Vinland Saga is the best Historical Action story adapted into an anime. Which I can say
because after 24 episodes released throughout 2019 the story hasn't freaking started yet
and it was already placed on peoples best of year lists. Including mine.
But what do you mean the story hasn't started? I mean literally the anime covers the first
54 chapters of the original manga, the last of which is literally called END OF THE PROLOGUE.
This is a series that you need to strap yourself in for because while most large scale narratives
finish off after 24 episodes, Vinland is just getting started. Hell despite being called
Vinland Saga the actual location of Vinland is only mentioned in the first initial episodes
to then be forgotten about until it’s brought up again near the end because of my man Leif
Erricson.
Which if you didn’t pick up on Leif's name, and the fact that I started by saying that
this series is a HISTORICAL action anime then there’s me shining a spotlight on it all
for you. The series is loosely based on real historical events that took place shortly
after 1000 AD, including characters whose fates you could actually look up on Wikipedia,
so spoilers if you do that. But unlike your traditional history class where they have
you memorize names and dates, because that’s all our broken education systems like to focus
on as far as history is concerned, this series Vinland Saga, takes that history and turns
it into an epic adventure worthy of the name. A story about kings, about pillaging and vikings,
about revenge and about Love.
This is a story where there are no heroes or villains, just goals, ambitions, and the
will to achieve them. Ladies, gentlemen and others my name is Arkada and today on Glass
Reflection the 2019 anime from Wit Studio: Vinland Saga.
BUT FIRST! As we have been doing all week, we at glass reflection would like to give
a shout out to the sponsor of not just this video but the whole review week of awesome,
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If you haven’t figured it out yet, by the end of this video I am going to tell you to
watch Vinland Saga, this is something that will happen. Which means you need access to
the streaming service where it is available, and out of all the places where you can watch
anime Vinaland is only available on Amazon Prime video. Which thankfully you can use
Surfshark to access!
So why don’t you give it a try? If you don’t like it within 30 days, let them
know, you get your money back.
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Now, Back to VINLAND SAGA. Let’s Jam.
You may be confused as to why a show called Vinland Saga has virtually nothing to do with
any historical location known as Vinalnd,
That’s actually not all that confusing at all. When historically talking about Vikings
and Sagas two historical texts come to mind. The Saga of the Greenlanders and Erik the
Red’s saga. WOAH WOAH WOAH WOAH.
Don't do that! I'm not going to drop a history lesson on you
I'm just giving you important context, hold up don't walk away yet.
In short Greenlanders covers the several tales of various expeditions to what is now North
America more specifically CANADA. This includes the expeditions of Eric the Red, his son Leif,
and a man known as Thorfinn among others.
The Saga of Eric the Red, despite its namesake, focuses far more on the expedition of Thorfinn
and his family. An expedition that as of the telling of this anime hasn't happened yet.
This is why I said that the Vinland Saga is “loosely” based on historical events.
Even if you take both Viking Sagas as gospels, which don’t do that because they conflict
with one another as it is, Thorfinn doesn’t appear until close to the launching of his
own expedition. No real connections with the Danes, or descendants of Romans, and most
definitely no relation to any kind of royalty regardless of country. That Vinland Saga goes
out of it’s way to toss this character into locales he has no business being in Historically
means that you probably don’t want to be using this anime to learn about real history.
Though the portrayals of the individual characters seem to be somewhat in line with what we know
about them.
BUT what this does mean is that since history is, from an entertainment perspective, usually
boring. Vinland Saga takes the noteworthy events from history and makes them more fun
to watch by just tossing historical accuracy out the window in favour of whatever balls
to the walls action set piece they can come up with. Also known as the Fate route.
SPEAKING OF FATE, you know what would make the rise of Kaneut the Great even more entertaining?
Pulling some speculative history about the inspiration of King Arther with massive ties
to Roman military and making that fact in your universe to give us with one of the most
badass commanders in the entire show. But I am somehow not talking about the show's
protagonist. Why is that? Because like JoJo’s Bizarre adventure, the real protagonist is
the characters we make up along the way.
Vinland Saga starts us off with a Viking Warrior named Thors, a man who left to live in Iceland
with his wife and children to escape the constant war of the Danish kings. He didn’t move
far enough away though as he was eventually drafted once again by the vikings, specifically
a viking named Floki who threatened his family and the village he retired too. Enroute back
across the ocean, Floki hires a group of Mercenaries, commanded by one Askeladd to murder Thors
since he’s more trouble than he’s worth, and despite Thors fighting prowess he dies
defending his Son Thorfinn.
TIMESKIP and the rest of the series follows Thorfinn who has grown up alongside Askeladd
and his crew. Specifically with the intent of learning to fight and one day killing Askeladd
in retaliation for the death of his father.
Thorfinn as a character is kind of hard to watch most times. At least in these early
parts of the story as his character has very little depth to him Beyond his quest for vengeance
and all his short term goals to once again face Askeladd in a duel only to lose. One
of the downsides of having a story of this length is that a character Arc such as Thorfinn’s
takes so long to develop that in 24 episodes it feels like it’s barely moved at all.
Most of his development comes as the contrast between his new found life of revenge and
what is shown about his Father. Thors with almost no equal on the battlefield, who nonetheless
found no joy in a life of fighting. A man who came to believe that a true warrior needed
no weapon, and that fighting was not something to be sought out. This is a mindset quite
counter to the bloodlust shown by his son.
Largely, Thorfinn is just seriously naive throughout the story, taking orders from Askeladd
only for the reward of a duel. Askeladd in turn takes full advantage of this, sending
Thorfinn out on a series of impossible challenges of which there is no downside to him and plenty
of massive upsides should Thorfinn succeed.
Despite being the closest thing the story has to an antagonist in the early episodes,
Askeladd ends up becoming far more like the protagonist by the end of the prologue then
Throfinn could have hoped for. While the little viking boy is jumping around, spinning with
his twin daggers at men 3 times his size while screaming about revenge, Askeladd is big-braining
entire countries in an attempt to achieve his own goals.
The reason you watch this series, this prologue, is not for Thorfinns quest of revenge which
will most likely come into play later on, but for Askeladd. His conniving, his scheming,
and his actions that take him from a lowly mercenary, to vassal of a prince in line for
the throne of Denmark, and also through his actions, the throne of England.
Much of the writing of the series is, in short, a masterwork. One which I have been a fan
of for over a decade now. The manga for the series was written by Makoto Yukimura, and
if you don’t know of his work I highly encourage you to check out the Hard Sci-Fi anime awesomeness
that is Planetes at your earliest convenience. That was a story where Yukimura took an idea
about space Janitors and turned it into a brilliant tale of humanity out in the vast
reaches of space.
But Yukimura is very good at character drama and melding the setting and key events around
bringing out the best in his characters. He doesn’t just use historical events to drive
his narrative here in Vinland saga, but instead also annalizes plenty of introspective type
philosophical themes through character motivations and development. Which fully grounds this
world, even if at times some characters feel simplistic.
The Viking warrior Thorkell is a good example of this, introduced as an antagonist and the
man defending London from Siege, Thorkell’s motivations are some of the most simple. He
is a man that loves fighting, and takes to becoming a turncoat. Swapping from the side
of the Vikings to that of the defending English, purely because that would be more fun. He
enjoys the challenge of fighting battles where the result was not already predetermined by
numbers beforehand. Only to get deeply depressed when the Danish armies alter plans to avoid
conflict with him.
Thorkell is also a man that wants to become more than what his simplistic goals drive
him too. He’s deeply inspired by his Nephew Thors’s ideals about being a perfect warrior,
but he has no idea what that truly means. So he hopes to find some answers by continually
battling Thor's son Thorfinn.
Then of course we have Canute, introduced as a timid prince, one who doesn’t do much
acting and speaks even less. He is second in line to the throne, coddled by his retainer
into being a child who cannot defend himself with either the sword or his wit. But by the
end of the prologue, Canute has massive changes through influence by both Askallad and the
drunkard priest Father Willibald.
From Askallad he takes the voice of a leader. And from Willibald an idea about the meaning
Love.
Love is an interesting discussion in terms of what it means in Vinland Saga. Willibald’s
goal as a secondary character seems to be to find a kind of love that is hard for him
to truly explain to any of the characters who ask him about it. He’s not looking for
a family love, or relationships of lust but something far deeper and more personal. In
discussions with Canute, the young prince gets his ideals challenged. Making him question
the teachings of God that he had grown up with. Making him more resolute in not only
becoming ruler, but also in trying to turn that which he rules over into a paradise better
than what the lord promises beyond death.
This is what I mean about the depth of characters in this story. Most anime of this length barely
scrape by with one or two fully developed characters by the end of their 24 episode
run, but Vinland Saga has a small handful of what can be described as protagonists,
and an even larger slew of secondary characters with their own goals, achievements and developments.
When I first made a video about Vinland Saga back when it started, one of my biggest points
is that the series was a slow burn, and I said that positively! The narrative and the
direction of the episodes really takes it’s time in fleshing out boht the world and those
that live in it. But when you look back you start to realize just how much information
and story actually got told in what really was such a short amount of time.
While the manga is perfectly paced as is, it’s the team at Wit Studio that stuck to
that. Laying out just enough so that every new episode had plenty of things to offer,
while never feeling either rushed or conversely feeling like we were just padding time to
make the episode count line up with the end of the narrative arc.
This all adds to the growing pile of reasons why Wit Studio is slowly becoming one of my
favorites in the industry. Between the action heavy nature of Titan, to the Jazzy drama
of Great Pretender, to now both the subtle narratives present in Magus Bride and Vineland
they can handle quite a bit, all the while bringing on talant that hadn’t yet made
a name for themselves. A few videos back when we were talking about Magus Bride I mentioned
how for that project, the director had very rarely spent time in the director's chair
before being brought in. Here the exact same is true. While director Yabuta has spent plenty
of time directing 3D animation in a variety of projects he only had one other series to
his name, the cult series Inuyashiki from 2017 and that’s it. But like with Wits previous
projects, Yabuta knocked it out of the park easily.
Of course that’s just me talking about directing, it says nothing specifically for the quality
of the action this series has to offer, something which it provides in spades. It really shouldn't
be all that surprising though, Attack on Titan has such notoriety with its great action that
the idea that Vinland would have horrible action is almost an impossible notion. The
battles here, from the simple one on one duels to the larger scale battles are great, bringing
in just enough needed adrenaline before the story starts to dive back more into the levels
of intrigue and character driven greatness that the story should become well known for.
*Sigh*
Have you ever just finished a series and want to scream at your screen YES! THIS IS IT!
THIS IS WHAT I WATCH ANIME FOR.
Not too long ago that was me after I watched the film for Made in Abyss, it was a rollercoaster
of a film that elicited such a reaction that I could not attempt to capture on camera even
though I filmed my thoughts shortly afterward. Vinland Saga is not a series that made me
cry tears of joy, or one that made me scream at my screen about how much I loved it.
My reaction to the Vinland Saga was much more reserved but nonetheless impactful, it's a
series where I ended it, I leaned back in my chair and thought Damn. This better not
be the freaking end. We are not even a third of the way through the existing manga and
already Vinland Saga has landed itself squarely in my list as some of the best anime I’ve
had the pleasure of watching.
Originally I thought my love for it was going to be because of it’s ties to my home Country
of Canada, as Vinland while it’s exact location is up for debate depending on who you ask
and whose tales you follow, it’s either in Newfoundland where my family is from or
just slightly further down in New Brunswick. The show's second opening says New Brunswick
but you know as I said, such a thing is historically arguable. But my love for this series has
grown beyond my humble expectations for it into something even I could not predict that
I would enjoy to this degree.
Vinland Saga is as its name implies a Saga, a long historical story of heroic achievement.
But the idea of what is a Hero, what becoming a hero entails is core to its initial narrative
and it’s what drove my interest in this world and these characters to new heights.
I had another couple of pages here written, admittedly in point form about what I loved
about this series, but I have decided against adding them not because I don’t think they
are relevant, but because no explanation I could do for them would be worthy of the content
I talk about.
I cannot in a few quick paragraphs fully detail Canuts' story, or even the importance of characters
like Bjorn or King Sweyn. For me to do any of that justice would take almost an equivalent
amount of time for you to just go and watch the series.
If you watch anything over the next couple of months, well I just spent a week showcasing
some absolutely stellar shows, some that you might love so much more than Vinland Saga
depending on your tastes. But if you asked me to tell you which one to watch if you only
had time for one. This would be it.
It contains almost everything I want out of a more mature story, one unafraid of talking
about death, one that both romanticised violence while offering a conversation about something
more aligned with pacifist ideals. While other shows, other narratives are great entertainment,
things that I would recommend to pass the time or enjoy for a variety of reasons. Vinland
Saga is more than just great entertainment. It is a beacon of great storytelling wrapped
in an adaptation that raises the bar for what adaptations can do with their material. Vinland
Saga is a seriously great series. If you haven’t watched it yet, you absolutely should.
So surprise Surprise what do you think I’m going to recommend as far as this show goes?
Try to guess? Can you? Can you? CAN YOU? Certified Frosty. Of freaking course. A Rating for only
the best of the best and those shows too important to ignore. FOR A PROLOGUE. MY GOD!
So yeah it’s pretty good I guess.
For alternate anime recommendations……..pfffff I mean…..Berser? It’s hard because
there are very few things that give off the same feeling. Even something like Berserk
leans a bit further into the realm of Fantasy then Vinland does, and anything else like
say Legend of Arslan is…..ok but just doesn’t have the same oooph to it that makes Vinland
SO FREAKING GOOD.
So yeah I guess after Vinland Saga go watch Berserk. The original of course not the films
or anything like that. You’ll thank me later.
Lastly, a very special thank you to my patrons, who not only support my work in general, but
allow me to do what I do. I love and appreciate you all. Specifically though, as I like to
do, I want to give particular shout-outs to patrons Rune Jakobsen, Ryefan Boneapart, Siri
Yamiko, Wago 221, Calhoonboy, Richard Emil Bradley, and Hector Montemayor for being especially
awesome. You guys are great! And there we go! That is the end of the Review Week of Awesome for 2020.
I hope you enjoyed. I'm going to go rest now. and by rest I mean I'm going to go edit all of these videos.
You don't know how much work I've actually done as I'm sitting in this chair.
You're probably several days out from this exact moment of me. I look forward to when that moment exists and I can rest.
But until then – ladies, gentlemen, and others – watch more anime…and stay frosty.