Vinland Saga

So I'm finally caught up, and I have a question that's haunting me: where the actual fuck Ymir came from!?

Did I miss anything? I made sure to read the Baltic War arc from the beginning to make sure I understood everything, but I don't remember so much as a clue to his existence.

And what the hell even is he? Some kind of gorilla? Jollywock? Canadian?

And what even was the point if that? He gets taken down pretty easily, anyway!

That Shinning joke was hilarious, but the chapter as a whoke left me more confused than a homeless person on house arrest.

Okay, I understood what Yukimura was referencing in this chapter. I still don't really like it, cause it ups the "magic level," of the series if you will, but basically Ymir is a Jotunn. The name Ymir references the giant who the gods used to build the world. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ymir https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jötunn At least that's what I could gather.

Vinland has always had references to mythology and supernatural stuff, but I always liked how these things were explained, for example the "dragon," in the first chapter just being the ship. Or how we literally had an entire chapter dedicated to how Valhalla is one big lie and death is only the void. When it came to Thorfinn's visions I always assumed them to be "artistic," if you will, portrayals of PTSD. This however just asks of us to accept that giants are real.

Like Vinland was already pushing it with Hild's(I still love her) insane anachronistic inventions but this takes the cake. It's not a series breaker or anything, but it's jarring, and sort of detracts from it. I, personally, have kind've come to expect this campish/cheesy style from the series, and enjoy it somewhat. Like in the first chapter the a character's name is literally "Jabbathe," I'll give you a guess as to what that references. As long as it doesn't get overbearing I can accept it.

I'm pretty sure this 'Ymir' is just supposed to be a mutant freak that was trained to be a secret weapon soldier. It's not like it is being presented as an entire race of giants living out there in the world of Vinland Saga.

Yeah, just like how "Garm" isn't literally a Hell Hound.

Still comes out of nowhere, though, and at that point we don't really need yet more evidence of how ruthless Floki is.

Eh, with Garm it was just a cool name reference with some visuals of Jomsborg being compared to Hell, the Hell that Thorfinn must climb out of by going through its guard dog.

The problem I find with Ymir, is that even if there isn't a race of giants, which fair, there probably aren't(though the visual inspiration is obvious)the design is too "inhuman," compared to everyone else. Even Thorkell. Also as was said it kind've came out of left field.

It's a minor complaint though, really. I just hope the next chapters don't have it.

I just saw Ymir as a big hairy feral human.

Eh, that's fair. Again it's a very minor disturbance for me overall.

First trailer!

Looks good. Some slightly jarring CG bits, but not too disturbing.

Edited by Lyendith on Feb 6th 2019 at 2:08:42 PM

Was that chain guy in the early parts of Vinland Saga and I had forgotten about it or is it a reference to the recent arc.

Yeah, it's Halfdan, Sigurd's father.

Premiere on July 6, 24 episodes (so it will cover the entire first arc, most likely). Can't wait.

Edited by Lyendith on Apr 25th 2019 at 1:44:44 PM

Oh HELL yes!

This is shaping up to be a great adaptation!

So... Vinland Saga will be premiered at Summer? Interesting

I've started reading the English hardcovers.

Planetes is one of my favorite manga but this might have topped it already.

The premiere will be screened at Japan Expo.

July 6th, 12:30.

Already hyped for Thorkell!

Personally I'm hyped for Lucius Artorias Castus. Won't see him for a while though.

Depends on if the prologue can be adapted within 2 cours.

Its gonna be nice seeing the old crew again.

Man, it's been so long with chill Thorfinn I've almost forgotten what a rabid little pup he used to be. Forgotten about 90% of the supporting cast too, other than Askeladd and bishi Canute.

I miss the drunken priest. He was funny.

I just hope the anime makes justice to the fight scenes in the manga.

Back from the premiere at Japan Expo! Definitely a visual treat, some iffy CG aside, but you could barely hear the music because of all the noise next door (the room was closed by curtains, not doors).

Now as for the episode itself… I find it an odd choice to start the series directly with the flashback leading to Thors' death. Not much to say outside of that, it's pretty solid overall. The addition of a scene where Thors and Thorkell fight side by side was quite neat too.

Watched episode 1 to 3. The Thors flashback is taking longer than I thought, but I like the pacing so far. I just hope it's not gonna cause too much compression in the rest of the story. It's already weird that we're not gonna see teenage Thorfinn until episode 5.

What you've described so far sounds promising.

Just saw the first three episodes and they're pretty great. The pacing is slow-ish, but in a deliberate way; there's never a scene where it feels like the show is spinning its wheels. The art, animation and production values are top-tier.

Really hyped for the rest.