Revenge is a dish best scavenged from the bones of your enemies.
What They Say:
Episode 5. “The Troll’s son”
After Askeladd kills Thorfinn’s father Thors, Thorfinn hides inside Thor’s ship and bides his time until the opportunity to take revenge. However, life on the ship is harsh without any food or water, and Thorfinn grows weaker day by day. One day, Thorfinn, armed with his sword, attempt to attack Askeladd in his sleep…
The Review
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers)
This is a very interesting episode of Vinland Saga. Most of the material in this episode is new. It proves that the animation team isn’t afraid to strike out from the source material in order to flesh out the story they’re telling. Anime-only content in adaptations is often a source of fear for viewers, and usually, it’s regulated to long shonen epics where the animation team is afraid of overtaking the source material. Well, Vinland Saga is a long epic, but in making the choice of telling the story chronologically, they realized the need to flesh out some moments which the manga simply didn’t bother to show.
One of those gaps was in explaining how Thorfinn survived in Askeladd’s company. Why would this hardened raider bother letting a kid that wants to kill him stick around?
Thorfinn refuses to give up and die. Even left alone on a ship with no supplies, he struggles, fueled by a rage for revenge. When Askeladd’s crew makes landfall Thorfinn stumbles off his father’s boat and into the woods to watch the carnage of the raid play out. Finding water was easy, food is a more difficult pursuit. He manages to take a sword and sneak his way into the place where Askeladd sleeps, but cannot go through with attacking the sleeping man with the sword. Instead, he returns to challenge him and is thrashed.
Thorfinn returns to the woods and casts aside the too large sword, taking up his father’s dagger. Over the course of the time that Askeladd’s crew is biding its time and recovering, Thorfinn lives off the land and the scraps of the others. He tries to teach himself, eventually fending off a wolf attack and successfully hunting. He returns and demands a dual with Askeladd, and is once again thrashed but manages to make a deal with Askeladd. Askeladd sees the potential in Thorfinn and perhaps realizes that the boy did learn something from his father.
The part of this episode that was taken from the manga shows what happened back at home when Thors and his son didn’t return. The two women of the household seem to take the news in stride. Frail Helga doesn’t shed a tear, and Ylva immediately throws herself into work at a frantic pace with barely any reaction. Eventually, under the calm embrace of her mother, she breaks down. Strangely, it shows Helga’s strength just as much as it shows Ylva’s. This was a side-chapter in the manga, shifted to its proper place chronologically.
This is also the first episode away from Iceland and the cold, rocky scenery that has made up the setting thus far gives way to the brilliant tones of autumn further south. The general peace and prosperity of rich farmland shattered when Askeladd’s men storm the village raping and pillaging, setting up shop and waiting to get paid. The contrast between the idyllic, painterly countryside and the actions of the creatures inhabiting it is stark. Yet the scenery remains exquisite. Every single shot is candy for the eyes, and it really gives you a sense of place. Many anime happen to linger over natural beauty and to see a setting outside of Japan be given this attention to detail really appealing.
In Summary:
It’s rare that an anime can improve upon the source material, but this episode of Vinland Saga does that by filling in some gaps in Thorfinn’s life. The reordering of events allows the audience to follow through with how a six-year-old boy manages to survive in a band of raiding Vikings. The events back at home are not forgotten about, and those who were left behind are shown picking up the pieces and moving on. Beautiful animation, background art, and score tie it all together with aplomb. This episode cements the fact that WIT Studio is invested in this series for the long haul.
Episode Grade: A
Streamed by: Amazon
