Review of Vinland Saga Season 2

Vinland Saga Season 2 is in a tricky yet opportune position. Known as the Farmland Arc by fans and as the Slave Arc officially, the stretch of 45 chapters adapted in full by the second season of the anime marks the crucial turning point for Thorfinn Karlsefni, the payoff for all of his stunted non-development in the first season. Frankly, Shonen protagonist-esque ball of rage Season 1 Thorfinn is often a pain to watch, and that’s the point. Most would agree that the star of the show in Vinland Saga’s prologue is Askeladd, although he is a largely static character, and once he finally sacrificeshimself for a cause greater than himself, Thorfinn steps up to fill the void he leaves. He does this by thinking, really thinking. Thinking and re-thinking, grieving, regretting, pondering. Very few protagonists undergo such drastic change as Thorfinn does over his greater arc. Season 1 Thorfinn, vicious and vindictive, is not so much an interesting character by merit of his thoughts and ideology, which amounts to little more than to the maladaptive belief that might makes right. Rather, the bloody first leg of Thorfinn’s journey is interesting because of the dire situations that he is thrown into by cruel chance and circumstance. Seeing him descend into the hell on earth of blood feuds, war, and senseless violence that his father tried to shield him from is as heartbreaking as it is compelling. Of course, one can only descend so far, and Thorfinn’s confrontation at the end of Season 1 with the essential hollowness and futility of his quest for vengeance, right as it is snatched away from him in a narrative climax executed in sublime anti-climax, should cue any viewer into how Thorfinn will not and cannot remain the same. The story changes course, towards the direction it was always headed.

As Thorfinn himself observes, the main cause of slavery is war. It is remarkable to me how, despite the admittedly marked tonal shift between seasons 1 and 2, mangaka Makoto Yukimura consistently depicts the often brutal living conditions of medieval Europe throughout the story. Some viewers may be distracted by the heaps of flashy action scenes in the first season, but the slaves and corpses created by the violence of Thorfinn, Askeladd and the rest of the warriors receive much attention as well. The story of the Slavic slave in episode 1, the Norwegian slave girl in episode 8, and the fate of the English village in episode 14 all come to mind. However, these victims of war do not receive as much attention as the battles themselves do in Season 1 (although Thorfinn, Askeladd, and the rest of those who wage war are arguably victims of it as well). The main cast is too caught up in their own petty squabbles and egos to pay too much attention to the casualties of their campaigns, after all. But the consequences of war are still frequently depicted in the first season, even if Thorfinn gives no deep thought to it at the time. Thorfinn’s enslavement in the second season, therefore, figures as a direct consequence of the violence he perpetuates in the first, and the hollowing out of his desire for revenge, the surface level manifestation of his pain at becoming the victim of a deeply unjust culture in which might makes right, opens himself up to personal growth for the first time in a long time. In essence, he finally asks himself: if I was hurt, why do I have to lash out in return? All that does is create more pain. It solves none of my, of our, underlying problems. What are these problems? What can I do to resolve them?

But if this was the direction that Vinland Saga was always headed towards, towards the journey of a warrior-turned-pacifist to build at least one town in recompense for the lives and livelihoods he has destroyed, why did it take so long to get there? Somewhat understandably, many anime-only viewers of the Season 2 have expressed their disappointment with the slower, more introspective turn the story has taken, but to anyone who thinks that Season 2 is a complete 180 from the first one, I want to ask if they were really paying attention, or rather, I want to ask what they were paying attention to. The first answer that comes to my mind is the action and the other more conventionally exciting aspects of Season 1. A compelling quest for revenge, a series of exciting fights, a charismatic and intriguing anti-hero in Askeladd. These are all admittedly key aspects of the first season that are absent in the second, but they are not absent without good reason. The core of Vinland Saga was never these specific aspects but rather Yukimura's holistic depiction of medieval Europe and Thorfinn’s journey. Caught for a time in the spiral of death and destruction, Thorfinn escapes by chance and then stumbles towards new growth and ideals as he develops real relationships with the people around him. Thorfinn’s oft-quoted and memed declaration “I have no enemies” may sound naive to some, but naive can be a dysphemism for admirable, or more neutrally, for idealistic. The point of an ideal is that it does not align with the status quo, with our lived experiences at large. It is something you have to struggle for, something you may never be able to truly achieve but you believe is worth reaching for nonetheless.

Instead of Wit Studio, who helmed the production of the first season, Vinland Saga Season 2 was produced by Mappa. Although there has been an overall decrease from Season 1 in the amount of frames and therefore movement per episode, the consistently strong direction of the second season makes the noticeable drop in production values a non-issue. The slower pace of the Slave Arc certainly helps mask how the Vinland team likely had less time, money, and people to produce Season 2 than they did for Season 1. On a visual level, Vinland Saga Season 2 is a mostly faithful adaptation of the manga, all thanks to the work of the talented staff, many of whom worked on Season 1 at Wit and chose to continue with Season 2 as a passion project. The returning voice actors also deliver stellar performances, with the happy inclusion of impressive talent for the new characters. The emotional range of Einar’s voice actor, Shunsuke Takeuchi, stood out to me in particular. Arnheid’s voice actress, Mayumi Sako, was also consistently convincing. Accompanying the voice acting, Yutaka Yamada’s music continues to elevate the Vinland Saga anime to spine-tingling heights. Both the opening and ending songs are thematically appropriate and banger songs in their own right as well. Despite the many shot reverse shot conversations with little more movement than the mouth flaps, the staff of Vinland Saga Season 2 has crafted a work that in my opinion shines not only as “good for a TV anime” but great as a work of animated storytelling in general. Season 2 isn’t just a downgrade across the board from a production standpoint, however. The attention the animators paid to rendering facial expressions generally exceeds the first season, and although this may seem like a minor point, the detail put into rendering the characters’ hands and the dirt, grit, and scars which accumulate on them also impressed me. After all, Yukimura himself writes about how one can tell someone’s personality from their hands and how an artist’s ability is better measured by their skill in drawing them than in drawing faces. It follows that the animators working on Vinland Saga Season 2 should all be proud of their clear artistic skill.

Only a few stories have changed the way I think. Vinland Saga is one of those stories. Simply put, it has made me want to be a kinder, gentler person. Although the story is not without its own flaws, the arguable over-indulgence in idealism being the most obvious one, I think reading and watching Vinland Saga has changed me for the better. That alone makes me want to recommend it to as many people as I can in the hope that it can do the same for them.