Vinland Saga Season 2 Review: Episode 1 and 2 Netflix and Crunchyroll Is A Bomb
Cast: Shunsuke Takeuchi, Yôji Ueda, Hideaki Tezuka
Directors: Yuusuke Takeda, Shuuhei Yabuta
Streaming Platform: Netflix
Filmyhype.com Ratings: 4/5 (four stars) [yasr_overall_rating size=”large”]
Although Japanese television schedules are full of animated series taken from other media, there are not a few mangas (even very successful) adapted for the small screen with an extreme delay since the beginning of their publication, or which have never even received this treatment. Vinland Saga is one of the most emblematic cases: fans of Makoto Yukimura’s masterpiece had to wait fourteen years before being able to see the adventures of Thorfinn and company in animated form. Fortunately, it was worth it, because the first season achieved huge success with audiences and critics, confirming itself as one of the best anime of 2019.
Three and a half years and a change of studio later, the second season of Vinland Saga arrives in simulcast, simultaneously on Netflix and Crunchyroll, which continues the story of the Viking epic by transposing the second narrative arc onto the screen. In this article, we give you our opinion on the debut of one of the most anticipated titles of the year, but before continuing, we remind you that inevitably there will be spoilers at the end of the first part.
Vinland Saga Season 2 Review: The Story Plot
The first episode can only leave those who have followed the series only through the animated medium displaced by its clear change of atmosphere, just as it happened for the manga readers at the time. After the devastating conclusion of the previous part, in this continuation the narration abandons the epic, belligerent and eventful tones, transforming itself into a story with a much more dilated rhythm and a bucolic setting: it is no coincidence that the second narrative arc of Vinland Saga is known in fandom with the affectionate moniker “Farmland Saga”. Don’t worry, though. The form and times change, but not the substance, and the incipit of the second season immediately makes it clear. The first episode is entirely focused on what will become in all respects the co-protagonist of this new part of the story, Einar.
He is a young Saxon farmer who suddenly sees his life turned upside down when the Danes kill his family and capture him as a slave, selling him to the landowner Ketil. Luckily for him, his new master turns out to be an honest and benevolent person, who promises that he will be able to regain his freedom after working hard for a few years on his farm. And it is precisely in the latter that Einar meets his fellow sufferer, a face certainly familiar to the spectators: Thorfinn. The Thorfinn of now is very, very different from the one in the first season. Unable to carry out his revenge due to the death of his archenemy Askeladd, the one who brutally killed his father, the young protagonist has turned into an apathetic, passive and emotionless man, who carries out all the orders of the master and his subordinates (decidedly less kind than him) without batting an eye.
In the second episode, we witness a cross-section of life on Ketil’s farm, where new characters are introduced such as the latter’s arrogant son, Olmar, who does not seem intent on accepting his father’s legacy, preferring instead a career as a soldier, and a mysterious beautiful girl who attracted Einar’s attention from the very first sight. There are also some familiar faces: in addition to Leif Erikson, the explorer who is trying in every way to find Thorfinn to be able to free him, in the opening theme it is impossible not to recognize Prince Canute, also profoundly changed after the events of the first 24 episodes, an “awakening” which is also partly reflected in his new physical appearance.
The first two episodes of the Vinland Saga Season 2 are excellent, and they adapt the source material impeccably to create what is undoubtedly one of the most powerful and impactful debuts of a television anime in recent times. For many fans of the original work (including the writer), Farmland Saga is still the best narrative arc of the manga, and we can assure you that the best is yet to come. If the transposition continues on the level seen so far then we will undoubtedly be faced with one of the best works of the year.
Vinland Saga Season 2 Review and Analysis
History repeats itself. Exactly as happened for the fourth season of The Attack of the Giants – the third and last part of which we are still waiting for a release period – also the continuation of Vinland Saga has seen the passage of the baton from WIT Studio to MAPPA, further strengthening the status of the latter as the busiest and most saturated animation studio on the current scene. Unlike Hajime Isayama’s manga adaptation, however, a large chunk of the main staff remained unchanged in this case. At the helm of the production we find again the director Shuuhei Yabuta, called to replicate the excellent work done with the first part, as well as other important names such as the screenwriter Hiroshi Seko (one of the most reliable and requested), the animation director and character designer Takahiko Abiru and producer Hiroya Asegawa. We are therefore faced with transposition in the name of continuity, and this debut fully confirms it.
The first two episodes of the new season showcase a solid and effective technical sector, which replicates the magnificent and evocative backgrounds that we have already been able to admire in the first part – it is no coincidence that the art director, Yuusuke Takeda, has also remained the same – and which perfectly supports the narration and the change of tone thanks also to the skillful work directed. The quality of the drawings and animations does not make one cry for a miracle but even here we are in line with our predecessors, which is more than justified given that it is an overall less eventful part. However, we hope that the production values are, if not higher, at least more constant than the first season, where sharp drops partially marred some of the best moments in history.
Nothing to say also about the soundtrack by Yutaka Yamada, which already in these first two episodes gives us accompaniments of very fine workmanship, as well as for the opening and closing theme songs, whose melodies are in line with the renewed atmosphere of the series. The original Japanese-language dub sees the return of the cast from the first season, with the addition of Shunsuke Takeuchi as Einar. Just like its predecessor, the second season of Vinland Saga will also last a total of 24 episodes, which will accompany us until the end of the next spring season.
Vinland Saga Season 2 Review: The Last Words
The winning team doesn’t change… or maybe not. Even with a different animation studio, the second season of the Vinland Saga animated series seems to have what it takes to replicate the success of the first, if not even surpass it as it is based on what many consider the best story arc of the original work. Don’t be discouraged by the agricultural setting, the change of atmosphere and the slower and more reflective pace: the new adventures of Thorfinn and his new companion Einar are bound to leave an indelible memory in your mind again.
