Vinland Saga S2 – 14 [Freedom]

Welcome everyone, to another episode of Vinland Saga! This episode is all about Arnheid, Gardar, and how they ended up here. Not much Thorfinn or Einar, but it’s still important for them to. So lets dive right into it!

The main thrust of this episode is Arnheid’s backstory and how Vinland Saga uses it to condemn violence. Not just “aggressive” violence, ala raiders and vikings, Vinland Saga has already made it very clear how it feels about those. Rather it’s condemning “defensive” violence, this idea of “proactive defense”, of going out and fighting unnecessary fighting fights. Of course this sounds a bit odd to us. Should we not defend ourselves against others? We also see in Sverkel’s story that simply waiting out the storm, the violence, isn’t necessarily the best option either. So what’s the proper response? What are you supposed to do when someone comes at you with the intent to kill, to steal? This is a question Vinland Saga is going to have to tackle, and one it probably will soon when Canute’s army shows up.

Continue reading “Vinland Saga S2 – 14 [Freedom]”

Vinland Saga S2 – 13 [Dark Clouds]

Welcome everyone, to the 2nd half of Vinland Saga Season 2! This episode marks the end of Thorfinn and Einar’s (mostly) idyllic life on the farm and the beginning of reality rearing its ugly head. As you might have guessed, this isn’t very good for them. Now without further ado, lets dive in!

Now as you might have guessed before now, slavery is kind of bad. Even when you have a “kind” master like Ketil, someone who lets you work your way to freedom and generally doesn’t treat you like shit, it still isn’t a very nice thing. We’ve seen it a lot with the retainers, and even in small moments like Arnheid and Einar not remembering what freedom feels like. This arc though, started by this episode, is all about diving into slavery proper. About tearing back that veil and showing us that, for all his power and wealth, Ketil is in the minority of slave owners. Most are just terrible people who use and abuse their slaves. And that’s what Gardar represents. He is that average slave striking back. The first creeping tendril of reality finding its way onto the paradise that was their life on the farm.

Continue reading “Vinland Saga S2 – 13 [Dark Clouds]”

Vinland Saga S2 – 12 [For Lost Love]

Welcome everyone, to the halfway point of season 2 of Vinland Saga! This week is more Olmar and Canute, but it connects deeply back to Thorfinn and his struggle. Some very interesting things to talk about this week, so lets dive in!

It should be obvious, both from the episode and that opening, that Olmar is the centerpiece this week. On the surface level, it’s all pretty straightforward. Olmar gets insulted, his pride is wounded, he starts a fight, Canute uses that as an excuse to take action against the farm, exactly as he planned. Of course it wasn’t perfect, Canute didn’t account for Thorgil, not him being there nor being strong enough to take down around 10 men. Seriously, what is it with dudes with “Thor” in their name? Luckily that doesn’t really matter to Canute, because no matter how strong Thorgil is. One man can’t beat an army, and that’s what Canute has. Ketil was screwed the moment Canute decided he wanted his farm. If anything this willingness to throw away the lives of his own men says more about Canute then it does Thorgil and Olmar.

Continue reading “Vinland Saga S2 – 12 [For Lost Love]”

Vinland Saga S2 – 11 [The King and the Sword]

Welcome everyone, to another week of Vinland Saga! This week sees Canute and Thorfinn enter onto a headlong collision course, meanwhile Ketil runs into an old friend of ours and Canute shows he’s a bit of a baddass. Without further ado, lets dive into it!

Starting off, with Thorfinn in such a good place it’s not surprising that we got another Canute episode this week. And much like last weeks, Canute continues to show just how much he’s changed from that young man all those years ago. Case in point, despite still hating swords and violence, as seen by his reactions and his complete disdain for his armaments, he still trains with them, publicly, to reassure his warriors and gain their approval. As with so many things we see this week, such as his resolution to requisition farms to pay for his army of believing he needs an army at all, it’s a microcosm of Canute’s new attitude. Simply put: He’s become a Utilitarian. The ends justify the means, so long as an action results in more people being safe/happy then those who suffer, it’s worth it. And unsurprisingly, it’s kind of hypocritical.

Continue reading “Vinland Saga S2 – 11 [The King and the Sword]”

Vinland Saga S2 – 10 [Cursed Head]

Another week, another episode of Vinland Saga! This week sees a timeskip, the return of Canute, and the first signs of conflict for the farm. Lets jump right into it!

Starting off, time skip! That’s right, 3 years have passed. 3 years on the farm, 3 years of cutting down the forest, 3 years for Thorfinn to figure his shit out. Does this skip over a lot of stuff, is it an excuse for Thorfinn to progress off screen? Yes, a little bit. But do I think it will enable a greater story because we can see these changes through Thorfinn’s actions to future events? Also yes. This sort of time skip, where a character truly comes into their own and changes substantially, are only a problem when a series fails to show us how said character has changed. And I don’t think that Vinland Saga will have that problem. Not with how much focus it’s already given to Thorfinn. What I’m saying is, to anime-onlies watching Farmland Saga for the first time, don’t worry. The time skip is good.

Continue reading “Vinland Saga S2 – 10 [Cursed Head]”

Vinland Saga S2 – 9 [Oath]

Welcome everyone, to another episode of Vinland Saga! This week is one giant gut-punch as it takes everything about Thorfinn, throws it on the ground, and steps on it for good measure. Is it the most healthy thing in the world? Probably not. But it makes for damn good television. Now lets dive into it!

First up, the visuals. Vinland Saga is not a particularly animated show. And it never needed to be! Action is nice, but this isn’t a battle Shounen, it’s not what is important. But that doesn’t mean it isn’t nice to have when it steps up, and that’s what happened this week. Just the entire visual experience of Thorfinn’s “Valhalla”, the way the warriors moved and fought (When not CGI at least), the color direction and detail on Thorfinn’s hands. It was beautiful. In a dark, deeply traumatic sort of way. Now was it particularly subtle? No, not really. Vinland Saga has never been very subtle with its themes. But is it still effective? I would say so. Sometimes punching someone in the face leaves a better impression then politely asking asking them. And that’s what Vinland Saga did here.

Continue reading “Vinland Saga S2 – 9 [Oath]”

Vinland Saga S2 – 8 [An Empty Man]

Hello everyone, and welcome to another week of Vinland Saga! This week continues Einar and Thorfinn’s quest to grow wheat, as well as delving a bit further into how they both feel about this whole “slavery” thing. Sound fun? Good, cause it is. Now lets dive into the episode!

Starting off, a fun fact for everyone. The opening scene of this episode might feel like it comes out of nowhere to some, shoving us into the end of one of Thorfinn’s nightmares. What might surprise you to learn however is that this is the last moment of a 2 minute short released on Youtube, for free! From what I heard it was because they animated it but couldn’t figure out how to fit it into the episode. Whatever the reason, it’s a small bit of action and a longer look into exactly the kind of stuff Thorfinn dreams about. Becoming his old self again, how many families and people he killed for no reason, his usual sort of PTSD. I recommend you go take a look, I’ll link to it here for you!

Continue reading “Vinland Saga S2 – 8 [An Empty Man]”

Vinland Saga S2 – 7 [Iron Fist Ketil]

Welcome everyone, to another (late) post this week, this time for Vinland Saga! Turns out that when one post gets pushed back by a day or 2, so does everything else. Good thing I already have Wolf’s Rain done for tomorrow or else I’d be in a pickle. My struggle to consistently put out content aside, lets dive into the episode!

Getting into the episode, so far in Vinland Saga we’ve had 2 distinct worlds/stories. The first is, of course, Ketil’s farm where the focus in on Thorfinn, Einar, and building things up. The second though is the war front, with Canute, Thorkell, and a focus on death and destruction. These two stories have, so far, been completely separate and diametrically opposed. So why do I bring up the obvious? Because, slowly but surely, these two worlds are starting to intersect. Because this week Thorgil, Ketil’s elder son and the embodiment of everything Einar hates, of what Thorfinn used to be, has returned to the farm. And in just a single day he’s already begun to stoke not only Olmar’s dreams of going to war, but violence on the farm itself.

Continue reading “Vinland Saga S2 – 7 [Iron Fist Ketil]”

Vinland Saga S2 – 6 [I Want a Horse]

Welcome back everyone, to another week of Vinland Saga! This week sees us return to Thorfinn and Einar as they continue their quest to build a farm. Doesn’t sound all that exciting right? Yet for me it was one of the most thematic and emotionally poignant episodes of the year so far. So without further ado, lets dive into it!

Right off the bat, from visual cues alone, you can see in how much better a place Thorfinn is. His hair is pulled back, allowing us to see his face, and his eyes shine with a depth they previously lacked. Thorfinn also walks straighter, with less of a hunch, and he overall seems much cleaner. On top of that, he’s also talking much more. A lot of it is softly-spoken sure, and he is still rather demure. But he’s much more willing to ask questions of people. And he even raises his voice when it’s just him and Einar working the farm, clearly feeling more comfortable expressing himself! All these small things come together to paint Thorfinn as a completely different person then he was when we last left him. It’s like he’s been born again almost, both literally and figuratively.

Continue reading “Vinland Saga S2 – 6 [I Want a Horse]”

Vinland Saga S2 – 5 [The Path of Blood]

Welcome all, to another episode of Vinland Saga! This week we take a break from Thorfinn, instead spending time with our other favorite damaged boy: Canute! And man is he kind of fucked up. So without further ado, lets dive into it!

Getting into the production, Vinland Saga continues to not be the most animated of shows. It has a few moments, such as Thorkell or the flashback, but that’s about it. There were also some CGI soldiers in some shots that didn’t look great, but they came and went very quickly. Luckily for Vinland Saga, this arc isn’t particularly action packed so it really doesn’t impact it much. Instead what stands out is the strong direction, such as framing Canute atop the pile of coins or in front of the burning countryside, along with solid background art and compositing/lighting to bring it all together. The end result ends up giving Vinland Saga a lot more gravitas and drama then some kind of flashy action sequence would, as the focus isn’t on war and battle but rather Canute’s avoidance of direct combat. What does that mean? Well lets talk about it.

Continue reading “Vinland Saga S2 – 5 [The Path of Blood]”