Vinland Saga

[Frontier]

I just want to say how impressed I've been by Shizuka Ishigami as Young Thorfinn. She's really delivered on all his major emotional beats and have captured his development from wide-eyed child to stone-cold revenge-driven killer quite well. It's almost going to be hard for me to hear someone else as Thorfinn .

Now we see what it takes to turn a child into a killer. Thors would be so disappointed with what Thorfinn has become, least of all of Thorfinn throwing his lot in with the vikings who got him killed all to get his revenge. Like, what did Thors even die to protect him from in the first place .

So not even their fellow Danes respect the vikings, although while what they do is fairly barbaric, it's pretty much what the Dane's expect them to do .

I have to respect that woman's intentions and ideals even if in acting on them she doomed her own village .

[Kanon]

The anime adaptation has done a good job filling the gaps in Thorfinn's backstory. He's definitely made the wrong choice choosing revenge over going back to his village, but you have to command him for his tenacity. Most kids would have never made it this far.

As for the second half of the ep, most anime would have had Thorfinn try to abort the raid or plead for the woman and her daughter to be spared, but nope. He only went as far as trying to give her a head start by telling her to run before he gave the signal, an advice the poor woman didn't folllow. He's willing to do anything to get the opportunity to kill Askeladd in a duel.

[kari-no-sugata II]

Originally Posted by Blaat

First half of the episode was anime original but second half was adapting a manga chapter.

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Episode 7 preview video

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Teen Thorfinn is here, this is going to be good.

Chapter 1 incoming!

I like the way the anime is slowly setting the scene and longer term developments. You can see that the other mercenaries are somewhat looking out for Thorfinn but that he doesn't notice this at all.

[Wandering Soul]

It would break Thors's heart to see what Thorfinn has grown into. Yeah, he's a badass now, but he has fully embraced the very lifestyle that Thors wanted him to stay away from.

Poor Old Woman. She was just extending a kind hand to a boy in need, but her good deed got her home pillaged.

[Applehell]

Show continues to be very good. It's shame that Thorfinn is essentially walking down the same his father did, but circumstances being and such strong emotional attachment made this impossible for it go any other way. Had Leif found him before this happened things might have been different, but whelp.

[Panzercracker]

The anime is not bad, but not as good as manga. The battle become some thing like generic low budget anime. The warrior fighting is pretty chaotic, in episode 6, both sides fighting in style of dueling with distancs 10m per pairs,and chainmail in the anime as if they're just a layer of cloth, they don't even have better render with ring pattens.

[Arya]

Well, young Thorfinn lasted less than I feared, well done
Anyways, considering the tragedies his growth is studded with he got lucky to find a (grieving) mother that cared more for her dead son than her living daughter (letting aside her country).
About his path I'd say like father, like son after all.

[Kanon]

Originally Posted by Arya

Well, young Thorfinn lasted less than I feared, well done
Anyways, considering the tragedies his growth is studded with he got lucky to find a (grieving) mother that cared more for her dead son than her living daughter (letting aside her country).
About his path I'd say like father, like son after all.

I don't think it's fair to say she cared more about her dead son than her living daughter. She was just very naive and saw Thorfinn as just a kid, which he isn't anymore. He's a child soldier. She definitely saw her own kid in him, but regardless, people would be reluctant to hand over a kid knowing he'd be killed for sure. Thorfinn acted obediently too, which comforted her in her feeling.

[Arya]

Originally Posted by Kanon

I don't think it's fair to say she cared more about her dead son than her living daughter. She was just very naive and saw Thorfinn as just a kid, which he isn't anymore. He's a child soldier. She definitely saw her own kid in him, but regardless, people would be reluctant to hand over a kid knowing he'd be killed for sure. Thorfinn acted obediently too, which comforted her in her feeling.

Naive you say, I don't know. I saw a woman having a well defined idea of the political situation they were living, of the political actions of his king and consequences, to be well aware of the imminent danger that was coming. She also was aware the kid was a viking, also knowing he killed two soldiers, she knew enough to find odd for a kid to be a pirate at that age. If I'd call her naive it would be probably for not expecting things to escalate so quickly and so close to be caught in it doing what she was doing. But that a bit too much of assumption on my part, but it crossed my mind.
In any event the moment Thorfinn ran away she called him John, sign she was blinded by her sorrow. That's why I read her actions that way, it makes sense from a narrative perspective too, I took it as a way to "justify" her behaviour in a war context in that period of time, around 1000 d.c. where morals were surely far less defined than these days and where very likely a male child was valued more than a female one.

[Blaat]

You can tell by this episode that the early chapters were released in shounen magazine. Particular the Frankish general Jabbathe design feels out of place and there's Thorfinn doing a Naruto run.

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Episode 8 preview video

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[Kanon]

We've finally reached the first chapter. I was underwhelmed, but maybe it was because I already knew the content. The one scene from Thorfinn's POV was cool, I guess.

[Wandering Soul]

General Toad feels very out of place in a series like this. The Naruto run felt out of place too, especially when the OP shows a more natural run.

[Nivek von Beldo]

yEAH Thanks the info, the dissonace explain this...let me guess the duel will be moved back till chapter 12?

[grecefar]

teen thorfinn is so edgy, is so funny how askeladd is trolling him.

[Guardian Enzo]

Glad I wasn't the only one who found the frog general discordant and the overall tone kind of jarring after the prequel episodes.

[Kanon]

Another thing that makes this episode weaker is that everything it established in the manga has already been established in the anime. We already know Thorfinn's whole backstory, we know Askeladd's guys are tough dudes, we know Askeladd is sneaky, etc... It adds nothing because of the reordering.

[kari-no-sugata II]

Originally Posted by Kanon

Another thing that makes this episode weaker is that everything it established in the manga has already been established in the anime. We already know Thorfinn's whole backstory, we know Askeladd's guys are tough dudes, we know Askeladd is sneaky, etc... It adds nothing because of the reordering.

True though it does establish how Thorfinnn has grown (or maybe I should say, "changed"?). But think of the previous episode as being the end of the "first arc" and this being the first episode in the "second arc" - probably works better that way.

[Chosen_Hero]

That Naruto run made me lose all respect I had for this show, let's see if it can build it back up from here onwards. Also, I will agree that the weird frog dude was very out of place.

[Wandering Soul]

Originally Posted by Chosen_Hero

That Naruto run made me lose all respect I had for this show,

In addition to trying to get a duel out of Askeladd, Thorfinn is also training for the upcoming Area 51 raid.

[Arya]

Definitely the frog captain felt jarring, lucky of me I'm not familiar enough with naruto to connect Thorfinn run to it. On the other hand the vessels jumping down the falls didn't sound very realistic
So Thorfinn is still fully stuck with his revenge duel with Askeladd, I kinda hope he will discover the truth behind his father dead before it happens, even only because I suppose it would mean end of games for Askeladd that I like.