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Soooo two months ago I was on reddit, looking at /r/anime's news and I found out that my favorite band was gonna sing the second opening of an anime called Vinland Saga, of which I haven't really heard anything at all. I saw that it was most likely about vikings killing each other, a carnage and action-focused anime. The opening slapped just like every other single they made :) and I was holy crap that show is going to my PTW list.
Fast forward to last sunday I wanted to eat lunch but I didn't have any anime to watch so I said to myself, why not give Vinland Saga a try? I downloaded three episodes and starte the first one. My jaw fucking dropped when I heard the opening because I could understand the despair behind the lyrics despite it being mostly in japanese.
"What went wrong?"
"So tell me what's left for me when I've given up everything?"
Even the very last part, on which the main character is surrounded by a pile of corpses and he's crying his heart out to the sky "Is this the meaning of life we've all fought so hard for?"
I had to stop the opening because it kicked my ass. I saw a happy child turning into a emotionless teenager, what happened to him? Woah, there are so many characters in this show. There's a mysterious pretty haired boy in the end, I wanna see him again! What beautiful scenary, the field of grass and flowers and the blue sky gives me peace.
That's how I ended up binging the 14 chapters in less than a week. The summary doesn't give it justice, the story is much more than a child wanting to get revenge on his father's killer, the charm of Vinland Saga is its story and character growth. The vikings aren't romanticized at all. Historically they all pillaged, killed and raped and the show doesn't censore any of it, we see it firsthand. We see villages and innocent civilians being slaughtered when they haven't done anything, and our protagonist doesn't even bat an eye at their deaths.
It's another part captured me instantly, to see the child who looked with wonder at the sea and said "Look father, the sea is so beautiful" thinking "Those cowards fought dirty. How dare they." and "It's all my fault" after watching his father die at the hands of mercernaries. I actually cheered for him to survive, learn how to use his father's dagger but it also hurt me a lot to see a young child suffering like that. The first time he killed someone was emotionally charged. But after all of those years, I wonder how many innocent people has he personally killed? Is there salvation for him? Unlike his father, the mercenary group he's from is too cruel. I said to myself that I want to see his complete journey.
I also want to talk about Askeladd, who's probably the other protagonist on this arc. A manipulative bastard that uses Thorfinn like he owns him, and the saddest part is that Thorfinn follows his every word. But on the other hand he's a charismatic leader whom everyone treats with all due respect. He raised Thorfinn and isn't that ironic? Their relationship is very complicated because sometimes you see Askeladd caring for him, their own men told him that he trusts Thorfinn, he pushes him to become a better warrior, he teaches him every trick he knows. In the end, just as Askeladd said, Thorfinn will kill him. I want to reach that part and I want to read what Thorfinn thinks of him? Will he be sad? Angry? Elated? Will he just feel despair? Will he think of Askeladd as his father figure after all?
Most manga readers call this arc the prologue, and it's really amazing. So I wonder. How good will the rest be? It's already a masterpiece in my eyes. I want to see Thorfinn grow and truly understand the words his father said, about not having any enemies and to not hurt others. I want Askeladd to reach his goals and die at the end of Thorfinn's dagger. I want Canute to become the king he was meant to be. I want Leif and Helga and Ylva to find Thorfinn and help him. I want to see the aftermath of the war between the Danes and the English. This story has so much potential and I really want to be part of the fandom, and I will definitely read the manga after the anime finishes. Or maybe before? Who knows. I'm bad at resisting the manga's allure.
Anyways this is what I think about Vinland Saga. It definitely changed my opinion of seinen manga! I would love to start reading the most popular ones such as Berserk, Kingdom and Vagabond.
I also want to add my reddit comments of every episode.
Episode 1:
not only the story, characters and animation are superb, the ending and opening are freaking amazing. i got completely captured by it.
Episode 2:
I'm pretty sure that most if not all of the people from the village will die. At least make their deaths non painful :(
Thorfinn's demeanour looks completely different in the opening, and he's still a child/teenager there.Episode 3:
OH MY GOD THORFINN IS GONNA GIVE ME A HEART ATTACK...
Episode 4:
He was too badass for this world. RIP Thors.
BTW the story didn't follow what I thought! I'm glad. I hope the people from the village live longer...
Episode 5:
A child going through all of that. Yikes.
Episode 6:
It hurts too much. In the end he just went killer mode again.
Didn't comment on episode 7 :(
Episode 8:
One day you'll get there Thorfinn! I'll root for you until the end.
Canute is a pretty boy isn't he? I like his flowy hair LOL
Episode 9:
Woahh the battle was beautiful. Thorfinn got destroyed though.
Episode 10:
My heart hurt as soon as I saw Thorfinn's dream. Can we skip until he's in a better place? Q_Q
IM SUPER EXCITED! What will happen next? I hope they succeed... That would be sooo cool. But something I love of Vinland Saga is that it's unpredictable (at least for my theories aha)
Episode 11:
Lmao the priest went crazy... at the end he looked like a fucking hobo.
Hey CANUTE SAY SOMETHING!!!!!!!!!!!
Episode 12:
HE SPOKE!!!!!!! His voice is cute. The title Canute the Cute suits him. Aaand I knew they would make Thorfinn his bodyguard!
tHE FUCKING PRIEST IS STILL DRINKING. OH MY GOD
At the end... it's the guy that went to Vinland? I already forgot his name. He broke his promise, because he saw someone who looked like Thorfinn and DID NOTHING.
Episode 13:
Looking at the opening, it seems that Thorfinn will return to his homeland? But so many disappearing characters make me worry.
ASKELADD IS PLAYING 4D CHESS!!
ASKLMDJKDFSH I CANT STOP LAUGHING. OF FUCKING COURSE IT HAD TO BE THORFINN THE ONE TO GET ON THE PRINCE'S NERVES.
Episode 14:
First time we are seeing one of their raids huh? Puts you in a different perspective. Askeladd's group was always like that but the anime always skipped the carnage :(
Damn I can't believe I didn't watch Vinland Saga before, I thought my AoT would be either Mob Psycho or Kimetsu no Yaiba but I have changed my opinion already. This anime is soooooo good. And I've read people calling this part just a prologue, so how good will it be afterwards? I'll try my best to not cave in and read the manga. Right now the suspense of what will happen next is killing me.
Episode 15:
Oh shit the girl actually survived!!! I didn't think she would. How did she went through the snow to the next village? Without food or water!
Ragnar definitely was going to die but this way? By Askeladd's hands :( It's too cruel.
Episode 16:
Askeladd trusts Bjorn and Thorfinn :') KILL ALL THE DESERTERS!!
I will definitely not read the manga... I'll keep resisting the temptation.
TL;DR. "I got depression 10/10".
Fast forward to last sunday I wanted to eat lunch but I didn't have any anime to watch so I said to myself, why not give Vinland Saga a try? I downloaded three episodes and starte the first one. My jaw fucking dropped when I heard the opening because I could understand the despair behind the lyrics despite it being mostly in japanese.
"What went wrong?"
"So tell me what's left for me when I've given up everything?"
Even the very last part, on which the main character is surrounded by a pile of corpses and he's crying his heart out to the sky "Is this the meaning of life we've all fought so hard for?"
I had to stop the opening because it kicked my ass. I saw a happy child turning into a emotionless teenager, what happened to him? Woah, there are so many characters in this show. There's a mysterious pretty haired boy in the end, I wanna see him again! What beautiful scenary, the field of grass and flowers and the blue sky gives me peace.
That's how I ended up binging the 14 chapters in less than a week. The summary doesn't give it justice, the story is much more than a child wanting to get revenge on his father's killer, the charm of Vinland Saga is its story and character growth. The vikings aren't romanticized at all. Historically they all pillaged, killed and raped and the show doesn't censore any of it, we see it firsthand. We see villages and innocent civilians being slaughtered when they haven't done anything, and our protagonist doesn't even bat an eye at their deaths.
It's another part captured me instantly, to see the child who looked with wonder at the sea and said "Look father, the sea is so beautiful" thinking "Those cowards fought dirty. How dare they." and "It's all my fault" after watching his father die at the hands of mercernaries. I actually cheered for him to survive, learn how to use his father's dagger but it also hurt me a lot to see a young child suffering like that. The first time he killed someone was emotionally charged. But after all of those years, I wonder how many innocent people has he personally killed? Is there salvation for him? Unlike his father, the mercenary group he's from is too cruel. I said to myself that I want to see his complete journey.
I also want to talk about Askeladd, who's probably the other protagonist on this arc. A manipulative bastard that uses Thorfinn like he owns him, and the saddest part is that Thorfinn follows his every word. But on the other hand he's a charismatic leader whom everyone treats with all due respect. He raised Thorfinn and isn't that ironic? Their relationship is very complicated because sometimes you see Askeladd caring for him, their own men told him that he trusts Thorfinn, he pushes him to become a better warrior, he teaches him every trick he knows. In the end, just as Askeladd said, Thorfinn will kill him. I want to reach that part and I want to read what Thorfinn thinks of him? Will he be sad? Angry? Elated? Will he just feel despair? Will he think of Askeladd as his father figure after all?
Most manga readers call this arc the prologue, and it's really amazing. So I wonder. How good will the rest be? It's already a masterpiece in my eyes. I want to see Thorfinn grow and truly understand the words his father said, about not having any enemies and to not hurt others. I want Askeladd to reach his goals and die at the end of Thorfinn's dagger. I want Canute to become the king he was meant to be. I want Leif and Helga and Ylva to find Thorfinn and help him. I want to see the aftermath of the war between the Danes and the English. This story has so much potential and I really want to be part of the fandom, and I will definitely read the manga after the anime finishes. Or maybe before? Who knows. I'm bad at resisting the manga's allure.
Anyways this is what I think about Vinland Saga. It definitely changed my opinion of seinen manga! I would love to start reading the most popular ones such as Berserk, Kingdom and Vagabond.
I also want to add my reddit comments of every episode.
Episode 1:
not only the story, characters and animation are superb, the ending and opening are freaking amazing. i got completely captured by it.
Episode 2:
I'm pretty sure that most if not all of the people from the village will die. At least make their deaths non painful :(
Thorfinn's demeanour looks completely different in the opening, and he's still a child/teenager there.Episode 3:
OH MY GOD THORFINN IS GONNA GIVE ME A HEART ATTACK...
Episode 4:
He was too badass for this world. RIP Thors.
BTW the story didn't follow what I thought! I'm glad. I hope the people from the village live longer...
Episode 5:
A child going through all of that. Yikes.
Episode 6:
It hurts too much. In the end he just went killer mode again.
Didn't comment on episode 7 :(
Episode 8:
One day you'll get there Thorfinn! I'll root for you until the end.
Canute is a pretty boy isn't he? I like his flowy hair LOL
Episode 9:
Woahh the battle was beautiful. Thorfinn got destroyed though.
Episode 10:
My heart hurt as soon as I saw Thorfinn's dream. Can we skip until he's in a better place? Q_Q
IM SUPER EXCITED! What will happen next? I hope they succeed... That would be sooo cool. But something I love of Vinland Saga is that it's unpredictable (at least for my theories aha)
Episode 11:
Lmao the priest went crazy... at the end he looked like a fucking hobo.
Hey CANUTE SAY SOMETHING!!!!!!!!!!!
Episode 12:
HE SPOKE!!!!!!! His voice is cute. The title Canute the Cute suits him. Aaand I knew they would make Thorfinn his bodyguard!
tHE FUCKING PRIEST IS STILL DRINKING. OH MY GOD
At the end... it's the guy that went to Vinland? I already forgot his name. He broke his promise, because he saw someone who looked like Thorfinn and DID NOTHING.
Episode 13:
Looking at the opening, it seems that Thorfinn will return to his homeland? But so many disappearing characters make me worry.
ASKELADD IS PLAYING 4D CHESS!!
ASKLMDJKDFSH I CANT STOP LAUGHING. OF FUCKING COURSE IT HAD TO BE THORFINN THE ONE TO GET ON THE PRINCE'S NERVES.
Episode 14:
First time we are seeing one of their raids huh? Puts you in a different perspective. Askeladd's group was always like that but the anime always skipped the carnage :(
Damn I can't believe I didn't watch Vinland Saga before, I thought my AoT would be either Mob Psycho or Kimetsu no Yaiba but I have changed my opinion already. This anime is soooooo good. And I've read people calling this part just a prologue, so how good will it be afterwards? I'll try my best to not cave in and read the manga. Right now the suspense of what will happen next is killing me.
Episode 15:
Oh shit the girl actually survived!!! I didn't think she would. How did she went through the snow to the next village? Without food or water!
Ragnar definitely was going to die but this way? By Askeladd's hands :( It's too cruel.
Episode 16:
Askeladd trusts Bjorn and Thorfinn :') KILL ALL THE DESERTERS!!
I will definitely not read the manga... I'll keep resisting the temptation.
TL;DR. "I got depression 10/10".