Vinland Saga

04:

This episode was absolute jaw dropping fucking magnificent perfection, god I'm shaking in my boots from how badassely this fight was animated and tense it was, Thor's death still hits me in the feels every time even though you could see it coming. Thor's was a true MAN'S MAN and sadly his kindness was an Achilles heel for him. Askeladd is honestly such an amazing antagonist to me as well with his cunning and trickiness. That you find it hard to dislike the guy despite claiming Thor's life. He has his own code of honor he upholds to and keeps his promise to Thors, Thors is fortunate he actually did keep that promise. Unfortunately, his son takes the opposite lesson from his father and is blood thirsty for revenge, tsk tsk.........smh, kids these days. Damn, could you feel the emotions with that scream though.
 
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Episode 4

Fuuuucking hell, this was intense! I am lost for breath and I actually teared up. Long time, Made in Abyss, but someone got me there again.

What I gotta say first: This is not a fair game, WIT boys, not at all. Just look at it! The animation is insanely crisp, the moves, capturing the facial emotions, ideal timing. I could literally grasp the tension during the fight and especially when Askeladd was beaten and they were "negotiating". It was obvious from Thors' reactions he kind of new he is pulling the short straw no matter the outcome..only because of his beliefs and his past wouldn't let him smite the mercenaries (though I guess the archers were always a failsafe) down and that is more than honourable. Gosh..for me, this Boromir-esque death really pulled my heart-strings tightly. It was so much better than Askeladd pulling a dagger out of somewhere and stabbing him to the back. Leif's face and words were exactly the same as mine. Godspeed, Thors.

As much as it was not a fair game to Thors, as I mentioned, this is not a fair game in the competition for the animes and studios. This is so good I can't stand how good this is. Of course, it is plainly obvious how good the story is.

Though the con to this is obvious: The level is absurdly high, but Thors is gone. I hope and guess Askeladd will be a great carry of the show, since I can't see the little kid pulling such a weight. However, I am hyped immensly!

I am completely steamrolled.
 
I know it's been already said, but the animation was smooth, the facial expressions conveyed their emotions, and the choreography of the fight scenes was great. Reading Thors's death hurt, but hearing Thorfinns's scream killed me. (I'm really excited to see more animated Askeladd and Thorfinn). Also, baby Thorfinn is so cute.
 
Episode 4:

Oh shit, this was up Sunday? Damn, I had it marked for Monday, I'll have to keep an eye out for that...
Well, I was already getting the idea that this is the direction it was going: Thors's death was well foreshadowed, and the OP kinda spoiled that Thorfinn would end up with Askeladd. But damn, they still made that one sexy-ass episode.

Except for one tiny detail: was no one fucking watching Thorfinn?! Did no one do a fucking headcount? No one, not even Leif, made sure they had the damned kid on the right boat before parting with the mercs? HOW?!

But I'll get over it. Everything else about the episode and where this is all leading is just too good to let that spoil it. I'll just pretend like they intentionally stole Thorfinn because Askeladd wanted to see if he could be as good as his dad one day, because that would make a lot more sense.

It's a crying shame this has no real competition among the other new shows this season and wins AotS practically by default... I guess AotY will be a more interesting question for it.
 
Episode 4:

It's the little details that make all the difference. Thors isn't the man because he can beat an entire boat full of Viking warriors. He's a badass for the little moments like when he's the middle of beating ass, but he still tosses the guy who can't swim an oar so he can float around instead of drowning. Thor's a extra awesome because after the duel he knew the score and decided to sacrifice his life rather than risk the lives of his son and people from his village fighting it out to try to survive.

The animation is awesome because those little drops of spittle dripping from Thorfinn's mouth at the end just sell his utter out of control rage at what happened to his father.

This show pretty much makes the summer season worth it.
 
2, departure

I liked this episode a lot better, and the characters in it, even without the action scenes. This really gave the characters some more depth that I didn't imagine before, thors is actually a really good guy and father who has a different outlook than you'd expect. And this episode really built the world up a bit.
I changed my mind, thors is great. The jomsvikings are like the old guard of badass and he defected because he didn't like killing. And his disappointment that his son might become exactly like he was before he had this realization is all too clear. Thorfinn is young but he already has the perfect mindset brought on by his childhood games and his heritage to be a savage killer, but thors doesn't necessarily want that for his son.

He's right, there are no enemies, and there's no one it's okay to kill, but they live in a savage world, and it's going to get to thorfinn. Thors cant stop this. I find that very interesting.

But something tells me thors is going to kick the bucket soon. Not just the ending blip, but it just seems like it has to happen, for some reason. This war he's going off to fight is payment for his sin of deserting the jomsvikings for a life without killing, and to ultimately pay that price he's going to have to die on the high seas, or so it seems to him.

I love the design of the vikings garb and armor, i'll say it a million times. And their ships. It's all so nostalgic for my norse bones.

I feel really bad for the priest. Kinda. Assuming he wasn't one of the rapey ones. Looks like some serious trechery is afoot.
A lot more emotions shown in this episode, thors is proven to be a much deeper character, and some real manly stuff happens. Turkey like.
raised to 8/10
 
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3, no empty words

I changed my mind again. That opening isn't very viking-y but it's growing on me every time and the screaming is... really good. And i like the ED.

Also that cold opening gave me ALL the chills. Complete badassery :D :D :D
i can't tell if ari will be the first to die or if he's going to ironically be the last.

We'll see how this show operates.

No. NO. THORFINN YOU LITTLE SHIT. SAY GOODBYE TO YOUR DAD.

I can't man, I can't handle sad dad shit. No. This is too much. He should have said goodbye. I'm so mad.

Oh, he's there. Well, I'm not as mad anymore.

Oh, thors really did used to be some asshole. That's kind of comforting that he became a pretty good dad. "Have a boy next" lmao.

It's obvious that the theme of the show is going to start a little bit juvinile, something about how glory and war and chopping off heads isn't all there is, and finding something fulfilling in life is what it's all about... but i can tell it's going somewhere a bit different than that. Ari is the most naiive person there.

Yeah this was obviously going to happen, force thors to fight by placing him right in a trap, then take all the rest of their stuff... i'm kind of excited to see what happens though.

OOH THORS SAID "DON'T USE THE WORLD KILL SO LIGHTLY"

HES MY FAVORITE CHARACTER NOW. Do not take life lightly.
I gotta tell ya though this is cool and all, but from the opening, i cant wait for thorfinn to become a total BAMF and find his own goals.
 
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4, without a fight

idk, i don't care for the way thors fights still. Don't get me wrong, he's a great character, but I just have never liked that kind of, barely moving but everything's super effective, and he keeps the same face, kind of thing when we don't even know why.

Without building up to that point it looks like they're just frickin OP for the sake of it. I guess that's why they call him the troll, but. It's frustrating to me that he just automatically is that way.

That's my only real complaint here. I can only accept that kind of strength when i've seen it build up or reasoning for it. It's acceptable if he's just this character to start the show off but he's really been too prominent and basically the MC so far, even though I know he won't end up being the MC. I really hope that we get to see the process of thorfinn getting to the point where he's good at fighting.

The fated dual is here. I hope this will be interesting.

Oh damn he actually cut him.

This is very nicely choreographed. As expected of wit. And that expecting his sword to shatter bit was admittedly pretty cool. I'm gladd askeladd isn't just a pushover first enemy, he's a legitimate force to be reckoned with and he's kind of cool.

I could see that coming. But it was still sad. Self-sacrifice is great.

Thorfinn doesn't understand why he did it of course. But thors gave up his whole life to create what thorfinn now calls home. Now he just has to live without understanding, and with all this rage. We'll see where that takes him.

I'm sad.

But this show is crushing everything. I love it.
 
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Ep 4:

I'm loving everything about this anime so far... except Thorfinn.
The animation has been stellar so far, and not just in the midst of action, though that is certainly where it shines. Thors goes out like a boss, we all knew this was coming. I feel real bad for him though with a kid like that.
BD52zya.jpg

I certainly don't think this is how he wanted his child to turn out. As I said way back a revenge story with vikings should be great and those mercs that he is now with certainly are living up to my expectations, but it's going to take a lot for Thorfinn to warm up to me. Honestly he doesn't even need to as long as he becomes more than just angry child spouting "I'll kill you"
 
8MangaMan said:
Ep 4:

I'm loving everything about this anime so far... except Thorfinn.
The animation has been stellar so far, and not just in the midst of action, though that is certainly where it shines. Thors goes out like a boss, we all knew this was coming. I feel real bad for him though with a kid like that.
BD52zya.jpg

I certainly don't think this is how he wanted his child to turn out. As I said way back a revenge story with vikings should be great and those mercs that he is now with certainly are living up to my expectations, but it's going to take a lot for Thorfinn to warm up to me. Honestly he doesn't even need to as long as he becomes more than just angry child spouting "I'll kill you"
Click to expand...
Normally we would chalk a shitty kid up to shitty parents, but in this case I'm pretty sure thors did everything he could
 
8MangaMan said:
Ep 4:

I'm loving everything about this anime so far... except Thorfinn.
The animation has been stellar so far, and not just in the midst of action, though that is certainly where it shines. Thors goes out like a boss, we all knew this was coming. I feel real bad for him though with a kid like that.
BD52zya.jpg

I certainly don't think this is how he wanted his child to turn out. As I said way back a revenge story with vikings should be great and those mercs that he is now with certainly are living up to my expectations, but it's going to take a lot for Thorfinn to warm up to me. Honestly he doesn't even need to as long as he becomes more than just angry child spouting "I'll kill you"
Click to expand...
Thorfinn's honestly mostly a revenge filled angry person throughout this entire arc and is pretty unlikeable for it, most of his major character development doesn't happen till much later. It's the other characters that are more interesting than him during this part of the story. He's not so much the main driving force here.
 
Thor needed to be established as a bad motherfucker who ain't to be trifled with immediately. This is obviously Thorfinn's story. So after the opening battle in ep. 1, all you need to know is Thor can handle dudes like a boss.

He's an unknown fighting legend among his people. And that is why Thorfinn acts so foolish and childish when it's revealed to him how much of a viking badass his father is. He had just learned that his father must be some incredidle fighter, that his father is/was the kind of viking nearly any viking would aspire to be. And then he finally gets to see it first hand? He's a child completely caught up in a legend, one who he already idolized since it's his father.

Also, Thor was so concerned about keeping his past hidden and behind him he failed to teach Thorfinn his belief killing is wrong, even against your enemies. OK, Thorfinn is a small child, Thor didn't have time/the chance before being suddenly surprise drafted into a war under threat of violence to his people. Shit, he hadn't even taught his daughter his belief of slavery being wrong. Except he had time for that, she's a bit older.

Thor was a good man. But that stoic man of few words shit and hiding his past did not do him any favors.

People give Shinji slack "because he's a child acting like a child." We have an actual child acting like a child and there's dislike? Which yeah, don't get me wrong, he's acting like a brat, but that's normal. Now he's obviously made some childish vow of revenge like he's Batman.

I know nothing of the manga. I'm only talking based on the anime. But it's possible Thor's past could be explored in some flashback or another. I'd rather it not though. At least not any time soon.

But my point is Thor is meant, at least to me, to be quickly built up as a good man with a horrible past, and to come off as some sort of legend of man. And obviously as a driving force for Thorfinn. The man was set up to be a key plot device.

This series is pretty damn solid after only 4 episodes.
 
Gens said:
Thorfinn's honestly mostly a revenge filled angry person throughout this entire arc and is pretty unlikeable for it, most of his major character development doesn't happen till much later. It's the other characters that are more interesting than him during this part of the story. He's not so much the main driving force here.
Click to expand...
That's what I figured. I mean he is just a kid for now so I understand how he's being written, doesn't mean I'm gonna like him while he's still acting like one.
 
Episode 5:

I liked the juxtaposition of how Thorfinn and his sister deal with their grief. One tries to avoid it, the other tries to attack the source head on in a foolhardy act of revenge. Both responses are quite realistic. I liked watching Thorfinn get a hard real world lesson this episode seeing the rape and plunder of the village first hand. He's starting to see the ugly world his father stepped away from. He's too consumed with revenge to process it though. At least he learned a bit about defending himself.

Also kind of glad the episode didn't do something dumb like having Thorfinn injure Askeladd after like a week of trying to train himself. It would have been too corny.
 
05:

Wow, this was actually a completely anime original episode, and it was actually damn great. WIT studio knows how to do fucking anime original content, and I appreciated them giving some extra context for Thorfinn. This is really the sign of a great studio to me when they can even nail original stuff.
 
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