Ragnarok the Animation 仙境傳說 (動畫)

Ragnarok the Animation is a Japanese/Korean animation series based on the MMORPG Ragnarok Online. It was produced in the first quarter of 2004 and was broadcast on TV Tokyo of Japan. In 2005, it was broadcast on SBS in Korea. It has 26 episodes. The Philippine and Brazilian distributor of the game, Level Up! Games, Inc., cooperated with ABS-CBN Broadcasting Corporation for local licensing and distribution rights of Ragnarok the Animation. On January 22, 2007, FUNimation Entertainment announced the U.S. license of Ragnarok on the website's Kickoff 07.

The story happens in the same world of Rune-Midgard. An evil entity called the Dark Lord wants to create chaos in the world with the help of seven crystals that represent the seven ambitions (also known as the Seven Strengths) who sealed him away years ago.

 Roan

Class: Swordsman / Crusader

The main protagonist, Roan, is a swordsman whose main goal in the anime is to gain power to protect his childhood friend, Yufa. At one point, he believes he has failed in this and goes off alone to get stronger. After a fateful encounter in Byalan, Roan returns to the group as a Crusader, successfully rescuing Yufa. However, as the story progresses, Roan begins to lose sight of his duty. He later realizes his wrong after some advice from the Legendary Witch in Payon and Comodo. However, it was too late as Roan made it only on time to see Yufa leave with her brother. Afterwards, the group heads towards Glast Heim to save Yufa and to stop Dark Lord. On the way, they are confronted by a possessed Yufa who sends a torrent of undead monsters at her friends. After their victory, she teleports them directly to Glast Heim. With the help and sacrifice of the rest of the party, Roan manages to locate Yufa. However, he finds her to be unable to truly hear his words. Tricking Roan, Yufa kisses him, slipping a cursed ruby into his mouth, which he then swallows. Upon realizing this, the cursed ruby begins to kill Roan. Unable to draw his sword, Roan allows Yufa to stab him with a cursed blade. Eventually, Yufa breaks free from her mental bonds and frees Roan from the curse she had set on him with a kiss of true love. Then, he, Yufa and the rest of the surviving group reunite to defeat Dark Lord. In the end, Roan and Yufa were each seen wearing a ring, implying that they are now married.

 Yufa

Class: Acolyte / Priest

The love interest of Roan, Yufa is an acolyte and Roan's childhood friend. Though she puts on a smile for Roan, it's obvious she's still mourning the loss of her older brother, Keough. When Keough suddenly returns to life as an evil being, she becomes confused and doesn't know whether or not to fight her brother or protect him. Later, in an effort to save the souls under the control of the Moonlight Flower in Payon, she becomes a Priest. Eventually, Roan's ignorance and arrogance pushes Yufa away and prompts her to leave the group (and Roan) behind for her brother, Keough. Keough eventually corrupts Yufa by removing her soul crystal, something that seems to give her the ability to stay pure, and is also consequently one of the key items of Dark Lord's revival. After stabbing Roan in her corrupt state, Keough comes to her in a vision and tells her that he must leave her... but that Roan would protect her in his absence. This vision broke Dark Lord's corruption, and freed Yufa to allow her to see what she had done. Holding the dying Roan in her arms, Yufa kissed her childhood love at last. This kiss of true love destroyed the cursed ruby ailing Roan, allowing the two to stand together against Dark Lord. With the help of her friends and Roan, Yufa sealed Dark Lord away with a Magnus Exorcismus spell. At the end of the series, it is implied that Roan and Yufa married.

 Takius

Class: Mage / Sage

Takius is a mage who wears a blindfold throughout the series and searches the world for the ultimate truth. Her mission for this "ultimate truth" was put on her by her teacher, Zephyr (who also gave her the blinder). With the blinder and her original staff intact, Zephyr had the ability to control her. After going mad and being recruited by Dark Lord, he uses this ability to manipulate Takius in favor of Dark Lord's plans. Eventually, Takius is able to conquer her internal struggles, breaking free from her ties with him and removing the blinder permanently. To further this transformation she became a Sage, resulting in one final confrontation with the one man she ever loved. During the final battle with Zephyr, her master was betrayed by the Dark Lord, who had been using Zephyr from the beginning. As a result, he falls from a collapsing wall, only to be saved just in time by Takius. However, just then, Zephyr's Lord of Vermillion spell was activated, curshing the platform the two were dangling from and both of them fell. This wouldn't be Takius's last appearance in the anime. The voice of Takius would come to Roan during the final battle, encouraging Roan to fight on for he had lost all hope vaguely implying that Takius has survived the Lord of Vermillion spell Zephyr summoned. Takius's staff would then come crashing down from the air, cancelling the Meteor Storm spell Dark Lord was using (somehow, the wand seems to contain a Sage class magic called Spellbreaker, which is the reason of the spell cancelling effect). Roan carries out her wand as a memory of her. Her real name is Catherine (キャスリン Kyasurin?), but hates being called that for unknown reasons.

 Maya

Class: Merchant

Maya is the merchant in the group and usually joins parties to steal loot and make off with their money. Her rather disagreeable way of doing things comes from a tragic event in her childhood where she was beaten in her "hometown" of Alberta after trying to sell apples with her self-made cart. She met Roan and Yufa in the Prontera Sewers when they saved her from a large number of Thief Bugs. In return, she saves them by delivering a Blue Potion to Yufa during their fight with a Golden Thief Bug. She later changes her rather roguish ways after becoming attached to Yufa and the rest of the group. She has a known affinity for monsters, never being seen without her pet Poring named Poy-Poy. In Episode 7, she befriends an "Alice" (monster who resembles a human maid) but sadly she meets a tragic end because of the actions of Jiltus (a half monster who despises humans) in Episode 19. In their final confrontation in Comodo, Maya nearly kills Jiltus for revenge but Alice's spirit comes to Maya and convinces her to forgive Zealotus. She then makes peace with Zealotus, but too little too late. Maya only ever uses two skills in the series, Mammonite and Cart Revolution. Maya is the only member of the group to not "advance" to another job. She does, however, throw potions much like an Alchemist.

 Iruga Alam 

Class: Assassin

Like Yufa is childhood friends with Roan, Iruga is childhood friends with Keough and is an assassin. After witnessing his friend "die" in Glast Heim, Iruga decided to protect both Yufa and Roan in Keough's memory.

Later on in his travels, he meets an amateur female hunter by the name of Judia. After saving her from a couple of bandits, they become companions (or rather she just follows him). When Iruga finds out Keough is alive and now working for evil, he fights his former friend in an effort to bring the real Keough back. During one confrontation, he becomes gravely injured, and is forced to battle Keough in a weakened state numerous times. In the final battle in Glast Heim, Iruga and Keough fatally struck each other at the same time. However, Iruga managed to stab Keough's wound, freeing his friend's heart from the evil the Dark Lord placed in it. Unfortunately, within the process, Keough dies with Iruga.

Judia

Class: Hunter

Judia is a hunter; her bow skills aren't that good at first, but after a chance encounter with Iruga, she improves a great deal. She can also read tarot cards. She falls in love with Iruga and comes to understand what he's trying to do in fighting Keough as he is. When she teams up with Roan's group, she gets jealous after Yufa holds his hand and keeps calling him "Big Brother Iruga". By the end of the anime, she has Iruga's child which was the product of giving her life force to Iruga when he was injured with a sword which is enchanted with poison (can be seen in the end of episode 17 and the beginning of episode 18). In the Japanese version she speaks with a Kansai accent; in the Philippine version she speaks in the Bisaya accent, while in English version; she speaks Southern American or Texas English.