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A pacifist trying to live in the violence of the dark ages is a potentially interesting premise, but would only work if it honestly explored the realistic consequences it would have. Sadly, the mangaka twists the universe to ensure those morals (which he surely holds himself) always result in good outcomes, no matter how absurdly unrealistic that is. Violence at the time was often a matter of survival, but it presented as a choice you can easily renounce.

Medieval slavery is rarely portrayed in media so it was potentially interesting but failed. Their master treats them so well that they barely seem like slaves. Slavery ... under a kind master is under explored and the show does a better job at covering that, though it's apparent need to push modern morality undermines it. Actions like beating thieves, that are kinder than what 90% of those in the era would do, are presented as abhor ant because moderns would see it that way.

While Christian symbolism is over-used, the show never discusses the relationship of Christianity and pacifism. That many Christians at the time preached pacifism makes it less anachronistic, but also makes the unrealistic portrayal more disappointing.

Thorthin becoming a contemplative character after the events of season one is a major shift and I wish we had seen it on screen, but he goes from "Sasuke to Jesus" off screen between seasons. Cnute's story would be good if only because it more tied down to real history, if only he didn't barely resemble the guy we saw in season 1 due to all his off-screen development; he makes some incredibly irrational decisions seemingly just to enable the show's morals. The new deuteroganist Einar is incredibly annoying, despite being a slave he never acts like it but is somehow never really punished for this. The female love interest is a Mary sue whose backstory is another way for the writer to force his morals. Admittedly, the slave owner is well written, probably because the show allows his actions to have realistic outcomes as it doesn't support his morals; even when his arc is clearly a tool to force the show's morals I don't mind it, if the other characters were allowed to face consequences I would prefer the show.

While I don't find it as boring as many reviewers do, the major tonal shift from an action shoenen in the first series to a slow slice-of-life is bound to put off a lot of fans of the former, it is reasonable for them to be annoyed at such a drastic change.

The production values are impeccable, though the imagery is "on the nose" at times and often lingers longer than it needs to. I loved the show when I first saw it, largely because of the music and visuals,and the potentially interesting premise, but the longer I reflect on it the less I like it, due to how unrealistic the consequences of everyone's actions are to enable the story'd themes.

Most dis-likable female lead in anime? She objects to the protagonist using violence, ever. Even to save people's lives. It's an absurd extreme of pacifism that i expected her to grow out of by the end of the story, but it seems the story is actually pushing that. She even gets mad at him for ARM WRESTLING
The romance with her is insanely rushed and i have no clue wtf the protagonist sees in her.
Production values suck, fights are barely ever on screen, they cut away and do action sounds.

Thankfully there is a secondary love interest who is, while generic, much ... better (yeah a love triangle improves this, albeit one that resolves rather fast). The various little plot threads manage to tie together in the end in a satisfying if somewhat forced way. I was originally a lot harsher on it but the way the seemingly unrelated elements earlier tie together later redeems it somewhat.

Despite loving the show, I disliked the movie. Not unexpected as the dramatic tone is completely different to the show's comedy.
I like that it shows how much Beldandy grew over the course of the show, by early on giving her amnesia and reverting her to how she was in episode 1. Sadly this is only explored for about 15 minutes before epic shoenen battles take over.
My main problem is that we're not given enough reason to want the villain to stop; they wanted a sympathetic villain but forgot to explain why he's a villain. We're shown the problem he wants to solve, but ... only told "his methods are bad" without any details on WHY they'd be bad much less seeing the harm they might cause, our heroes fight him without much reason. The story ends by handwaving away the problems the villain says he wants to solve, but the problems still exist. There's a secondary antagonist with a vague backstory but they're bland and don't really do much. It seems like a rehash of the season 1 climax in parts except the villain's "sympathetic" nature makes things overly complicated for no reason.

A bunch of stuff like a big race is set up early in the movie but all that gets forgotten when the shoenen battle starts, it goes nowhere so seems pointless.

Also as a nitpick, I'm not a fan of the redesigns of some characters like Keiichi's silly hairdo