Wednesday, January 8, 2020

"Vinland Saga"

Just finished watching "Vinland Saga." I had started watching it earlier, but stopped in the middle. While waiting for the new winter season to start up, I picked it up again on Amazon Prime Video. I ended up finishing the show in almost one day. It's a brutal show mainly about Thorfinn, a young Viking boy, who is out for revenge for the death of his father. It's a sad story really, of a boy who grows up learning to survive on his own in order to kill the man responsible for his beloved father's death. There are many more characters who are equally or even more compelling than Thorfinn, mainly Askeladd, Thorfinn's nemesis/strange mentor. Askeladd has some issues that involve his sad boyhood as well. There is political intrigue, lots of sword fights, lots of flying limbs and blood, and two plot twists I didn't see coming. It actually all reminds me of "Game of Thrones" actually, without the nudity. The end had me hankering for another season, which looks like should be in the works. Sidenote: "Stars Align" was my favorite show last season. But, it had a terrible ending! Basically no ending because, according to Twitter, the studio had to abandon the second half of the story because the show was cancelled! But the creators didn't have time or want to wrap up the show in a rushed ending...so the end of the show is a real cliff hanger. Arrghhh! This was an original anime story, so no manga to look up for the ending. I think it would be a miracle for the show to come back, which is a real shame because it had so much potential.