok‘s Standout Battle
Even Brunhilde’s allies are surprised by her choice. The previous human champions (Lu Bu, Adam, and Kojiro Sasaki) were all legendary, renowned warriors (and the father of humankind himself), while Jack is an infamous murderer. However, during the battle (shown in episodes #1-5 of Record of Ragnarok), Brunhilde’s choice proves to be the right one. Jack’s cunning and deceptive tactics are the perfect counter to Heracles’ straightforward approach and pure spirit. Jack the Ripper’s powers come from his “Volund” (his divine weapon capable of wounding the gods, created by merging with a Valkyrie) a pair of gloves that allow him to turn anything he touches into a divine weapon, making this battle much more tactical and surprising than the previous ones.
In fact, both Jack and Heracles are unlikely representatives of their factions. Jack is the abject son of a prostitute in 18th-century London, driven to evil by the circumstances of his birth and by a strange power that lets him see the colors of other people’s emotions. Heracles is a mortal who ascended to godhood and, despite fighting in the Ragnarok as a representative of the gods, he declares that he will try to save humanity from extinction. The pairing of these two fighters works really well because they are so different. Previous battles of the series, such as Adam vs Zeus, fell into the established trope of the two honorable warriors facing each other, but Jack’s vicious cunning makes this round completely different. Heracles’ unwavering spirit and belief in “Justice” works as the perfect foil for Jack’s morbid obsession with death. However, Jack still fights and gives everything he has got for the salvation of humankind.
Record of Ragnarok has been praised for taking those that many believe are the stereotypes of the shonen manga genre and elevating them to driving elements of its story. However, the battle between Jack and Heracles proves that the series still has room for showing the deeper aspects of its characters. While it’s presented as an over-the-top smash fest for battle shonen fanatics, Record of Ragnarok actually takes the time to flesh out its characters and make them meaningful, and this is nowhere as evident as in the crazy, odd, and exciting battle between Jack the Ripper and Heracles.
Season 2 of Record of Ragnarok is currently streaming on Crunchyroll.