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*NO SPOILERS*

Vinland Saga is an anime I didn't expect to like as much as I did. It started off well, but I had already seen many forms of media that were set in this time period. Therefore I wasn't as curious about this anime as some of my friends who may be new to the whole British vs Danes/Vikings feud. The thing is, Vinland Saga is so much more than a period piece. This anime is build on its characters and their motivations. It will give you some awesome fights to enjoy, but the story is what will keep you hooked. The show knows how ... to represent things like political drama and battle tactics in a way that is clear and easy to understand. That's where this show shines, yes there are awesome scenes that can be very gory. However, its everything that is happening around them or leading up to them that you'll love. Every important character is unique and all their motivations are so different. Some can be selfish and some can be selfish, yet all of their decisions affect each other in some way. They can motivate an other character to get stronger, change a characters perspective, or help a character achieve greater political power.

I'll go into a brief discussion of all of MALs review categories below:

1. Story:

The story is much more than you would expect. Its starts of as Thorfinns (MC) search to become the true warrior his father described. This story line remains throughout. However, as more characters are introduced more story lines are added. Such as who will be the king/leader of the Dane and how it will be achieved? Where is Vinland and how will we get there? How can the world be a better place and what sacrifices need to be made to achieve it? How do you define right or wrong and good or evil? These are all questions the characters must face throughout the show.

2. Art/Sound

The animation is very detailed/crisp and drawn in a way that makes these characters feel real. The sound is appropriate for the era and aligns with Norse themes.

3. Characters

As I've already stated many time the Characters are what make this show so good. I will highlight a few.

Thorfinn: The young boy who we watch grow from innocent happy child to fierce warrior tempered by pain and anger.

Thors: Thorfinns father, possibly the greatest warrior who ever lived. However, even though he could kill anyone with ease at some point he realized that is not what defines a true warrior.

Askeladd: A mighty warrior and even better tactician. In my opinion, the best character in the show. He pushes the narative and has a deep and fulfilling story arc.

Some other characters to look out for are Canute and Thorkell.

Enjoyment:

Clearly I loved this anime, but can't really go into the details without spoilers. I love it for its exhilarating battles, its political drama, and its characters.


Finally I gave this anime a 10/10. I have given out 10s that could arguably be 9s, but this is a solid 10 without a doubt. One of the best anime's I've seen in a while. Wouldn't be surprised if once it gets a few seasons under its belt it is regarded as one of the best.

Before I start this review anybody who hasn't seen DB or DBZ this anime might not be as entertaining as DBZ since the cool down periods between fights and the character arcs built over the years play a greater role in DBS than they did in DBZ.

This anime is the continuation of the granddaddy of all shonen. My ratting for this anime is higher than DBZ, but don't misunderstand. I still personally love DBZ more and I believe that the fights in DBZ remain more epic than those in DBS. A side note, you should watch the BOG and ROF films ... instead of the first 25 or so episodes of the anime. The main reason this anime gets a 9 and can possibly even drop down to an 8 is because of these first few episodes. They rehash the 2 films previously mentioned into the anime and on top of that there were certain scenes where the art was horrendous. The films are top quality and you can get more out of the films in a short amount of time. Everything past those episodes is 9-10 if you are a DB/DBZ fan and something between a 7-10 if you are a casual shonen anime fan.

First lets start with the story. The story of DBS is an improvement upon that of its predecessors. In DB Goku did have some goals like collecting the dragon balls and winning the world martial arts tournaments, but in DBZ it was mostly Goku fighting the next strongest fighter that came along (although I do think the Sayain/Freeza arcs had a good narrative). In DBS the story is mostly about Goku and Vegeta reaching the level of the Gods in terms of power. The story is driven by the mystery about all the other universes outside of the one we have know throughout this franchises history.

The art, other than the early episodes of the anime are top notch. Its fun to see characters from an old anime in such high quality. The art and animation is especially great when the big climactic fights are happening. Overall great art and animation expected from todays anime.

The sound is great, character themes always suit the action especially the super saiyan blue theme which always raises the intensity. There are alot of callback to old DBZ themes including the classic DBZ opening theme as background music.

The characters in super are the old characters we know and love. The great thing about super is all of the main cast get their chance to shine. One thing that was lacking in DBZ was that all our favorite characters from DB where pushed to the wayside in favor of the all powerful saiyan warrior race. Now obviously the saiyans are still more important than the rest of the cast but the spotlight is not as fixated on the saiyans especially in Gokus case. Goku shares the spotlight with Vegeta as main characters of this anime which adds a little diversity in terms of who gets more action. All the history these characters have built over time comes into play in this anime and as a longtime fan its great to see. Theres a moment between Master Roshi and his students that tugs at the heart strings. They really take advantage of the longtime fans that have special attachments to these characters. They also introduce great new characters like Chompa, Hit, Caulifla, Goku Black,Zamasu and Cabba. All of which are very appealing for the small amount of time we get to spend with them. Also new additions to the main cast like Jacco, Beerus and Whis are intergrated very well and you will grow to like them as much as the old characters.

Obviously I enjoyed this anime very much. I believe if you consider yourself a fan of the dragon ball franchise this anime is a must watch. If you've never watched any dragon ball before I believe you should watch at least DBZ before jumping into this anime. Major improvements to this anime compare to its predecessors are the pacing (Which is shocking because Toei is the anime studio). One major issue with DBZ is the pacing which is not a problem in DBS. Where as in DBZ some major arcs could last 30+ episodes the new major arcs in this anime like the Universe 6 arc and the Goku Black arc are max 15 episodes so all the action and story comes fast. The treatment of the characters as previously mention is much better in DBS and the character development is more spread out. As a longtime fan certain things might bother you like how new characters can achieve legendary old techniques from the past series. This anime is also a great mix of DB and DBZ. It contains the comedy from DB with the cataclysmic fights from DBZ. The comedy is great, I've laughed out loud watching this anime more than any other anime I've ever seen. The fights are still amazing with most major contest being equivalent to those of DBZ. Although, I still think the action in DBZ was better so far...

In conclusion, I definitely think this is a special anime for fans of the franchise and is worthy of a 9-10 rating for those fans. Obviously if you have never liked the franchise the chances of you liking this anime are very slim, unless the improved comedy sways you.

*NO SPOILERS*

Bleach had great potential, but became annoying with poor character development and random powers.

Bleach has one of my favorite concepts ever. The Soul Society is awesome and the Gotei 13 are probably the best part of the show. They are squads composed of a multitude of Shinigami(Soul Reapers) and the show focuses more on the Captains and Lieutenants of those squads that are the most interesting characters in the show. Although, their could have been less squads(like 6) with less members in them(like 5) to have a more focused cast of characters that get more development. Hollows are also very interesting, they are souls ... that have either decide to let themselves be taken by evil or have been capture by other hollows. The basic concept is that the Soul Society dispatches Soul Reapers to purify the souls of hollows to let them live in the Seretei(basically heaven) unless they were evil while human( then they go to hell). The Soul Reapers use their swords called Zampakuto, that have 2 transformations to purify hollows.

The story of Bleach is ok, it is basically a regular shounen protagonist (Serious while fighting and Over powered) vs a traitorous, power hungry, intellectual villain.

Bleach biggest problems are its disrespect of its own power level system, its useless side characters, its horrible explanations for certain powers and its fillers..

Bleach doesn't make sense when it comes to power levels, a character can be defeated by an opponent, and then can defeat someone that utterly destroyed that opponent without training or power ups. I don't know how to describe it without spoilers but the power level system is non existent and it is really aggravating to not see that system in place. Ichigo, the main character, will discover some new ability to beat his opponent that is portrayed as being way more powerful than Ichigo, this will happen multiple times. Ichigo is easily defeated by the main antagonist(villain), that same villain levels up 5 times and is defeated by Ichigo who trained for 3 months. What? at least don't make the villain level up 5 times so it makes more sense.

The side characters in bleach are useless. The Captains and Lieutenants aren't, but Ichigo's friends are. First off, Orehime Inoue, F**K is this character annoying. Shes is the typical damsel in distress, she is hot, she tries to be extra cute and she has stupid powers that have no explanation(Maybe Fullbringer). Orehime's only use is healing Ichigo so he can get back into a fight. Chad has *MINOR SPOILER* Fullbringer powers, these are probably the stupidest powers in the Bleach universe. Fullbringer is the abillity to control the souls found inside objects. WTF!! an object has a soul? I guess it does in the Bleach universe. Uryu Ishida is probably the on except-able friend Ichigo has. Uryu is a Quicy, they are similar to soul reapers, but instead of using a sword they use a bow and arrow. They also kill hollows instead of purifying them. The problem with all three of these characters is they become to weak to participate in battles except Uryu who can still provide support in battle.

Bleach is almost 50% filler. These can be skipped if you binge watch Bleach but on a week to week basis it can be really annoying to have to watch filler almost every other arc.

Although Bleach has a huge list of problems I was still hooked until the last cannon arc because the concept of Bleach was so interesting. The Soul Society and the captains are the main reason I continued to watch the show. The most annoying part of Bleach for me was its lack of explanation and logic for powers, Ichigo's friends that shouldn't have existed, especially Orehime and the fact that the main characters can just come full circle and defeat a character that should be way above them in terms of power.