Vinland Saga Review

Straight to the Point

• Historical fiction adventure anime about Vikings invading England and Scotland.
• Beautifully presented art and unpredictable storyline.
• Life of a boy raised by Vikings with an intense desire to survive and murder their leader.
• Easy to binge, action-packed story with war and pillage.
• Interesting characters come into stream throughout.
• EPIC fight scenes with blood and little gore.

Plot

Vinland Saga follows Thorfinn, a boy lost at war during the Vikings and Danish invasion of Scotland and England with nothing but his revenge towards his father’s killer. Thorfinn learns from a very young age how to survive alone and the true crimes of mankind during the pillages and war. Will Thorfinn claim victorious in his life struggle and claim back his family’s honour as a warrior.

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Vinland Saga Review

This was very easy to binge-watch!

Being taken on a journey with Throfinn’s pain and life struggle had me hoping he would come out unscathed all the way until the end. The scheming saga was very unpredictable and had me guessing what will happen next which was brilliant. I wouldn’t say this anime had anything close to the scheming and brutality of ‘The Game of Thrones’ but it certainly was sufficient.

This is a historical fiction drama which is amalgamated with over-powered fight scenes. This means that the story was in-line with the laws of our world but side-tracks during the fight scenes whereby the main characters of the saga were too powerful and defied the laws of physics. Not to say this was bad in any least, it was great to see – just unexpected!

Now onto the fights scenes…I can’t think of any I didn’t enjoy, they were all UNIQUE and EPIC. Not as gruesome as I was expecting but still leaves you with an image of grotesqueness. Thorfinn at the age of just 6 years old is told by Askeladd:

Try achieving something great on the battlefield. You’re a Viking, right?

The mental torture of this affecting a young boy is going to be extreme. How can the Vikings say that? Do they not have any sympathy?

Well, I guess not because thereafter, he jumps HEADFIRST into any battle that unfolds and even attempts to assassinate the monster-sized enemies when told to do so. The introduction of Thorkell was especially pleasing. 🙂

The various seasonal art was very well done, especially during their travels at sea.

The story progresses at a steady pace during the growth of Thorfinn whereby the only fault within this episode is the lack of development of the character and personality of Thorfinn himself. He displaced murderous intent throughout but still has the emotion of young Thorfinn when reminded of his past. However, during his many reflections of who he has become, he doesn’t change and remains an evil killer with no personality.

Overall for this Vinland Saga review, the series was a page-turner whereby I watched every episode in 2 days, it was that good!

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Evilness

The mental-images captured of the England and Scotland pillages with rape and murder was the most gruesome part of this series even though it was vaguely presented, probably due to history being TOO violent.

Coming in second to this, were the battles during the war scenes. It wasn’t just sword vs sword with a few arrows flying around, there was definitely some thought put into this action-packed saga and in determining how they could make it as interesting as possible.

There was blood at every turn and heads being chopped off as easy as bottle-caps from a beer. Where this was cooler to watch than being eked out by the gore.

Summary

An excellently, thought-through drama of Thorfinn finding his way through the DARK times of pillage and war during the Viking era.

If you enjoy a story in which you don’t know what will happen next with INCREDIBLE fights and battles, then this is for you. All of the characters were interesting and inspiring. I actually found myself getting attached to the journey of Askeladd more than Thorfinn! In any case, if you enjoyed this Vinland Saga review, watch to episode 4 and you won’t stop watching this incredible depiction of history-fiction.

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