Vinland Saga is like a really bad bike accident. Everything is fun when you're riding, but when your bike chain breaks and you go tumbling to the ground, everything starts to feel like it's going in slow motion, and your life flashes in front of your eyes before you make contact. Vinland Saga season 2 is the aftermath of that fall. By the end of this 24-episode series, itll leave you in pain and you will end up with a moderate amount of trauma that will probably stay with you for quite some time. Or at least it did with me.
After the events of season 1, season 2’s story takes a slower pace this time, Thorfinn is now in slavery and a new protag Einar who is also in slavery. The first season was a road trip across the country, but this entire season takes place mainly on a farm lol. Two bros, chillin' on an English farm, two feet apart cuz they're enslaved. One thing I love is what it does with the setting, it gets you so familiar with it that it almost has a character of its own. And its not just only one location, There’s the crop fields, the farmhouses, the stable, the forest, its almost like I can navigate the farm itself because of certain events that happen at these different locations.
Now I know this change of pace with the story wasn't everyone’s cup of tea. But I was entirely fine with it. I knew this season would be slower-paced because season 1 was just the prologue to this story, so I wasn't expecting the beginning to be balls-deep into the story quite yet. The story this season is a whole different beast than season 1 though.
Remember in my Mushoku Season 2 review when I said “Don't mind stopping the plot to introduce characters, but you better have some solid goddamn characters”? Well, Vinland Saga season 2 is an example of what I mean. This does a lot of things that Mushoku tried and failed at. It introduced new characters with a lot of depth, explored themes of trauma with dignity, still kept the story interesting by incorporating a side plot involving the kings, and best of all, there’s no cringy anime humor. It has that fma style of humor where the jokes itself is pretty modest, but it's the characters that make it stronger. I mention the humor, because goddamn, it's necessary to get through the absolute soul-crushing moments of the anime.
The reason why this season was a tad more effective than the last is because there is a sense of empathy I developed after i finished s1. I grew attached to these characters, and I just wanted the best for them, especially in this horrible world based on reality.What Vinland is great at is making these characters feel human. The script, the voice actors, the character expressions, and the way they move, it almost feels like I'm watching a live-action historical drama, there is something that just clicks with them, and it makes the way they act on screen all the more immersive.
The first season just showed unfiltered blood and brawls. So many people were killed left and right indiscriminately by the Vikings.S2 takes you outside of that view to focus on the consequences of these actions. The people whose lives were affected, and even the ones dealing with the guilt and trauma of taking part in those actions, mainly Thorfinn.
Complaining about this season not being good because it doesn't show a lot of action like season 1 did is such a slap in the face of this writer’s intentions.
What makes this story beautiful are the more cathartic moments in this slave life. It's the little moments when you are farming, cutting trees, asking to borrow a horse, or enjoying a meal. It straight-up becomes a slice of life for the first half. Also, one trope that I am such a sucker for is the found family one. Maybe because of my core values and experiences, but God, it's done so well in here.
These moments are the little bits of hope that get me more attached to these characters, and right when I become attached to them, the second half kicks in, and things get horrible. Abandon all hope, ye who gets to the second half of this season. Just when you expect things to get better, they get worse.
I'm not ashamed to admit it, I’ve cried so many times. The anime is just harrowing, dude. It gets really hard to watch at moments.
It's not just pure shock value though, it's a combination of so many things that it starts to break you. The context of the characters involved, the animation/music, and how the theme ties back into season 1. And that is the theme of Hatred. The show surprisingly takes a nuanced approach to such a concept. These things being shown on screen are awful, but it's there to explore how easy it is to destroy another’s life. There is so much that the story explores through these characters as well. There are the people who condone this, the people affected by it, and the people who have to live the rest of their lives lamenting over the actions they chose. The best way to address these aspects is by mentioning them in the character section.
#ANIMATION
-MAPPA controversy
Oh MAPPA. MAPPA, MAPPA, MAPPA.Can I do at least one anime review without your name on a project? Mappa seems to be making headlines pretty much every week because of the backlash on how animators are treated. So it's hard to give the studio credit, because of the way they treat their employees. Luckily, I don’t have to do that this time because all of the staff from Wit’s first season are back for this season at MAPPA’s production house. Despite a different environment, it's still the same iconic WIT, this time with some improvements.
As a result, the anime looks pretty much identical to its previous season. And hell even better in some ways. This season doesn't use CGI nearly as much as the last, when it does use it, it looks so much better. My god, the backgrounds in this anime are mesmerizing. It has a certain painterly style in places. The skies look like Shinkai painted them, and this attention to detail for such a simple farm setting makes the environments all the more memorable.
One thing I loved about Vinland is how colorful it feels for a historical setting. And the anime really does take some risks visually, mainly with the horrifying dream sequences but it tones it out with beautiful moments as well.The characters are designed modestly, but animated with a lot of life and personality. And im also impressed on how consistent they are with the designs as well throughout the series.If someone has a scar or injury, the anime becomes really consistent with that injury throughout the remainder of the show.But yea, overall, Vinland is visually solid.
#MUSIC
I was really surprised how ambient the music in Vinland is, just like any good score, it enhances the scene instead of clashing with it. And some of the piano tunes really got stuck in my head. Especially that one piano tune that sounded like the beginning of that Demi Lovato song “Cool for the Summer”
The openings and endings are fantastic.One thing I love about the first cour’s themes are how they build anticipation, in which even if the episode itself is very lighthearted, the ops and eds remind you what to expect when you get to cour 2. The ending themes, Without Love and Ember, are emotional ballads. And I think they give off this tortured yet liberated feel. They give me that small dose of confidence, especially after how depresseding the episode before it is. Rivers is a very soulful and ambient track with great lyrics. …..The there is “Paradox”. This is by far my favorite song from Survival Said The Prophet ever. I wasn’t a huge fan of “Mukanjyo”. It just felt like some rock song that just happened to be the theme song to Vinland Saga.But OH MY GOD, “Paradox” fits the tone of Vinland Saga s2 to a T. Really passionate, hard-hitting lyrics, and the music itself sounded very grand yet maddening as if you were having a mental breakdown on a battlefield. Put that along with the absolutely disturbing imagery in the opening animation, and god, you have a very iconic anime opening.
DUB
-yep thats right,bitch, I watched this series dubbed lol. And tbh I wasn’t expecting much but…. This is by far the best dub I've watched in a long ass time. Mainly because the story asks so much from these characters that if these VA’s missed even one mark in the acting, it sticks out horribly. And I was expecting that, but that never happened. The main reason I got emotional was because of the voice acting. These actors do such of good job of showing just how mentally troubled each of these characters is that it becomes scary. I'm tearing up just thinking about some of the certain screams or cries of agony I heard from them.
#CHARACTERS
Einar
He is the new introduced character and the FOIL to Thorfinn. He basically goes through the same level of hatred that has ruined Thorfinn’s life and the show doesn't put him in the wrong for acting in ways thorfinn disproves of and that makes it all the more nuanced.
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Thorfinn
-Thorfinn is a, but its justified, because he deals with horrifying ptsd that affects him every night, If you had those moments, you know how hard it can be to just sit and deal with your hatred internally. Thorfinn had to deal with that in season 1. But now he is dealing with something much worse, atoning for the lives he's taken. Thord from season 1 put it best, “A true warrior doesn't need a sword” because a true warrior is already fighting a mental battle in their head constantly. And in the case of Thorfinn, his trauma is portrayed is way more difficult for him to deal with than anything he dealt with in season 1.
Arnhide-
-Arnhide is a character that really makes Vinland Saga a well rounded package. One thing I appreciate about Vinland Saga is how it focuses and the experiences of women, who struggle alot in this brutal patriarchy. But Arnhide is just the pennicle of hope. Despite all the odds. But its not all sunshine and rainbows with her character, no not at all. In fact the more brutal and hardhitting facts about this reality are shown through the eyes of this character.
Olmar-
-Olmar is a nice deconstruction of the idealized heroic figure trope. Yea at first, you see him as basically this whiny brat who angsts over the fact he hasnt fought in a battle. But throughout the series, the show just mentally breaks him. This gives commentary to how fucked the cultural and societal expectatiions of the time period are. In a time where you’re worth is based on how many you have killed,and the wars you fight. This is then when the show points out the irony of striving to be chivalrous. At the end of the day, it doesn’t mean anything if you end up dead.
And speaking of which. King Canute, dude. He takes such a heal turn I didn’t expect. He still is a pacifist, but his intentions this season are not “ well’ in the slightest. He is basically a snake. He uses this foolish notion of chivalry as an actual weapon to manipulate others,and I just find it extremely clever how they make him antagonistic without giving him a sword. Not to mention the trauma he is facing and his goal to strive and not be like his evil father, but more and more you realize that is exactly what is happening. Im really excited where the show takes him next.
There’s not a single weak character in this season at all.All of them feel so real. The desperation, their struggle to protect others,the dehumanization of men,women,and children all based on this slave status, and how normalized hatred and abuse is in a society bred by war.This is where Vinland Saga truly shows itself as to what it is about and where the story is going to go from here on out.
Goddamn, this anime messed me up. I don't continuously weep when watching something fictional, especially if it's animated. I can watch Koe no Katachi and Grave of the Fireflies with no problem, but with this, I couldn’t handle it. I cannot think of an anime that has struck such an emotional chord within me before. It hit me just how helpless these characters are in a barbaric world like this. Physically because I've grown so attached to it, that when it ended, it left a large void I haven't felt in some time. But it's not all dark, there are hopeful moments that help balance out its grizzly nature, just like real life.
Overall on a technical aspect, the anime blows it out of the water, and it really does enhance the story to a point where i became helplessly immersed with it. And story wise, I love its commentary on the human psyche, i really empathize with its characters, despite the setting being based on reality, it still feels very rich and familiar. The music really hit when it needed to, the animation and art take more ambitious liberties than it did last season,the dub is one of the best ones I've heard in a while, and there is just a great sense of consistency and attention to detail with this anime. From the writing to the actual character designs. Goes to show that if you or a team of people are very passionate about something, the audience will see that passion.
And as for me, it has been almost a week since I finished it, and i haven't been the same, this really did leave a mark on me. But at the end of the day, I see Vinland Saga as a cautionary tale and a reminder that hey…this shit is real.…this is what humanity was really like years ago. And despite how awful we are now as a society, we were a hell of a lot worse back then.
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