No clumsy war anime, but surprisingly profound
Vinland Saga is, at its core, a revenge story. It deals with a young boy who lives only driven by revenge. This boy is our protagonist Thorfinn, and his father Thors was killed by a Viking, namely Askeladd. Thors was a very noble warrior. His son Thorfinn takes over this characteristic. He wants to defeat Askeladd in a fair duel. But to get this duel, he has to fight as Askeladd's subordinate at his side. Thus, Thorfinn experiences war at an early age. The series sometimes asks the question: what happens to such a young boy in war? The anime deals with the battles between the English and the Danes around 1000 AD. Our Thorfinn fights as Askeladd's subordinate on the side of the Danes.
The anime is designed very realistically. Each character acts in a comprehensible way. The arstyle and character design are also very realistic. The battles are well animated and CGI is used sparingly and appropriately. It is never distracting. There is no holding back in the depiction of violence. Blood flows in masses and body parts fly as well. This is exactly how a historical anime must be portrayed. Unfortunately, the synchro is very bad. I don't mean the acting, that's great, but that everyone speaks in Japanese and pretends not to understand each other.
Slavery was everyday life at that time. Thus, slavery is also thematized in the anime. You see some slaves, but the anime does not deal with their lives. The anime grasps the topic larger and relates it to Thorfinn. Thus, each person is a slave in his own sense. Thorfinn, for example, is a slave of revenge.
One of the biggest themes in Vinland Saga is religion. In the anime, different cultures and religions come together. Among them is Christianity, of course, but the Vikings believed in their own Norse mythology. Religion determines how people act. The Vikings are a warrior people and this is reflected in their religion. Their idea of paradise is Valhalla, which you can only get to if you die as a warrior in battle. In both religions there is also an idea of the end of the earth. Christianity calls it the Last Judgment and for the Vikings it is Ragnarok. At the same time, the anime opens the dawn as a sign of the turning point. Vinland Saga takes place precisely during such a turning point. In the present there is war, but people believe in a soon redemption and improvement of the conditions, by God or whoever. But they wait in vain for this redemption or salvation. From this, the anime develops a critique of the gods, which shows itself most strongly in Prince Canute.
Prince Canute is, in my opinion, the most interesting character from Vinland Saga. At the beginning, he is a very shy person who is not fit to be the prince of the Danes. Nevertheless, the people expect strength from him and his father, the king, is disappointed. Canute is a strong Christian. In war he prays to God and hopes not to die. But when Ragnar died, he realizes that God does not help him. As an act of defiance, he rebels against God and wants to create a paradise on earth. "We don't need a kingdom of heaven and trials. Our paradise is on earth," Canute says. This development is good and important for Vinland Saga. But it is too rushed and therefore seems unbelievable. On the other hand, Canute is also a pacifist.
Vinland Saga is generally pacifistic. The anime deals with this theme in several ways. On the one hand, the depiction of violence is pure pacifism. There are regular montages of corpses and Thorfinn's development shows what war can make of you. Namely, a callous murderer who will go over dead bodies for his own goals. On the other hand, the anime combines pacifism with criticism of the gods. According to Willibald, humans are sinful by nature. Their ancestors, Adam and Eve, did not listen to God and were banished from paradise as a result. Analogous to this narrative, one sees a bitten-off apple lying on the ground, clearly an allusion to the apple in paradise. This is the idea of original sin from Christianity. Willibald continues that human cannot love but only prefer. According to him, human's death, as well as nature and heaven, are love. If we are dead, we become a part of nature. These words of Willibald made Canute understand. God will not help them and he himself must end the war and create a paradise. For this he wants to overthrow the king. Through Askeladd's sacrifice he succeeds. So Thorfinn does not get his revenge and thus the circle is closed. The anime ends with Thorfinn dropping his knife. In the reflection of the knife, the first season passes by as a montage. With this, Thorfinn gives up his revenge, so to speak, because a true warrior does not need a sword.
Vinland Saga is, all in all, a great anime and deals with profound themes that are appropriate for the time. At the same time, the battles are fun to watch, partly because Wit Studio's animation is very well done. Overall, it's a very realistic and adult anime and a must watch title.
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