After:
“Carve it. Carve it into your flesh. Carve it into the land. Carve it into the sea. Carve it into your spoils. Carve it into your enemies. Carve it.”
The second season of Vinland Saga is a clear departure to the themes of its predecessor, with a much slower pace, and while the setting still has the backdrop of war surrounding it, a lot of it was in quite a calm, farming environment, at least for the first half. This season really embodied the Seinen genre extremely well, with much more complex themes than what the first season provided, and both seasons shine in their own respective ways. It’s meant for a more mature audience perhaps compared to the first season, which served as a good way to get fans into the series.
Sure, the first season had quite a lot of action, but as we keep moving along in the story, a question we could ask ourselves is, “Was the action really the main focus of what this story wanted to tell?” It’s set in the Viking era, so obviously there will be some combat, but it’s become clearer with this season that it’s not even close to the message that the author wanted to tell. Makoto Yukimura, the author, definitely put some of his ideals into the characters and the story, reflecting on the kindness and cruelty of the world, and its balance. If you haven’t already read his Twitter threads for each episode, I do recommend you read them so you understand his intent behind the story even more. If you are a huge fan of action anime, you might find this season a bit off-putting and not for you.
It’s a full 180 from Season 1 not just in its story, but also its characters. Thorfinn in Season 1 was in a way, kind of a protagonist you’d find in action shounen anime, with revenge being his main reason to keep on living after Askeladd slayed his father on the ship. He lost his reason to live after the events of Season 1’s finale, so at the start of this season, he was understandably depressed. However, if Season 1 was a tale of battles and what it means to fight and die on the battlefield, then Season 2 was a tale of what it means to live. His development this season was absolutely stellar, as he went from a very quiet, depressed character, to a character with lofty ideals, and one who influenced everyone around him, filling them to the brim with hope, and a reason to press on in a cruel world like theirs. Meanwhile, Einar, the other main protagonist, and some other characters as well, kind of feel like the Thorfinn of old back in Season 1. Snappy, quick to anger, and easy to provoke. It’s somewhat ironic that Thorfinn sometimes is the one to calm them down, but it just shows how far he’s come. He’s truly a beautiful man.
A big message, and perhaps the main one, was the fact that people draw their swords way too quickly, and don’t talk things out. It’s easy to resort to violence instead of trying to reason with others. Other characters on the farm had these traits, such as Olmar and Thorgil. Not everyone understands Thorfinn’s ideals right away, as they might seem laughable in a world like theirs, where people pillage and set fire to villages almost every day. Slowly and surely, the people understand, and get inspired by the kindness of Thorfinn, but not everyone comes around, although everyone can have the capacity to change. The contrasting ideals of what it means to be a “true warrior” will be a subject of debate always, in this anime, and in our real world. Is it someone who is physically strong, and fights with no mercy toward one’s enemies, or is it someone who has the wisdom and adaptability to prevent the conflict from ever happening to save lives? The different characters in this anime are on both sides of this spectrum, and I love how neither side backs down on their ideals. When such ideals clash, conflict will still unfortunately ensue, and it’s easy to just say that conflict is a part of life, that it’s unavoidable, but with that said, should we give up and not try to stop it, just accepting it? As Thorfinn said, “Anger begets more anger, it just results in deaths, one after another.”
All of these themes culminate in a very gripping story on Ketil’s farm, filled with very heavy episodes, raw emotion, and pure brutality on the battlefield. The violence was gruesome, with limbs lying on the ground, blood spilling everywhere, and I love how the production staff didn’t hold back in that regard. The raw emotion resulted in many painful times for the characters and for us viewers, but they don’t rely on sob stories and massive melodrama to convey such emotion, but rather, it just shows us how unlucky some people are, especially the slaves. Snake said a very interesting thing,"They say inferior people can't help but become slaves. That it's where they belong. But I don't think so. Slaves were just unlucky. That is all. If you and I had been unlucky, we might've ended up as slaves, too."
The animation was overall quite solid, though there were some episodes with rather limited movement and a few stiff looking bits of animation here and there. That would be my one nitpick, in that it wasn’t perfectly polished, but no production can be perfect, especially in these times where the production schedules aren’t the most healthy, especially from MAPPA taking on so many projects at once. There are also some scenes that feel a bit dragged to pad the episode time, but it didn’t bother me too much. That said, the background art was incredibly immaculate, especially in the important moments, to really convey the emotional weight of certain scenes. Props to director Shuhei Yabuta for doing a great job, along with the rest of the production team.
The soundtrack was also exemplary in making emotional scenes hit that much harder, with the somber piano tracks, as well as even a choir, and fitting music in more uplifting moments as well. Without this beautiful music, I wouldn’t have felt nearly as emotional as I did in some of the scenes, to the point of crying. The two openings and two endings were also quite solid, with providing the necessary hype in the openings, and the more quiet, emotional side of things from the endings.
All in all, this was most definitely my favourite anime I’ve watched this year without a shadow of a doubt, and one of the most beautiful, anime I watched ever. Truly transcendent material. It’s an exquisite story about mental and moral dilemmas that plague the world, and especially Thorfinn. It’s a tale of maturity for him, from a person driven by revenge and hatred, to a person driven by love and kindness. It was all about letting go of hate, and finding out what it means to live, to create a utopia that makes others want to live, and not resort to death as a salvation from an unforgiving, savage world. He’s well on his way to doing that.
And as a final message, the next time you encounter a fan complaining about the lack of action, or preaches their favourite shounen like the Bible, don’t make them your enemy, just say, “I have no enemies.”
