A story 1,000 years in the making.
What They Say:
1. “Somewhere not here”
Thorfinn, a boy living in Iceland, longs for adventure and is eager to know more about the world. He dreams of a land of paradise called Vinland that he hears about from the adventurer Leif, while he leads his peaceful life with this father Thors, a former warrior. One day, Thors saves a runaway slave and sets a series of events in motion. This is the story of a true warrior in an age of turmoil.
2. “Sword”
In the year 1002, the war between England and Denmark was intensifying. One day, the Jomsvikings pay a visit to Thorfinn’s village in order to bring back Thors, their former commander, to prepare for the impending battle. Thors is forced to join the war in order to protect the villagers from being taken hostage, and must face his accursed past in order to save his family and his village.
3. “Troll”
Askeladd, the leader of a Viking army of a hundred men, receives orders from Floki of the Jomsvikings to kill Thors, who was once known as the Troll of Jom. However, the villagers, completely unaware of the order, buzz with excitement as they prepare for their first battle. Thorfinn also joins in the excitement. Thors and his men are about to embark on a difficult sea journey to England.
The Review
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers)
We have waited a long time for this one, but it has been worth it. Based on the manga of the same name by Makoto Yukimura (Planetes), Vinland Saga gained an early and fervent following. English manga readers fought hard for the series to get a physical release here, only to be plagued by slow sales. Not that the origins of the comic were any less rough, it began as a weekly series that was far more shonen oriented before moving to a monthly manga magazine and growing far more epic in nature.
This historical fiction narrative wears its eventual destination in its title. Hewing closely to known historical events, this is still a story of larger than life figures and warriors. The manga is far from finished, yet there was more than enough material for the first major arc of the manga to be adapted. WIT Studio is adapting this series to animation, with director Shūhei Yabuta (who has been the CG director on many projects) helming this project, and Hiroshi Seko (Attack on Titan) overseeing the series composition.
If you heard me saying CG and started panicking, I don’t blame. Yes, this series features a good deal of CG, but just like Attack on Titan, I can’t think of many studios that handle CG mixed with 2D in anime as well as WIT. These first three episodes of Vinland Saga prove we have nothing to worry about on that front.
The story opens with a sea battle, in which a Viking raider named Thors cuts a bloody path through the enemy forces. Yet his heart isn’t in it. When he takes an arrow to the chest and finishes off one more warrior underwater he chooses simply to swim away. He leaves that violent life behind and settles in Iceland. The action cuts to years later when Leif Erikson thrills the village children with stories of his exploration of land across the sea.
These first three episodes focus just as heavily on Thors as it does his young son, Thorfinn. Thorfinn is a young Viking boy who is eager to grow up and become a man. He’s only six, and the other boys in the village main idea of playing is a mock battle. Thorfinn usually loses these bouts and doesn’t seem all that interested in them, until one event changes his mind.
Thors has taken the route of the pacifist. When an escaped slave collapses outside his door he goes through great lengths to save the man and give him some dignity in death, even at great cost to himself.
It’s obvious the quiet life isn’t easy or idyllic. The winters are long and harsh, and only getting colder. The other nearby village is run by a man who keeps many slaves and treats them poorly. War is a constant threat in the back of Thors’ mind. Even his own daughter thinks there’s nothing wrong with slavery. Before I had read this series I wasn’t even aware of the nature of Vikings to take and hold slaves. The pillaging and raiding I’d heard about, the slavery not-so-much.
Peace does not last forever. A Jomsviking leader lands at their village, somehow learning that Thors survived the battle many years before. He considers the man a deserter and threatens him into joining him in battle once again. The young men in the village see this as their chance to become warriors and return with riches. Thors only goes to spare his family, village, and their lives.
WIT studio brings their absolute A-game to this series. Everything looks amazing. The detail is incredible, really capturing the look and feel of the manga. The scenery is magnificent, the CG mixing cleanly with the characters. The same slightly hard edges the manga gave the characters is carried through, and if anything looks slightly jarring it’s basically a feature of the original manga artwork. The use of light and shadow is incredible.
The anime does start slightly differently from the manga. The manga told these episodes in flashback, or perhaps the pilot chapter was a flashforward, but I like the approach the series is taking. The action to come is better framed by showing now how Thor’s lived, and why his son must follow in his footsteps.
The music is equally wonderful, dramatic and exciting. It matches the action well and provides the gravitas that this series deserves.
The opening and ending animations are styling, as is fitting this production. Although the events depicted in the opening are quite spoiler-filled for those that haven’t been reading along. It’s apparent that this two-cour season is just going to be adapting the first major arc of the manga, and so it is not entirely spoiler-free in that regard. I’m not a fan of the music they paired with the animation. Screamo littered with random English is just… generic. It would have been nicer to have an Icelandic group do the opening or ending music, but I guess Björk or Of Monsters and Men weren’t available. (You thought I was gonna suggest Led Zepplin’s Immigrant Song, weren’t you?)
In Summary:
Vinland Saga is not an easy story to adapt to animation, but these first three episodes by WIT Studio are near perfectly executed. Solid action, amazing scenery, excellent direction, it’s perfectly paced. WIT is putting other studios to shame with this production, and I’m so happy this adaptation is getting the treatment it deserves. Anyone looking for an action series to watch should definitely check it out. It’s a shame it’s on Amazon and won’t be getting a dub anytime soon, because more audiences should be able to see this series. The brutal, harsh world of the Vikings has never looked so good.
Episode Grades: A
Streamed by: Amazon Prime
