This review is for Season 1 of the Vinland Saga anime. It does not contain major spoilers, nor does it include information specific to the manga or Season 2.
Summary:
Vinland Saga’s first season was animated by WIT studios, bringing to life the story of a young Viking boy named Thorfinn. Season 1 has some interesting characters and a relatively basic plot, though it is more plot-driven than in Season 2. Some characters are well-written and developed, while some have asinine character arcs. Overall, the first season is an interesting one, though it does not shine as much as the next season due to its pacing, characters, and general storytelling.
Story: 7/10
Vinland Saga tells the story of Thorfinn, a young Viking boy, who is raised by a now pacifistic, former warrior. Thorfinn’s inquisitive and adventurous personality leads him on a dangerous expedition, leading to absolute devastation. The story incorporates themes of adventure, war, resilience, trauma, and honor. Unfortunately, some scenes focus more on the “tell by showing” technique, such as having over-the-top cheering for violence and war. Although the plot generally tracks Thorfinn, the story follows Vikings battling with Anglo-Saxons and Britons, raiding, and emphasizes the blood-thirsty love of battle. It mixes some historical events with blatantly fictional characters and abilities; this may be interesting to some, but this causes a dilemma with a strange power system: It is stuck between historical fiction and fantasy which do not bode well together. In many historical fiction stories, characters may have exaggerated abilities like being slightly stronger or faster than their foes, but this story takes this way too far. We open with Thorfinn’s dad obliterating everyone, while all the other soldiers are mostly useless. Then, we follow Thorfinn’s events with his pacifistic father risking everyone else’s life, only to be followed by a man eating a mushroom and gaining unhinged physical abilities. The story alternates between reasonable human versus human, medieval battles, and then downright fantastical sections that truly detract from the story. The Vikings are portrayed as barbaric and powerful, which may be somewhat accurate, historically, but it didn’t need to incorporate such palpably unrealistic powers. Why would a human be able to pick up and throw trees at incoming ships? Why would a historical warrior lift and use a massive tree trunk as a sword? The hilarity detracts from the sincerity of the characters’ struggles. This continues throughout the first season, with alternating battles, raids, pillaging, and then a few episodes of melodrama for a terribly written character to suddenly develop, which will be discussed in the corresponding section of this review. Overall, the storytelling in season 1 is slightly above average, as it does a wonderful job honing two characters: Thorfinn and Askeladd. When these two characters, and their internal struggles, are emphasized, the story is interesting, but the unrealistic absurdities in the plot do detract from the overall quality of the storytelling.
Art: 8/10
WIT Studios did an excellent job with the art in season 1. It’s fitting for the genre. There are some freeze-frame scenes that could have been animated, but the art is above-average, overall.
Music/Sound: 8/10
The music by Yutaka Yamada is wonderful, especially if you enjoy piano. There are times where the piano doesn’t pronounce the barbaric, Viking, medieval setting, but it is generally fitting. The voice acting, even in English, is great.
Characters: 6/10
The characters in season 1 are almost dichotomous: Some are very well written, while others are terrible. Our protagonist, Thorfinn is a typical young boy who makes a poor decision that impacts him for the rest of his life. He is written to be adventurous as a child, and it makes sense that his behavior leads to the events (no spoilers), although his father’s foolishness is a problem of its own. So, the main character broods and struggles with trauma and wanting revenge throughout the season, which is fitting. The event at the very end (no spoilers) is the perfect setup for his internal conflict in the next season, and this is one of the best pieces of writing in all of season 1. Additionally, the deuteragonist, Askeladd, is another extremely well-written, evocative, deep character. Askeladd may be one of the most meaningfully and complexly written characters in the fantasy genre. His arc is clear by the end, and very compelling, though I will not share spoilers. Regrettably, there are also terribly written characters which make this season feel almost laughable: specifically, Canute. He’s a fragile, effeminate, silent young man who struggles to communicate and opposes the violent ways of war. His character arc is one of the most ludicrous, sudden, poorly written forms of “growth” imaginable. A well-written character learns, over time, and does so through experience and adaptation. Canute does none of this. I will avoid specific spoilers and will, instead, encourage you to watch Vinland Saga and see for yourself the absolute disaster. Better yet, you could watch a 12-year-old do a 180-frontside spin on a skateboard for the same effect. In any case, the characters in season 1 of Vinland Saga are dichotomously written: Some are fascinating, and others are low-quality.
Enjoyment: 5/10
There were a few scenes and characters that I found quite intriguing, but this first season was by no means the masterpiece that it was made out to be. The music and art were okay, and some of the storytelling was interesting; however, the terrible characters really made it hard to stay engaged and take it seriously. I actually found this season to be upsetting, and rewatching made this worse, knowing that season 2 is more focused on characters and a generally more captivating and powerful tale.
Overall: 6.8/10
