Summer 2018 First Impressions – The Master of Ragnarok & Blesser of Einherjar

Yuuto Suoh gets more than he bargained for when he joins his childhood friend Mitsuki Shimoya in testing out an urban legend. When he uses his phone to take a picture of himself with the local shrine’s divine mirror, he is whisked off into another world – one heavily steeped in the lore of the old Norse myths. Using his knowledge gained from school and from his solar-powered smartphone, he has the chance to bring the Wolf Clan, the same people who cared for him, to prominence, all while earning the adoration of a group of magic-wielding warrior maidens known as the Einherjar. – ANN

Streaming: Crunchyroll

Episodes: 12

Source: Light Novel

Episode 1 Summary: It’s been two years since Yuuto was accidentally whisked away to an unknown bronze age society, but in that time he’s managed to become the leader and patriarch of a powerful clan. His goal isn’t exactly to gain control of the entire land, though that might be the unintended consequence; he wants to bring about peace to its various warring groups so that he can then concentrate on finding a way back to his native time and place. Luckily Yuuto still has the use of his smartphone, as it gives him access to military tactics and other knowledge he’s able to utilize to gain an advantage over almost any adversary. His most recent victory is over the Horn Clan, and the leader chooses to become his “sister,” a term for a subservient position beneath the patriarch. Soon after their alliance is solidified, another group makes moves to attack the Horn Clan’s homeland. Though the ink is barely dry on their alliance, Yuuto chooses to honor it by sending his armies to aid his new subjects.

Impressions: I think that sometimes writing stories are our attempts at justifying what we think are great ideas. A way of saying “this is how I think the world should work, and here’s an example of it operating in the manner that I believe it ought to.” I’m paraphrasing Boots Riley when I say that art is never divorced from the political; when it seems to be so, it’s simply upholding the status quo. Creative media is a conduit through which we can celebrate the things we like about society, confront and comment on the things that we don’t, and present potential avenues for change. While some pieces of media highlight society’s injustices and give voice to the underprivileged, some wax nostalgic for a time that never existed in a misguided attempt to convince modern day consumers that years of social progress towards equality has all been a terrible mistake.

The Master of Ragnarok is a tale that seems to be longing for a world in which the sex-redistribution fantasies of young, angry, but ultimately lonely souls is the norm. It presents these facets of its Bronze-age culture as infallible, unquestionable, and full of perks for the leader who can demonstrate his worthiness in making war. Though women are apparently able to achieve the role of “patriarch,” as evidenced by the existence of Linnea, former leader of the Horn Clan, the language itself – “Father,” “older brother,” and “patriarch” – all specifically reference maleness and specifically the idea that men and male children are the important members of a family, worthy of mention, leadership, and glory. Not only that, but specifying these titles and then putting several buxom women in the position of having to refer to the male protagonist as their “big brother” locks them into a subservient role and also indulges a specific sexual power fantasy. Hooray.

I got into an argument with a friend of mine many years ago about the TV anime Strike Witches, of all things. If you’re not familiar, it’s a re-imagined version of World War II in which young girls with magical powers use special flight apparatuses attached to their legs to fight in air battles with alien ships. Because of these flying boots, the characters are unable to wear pants – clothing would interfere with the mechanical workings, obviously. I called BS on this and my friend wasn’t happy about it; his argument was that the show actually had a really good story and the no-pants situation was absolutely justified within that world due to the aforementioned mechanical limitations of the equipment. My counter-argument, which I still hold to this day and is applicable to many different questionable pieces of fiction, is that anyone can justify a reason for anything that they want to see in a fictional universe; that doesn’t make it infallible and unquestionable by real-life standards. The creators of Strike Witches, with infinite options laid-out before them, still chose to tell a story in which specifically teenage girls (because the older women get the weaker their magic powers are *sigh*) use magic that causes them to sprout animal ears and tails, and also have to fly around without pants and in such a way that their animated behinds are thrust at the camera at every opportunity. The franchise exists within a world created so that a specific set of character traits are necessary due to rules only inherent in that world. It’s a self-justification that pacifies viewers who are willing to buy into it, but doesn’t do anything substantial to stand up to questioning from viewers who aren’t.

“It’s their culture, so it’s not right to question it,” is poor reasoning in my book, but it is the bread-and-butter of these sort of self-justifying anime universes that bend over backwards to make anime women swoon over boring male characters. Yuuto’s essentially cheated his way to the top through his access to modern technology and historical know-how, but because of this he’s been able to rise up to a level of leadership that just makes women want to get with him. It’s not his fault, this is just how this society works!(TM) But hey, at least the women are willingly throwing themselves at him.

I want to be clear that I don’t think that this is even the worst episode of anime I’ve watched lately. Its visuals are rendered poorly and the culture and plot are an extremely thin justification to place a large, attractive group of women in the path of the main character’s crotch, but Yuuto isn’t a slave-master, he’s not out to become a sexual conqueror, and he seems genuinely interested in making the best of his situation and bringing about some form of peace to this world he’s a part of (since it aligns with his own goals anyway). His motivation is even sort of sweet in a way – he’s got a girlfriend in modern-day Japan that he’d like to see again and who misses him. But the whole story just kind of reeks of longing for a world where powerful women are never too powerful to want to bone mediocre guys for no good reason. Its very existence is made to be indulgent of that kind of reasoning. That in itself is creepy and gross even if the building blocks on their own are only silly and ridiculous.

Not all art is highbrow. Not all art is feel-good. Not all art is challenging, or memorable, ugly, or beautiful. But all art, in its way, is political. Some of it is is created to help bring about progress. And some of it is wistful for a social stone-age that, as much as some individuals may long for, was never truly a thing we can (or should) return to.

Pros: Yuuto isn’t a terrible person ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Cons: The culture on display in this world is a male power fantasy, pure and simple. The characters are not rendered well or consistently.

Grade: D