on vinland saga (its banger OPs and relativity to berserk)

(i cant find anywhere to fit this in the actual post body i cannot believe how hard every vinland saga opening has banged visually and music-wise. survive said the prophet going to heaven for these compositions and every animator who worked on them deserves a pay raise and union protections)

as far as the series goes, it is classic seinen shit in the best way ever. this, to me, genuinely makes up for not having a good berserk adaptation to watch.

the prologue (season 1) is excellent as far as action and building the whole narrative setup, but season 2 has been fucking incredible. its such a breath of fresh air after reading so much shonen shit! genuinely gorgeous and carefully paced metaphors, exploration of real trauma, thoughtful portrayals of slavery and war even in historical contexts...

the author better be proud of themself. i understand why its compared so much to berserk; im sure if you've read berserk, youd be raising an eyebrow from that last paragraph. though berserk is WAY less blunt about its antiwar stuff. berserk focuses more on its world and characters since its a fantasy and i think that earned the enormous attention it receives.

but Vinland Saga is historical fiction, so it has the luxury to avoid getting too much into specifics in world building and is able to focus far more on exploring the consequences of the things that happen and the psychological impact they have on the characters instead. and i think that really works to the series benefit.

it has a way more intensely personal feel about it, especially with certain more hypothetical scenes during the farm arc that serve to visualize and demonstrate thorfinn's trauma in a way more impactul metaphorical form than berserk was able to exercise until the fantasia arc when casca's memories and mental state are visualized.

anyways, this show is good and i will 100% be picking up the manga as soon as season 2. highly recommend.

season 1 is 8.5/10, season 2 is 10/10