Animania

Japanese Name: Matantei Loki Ragnarok

Series Summary: Ah, how the mighty have fallen! Caged inside a little boy's body and banished to Earth by the almighty Odin, the still-proud and powerful Loki now runs the Enjaku Detective Agency. Joined by his trusted assistant Yamino and a beautiful (but accident prone) high school girl named Mayura, Loki earns a living probing the darkest corners of the paranormal, the occult, and the otherwise peculiar. And yet the one metaphysical mystery that involves him directly remains unsolved: what has he done to be exiled to Earth? How can he return to Asgard? Why do the other Norse Gods want him dead?

Join in the adventures as our mystery trio take on hair-raising hauntings, possessed dolls, vengeful birds of prey, and penny-pinching deities, in this, the first installment of Mythical Detective Loki Ragnarok, brought to you by the director of Orphen, King of Bandit Jing and Slayers! 

Review: I just finished watching the final volume of this seven volume, 26 episode series. This is my second viewing of this series, and I still have a hard time putting my finger on it. The basic premise is that the Norse God Loki has been banished to Earth in the body of a young boy and Odin, ruler of the Gods, keeps sending other Gods to assassinate him. Meanwhile, Loki runs a detective agent with his faithful servant Yamino and his new friend, the mystery loving high schooler Mayura. Of course, the biggest questions of the series are why was Loki banished and why does Odin want him dead.

On the whole, this isn't a bad series, but I find it kind of frustrating because it can't seem to decide what it wants to be (much like the manga series Beauty is the Beast). The main part of the series is filled with silly comedy, especially Mayura's mystery loving antics. Even episodes that look like they might be "big" are loaded with comedy as well. In the last 5-6 episodes, however, the show does an almost complete about face and goes into a dark, very dramatic direction. Personally, I wish the whole show had focused more on that drama and heavy hitting, versus the comedy. I think it would have been a far greater show, and the overall story certainly is more suited for that atmosphere.

The last two episodes leave me crying like a baby, which does at least show that despite the heavy silliness, the characters do grow on you. Ironically, though, the one I feel most for is the on who isn't even mentioned or seen until the next to the last disk! That character, Hel, was wonderfully introduced and presented in a way that could bring out a great emotional response, both for her and for Loki. I also do love the irony of the reason behind why Odin banished Loki being the cause of the reason why Loki banished Odin (you'll have to watch it to understand that LOL).

This show also leaves some questions unanswered, increasing my frustration with it, particularly with the relationship between Loki and Mayura, and in some ways with the relationship Hel and Loki. We never really get an answer to some of the answers she herself posed to Loki about their relationship, which is kind of sad considering the results of it. The ending also left me only partially satisfied. We never ever find out Odin's motivations in any of this, and I'd really love to hear why he did all he did. Of course I'd also like to know what happens with Loki and Mayura after the choice he makes at the end, but I guess I'll never know. The manga appears to have more to the story, but unfortunately only the second part of the manga has been licensed at this point.

Over all, despite the unanswered questions and total change in atmosphere at towards the end, I do like this series and would recommend it as either a rental, or to pick up when it comes out as a cheap box set. I wouldn't be inclined to pay for the individual releases, especially when most of the extras are fairly blah (though some of the volumes do include some nice Norse notes to fill us in on the mythology behind the show that the creators played with :-D) and some interviews and commentary. So if you really want those, then get the individuals as ADV usually strips them from box sets, but if I pick this up, it will be as a set versus individuals since I don't care about interviews and the like.

Rating: B, if the creators had stuck to the dramatic, darker edge with tinges of comedy, I think it would have been a much richer story