Welcome all to another week of Vinland Saga. Sadly while it was filled with spectacle, this week shows that Vinland’s pacing doesn’t always translate well into anime form. But let’s take it slow as we walk through Thorkell’s fight, Canute’s army and Askeladd’s new plan. Let’s dive in!
In general, I think the episode looked fine. The CGI was of course the usual. Very noticable, and while not offensively bad, it still stuck out like a sore thumb. That said, we did get some beautiful cuts from Arifumi Imai, the man behind some of Attack on Titan’s best cuts. I wasn’t expecting him to show up honestly, I assumed most of Wits A-Team would be working on Kabaneri. But I am happy we did, because that log jump was beautiful. From Thorfinn running across the ships mast, to his almost floaty jump. Really, almost the entire Thorkell fight was a treat to look at. It makes me optimistic for some of the more emotional or action oriented scenes in the future. If nothing else, Vinland gave us some sick animation this week, and that makes me happy. Now though, onto the story.
Thorkell was the big focus this week, and I enjoyed every bit of him. A simple man who loves to fight, disappointed when people run away. I think Vinland did a good job with him this week. How he isn’t some dumb idiot who rushes head first into a fight, but also doesn’t shy from one. The big thing about Thorkell though is what he represents. His character, to me, has always been the embodiment of everything wrong with Viking culture. He is big and strong, a legendary figure larger than life, because he represents these aspects of the culture. War, violence, combat for the sake of combat. No higher purpose or meaning to it all. The opposite of Thors basically. Yet he survives and Thors is dead, because he fits in like a cog in this violent world.
This of course ties into Thorfinn, split between both Thors and Thorkell. His line at the end of the episode, questioning who would enjoy such a fight, shows this. That he isn’t as far gone as Vinland might make us believe. Thorfinn isn’t like Thorkell, he doesn’t love combat for the sake of it, nor is he Thors, who abhors fighting. He has yet to find his path, to either embrace war or try to escape it like Thors. And it is because of this that he isn’t happy, lost in the world. This ties back into the title of the series, and Lief’s story back in the first episode. The idea of Vinland, a land without conflict, etc etc. An ideal Thors strove for but couldn’t escape. Still, i’m getting into spoiler territory here. Suffice to say, I enjoy Thorkell’s place in the story and its relation to Thorfinn.
So, all in all, while this was a short post how was Vinland Saga this week? Well not to much worth talking about really happened. It was all a pretty clear battle sequence that anyone with eyes could figure out. And that battle was nice! Imai did a good job, I can’t wait to see more of Thorkell. As far as the actual meat goes though, I think Vinland setup some good questions on Viking society moving forward. The cost of war, the value of strength, etc etc. That said, outside of the combat, Vinland’s pacing is starting to show. In a manga, with 40+ pages a chapter that you can read relatively quickly, this is less of an issue. However in a 20 minute episode I think it starts to drag a bit. For me, I still enjoy it, but I can see why others would fall off.
