Before: 750https://media.discordapp.net/attachments/997637053200207903/1119311002819907716/VinlandSagaS2E3Top.png?width=1736height=976 After: 750https://media.discordapp.net/attachments/997637053200207903/1119311003604230285/021024x576.png?width=1736height=976 Carve it. Carve it into your flesh. Carve it into the land. Carve it into the sea. Carve it into your spoils. Carve it into your enemies. Carve it. The second season of Vinland Saga is a clear departure to the themes of its predecessor with a much slower pace and while the setting still has the backdrop of war surrounding it a lot of it was in quite a calm farming environment at least for the first half. This season really embodied the Seinen genre extremely well with much more complex themes than what the first season provided and both seasons shine in their own respective ways. Its meant for a more mature audience perhaps compared to the first season which served as a good way to get fans into the series. Sure the first season had quite a lot of action but as we keep moving along in the story a question we could ask ourselves is Was the action really the main focus of what this story wanted to tell? Its set in the Viking era so obviously there will be some combat but its become clearer with this season that its not even close to the message that the author wanted to tell. Makoto Yukimura the author definitely put some of his ideals into the characters and the story reflecting on the kindness and cruelty of the world and its balance. If you havent already read his Twitter threads for each episode I do recommend you read them so you understand his intent behind the story even more. If you are a huge fan of action anime you might find this season a bit offputting and not for you. Its a full 180 from Season 1 not just in its story but also its characters. Thorfinn in Season 1 was in a way kind of a protagonist youd find in action shounen anime with revenge being his main reason to keep on living after Askeladd slayed his father on the ship. He lost his reason to live after the events of Season 1s finale so at the start of this season he was understandably depressed. However if Season 1 was a tale of battles and what it means to fight and die on the battlefield then Season 2 was a tale of what it means to live. His development this season was absolutely stellar as he went from a very quiet depressed character to a character with lofty ideals and one who influenced everyone around him filling them to the brim with hope and a reason to press on in a cruel world like theirs. Meanwhile Einar the other main protagonist and some other characters as well kind of feel like the Thorfinn of old back in Season 1. Snappy quick to anger and easy to provoke. Its somewhat ironic that Thorfinn sometimes is the one to calm them down but it just shows how far hes come. Hes truly a beautiful man. A big message and perhaps the main one was the fact that people draw their swords way too quickly and dont talk things out. Its easy to resort to violence instead of trying to reason with others. Other characters on the farm had these traits such as Olmar and Thorgil. Not everyone understands Thorfinns ideals right away as they might seem laughable in a world like theirs where people pillage and set fire to villages almost every day. Slowly and surely the people understand and get inspired by the kindness of Thorfinn but not everyone comes around although everyone can have the capacity to change. The contrasting ideals of what it means to be a true warrior will be a subject of debate always in this anime and in our real world. Is it someone who is physically strong and fights with no mercy toward ones enemies or is it someone who has the wisdom and adaptability to prevent the conflict from ever happening to save lives? The different characters in this anime are on both sides of this spectrum and I love how neither side backs down on their ideals. When such ideals clash conflict will still unfortunately ensue and its easy to just say that conflict is a part of life that its unavoidable but with that said should we give up and not try to stop it just accepting it? As Thorfinn said Anger begets more anger it just results in deaths one after another. All of these themes culminate in a very gripping story on Ketils farm filled with very heavy episodes raw emotion and pure brutality on the battlefield. The violence was gruesome with limbs lying on the ground blood spilling everywhere and I love how the production staff didnt hold back in that regard. The raw emotion resulted in many painful times for the characters and for us viewers but they dont rely on sob stories and massive melodrama to convey such emotion but rather it just shows us how unlucky some people are especially the slaves. Snake said a very interesting thingThey say inferior people cant help but become slaves. That its where they belong. But I dont think so. Slaves were just unlucky. That is all. If you and I had been unlucky we mightve ended up as slaves too. The animation was overall quite solid though there were some episodes with rather limited movement and a few stiff looking bits of animation here and there. That would be my one nitpick in that it wasnt perfectly polished but no production can be perfect especially in these times where the production schedules arent the most healthy especially from MAPPA taking on so many projects at once. There are also some scenes that feel a bit dragged to pad the episode time but it didnt bother me too much. That said the background art was incredibly immaculate especially in the important moments to really convey the emotional weight of certain scenes. Props to director Shuhei Yabuta for doing a great job along with the rest of the production team. The soundtrack was also exemplary in making emotional scenes hit that much harder with the somber piano tracks as well as even a choir and fitting music in more uplifting moments as well. Without this beautiful music I wouldnt have felt nearly as emotional as I did in some of the scenes to the point of crying. The two openings and two endings were also quite solid with providing the necessary hype in the openings and the more quiet emotional side of things from the endings. All in all this was most definitely my favourite anime Ive watched this year without a shadow of a doubt and one of the most beautiful anime I watched ever. Truly transcendent material. Its an exquisite story about mental and moral dilemmas that plague the world and especially Thorfinn. Its a tale of maturity for him from a person driven by revenge and hatred to a person driven by love and kindness. It was all about letting go of hate and finding out what it means to live to create a utopia that makes others want to live and not resort to death as a salvation from an unforgiving savage world. Hes well on his way to doing that. And as a final message the next time you encounter a fan complaining about the lack of action or preaches their favourite shounen like the Bible dont make them your enemy just say I have no enemies. 750https://media.discordapp.net/attachments/997637053200207903/1119311003222552576/VinlandSagaS2E22MemeTop.png?width=1732height=976