Vinland Saga Season 2: Drowning in the Shadow

This is a 2 minute short, featuring Thorfinn in his bloody past. We have a couple of scenes that consist of enemies running towards him, and then Thorfinn killing them with his two knives. Right after it, he walks into a house and finds a mother with her offspring. Then we have a shot of the future Thorfinn, looking at his past surprised and shocked. The short movie ends there, without any ceremony.

The mood and atmosphere is really dark and depressing, with a red and black sky. We have a glance at one man in two different times, and how he got used to so ... much violence to the point of apathy. And also how he finally sees his past actions in present time. This short could be one of his several nightmares, that are shown in one of season 2 episodes, when Thorfinn is sleeping close to Einar; waking up in fear and sweat.

This OVA caught me by surprise, and I suppose it did the same to you. It's always good to have extra content, I just hope MAPPA didn't spend their budget in this OVA.

Thank you for reading.

Long story cut short, this is more like an action sequence than a full-fledged story, and that's apt given its mere 2 minute runtime. You also don't need to worry about the lack of subtitles since there is no spoken dialogue in it. Just some brutal knife action from Thorfinn, and a surprising turn are what you get. It's animated pretty well, and those missing this old avatar of Thorfinn in the new season will find this a treat. As mentioned before there isn't much of a story but those who've felt the depth in Thorfinn's character in season 1 and the previous episodes of ... season 2 can surely understand his actions. Don't think too much, just give it a watch unless you're expecting even a 2 minute scene to deliver a complex storytelling.

Episode 6.5 of Vinland saga is a 150 second scene that could have been in the main anime but was left out, probably because the episodes would become too long.

The scene is about a flashblack/nightmare that Thorfinn has about his past when he was part of the invasion of a village. Since the second season has very little action you may want to watch this to add more action to the anime.
The animation, voice acting and sound are all the same as in the main anime.

Overall it is worth watching if you like the anime and want to experience the entire thing. ... In my opinion this scene doesn't add anything unique since Thorfinn has multiple nightmares/flashbacks but it is nice extra content. In the end it's only two and a half minutes so even if you don't like it, you won't lose much by watching it.