It was a somewhat decent anime but I had issues with some things

salvak10 said:
My big problem was Canute. His character development was extremely unrealistic. It just doesn't make sense from a psychological standpoint.

Gare said:
Just finished watching this series, and i have the same feeling like you. I came and watch this series with high expectation because how high praise the manga is, so after finishing it, i feels like some unsettling things needed to said.

So the starting in anime quite good for me, quite decent village with decent people, good family with some issues (mom sickness), and most of all Thorfin as character is portrayed enough like love to hear adventure stories, dont mind losing (when playing battle with his friend), and turn out hes stronger than his peers. As a viking i know he must be itching for battle therefore he want accompany his dad, and until his dad dying moment i have no problem with Thorfin (even though his agitation kinda stupid but i get it). Then my issues come after this.

First, why the hell the adult from the village not bring him home too, i think Askeladd band respect the hell out of Thors so i dont think Thorfin got kidnaped(?). Then this little kid did not worried about his other families? your mother sick for godness sake and you leave her just with your older sister.

And then come teenage Thorfin, battle harden warrior without care in the world other than revenge, he follow his father murderer band for 11 years. 11 years just helping them pillaging village and war. Yeah hes still trying to get revenge but after 11 year and countless duel (well according Thorkel assumption), he still learn nothing, he cant even graze Askeladd what the hell. You can "almost" toe to toe with Thorkel and when you fight Askeladd you cant do shit? wheres your experience from battle or war, whats the point of your training, and he cant even come up with a plan when duel with Askeladd.

And last, there's not even slightest development in his character for 24 episode not even a glimpse really unbearable to watch for me, i thought when Thorfin finally meet Leif, he will atleast change a little, but nah, hes not even reminiscing his family when he meet Leif, even Leif confused why Thorfin not asking about his family (again your mom sick you know and its already 11 years just maybe shes dont have much longer), but nope Thorfin dont care about his other family, revenge come first.

PS. Sorry for long post

Gare said:

First, why the hell the adult from the village not bring him home too, i think Askeladd band respect the hell out of Thors so i dont think Thorfin got kidnaped(?). Then this little kid did not worried about his other families? your mother sick for godness sake and you leave her just with your older sister.

hamza121419 said:
@resus-2, @salvak10, canute's development wasnt as you described it, you guys didnt pay enough attention to the elements of his character development. I invite you to take a look at the analysis i've done about this matter, you may change your mind.
https://myanimelist.net/forum/?topicid=1844034

Lawren222 said:
The first arc which is what S1 adapted is A prologue for the rest of the story. The last episode of the season as well as that chapter of the manga it adapted is even called "End of the prologue". Its based on how the prologues of the actual Icelandic sagas which feature a lengthy story about the protagonists predecessors before actually getting to the main story. In VS case that Askeladd and Thors before his death. Thorfinn doesn't actually become a true lead character tell arc 2 which was one of the reasons why Thorfinn doesn't get a lot of development in the Prologue. The other reason is that is lack of development in the first arc is the bases for his character in the rest of the series. Him become an unlikable rage monster that cares nothing about his revenge is intentional the point is that revenge and following the violent viking warrior way of life completely ruined Thorfinn and leaves as an empty shell of humanity being. The following arcs focused on him finding new purpose and meaning in life outside fighting and wanting to atone for the mistakes he made in his blinded by revenge warrior days as well as trying to escape the cycle of revenge and war learning the lessons both Thors and Askeladd tried to teach him. Basically while I'm saying that edgy Thorfinn for 24 episodes or in the manga 54 chapters isn't likeable but its necessary because the most important trait of his character going forward is the regret he has for the phase of his life. The Proglue is basically carried by Askeladd if the viewer/reader doesn't like his character then the Prologue is going to be hard to get through or appreciate without the Farmland arc( the second arc of the series that will make up S2 if we ever get one). Though as far why the adults didn't bring Thorfinn its implied he somehow got away for their noticed off screen to sneak on the ship which I'm actually not a big fan off. I find them losing him hard to believe.

sogegesoge said:


well vikings are a bunch of man with a really high-pride and only care about fortune, they believe die in the battlefield is more honorable rather being a good man for the fam. and thorfinn really hold so much to that pride that he had to avenge his father in the most proper-warrior-way, that's why he's just being dumb and cringelord all the time, he knows nothing but pride and war. now that he lose both, that's where the real development starts

vinland saga still has a loong journey, it's just that the first phase is the edgiest part of the story, later on it's kinda calmed down

Kaasfondue said:
It's quite funny you completely bought Canute's change into a "badass" when in reality he nearly passed out after thrusting a sword in Askeladd's chest. You know he forced himself to change right? Much of it was acting. It was clear that psychologically he wasn't all there yet (even before that kill). He just put all he had in this "act", and it worked. Lived his whole life amongst leaders so it's not like he shouldn't be able to act like one.

Kaasfondue said:
Also if Thorfinn backstabbed Askeladd he would be much more of a hypocrite, since his reason for revenge is Askeladd killing Thors in a dishonourable way. He wanted to kill Askeladd in a honest duel so he could reclaim his father's honour. The point of the story is that he's a fucking idiot for that, because Askeladd just uses that against him. His pride as a warrior is what made him an idiot.

And please, he left his village at the age of 7. At that age it's very easy to adapt to another life style. The people back in his village glorified warriors anyway.

Kaasfondue said:
If you didn't like Askeladd idk what to say to that. Yes, he killed innocents, doesn't make him less of a human or hypocrite. He didn't pretend to be a good guy, like what. He was very aware that his search for justice and revenge didn't make him any better than his own father. And it's that awareness that matters, because it means he wasn't some mindless violent thug. He thought little of the material wealth and status Vikings cared about. Most virtuous character in the story after Thors.

Resus-2 said:


I would buy into his 180 ass pull personality change if they didn't showed Canute acting like a little 6 years old little girl from the beginning, even hiding behind his mentor and apparently he didn't even talked to anyone besides his mentor and suddenly he turns into a "badass" in 1 episode and gains the respect of everyone and didn't even flinched when being attacked, you just can't have a personality change like that in 1 freaking episode. Yes he nearly passed out after killing the bastard, so what? he was still a badass prior to that, he may still not be there psychologically but the sudden 180 personality change is the argument I'm making and yes, he lived his whole life amongst the leaders as a little girl.



The people in his village glorified warriors, not cold blooded murderers which is the thing Thorfinn was doing, he was killing innocent people, nothing to do with being a warrior here so this turns him into a hypocrite and yes, he's also an idiot because he's being used to kill innocents.



Askeladd is a hypocrite because he turned into the exact same man he despised the most which was his father, a guy who didn't hesitate for a second to kill his mother and in that episode we have Askeladd saying that someone has to do it and that he wanted "Heroes" or "Artorious" to save his mother or whatever and once he grew up he was doing the exact opposite of what a "Hero" or "Artorious" wanted, he turned into a cold blooded killer who wouldn't even hesitate to kill babies for fucks sake and this is the type of guy someone like you defend?

Most "virtuous character in the story after Thors" my arse.

hamza121419 said:
i dont know if you are stupid or you were sleeping when you were watching, just who the fuck killed his mother? Askellad? Dont make me laugh, that girl he killed along was his father's bitch, were you even paying the atention, he brought his mother to Wales in ep 13 in a flashback to spend her last days in her homeland, if askellad cared for someone it was her mother, he did all the bad things fir her sake

Resus-2 said:


I didn't say that Askeladd was the one who killed his mother, I said that his father was the one who didn't hesitate for a second to kill her dumbass and she would have been decapitated if Askeladd didn't jumped in, apparently you're the stupid one that lack comprehension skills, learn to read next time.

And for the other garbage you wrote I won't even bother to respond to it because you ain't worth my time, first learn some comprehension skills and then we can talk, dumbass.

hamza121419 said:
His father, a guy who didnt hesitate to kill his mother'' this is what you wrote, i dont know how it would be gramaticly correct to asume that askellad' s father didnt hesitate to kill his concubine, i would either assume that askelad's dad killed his own mother (askellad's grand mother) or that askellad is the one who killed his mother because we only saw askellad's mother.

hamza121419 said:
But anyways, you arent superior to others when you dont argue with them, it only shows how low minded you are, by staying stuborn and not accepting what others are saying.

Resus-2 said:


Stupidity has no bounds, next time stop being stupid and stop assuming, I was obviously referring to Olaf not hesitating for a second to kill Askeladd's mother.



This is rich, not only are you stupid lacking comprehension skills but you're also an hypocrite by staying stubborn and not accepting what others are saying either, take your own advice next time.

hamza121419 said:
yeah you were referring to olaf not hesitating to kill askellad's mother, but the sentence you wrote says olaf's mother, did you take your grammar lesson?? The 'his' couldnt be referring to askellad, it is referring to olaf, you may have made it by mistake but this is what it says, it wasnt the fault of my comprehension skills, but your grammaticly false sentence. I dont have ghe skill to understand what you intend to say by a completely wrong sentence, i'm not a thought reader, just admit you made the story confusing by writing something other than what you thought you were writing.

hamza121419 said:
And what did you ever say for me to accept it, i can only accept what you are saying if it is structured and defended by arguments, i cant accept what every body feels like saying.

Resus-2 said:


I would buy into his 180 ass pull personality change if they didn't showed Canute acting like a little 6 years old little girl from the beginning, even hiding behind his mentor and apparently he didn't even talked to anyone besides his mentor and suddenly he turns into a "badass" in 1 episode and gains the respect of everyone and didn't even flinched when being attacked, you just can't have a personality change like that in 1 freaking episode. Yes he nearly passed out after killing the bastard, so what? he was still a badass prior to that, he may still not be there psychologically but the sudden 180 personality change is the argument I'm making and yes, he lived his whole life amongst the leaders as a little girl.

Resus-2 said:


The people in his village glorified warriors, not cold blooded murderers which is the thing Thorfinn was doing, he was killing innocent people, nothing to do with being a warrior here so this turns him into a hypocrite and yes, he's also an idiot because he's being used to kill innocents.

Resus-2 said:


Askeladd is a hypocrite because he turned into the exact same man he despised the most which was his father, a guy who didn't hesitate for a second to kill his mother and in that episode we have Askeladd saying that someone has to do it and that he wanted "Heroes" or "Artorious" to save his mother or whatever and once he grew up he was doing the exact opposite of what a "Hero" or "Artorious" wanted, he turned into a cold blooded killer who wouldn't even hesitate to kill babies for fucks sake and this is the type of guy someone like you defend?

Most "virtuous character in the story after Thors" my arse.

Kaasfondue said:
You didn't really respond to what I said and this is just hyperbole after hyperbole.

Kaasfondue said:
Oh yeah, they definitely made a distinction between warriors who killed innocents and those who didn't. Makes sense in an era and envinronment where war and death were commonplace.

This is just false, Viking warriors were mercenaries, pirates, raiders, last type of people who give a shit about who they kill is innocent or not.

Kaasfondue said:
It's not like he gave his life to save Wales and Canute. Once he got the opportunity to finally do something he believed, he turned his back on his Viking lifestyle. Put everything into saving his people and giving a man he deemed worthy the crown. His actions contradict his beliefs, but that's because he lived a double life.
Clearly doesn't have the same values as your average Viking.

How is he a hypocrite, he never claimed to be a good person or any better than his father.

duderus said:
I'm on episode 13 right now as well
lol i don't see why people are complaining about the anime though.

From the very start you could tell the MC was an idiot and if this is how we were gonna start off the series it was pretty obvious it was gonna be a shit-show.

I just accepted that this was gonna be terrible and kept watching for the fighting lol

Pyro said:
The issue for me was Thorfinn. I assume his manga counterpart is better.

Rei_III said:

Well, no. He's the same character (in this prologue story).

removed-user said:
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My big problem was Canute. His character development was extremely unrealistic. It just doesn't make sense from a psychological standpoint.

Resus-2 said:
This anime had a pretty good start but it started to get worse later on, pretty good beginning but had a mediocre middle.

Thorfinn is also quite the cringe, he's way too edgy to be an interesting MC, all he does is rage and fight, that's it, as a character though he's simply uninteresting for me, I won't say he's complete garbage but he's just uninteresting, his antics in raging got old pretty damn fast and I had to keep up with that crap for 20 episodes or something. I know this will change and that he will get his character development in the 2nd season or whatever but in this 1st season he simply didn't cut it for me.

He's also quite the hypocrite (actually, all of those damn characters are!), he wants revenge by killing the guy that murdered his father and instead of backstabbing the bastard he helps him in killing more innocent people so not only is he an uninteresting hypocrite main character, he's also an idiot, what could possibly go wrong here?

I also couldn't bond with any of those characters, they are just a bunch of ruthless thugs that kills innocent people, I couldn't feel sympathy for any of them, I actually wanted Thorkell (the axe guy) to kill them all (including Thorfinn), I also couldn't feel shit about the death of Askeladd, I wanted him dead, sure he's the most interesting character in this anime but I didn't like him and wanted that mofo dead and he's also quite the hypocrite himself, he feels bad about the things he went through as a kid and blames his father for everything and even fight him to protect his mother but then again, when he grew up he was doing the same exact shit his father was doing, killing innocents, am I supposed to feel sympathy for that fucker? I think not, I'm glad he's dead.

The OST was OK, nothing spectacular, it needed more melody.

Overall score: 7/10

Resus-2 said:
This anime had a pretty good start but it started to get worse later on, pretty good beginning but had a mediocre middle.

Thorfinn is also quite the cringe, he's way too edgy to be an interesting MC, all he does is rage and fight, that's it, as a character though he's simply uninteresting for me, I won't say he's complete garbage but he's just uninteresting, his antics in raging got old pretty damn fast and I had to keep up with that crap for 20 episodes or something. I know this will change and that he will get his character development in the 2nd season or whatever but in this 1st season he simply didn't cut it for me.

He's also quite the hypocrite (actually, all of those damn characters are!), he wants revenge by killing the guy that murdered his father and instead of backstabbing the bastard he helps him in killing more innocent people so not only is he an uninteresting hypocrite main character, he's also an idiot, what could possibly go wrong here?

I also couldn't bond with any of those characters, they are just a bunch of ruthless thugs that kills innocent people, I couldn't feel sympathy for any of them, I actually wanted Thorkell (the axe guy) to kill them all (including Thorfinn), I also couldn't feel shit about the death of Askeladd, I wanted him dead, sure he's the most interesting character in this anime but I didn't like him and wanted that mofo dead and he's also quite the hypocrite himself, he feels bad about the things he went through as a kid and blames his father for everything and even fight him to protect his mother but then again, when he grew up he was doing the same exact shit his father was doing, killing innocents, am I supposed to feel sympathy for that fucker? I think not, I'm glad he's dead.

The OST was OK, nothing spectacular, it needed more melody.

Overall score: 7/10

Lonely_Ronin123 said:
First Thorfinn , are you calling a kid who had his father killed in front of him edgy? And ofc he is most of the time angry and all he does is fighting , are you aware that he was raised up by Vikings , what did you expect him to grow up into

+ You say that characters are thugs that kill innocent people , no shit they are fcking Vikings what did you expect ?