Vinland Saga

Ch 166 Thorfin and Gudrid adopt Karli as their child. They spent the last 2 years selling the horns Halfdan gave them and made a fortune. No, they haven't venture into Vinland yet. In fact, they are now recruiting crew for the real journey. Thorfin and gudrid goes to Halfdan to apologize but Halfdan instead threw them a feast for their wedding. Halfdan wants to keep his promise to Siggy about helping thorfin.

Edited by jun_kagami on Oct 25th 2019 at 8:19:59 PM

If they've adopted a child between them, does that mean Thorfinn still doesn't know what sex is?

Edited by GoldenKaos on Oct 25th 2019 at 1:37:53 PM

sadly, the chapter does not adress that

Like, their relationship shown so far is that she has a crush on him, and he's always been too emotionally scarred for relationships until the post-farming arc to think about it, and we're not even that sure if he reciprocates the feelings properly? Or if he's just like "getting married is the done thing in society, and this one's cute and already likes me, sooo...." I mean, this isn't a romance manga, but it still feels a bit rushed.

well, nothing is shown so far what happened during those 2 years. 2 years journeying together, a lot could have happened. They look pretty happy during the feast thats for sure

Edited by jun_kagami on Oct 25th 2019 at 8:19:50 PM

I kinda wish they didn't gloss over that, Thorfinn's character development into being a mostly normal and well-adjusted person again after his traumatic child soldier early life is easily the most compelling part of the story to me, and I think seeing him fall in love would have been another really powerful arc to that end. So, I think the introducing the love interest to them becoming Official Couple status was a bit rushed, and that does disappoint me. But some writers just aren't interested/good at romance, so... maybe that's what was going on. And that's giving him benefit of doubt.

Episode 17. Where horses are punched.

https://www.animenewsnetwork.com/news/2019-11-10/makoto-yukimura-starts-drawing-final-arc-of-vinland-saga-manga/.153123

Its official then, next arc is the last one like many of us predicted.

Episode 18: Knut has a deep introspection about the meaning of love and what he wants to do as a king.

Also episode 18: Thorfinn is dropkicked 100 meters away like a rugby ball.

I thinks that's a good summary of the series as a whole.

So the anime has entered the showdown between Canute and Sweyn, and my god I had forgotten just how awesome the last stretch of the Prologue was. The direction is on point too.

Still, I can't help but feel that Canute's personality change was a tad too abrupt. He really went from 0 to 100 in like one episode.

As they say trauma is an excellent motivator.

Canute already had the brains, he just needed a good kick to fully get him over there.

Yeah canute kinda change abrutly from prelude to the first act, it was quite annoying.

How kinda thin-skinned to find that very annoying.

Edited by slimcoder on Dec 7th 2019 at 6:14:48 AM

Ehh, the problem wasn't that he changed from the prelude to the first arc, was that he changed from one panel to another.

Like boom, your balls are now full of chad energy.

If anything it took me all the way to the Time Skip to fully absorb that, and not just because he turns into such a hunk.

As someone whom hasn't read the manga fully Canute's change in personality does feel abrupt but the reasoning behind it to me is interesting and quite sad at the same time. Ragnar dying and Canute coming to the conclusion that his father never intended for him or Ragnar to live and that his father has never cared about him is quite sad. It's tragic but it makes what comes later with Canute managing to impress Thorkell and Thorfinn, make his priest change his view on things a bit, and somehow manage to stop Bjorn from continuing to go berserk quite satisfying to watch.

I also like how Canute wants to create a Paradis on Earth as a fuck you to God.

Edited by Wispy on Dec 7th 2019 at 6:44:08 AM

I read the manga, and it kinda feel abrupt in part because canute create a conflict while he barely show up in the arc as whole, there if of course the whole "curse of the crown" his father(or the whatever the hell he saw as is father) said to him over and over.

And I like effeminate canute over chad canute.

Well, to be fair he still shows a little bit of fragility when he has to kill Askeladd. But otherwise he's surprisingly unflinching, even knowing that Thorkell or Sweyn wouldn't gain anything from killing him at the moment.

By the way, sarcastic kudos to whoever translated "shôgi" by… "shôgi" in the subtitles of episode 19 (those I've seen anyway). >.> In the manga Askeladd talked about Hnefatafl, which was apparently a Nordic ancestor of chess? I guess the anime's scriptwriters went for the closest understandable equivalent.

What do you mean barely showed up?

He was a generally consistent presence since he joined the crew.

Edited by slimcoder on Dec 7th 2019 at 6:59:58 AM

I do like effeminate Canute more I will admit. Canute immediately caught my eye when I saw him in the first anime intro with the fancy fur cloak and the Valykrie-like helmet. I wish we saw him wear that helmet more, I personally loved how well it gelled with his design.

Also, despite what a lot of overly macho moronic fans say I find effeminate Canute more endearing. I like chad Canute for his ideals but I am pretty sure the whole intention behind effeminate Canute can be boiled down too Viking/Overly macho gender roles are pretty shitty.

Edited by Wispy on Dec 7th 2019 at 10:21:26 AM

Speaking os appereances, anyone else wanted Thorfinn to keep his long hair + beard look from the end of the Farmland Arc?

I know he looked very Jesus-like, but it fits with his character after all the development, not to mention making him look like Thors as well.

And, well, I just think he looks really freaking cool with that setup.

Just read volume 22. While I kinda like how this arc ended (especially the scene of that dying soldier realizing that Valhalla was a giant hoax), chapter 157-158 were… weird. Between the freaking Shining reference and that giant… monkey man… thing? I thought I was reading a parody for a second. Thorkell's fire-induced afro didn't help.

I get that Ymir is supposed to reference a mythological figure, but there has never been any fictional creatures in VS until now, so it feels extremely jarring. It's like reading Vagabond and then suddenly an oni appears. >.>

I also hope this is the last we see of Garm. I don't like him.

Dunno, his short-hair-and-shaved style gives him a bit more of a "good boy" vibe.

Edited by Lyendith on Dec 17th 2019 at 9:53:14 PM

The final episode of the anime was very well received (not surprisingly ;) ) For the mangareaders it was nice to see Hilde, Gudrid and Einar in the final shot. Sadly enough there was no second season announcement. :(

Seeing Sweyn's head flying will always be satisfying.

Welp, that's it for season 1, though I hope not for the anime as a whole… Twas a very solid adaptation overall. It didn't elevate the source material like, say, SKN's or KNY's adaptations, but it's because said source was so damn strong to begin with. The anime just stuck to it, and that's really all it needed to do. I also appreciated the extra touches like showing more of Thorfinn's gradual descent into this violent world.

Still, I wish the animation had been more consistent and the direction more creative on some parts.

Hmm, I checked my volumes again, and as I thougt the whole part with Thorfinn being thrown in jail and almost leaving with Leif is entirely anime original. I suppose Yukimura himself asked them to add it to foreshadow Thorfinn's future development more gradually?

x2 What's SKN?