Vinland Saga

Young Thorfinn grew up listening to the stories of old sailors that had traveled the ocean and reached the place of legend, Vinland. It's said to be warm and fertile, a place where there would be no need for fighting—not at all like the frozen village in Iceland where he was born, and certainly not like his current life as a mercenary. War is his home now. Though his father once told him, "You have no enemies, nobody does. There is nobody who it's okay to hurt," as he grew, Thorfinn knew that nothing was further from the truth.

The war between England and the Danes grows worse with each passing year. Death has become commonplace, and the viking mercenaries are loving every moment of it. Allying with either side will cause a massive swing in the balance of power, and the vikings are happy to make names for themselves and take any spoils they earn along the way. Among the chaos, Thorfinn must take his revenge and kill Askeladd, the man who murdered his father. The only paradise for the vikings, it seems, is the era of war and death that rages on.

[Written by MAL Rewrite]

Thorfinn Main

Uemura, Yuuto Japanese

Askeladd Main

Uchida, Naoya Japanese

Canute Main

Ono, Kensho Japanese

Thorkell Supporting

Ootsuka, Akio Japanese

Thors Supporting

Matsuda, Kenichirou Japanese

Björn Supporting

Yasumoto, Hiroki Japanese

Ylva Supporting

Nabatame, Hitomi Japanese

Erikson, Leif Supporting

Ueda, Youji Japanese

Willibald Supporting

Hino, Satoshi Japanese

Ear Supporting

Furukawa, Makoto Japanese

Fujiyama, Naokado Producer

Ueda, Youko Producer

Hasegawa, Hiroya Producer, Production Assistant

Kawazoe, Chitose Assistant Producer

Reviews

Jul 28, 2025

amikigu

Recommended

I'm getting chills and tears writing this review even though it's been a whole year since watching both seasons of this spellbinding masterpiece. I don't think another work of fiction has impacted me so deeply, and made me confront parts of myself that I didn't even know were holding me back in life. Regarding the specifics, I feel that the artwork is unrivaled; faces and hands and scenery are often beautifully detailed in a way that is usually only reserved for a few pages in a good manga. The music and sound effects are perfectly aligned with the plot. Each character brings so much depth ... to the story, and the whole series felt perfectly unified in its mission to develop and deliver the plot, which delves deeply into the psyche of a pre-capitalist and Christianizing northern Europe while also providing timeless lessons for people living at any time in history. Throughout this series themes like trauma, anger, war, slavery, and the need for enemies to construct one's identity are all powerfully explored.

Spoilers below:

The episode where Canute swished his cape and decided to make Earth into paradise and to give meaning to the warriors' battles was one of the most powerful episodes of any show I've ever watched. I was clapping after the episode ended. The episode where a girl's family is killed and she has a conversation in the snow with the moon and God was also just impossibly well-done. But almost every episode had something powerful in it that made the show worth watching again and again. I wish for a long life for everyone involved in this show so that they can continue making more masterpieces.

Reviewer’s Rating: 10

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Jul 30, 2025

elumizu

Mixed Feelings

What does it mean to live without enemies? Can a man forged in hatred truly choose peace? Or is that just another story we tell ourselves to sleep at night? Vinland Saga wears the mask of a grand epic. Blood-soaked, windswept, heavy with purpose, and it wants you to know that it's serious. Vikings, revenge, ideology, the meaning of peace, all laid out with the solemn weight of a historical tome. You can almost hear the Gregorian chants in the background. And for what it's worth, it's a try. It really does. There are moments that hint at something deeper beneath the violence. A reflection ... on cycles of hatred, the emptiness of vengeance, the search for redemption. But the journey toward those ideas is long, grim, and, rather repetitive. Thorfinn starts off as an angry boy with murder in his eyes. He ends up as a silent man with slightly less murder in his eyes. In between? A lot of staring, screaming, running, stabbing, and brooding. Many of the side characters exist solely to move him forward, not to breathe or surprise. Characters talk about meaning and peace while standing over corpses. There's irony, but not enough self-awareness to feel deliberate. The show wants to tell you that war is hell, but it doesn't seem to mind reveling in the hellfire. For something that eventually becomes anti-violence, it certainly takes its time showing off every blade, every blood splatter, every slow-motion kill like it's proud of them. Which makes the eventual pivot to "violence is bad" feel a bit rich. If I were scoring the story alone, like in manga, it could comfortably hit an eight. But anime isn't just about plot. There are stretches of this show that are completely devoid of music. Not in the artistic nor emotionally devastating kind of way, but more in the “we forgot to hire a composer for this scene” kind of way. The silence could've been powerful if it were used with purpose. Instead, it often feels like the sound budget runs out mid-episode. And the animation? Occasionally beautiful, mostly functional, and sometimes lagging. There are scenes that move like they've had one too many ale mugs in the mead hall. Choppy, hesitant, and far too forgiving of corners that have been visibly cut. The backgrounds, more often than not, feel static and lifeless, like JPEG placeholders pasted behind the characters just to meet a deadline. You don't feel immersed in the world; you feel like you're staring at someone else's digital diorama. The character designs, especially Thorfinn, often look quite like someone whispered “eh, good” and hit export. If anything, at times it didn't feel like I was watching an anime. It felt more like I was being guided through an animated religious documentary. You know the kind, they are used for air during Holy Week. Something between The Passion of the Christ and those old Sunday morning Bible cartoons about Moses. A sermon disguised as a saga. A lesson about peace wrapped in layers of gloom, meaningful to some, but distant to me. There's an audience that thrives on this kind of slow-burn, weighty storytelling. The kind that likes to sit in silence and think. That's valid. But in my case, the emotional coldness, the technical roughness, and the muted direction made me admire the series more than I actually felt anything. It's the kind of thing you appreciate having watched, without necessarily wanting to sit through again.

Reviewer’s Rating: 7

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Jan 9, 2025

RemanTheArchean

Not Recommended

Season 1 is alright while watching Askeladd, who acts more like the protagonist than anyone else. The actual protagonist, Thorfinn, has a problem of being really annoying. He's an irate broody idiot in season 1, and he becomes even worse in season 2 when he becomes a fanatical pacifist. The show has an overarching philosophy that can be summed up as "war is bad, so just refuse to fight". This is not a stable Schelling point for any major society, and the fact that the show keeps trying to push this nonsense really puts me off. Letting your enemy beat the crap out of you, ... then running away is not "winning". This is "if you kill your enemy, they win" level of silliness. I'm not the type of person who thinks anyone who opposes the protagonist needs to die, but it should be enough to just build a society that's *moderately* less violent and call that worthwhile progress.

The show also has problems with severe personality changes coming out of almost nowhere. This happens to Canute, Thorfinn (twice), and to some extent even Askeladd. It's particularly jarring with Canute, who basically transforms into another person entirely over the course of one montage (which lasts for 5 IRL minutes).

With a childishly hollow philosophical message, stilted character development, and action scenes that aren't particularly impressive, there's little to recommend here.

Reviewer’s Rating: 3

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