Record of Ragnarok (Episode 9) - Tyrant of the Ocean

The third fight is about to begin and the arena has had a remake to accommodate one of the fighters. It’s Poseidon versus Kojiro Sasaki, although some are not sure of Sasaki’s status as the number on swordsman!

Record of Ragnarok (Episode 9) – Tyrant of the Ocean

What happened?

Poseidon walked to the centre of the arena while holding back a wall of water. The gods in the crowd became silent when they realised who it was. No one would dare to do anything that might upset Poseidon. He is the most feared of the twelve gods of Olympus. Opposite Poseidon appears a small boat carrying a samurai. He is Kojiro Sasaki and is being billed as the number one swordsman of all time. However, the crowd are unsure of this claim, especially the man that killed Sasaki in combat.

Their worries are quickly put to bed when Sasaki calms the water in the arena with a pitch from his sword. The fight begins, but neither fighter moves. Ares wonders if both are waiting for the other to attack so that they can counter, but Hermes assures him that Poseidon will squash anything that gets in his range and it is purely Sasaki that is going through the possibilities in his head. While the crowd waits, Brunhilde tells Goll about the thirteenth god of Olympus – Adamas.

What did you think?

I knew we were in for a tense standoff. I probably wasn’t expecting it to last most of the episode but I also can’t complain. Some of the best samurai shows I’ve seen demonstrate how the samurai calculates his attacks and looks for a weakness in their opponent’s stance or skills. Some fights are over before they even begin when one samurai concedes aware that he cannot defeat his opponent. It’s a far more tactical fighting skill than many would believe.

I don’t think Poseidon’s flashback really did anything for him as a character or to show us anything that we couldn’t have worked out from the fight. As has been the case throughout this series, I’m just not sure what the flashbacks have done to improve the fights or develop the characters. I would have sooner watched Sasaki going through his potential attacks.

Record of Ragnarok Episode 9 Kojiro thinking through how to attack Poseidon

What have you learnt?

Normally, I’d say you’re doing something wrong if one of your fighters decides to sit down, but this time I’ll allow it. In reality, I can almost see Poseidon just walking away from the fight. He doesn’t seem all that interested and if anything, I think he seems annoyed that he has to fight a human. He obviously is strong enough to kill gods so a human shouldn’t be much of a problem at all.

I think we’re in for an interesting fight, to begin with, but I do hope that something happens soon. Sasaki must have had a plan and no doubt has been perfecting some secret techniques that he’s dying to show off. The reaction from the other swordsmen in the crowd was excellent. That said, if Sasaki is still sitting down at the end of the next episode there’s a good chance I’ll be annoyed.