The world is a dark and cruel place. Particularly where large-scale wars ravage the country, and slavery is normal business, the world makes many people despair. But legend has it that somewhere across the cold ocean, in the far reaches of the planet, there is an untouched paradise. This is Vinland, a place where there are no wars or slavery – a place where one need not wish for death. Wouldn’t it be amazing to escape to such a land?
Welcome to Anime Rants. Today I present to you my review of Vinland Saga’s second season, which aired from January to June 2023. As usual, I’ll break this down into five categories for analysis. Please enjoy.
Visuals: 8/10
For those who don’t already know, Vinland Saga Season 2 was animated by MAPPA studio. The first season was animated by Wit studio, which was undoubtedly the better of the two in terms of quality of animation. It was Wit’s decision to drop Vinland Saga’s second season to work on other projects. Apparently, the publishers and fans wanted to see an anime ASAP, while Wit didn’t think they could do it justice within the suggested time limits. That’s why MAPPA picked up Vinland Saga season 2.
There is a lot of MAPPA hate on the internet because the studio also picked up Attack on Titan when Wit dropped it. The result was a visually weak and disappointing final season of AOT. Many feared the same thing would happen with Vinland Saga, and according to some, it did. However, I don’t think MAPPA failed with Vinland Saga. While the art and animation are lower quality than Wit, the end product still looks good. Especially when compared to the failure of AOT, the visuals in Vinland’s new season are well above average. Since I don’t harbor an irrational hatred for MAPPA, I can acknowledge when they did pretty well.
The art style for Vinland Saga is quite realistic and serious-looking. Characters have more realistic body proportions and natural colors for hair and eyes. A lot of detail goes into this art. Most frames have a lot of fine linework, especially on the faces of the characters. There are many shots of cool, powerful, but slightly over-the-top face expressions. The shadows and lighting usually help make things look even more impressive. As for colors, the pallet for this season is brighter and more natural than the first, with a lot of pretty skies, green farm fields, and yellow hues.
Another cool thing about the colors was that sometimes there were very bold shades in Thorfinn’s dreams. For example, the warrior’s afterlife he visits in episode 9 is bright red like a combination of blood and lava. I liked the imagery of the half-rotted dead bodies clinging to Thorfinn. The animation fluidity is not great except maybe in a few scenes. Just like with Attack on Titan, MAPPA does a much better job with detailed still frames than actual animation. Hopefully, this gives a decent mental picture of the visuals. I think they are excellent, though one step down from the previous season.
Story: 10/10
The first season followed Thorfinn as a warrior and Viking, knowing only a life of fighting. He was eaten alive by hatred and wanted nothing more than vengeance on the person who killed his father. In this second season, with his revenge out of reach forever, Thorfinn finally realizes the evils of violence. The story of Vinland Saga was always meant to go in this direction, as the first season was more of a prequel leading up to Thorfinn’s psychological transformation into “a true warrior.”
I rarely give 10s in my review scores, so you know this has to be good. It’s not that Vinland Saga S2 is the ideal story for me, but rather, it’s the best possible version of what it tried to be. Considering what the story was trying to communicate, I can’t imagine it being done in a better or more powerful way. Even when I give a perfect score, there may be a few complaints, but it means the show succeeded in sharing what it wanted with great proficiency.
I am also more likely to give out a 10 if I believe strongly in what an anime is communicating. In this case, I agree with Vinland Saga’s message and I think it’s important for everyone to see. Delivery of themes was the main reason this anime did so well in terms of story. The main idea was that violence should be a last resort, but there were a lot of other connected themes, such as grief, the cruelty of the world, true courage, and how people can change for the better. I loved the discussion of the problem of violence from both a nation’s perspective and that of an individual.
There was nothing wrong with the story structure, but it was a bit different from what we saw in the first season. Where there was near-constant action and/or adventure in season one, the majority of season 2 happens on a quiet farm with only one main battle toward the end. Some have described it as similar to Slice-of-Life, but I think drama and historical fiction are the better descriptors. If you were into Vinland Saga purely for the battles, then this will be a letdown for you. However, for me, the thrilling fights in season 1 were just a bonus element.
Vinland Saga season 2 is ultimately a character-driven story. One of the greatest strengths of the narrative is its ability to pluck at the heartstrings. I believe there were three different instances where I broke down in tears from the emotional intensity. An anime hasn’t made me cry this much since Fruits Basket. I really admire a story that can make me feel things.
Audio: 9/10
The audio was truly amazing in Vinland Saga season 2. First let me talk about the music, and then I might mention a bit of voice-acting stuff. The instrumental OST is very emotional and powerful for most of the tracks. As for the songs, the first opening is “River” by Anonymouz. The first ending song is “Without Love” by LMYK. For the second half of the season, the opening is “Paradox” by Survive Said The Prophet. As for the second ending song, it’s called “Ember” by Haju:Harmonics. All of these songs were great.
I think the most popular one was “Paradox,” as it’s a good tune with hard rock elements by a band that already has a large following among anime fans. I enjoyed “Paradox” a lot, but it wasn’t the number one song for me. My personal favorite out of the four was definitely “River,” since I prefer the lyrics and the unusual female vocals. That song gets stuck in my head for days, I swear. Of the two ending songs, I preferred “Ember.” It has more to offer and feels more emotional to me, with vocals of mixed English and Japanese, and a beautiful instrumental part with both electric guitar and strings.
The voice-acting was terrific, too. Please note I have not seen the English Dub and I only comment on the original Japanese audio. I’ve become a big fan of Yuuto Uemura (voice of Thorfinn) and I’m glad he got so many more lines in this season compared to the first. Honestly, I thought his talent was kind of wasted in the first season with Thorfinn’s limited emotional range and relatively few lines. However, the casting directors must have had Thorfinn’s future in mind, because Uemura did perfectly with portraying his quiet but emotional nature as he grew up.
Besdies Uemura, there were other talented voice actors. These include Ono Kensho as Canute, Mugihito as Sverkel, Fuminori Komatsu as Snake, and Akio Ohtsuka in the brief role of Thorkell. There were a few new additions as well. Most notably, Shunsuke Takeuchi joined the cast as the voice of Einar. I thought he did great. Additionally, I was impressed with the performance of Yuu Hayashi, voice of Olmar. He had a difficult and unlikeable role, but he did it well. That’s all I have for the audio components.
Characters: 9/10
Yet another great aspect of this season of Vinland Saga was the character category. It’s a character-driven story, so strong characterization is needed. I think the anime really pulled this off. Most of the characters are easy for me to like and connect with. Since there is a relatively large cast, there’s likely to be a character that you will like, too. The cast is also very memorable. In general, introductions and starting concepts for the characters were all good. This was especially well-done with Arnheid and Gardar. However, where Vinland really shines is in ongoing character development.
While not every character saw drastic change, the important characters were explored to a great degree. For example, Canute and his mission did not truly change, and yet his struggles and thoughts were flushed out extremely well by the narrative. His mental state declines a bit, as he starts seeing visions of his dead father’s head. It even talks to him, at times mocking him, and always trying to push him toward the darker path. Canute handles this with courage and patience. He continues his quest to create a utopia while fighting the curse of the kings wherever he can.
As for the main stars of our story, Thorfinn and Einar were both developed extremely well. Thorfinn’s journey took center-stage as the weight of his past actions forced him to go through an emotional revolution. He came out the other side as a truly good man for whom violence is a last resort. Einar also went through a lot, dealing with repeated losses and grief at the hands of an unfair world and plundering Vikings. Arnheid’s cruel death was the absolute last straw, prompting Einar to feel unprecedented rage and heartbreak. In the end, however, his good heart won out. With Thorfinn’s guidance, Einar resists the path of violence.
The supporting characters were also well-developed and interesting. For example, I admired Snake as his more noble and/or sympathetic sides were slowly revealed. Olmar was the supporting character who saw the most personal growth by far. He is utterly unlikeable in every way: cowardly, loud, entitled, and aggressive. By the end of the story, he’s still very weak and pathetic in skills and character – with one exception. Olmar conquered his cowardice: he was brave enough to admit defeat and to value life more than pride.
The character category earns a 9/10 from me. If I had to point out a weakness in this category, it would be the lack of interesting female characters. I’m grateful that Arnheid was around as long as she was. I do consider her an important character, and I cried when she died. But Arnheid doesn’t interest me and doesn’t have a lot of agency or assertiveness. It was very difficult for me to relate to this character and her desires. I loved that Ylva was included in the last episode, but she was not a significant character in the story overall. Besides that weakness, the characters in Vinland Saga are basically perfect.
Personal Enjoyment: 9/10
There was a lot to love in Vinland Saga Season 2! I enjoyed a few things from each of the four other categories. For example, from the visual category, I loved the beautiful backgrounds in this anime as well as the serious face expressions. Musically, I absolutely love “River” and can’t stop listening to it. Even though I also admire Thorfinn, Canute is still my favorite character. Seeing his quest to create a utopia is so cool. Perhaps most importantly, there’s the story’s meaning and themes. I mostly agree with them.
There were many specific moments that heightened my enjoyment of the series. For instance, when Thorfinn had visions or dreams of Ascheladd, it was amazing. I’m always happy to see that complex character again. I was also super excited while watching the epic confrontation between Thorfinn and Canute in the last few episodes. The entire final episode was terrific, and the highlight for me was seeing Ylva again. I love that woman. Because of all this, my enjoyment was very high.
Overall Score: 9.0/10.0
For these reviews, I calculate the overall score by taking the average of the scores from the five categories above. There are very few anime series that break into the realm of 9s. The ones that do are not only deeply special to me, but also astounding in quality. Vinland Saga Season 2 is one such anime. It has been well-received in general, with a current score of 8.83 on My Anime List, and a median rating of “Excellent” on Anime News Network.
I highly recommend this anime for fans of the first season as well as those who have yet to get into Vinland Saga. Hurry and go watch the first season so you can enjoy the second season’s amazing character development and profound story themes.
Thanks for reading~
Anime Rants 