#askeladd and thorfinn is the only time i felt equal

[mynotetrash]

nothing worse than liking the villain so much to the point where you have no interest in the mc but you know they’re gonna lose for plot 🤦🏾‍♀️

[4seasonsofart]

Thinking about a poly Thorfinn/Canute/Reader and they both happen to be yanderes. They meet you while Thorfinn and you were guarding the young prince. Thorfinn has known you for several years and has grown close to you over that time, so naturally he is possessive and overprotective of you. You are in a band of ruthless mercenaries, not to mention Askeladd; why wouldn't he act the least bit protective over you?

Then you add Canute to the mix, and suddenly Thorfinn is threatening to knife anyone who comes close enough to either of you two. For what it's worth, his feelings stem from his fear of losing the only healthy person who has been consistent in his life. His father was killed, Askeladd is toxic, and the rest of the band just has bloodlust. Okay, maybe Bjorn is a small exception because he does act like a mother towards Thorfinn sometimes but still ultimately sides with Askeladd. Still, you are the only one who is allowed to patch up his wounds and sleep next to him at night.

So then we have Canute, who is barely able to talk with you because Thorfinn is staring daggers (both figuratively and literally) at him. So as their travels progress and Canite gets bolder, he slowly grows closer to you, and Thorfinn hates that. He would kill the pretty little blonde if it weren't for Askeladd promising him a duel if he kept the prince safe.

One night, it all comes to a climax when you are sleeping next to Thorfinn. They both end up in an argument over their behavior, and Thorfinn accidentally outs himself.

"Why do you have to be such a stupid, pretty little blonde?"

"You think I'm pretty Thorfinn?"

"That's not what I meant, Princess."

Thorfinn gets all pouty and embarrassed.

Canute feels like he has the upper hand just this once, so he proposes sharing you between the two young men. Thorfinn is almost entirely opposed to this idea, but for some odd reason, he nods and agrees with Canute. Only if Thorfinn is allowed to stay near you at all times.

Thorfinn and Canute are two completely different yanderes whose tendencies stem from the same thing: fear. Thorfinn has a fear of losing you and wants your love and attention (even if he won't admit it). Canute has a fear of not being loved, as he isn't loved by his father, and he wants to be loved by the person who has shown him some love. Thorfinn is aggressive and very outward about how protective he is of you, while Canute opts for a more quiet and cunning approach. Oh, they were bothering you? Either Thorfinn is straight up murdering them, or Canute will order someone to take care of them for him. Thorfinn needs your attention and praise constantly (in his distant and grumpy way), while Canute is content just being looked at by you. Thorfinn is possessive, while Canute is obsessive. Canute will practically worship the land you walk on, while Thorfinn will see you as his only equal.

They are opposites, yet they mesh well together.

They don't realize that they also have feelings for each other until after the King and Askeladd's deaths. Thorfinn was so very torn as he saw you standing near Canute with a shocked and pained expression on your face. He felt his heart and trust break into so many pieces as he saw Canute open and vulnerable for a killing strike. Yet he only slashed the edge of Canute's cheek as he realized that he couldn't kill the pretty little blonde. He couldn't hurt or be mad at you either. He just felt confused.

Canute knows that he has to act like a leader, so he orders everyone out except for you and Thorfinn.

Canute confesses that he has developed romantic feelings for both you and Thorfinn during your travels together. He thought you both looked so attractive while protecting him from people trying to kill him. He states that he is unable to live a life if Thorfinn hates him, and he offers Thorfinn the sword that killed Askeladd to slit his throat if he would like. Thorfinn takes the sword and shakes as tears escape his eyes. He can't. He can't kill the stupid blonde. He loves him. He loves you. He loves how you constantly care for him and stay near him even when he pushes you away. He loves Canute because he just loves him. He doesn't know when he started, and he is scared that he won't be able to stop.

He allows the sword to clatter onto the ground as he pulls both of you into a tight and warm hug.

Cue Canutes religious guilt and his breakdown of what his beliefs are all while romantically loving two people, one of whom is a man.

You stare at them with a perplexed expression as they both clumsily confess their love for you as well (leaving out that they will and have already murdered for you).

The only question that remains is: What will happen next? Will all three of you live with Canute? Will Thorfinn start a journey of self-discovery and end up traveling to Vinland? Will you ever figure out that their love isn't so innocent and that you won't ever escape from them?

[veiledfox]

not sure why but I kept really thinking about it during my shower and

full honesty

Vinland Saga is good, but I feel like it's overhyped

It's story is really all over the place after setting up a very clear, very catching main plot/story/character that then just gets sidelined/sidetracked SUPER hard. Any big moments in their story are just side-notes for the rest of the first season. It's focus not only shifts away from it's very clearly set up protagonist, but then shifts multiple times from one plot to another and another. One of them is equally as good as Thorfinn's, but then the rest are just... really standard and simple?

The only things that really happen for their main, initial story/character happen in the beginning and end of Season 1, and I hoped they'd have more focus on him again in Season 2, but so far it's just more of the same as it was before?

Thorfinn is very clearly the main character, his story is obviously the main plot, but the way the story progresses overall just makes him seem like a footnote or a foundation for everything else to climb onto and take over the story.

Askeladd was the only other character who's story was really anything noteworthy, imo.

The Prince is kind of interesting with their background, but I feel like it ends up being half-assed and rushed. The War, while a fine setting, at points felt like it was taking up way too much of the spotlight. Same with the whole thing about religion and that bullshit Monk that was traveling with Canute.

For all the praise I'd been seeing about Vinland Saga, I was expecting better honestly. The biggest things in the show that really made me feel anything were just Bjorn and Askeladd (those who have watched/read Vinland Saga know what I'm talking about by mentioning their names like this)

[recentanimenews]

OPINION: I Don't Know Who'll Win the Anime Awards, But Here's Who Should

  Hi, everyone. My name is Kyle. I just started at Crunchyroll as an Editor last October. While I am new to the company, I am definitely not new to one thing in particular: having opinions about anime. With the Anime Awards upon us, I know just how many of those are flung across the dinner table, on Twitter, and wherever good anime is streamed. 

  In previous years, I watched the Anime Awards as a regular citizen. I voted alongside the general public, even for the previous "Best Manga" category! But this is my first time working on the show and seeing how the sausage is made FROM THE INSIDE. There's an incredible amount of work and energy that goes into making the event happen from people who don't get enough credit, and it's really incredible to be amongst a talented team. 

  But despite that.

  Not only do I disagree with some of the choices, but some of the best stuff wasn't even nominated!  

So today, I'm presenting you with some of my choices for Anime Awards winners [that are objectively correct choices that I think absolutely should win, despite what anyone else tells you. Anyone else who says otherwise are liars and don't know what they are talking about, but I do!] for a select few categories. If you really want to know who I'm cheering for this year, here's my card. 

  1. Best Fight Scene: Gio-Gio VS Cioccolatta (JoJo's Bizzare Adventure: Golden Wind)

  How did this not get nominated? Seriously? It's the Seven-Page Muda! I couldn't believe it when I heard this didn't make the cut. It's one of the best scenes in all of JoJo's Bizarre Adventure! Unbelievable. Gio-Gio punches a guy for like 45 seconds! Ugh. Well, this scene also included Giorno's theme, which is a Best Score winner within itself, too. If I had to choose an actual nominee, Tanjiro and Nezuko vs. Rui should win, I guess. You all really loved that episode 19.  

2. Best Girl and Protagonist: Emma in The Promised Neverland

The Promised Neverland had one of the strongest starts to a show I've seen in a while, but it wouldn't be anything without the main trio of Emma, Norman, and Ray. I bundled together my vote for Best Girl and Best Protagonist to Emma because I don't think I've seen a character so positive in such a perilous situation. And I don't even mean in an over-the-top, exaggerated anime way. Emma is incredibly smart and knows exactly what she wants: for everyone to have a fair shot at living. Even working with the cold, calculating, logic-centric Ray, she has a "but we still have to try" attitude that resonates in the face of absolute despair. That sort of worldview really spoke to me this last year, and for that Emma deserves to take both categories.  

3. Best Boy: Bucciarati in JoJo's Bizarre Adventure: Golden Wind

The original Gang-Star! The one who can taste lies and be a living corpse out of the sheer power of friendship (and spite). Bruno Bucciarati has it all. It takes a lot of leadership to try to overthrow an entire criminal organization, and if you can do some cool rocket-punches and have a killer style while doing it, what else can qualify you more for Best Boy? JoJo is all about their killer (pun intended) one-liners, and Bucciarati has one of the series' best. Yuichi Nakamura also earned my vote for "Best Voice Actor Performance (Japanese)" for pulling off such an iconic role. Here's to you, my favorite bowl-cut boy.

  4. Best Opening Sequence: Carole and Tuesday's "Kiss Me"

I have directed and storyboarded this Opening for Carole & Tuesday. The show is now on Netflix for everyone. director of the show is Shinichiro Watanabe. https://t.co/JeSAvIacwS

— BAHIJD バヒ・JD (@bahijd) August 31, 2019

  Not only is Kiss Me a great opener, this vote really goes to Bahi JD, who is quickly becoming one of my favorite animators. Seriously, have you seen his work?

  5. Best Director: Kunihiko Ikuhara for Sarazanmai

Kunihiko Ikuhara at his own exhibit

Did you know a lot of people have a lot of opinions about Kunihiko Ikuhara's work? I sure didn't know what I was getting myself into when I finally started watching his stuff last year. I only just watched Revolutionary Girl Utena last year when I found out the fine people at Nozomi Entertainment fully uploaded the series. I was really immersed in Utena's world and all the metaphors that I did or did not fully comprehend. Sarazanmai was the first Ikuhara project I was able to watch as it aired, riding the wave with everyone else and trying to figure out what the series was saying. Sarazanmai became appointment television for me in a world that increasingly doesn't even bother with the concept. I can totally understand if Sarazanmai is not your favorite Ikuhara show. He seems to have been reined in a little (either by his own volition or by someone else) as his stories have been comparatively condensed—Utena was 39 episodes compared to Penguindrum's 24, Yurikuma Arashi's 12, and Sarazanmai's 11. Even though I'm new to his work, I think one thing is perfectly clear: You never know what you're going to get. Equally important, he's willing to use stories as a way to talk about topics a lot of other artists wouldn't dare nor bother with. There's something to be said about making a series about little kappa boys so fun, insightful, and empathetic.    

  6. Anime of the Year: Vinland Saga

  When I took a final look at my choices, I noticed that I actually didn't choose Vinland Saga for a lot of the individual awards. "Best Drama" and Askeladd for "Best Antagonist"? Absolutely, no contest. But there were so many other good anime last year I believe deserve their respective rewards in the other categories.  So why did I vote for Vinland Saga for Anime of the Year in the end? Vinland Saga was one of those series I always heard about; That it was one of those truly incredible series. But either it wasn't available legally (until 2013 from Kodansha USA) or it was just too daunting to start. When the anime finally started in July last year, there was no better time to see what all the hype was about. There's something to be said about a show that perfectly transports you to a time and place and Vinland Saga did exactly that. WIT Studio's incredible art direction made me feel like I was in the old English countryside, back when castles were no more than fortified wooden buildings, and what it was like to look across the incredible vastness over a cliff or across the ocean. And in this time of overwhelming nature and space is an incredible story about a young boy who succumbs to the corrupting force of hatred while living in a culture that celebrates the road to death. The tragedy of seeing Thorfinn, a young boy raised to be so eager about battle, drowned in his own revenge after seeing the death of his father—who deliberately left a life of killing so his son wouldn't have to—is a gripping and, honestly, sad experience. More than anything, watching Vinland Saga made me actually feel like I was watching an Epic (in the traditional definition): Once I started, I was going to be invested in the foundational change of this world and the characters, which simultaneously felt so concentrated among the cast in the moment, but held far-ranging consequences over the horizon. I've pitched Vinland Saga to those unfamiliar as "Berserk without the fantasy," and I mean that with the utmost praise. 

  Also, both openings from Survive Said The Prophet and Man With A Mission absolutely slap. 

We're coming to a point within the anime industry where there's not much left untouched: Many of the critical hits are being developed and a lot of the old "forgotten" series are finally getting adaptations. We saw this with Devilman crybaby in 2018 and Fruits Basket last year, for example. Vinland Saga captures that same feeling of a great finally having the spotlight. After I looked at the other nominees for Anime of the Year, I couldn't have voted for anyone else.

  Anyway, here's me tomorrow when all of these choices are correct:

    Who did you vote for in this year's Anime Awards? Let us know in the comments below!

    ---

  Kyle Cardine is an Editor for Crunchyroll. You can find his Twitter here!

By: news+feed@crunchyroll.com