Vinland Saga Episode 1 Discussion

Mattinator95 said:
I looked at the first few pages of the manga and looks like they are rearranging scenes ???

Jfs_ said:
yes they did, the anime skipped the first 2 chapter, and chose to adapt the flashback first (chapter 3 - 16)

stand said:
^Most likely place for that trash is up your own ass.

I really enjoyed this. Best 1st episode of the season that i've seen.
Though expectations will be tempered because I know how quickly anime can take a bad turn.
Looks great now too but I also expect that to dip as well.

Excited for Askeladd and teen Thorfinn.

elementex said:


No thanks, I am not into that Sarazanmai type of stuff. But if you are, hey you do you.

Mesacboy said:
To any of you manga readers out there, I know that this episode covered what was chapter 3/4 (I think) of the manga... was it a wise move? Or should they have adapted how it was in the manga, showing the present and not the past? I only skimmed through chap. 1 so I'm wondering how someone who's properly read it feels about how they went about adapting it.

I think throwing us into a first episode with Thorfinn grown up might've been a cool enterance to the series, with the backstory coming later. Basically did the anime fuck up here or is this new structure good?

Actually I should probably just shut up and watch episodes 2 and 3.

Niello said:

If he did that he would've incited a fight with Halfdan, which will most likely result in deaths. That's stupid.

That runaway slave is still Halfdan's property. If they catch that Thor euthanised him that would've caused a huge problem.

youthful said:
Good and watchable so far.
I'm loving Thors and little Thorfinn.

Not so fond of the cgi.
Opening and ending are easily skippable for me; especially the opening sequence 'cause of the song.
If there is a metal song I can't skip that is Virgin Soul's "Let It End".

Grim1952 said:


And how would they prove it? You just have to say he died in his sleep due to hypothermia or do you think they'd perform an autopsy in the 9th century?

Mucosa said:
Sooooo.....they skipped the first chapters......awkward

Grim1952 said:


And how would they prove it? You just have to say he died in his sleep due to hypothermia or do you think they'd perform an autopsy in the 9th century?

Orhunaa said:
A solid start with good fights. Let's see where that goes

Thors should've either mercy killed the slave or gave him away. It was very easy to see that the guy hadn't had much time left. He would probably be dead by the time they brought him back to torture him anyway. Wasting livestock like that probably isn't a good idea in the harsh environment that is Iceland.

Wicker_Senpai93 said:


It's certainly illogical, however, I think the purpose is to show and more clearly define Thors' character.

As for the episode, It was a strong showing. We'll just have to see if they can keep up the momentum.

Orhunaa said:


Yeah, yeah I agree. I think the point was to accentuate the change of heart of Thors and the abandonment of his old ways and I think it works as intended albeit a tad on the nose.

Grim1952 said:
Great animation and very good use CGI, i'd have euthanised the slave with a pillow while he was halucinating tbh, wasting 8 goats... there's a difference between kindness and foolishness.

Jokuc said:
Great first episode. I liked the OST and the sounds. The visuals are also amazing. I don't think the CGI is perfect but it is way better than what you see in most other anime.

As a Swede this is a lot of fun to see, it's so cool to hear them mention parts of history. For those of you who don't know, Leif was a real person (though they spelled his name wrong, it's supposed to be with a K not C. And two S) and Vinland was a real thing (it's called Canada nowadays). I love how they went into such detail that the flowers they show on the ground are flowers that are very common in Scandinavia and the nordic countries.

I must say I don't really like the opening, neither the song (I don't like screaming) or the visuals (would have liked to see something more symbolic rather than battles), would have been cooler to get something that fit the viking theme more. ED is good though.

Gingko said:


As a swede, what do you think about vikings with japanese manners?


fotos full hd

It doesnt make any sense to me.

What about the mind set of viking society? Do you think that´s the way vikings look at the slaves? What about the social scale? what are the mc and the bad guy? Jarls ? hersirs ?


I cant understand why there are some many people hyped with this and rating the show as a masterpiece when its clear that who created this story dont know anything about the vikings, and its a shame that someone could even think that this show had the same quality as the HBO series.

TsukuyomiREKT said:


You're talking out of your ass, completely.

Gingko said:



So could you explain to me why this show is a good adaptation of the viking society/culture? and why I am wrong? I guess you are an expert .

that´s why I´m fuckin asking, cause I want to know.

Gingko said:
So that´s what you were talking about.

I´m fussy just when a show tries to take itself serious like this one does. Also if the show is the second in the airing rate list in MAL.

I´m not expecting 100% accurancy, but that kind of things I cant ignore.

But if we have to do it just cause the show has nice art, blood and fights I guess I should take off my adult eyes and put the teen eyes, so nobody will get pissed off.

TsukuyomiREKT said:


I don't even understand what exactly you're complaining about at this point.

ChainxBastard said:


Autopsies have been around since 300 B.C.

That aside, do you really expect a man of Thors character to murder a slave in front of his family, then attempt to lie about it and cover it up?

Gingko said:
As a swede, what do you think about vikings with japanese manners? What about the mind set of viking society? Do you think that´s the way vikings look at the slaves? What about the social scale? what are the mc and the bad guy? Jarls ? hersirs ?

I cant understand why there are some many people hyped with this and rating the show as a masterpiece when its clear that who created this story dont know anything about the vikings, and its a shame that someone could even think that this show had the same quality as the HBO series.

Jokuc said:


I have not read the manga so I don't know if the anime deviates from that in any way, but judging from people's reactions on the show I will assume not.

This is a Japanese show made primarily for a Japanese audience, it's very hard for a director to notice when they accidentally include everyday manners from their own culture. Just look at American movies trying to depict events that takes place in other countries, they still do the typical American thing where all people cheer, stand up and clap their hands when someone is successful with something. I facepalm every time. It can be subtle things we do unconsciously such as how Europeans keep the fork in the same hand while eating while Americans usually switch hand for the fork from cutting to eating. Vinland Saga is also an animated series, they can make slight changes to history or make things up to fit the story. This isn't a huge 40 million dollar budget HBO production, I doubt the team behind it has time and resources to go in-depth with viking research or hire a professional. I'm going to assume they take most of the facts from the source material.

I'm no expert on viking history just cause I'm Swedish so you're probably just better off reading about it yourself if you want answers. That being said, from the little I do know I think they captured aspects from viking culture very well. "it's clear that who created this story don't know anything about the vikings" you say, but you ignore the fact that a lot of characters in the story are based on real people, which means the writer of the manga must surely have read some history about it. The author correctly excludes the silly horns commonly shown on their helmets which the vikings never used in battle and they correctly say that vikings bathe on Saturdays.

As for slaves I'm not exactly sure what you mean, afaik there's not a huge amount of information regarding viking slaves in Scandinavia other than that they were used for farming and the creation of runestones. About how they try to help the slave in the show from the mean guy with the chains, I don't think they are suggesting that there were people back then being this nice to slaves, it's obviously just because of the father's personality and desire to help people. I just took a look at an article and read that there is a runestone in Denmark raised by a former slave which says his master released him and gave him money for outstanding work, so I wouldn't say it's an impossible situation.

I think you should approach this series with the mindset that it is a work of fiction and not a documentary drama.

Gingko said:
The MC paid 8 sheeps for a dead body from a slave, it just doesnt make any sense, a guy could be kind with the slaves in some way, yeah, but the MC act like the fuckin Jesus. The ethic and morality are social construction so the sensibilty of character must accomplish his social/cultural standards, that´s what a good character does,

The ethic and morality are social construction so the sensibilty of character must accomplish his social/cultural standards, that´s what a good character does,

Gingko said:
Do you have an idea of how many people have seen the scene while they were working on it? editors, producers, animators... its a lot of people and none of them noticed the ridiculousness of it.

The MC paid 8 sheeps for a dead body from a slave, it just doesnt make any sense, a guy could be kind with the slaves in some way, yeah, but the MC act like the fuckin Jesus. The ethic and morality are social construction so the sensibilty of character must accomplish his social/cultural standards, that´s what a good character does,

Gingko said:
Anyway, I wont be able to enjoy this show, its ok , its my problem. I´m used to accept that a lot of poor shows are highly rated by the majority of anime fans.