Tag: Vinland Saga

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]” →

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]” →

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]” →

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]” →

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]” →

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]” →

Welcome everyone, to another week of Vinland Saga! Apologies for missing last week, a lot of things conspired to prevent me from finishing the post. On the plus side though, you get a double header this week! Surely that’s worth it, right? Considering how closely tied these two episodes are, I think it just might be. Now without further ado, onto the episodes!

Starting off, lets talk about the production. I’ve seen some grumblings online about the toning down of more comedic, light moments. Stuff like their facial expressions, etc. Personally though? I don’t see it. It’s not that Vinland Saga is removing/toning them down, but rather that the story hasn’t reached a point where they are appropriate. As evidenced by these two episodes, Thorfinn still isn’t in a place where he can be light and happy. Maybe if it continues like this they will have a point. For now though, it’s simply not applicable. At the same time, I think the way Vinland Saga is depicting Thorfinn’s nightmares and struggles to be really striking. The strong colors and rough line work. It’s beautifully composed and animated, and were some of my favorite scenes in episode 4. Suffice to say, while Vinland Saga isn’t particularly animated yet, its also not poorly animated.

Continue reading “Vinland Saga S2 – 3/4 [Snake/Awakening]” →

Welcome everyone, to the first post of not only the Winter season but 2023 as a whole! Well… first series post, the first impressions don’t count. Anyways, the first series of the year is Vinland Saga! A favorite of mine, I’ve been looking forward to this for a long time, so lets jump right into it!

Starting off, lets take a more in depth look at the production. Unsurprisingly, Vinland Saga isn’t particularly animated. And that’s fine! It’s not a show that needs to be. Vinland Saga, at least in this arc, isn’t particularly kinetic or action oriented. It’s a slow moving, picturesque kind of series. A lack of fast-moving action animation is only a problem when a series tries to be such and fails. And Vinland Saga isn’t. That isn’t to say it doesn’t have it’s problems of course. There are a few wide shots that seem rather… flat, and lifeless. Stuff like the held wide shot of Thorfinn and Einar with no mouth, eyes or nose. Held for so long, with so little detail, it feels… off. Still, even with that and the lack of heavy action, Vinland Saga looks pretty good so far. Hopefully it doesn’t fall off as the story picks up.

Continue reading “Vinland Saga S2 – 2 [Ketil’s Farm]” →