This review contains spoilers!!!!
Oyasumi punpun is one of those manga i hesitated a lot before deciding to finally finish up as the first 15 chapters gave me the feeling this manga has good chances to be a complete failure. The reason behind this is the huge amount of nihilistic and pessimistic elements Ino Asano was putting in almost every page and the random use of symbolism and escapism. I usualy don't have problems with the use of such elements in the story, nihilism is an important theme in '' monster'' and escapism is present in ''vinland saga'' and i have both of them in my
...
top 5. But to have every character drawn in a creepy way, all time doing weird and random stuff isn't a good way to portray a meaningless world especialy since the manga is meant to be a realistic depiction of life. Using random symbolism so often doesn't make the story any deep, and continuously making references to escapism doesnt count as a valid critisism. So the result after 15 chapters is that i was unable to say what oyasumi punpun is about, and i couldn't understand how Ino Asano's mind was working. I literally felt it was the work of a drunk person drawing random shit and writing whatever comes to his mind. So i was intending to drop this manga as i felt i have no connection to it. But the high rate was bothering me and i thought maybe i was missing the point of the series, maybe there is a meaning to what i couldn't understand, maybe the story is yet to be explored and maybe the the mangaka will explain why is he using all theses nihilistic elements and escapism references. So what has changed now that i have finished the manga???
Well, i was simply disapointed. The story was still the same, just random events and non connected arcs. I did like some parts of the manga where the writing was good, for example, yuuichi's arc was good in terms of characterisation and character development, but his story didn't have any impact whatsoever on the other characters. It was an isolated story that didn't give any addition to the plot. And the same thing can be said about the other stories. Seki and shimizu had their own story, punpun and aiko had their separate adventure, punpun and sachi's relationship didn't impact the others, punpun and yuuichi, punpun and his father, punpun and his mother... And of course the cult has his own story. All the stories were disconected or at the best have very limited links. This may be done deliberatly by the mangaka to portray some kind of distancing in japan's society, but this can't reflect the reality as it is unimaginable that all these characters stories aren't connected while punpun is almost every time a part of a relationship. The consequence of this choice is that there was no real plot going on, and the current events are independant of prior ones, and so it's easy to forget what happened in the previous part especialy with a terrible monotony in the rythme which i'll discuss in the next paragraph.
The rythme of this series is one of its biggest issues. You barely notice that there is something progressing, it' s not due to a slow pacing , but rather to a terrible monotony in the writing. The rythme is the same almost throughout the whole series that you can't tell where is the buildup and where is the climax. This again might be intentional, in order to describe the boring life of japan, but to maintain this rythme the whole time was exhausting. Worst than this, the monotony isn't only concerning the rythme, but also what happening to the characters: the same idea is always being repeated, two characters will end up having sex after a random succession of events. It is as if the mangaka doesn't have any other ideas to progress the story other than relying on sexual desir. We've seen this over and over that it became predictible even in the most hopless situations.
The characters in this manga are a bunch of mentaly sick people. Every character is a psychopath or at least having something wrong with his mind. There is literally no sane character that could be described as a normal person, even midori who seemed like a normal sane girl ended up unjustifiably riding punpun's dick when he was still in high school.
This weird way of portraying the characters made it impossible for the me to understand any of them. You can't know what a character could be thinking or what he will do except that he or she could at any moment be having sex with someone. This will lead me to talk about what drives these characters and to what extent the managka explained that.
Well, Asano Ino never explained what truely drives the characters and what pushes them to take an act, all he has done is describing what they were doing or showing their weird psyche reaction especialy in punpun's case. But what he was showing was hardly realistic as he usualy uses some meaningless symbolism that he never tried to explain. So the result was that the characters felt unrealistic although they are meant to reflect what society is like.
Now talking about the themes of oyasumi punpun, Asano Ino should be praised for tackling some topics concidered as taboos. He really had the guts to talk about sex, crime, suicide, marginalization, bullying.... But the major themes of his manga was the boredom and meaninglessness of human life. But how did he approach these topics??
What the mangaka did is describing a society where theses themes are presents: throughout all this work he addopted a descriptive method to talk about social and psychological problems without reaching their depth, i mean without talking about the causes of these problems and trying to find some solutions. This descriptive method is reflected by his work art, the way he draws the panels is similar to camera shots, as if he was taking photos from real life. The art style is simply amazing, obviously the best part of the series, but even this best part has problems related to the story telling and the descriptive method i've just talked about : eventhough the art is gorgeous, it wasn't a backup to the story, as the sceneries were often independent to the dialogues. There was also an overuse of pannels describing the space that were irrelevant to what is happening.
So, going back to the descriptive approach, Asano Ino managed to describe a world of complete boredom, a world where there is only suffering and depression, but he stopped here, he didn't analyse what causes this suffering and how can human beings potentially overcome this situation. No, actually he did give an answer to the second part of this problematic (the solution part) : his answer is there is no solution, people can't escape the boredom of life, they can only live in suffering or depression. But how did he come to this conclusion?? Well simply he didn't come to any conclusion as this was the hypothesis that constructed the manga, it's a conviction that he forced into the story, the same way he forced the idea that '' god doesn't exist'' without saying why or how he or his characters figured it out. He also forced the idea that escapism is bad, without even trying to explain why. Asano Ino' s nihilistic view of the world was forced upon the reader without even tackling the philosophical problematic of the meaninglessness of life. maybe he thought that describing a society where the characters either suffer or escape the suffering by believing in gods or any other potential existence, is sufficient to demonstrate that life is meaningless, but he was completely wrong as his proof is the thesis itself.
I'm not against the idea that life could really be meaningless, or that what is left for humanity is either suffering or boredom, but what pissed me off is the abscence of any type of argumentation to proove this idea. Philosophers have already discussed this topic and those who agreed on this idea have some solid arguments. But the mangaka never tried to explain this. So the result was that what all the manga was about is describing a distopian society that doesn't reflect the real life, because in reality there are some people who live in happiness, because events are not only the result of coincidences as Asano is trying to portray. Escapism isn't necessarily bad because it can lead to a better life or to happiness even if it's just an illusion. The problem with this manga is that it was a one sided aproach, you can't talk about suffering without talking about happiness, you can't portray a world of complete depression neglecting the possiblity that some one is living in happiness.
The last thing i will discuss in this review before the conclusion is the ending. OMG this was one of the worst ends i've ever seen. From the moment punpun and aiko killed aiko's mother, the manga went downhill. That scene were they killed the woman was one of the worst plot twists i've witnessed, it was random, meaningless and forced. The writer was so desprate to make the characters fall into depression that he started forcing meaningless twists with no sense of realism: first punpun fixed the injury of aiko who has been stabbed by her mother, then we are going to ignore punpun's stabbed leg, aiko randomly gouged out punpun's left eye because he only needs one eye to see only her, they randomly had sex in the woods while the police is looking for them as if their survival doesn't matter... And then randomly aiko committed suicide while just before she said she doesnt want to die. This sequence of events is the most laughable and stupid one i've ever seen, and to finish the shit the last chapter will be about a character irrelevant to the plot, a charcter you haven't seen since more than 50 chapters, and the idea of this final chapter is that all that awaits humanity is depression, as if it's new in the manga!!! the writer symbolically ended up the manga with a scene similar to that '' love at first sight scene'' in the begining of the series, implicitly meaning that there will be the same mistakes, and that humanity couldn't escape her fate. This ending was is an insult to anyone who values himself as person who thinks, if the mangaka was planning this end from the begining then he didn't need 147 chapter to come to this bullshit, 40 chapters will be sufficient to force upon the reader his pessimistic view of the world, and to be honest chapter 70 is the summary of all this manga and would be enough to convey Asano's messages, he really didn't need all those characters in the story and he could have writen the cult's ridiculous story in a one shot.
All in all, oyasumi punpun was a failure for me, a failure because it could have been handled better, a failure because it had a lot of potentiel to be great. There was some moments i really liked, there was some really good parts especialyYuiichi's arc, there was a character called Sachi that had potentiel to be a great character, but the mangaka didn't know how to end her story. The art work was amazing, but overall this wasn't an enjoyable read except from some parts, as all it lefts you with is a meaninglessness depression. There is no depth or substance to the story whatsoever as it only describes the dystopian situation of total depression. I read manga an watch anime to learn something new, to see a better world and to have great moments including sad an depressing moments, but this manga didn't help me discover anything new in life, as it's a 147 chapters description of Schopenhauer's pessimisme, if only it had a philosophical approach, my normal and ordinary life is way better than the life Asano Ino portrayed in his work, i can't recall it had some great moments that left me impressed, there wasn't not even what can be called sad moments as it was depression all the time. i couldn't understand the characters and thus couldn't connect with them and finally i didn't feel bad for those who died. However, i do understand the popularity of this series and i even can accept its high rate because there is a lot of people who can relate to this manga, and to be honest this is the type of manga that can only be good if you are able to relate to it. So for those who can connect with such kind of manga, this can be a fantastic read for them. For those who have experienced so much depression and live in a negative atmosphere, Oyasumi punpun can be a mirror to their life and thus they can find is great, but for those who value their existence and lives, for those who seek enjoyment and knowledge from reading manga, this is not a work i would recommend, because it won't add anything good to your life except that it will remind you, ironicly, to value more your existence.
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Jan 6, 2021
Oyasumi Punpun
(Manga)
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This review contains spoilers!!!!
Oyasumi punpun is one of those manga i hesitated a lot before deciding to finally finish up as the first 15 chapters gave me the feeling this manga has good chances to be a complete failure. The reason behind this is the huge amount of nihilistic and pessimistic elements Ino Asano was putting in almost every page and the random use of symbolism and escapism. I usualy don't have problems with the use of such elements in the story, nihilism is an important theme in '' monster'' and escapism is present in ''vinland saga'' and i have both of them in my ...
Reviewer’s Rating: 6
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Jan 6, 2021 Recommended
this review contains two parts: the first one with no spoilers and the second with potentiel spoilers.
Without spoilers : If you have had enough of the usual shounen action anime, if you are seeking something different from what you usually watch, if you like atmospheric shows with supernatural elements, then mushishi may be the anime you are looking for. However, if you can't enjoy slow paced stories, with no action nor hype elements, if the word "boring" is what you use to describe what you call bad anime, if you can't handle episodic shows, then please don't even try to watch this anime, it's not for ... you. Mushishi is about exploring some weird creatures called "mushi", a kind of living beings that are not humans nor animals, beings that are responsible for weird phenomenon that can't be explained by the laws we know. The main character is called Ginko, he is a person who spends all his time traveling in order to unravel the mystery of the mushi and eventually help people whose lives are threatened by these creatures. People like Ginko are called mushishi, thus the title of the show. This is a unique tale of nature and life, a tale of hope and despair, a story about the meaning of one's existence, a show that tackles human problems in an original approach, with supernatural elements and mystery all along the journey. It has great world building, touching stories, sometimes sad, sometimes happy, amazing backgrounds and good animation, relaxing ost that fit perfectly the atmosphere and the themes of the show. Because it's episodic, the rule of 3 episodes is applicable. If after 3 episodes you don't connect with the themes of the show just drop it, it won't get different after. With potential spoilers: In this part i will talk about what makes this show great in my opinion, and the problems i found when i was watching. Let's start with the good elements: 1) the best thing in Mushishi in my opinion is the atmosphere. This show is mainly atmospheric to the extent that you feel transported to a mystic world while watching. It's like meditating and diving into your soul. This effect is the result of the the themes of the show, the manifestations of the mushi in particular and the great work the studio did with the visuals, ost and sound design. 2) when the anime lacks action and the other hype elements that attract the mass, the writer should compensate it with some great story telling, world building, dialogues and character development. In my opinion mushishi succeeded greatly in the 3 first elements, the character development isn't bad, but there is nothing impressive about it to be honest : story telling and dialogues : in every episode, there is a new story that is told so perfectly by a lot of techniques including back stories and the use of a narrator. The dialogues are well done, they serve the story and are useful for giving info about the world and showing the characters feelings and way of thinking . - worldbuilding and mystery : because it deals with creatures that exist only in this show, mushishi did a great job overall building its world, the creator gave a lot of time to show the behavior of the mushi, their interaction with nature, their positive or negative impact on humans and the particularities of each mushi. The mystery is also done well almost in every episode, the nature of the mushi and the lack of knowledge people have on them created a lot of mystery that add the tension to the stories. However, some episodes were confusing as hell, because there wasn't enough info to understand the mushi. I will talk about this later. 3) the themes: this is another strong point of mushishi. The anime deals with numerous themes that are related to nature, human society and life problems. The way this show tackles theses subjects with supernatural elements (the mushi) is simply amazing. It makes the watcher think of life in a way he never experienced before. Mushishi talks about the meaning of life, the well being of people and where they belong, how some people overcome their past and what hinders their evolution, how some people get stuck in their painful situations and never manage to reach happiness, how the good and the bad are not easy to define and how life can be either simple or difficult depending on how you view things. 4) the work of the studio: to be honest the quality of the visuals really shocked me, i still can't believe this anime was created back in 2005. The details in the backgrounds and the fluid animation are to praise, this anime is simply visually stunning when it comes to these points. The character design is however not that good, as a lot of characters look very similar and their expressions are not very detailed. The ost is amazing, the man who did the ost of the original naruto is the one who composed mushishi, he nailed the mystic and the historical vibes, his music was so relaxing a fitting the atmosphere. The sound design is one of the best i've seen in anime, the sound of animals, the rustling of plants, the sound of wind, the footsteps, the breathing... Every sound is done perfectly and with a lot of care. Now, let's talk about some problems i think this show has and somethings i wish they did but they didn't do: 1) going back to the worldbuilding and the mystery, some episodes were confusing due to the lack of info about the mushi and especially due to the absence of laws that can be applied to the world of mushi: in fact there is no specific laws that are applied to all the mushi that show their limtits, the only law we know is that they seek well being just like humans. I really wish they had constructed the world of mushi with laws so that the watcher don't get confused at some points, and to limit the plot conveniences that could occur. For example, in ep 19, ginko gave the unseen girl some medicine and people started to see her, we don't know why the medicine caused that effect as we don't know the limits of the that mushi, and thus it felt convenient. Another thing that bothered me is who can see the mushi, they never said what does it take to see the mushi, why some people see them while others not. I think they could have done better with these details. 2) a lot of the stories are forgettable although they leave you with a strong feeling or impression. I think this is due to episodic formula of the show.Except from ginko and adashino, all the characters appear in only one episode, which makes their stories fade away as you continue watching other stories and as time passes. I don't have a problem with the episodic approach, i think it worked very well with Mushishi, but i would have preferred to see a main plot line that they can return to, and some other characters that we could go back to. 3) there was something that was repeated almost every episode and i keep questioning it, but so far they still haven't talked about it in details, i'm talking here about how ginko and other mushishi have so much knowledge about mushi: Except from one episode, ginko knows the names of all the mushi he was dealing with, he knows their behavior and their properties. I really wish we had episodes where he discovers ghe mushi for the first time, where we can be shown his methods of getting knowledge from those mushi. We've only seen one episode where he doesn't know anything about the mushi (the one who reincarnate the dead) and he ironicly didn't do well in that episode and drew some conclusions that weren't very accurate. 4) the last point i'll talk about is ginko's character. I think he is a fun character to watch, his personality is likeable, and we did have some character development via some flash backs. But what i don't understand - and i think the show somehow neglected - is his motivation, why does he help people he doesn't know? We know that he attracts mushi and want to explore their world further, but why does he take risks to help people in every situation? Sometimes, he was about to die doing that, and we never got some explanation about it. I think they should have given some time to develop this point, cause it's important in order to fully understand the character. To conclude this review, i think mushishi is a fantastic anime with a unique concept, an anime that i've never seen something like it before. It sur has its problems that i hope they will avoid in the second season, but they are negligible when you see the great stuff of the show. It's not for everyone as a lot of people will get bored while watching the slow paced stories, but for those who are interested in nature, in old and simple life style and some deep interpretation of life, they'll probably fall in love with this anime.
Reviewer’s Rating: 9
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Jan 6, 2021 Recommended
this review is writen in 2 parts: the first with no spoilers and the second with potentiel spoilers
With no spoilers: When i watched vinland saga and after that read the manga, i thought i've seen too much of yukimura's greatness i won't be surprised by his works anymore. But man i was wrong, this mangaka kept blowing my expectations and never ceased to amaze me with his incredible ideas and art work. In this essay i'll be reviewing another masterpiece of probably my favorite mangaka (along with urasawa), a piece of art that managed to achieve, in only 4 volumes, what most of manga are unable ... to do in 15 volumes. This is a review of Planetes written by Makoto yukimura. Before getting into the heart of the matter, i want to clarify something about the adaptation of the manga done by sunrise studio. The anime and the manga are in my opinion two different pieces of art, sur the anime did adapt almost half of the manga and picked up a lot of yukimura's ideas, but the way things were done are completely different : the anime focused more on the plot, made things more thrilling with the terrorists plot line and added a bunch of new characters for more comedy and enjoyment, while the manga was more about the characters and their problems, and through their development the writer made of his manga a philosophical reflection about life and humain beings. For my standards, the anime was good, but it was lacking the depth of the manga and some new content was unnecessary. The manga in my opinion is way better in almost every aspcet, but this is a matter of preference, so i will recommend who ever reads this review to see both of them and then decide which one is better for him. As for why people should give this manga a try, i think planetes contains a bit of every thing that people except to see: it has realistic characters that reflect human condition , great character development, amazing atmosphere in a futuristic setting that is not that different from our current world, incredible world building with the use of some elements of physics, very good use of drama and comedy, incredible art work, and most importantly an amazing take on life problems, on human nature, and several themes such as space exploring, the meaning of one's existence, where do people belong in the universe, loneliness and the influence of the others, racism, human evolution, love and what it truly represents.... The manga may not contain a lot of enjoyment elements but for those who are looking for quality writing, for great story telling and for some real subjects of reflection i highly recommend this manga. With potential spoilers: Planetes, unlike other space stories , isn't about exploring new places in the universe nor about space battles and stuff like that. It's actually a reflection on the world as we know it in a space setting. it's a take on human situation and life problems that we face every day transmitted in a futuristic fictional universe that reflects and incarnates a lot of aspects of human nature. The setting in which yukimura chose to tell the story represents the desire of humanity to find better places where to live, her will to unravel the mystery of the unknown, her greed to control everything, her continuous march towards evolution. It incarnates one's desires and regrets and shows the insignificance of his existence compared to the whole universe, but also his value among the other humans. The space, as yukimura portrayed it, can have different meanings depending on the character : for Hachimaki, it's the place where he finds out what truely matters to him, it's the place that showed him the lies he was blindly pursuing, it's the place that taught him that earth is space and that wherever you are in the universe you can't stop being a human who loves other people. For Tanabe, it's the place where she can overpass her limites and show what she is capable of, it's the place that incarnates her freedom as a human being and where her philosophy of love impacts the others in the best way possible. For Fee, space is the place where she can finnaly be herself, it's the place where she can express her rebellion against how things are and the place that got her rid of all the regrets she had about her life. For Yuri, it's the place that taught him that one should always go on living no matter what happens, even if you loose your loved ones, life always has something for you, and even if you can't find answers to your questions you can continue living without having to answer all of them. For Locksmith, it's the place where his ego and his ambition of a scientist find no limits. For Goro Hoshino, it's the place where shines his nature of taking new adventures. For some random astronauts it's the place where they truly belong, and for others it's the place where they escape from the hell they were living in. It's incredible how rich Planetes world is, how it reflects every character's nature and personality, and how much connections between characters it provides for the writer. Now talking about characterisation and character development, and unlike the anime, yukimura gave a lot of time to show the back stories of the characters, their motivation and their thoughts about the world. He focused on every one's problems and develop them to find potential solutions, with simplistic plot lines and very natural events. He managed to show Hachimaki's psychological struggle against the fear of being alone in space after the accident while collecting debris. he brilliantly portrayed his inner conflict between his egoistic desire to let everything behind him and go to jupiter, and his attachment to earth and Tanabe. He also done a fantastic job showing Hachimaki's realistic depression in space, his reflection about his existence and how he was able to surpass this situation and find the right answer to his problem. We also got to see Tanabe when she was little, how she was adopted by the Tanabe who gave her love and tenderness, how she impacted their life and how she intuitively developed affection for others the same way she was given unconditional love. Fee's backstory with her shunned uncle gave her character more depth and served as a back-up to her development when she was fed up with the futility of her work as debris collector and when she started her rebellion against her superiors and her old life. Besides, another thing that shows the greatness of this manga is the huge amount of themes discussed in this 26 chapters: i'm still impressed of how yukimura was able to touch on a lot of life questions and problems in only 4 volumes leaving the reader in deep reflection about the matters . The idea of belonging to a place, to an ideology, to a religion, to humanity, to the universe is brilliantly presented in harmony with the narrative. The idea of love being what truly defines human beings, the fact that people can't change everything in the world, the limits of one's ambition, the absurdity of war, the injustice and the racism that still exist in the world, how people can live outside the social standards.... All these ideas and questions are present in the dialogues between characters and their monologs, in a way to portray their personalities and to conlude their character arcs meaningfully. There is also some great amount of physics and scientific knowledge in this manga. You can find the Kessler syndrome, the zero gravity, the impact of low gravity on the body, cosmic radiations, spacial leukemia... So for science lovers, Planetes is a real treat. To finish this review, in my opinion Planetes is nothing short of a masterpiece, i don't think there is plenty of other short manga that can be so rich of themes and messages, with incredible setting and world building, drawn with so much details and care, and telling impactful stories with well written and developed characters . Such a manga is created only once in a long period of time, and i think we should be grateful we had the chance to witness this piece of art.
Reviewer’s Rating: 9
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Jan 6, 2021
Vinland Saga
(Anime)
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This review contains spoilers!!!!!
When I first saw the trailer of Vinland saga I knew it is going to be good, I even predicted it would enter my top 10, but this anime exceeded all my expectations and ended up being one of the very few shows I consider to be a masterpiece. from the realistic and well thought setting the writer chose to tell the story, to the amazing development the characters went through, to the amount of emotions you can feel while watching this show, to that unbelievable climax this season had, Vinland saga will always be remembered as one of the most well ... written stories that ever came out. Writing a review about Vinland saga is not an easy task as there is so much to talk but I will not be able to go in depth in every detail in order not to miss the purpose of a review. So to make it simple, I will cover the most interesting parts of an anime (of course in my opinion) : the story and plot, the characters and their development, the themes, the adaptation (visuals, Ost, voice acting...), my personal impression ( enjoyment, emotions, reaction...). 1. story and plot: Vinland saga follows the life of Thorfin, a child from Iceland who saw his father getting killed by a certain mercenary called Askellad. At first sight, it seems like a usual revenge story, but this is only a small part of the what Vinland saga is about. This show is about a man (Thors) who, after years of killing people in battlefields, finally understood what a true warrior is, but failed to pass his experience to his son. It is about a young man (Thorfin) who wasted about 10 years of his life going after a revenge he will never achieve. It is about a man (Thorkell) who knows how to live only in battlefields, but still unable to find the meaning of a true warrior. It is about a prince (Canute) who never wanted to be born in the royal family, but whose destiny in life is to make of it a means to begin his rebellion against god. It is about a man (Askellad) who was tired of waiting the messiah and thus decided to create one himself. It is about a land called Vinland, where there is no war nor slavery, a place for those who have nowhere to belong, a place that still no one knows if it really exists or it’s only the result of people’s imagination to appease their suffering and escape from the cruel reality. Vinland saga managed to connect all these stories and more in one single season also known as the prologue of the saga. this says a lot about the quality of the plot in this show as it is not easy to create such connections between all the characters in the first arc. The first episodes established on one hand the peaceful life Thorfin and his family had in Iceland, and on the other hand the life of Vikings mercenary, plundering villages and killing without mercy. The cruelty of the world in that time led to the assassination of Thors, Thorfin’s father by the hands of Askellad, the leader of a mercenary group of Vikings. Thorfin, still young and naïve made the oath of killing Askellad in a duel in order to avenge his father, the man who taught him that he shouldn’t kill people as “a true warrior doesn’t need a sword”. The anime then shows how the Thorfin’s life drastically changed when he joined Askellad’s group in order to get a chance for his revenge, he becomes the very opposite of what his father wanted: a killer blinded by revenge and a slave to Askellad who knew how to use Torfin to the fullest. Years after, Denmark started a war to conquer England, and Askellad’s group were a part of the army. This is the point of the story where the true plot of this arc begins and when the focus is no longer on Thorfin as Askellad will be the “main character” till the end of the season. the appearance of Canute, seemingly a shy and useless prince, revived in Askellad the dream he always wanted to achieve, the dream of serving a good and true king and saving his homeland “Wales” from any harm. To make it simple, Askellad was kind of a double agent for Wales seemingly working for Denmark’s sake. With the use of strategy and tricks, he will be able to awake Canute’s potential of a king and will plan to take down King Sweyn from the throne. One remarkable thing about Vinland saga’s plot is that it was thickening with every episode, taking advantage of the historical setting, and using politics, religion, culture and philosophy to tell the story that culminated in that amazing final episode, where Askellad killed king Sweyn and gave up on his life for the sake of Canute and Wales leaving Thorfin with one of the most impactful and emotional last words in anime history, words that Thorfin still doesnt understand for the moment as he was in total despair after seeing Askellad getting killed in front of him. 2. the characters and their development: The characters in Vinland saga are amazing as Yukimura (the original creator) is a master of character writing. Canute, Thors, Thorkell, Thorfin, the priest, king Sweyn, Bjorn…. Were all interesting characters, but Askellad was without a doubt the best character of the show, a contender for character of the decade and one of the most well written characters in the medium. He played the role of the villain in the first part of the story, then became kind of an anti-hero, and finally stole the title of the protagonist from Thorfin at the end and went out as hero and a legend. He was a unique character with no pair in any other anime or manga. He was ruthless and caring, cunning and tricky, strategist and tactical, a man of honor and a mercenary, a carefree and a dreamer, a despicable and a lovable person, in short he is a very complex character that really needs a separate breakdown to talk about him with details. Another brilliant character that shined in this arc is prince Canute, although he was presented as a shy and weak person, that wasn’t his true nature as he was acting like that to avoid contact and problems with others and this point was one of the most important hints to his character development that a lot of people missed and thus failed to understand his personality change in ep 18. I’ve made a complete breakdown about Canute’s character development in MAL, so I’ll put the link if someone wants to check it out: https://myanimelist.net/forum/?topicid=1844034 Although the story of Vinland saga is following the life Thorfin, he didn’t have an important character development in this first arc, as the whole point of his character in the prologue is to portray the consequences of being blind by revenge, he wasted 10 years trying to kill Askellad without learning anything useful in life. Thorfin was meant to be a miserable and annoying character as long as Askellad is alive and only now that Askellad is dead by the end of the season, we can hope to see some real development in his character. But one thing was important in this arc concerning the relationship between Thorfin and Askellad: despite the fact that Thorfin hates Askellad ,he also cared about him and saw him as a father figure, and Askellad did really care about thorfin as well. This subtle relationship was clear in the finale when Askellad was dying, those last words can only come out of the mouth of someone who truly cares about Thorfin. The other characters were also interesting, Thors will always be a legend, he was an amazing character in the first 4 episodes, and he was present in the story after his death with his ideals of “a true warrior doesn't need a sword” and “no one has enemies”, he was always present in Thorfin’s subconscious, in Thorkel’s memory, and in Willibald’s philosophy. The priest was a super interesting character, his philosophy gave a lot of depth to the story and had a lot of impact on Canute as a character, Willibald was such an underrated character. Thorkel was cool and badass, he really gave another dimension to the show, Bjorn was the loyal servant who looked up to Askellad, and even though he didn’t have enough screen time, his death was emotional and played a role in Askellad’s development. And finally, King Sweyn was a tough opponent for the main characters, his idea about “the curse of the crown” was interesting and will be useful later in the manga. 3. the themes: This is one of the best parts of Vinland saga and probably the part that makes it clear that this piece or art is a masterpiece. The amount of themes Vinland saga contains and their compatibility with how the story is written within the setting of the Vikings era are to be praised. The most obvious themes in Vinland saga are violence, war and slavery. Throughout the whole arc the writer portrayed a world full of violence, killing and plundering, a world where warriors are considered as the top of society, a world where slaves are everywhere. But unlike other animes that use these themes for the sake of shock value, Vinland saga uses them in order to show the importance of a world without violence, a word of peace where there is no war nor slavery. The contrast between these themes is so obvious in most of the parts of the series: first, Thors is the incarnation of this contrast as he used to live a life of violence and war, but finally understood the importance of living peacefully without hurting others, his words : “a true warrior doesn’t need a sword” and “ no one has enemies” highlights this contrast. Second the idea of “Vinland” that warm and fertile land faraway in the west is constructed by opposition to a place where there is war and slavery. Later, the theme of slavery took a bigger meaning, Askellad once said that “everyone is a slave to something”. It was in the context of his uncle whipping one of his slaves, but askellad’s words were general and could be applied to other characters : Thorfin is a slave to vengeance, king Sweyn is a slave to the crown, Askellad is a slave to the legend of Artorious, Canute is a slave to his paradise, and even Thors was a slave to his ideals. As the story progresses, the writer discusses the themes of love, discrimination,and religion. The philosophical approach the show used to talk about love, which is a “generic” topic that a lot of animes take for granted, was just fascinating. What the priest was talking about is the unconditional love, the love that is given to everyone in opposition of the common idea of love which he defined as discrimination. this story of love is connected to the idea of a true warrior, and the parallel was obvious in the direction of ep 18 where they shifted between the priest’s speech about love and the talk between Thorfin and Thorkel about true warrior. Furthermore, this whole idea of unconditional love is inspired from Christianity which is another important theme that Vinland saga used to tell the story and develop some characters (Canute and the priest). The idea of achieving peace raises the question the way to do it, and with this comes the theme of power and again the theme of war. Do you need power to be able to establish peace? Is peace the result of understanding or the end of a war? Vinland saga still doesn’t give the final answer to these questions, but we already have some buildup with the way Canute chose to create a paradise in earth, he believes it’s necessary to detain power to be able to reach a world of peace and he is already involved in the game of the crown and the path of blood. But as King Sweyn said, the crown curses and corrupts his bearer, so will Canute be able to overcome the curse of the crown? The last theme I’ll discuss in this review is the theme of the fairy tale. The idea of Vinland being a land where there is no war nor slavery is so ideal that there is no proof it really exists. All we know is that Leaf Erikson has discovered a fertile land (America nowadays) and named it Vinland, we don’t know if it’s really a place of peace with no slaves and no potential conflicts, which make it seems like a fairy tale for the moment, a utopia people believe in to appease their suffering and escape reality, the same way Askellad believed in the return of Artorious to save his people until he finally realized that it was no more than fairytale. 4. the adaptation: Announcing an anime adaptation of Vinland saga was a good surprise for the fans but with a lot of worries as the manga is so detailed and hard to adapt. People were afraid it will turn out like berserk 2016 or kingdom, but once the trailer was out it was obvious that wit studio didn’t pick up the manga to get the hate of people. Before talking about the visuals, I would prefer to discuss the choices of Director Yabuta Shuuhei and the other staff in terms of rearranging some events and adding some original content. First, the studio chose to tell the story in the chronological order, and it is absolutely a good idea because the story felt more natural and Thors death was more impactful as in the manga this part was done in a flashback. Second, adding one episode and a half (ep 5 -6) of original content was also a fantastic idea as it showed clearly how Thorfin ended up in Askellad’s group and also how he evolved from a weak child to a teenager experienced in battlefields. Third, the adjustment near the end of the season where they switched the order of chapter 46-47 (ep 22) and chapters 48-49 (ep 21), and this was also a wise decision as it was more accurate and natural that Askellad will have no more missions for Thorfin after their last fight and after what he told him in the end of ep 22. Finally, there were some original content of Thorfin and Leif in ep 23, it wasn’t necessary to add them but at the same time it didn’t do any harm to the story. Now talking about the visuals, the animation felt fluid for most of the parts, the big moments were animated perfectly such as Thors VS Askellad, Thorfin VS Thorkel , Thorfin VS Askellad… there were some ups and downs in the quality throughout the whole season, but overall, the animation was so good. The backgrounds were gorgeous and overall better than the manga, the details were maintained and the colors made it even more beautiful. in terms of character design, sometimes the anime felt better, sometimes the manga was better, the details in the manga are more noticeable but i think wit studio did an amazing job giving life to yukimura's characters. the facial expression conveyed the emotions of the characters very well, and the character animation was amazing at some points ( canute in ep 18 and leif in ep 21) The soundtrack of Vinland saga is amazing, Yuataka Yamada managed to create a unique atmosphere that fits the story, the piano tracks were powerful especially in the big moments. The voice acting was great, Askellad’s Voice actor was the star of the show, Uchida Naoya was the perfect voice actor. The performance of Thorfin’s voice actor was also good, Ono Kensho did a great job as Canute’s voice actor, and Oostuka Akio just nailed the role of Thorkel. The direction was overall consistent, the studio followed the manga in most of the parts, but what was brilliant is that they improved in the best parts of the series. The direction of ep 14 was perfect and made the episode superior to the manga, in ep 18 they create a beautiful parallel between the priest and the Canute on one hand and Thorfin and Thorkel on the other hand, which was absent in the manga. Askellad’s flashback was better in the anime and ep 21 was also better. The finale was as good as the manga. So overall, the anime did a fantastic job adapting the manga, there were times when the manga was above and times where the anime was better, but overall, I can say that they were on the same level, and this was the best adaptation that can be made. 5. my personal impression: Vinland saga managed to amaze me from the first episodes, the quality of the writing and the story telling left me speechless and I was always looking forward to next week to see the next episode. There was not a single episode that I felt was weak, every episode felt natural and well structured, I loved the slow burn of the first part, I loved the buildup before ep 17, and the climax in the end of the season just blew me away. I barely had any complains about the show, apart from Thorkel’s power being unrealistic sometimes, I didn’t find any problem or plot hole. This was easily anime of the year for me and deserved a spot I my top 3 anime of all times. This is how much I loved Vinland saga, I couldn’t stop myself from reading the manga and now I can’t wait to see the next arc animated. Conclusion: To finish this review, I would say that Vinland saga is simply a masterpiece, a show everyone should see, it had one of the greatest character development of the medium, one of the best characters ever written (Askellad), a story about life and human condition without any use of superpowers, a fantastic historical setting and real references, great visuals and OST, incredible moments including 4 major deaths with Askellad’s death being one of the greatest in anime/manga history, and finally it had one of the craziest and most memorable climaxes that will leave the watcher speechless.
Reviewer’s Rating: 10
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