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STATUS: 187 chapters read.

Prologue Arc: 9/10
Slave Arc: 9/10
Eastern Expedition Arc: 4/10
Vinland Arc: (In Progress)
Overall: 6/10
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REVIEW CONTAINS MILD SPOILERS - DO NOT READ ARC DESCRIPTIONS IF YOU WISH TO AVOID THEM
...
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"You either die a hero, or live long enough to see yourself become the villain." This quote applies to the writing of Vinland Saga, which became its own villain.

I'm rubbing my head at this one. This is the longest review I've ever written, and I'm devoting this much time and effort to it because I truly care about Vinland Saga. I want the series to continue be good, because it was good. I've binge-read nearly 190 chapters of manga in a week, and the question left on my mind is:

"What happened?" (I)

Vinland Saga had a strong start. The first two arcs were well-written, and defined what will become the 'Vinland Saga' feel, the theme, tone, characters, etc. The plot is grounded, grand, and constantly moving forwards - there's very few spots of stagnation, where the reader feels like they're crawling along, and you just want to page flip to get past it. The manga has the feel of a legendary epic, or some mythological tale. Then .. that feeling vanishes. Everything I've just mentioned goes up in a puff of smoke. The world, the characters, the politics .. they all become flat, uninteresting tropes.

...What happened?! (II)

The tone of Vinland Saga changes. The characters and how they are written and defined diminishes. The quality of its arcs dips hard. If I were to show you the fist five chapters of this manga, and then provide you a selection of five further chapters in the later half of the Eastern Expedition arc, you would probably think it is some spinoff series. The tonal shift is that drastic. The tone of the manga, its very spirit, flatlines in the third arc - and the Vinland Saga that you started with is not the Vinland Saga you will come to read. The shift is gradual, but too severe to not be noticable. I'll be discussing it in detail below.

---------- SPOILERS BELOW ----------

I'm going to take a step back and explain my gut feelings regarding the arcs, as this will provide insight into my claim, and my lamentations about Vinland Saga falling from grace:

+ + + + + Prologue Arc (War Arc) + + + + +

This is the arc that has been turned into an anime. This arc is VERY solid, it has a solid introduction, a great body, and a iron-clad conclusion. This arc is a fantastic prologue. Perhaps this is funny, because the worst part about this arc is our supposed main character, Thorfinn! All he can do the entire arc is brood over his loss, and his only motivation to do anything is the chance of dueling and defeating Askeladd, the villain of the arc. And what a fantastic villain Askeladd is, so much so that many would consider Askeladd to be the protagonist of the series, or even to think of him as an anti-hero (he is a villain through-and-through, just a very well written one).

If there's one thing that stands out in this arc, it's the constantly moving plot. The plot is well written, well-paced, satisfying, and above all: it sets the mood and tone of Vinland Saga. This will become important later on, as I've already revealed that the series, unfortunately, loses its shine later on. Thorfinn's desire for revenge is contrasted by his former father's peace. His rage and mercilessness as part of Askeladd's band is contrasted by his desire to have an honorable duel with Askeladd. Akeladd practically assumes the role of father, of Thorfinn's dad, who he ordered the death of. Major plot points are established and touched upon throughout this arc, keeping it consistent and not leaving the audience feeling like they have missed out.

The payoff is ... fantastic. Just when the manga starts to slow down, it floors the accelerator, drawing the reader back into the wider plot and context of the world the characters find themselves in. The conclusion of the prologue arc is one of the best I've seen in a manga, and the anime conclusion is fantastic as well. It's a great springboard to launch Thorfinn away from his past, and into his future.

+ + + + + Slave Arc + + + + +

This arc takes place several years after the Prologue arc, with Thorfinn being sold into slavery as punishment for his crimes against the king. We are introduced to Einar, a slave who, along with Thorfinn, shares the main character spotlight. This arc is jokingly refereed to as the 'Minecraft' arc by some fans, and ... well, you'll see why. Like the previous arc, we have a great introduction, a fantastic body of events, and a solid conclusion. Importantly, the tone of Vinland Saga remains, it's just the setting and characters that change. The characters are well written and consistent. Their interactions are genuinely interesting because they do not all get along, and like in the prior arc there is conflict between them, their personalities personalities, their morals .. you name it. I'm not the most adept at defining characters, but the writing here of them is very good.

The subplots in this arc are meaningful, and like the prior arc, contribute to and shape the story in meaningful ways. It still feels like a manga set in the 1000 AD, in the land and era of Vikings. Perhaps most importantly, it still feels like Vinland Saga.

+ + + + + Eastern Expedition Arc + + + + +

You may note that I will be explaining this arc in detail, moreso than the prior two arcs. This arc is the turning point in the series' quality. Understanding this arc, the setup, and the very poor payoff is critical, in my eyes, to understanding why the series has taken a nosedive in quality, and why I've given it an overall 6/10 score.

This arc starts strong. Thorfinn is now no longer burdened by a corrosive sense of revenge, and is free from slavery. He has reunited with his family and village, and the stage is set for him to prepare to undertake the journey to Vinland. But, before this vast undertaking can occur, Thorfinn has a set of goals that he knows, and that the reader knows:

1. He must obtain money to fund his venture.
2. He must obtain manpower to assist in the journey & country-building in Vinland.
3. He must prove he has the motivation and capacity to do steps 1 & 2, and the ability to deliver.

This is some strong stuff, great groundwork for what should've been a great third arc.

If this isn't the climax of the entire series, with Vinland being the conclusion, this is surely the direct rise to the story's climax.

So, how will Thorfinn accomplish the 3 goals above? First and foremost, we're introduced to our first new crewmember: Gudrid. She's not a fantastically interesting character, but a pretty decent side character. Most of her background revolves around her wanting to explore and see the world, but being locked in her place on account of Gudrid being a female character. Realistic, given that the series is set in the 1000 AD.

In addition to gaining a new crewmate, Thorfinn's team gains a commodity that they must sell: narwhal horns, which can be passed off as horns belonging to unicorns in the south. By south they mean Miklagrad, the capital of the Byzantine Empire. They will get there by traveling through the Atlantic Ocean, the North Sea, the Baltic Sea, then down through the rivers of Russia, into the Black Sea, and back. At this point, we've now established the journey of the arc, the goals, and that it will probably take them two years to complete the journey there and back (this is stated by a character). The setup is golden, makes sense, and will be interesting to tag along in. The scope is a natural expansion in the lead-up to the titular journey to Vinland.

The group journeys out with their commodity and their destination, coming along two new crewmembers. A dog, and Karli, the lone survivor of a village destroyed by warfare. Neither of these characters are of particular note, and Karli is an infant, though thankfully, a decently comical one. His role is small, like he is, and thankfully - he does not get in the way too much and is just along for the ride.

Next up, the group, now with a four-legged friend and an infant, arrives in Norway. We're making pretty good progress on this journey. Here we run into Hild, who I will declare: is the last decently-written, interesting character that will join Thorfinn. Hild has history with Thorfinn, and her life was changed because of his past atrocities he committed when a member of Askeladd's Army. Her backstory is interesting, well written, and meaningful, and she'll make a great addition to the team as a skilled hunter and creative inventor. She wields a crossbow with a built-in goat's foot lever, which while fictional is at least grounded somewhat in reality for the time period.

Unfortunately, her backstory and value as a character are diminished by the fact that she's ... well, she's Thorfinn from the first arc. Though she's far less pissed, her entire personality largely revolves around her being emotionally dead inside once she confirms Thorfinn's identity and relation to her past, and her primary character trait is following Thorfinn around. Why? Because she wants to be the cause of his death if Thorfinn slips up. If you were getting major deja vu vibes here, you weren't the only one. This sure sounds a fair bit like Askeladd and Thorfinn's relationship. It's a shame too, Hild could be a significantly better character if she was given the time of day to actually develop, as opposed to remaining some sort of always-watching-you, permanent-grudge-holding character ... like Thorfinn was in the first arc. Unfortunately, for the entire duration of this arc, she receives ZERO development, despite having such an interesting premise and important set of skills.

Alright, we've picked up a useful, if vengeful character! Time to head further east, and then south to Miklagrad, meeting other useful characters along the way, and running into sub arcs!

BZZT! WRONG! Here, have a THIRTY SIX (!!!) CHAPTER ARC about the Jomsvikings! It is WAY too long, FAR too drawn out, and at the end: it's totally worthless to the main cast.

(To the readers who kept up with this when it was releasing in live time, you have my sympathy. This SUB-ARC lasted for THIRTY EIGHT (38!!!) MONTHS! I would have absolutely quit this series if I was keeping up with it in real time at this sub-arc.)

Let me summarize it:

There's a power struggle between two sub-factions of the Jomsvikings, each following a different leader.
Thorfinn wants no part of it. Thorfinn gets dragged into it.
One of the Jomsvikings sides has its leader killed.
Thorfinn still wants no part of it. Thorfinn & crew get dragged into it.
Siege is then laid to the other side of the Jomsvikings.
Thorfinn still wants no part of it. Thorfinn & crew get dragged into it.
The conflict comes to a conclusion after an excruciating THIRTY SIX chapters.
Thorfinn is appointed leader of the Jomsvikings, despite his insistence he didn't want to be a part of it since the start.
Thorfinn, now leader, disbands the Jomsvikings, refuses to explain, and leaves.

Wow, that was an awful sub-arc. It's made even worse by the fact that FUCKING BIG FOOT SHOWS UP. OUT OF NOWHERE. If you think I'm joking, I'm not. Look up Ymir. You can't make this shit up people.

Thank God. It's finally over. We're past it, we can finally get back to Thorfinn's epic adventure to Miklagrad, securing both crewmates and gold to launch his journey to Vinland...

BZZT! WRONG! Yeah that's right, FUCK YOU READER!

We. Get. None. Of. That. The manga completely timeskips. We go straight from the War in the Baltic Sea sub-arc straight back to Iceland. A year and then some of character development and growth, gone. A grand adventure, gone. Potential to recruit interesting new additions to the cast, gone. The whole setup of the arc, gone with the snap of the fingers.

My breath was taken away from me. After the absolutely awful War in the Baltic Sea sub-arc, the LITERAL TITLE OF THE ARC, "EASTERN EXPEDITION ARC," is ripped out from beneath us. It's boiled down to they got to Miklagrad, sold the horns, made gold, the end. Nothing else happened.

What. A. Waste.

From here on out the story nose-dives. The War in the Baltic Sea was the turning point, but the remainder of this arc only solidified that what had happened in sub-arc we had just escaped from, was going to continue to happen. Like the arc we just got out of, chapters drag on. Gone are the days of interesting, well-developed discussions and interactions in meaningful chapters from the first two main arcs, and the start of the third arc. The tonal shift we saw in that 36-chapter long arc is here to stay.

Vinland Saga no longer feels like Vinland Saga.

+ + + Vinland Arc + + +
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IMPORTANT NOTE: This is the final arc, and is not complete.
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What should've taken part during the travel to Miklagrad instead happens in some crammed chapters leading up to their departure to Vinland. Ontop of being significantly less interesting than discovery on the way to Miklagrad, it's poorly written and still missing the 'Vinland Saga' feel.

We're introduced to the son of Thorkell, who is either inserted to be the de-facto gender confused character found in many comedic mangas, or as some sort of cruel comedic gag. Thorkell was never stated to have any children in any of his chapters prior, and this character is literally dropped on our heads out of the blue, in a fashion that reminds me of the Bigfoot from the previous arc. There's no context or reason behind it, and the quality of this character makes Hild (our last named crew addition from 58 CHAPTERS AGO!) look like Askeladd in terms of writing quality. Not a great addition to the cast, and the character design is ... well, I think it missed the mark big time. I struggle not to see this character as some sort of cruel comedic gag with how ridiculously they are presented. What could've been an interesting character is tarnished by poor writing, and a character design that does not mesh with the series.

Thorfinn goes from using a knife purely for defense, as his own father instructed him immediately prior to his death, to wanting Vinland to be totally without weapons. He will not let people join his expedition with swords, spears, etc. Yes, this brave venture to uncharted lands with the hopes of building a country will go totally unarmed. Oh, but weapons that are used for hunting? Or building? Yeah, those are fine. You can keep your crossbow Hild. You definitely have not used it against people in multiple prior instances. Axes? No problem. Knives are fine too, fuck it! Seems like the only things that are banned are swords and spears!

{EDIT: Later on we see farmers in Vinland with spears, I guess swords are the only banned weapon?!}

...Inconsistencies aside, they finally depart. Okay, we've had a terrible 36-chapter arc, we totally missed out on the Eastern Expedition, the titular arc, SURELY we'll have some development and drama on the high seas, on their journey to Vinland.

THEY CROSS THE OCEAN AND REACH VINLAND ... IN ONE CHAPTER.

I'm cutting my review off here, as the next sub-arc of the series has not concluded. I don't want to judge an incomplete sub-arc. At this point, I think you can imagine my level of enthusiasm whenever a new chapter is released.

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CLOSING THOUGHTS

I'm remorseful that the series I fell in love with for the first and second arcs, and some of the third arc, has flatlined. Vinland Saga has now entered its fourth and final arc, and I truly hope that it ends well. However, given the current downward trend of the manga's quality, I, solemnly, have my doubts that a quality ending will be achieved.

+ + + SPOILERS + + +

You see that note above? That's a spoiler warning.

For over a year I've been mulling about Jormungand, and whenever it came up in discussions with my friends, we all had one agreement:

Holy shit, the ending was atrocious.

Don't worry, we'll get to this part. But first, I need to build up to the point I'm trying to get across here.

Jormungand is not a thinking man's anime. While the attention to detail for the guns is spectacular, their usage is ... not so much. In season 1 there's a shoot out with hundreds of rounds exchanged near point blank - and ... nobody gets hit. Valmet, who primarily wields a KNIFE in an anime where about everyone is armed with GUNS is able to cut down foes left and right. "Alright, we get it," you say, "just don't think about it." You're right, Jormungand is an anime where you shut your brain off, and you just follow along for the ride.

That changes in this season.

In the final arc, what the series has been building to the entire time, Koko is successful and launches Jormungand. A super-satellite that uses quantum computation to hack into any piece of technology with a connection and get it to behave how she wants it to.

Koko spews out a line about how "nobody will fly or sail again." Apparently, Jormungand will be able to hack the planet into peace.

Allow me to finally break the ice.

+ + + RANT + + +

... DOES THE WRITER REALIZE AIRPLANES FLEW AND SHIPS SAILED BEFORE THE INTERNET EXISTED?!

... DOES THE WRITER KNOW THAT TWO WORLD WARS WERE FOUGHT BEFORE THE INTERNET EXISTED?!

... DOES THE WRITER KNOW THAT NEWS & INTELLIGENCE REPORTS WERE ABLE TO CIRCULATE WITHOUT THE INTERNET?!

This concept that Jormungand can just hack the planet to peace is the BIGGEST plothole I have ever seen in an anime. Sure, you can disable critical military infrastructure. Internet. GPS. Datalink. Even radio communication. But at the end of the day, that only hinders war. It does NOT stop it. The notion that Jormungand can just "disable" humanity's ability to wage war by hacking it is ABSURD. A faction could, without internet connectivity, program an anti-satellite missile to target the Jormungand satellite and launch it at said Jormungand satellite. If that ASAT missile can not receive data, Jormungand CAN NOT hack into it. This technology has been around since 1950.

The simple fact of life is that MOST military technology is NOT connected or hackable ... you can't hack a gun anymore than you can hack a nuclear missile. Do you know why? Because militaries around the world realize that having their weapons be vulnerable to getting hacked & disabled is a really, REALLY bad idea!

Jormungand is insanely stupid. It's a series where you can shut your brain off and follow along for almost the entire show, but then the show makes the critical error of asking the audience to think about the ramifications of the Jormungand satellite and what it means for warfare, and the future of humanity. And it doesn't take a second of fully fledged thought to start poking massive holes into the idea that a quantum-computer-powered satellite COULD NOT stop war, hell, they can't even turn off the nukes!

The entire series was ruined by the embarrassingly bad and poorly thought out conclusion. It's just so nonsensical, so obtuse, and so poorly thought out. It's like skateboarding down a street just to hit a rock at the end and become a meat crayon on the asphalt. That's what this ending felt like to my friends and I.

Allow me to give you the quick-and-dirty of this manga.

10 chapters in total. 2 chapters are cannon sequels to the original BLAME! manga series. #6 'Netsphere Engineer' & #8 'BLAME!²' are those two cannon sequels.

Everything else is a mix of parody, dark (often body horror) short-story, or something else entirely.

5/10 for the whole thing. 10/10 for the 2 BLAME! sequel chapters.

If all you care about is BLAME! and cannonically-relevant material to the manga, check out the two chapters listed above. If you're a die-hard fan of Nihei's work, well obviously the entire thing is worth it. If you don't fall into either of these two ... camps, this manga is mostly a 15 minute time sink (yes, you can burn through it that fast) that probably won't do anything for you.

Alright, I gave this thing an 7/10 and now I'm going to try to justify it.

TL;DR:

Interested in BLAME!? Watch this movie. It's a great starting point for newcomers to the franchise, introducing key points, themes, and characters that are more-or-less accurate to the very abstract manga it's adapted from. If you have Netflix, it's one of the better animated series available - and despite being CGI, I promise there are some gorgeous shots, sequences, and scenes in it.

PREFACE:

BLAME! is a series that's been dormant for almost a decade, which is a shame. To me, this movie is a kick of the figurative BLAME! can, ... a movie not really for existing fans - but one made in hopes of drawing new ones to this dormant franchise. To that extent, I say this movie is a success, and does a wonderful job. The story is very self-contained and easily understood, making this movie a nice place to start your dive into the world of BLAME!

Speaking of worlds - BLAME! has a very, very good one. If you're a sucker for futuristic, apocalyptic worlds where humans eek out their existence - well, you've struck gold. The world envisioned in this franchise is enormous, bleak, oppressive, and commands your attention. The use of extremely wide-angle shots showing the absolutely massive structure of the city, the ridiculously long amounts of time certain characters have waited, the distances between important locations - everything about the city screams huge and this movie absolutely delivers the scale originally conceived in the manga.

STORY:

The story itself is... it's okay. It's definitely not a banger, or even that memorable. It's an adaptation/spinoff of the manga, selectively taking some characters and arcs and melding them together into a story that can hold water reasonably well. While 'eh' at best, the story does a decent job at introducing the viewer to the world and its functions, unfortunately this introduction is often through very dialogue-heavy, static scenes (looking at you, Cibo).

I feel like the movie catches a lot of flak for the story, so let me put this to rest immediately: if the movie flat out panel-for-panel cloned ANY of the arcs from the manga, any viewer who wasn't deeply invested and familiar with BLAME! would instantly be lost and likely give this movie a 2/10. Sacrifices have to be made to adapt any franchise from one medium (manga) to another (animated), and BLAME!'s source material having such an abstract way of telling a story doesn't lend a hand.

CHARACTERS:

Character-wise the only two that stood out to me were Killy and Cibo. Both of whom are very well voiced, and Cibo's Japanese and English VAs knock it out of the park (somewhat off-topic, but still worth noting). The other characters (yes, every other character) feel like NPCs at best. I found myself zoning out pretty much any time Killly or Cibo wasn't on screen and the music wasn't commanding my attention. This is probably the weakest part of the movie, and I'm willing to bet is a big reason why people won't like it. The movie isn't a full-length season, you only get ~2 hours to try and care about any of the characters before it ends. And when the very best 2 characters are oftentimes relegated to the backseat, this movie makes its lack of good character focus well-advertised. Not for 1 second did I care about Zuru or the Electro-Fishers in this entire story unless they were actively fighting something. IMO, the movie could have been significantly better if more focus was placed on Killy and Cibo, rather than the Electro-fishers.

The story almost flat-out screams at you that Killy and Cibo are part of the 'bigger picture' plot that's happening outside of the movie's screen time, and yet it STILL wants to focus on the party that isn't part of the bigger picture!

ART & ANIMATION:

The art is actually pretty good, except for literally every human's face looks like they got hit with the 3DCGI shovel and have about 50 eyebrow hairs between them. The robots (Killy, Cibo, Sanakan, Exterminators), somehow, look fine in comparison to the humans. Shots of the city structures are excellent, especially the ultra-wide shots where you feel both claustrophobia from the enclosed space, but also in awe at just how far this absolutely gargantuan city expands. There are some really jaw-dropping scenes and moments of scale, emphasized by the incredible musical score. These are probably some of my favorite shots in the movie, and they really sell the scale the manga so often depicted. Other sequences like the discovery of Cibo are pretty well done, shot in aging, ill-maintained areas that help to hammer in just how long the city has been expanding for, and how long Killy's been working towards his goal without obtaining it.

However.. there's the frame rate... oh God, the frame rate. Getting into this movie it's almost like watching a slideshow. While you will adjust to it - it's a painful acclimation. Fortunately the fight scenes are well-done and shot, making them easy to follow and the weight of punches great. The frame rate also feels A LOT smoother during fighting sequences, or the frame rate itself is actually higher during these moments. Either way, the final fight is ... really good. Easily the best I've seen in a CGI animated show.

MUSIC:

The music is phenomenal, except for the 1 stupid track the play with the flute every time Killy shows up. That gets annoying. So much so that it almost became groan-inducing, you get a shot of Killy making some pissed-off face, followed by the SAME DAMN FLUTE NOTES EVERY TIME. Ugh, I hated it. The stupid flute notes aside, I actively found myself trawling the internet to listen to the OST and add some of the tracks to my favorites. There's really some great, amazing stuff that 100% complements the scenes, tone, and action that's happening - and if it weren't for the STUPID FLUTE (seriously, you'll know why I'm making a fuss about it!) I would easily rate this as some of the best OST I've ever heard in an anime.

FINAL VERDICT:

Overall: Thumbs-up. It's worth a watch, especially if you've already got Netflix.