I’m in a strange position with Vinland Saga this week. It’s the first time this season (at least that I can remember) that an episode hasn’t sat well with me. Not all of it, by any means – the stuff with Olmar was fantastic. But the Thorfinn thread leaves a bad taste in my mouth. And since that was the last part of the episode, it’s the impression that lingers the strongest. When a series has set as ridiculously high a standard as Vinland has this season, even the smallest off note sounds pretty discordant. It’s another of those first-world problems I talked about last week – the worst episode of this show would be the best of almost any other.
The aftermath of the “battle” is playing out more or less as you’d expect. What’s left of Ketil’s forces is decimated and mostly in various states of dismemberment or impending death. Floki’s Jomsvikings want to pillage and rape; Canute does his usual hollow moralizing and forbids it. He has a solid practical reason of course – he aims to steal the farm lock, stock, and barrel, and the more intact the better. One senses that Floki is always one step from openly defying the king – he makes little attempt to hide his disdain for him.
On the other side, Thorgill is preaching the gospel of fighting on – he swears he can take the king’s head with 20 men, but what he’s really looking for is a glorious death. Snake continues to profess unending loyalty – if the master refuses to surrender, he’ll keep fighting. But Ketil is too far gone to give any orders, and Sverkel – who proves himself to be thoroughly in command of his faculties – reminds Thorgill that Olmar is the master’s designated successor. Thorgill (and his mother) don’t expect this to be much of a problem, but they’re in for quite a surprise.
This is by far the strongest part of the episode, almost as good as anything VS has thrown at us in this stellar season. In truth you could sense that Yukimura has been building towards this for a while with Olmar, but this failure of a man is the one who steps up in the most crucial moment and shows some common sense. He calls out the lie of Thorgill’s obsession with honor and a noble death. It’s bullshit, it’s always been bullshit, and though in his world that makes Olmar a coward, maybe it takes a coward to see through the absurdity of it all. And it certainly took courage to – at last – defy Thorgill and call for an end to all of it.
Sverkel sums it up best – Ketil lost his farm, but in exchange his son became a man. What that means in context is hard to say. Thorgill predictably goes rogue, though now Snake has license to stand down and without him and his men, all Thorgill is now is a terrorist. The bigger issue is what this means for Thorfinn, whose entire reason for going to see Canute is now kind of out the window. He doesn’t know that, of course. And Einar, who has real honor and not the kind Thorgill yaps about, rouses himself from his grief and goes to try and save his friend from himself.
The issue for me starts with not really buying into Thorfinn’s decision last week in the first place. I don’t think he owes Ketil this. I certainly don’t think he owes Ketil getting punched 100 times when Canute – even after hearing his name – declines to see him. Thorfinn trying to do whatever he could to save lives for the sake of it, I can sort of buy. But repaying the kindness of his owner is a stretch. Frankly the only ones worth a shit in that family are Sverkel and Pater (who’s not even related and may be dead) – and Olmar at least redeemed himself a little here. Ketil, his wife, and eldest son can get bent. The sooner this “fight” with Thorfinn and Drott is over the better because the whole thing is a miss for me, and the reunion with Canute is what I really want to see.
Raikou
May 30, 2023 at 8:43 pmYou know, after all 21 episodes I’m really glad to see Olmar seeing the bigger picture and matured. He’s young and amateur, but he is worthy of being the successor of the farm.
Snake : “I won’t laugh.”
So do I, Snake.
TriHard
May 30, 2023 at 9:32 pmYes I also felt weird about that one , and it’s also not in the manga. Some stuff has been rearranged here and the timing of Thorfinn’s and Einar’s talk in the end of the episode has changed along with a bit of extra motivation for Thorfinn that hasn’t been stated in the anime yet. But before they reach Canute’s thegns they have a similar discussion to this here. And the exact dialogue is:
Einar: Ketil killed Arnheid , he deserves to have his head loped of by king Canute
Thorfinn in the next page: Fine. Forget the master. Do you intend to leave unpaid debts you owe the old master and Pater? (and there’s no context of him talking about helping Ketil before in there btw)
Thorfinn is not immune to emotions like anger , I don’t think even he would talk about Ketil like that. And I also don’t think Thorfinn would be blind enough to claim Ketil accepted him and treated him with kindness , ignoring the obvious context behind that , it’s weirder the more I think about it. I think the anime only stuff (along with decisions to change / cut /rearrange) is very hit or miss (from an adaptation perspective). It usually feels fitting because vinland has a very clear and poignant vision , so it kind of sets them up for success. You just take a sentiment or idea from somewhere else in the series and you apply it to somewhere else that’s sort of relevant. But sometimes they miss the meanings of certain scenes , they ignore some context , and you end up with either some awkward stuff like this , some repetitiveness in the themes , or just skipping some cool stuff in the anime. Anyway , if it makes it any better just think of it as him doing it for Sverkel and Pater (who is the one in real danger here as he has to fight).
Eugene T.
May 30, 2023 at 9:57 pmYeah, I definitely much prefer how the manga did this. The anime appears to be playing for hystrionics and drama at the expense of the story’s integrity, like with Einar moping while Thorfinn dips on his own instead of just having a sensible conversation then agreeing to follow him as a friend.
Repaying Ketil really has nothing to do with Thorfinn’s motivations in the manga which are much more complicated.
TriHard
May 30, 2023 at 10:09 pmThe reason for the changes also have to do with the pacing and how they have to allocate resources , this arc in the anime has to stall a lot as it’s only 6+ volumes , 4 episodes are too much for the remaining volume , they need more content. So it makes sense for them to cut a bit out of 20 and add it later to the episode Kobayashi is going to be storyboarding since also it’s a major moment and they want it to have the good treatment. It also allows them to change the connective tissue and have it be whatever size they need it to be. Honestly out of all the restructurings this one bothers me the least , they didn’t need to add that Ketil bit and Thorfinn’s motivations in the anime don’t have to be different , just not yet directly stated.
But pretty much every other major restructuring , beginning and ending of S1 , and also the untangling of the Gardar and Canute plot threads are a downgrade to me , cause they’re made less exciting and also at time lose some substance.
Eugene T.
May 30, 2023 at 10:28 pmYeah, the rearranging of the Canute and Gardar plotlines was also rather strange. Einar’s character being made generally more impulsive and overdramatic over the course of the season has been hit or miss also.
I think revealing Thorfinn’s motivations for going back only after the whole affair is said and done just doesn’t make alot of sense.
Yeah, Yabuta’s changes generally extract maximum drama at the expense of substance. The source material is not lacking in emotion and drama though and more than ofren speaks for itself without needing to do so, so this usually ends up being entirely uneccessary if not overboard.
Eugene T.
May 30, 2023 at 9:46 pm“Frankly the only ones worth a shit in that family are Sverkel and Pater”
In the manga, Thorfinn actually does tell Einar that even though they don’t owe Ketil anything they still do have to repay Pater and Sverkel.
I’m unsure why they cut that out, along with a large chunk of content detailing Thorfinn’s motivations here that go beyond repaying the farm (his conversation with Einar pretty much includes your gripes).
In general the alterations and sequence changes Yukimura have made to this last stretch of the season- as with the changes he made to the last stretch of the previous one- haven’t sat well with me.
Eugene T.
May 30, 2023 at 10:03 pm*Yabuta, not Yukimura obvs
Guardian Enzo
May 30, 2023 at 10:45 pmOK, so it does sound like the anime screwed the pooch on this one. So credit to Yukimura for not dropping the ball here with Thorfinn, though it’s the anime I’m writing about so that’s what I gotta go on.
Stewart
May 31, 2023 at 8:01 amI’ve either liked or been at least ok with all the anime changes so far but Thorfinn wanting to repay Ketil ” kindest” left a bit of a bad taste in my mouth( the scenes of early slave failing at house work was sort of amusing though). Thorfinn is a pacifist who wants to have no enemies but in the manga he’s definitely capable of showing distaste for some people.
Kurik
June 1, 2023 at 4:24 pmHonestly, as a anime only fan…I took it as thorfinn repaying the kindness to Pater and Sverkel and not Ketil. Will have to watch again but my brain just processed that moment that way. Especially via the flashbacks so I am not that bothered. 100 punches is bit much though.
DP
June 5, 2023 at 9:36 amThe “100 punches” thing just struck me as stupid (yes, I am no longer human; concussion cannot harm me) and/or torture porn. Is this thing going to turn into the anime equivalent of The Passion of the Christ with Thorfin as the constantly suffering Jesus with ever-more violence heaped on him?
Odd factoid: The bronze statues of Thorfinn located in Iceland and Pennsylvania were sculpted (c. 1920) by a modern Icelandic artist named Einar…
Guardian Enzo
June 5, 2023 at 1:40 pmWow, seriously?
DP
June 7, 2023 at 12:09 pmYeah, Einar Jonnson. Given that Einar (the character) is “made up”, and the amount of research done by the manga-ka, I think it’s very likely that this is a tip-of-the-hat to the modern sculptor! The statue (located next to a cinema in Iceland): https://virgoharbor.files.wordpress.com/2011/06/reykjavik-6-20-11-22.jpg
Guardian Enzo
June 7, 2023 at 12:13 pmYeah, Yukimura is a research freak. Almost obsessive by the sound of it.