(L) Vinland Saga

[Amarantine]

The author has actually shared his planned length for the arc on twitter. Here's a translation of his tweet that he has actually retweeted:

Vinland Saga is roughly divided into four arcs. Three arcs so far: war arc, slave arc, East expedition arc. The author is currently working on the last arc. The last arc would probably have over 1000 pages and about 50 chapters. The series will end in few years.

So yeah, seems it will be about as long as the other arcs, meaning we should still have 4 or 5 years of Vinland Saga left.

It would be nice if the chapters went back to their original length typical of a monthly series, since they've been getting progressively shorter and the last few ones have been closer to a weekly series' length, but of course I understand if Yukimura wants to take it easier too (or maybe working with the anime staff has kept him busier and he'll have more time when that's over? Who knows).

[Kanon]

It's good to have a better estimate. Thanks.

And like you said, I really hope this arc will be a return to form because the latest one definitely was the weakest for me as well.

[dragon1412]

agree, to be fair, Slave arc already have it issues, but nothing so glaring until later half and when it moving to the current arc, I no longer keep track of it for quite a while already. Hoping the last arc is epic enough got me to back

[Kanon]

Thorfinn is still heavily tormented by his past, but at least he has Gudrid to support him. I don't think he'll ever be able to rid himself of the guilt.

[Amarantine]

That was probably the first time I've felt truly excited by a new Vinland Saga chapter since Thorfinn channeled Askeladd in his fight with Garm. It's great that Thorfinn's character is being further developed again, and him still being tormented by guilt for his years of wanton killing makes perfect sense and was illustrated really well by Yukimura (the whole chapter was beautifully drawn, really).

It also makes perfect sense that a cynical guy like Bug Eyes wouldn't really be up for such an adventurous endeavor, but since Yukimura went out of his way to introduce him, I doubt he would now have him be totally absent from the final arc like that. Something will probably end up changing his mind, likely something to do with Leif.

And it's nice that Gudrid is supporting Thorfinn but I still wish she had more character traits other than liking him. Anyway, from the stuff with Bug Eyes in this chapter, I imagine this arc will really develop the newer characters, which is good, because they could really use some fleshing out.

[Kanon]

Spoiler for 168:

Who the fuck? Thorkell's son?

I'm also curious about the guy with the tattoo that was introduced. I'm guessing he's going to challenge the "wuss" Thorfinn and get his ass handed to him.

[Amarantine]

The two new characters have rather... striking designs. I would say they almost look out of place in Vinland Saga, but then again we had Ymir in the previous arc, so clearly anything goes now. Sure would have been weird as hell to see characters like these in the Prologue though.

And if that character at the end really is Thorkell's offspring, I would rather they had just confirmed Garm was Thorfkell's son (as was speculated) and had him join this arc somehow. Well, maybe he will eventually, who knows.

[Kanon]

Originally Posted by Amarantine

And if that character at the end really is Thorkell's offspring, I would rather they had just confirmed Garm was Thorfkell's son (as was speculated) and had him join this arc somehow. Well, maybe he will eventually, who knows.

I'd rather have Garm remain wherever he is. And I wasn't aware some people thought he was Thorkell's son, is there any basis for that besides the both of them sharing a love for battle?

[Amarantine]

Originally Posted by Kanon

I'd rather have Garm remain wherever he is. And I wasn't aware some people thought he was Thorkell's son, is there any basis for that besides the both of them sharing a love for battle?

I know he's not a very popular character, but if he's just written off the story now, it would make the Baltic Sea arc feel like more of a waste to me...

And well, Asgeir himself speculated Garm might be Thorkell's bastard son when the two of them fought:

Spoiler:

Could've just been for comic relief, but you never know.

[Kanon]

I thought it was a joke, but even if it's true, the only way for it to be confirmed is through the author's mouth.

[Kanon]

Spoiler for 169:

So he is Thorkell's son. I loved how Ylva was completely against Thorfinn taking him after hearing he was Half-dan's slave and then changed her mind and started bawling her eyes out after hearing his backstory. It's not going to happen but I wish she'd join her brother on his journey too.

[Wandering Soul]

Pretty fitting that Thorkell is portrayed as this giant storm like monster.

[Amarantine]

And once again our heroes have to confront Halfdan to settle a problem. Feels like that's been happening a lot lately. And I definitely see Thorfinn once again channeling his father and buying Halfdan's slave from him like Thors did in the beginning of the story.

I do hope the situation is settled next chapter though. I wouldn't want the trip to Vinland to be postponed for much longer. I felt like Yukimura had skipped Greece because he was anxious to get to the trip, so this kind of subplot in Iceland feels a bit like stalling. Well, I guess the point is to have Cordelia join the crew, I just hope it doesn't take too long for that to happen.

[Kanon]

Originally Posted by Amarantine

And once again our heroes have to confront Halfdan to settle a problem. Feels like that's been happening a lot lately. And I definitely see Thorfinn once again channeling his father and buying Halfdan's slave from him like Thors did in the beginning of the story.

I was thinking the same. It's definitely a call-back to what happened in Thorfinn's childhood. I'm also having mixed feelings about the possibility of another conflict with Halfdan, they ended things nicely previously.

[Kanon]

I'm no farmer, but I don't think two cows are worth 80 sheep.

Thorfinn handled the issue nicely, and it was good to see him looking so happy at the end.

[Amarantine]

Glad they managed to seemingly settle that problem in this chapter, with some nice callbacks to Farmland arc to boot. Despite his nightmares still being a thing, this is probably the happiest we've seen Thorfinn. Things have been going well for him lately, so it's no wonder. But I'm curious how things will go when they finally start the trip to Vinland (and eventually get there). That's probably still a long way off though, considering how short the chapters have become for a monthly manga (20 pages this time). But hey, at least it's still regularly released in a monthly fashion, so it's still better off than other long-running manga.

[Wandering Soul]

It was nice to see them using their past experience farming to settle the issue. It was especially nice to see Thorfinn be so happy.

[Kanon]

Originally Posted by Amarantine

Glad they managed to seemingly settle that problem in this chapter, with some nice callbacks to Farmland arc to boot. Despite his nightmares still being a thing, this is probably the happiest we've seen Thorfinn. Things have been going well for him lately, so it's no wonder. But I'm curious how things will go when they finally start the trip to Vinland (and eventually get there). That's probably still a long way off though, considering how short the chapters have become for a monthly manga (20 pages this time). But hey, at least it's still regularly released in a monthly fashion, so it's still better off than other long-running manga.

We already have a rough idea how the trip to Vinland will go according to history, but I'm not sure Yukimura will stick with it. It's not like he hasn't taken a ton of liberty before.

[Amarantine]

Yeah, and based on what I've read of the history (won't get into it here because spoilers) I think there's potential for a pretty interesting story, so that makes me all the more curious about how Yukimura will handle it and how faithful he'll be to the historical events. But it'll probably take a while still before we find out.

[Kanon]

New chapter out.

Mostly about Hild. Or rather, mostly about other people, most notably Gudrid, talking about Hild. She seems to be getting along well with the group but her attitude toward Thorfinn hasn't changed. Still watching him like a hawk.