I'm gonna start this review by talking about the prologue of Vinland Saga, which tells the story of Thorfinn as a child/teenager attempting to seek revenge against his father's killer, and my favourite character in the entire series, Askeladd.

Askeladd does something that I don't see often in media, for one, he is a very likeable antagonist, despite his disgusting acts towards innocent people you can't help but fall in love with his charming attitude and incredible ability in both combat and politics, both very relevant throughout the series, Askeladd, while being the person responsible for Thorfinn's father's death, becomes a father-figure to Thorfinn, teaching him the ways of the Viking and later, helping him to realise there is more to life than revenge.
Askeladd's backstory and conclusion are also some of my favourites of any character which just solidify his spot as one of the greatest animanga characters of all time in my eyes, as he is currently in my top 2.

Carrying on from my earlier point, the slave arc (aka farmland) is definitely my favourite in the series, and one of my favourite in media overall. Thorfinn's realisation of the importance of his father's words "you have no enemies" create one of the best character progressions I've ever seen. Despite being raised to kill, Thorfinn makes it his goal to rid the world of war and slavery to the best of his ability after experiencing both sides first-hand and being plagued by visions of the men he slaughtered in battle.
We also get to see more of Canute and his actions as King during this arc, another one of my favourite aspects, Canute's development hit fast and hard in the prologue and his reign as king shows the extent to which he will go to prove himself, even as he falls deeper into the same situation as his father whom he hated, the inner battle of power and peace that comes to anyone in possession of the crown weighing on him deeply.

We then reach the Baltic War arc, one of the weaker arcs of the series but still great nonetheless, especially on reread, we see the extent to which Thorfinn to go to achieve his dream of peace as he tears down the Jomsvikings from the inside and are introduced to some of my newfound favourite characters of mine in Gudrid (Thorfinn's wife) and Sigurd (who got his wife stolen), Sigurd's character arc, in particular, stood out to me throughout this arc as it showed another side to Halfdan, a character we had seen little of previously, and his family. Garm plays the role of antagonist in this arc amazingly, being able to stand up to even Thorkell's power as he constantly challenges Thorfinn who refuses to fight him, the showdown between the two was almost like Thorfinn looking back at his old self, a war-torn, incredibly fast and deadly person just as he was during his time with Askeladd, which just highlights his progression as a character even further.

Now onto the final arc as of now, Vinland is finally within our character's grasp and they have begun to settle in nicely, the introduction of the indigenous people looks like it will be an interesting point of conflict, as well as Eyvar and his insistence on bringing weapons to Vinland, even completely disobeying Thorfinn's word to do so.

I am looking extremely forward to the future of Vinland Saga's manga as well as the adaptation of the slave arc coming soon, Makoto Yukimura has proven through this series that he is one of the best of his kind and I highly recommend anyone who has not checked it out yet to do so.

Vinland Saga was the manga that got me into manga in the first place and has had a massive influence on my taste in media overall, I greatly enjoyed visiting its incredible world once again.

Thank You, Yukimura.

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