Matantei Loki Ragnarok

Title:Matantei Loki Ragnarok
The Mythical Detective Loki
魔探偵ロキ RAGNAROK
Overall:Rent
Keywords: , , , , , , , ,
Notables: Animation - Studio DEEN
HORIE Yui
KOYASU Takehito
MIKI Shinichirou
NOTO Mamiko
PARK Romi
R1 License - ADV (Renamed)
Mayura is missing a magical talking doll and is drawn to visit a strange detective agency, where she meets Loki and his personal assistant Yamino. The deceptively short and childlike Loki tells Mayura that it is not the outward appearance, but rather the inner skills and abilities of a person that make a great detective. The three start a friendship in adventure as they unravel a series of mysteries, bound in magic and ancient lore, to find the truth behind the strange events that seem drawn to them.

"魔" = "ma" = "demon, devil, evil spirit"; "探偵" = "tantei" = "detective work": see Wikipedia for ↗Loki and ↗Ragnarök
[TV series, 2003, 26 episodes, 24 min]
OverallArtAnimationCharacter Design MusicSeries StoryEpisode StoryReviewer
Unevaluated Ggultra2764 [series:739#1552]
(Four episodes watched)

I decided to try this show via Netflix and I can't exactly say I liked what I saw during the four episodes of the show that I seen. The premise that I heard seemed interesting enough with Loki dealing with occult mysteries and reclaiming his original form after being exiled from his godhood. Unfortunately, things didn't seem to go the way I envisioned with the show. Rather than a strong focus on Loki's interactions with the paranormal and what led him into his child form, the show felt mostly episodic with Loki playing straight man with the antics of mystery otaku and clutz Mayura who has all the typical traits of the archetypal ditzy anime gal I've seen enough times before. While the occult mystery element is within the series as Loki investigates paranormal happenings, I couldn't find myself getting hooked into it with Mayura quite often being on the receiving end of the trouble before Loki intervenes and the fourth episode was only being used to look into the pasts of Mayura and her father with Loki playing a very limited role within it. Not the best way to keep me latched on this show, which I shall drop without a final review.

Last updated Monday, April 11 2011. Created Monday, April 11 2011.
Rent Forbin [series:739#1573]
Drama : Low /Med
Comedy : Med
Action : Low
SciFi : High
Ecchi : Low

I loved this anime. It was well dubbed and the norse mythology was excellent!

Why did I rate this a rent? Because the plot was a little weak.

Last updated Friday, September 15 2006. Created Friday, September 15 2006.
Rent RobbieNewbie [series:739#211]
I got the fansubbed version.
Depending on who is the fansubber, this series can be interesting (=rent) or just ok (=watch). My fansubbed version came with plenty intro screen filled with facts about the myths used in the following episodes. This is very helpful and make the series more enjoyable and logical. Without these facts, the series are still enjoyable but we won't know why the characters are like that until late in the episodes.
This title is basically using the Norse (Nord?, or is it viking?) myths to create its characters, and placing them in current (modern) world, and give them some mysterious (thus the 'detective' title) occurences, which actually helped on creating the full storyline.
Confused? Well, my 'explanation' is sure do, but the anime itself won't! I didn't give this a BUY overall, because I don't feel like watching this more than once in a short period of time (but maybe I'll watch this again next year). So, how good this title is? In short, I tried to watch all of them in one sitting (I failed of course, because I only have time to watch anime late at night, so I don't have that extra time left for my much needed sleep).
The Art and Animation is about average for today's standard (which is year 2003/2004, in case you read this next year or so). Character Design can be nice or even great (especially if you understand the background mythology). Music is ok, I think. I didn't hear them much, so I guess they didn't disturb the viewing. The story is quite good. First half of the series is more of character introductions, thus it can be quite involved depending on the characters. The rest of the series is more about the big storyline. The ending is very nice!
Each episodes are almost standalone (one 'small' story is covered in one or two episodes), but together they actually build up a much bigger story.
My feeling on watching this series are very entertained because it is kinda mix of humour and mystery. Not just any mystery, but a mix of Twilight Zone and X-Files-ish mood. The humour is sometimes very good that I didn't expect it to come out like that, which makes me laughing out loud (I tend to be quiet when watching any kind of anime).
Anyway, enough of my rambling. Now it's your turn to try to find this title and watch it yourself!

Last updated Wednesday, May 12 2004. Created Wednesday, May 12 2004.
Unevaluated Jan-Chan [series:739#967]
Fan-sub download - currently working on collecting the first 12/13 episodes, but this looks to be a fun and interesting series, which mixes western magic with a bit of norse lore to tell a story mystery..... more to come

Last updated Wednesday, March 03 2004. Created Tuesday, March 02 2004.

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