HellLyter

Tales of Vikings pillaging and plundering have always been exciting in my eyes, so the setting of Vinland Saga really grasped my attention. An anime produced by Wit Studio featuring a more historical take on the adventures of Vikings? What could possibly go wrong? A lot apparently. While it started off really promising, Vinland Saga got increasingly worse as it went along. And just like the serene land of England that the Vikings damaged and maimed, the Vikings did the same to the quality of this anime. Though it was primarily one Viking in particular. Frickin Thorfinn This dude is apparently the protagonist of the story,but he does absolutely nothing to deserve this title. No wait, he runs like Naruto and is OP for some inexplicable reason after receiving absolutely no adequate training throughout his young life, so I guess he does check off most of the boxes for "generic anime protagonist." Unfortunately, he has zero semblance of development until the very end of the anime. And his personality throughout the entire show is as stale as expired bread. Now I don't care if he evolves much more as a person in the much longer source material. I'm basing everything off of what I see in the anime, and what I see is a poorly written character whose total stagnancy is astounding. Also, Vinland Saga is considered to be a historical anime and boasts a more realistic take on Vikings. Now no one, least of all me, expected this anime to be entirely realistic. I mean come on, it's an anime after all. But when Thorfinn can accomplish feats like casually charging through hundreds of arrows shot at his head, leaping 12 feet in the air over a moat, sprinting up the side of a vertical castle wall, and running through dozens of trained soldiers in armor while making abrupt slashing motions with his knives that decapitate all of them with one slice, then I start to have a problem with the "realism" factor. Moments like these had deleterious effects on the quality of the anime in my eyes, and Thorfinn's inexplicable demigod-like feats of strength and skill when compared to the generally normal capabilities of the majority of the rest of the cast caused a disconnect with the historical direction that the anime seemed to be aiming for. Of course that loud, mountain of a man Thorkell is somehow worse when it comes to absolutely shattering any sense of realism that Vinland Saga was aiming for, but I don't even want to attempt to talk about that horrendously written character. Yes, I believe Thorfinn failed spectacularly as a protagonist. But thankfully, there's Askeladd. He's honestly much more of a main character than Thorfinn, and is actually quite compelling and given a believable reason for his actions. He's clearly the deepest character and most entertaining part of the show, and despite my issues with many aspects of the anime *cough* Thorfinn *cough* he kept things interesting. He's the type of character that you initially want to hate but then grow to appreciate as time goes on, and I have to commend Vinland Saga for writing him in such a compelling way. But even Askeladd couldn't save Vinland Saga from falling into mediocrity. And that's thanks to the inclusion of another certain character. Frickin Canute Canute is a Norse princess waifu...but he's a dude. The entire arc surrounding Canute can be summarized as Askeladd's vikings with Canute in tow march through all of England in fear of Thorkell's vikings who are in pursuit. It's terribly boring and is worsened by Canute constantly whining to his cone-headed adviser until even Askeladd gets annoyed by his character and tries to make a man out of him. Canute remains stagnant for many episodes until he has this incredibly pathetic and laughable epiphany about love that doesn't really make any sense and his character suddenly does a complete 180. His voice proceeds to drop an octave and his eyes get smaller and sharper to visually imply that yes, Canute's balls have finally dropped. His character transformation is so abrupt and nonsensical that I can only describe it as a monumental failure when it comes to development. This is especially sad because I know that the author of Vinland Saga has the ability to write quality characters. He did it with Askeladd after all. It just feels like he sort of gave up on trying to realistically develop Canute over a proper period of time and was just like "Screw it, he's a badass now!" Which is honestly quite unfortunate. I also find the narrative to be quite weak and lazily written. Sure, it shows on multiple occasions how harsh and cruel Vikings can be, but in reality it just depicts a bunch of dudes traveling around accomplishing not much of anything for like 20 episodes with a few "dark" moments sprinkled in to remind viewers that they're watching a medieval fantasy. I honestly couldn't find much depth or intrigue in this anime at all. It's just not interesting to me whatsoever and feels like a ginormous waste of time. And the whole revenge plot surrounding Thorfinn and Askeladd had about as much substance as the awful revenge plot featured in Masamune-Kun's Revenge. Which is to say that there's practically zero substance, as it never feels like Thofinn makes any progress whatsoever at getting back at Askeladd. Now this would be fine if the anime took the route of trying to develop their bond and bring them closer over the years, but it doesn't feel like that either. That is of course until the anime force feeds us that angle at the end in a last ditch attempt to derive some emotional impact...sorry, it didn't work. The whole show is just Thorfinn being perpetually angry at Askeladd and Askeladd being sort of indifferent to Thorfinn, which was quite disappointing for me. It made the whole anime feel sort of pointless. And when I can draw parallels to frickin Masamune-Kun's Revenge, which is in my opinion one of the poorest produced anime of the 2010s, you just know that Vinland Saga done goofed up somewhere along the line. Despite my harsh criticism of Vinland Saga, I don't actually hate the show or anything. It does have some solid visual and sound work (bar the jarring CGI), courtesy of Wit Studio. And there are some fun fight sequences included. I'm just disappointed that the anime squandered so much potential. While it admittedly starts strong with Thors and finishes strong with Askeladd, the rest...unfortunately isn't the best.

Stark700

If Don LaFonaine narrated Vinland Saga from the start, he’d begin the show with “In a world….” In Vinland Saga, we are introduced to a Viking world, a world of historical fiction rich with culture and testing the limits of survival. Based on the manga of the same name, it’s a show that teaches more than about survival. If you’re ready to embark on this epic adventure, then be ready for a 24-episode saga like you’ve never experienced before. Thorfinn Thorsson is the Icelandic protagonist, a character with complex personality driven with an ambition. After the death of his father, he becomes a warrior, someone whowill do whatever it takes to get his revenge. In this 11th century, the audience must understand how barbaric life is. Every day is an adventure where possibilities are almost limitless. Vinland Saga is very engrossing with a rich culture and preaches to the elements of historical fiction. This anime adaptation adapts a story to get us familiar with its Viking world, the harsh life of Thorfinn Throsson, and what it means to survive. Besides Planetes, Vinland Saga is mangaka Makoto Yukimura’s most prominent work. The anime adaptation remains faithful throughout the series but the director does mention that “there will be some adjustments to the manga”. With that in mind, the audience shouldn’t need to worry too much because Vinland Saga is fundamentally an adaptation for fans of the original series. The first few episodes takes off to showcase the violence and barbaric nature of the 11th century. From the harsh weather to immense amount of bloodshed, it is obvious the producers wanted to make the anime feels as real as possible. Wit Studio managed to carry a caliber of high production quality throughout a great deal of this series. The landscapes and Baltic Sea are illustrated with gorgeous visual quality enhanced by its realism. The scenes in some episodes contains elements of photorealism, characteristics that makes this show’s visual quality nothing less than a near masterpiece. There’s a Viking culture that we must quickly adapt to such as the rough clothing, crude ships, and historical weapons. Vehicles are replaced by horses and technology is crafted by the hands of humankind. In essence, this anime retains a beautiful setting but with dark elements of complex storytelling. With the characters in mind, Thorfinn is the central protagonist as we focus on his rebellious life. During his childhood, he was happier like an ordinary kid before his life changed forever. Now, he carries a vengeful attitude with a rebellious nature while trusting almost no one but himself. He is what I describe as a survivalist, someone who is opportunistic, wild, and unpredictable. He is fundamentally a decent person although some of his actions are questionable throughout the series. It’s hard to judge his character altogether in this adaptation but based on his actions, you could say he is far from a heroic protagonist. What is important is the relationship he develops with others in particular, Askeladd, the man who manipulated Thorfinn into his service. This becomes a complex relationship because Askeladd was contracted to kill Thors, Thorfinn’s father. As leader of his own Viking band, he is an important figure because of his influence on Thorfinn. And the more you watch Vinland Saga, the more you’ll realize how much certain characters have influence over others. Taking some steps back, the audience should also be familiar with Thors, the father of Thorfinn. As one of the most powerful character in the franchise, Thors is a testament and symbol of warrior. And despite not being around as much as the other characters, Thors teaches us what it means to be a true warrior. This is somewhat in contrast to Thorkell, a barbaric man with inhuman strength and widely considered to be one of the most brutal warriors in the series. He loves the thrill of fighting, to always find powerful opponents, and tests his strength. After encountering Thorfinn, he comes to respect the boy for his inner strength and determination. He is even somewhat honorable in that when facing against worth opponents, he prefers to settle it in a fair fight, without interference or bias. In my eyes, he is a breakout character to always keep an eye on. But Vinland Saga isn’t just about barbarism and violence. It has a society ruled by order with laws and dictatorship. From within the story, we meet Canute, a prince with a cowardly personality and bishonen-like appearance. Created as a foil as some of the main characters, he starts off as a meek man but transforms into a strong headed prince after losing someone close in his life. And that’s what makes Vinland Saga so meaningful. Character deaths are impactful and causes people to change as in the way it’s meant to. I can honestly say from heart that character evolution in Vinland Saga is one of the core fundamentals of the series. It’s not just about evolving characters either but showing the reality of death. It’s a clever way to avoid character assassination by changing their personalities through events. As I watched more of the show, it becomes more and more intriguing to understand each one. Unfortunately, a 2-cour adaptation does limit the potential of full character development. There’s much more to be found in the manga but that’s for another story. If I said it once, I’ve said it a hundred times. Vinland Saga contains a cruel world and filled with moments of despair, emotions, and conviction driven by action. If you’re here to see fan service, it’s served with bloodshed and body horror, not half naked women. It has little time to humor as its time period isn’t an era to enjoy life. It’s to survive in it. What will seduce the audience to this series’ theme ultimately come down its hallmark of creative realism. It manages to be exactly what it advertised from the start and in Thors’ words, make a “true warrior with no sword”.