. “A true warrior...Needs no sword”
. "Everyone is a slave to something"
. "No one is your enemy"
The story of Vinland Saga takes place during the golden age of the Vikings, particularly during the invasion of England (Beginning of the eleventh century), which covered an approximate 3 centuries between the years 789 and 1100, during which the Vikings, warriors and Scandinavian merchants, attacked and explored most of Europe, southwest Asia, Africa, etc.
Vinland Saga follows the story of Thorfinn's path of revenge and his obsessive goal of killing the man who murdered his father. All this presenting with an impressive storytelling and with good and interesting characters.
The plot occupies characters and some historical facts as a base, expanding a bit in Viking culture, With a careful construction of the world, the series makes an acceptable representation of the Vikings: showing exploration, culture, fights, violence and looting of villages in search of property and the way in which they do not hesitate to kill anyone to achieve their goals.
As for the characters, these are well built and each one feels unique with their own motivations and goals.
The series does not turn only on the protagonist, much attention is paid to the other main characters, especially Askeladd, which is developed with the different events that occur and characters that it finds, we can appreciate its cunning, malice, charisma, intelligence, a whole strategist, I consider it the best written anime antagonist that I found this year and one of the best characters in general (You can't even call him antagonist at all, his character has so many shades and it's based in the cruel timeline, just good writing.) We also have the great Viking Thorkell, a violent warrior who only fights for the love of battle, like an exemplary Viking, who, despite not being as intelligent or profound as Askeladd, is full of personality and great charisma, that make him one of the best characters in this story.
If there is a weak point in characters for me, it would be that of the same protagonist Thorfinn, although it is understood and I like how it shows the kind of growth that a person can have if it is put in such a hostile environment since childhood (thing that I like and a lot), however his character, was overshadowed by other characters without a doubt, going on to do in the majority of the series only an angry young boy “ahh so edgy” and that nothing matters to him, It's difficult to me empathizing with the character in this part of the story, which as a reader of the manga I know will soon receive its incredible development...
Turning to animation, this is not the best in the world, but it’s very good and combines perfectly with the medieval period scene, the animation was consistently good most of the time, although the use of CGI drives many away and I don't prefer it, it's clear that its use in the series by Wit Studios was very good.
Another thing that I liked a lot and the study did well was to add some extra or filling history, but the good filling, these scenes are not useless, helped to show us better the development of certain characters, especially Thorfinn.
I also highlight the voice actors, especially I cannot forget that incredible work that the voice actress Thorfinn did at the beginning when the character was a child. I remember episodes 3 and 5 that voice, the suffering of the character, the hate...everything could really feel it. In the same way the rest is good, the background sound has been at the point, consistent with the emotion and intensity of the scenes, along with both OP and ED that are great.
In addition to having an excellent narrative and animation, the art of the background in Vinland is gorgeous. The composition of them is beautiful, the combination of the color palette is excellent, it is worth highlighting several episodes where they gave us beautiful scenery and backgrounds.
Already finishing this short review that does not do any justice to this story I want to say that, personally, I consider that the best moments of the series are the quiet moments, where the characters dialogue and reflect on their actions and the different aspects of the world around them, the quiet moments of reflection is where the series really shines and highlights more, without belittle epic moments of action.
Finally I want to say that Vinland Saga is one of my favorite manga, an epic story, mature, historical and full of many intense emotions, with a large cast of complex characters very well taken, all this with an incredible art of the genius Makoto Yukimura and now I can be satisfied and happy that we received a good adaptation.
