(CR) Vinland Saga Season 2 [Netflix]

[SeijiSensei]

Second time, right? Expect we'll see him again.

[magnumcyclonex]

This episode imo was great except for one thing...as astute and keen as Snake is, how could he NOT smell any trace of blood from under the old man's bed?

Is the old man just saying he would pass down the farm to Snake in an effort to change him? Perhaps Snake's days as a fighter will simmer down to a life of farm work (even if he openly detests it).

Thorfinn has to come to terms with what he is going up against, internally. We have seen Canute be influenced by his late father, and now it's Askeladd's turn to advise Thorfinn. Don't hesitate is his message.

The stance is something Snake is not used to, having lived a life around swords. Btw, that animation of the sword engraving running up his arm was very cool.

We get one clash and then the credits begin to roll. But seeing next week's preview kind of spoils what is likely to happen which is a bit of a bummer. Anyways, good episode and looking forward to next week.

[Kanon]

Arnheid's crying was some of the best I've heard in anime. Her VA apparently doesn't do much anime work and usually focuses on dubs.

Originally Posted by magnumcyclonex

This episode imo was great except for one thing...as astute and keen as Snake is, how could he NOT smell any trace of blood from under the old man's bed?

What makes this funnier is that Snake has the anime ability to sense other people's presence/hostility, but his sense of smell is apparently lacking.

[Frontier]

Originally Posted by magnumcyclonex

Is the old man just saying he would pass down the farm to Snake in an effort to change him? Perhaps Snake's days as a fighter will simmer down to a life of farm work (even if he openly detests it).

Just imagine when Ketil comes back:

"So, yeah, the old man passed the farm down to me, so I guess you work for me now?"

Originally Posted by Kanon

Arnheid's crying was some of the best I've heard in anime. Her VA apparently doesn't do much anime work and usually focuses on dubs.

And she's been knocking it out of the park for three episodes straight .

[Master_Yoma]

Well round two of Thorfinn vs Snake kind of wondering how Thorfinn will do in the fight since he been out of the game for a long time and Snake is in top form and know how to use that sword

[serenade_beta]

To be honest, I'm surprised Gardar wasn't able to break out of the ropes by himself out of his fury

[TheForsaken]

Originally Posted by magnumcyclonex

This episode imo was great except for one thing...as astute and keen as Snake is, how could he NOT smell any trace of blood from under the old man's bed?

It's an old and sick man's bed. It's probably already very smelly.

Originally Posted by Frontier

Just imagine when Ketil comes back:

"So, yeah, the old man passed the farm down to me, so I guess you work for me now?"

He gave Snake the small piece of land that he personally owns, not the big farm that belongs to Ketil (and is not his to give anyway).

[Mad Pierrot]

Gotta say the art direction from the latest episodes was insane. Maybe that's the award for this season not focusing that much on action.

[Amarantine]

Originally Posted by Kanon

Arnheid's crying was some of the best I've heard in anime. Her VA apparently doesn't do much anime work and usually focuses on dubs.

Yeah, I was struck by this as well. It sounded so real and not at all melodramatic in the way anime crying sometimes is. It's a demanding role and she's knocking it out of the park for sure.

As for Gardar's hiding place, I also found it curious that Thorfinn had to exert his strength to raise the big bed, but Arnheid and the sickly old man apparently managed to do it on their own and drag Gardar's large, unconscious body underneath it. Arnheid must be pretty strong, I suppose, since Sverkel can't even walk anymore and probably wasn't much help.

[TheForsaken]

She could have removed the bed slats one by one instead of lifting the whole bed up.
It doesn't require much strength, but is more time consuming.

[Frontier]

Thorfinn vs Snake! Both are fast-paced fighters with immense skill able to keep each other on their toes and both get in good hits while they're testing each others' mettle, though Snake is still smart enough to move Thorfinn out of the way so he can get close to Gardar's body. Uh oh .

Yeah, Snake and his men are stupid scumbags, but they're each other stupid scumabgs. And if they won't stand up for each other, who will? Not that taking a life in revenge really makes anything better even if you believe a life is worth another life...not that Snake cares as he puts a sword through Gardar .

Of course then that wakes up the sleeping giant and he puts Snake in a chokehold, but Arnheid is there to soothe him and bring him back to some semblance of sanity. And at least if Gardar is a dying man and there chances of escape are nil, at least they can travel the road together one last time with Gardar as himself .

Gardar is on the road to the end, looking back on all the moments of his life, the good, the bad, and all the while recognizing how he never should have left Arnheid and Hjalti. Even to the point of realizing he'd never let his son leave like he did .

At least Gardar died as himself, having one last honest conversation with his wife and dying cradled in her arms...and reunited with Hjalti in the afterlife. In death he was able to come back home and see his son again, while Arnheid is left with her husband's dead body as the guards start encroaching in on her. Not to mention we've got a tied up Thorfinn, Einar, and a pissed off Ketil in the preview. I don't think this poor girls' suffering is over quite yet .

[magnumcyclonex]

Man...the animation was great at times but lazy in others. Like it's only 10-15 feet but they couldn't show Thorfinn's or Hjalti's faces when those two were in the background?

Snake vs Thorfinn was great. Both were curious of the other's past, skillsets, and reason for being on the farm in their respective roles.

Snake dealt the final blow to Garder, but not before being chokeheld by him. Old man lets Arnheid and Garder ride off, despite the wound not being treated (was it just too late, or could Arnheid have done something more?). Either way, she accepted fate and Thorfinn could only let them go.

Just as we get the beautiful piano accompanying Garder's memories/life, we see Arnheid's rain of tears and the lovely smile Hjalti makes when his dad returns home.

Ah...that final scene, they couldn't close out the episode without having 4 horsemen encroach upon the grieving Arnheid.

Next week's preview...Thorfinn is tied up?!

[Kanon]

That was one of the most drawn out death scene I've seen in anime. Probably didn't help that I don't care about Gardar.

Originally Posted by magnumcyclonex

Snake dealt the final blow to Garder, but not before being chokeheld by him. Old man lets Arnheid and Garder ride off, despite the wound not being treated (was it just too late, or could Arnheid have done something more?). Either way, she accepted fate and Thorfinn could only let them go.

There's a shot showing Snake pierced Gardar's body through. Probably got one of his lungs, nothing to be done about that.

[Frontier]

Originally Posted by Kanon

That was one of the most drawn out death scene I've seen in anime. Probably didn't help that I don't care about Gardar.

I don't know if I liked him but I really felt for his situation, what he went through, and his own realization of the mistakes of his actions...but mostly I just felt bad for Arnheid.

[Master_Yoma]

Got to hand it to Gardar just how tough he have to be to hang on with all those life threatening wounds

[serenade_beta]

If you told me they would waste a whole half episode on Gardar's death before I watched it, I wouldn't have believed you
...But they did. Holy crap. The entire Gardar arc was drawn out, but his death goes into the cringey level of drawing stuff out

I just so don't care about this guy.

[Mad Pierrot]

Seems the anime added extra flashbacks for Gardar similar to Einar when the season started. Wonder if Snake will have

The preview... I'm not ready for this

[Kanon]

Originally Posted by Frontier

I don't know if I liked him but I really felt for his situation, what he went through, and his own realization of the mistakes of his actions...but mostly I just felt bad for Arnheid.

Arnheid is definitely a character I feel horrible for, but the anime made it mostly about Gardar. It's not supposed to be about him.

Originally Posted by Mad Pierrot

Seems the anime added extra flashbacks for Gardar similar to Einar when the season started. Wonder if Snake will have

The preview... I'm not ready for this

I checked the manga and the entire part with Gardar dying on the cart lasted exactly 5 pages. All the self-introspection, flashbacks, and afterlife stuff was anime original. And this time I could definitely tell something was off. No other character in the entire series got such a long send off.

The director already apologized about failing to include Snake's backstory in the anime, so we won't get it. At the time I thought "he has nothing to apologize for, he's doing a great job"; but after seeing this episode I feel those 15 minutes spent on Gardar should have been used on Snake instead.

[Frontier]

Originally Posted by Kanon

Arnheid is definitely a character I feel horrible for, but the anime made it mostly about Gardar. It's not supposed to be about him.

I checked the manga and the entire part with Gardar dying on the cart lasted exactly 5 pages. All the self-introspection, flashbacks, and afterlife stuff was anime original. And this time I could definitely tell something was off. No other character in the entire series got such a long send off.

The director already apologized about failing to include Snake's backstory in the anime, so we won't get it. At the time I thought "he has nothing to apologize for, he's doing a great job"; but after seeing this episode I feel those 15 minutes spent on Gardar should have been used on Snake instead.

I don't think it was 100% about him, we saw how much pain Arnheid was going through seeing him go through this and their last ride together as husband and wife, and I feel like the reflection on his life and his mistakes captured a lot about the main themes about this story and the real tragedy of the situation.

[serenade_beta]

Meh, most of my sympathy for Arnheid slipped away thanks to her husband.
I rolled my eyes when Snake was choking and she was like, I'm gonna take a million years to stand up and say something