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animebw · 1 year ago

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Seasonal Reflection: Spring 2023 Anime

Now that’s more fucking like it. I was feeling pretty down on anime after a disappointing winter season, but spring has come in like a freight train to remind us why this medium is so damn important (just in time for summer to let us down again because my god this new crop of shows is looking thiiiiiiiiiiin). Making the choice not to stick with shows I wasn’t enjoying just for the sake of completion was clearly the right call, because not only did that leave me with fewer bad shows sucking my my free time and motivation, it meant I was able to much more happily appreciate the bevy of excellent offerings that Spring 2023 had to offer. From an absolute top-tier run of rom-coms to a slew of entrancing fantasy series, I was never at a loss for things to enjoy. I’ve already shared by thoughts on Vinland Saga’s flawed but excellent second season (8/10) and the abysmal, overrated trash heap that was Oshi no Ko (3/10), as well as quick thoughts on all the series I ended up dropping. But if you want to know my thoughts on the other shows I watched to completion? Then read on, and see which spring offerings are worth checking out!

Uma Musume To the Top: 4/10

One of these days, I’ll be able to better articulate why this franchise leaves me so cold. What is it about Uma Musume that made fans go gaga for historical racehorses anthropomorphized as cute anime idol horsegirls that I’m not getting? Cause from where I’m sitting, the whole thing is just a bloated, overwrought exercise in hacky melodrama and shrink-wrapped moeblob pandering with the occasional actually pretty decent sports anime arc thrown in there. The whole thing just feels so cynical and calculating, from its lazily slapped-together premise that feels like three random popular anime genres shoved in a blender with no rhyme or reason to the obnoxious soap-opera histrionics that define its attempts at tugging your heartstrings. And while this 4-episode OVA certainly has the best, most exhilaration animation of the bunch- seriously- it is stunning how good the racing looks- it also makes the unforgivable mistake of having zero Gold Ship content. They got rid of the funniest character in the show and I will never forgive them for it.

Kubo Won’t Let Me Be Invisible: 4.5/10

I think 2023 is the year that something officially snapped in me. I have just entirely lost patience with middling rom-coms that exist for no other reason than to sell the fantasy of a perfect manic pixie dream girl who’ll love your totally bland forgettable self. I mean, not like I had much patience for them to begin with in the first place, but watching Kubo Won’t Let Me Be Invisible felt like staring the futility of mindless wish fulfillment itself in the face. Does it have some good jokes? Yeah. Is the animation pleasing enough? Sure. But between the embarrassingly forced whimsy in the soundtrack and the treacly sweet presentation that tarts up this bargain-bin Takagi-san like some sweeping, romantic ideal, the inherent emptiness at the heart of the fantasy it’s selling just becomes impossible to ignore. Boys, I beg you: get higher standards for yourself and the shows you watch. You will not cure your loneliness by losing yourself in the illusion of a perfectly sweet, doting girlfriend who’ll never ask you to outgrow the things you hate about yourself. You deserve better than settling for endless self-indulgence at the hands of an industry that doesn’t believe you’re capable of more than that. Or just, you know, at least only watch anime of this kind that actually are good, compelling stories in their own right with more to say than “Gee, wouldn’t it be great if Kana Hanazawa was the only person in the whole world who I mattered to?” There’s even one of those later in this list! You don’t have to settle for mediocrity! Seriously!

My Home Hero: 4.5/10

I feel bad for this show, because it’s one of those cases where it’s obvious you’re getting a vastly inferior version of the story. The concept of a cat-and-mouse thriller where the protagonists are just a normal family of everyday middle-class busybodies trying to outwit a yakuza conspiracy after killing one of their goons is a pretty unique one, and the writing goes a long way to sell out on the fact that these are just an ordinary middle-aged couple thrust into a hectic situation and doing their best with the limited skills at their disposal. Even if the writing can be overly convenient at times with how much they’re able to plan ahead, there’s some good stuff here. Unfortunately, it was adapted to anime by Tezuko Productions, one of the most bafflingly incompetent studios to still get reliable work. So the animation falls apart any time it has to depict anything more complex than characters talking and walking, the art direction is uniformly ugly and stilted, and the horrendously conceived score tries so hard to sound epic and edgy that it turns every potentially gut-wrenching moment into a laughingstock of poorly executed melodrama. If you’ve got any interest in this story at all, just go straight for the manga and forget this turd exists.

Yuri is My Job: 5.5/10

Something to know about me: I hate cringe. And if there’s one type of cringe I can’t stand above all others, it’s watching performers mess up on stage and ruin the show for the audience. As a former theater kid, nothing makes we want to curl up in a ball and die more than a stage play going off the rails and the actors being left lost and adrift while the audience stares and murmurs in worry. I say all this to tell you that I watched Yuri is My Job- a show that is primarily focused on watching actors almost fail in live performance over and over again in the messiest. most emotionally charged ways possible- and I almost managed to make myself like it. What can I say, I’m a sucker for subversive yuri deconstructions that explore the liminal space between ambiguous Class S-style stock yuri tropes and real feelings of lesbian love. Especially when they’re willing to let their characters be this messy and difficult. But man, there were times I had to watch this show with my hands over my eyes from sheer concentrated cringe. Do not let the yuri fool you into thinking this is just another soft and sweet gay girl romance, this shit gets rough. But as long as you have a stronger stomach than me for this kind of thing- and if you don’t ask too many questions about what these girls’ lives are like when they’re not play-acting for customers in a yuri schoolgirl cafe because we never fucking leave this location- you might find something really worthwhile here.

Otaku Elf: 5.5/10

Every season, there’s one anime that sneaks under the radar at first but slowly accrues more and more good will over time, establishing itself as an underappreciated gem for anyone smart enough to go looking for it. And this season, that show was Otaku Elf, an inconsistent but enjoyable blend of chill slice-of-life antics- centered on a young shrine maiden looking after the titular shut-in elf who serves as her temple’s local deity- and bite-sized history lessons about the life and culture of people in Japan’s Edo period. It’s got some surprisingly warm and nuanced character writing for its two leads, and their relationship as they push and pull from different perspectives on life leads to a handful of emotional moments I’d genuinely consider magical. Sadly, the further the show strays outside that central relationship, the less interesting it gets, with most of the side characters- the maiden’s perfectly angelic younger sister, other elves enshrined as deities as their caretakers- coming off as half-baked in comparison. It’s a bit of a crap shoot whether any given episode will pluck at your heartstrings or bore you to tears depending on what it chooses to focus on. But when it’s good, it’s really good, and it’s worth a look for anyone who enjoys historical trivia mixed in with their comfort viewing.

The Ancient Magus’ Bride Season 2: 6/10

In retrospect, I’m really glad I went back and re-evaluated my opinion on Magus Bride season 1 before this new entry came out. Not just because it helped me realize how much I’d underappreciated one of the most captivating fantasy anime of the modern era, but because it drives home that this second season’s sluggish pace is, in fact, an issue. Magus Bride has always been a very slow and ruminative series, trickling through moments like streams through a mud-clogged riverbed en route to its big character moments. But even by those generous standards, this has been sloooooooooooow going. Lots of table setting, lots of new characters with new conflicts, lots of buildup for multiple different plotlines that don’t always feel meaningfully connected and will require a damn good payoff to make this slow start worth it. Luckily we’ve got a second cours coming in the fall, so there’s still plenty of time to turn Chise’s experience at magic college into another worthwhile entry in this powerful series. Until then, I’ll hang tight to the things this series still does well- its primordial depiction of magic, a wonderful soundtrack, the complexities of Chise and Elias’ relationship, Chise’s continued journey toward understanding and cultivating her self-worth- in hopes the end result will be just as magical as what came before.

Birdie Wing Season 2: 6/10

Is there a point where a series who’s primary appeal is how brazenly over-the-top it goes starts to run out of steam? Believe it or not, being stupid and bonkers is an art unto itself, and it takes real talent to sustain. For every Akiba Maid War that constantly ups the ante until it blows its stack with an absolute barn-burner finale, there are countless Highschool of the Deads that slowly dribble away their incredible manic energy over time, leaving nothing behind but the same tired anime cliches as always. And as much as I enjoyed seeing the rollicking madness of Birdie Wing come to close, I can’t deny that I felt my interest starting to slip as this second and final season went on. It just doesn’t do enough to surpass the bar it set with the insane high-stakes golf mafia death matches in the first season. Which I acknowledge is a high bar to clear, but for all the hilariously overdramatic soap opera twists and sudden power-ups that dominate the matches in this season, it never quite manages to measure up to that wonderful madcap energy that made its first season such a lightning-bolt success. Or, I dunno, maybe they shouldn’t have split up the main goddamn couple for basically the entire season. Especially when the same studio was already doing another, much better handled lesbian separation arc over in G-Witch. Seriously, Sunrise, anything you want to get off your chest? I feel like you might have some issues.

Ranking of Kings: Treasure Chest of Courage: 7.5/10

It feels like we’re heading into a very bizarre trend in side story “season 2″s lately. First Ranking of Kings, Horimiya next season, and the Quintessential Quintuplets somewhere down the line, so many shows are spending entire seasons on side content going through stuff from the source material they either skipped over or rushed through. And I can’t help but worry that sets a bad precedent for anime adaptations; we seriously do not need to legitimize shows hacking their source material to pieces for the sake of modern broadcast standards any more than they already are. On the other hand, though... man, it’s hard to complain when the end result does such a great job living up to its source. The Treasure Chest of Courage is every bit as whimsical, emotional, and gorgeously animated as the first season of Ranking of Kings, all the same heart and imagination in bite-sized pieces exploring the finer details in ways that make you appreciate the base story even more. It even fixes a few of my big issues with the main show’s back half and sets things up for an apparent proper season 2 sometime in the future! We’ll see if Horimiya and Quints can keep up those high standards, but for now, this is an exceptional interquel that’s bound to make you fall in love with one of anime’s best modern fantasy yarns all over again.

The Dangers in My Heart: 7.5/10

If you started watching The Dangers in My Heart only to drop it after the very first scene, I can’t blame you. The prospect of putting up with a school-shooter level misanthropic loner of a protagonist gleefully fantasizing about brutalizing his crush was almost enough to make me nope out right away. But thank god I kept watching, because once you get past that horrifically unrepresentative opening scene, it quickly becomes clear that The Dangers in My Heart is actually a genuinely wonderful little rom-com that fully understands just how much edgelord middle school nonsense is just insecure kids trying to figure out their place in the world. So few rom-coms like this really get the precise blend of hormones, awkwardness, insecurity, and cringe that defines so many middle school foibles, let alone one that understands the interiority of its female characters well enough to make them feel more fleshed out than trophy wives. But this show nails that early adolescent hellscape without ever coming off exploitative of it (well, almost; there are some obnoxious fanservice moments that really didn’t need to exist, thankfully few and far between). And really, who else but the director of the similarly true-to-life Teasing Master Takagi-san could pull that off so well? Just make it through that opening scene and you’ll very quickly find yourself falling for these idiots just like I did.

My Love Story with Yamada-kun at Lv999: 8/10

God, it’s so fucking good to have shoujo rom-coms again. We went through such a drought period where the genre basically faded into nonexistence save for the Fruits Basket remake, but it feels like they’re finally coming back into fashion. And what better way to remind the world how marvelous the world of shoujo romance can be than another collaboration between the studio and director that graced us with the masterpiece My Love Story back in 2015... with another show called My Love Story? You couldn’t ask for a more surefire winning formula, and sure enough My Love Story with Yamada-kun at Lv999 is a delight from start to finish. It’s nominally about failgirl extraordinaire Akane meeting the socially awkward and emotionally distant hot boy Yamada through the RPG they play together, but the game stuff is actually a pretty small part of it. At heart, this show is about the messiness of young adulthood, and the ways people fumble through the highs and lows of coming of age as they develop into fully concrete people. And it captures that chaos with all the sharp, creative direction, thoughtful character writing, and feel-good romantic fireworks you should expect from this creative team. It’s a gut-busting, feel-good, achingly sincere gem of a show, and I recommend it to everyone in need of a little more whimsy in your life.

Skip and Loafer: 8.5/10

It’s absolutely insane to me that the Skip and Loafer manga is published in the same seinen magazine as Vinland Saga, because this is one of the most authentically shoujo teen coming-of-age delights we’ve had in a long time. Small-town girl Mitsumi moves to the big city to excel at a prestigious high school and make her dreams of rebuilding her hometown come true, only to have her perfect plans derailed by the chaos of growing up, from friends to crushes to high school curveballs. It’s so rare for a story to capture adolescence this authentically, the moments both big and small that define our paths toward maturity as we begin to figure out who we want to be. Watching Skip and Loafer made me reflect on my own high school experiences, good and bad alike, and be grateful for all the steps I took that brought me to where I am today. And any show that can get me so introspective about myself is a show worth celebrating. Plus it’s got the legendary Tomoyo Kurosawa in the leading role, and it’s got a prominent adult trans side character (Nao-chan is perfect and needs more screentime in season 2 or I riot), and the OP makes my cheeks hurt from smiling too hard... yeah, PA works has once again knocked it out of the park. Somebody stop them, they’re growing too powerful!

Heavenly Delusion: 8.5/10

To summarize Heavenly Delusion in a single sentence is, I’m afraid, impossible. I could say it’s a post-apocalyptic mystery thriller that feels like the love child of Shinsekai Yori and The Promised Neverland, but that doesn’t quite do it justice. I could say it’s a dizzying double-track story that does a better job than pretty much any other series as letting you pick up clues on your own, but that’s doesn’t tell you enough either. I could say it’s host to one of the most staggering, masterpiece anime productions ever put to television with no shortage of the greatest singular episodes and individual cuts I’ve ever seen, but even that falls short. I could even say it’s a deeply flawed, intensely problematic series that’s trying to unpack so many different ideas about gender and sexuality with no guardrails to keep it from hurtling off track, but even that leaves out so much. Ultimately, though, the only way I can describe Heavenly Delusion is that it is Heavenly Fucking Delusion, and it’s one of the single most mesmerizing anime I’ve ever had the pleasure to watch. It’s a tour-de-force capital-E Event the likes of which we so rarely get nowadays, and if you think you can stomach the dark places it goes in its exploration of humanity’s corrosion and reconstruction, then you absolutely owe it to yourself to give it a watch. Just be aware there’s a content warning for an incredibly upsetting scene of sexual assault near the end, and I mean that seriously. I like to think I’m pretty desensitized and even I felt kind of sick and unclean by the time that scene was over. Watch at your own discretion.

Insomniacs After School: 8.5/10

So fun fact: this is the rare series where I’ve actually read the manga before the anime was even announced! One of my Discord friends introduced me to Insomniacs After School, and despite my normal aversion to manga, I fell helplessly, recklessly head over heels in love with it. And if this adaptation made you feel any inch of that magic, then you owe it to yourself to check out the manga right away. Not just because there’s more story to cover beyond the anime’s admittedly pretty perfect stopping point, but because Lidenfilms’ workmanlike production is only able to capture, like 70% of what makes this series so special. And this stirring tale of two insomniacs learning to navigate the trauma of their sleepless nights together deserves to be experienced at its full, unblemished power. It’s an absolutely wonderful slow-burn romance that captures the nuances of teenage friend groups and coming of age like so few series I’ve consumed, and its portrayal of Nakami and Magari’s growing companionship under the night sky is sure to melt your heart into a sugary-sweet puddle. It’ll make you learn for your lost youth more palpably than any other show you’re likely to watch this year. And even in a season already jammed to the gills with exemplary rom-coms that really, truly get what it means to be a teenager or young adult, this slightly subpar take on the material still stands head and shoulders above them all.

Mobile Suit Gundam: the Witch from Mercury Season 2: 9/10

Be honest: did any other show even have a shot? For all the wonderfully realistic rom-coms and ambitious seinen mindfucks this season gave us, there was only ever one true contender to the throne. And I’m thrilled to say that after a fantastic first season putting all the pieces in perfect order, Gundam: Witch From Mercury stuck the landing with a riveting second season that smashed the game board and sent everything spiraling out of control in the best way possible. It’s like Ichiro Ookuchi took all the right lessons from his work on Code Geass- a seamless blend of high school melodrama and gut-wrenching mecha warfare, dizzying plotting that leaves you gasping for breath at the end of every episode, a sheer unrivaled confidence in the chaos of love and war- and refined them to a razor’s edge, delivering a never-ending roller coaster of jaw-dropping battles, explosive emotional payoffs, stunning twists that all make sense in retrospect, tears, laughter, hard choices, flawed characters overcoming their weaknesses, and a true coronation of Suletta and Miroine as one of the all-time great anime yuri couples. At times you can’t help but wish for more time to explore the many worldbuilding details and side characters that fall by the wayside as the chaos takes hold; two cours just isn’t enough to do justice to all the complex, interconnecting ideas this series is juggling. But the fact it works as well as it does, and bring it all home for such a satisfying finale, is proof of just how damn miraculous this series has been from start to finish. I couldn’t ask for a more perfect introduction to this storied franchise, and I couldn’t be more excited to see what this creative team will come up with next. And if you somehow haven’t gotten around to watching it yet? Fix that as soon as possible. You won’t regret it for a second.

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embossross · 1 year ago

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2023 in anime

i give ratings out of 10 stars based on a rubric that considers the following:

2 points / ambition of what the anime is trying to achieve 3 points / effectiveness of the anime in achieving its aims 4 points / my personal, subjective enjoyment 1 point / pacing +1/-1 miscellaneous

so with that said… ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ (2 anime)

revolutionary girl utena – heavy breathing panting crying what a fucking roller coaster nanami the child you are anty the child you were utena the child you choose to be – just one of the true masterpieces of all anime. took a few episodes to realize that this show understood tone and comedy perfectly and wasn’t just a wonky children’s show and by golly! the nanami in season 3 gutted me unlike anything else

attack on titan: final season (for real this time) – decent conclusion to maybe my favorite anime of all time

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ (10 anime)

school rumble – so goddamn funny and i cared about every goddamn character. it’s witchcraft!

trigun – good ole saturday morning cartoons

golden kamuy s3 – how does it keep getting better???!?!

fruits basket – i was a certified hater after s1, but slowly but surely i gave into the melodrama. akito and shigure were EVERYTHING

nana – the most disappointing ending of all time! for one of the greatest anime of all time. manga pls save me!!!

rascal does not dream of bunny girl senpai – i’m embarrassed. i cried.

princess tutu – expressionistic, dedicated to storytelling, tremendously kind-hearted. you have to let it move you

blue lock – i’m officially a sports anime girlie

cyberpunk: edgerunners – this was just so slick!

chainsaw man – nothing needs to be said here

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ (8 anime)

yamada-kun to lv999 no koi wo suru – adult romance that hasn’t been stripped of all conflict and maintains momentum nearly to the end

oshi no ko – my expectations were non-existent after ep 1 but then it crept up on me. i can’t even fully put my finger on what works so well? but it does! it knows when to take itself seriously and when to be nonsense.

demon slayer s3 – best season of demon slayer to date, i actually cared

durarara!!x2 shou – this is a confession. my inner edgy teen loves durarara. i appreciate huge casts of characters acting in opposition in atmospheric tokyo.

gintama – i finally finished gintama one of my favorites of all time. the end pulls all the threads together but it does so at the expense of the laughs so loses some points

chihayafuru – amazing background anime. just consistently fun and engaging.

perfect blue – i feel stupid and uncultured to not give this a 10

vinland saga – askeladd is so hot wow

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ (7 anime)

buddy daddies – funny and sincere in degrees but a truly annoying little girl character

serial experiments lain – god you’ve gotta appreciate the wild swings creatives were taking in the 90s

durarara!!x2 ten

great teacher onizuka – ugh he’s a creep but also heh he’s funny

trigun stampede – they yassified them!

mob psycho 100 s3 - meandered a bit but the characters are forever favorites

to your eternity – the first 3 arcs are extraordinary. march is one of the great child characters of all time. the end drags.

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ (8 anime)

zom 100 – crazy good first episode that earns its premise and then a slow descent into mediocrity; cool colors though!

terror in resonance – utterly forgettable

dororo – way too long with way too many hit or miss episode arcs

bungou stray dogs s4 – the cracks are showing but the rampo backstory is dope

lycoris recoil – those cute girls shoulda been lesbians

classroom of the elite – is it edgy? yes. are the quotes frustratingly misused? oh yes. is it fun? ugh yeah actually

romantic killer – pretty cute and the edge of danger at the end really sells it

free – solid watch but it left my brain like sand in a sieve

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ (4 anime)

wolf’s rain – what passes as deep when children are your primary audience

hell’s paradise – boring and i liked the manga so.

durarara!!x2 ketsu – the conclusion falls short

land of the lustrous – bold but was too slow for me

⭐⭐⭐⭐ (3 anime)

tomo-chan is a girl! – sometimes funny but the conceit does not justify 13 episodes and it loses steam fast

mushishi – some of the vignettes were beautiful but felt repetitive

bleach: thousand-year blood war – sleek, hype, plagued by all the old bleach problems

no game no life season 1 - confused that this was such a phenomenon when it came out. it’s fine i guess.

⭐⭐⭐ (5 anime)

kamisama kiss – trite imo

given – god save us from anime about perfect people being perfect with each other – but this time set to music!

tokyo revengers s2 – 🤷

natsume’s book of friends – i don’t need vibes this cozy

sasaki to miyano – and i really don’t need vibes this cozy

⭐⭐ (0 anime)

⭐ (0 anime)

& then ongoing shows that i’m not going to rank until i finish them (but actually all are pretty good so far) – skip to loafer, heavenly delusion, spy x family s2, apothecary diaries, jujutsu kaisen s2, frieren: beyond journey’s end, vinland saga s2

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cosmicjoke · 2 years ago

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Once more, a stellar episode of Vinland Saga. Ugh, the parts with Arnheid and Gardar continue to be heartbreaking, especially when you know what’s going to happen.

As usual though, MAPPA’s gettin’ on my last, good nerve by making Thorfinn too tall. I know I keep complaining about it, but it really is annoying. I don’t get what they’re doing here. He’s only a little taller than Lief, but they make him look like he’s a good three or four inches taller. I really do find it distracting, because Thorfinn’s smallness plays a vital role in later encounters that he has and the way certain opponents react to him. The way they’re drawing him doesn’t make it obvious at all that he’s supposed to be exceptionally small and it’s driving me a little crazy. The very way Thorfinn fights, in fact, relies on his smallness, relying on speed. He just looks a little shorter than Einar, who’s supposed to be close to six feet, I think. Thorfinn’s 5′1″. What I don’t get about it either is that in the first season, even at 17, they had no problem making Thorfinn look as short as he is, and we know Thofinn doesn’t grow at all from 17 on. And I feel like at the beginning of this season, he still looked as small as he’s supposed to be. So he should look to be the same height here as he does at the end of season 1, but he looks way, WAY taller. It’s annoying as hell. It’d be like if they suddenly made Levi look as tall as Eren or some shit, after Eren’s growth spurt between season 3 and 4. Don’t get it at all.

Otherwise, really loving the direction, solemnity and drama of the anime, and seeing these scenes come to life. It hits like a freight train, the tragedy of it all, the way it depicts the injustice and cruelty of warfare and slavery.

#Vinland Saga #Thorfinn

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aotopmha · 2 years ago

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I'm finally catching up with the manga for Vinland Saga because the season 2 material overall is just ridiculously solid, but I'm also always sad when a great story defaults to old, uninteresting tropes that I think could fairly easily be avoided.

After episode 18 of season 2 I decided to finally pick up the manga to see what happens next (so spoilers here) – and, yes, as is easy to assume, Arnheid dies.

It "makes sense" that she dies in context, but so few stories seem able to avoid this trope of killing the cool female character to make you sad and the more it is done, the older it gets to me.

And the biggest issue to me here is that I feel like you absolutely could've made the same narrative point without killing her.

As far as I know Ketil and his farm, Einar, Arnheid or almost anyone else in this arc aren't even historical. Thorfinn, Leif and Canute are the only characters to currently have the most historical backing.

Vinland Saga is a hyper-dramatised narrative combining history and the fantastical Icelandic sagas and it usually does a good job balancing the historical and fictional aspects of the setting, but the discussion of "realism" within these types of stories is always interesting to have.

Thorkell can throw Thorfinn against trees and long distances in the air, breaking countless bones and he survives and is fine through so much hurt, yet the story can't bring itself to have Ketil hit Arnheid a few times less or just a little less hard or even have Snake interrupt a few moments earlier, so she could at least recover.

I only made it to her death scene right now and it almost even made me tear up. (I think I probably will cry when it happens in the anime.)

It's a well-written scene in isolation, but there is also an element of strange thematic disconnect to have the characters directly tell you the very solid reasons she could have been kept alive on the narrative level.

She could've found new hope and a new life travelling with Thorfinn and Einar and be one of the women joining them on the ship to their journey to Vinland.

The whole arc was about Thorfinn finding/rediscovering (new) meaning to live, so why couldn't have Arnheid?

It's the first time I've taken issue with the actual writing of the story, which is fairly impressive (took almost 2 whole seasons) – any issues I had prior to this were fairly minor (pacing with Canute's arc, for example), but this really bothered me because the narrative literally kept none of the reasons to write Arnheid out, either.

Her previous husband (and child) already died. Leif gave money for her and aside from that, Ketil seems to be heading to be captured, dead himself or simply surrender to the king and stay where he is.

(We'll see where that goes.)

Einar, Thorfinn and Leif are now free men and have no beef with Canute and even if they were to run into issues with him, Arnheid would have little to do with it.

And even if they all survive and at one point give chase, I think Ketil, Thorgil or Snake could be taken on by Thorfinn and Einar.

My point is, it feels like killing Arnheid was writing a sad scene for the sake of writing a sad scene.

I think tragedy works when it has backing. And I think this has some character backing (her rejoining her husband, additional motivation for Thorfinn and Einar), but I think at this point not much thematic backing or even plot backing.

People often say characters deserve better simply because they like them, but I think Arnheid absolutely not just deserved better because she was a cool character, but because she deserved better writing backing her character.

It's so strangely jarring to me because I think the story has been so good otherwise.

I know at least one other important female character should show up to be a mainstay if the story keeps to history and that character should be there to stay up to the end, but it's also a bummer that the first female character in the story with any depth got such a jarring ending.

I'll hear the story out (I'm currently at chapter 93) because this is still right after Arnheid died, but I really doubt there could be any reason the story could give me that'll make her death feel less like shock value.

#Vinland Saga #Arnheid

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ultraericthered · 11 months ago

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Anime Update V3 3

Vinland Saga S2 - Arnheid went to see her husband in captivity. Wrong move. Gardar used her presence there to lure one of the guards to them and then bite out the guy's throat. No shitting, this was probably the most graphic thing I've seen depicted on this show! He convinces Arnheid to cut the ropes binding him so he can kill all the other guards and make his escape. Back at the farm, a talk between Thorfinn and Einar further establishes Thorfinn's desire to never kill or resort to violence in any conflict ever again, and to find some way of sufficiently and significantly atoning for every life he took, like creating a place where "no one needs a sword." Einar sas that such a place must be beyond man's reach, prompting Thorfinn to finally remember it: Vinland. He needs to go find Vinland!

Hunter x Hunter - After Killua ends up not only sparing Ikalgo but saving him, telling him he's cool and that they might've been friends under better conditions, he goes ahead and becomes the target of two aquatic Chimera Ant siblings (with one of them voiced by LittleKuriboh) as they throw fish darts at a special board that project the darts to skewer different parts of Killua's body, and it really seemed like Killua was a goner for a while, even after he turned the tables and decapitated the twins (which they're still alive after, don't worry!), he's at risk of dying until, wouldn't you know it, Ikalgo comes along to save his life! Some good deeds do get rewarded! The other episode I watched focused largely on Gon's sketchy alliance with Meleoron, who claims he wants to kill Meruem for having killed his father figure, and we see Meruem's off playing games with humanity. And I mean literally, he is challenging humans to different human games after learning the rules in record time, beating them, and killing them. And now he's to play Gungi...against a blind girl??? And the current ED credits suggests this goes somewhere pretty big.

SHUFFLE! - Summer is apparently fast approaching in this anime's world, which seems so foreign to me when we're currently in the midst of a cold winter season. The students all study for their final exams and undertake them, with Sia getting some help from Rin. There's also talk of rainy days and memories of when Sia met Rin.

Fate/Stay Night: Unlimited Blade Works - The grand finale looms ahead, so you know what that means - the Rin/Shirou sex episode!

KonoSuba - This episode just kept changing gears on me, setting itself up to be about Darkness wanting to join Kazuma's party but Kazuma being resistant to her because he can see how masochistic she is and doesn't want another weird girl to put up with, then it centers on Kazuma learning the "Steal" ability from this white haired Yuffie Kisaragi-esque thief girl (and Kazuma can compulsively only swipe panties off from girls because of course he would), and then out of fucking nowhere, flying cabbages start migrating towards the civilization and all warriors are called to fight them so that they can be eaten, complete with casual and silly exposition on this little harvest season from Aqua, and Darkness shielding other knights from the cabbages' blows because she loves getting hit repeatedly. So Kazuma ends up accepting Darkness for a harvest job well done.

Symphogear XV - Episode 2 again does this thing where we're at one point in time but then flash back to what happened to lead up to it, only this time the past timeframe was last episode's present, where at least we're treated to some peak Kirika/Shirabe goodness, and they even manage to get the better of one of their new adversaries. S.O.N.G has taken in the mysterious Annunaki mummy they found in Antarctica, and Fudou is very displeased with his son and his workers as of late. Then Tsubasa and Maria do a joint concert that, as I'd expected, gets attacked by another new enemy and geezus, this psychotic freak actually managed to put Carol to shame in the heinous department, creating several casualties and even butchering an innocent child right in front of Tsubasa. She escapes justice for this and Tsubasa feels like a failure, as though she just lost Kanade all over again. Times are certainly getting bleak!

Eureka Seven - While Holland continues to grapple with his self loathing and how horribly abusive and irresponsible he'd been with Renton, the moment of dread comes when Renton opening up to his new dad Charles and outing himself as Adroc Thurston's child gets Charles to start prying more about the Nirvash and how things were like with Gekko State, and luring Renton right into a military sky assault where he comes clean about him and Ray being mercenaries for the Federation out to destroy Gekko State, and Renton's absolute devastation is itself devastating to watch. He seemed so close to a healthy home environment and a real family he could live peacefully with only to have the illusion broken, which conveys to him that no matter where he goes, warfare and his prior involvement in it will always follow him. Hence the episode's title being "Paradise Lost." Ray and Charles, to their credit, still love Renton like their own child and give him the choice whether or not to leave them. And he does.

Gintama - None this week.

#Anime Update V3 #Anime Update

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focryst · 2 years ago

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15 questions for 15 mutuals

thanks so much jas for tagging me @koshoe <3

are you named after anyone? nope

when was the last time you cried? i cried so much last week wtf. i don't even remember what i watched first, so it was either because of vinland saga s2ep18 (absolutely heartwrenching of an episode) or queer eye s5ep1 :-(

do you have kids? nah

do you use sarcasm a lot? around people i'm close to yup

what sports do you play/have you played? oughhhh gymnastics + i used to do varsity cheer back in uni. now maybe just swimming + occasionally badminton when my friends are up for it

what's the first thing you notice about other people? i know this is such a vague answer, but their vibes, or at least how they carry themselves around me/other people

eye color? brown

scary movies or happy endings? happy endings over scary movies for sure. i like a good horror, but as i grow older and life becomes more taxing (lol), i've also become increasingly drawn towards media that are wholesome and make me feel better ;o;

any special talents? i'm slightly more flexible bc of my sports bg??? does that count LMAO

where were you born? singapore

what are your hobbies? doodling, writing, horror podcasts and uhhh the various ways one can consume media basically. i've also been trying to get back into singing recently!

do you have any pets? no :-( i do want cats though :-(

how tall are you? 164cm (jas wtf same)

fave subject in school? english lit!

dream job? a creative job that actually pays a decent living wage :-)

tagging: @chrisfranklinchow, @inupikoko, @yuujies, @kyaa-a, @jaira, @kimdokjas, @dahliahawthorne, @datesoma, @nekofra, @dietrichs-fanclub, @j0ht0s, @zemoe, @kenmai, @aslaanjade, @balfiere

gonna grab a bunch of really new + really old moots that i see are still sticking around! feel free to do it if you wanna, if not, all's good heh

#tagged #koshoe #bless you fam <3 hope you're having a good day!#also... would 11/10 love to see pics of your doggos if you ever post about them omg... doogo precious!!!

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notathrowawayname · 2 years ago

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Vikings and Short-stacks

So a friend of mine began reading Vinland Saga. I'm an anime only and recently finished season 2, so they quite quickly got past where I'm up to and we talked about it, which led me to figure out why I'm not a big fan of Vinland Saga.

For clarity, I'm not saying I don't like it. I think it does a lot of things well. In particular, I really liked the dynamic between Askeladd and Thorfinn, and the time it takes to really flesh out Ketil for the "there's no such thing as a good/kind slave owner" moment. But all the things I liked just made me more confused why I didn't like it as much as I've seen other people like it. Like, another friend of mine thought it's one of the best stories ever and I just, don't feel like it's anywhere close.

Now I've been part of the weeb community long enough to know that calling any manga or anime someone likes anything less than a masterpiece is asking for a fight. So I'll preface this by saying everything that follows is my own personal opinion:

The conclusion I came to was that Vinland Saga seems to have no narratively distinct style.

The way you tell a story matters just as much as the story you're telling. If I use Last of Us 2 as an example (a game I really enjoyed), I felt like the only thing I would change is the order in which you play Abby and Ellie. If you played as Abby first, you'd only find out why Ellie was hunting her in the middle of the game, which I think would have been a great "oh shit" moment. (obviously it makes sense why they didn't do this. Abby is more aggressive and combat focused than Ellie's survival and stealth style, meaning gameplay gets more intense later in the game, and people probably wouldn't be happy that you couldn't play as either character from the first game until halfway through the game). What information you give the audience and when you give it is important for how they understand the plot, setting and characters, which in turn effects their investment and interest. To paraphrase Idiocracy, it's important to know who's arse it is, and why it's farting.

So writers do a bunch of things like various POVs, timeskips, flashbacks, and just general dialog to keep you engaged and informed. That way you can keep the pace of the story going, whilst still getting the audience to care about these characters and the situations they're in. Shounen does a lot of things that I can't really enjoy anymore (having seen them done to death), but it does this particularly well. Like how in Demon Slayer it weaves the backstory of the Demons into each fight so you don't have to pause any of the balls to the wall action, or how Dr Stone does flashbacks to Senku's dad or him making stuff to save time.

Vinland Saga doesn't do a lot of this at all. It shows a flashback about Thorfinn's dad's past and some setting stuff through Canute, but doesn't focus on those characters at all for anything other than adding to the current reason why Thorfinn's having a bad time. Most of the story follows Thorfinn's POV in pure chronological order, and it does so for a gruelling 48 episodes, approximately 16 hours of content (if you skip OPs and EDs, which you shouldn't, because Vinland Saga has some good ones, like Aimer's Torches).

Because of this chronological order, we basically have Thorfinn in angry revenge mode for 20 odd episodes, and hollow shell of a person for another 12 or so. And from a narrative perspective, both Empty Shell and Edgy McEdgeface are archetypes that can definitely work and can be explored interestingly (as examples, for empty shell there's characters like Anthy from Utena, Shin from 86, and arguably Shinji from NGE; for edgelords there's Guts from Beserk, Emiya Kiritsugu (not Shirou) from Fate/Zero, and Eren from AoT, etc). But the story doesn't explore Thorfinn as a character until like, the episode when he remembers Vinland exists? He's the protagonist and he barely has a personality for 12 hours. Stories like that live and die by the strength of the supporting cast (like Askeladd and Einar) and the intrigue about the world and plot. But the characters, while having some depth, don't have a lot? And they keep getting killed off (RIP Arnheid).

There's an old adage that you should start a story in the middle, because most of the setup and build up is pretty boring for the audience. After 48 episodes, I finally feel like we're at the beginning of Thorfinn's actual story, and tbh, there's not enough to keep me engaged.

TL;DR: Thorfinn's story is told in such an exhaustingly chronological way that I can't stay engaged

Or maybe I just don't like slowburn idk

#vinland saga #thorfinn #last of us 2 #the goddamn wheat saga #why am I referencing idiocracy

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strawsoldier · 1 year ago

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Spring 2023 Anime Round-Up

Lot's of good shows this season; Both sequels and new ones. It's also the first season in a while where I didn't drop any shows. That's more praise than I can give previous seasons to be honest.

Anime of the Season: Vinland Saga Season 2

Drops: N/A

Plans to Watch at a later date: Skip to Loafer

Completed:

Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba Swordsmith Village Arc - (7.5/10)

Despite the still lavish productions, (and a season where I didn't have to listen to Zenitsu's annoying wails) this was a letdown of season. Especially given how The Entertainment District ended off. This arc getting the movie treatment would've benefited it a lot better. Episode 8 was the highlight by a mile.

Ranking of Kings: The Treasure Chest of Courage - (7/10)

Boji and Kage best partners. Not much to say about this season since it was mostly side stories getting animated. Last episode left a lot of excitement for future installments of the series and I hope Wit continues to give it the same love and care.

Vinland Saga Season Two - (10/10)

Calling Vinland Saga S2 a masterpiece of anime would be underselling it greatly. It's been a while since I've seen a cast of well written character go through so much growth and development over an arc. Anything more I could say would just be reiterating what other's have been saying for the past 6 months. Vinland Saga is good y'all.

The Ancient Magus Bride Season 2 - (7/10)

Mahoyome came back with a new director, new studio and many many, many new characters. While there wasn't much plot this season, the world-building and new relationships were explored and developed very well. Good thing the second part of this is already confirmed for later this year, otherwise this score would be a lower. Here's hoping the animation also improves. I know were not at Wit anymore but..

Magical Destroyers - (5/10)

Wathced this because the OP & ED were really good. Turns out it was the only good thing about it.

Also Pink-chan. Pink-chan was good.

Heavenly Delusion - (8/10)

One of the best animated seasonal show's since Mob Psycho. Dystopian settings are some of my favorite in the media so I was always excited to watch this every Saturday. Unfortunately, time and time again, it left me with more questions and rarely gave answers. And the last two episodes were...enough for me to drop this down from a 9 to an 8. Another Spring show with a strong contender for Opening of the Year.

My Love Story with Yamada-kun at Lv999 - (9/10)

I've been craving a good romcom and this one delivered and then some. Morio Asaka is a talented director and his vision and directorial quirks really helped elevate this source material greatly. Akane is a disaster child and I will protect her from any harm (and alcohol). Really considering picking up the manga if a season 2 isn't gonna be announced.

Dead Mount Death Play - (7.5/10)

Narita is back and doing what he does best; Balancing a dozen or so characters in a convoluted plot that revolves around a mysterious prefecture. This time, with a reverse isekai twist involved. Excited for the second cour of this.

Oshi no Ko - (9/10)

I don't know how to describe my feelings on this show other than I loved every bit of it. Very excited for the second season and I hope the returning staff continue what they've been doing so far.

Next arc looks very very fun

MASHLE - (7/10)

The adaption played it very safe and didn't go far beyond what was given to them which- for the most part -worked well enough for them. Obviously not gonna have the same staying power surrounding it like OPM and Black Clover, but it was entertaining and that's good enough.

Jigokuraku - (Hell's Paradise) - 5.5/10

I was very disappointed with this adaption, if the score wasn't an enough of an indicator. MAPPA taking on so much titles is a bit of meme at this point but it sucks that an adaption I was greatly looking forward to came out this chopped and poorly-animated. Kaori Makita is a talented director so it's a shame that she was saddled to a show with an unreasonable deadline and limited staff to help her out. I wanna cope and say s2 will be better but I know better..

Only consolation I have is that this show was sacrificed so JJK and AOT will look good.

Mobile Suit Gundam: The Witch from Mercury S2 - (8/10)

Didn't agree with everything that happened this season. And I think the writers just didn't know what to with Miorine after she was separated from Suletta. That being said, the last few episodes (when they finally did get reunited) were very very good. Also a fantastic finale episode. Glad this was the first Gundam anime I watched to completion. Now I patiently wait for the Sulemio wedding OVA.

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variabels · 1 year ago

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Hi....If you don't mind, can I ask, what are your top 10 (or top 7) favorite media (can be books/ manga/ anime/movies/tv series)? Why do you love them? Sorry if you've answered this question before......Thanks....

In no particular order

Blue Lock (Manga), it’s so silly and unserious with how over the top and occasionally edgy it is but it also unironically has some really good character writing and some amazing character development. Isagi’s easily my favorite protagonist in Shounen, in any other shounen he’d be a villain. A huge shoutout to the Isagi and Kaiser rivalry for being so well written, easily one of the most entertaining rivalries there is. But I also like how the manga does a good job at showing different types of rivalries with the four main rivals, you have the friendly rival (Nagi), classic rival (Barou), out of reach rival (Rin) and mutual obsession rival (Kaiser). It’s also just such a hype manga, I’ve reread it multiple times and I always feel the hype on every reread. The art is also easily the best art in a weekly shounen currently coming out. The anime is good if you don’t care much about the animation quality dropping, I’d say at least the first three episodes are worth checking out before switching to the manga because of how well they set the tone and get you into the series.

Bungou Stray Dogs (Manga), there’s so much to analyze in BSD, when you get deep into BSD, you’re not just getting into BSD, you also end up getting into the light novels, you’re also getting into the authors the characters are based on. The characters have a lot of depth and are very interesting. It also has Fyodor, the most babygirl of babygirls. Not a fan of the anime after having read the manga tho, it has many pacing issues and outright dumbs down and ruins characterizations (Fyodor being the biggest victim of this).

Oshi no Ko (Manga and anime), I already loved the manga and holy shit the anime blew it out of the water. The animation, music and voice acting really liven up the entire experience. I absolutely love the themes explored and seeing the life of idols and actors. Since Oshi no Ko is best experienced completely blind, I’m not gonna say much more. Just know that it easily has the best premiere episode I’ve ever seen in an anime. I’ve also listened to Idol way too many times, I outright know the lyrics of the opening because of how much it played in karaoke. I also really love Ai Hoshino, I’ve ordered so much merch of her and even cosplayed her last week at a con.

Vinland Saga (Anime), character development at its peak. The writing is absolutely top notch. Shout out to Askeladd for being such an amazingly well written character. There’s so much depth to the characters and the fans weren’t lying when they were praising the writing in farmland because Thorfinn’s character development in that arc is one of the most beautiful I’ve ever seen. I’m also a huge fan of the openings, I’ve been listening to them every day. I’ve started buying the manga but I haven’t started reading yet, so I don’t want to include the manga yet.

Kuroko no Basket (Anime), it is so hype, it is so over the top, it’s so stupid, it’s so unrealistic and I absolutely love it. It also has the best female cast in any sports anime I’ve watched, they’re not stuck as just moral support and fanservice, they actually play an active and important role in helping the boys improve. I love the philosophy of the characters and getting to see the point of view of geniuses at the top who all have different perspectives of what it’s like being among the best. Kuroko and Kagami are also one of my fav friendships in anime, they have amazing chemistry and work so well as the main duo. I also love that Kuroko is the protagonist, because from his point of view, it’s not just about winning the tournaments, it’s also being able to save his former teammates from themselves.

House MD (TV series), it’s just so damn entertaining, I usually love doctor shows to have in the bg but House MD is unironically really good. It has genuinely good character writing and characters with a lot of depth. I’m a huge fan of asshole main characters. Hugh Laurie’s performance as House is also amazing, no other actor could pull off the charisma required to make such an asshole so likable. He has amazing chemistry with the other actors which really makes it feel more real despite all the absurdity happening all the time (like how House didn’t get fired on episode 1 is a mystery science can’t answer).

Durarara (Anime), easily has my favorite introduction arc out of any anime, it’s a bit confusing at the start but once you get used to it, it’s amazing. Every character in Durarara is badass and I love their interactions and how they work as an ensemble cast instead of having one main character. The city of Ikebukuro feels so alive thanks to all the personalities living there. Izaya Orihara also absolutely steals every scene he’s in, he is such a little shit and I love him, especially when he interacts with Shizuo. I’ll never forgive Shizaya for permanently damaging my brain into thinking that two guys wanting each other dead is peak romance.

Love Live (Anime), I’m including all the series. Love Live is the only anime to make me feel strong emotions every single episode. It’s just such a feel good show, it makes me so happy. I love all the girls, I wish they were real so they could be my friends. It’s not the most well written franchise but it more than makeups for it with how enjoyable it is. The VAs also do an amazing job bringing the characters to life and are so talented. The music is also really good and there’s such a huge discography that you’re guaranteed to find a few songs you’ll like. My favorite series has to be Sunshine tho, it just holds such a special place in my heart since it was what was coming out when I first got into the franchise and I can’t listen to the first opening or ending without being moved.

Bocchi the rock (Anime), Bocchi is just like me fr. I can relate to her struggles with social anxiety so much, I deadass almost cried in the first episode when I realized I found a character who I could relate to when it came to social anxiety, usually there’s just shy characters in anime which I hate because of how unrelatable they are and just make shyness seem like a cute trait. Like nah man, the interacting with people makes me an awkward mess. BTR uses such creative animation to show what’s going on in Bocchi’s head and while it’s obviously exaggerated, it does genuinely sometimes feel like the world’s about to end when I interact with someone I don’t know. The rest of the cast is also very likable and have great chemistry together. BTR is easily my favorite slice-of-life anime and one of my favorite anime, I highly recommend it even if you’re not a sol fan (I’m not too keen on them personally).

Supernatural (TV series), not gonna explain this one. This is tumblr, you know damn well why this is here.

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originaljiraiyan · 2 years ago

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Vinland Saga Season 2, Episode 11: Norse men don't follow weak men

Vinland Saga Season 2 Episode 11 opens with King Canute training with Wulf. His sister Estrid watches concerned that Wulf will hurt him. Canute manages to dodge Wulf’s attack while wearing heavy armor, impressing the men observing. When Canute gets tired he according to Wulf has a “bad habit of retreating.” Wulf encourages him to keep moving forward to “cut his way through the enemies.” Canute…

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#Anime #Anime and Manga #Anime Recap & Review #Anime Review #is vinland saga season 2 out #Review #Vinland Saga Season 2 Episode 11 #vinland saga season 2 episode 11 manga #vinland saga season 2 release date #vinland saga season 2 review #what episode does vinland saga get good #what will vinland saga season 2 be about

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docholligay · 5 months ago

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So before I get into the things that I actually love about this episode, let's talk about it in really broad strokes, and why I like it so much.

This episode could very easily be summed up as, “Thorfinn hallucinates vividly in a field for hours.” Nothing happens that moves the ball of the story forward, it’s all internal.

I know nowadays we’ve moved to audiences preferring episodes to always be moving the plot, and never sitting with a character and thinking about everything that they’re doing, but I think that’s a misstep, because, I think even a very good plot can feel unconvincing if you don’t offer a light into the characters’ thought process. This can be really difficult to do in TV, because, by and large, we don’t have a lot of opportunities to see into their heads and get a handle on how they think, in the way that a book allows for much more fluidly.

So, what we’re seeing here in Vinland Saga isn’t something I see a lot of. I could see a criticism of this show, for taking a pause in the story to illuminate some of the nightmares we’ve heard Thorfinn having, that we can only guess at.

Vinland Saga is a strange anime because both seasons are very good, but they are fundamentally different stories. Season one is about revenge, and what that means as a driving force for a life, and what it makes you into, and how if you build your life around exactly one thing, it’s very easy for a life to fall apart. It is violent and fast paced and I’m not sure predictable is the word I’m reaching for, but I’ve read stories like it. Season two is a little more unusual, because it’s about what it takes to overceom a life of violence and bad choices, and how to rebuild to the man you might want to be when you have nothing and are nothing. What does it mean to choose peace, and when will your pacifism cost you--Thorfinn is one of the very few pacifist characters I respect.

So that leads us to this moment. We HAVE to get a handle on everything that Thorfinn is internally building on in order to truly appreciate the man that he’s become, and there’s just not a great way to do that while we’re disconnected from him. I love this episode.I wish more shows had the courage to do this kind of thing, which is daring because it can come off hokey if it’s not well-written, if it doesn’t feel fully realized. It can just get really “spooky mormon hell dream” and that’s not what we’re going for.

Out of masny good episodes of Vinland Saga, I picked this one, because I think it’s my favorite, and it’s definitely something I don’t see a lot of in the anime I’m exposed to.

#Doc watches Vinland Saga #Vinland Saga S2 E9

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itoendme · 2 years ago

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comparing vinland saga to everything under the sun bc my brain refuses to think about anything else pt i dont even know anymore

Some obvious parallels can be drawn between Vinland Saga and the 2004 anime Black Cat, a show that has similar themes about the futility of violence and revenge. I watched black cat a long time ago, but, when I was thinking about the parallels, I rewatched the first couple of episodes to refresh my memory.

To put it rather bluntly, black cat was trying to be what vinland saga is. When I put aside all the nostalgia I have for it, it kind of falls flat. while i think thorfinn is one of the best and most complex characters in all of anime, train (aside from having a very stupid name) sort of fails as a character because his development doesn’t make sense. let me explain.

thorfinn and train both lose parents at a young age, and are raised in an environment that causes them to become desensitized to violence. however, while thorfinn is forced to leave the battlefield when he is sold into slavery, train chooses to leave his life if violence behind him… except he doesn’t really. train gives up his weapon in an attempt to force the option of killing out of his life, but fails spectacularly as he gets it back only like a day later, and continues to find ways to justify hurting and killing people.

the main difference between thorfinn and train is that, while thorfinn is tormented by his past and the guilt he feels for sacrificing other people’s lives for his own personal goals, train looks towards the future and honestly seems to feel no remorse for all the lives he has taken. everything train does is for his own personal gain, yet it is portrayed by the series as a redemption. Thorfinn’s development is prompted by the events of the story, and it is only after he is off the battlefield that he is able to look at it from a new perspective. In train’s case, he chooses to leave chronos of his own accord, after saya prompts him to think about how he wants to move forward with his life. However, train’s desire to change his lifestyle at this point in the story is curious, as he continues to live as a sweeper with no qualms, and he even goes on to kill multiple people after this ‘revelation’ that killing people isn’t good. Like they try to make out that he’s had character growth when he hasn’t really grown at all. Being able to choose who he thinks it’s okay to kill instead of killing whoever he’s told doesn’t really make him a better person. Honestly it makes me sad because he had potential to be a good character. He had the potential to be thorfinn, but he just fell so, so flat.

i dont want to talk too much about world building because obviously vinland saga is set in the real world and black cat is set in a fictional one, but the politics in the black cat universe just make zero sense. chronos makes no sense as an organization. how do they have so much money when all they really do is kill people without even collecting a bounty? they own the economy but somehow no one knows anything about it? they run the world and are above the government but there’s only one location? no international branches or anything? we need better world building PLEASE

sorry had to rant there. moving on, i want to talk about more character parallels because askeladd and creed serve a similar purpose in their respective stories. They both kill someone close to the main character, leading the main characters to seek revenge. However, there is one glaring difference: the fact that thorfinn is clearly more obsessed with askeladd than askeladd is with him. while askeladd sees thorfinn as sort of wasted potential compared to thors and just uses him as a tool to do his dirty work because he can, creed is /obsessed/ with train. its no question that creed is more obsessed with train than train is with him, which is a little weird, because creed literally killed train’s kind-of-girlfriend, and train sort of seems to forget about it for long periods of time and only seems to care when he’s reminded of the evdntd or when creed is right in front of him, whereas the only reason creed has to be obsessed with train is that he’s good at killing people. (sorry that was a crazy run-on sentence but this is my self-indulgent tumblr blog, not a literary journal.) thorfinn and askeladd’s relationship makes sense because the characters emotions align with their actions. thorfinn is angry because askeladd took the thing he loved most in the world, his father, away from him, and he dedicates his life to killing askeladd because he isn’t ready to let go of thors. askeladd shows admiration for thors, and when he sees thorfinn walk willingly into the environment thors died to keep him away from, he is disappointed with thorfinn, and decides to use thorfinns hatred for him to his own advantage, because he knows thorfinn wont give up. this relationship between them develops gradually in the eleven years they spend together until it gets to the point where thorfinn admits that he no longer hates askeladd, and askeladd, on his deathbed, actively encourages thorfinn to do something more productive with his life. In contrast, the relationship between train and creed doesn’t delelop at all, and, as i previously mentioned, they way they feel about each other doesn’t particularly align with the actual events of the story. the power dynamics are also insanely different. askeladd undoubtedly holds power over thorfinn, using thorfinn’s own motivation against him. askeladd is so good at manipulating thorfinn that, no matter how strong thorfinn got, he was never able to defeat askeladd in a fight. contrarily, in black cat, train holds power over creed. creed basically spends the entire series simping for train, and train continually refuses to give him the time of day, despite the fact that (and i need to reiterate this) CREED KILLED HIS GIRLFRIEND. train should not be the one with power in this relationship. if he truly hated creed, creed would be able to use that against him, giving him the upper hand. Thorfinn’s character development is gradual and clearly shown, whereas train’s priorities sort of just change on a whim. He doesn’t really develop he just suddenly changes with no real indication, or there’s an implication of ‘the character development happened during a time skip’ which vinland saga also does, but, in vinland saga, the motivation for change is clear and believable. train is an enigma, and not in a good way. He doesn’t make sense. He had the potential to be interesting but then his entire character went to shit because the writers failed to develop him properly. maybe it would have been better if it weere a longer show and there was more time to explain the development. i also know that the manga is slightly different, but i haven’t read it, so maybe everything makes more sense in that, but the anime feels like a half-assed attempt at a complex show.

honestly a lot of the time i shy away from media with ‘good messages’ because it can often feel preachy. and in truth, vinland saga can get a bit preachy sometimes, especially in the vinland colonization arc. what i like so much about vinland saga is not the messages it conveys, but how it conveys them. i think vinland saga is good because there’s a compelling storyline with complex and well-developed characters which it uses to convey its themes. in black cat, the characters and the word are severely underdeveloped, which makes the story fail to convey anything. as a disclaimer, i didnt intend to hate on black cat so much when i started thinking about this, i just got really heated. this was supposed to be an analysis of why vinland saga works so well, but I guess im just a hater at heart.

in any case, just another unhinged rant for the books.

#i would say i need to get a life but the truth is i have better things to be doing and i just choose to do this instead cuz im a psycho #vinland saga #thorfinn #askeladd #not gonna tag this with black cat bc i feel bad for being such a hater its not even that vad tbh

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