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REVIEW: Vinland Saga Season 2 Blu-ray Anime Series Review


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tintor2



Joined: 11 Aug 2010
Posts: 2172
PostPosted: Sun Dec 22, 2024 12:17 pm Reply with quote
This arc blew my mine the first time I saw it. I couldnt believe the artwork of physically deteriorates Thorfinn. While Thorfinn was always small, the anime had to tone down some parts from hisvdesign that evoke his poor nutrition. While I was spoiled about the idea of pacifism, I couldnt believe how Thorfinn's personality kept changing the more he interacted with Einar. He no longer felt like a Viking but instead like a social person interested in learning cultura most specifically the Matthew 5 from the Bible that brought back Thors' teachings. Even Yuto Uemura's voice kept changing which reminded me of Himura Kenshin's personae. I really hope Mappa adapts the third arc but considering how slow they became with Chainsaw I fear we gotta wait more years or simply we arent getting a season 3 considering how Mappa treated Jujutsu the second season 2 ended
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Fluwm



Joined: 28 Jul 2009
Posts: 1059
PostPosted: Sun Dec 22, 2024 12:21 pm Reply with quote
In retrospect, it's really impressive how much patience/restraint Yukimura showed in writing that first arc (season 1's material) as it very much feels like this second arc is the "real" story -- what the whole endeavor was all about from the beginning. It can be very difficult to pull that off (between writerly impatience and potential audience alienation), but the manga handled it masterfully and the anime adaptation really elevated the whole thing.

It does make me a little anxious about the future, though, and not just because this second arc is such a difficult act to follow -- the third (presumably final) arc already has some issues. If and when it's animated, I wonder if they'll wind up spoiler[greatly elaborating on the Byzantium voyage, or just decide to remove it entirely] in the adaptation. As much as I'd love to see it, I suspect the latter option might make for better storytelling (which is probably why spoiler[Yukimura aborted that story arc so quickly in the first place]).

Quote:
But of course, I can't not talk about how the close attention to historical details throughout Vinland Saga makes this medievalist's heart absolutely sing.

Ain't that the truth? I was actually introduced to Vinland Saga by one of my history profs, which was wildly unexpected.

Quote:
While it's not to say he gets absolutely everything down to the tiniest speck of dust right (EX, the use of modern rather than then-contemporary place names), Yukimura demonstrates a level of research that you don't often see in historical fiction, period.

Oh yeah. I especially love how the manga will have those short blurbs where he just writes about some of the stuff he learned, sometimes explaining why he did (did not) incorporate certain elements into the story. It's that commitment to history that really makes Vinland Saga stand out so much among all the other historical manga out there -- a commitment that, I think, has the overall effect of making the story feel less mythologized and, therefore, more real.

It's a shame the BRD release is so barebones, because this is precisely the kind of show that would really benefit from the kind of "above-and-beyond" extras we'd sometimes get, more frequently back in the DVD era: like a mini-documentary at least, delving into the history; or a commentary track with a medievalist or two to point out details and discuss everything.

Anyway, I'd be remiss if I didn't take a moment to celebrate Vinland Saga for its favorite little bit of historical accuracy: recognizing the existence of Wales. I cannot remember the last time, or literally any other time, a fiction writer not from the U.K. remembered the island wasn't all just England. (Or, at best, just England and Scotland). That's a detail that really made me smile.
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louis6578



Joined: 31 Jul 2013
Posts: 1881
PostPosted: Sun Dec 22, 2024 12:27 pm Reply with quote
Too bad the superior Netflix dub remains exclusive to that service.
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Top Gun



Joined: 28 Sep 2007
Posts: 4830
PostPosted: Sun Dec 22, 2024 1:00 pm Reply with quote
Season 2 of Vinland Saga wasn't one of the best anime series I've ever seen...it was one of the best pieces of television I've ever seen, period. It is shockingly, indescribably good. I was almost left babbling after each episode, and then the next one would come along and manage to one-up it. It's one of those rare series that makes you feel privileged to be able to sit down and watch it.
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MarshalBanana



Joined: 31 Aug 2014
Posts: 5524
PostPosted: Sun Dec 22, 2024 2:01 pm Reply with quote
I still prefer the Texas dub to the Netflix one. A few performances are good in that, but otherwise it is just basically OK.
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Covnam



Joined: 31 May 2005
Posts: 3850
PostPosted: Sun Dec 22, 2024 5:07 pm Reply with quote
Too bad Sentai couldn't keep it and give it a nice release like they did for the first season.

I'll probably hold off on picking this up for a while to see if they put out a complete season set down the road.
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levonr



Joined: 19 Nov 2003
Posts: 821
PostPosted: Sun Dec 22, 2024 7:24 pm Reply with quote
louis6578 wrote:
superior Netflix dub


I agree, Aleks Le over disgraced Mike Haimoto.
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BigOnAnime
Encyclopedia Editor


Joined: 01 Jul 2010
Posts: 1258
Location: Minnesota, USA
PostPosted: Sun Dec 22, 2024 8:28 pm Reply with quote
Quote:
You don't even get, for example, closed captions, which it gets major points off for since they're such a great and simple accessibility option
Those have always been uncommon, it's only been more recently we've seen seeing them, only with AnimEigo, Eleven Arts (RIP), GKIDS, Sentai Filmworks, and VIZ Media releases. Heck for streaming, they didn't start to become a common sight until the late 2010s.

Here's every anime release on Blu-ray.com with "English SDH" under subtitles sorted by studio. Note there's missing releases and some stuff are incorrectly tagged because people thought "Songs & Signs only" for the dub track meant "SDH", when that's not what closed captions actually are. They also incorrectly list some things as anime, like Lady Death.
https://www.blu-ray.com/movies/search.php?action=search&subtitles=English+SDH&Anime=1&sortby=studio
https://www.blu-ray.com/dvd/search.php?action=search&subtitles=English+SDH&Anime=1&sortby=studio

And here's what you get when you search for all releases regardless of subtitles.
https://www.blu-ray.com/movies/movies.php?genre=Anime&sortby=title
https://www.blu-ray.com/dvd/movies.php?genre=Anime&sortby=title

This doesn't excuse Crunchyroll, just pointing out it's never been the standard. Ideally what should be seen on streaming and home video is...

-Subtitles for Japanese audio
-CC subtitles for Japanese audio
-CC subtitles for English audio
-Song/Sign subtitles for English audio
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I Am Audrey, how are you



Joined: 27 Apr 2021
Posts: 44
PostPosted: Sun Dec 22, 2024 10:22 pm Reply with quote
Who cares about the spoilers, if you’re buying S2, you’ve probably seen S1
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Takkun4343



Joined: 19 Jul 2007
Posts: 1587
Location: Englewood, Ohio
PostPosted: Mon Dec 23, 2024 6:05 am Reply with quote
It's finally happened, we've reached the point we're actually citing the lack of dubtitles as a disadvantage for a release.
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BigOnAnime
Encyclopedia Editor


Joined: 01 Jul 2010
Posts: 1258
Location: Minnesota, USA
PostPosted: Mon Dec 23, 2024 6:43 am Reply with quote
Takkun4343 wrote:
It's finally happened, we've reached the point we're actually citing the lack of dubtitles as a disadvantage for a release.
We'll then see it on just about every review going forward because they were never standard and still aren't, it was a recent development only for legal streams. Should be noted, for whatever reason, after FUNimation began doing closed captions for their dubbed streams in the late 2010s, they never put said closed captions on the Blu-rays. Sentai Filmworks at times had the same problem, stuff would have closed captions on HIDIVE, but then they wouldn't be on the Blu-rays, though over the past few years now, pretty much all their dubbed Blu-rays going forward excluding re-releases of titles they previously released now have them.
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Blood-
Bargain Hunter



Joined: 07 Mar 2009
Posts: 24214
PostPosted: Mon Dec 23, 2024 6:50 am Reply with quote
It's disappointing to here we are getting a classic Sentai bare bones release instead of a special edition like the first season. A+ content deserves an A+ release. Oh well, there's no way I won't be buying this. One of my favourite anime offerings of all time.
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Greed1914



Joined: 28 Oct 2007
Posts: 4665
PostPosted: Mon Dec 23, 2024 10:24 am Reply with quote
I think the review was right to point out the condition of the physical release that was received. I haven't had a specific problem lately, but it seems like Crunchyroll is using more packing paper, and less cardboard inserts to fill oversized boxes, for example. So far, that has been ok, but Amazon has done similarly, and I have had items arrive damaged because it left room for items to shift in transit.
The one time a Right Stuf order came to me in the condition the reviewer described, they included a note saying that I could return it if I wanted. I have to think that meant that they got that copy that way, so I did think that maybe they should have returned it to the supplier, or maybe just given me a different copy. But, at least they acknowledged that it wasn't up to standards.

Sadly, it's like I expected. The Grimes location is nothing more than a fulfillment center now.
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Marimer Est



Joined: 23 Sep 2024
Posts: 16
PostPosted: Mon Dec 23, 2024 10:24 am Reply with quote
Quote:
it's hard to hold a candle to the subbed version of Vinland Saga

Woo! Nothing speaks authenticity quite like vikings speaking Japanese...
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Fluwm



Joined: 28 Jul 2009
Posts: 1059
PostPosted: Mon Dec 23, 2024 2:20 pm Reply with quote
Greed1914 wrote:
I think the review was right to point out the condition of the physical release that was received. I haven't had a specific problem lately, but it seems like Crunchyroll is using more packing paper, and less cardboard inserts to fill oversized boxes, for example. So far, that has been ok, but Amazon has done similarly, and I have had items arrive damaged because it left room for items to shift in transit.


I feel like packing quality has really nosedived, everywhere I order from, in the past few years. I used to frequently order single items from RightStuf because I could always trust them to keep the books/cases well-packed and protected from damage. Since the buyout, that's changed (though at least they're not just dumping the books in loose envelopes like Amazon).

It's gotten to the point where I'm just no longer buying anything on it's own: I'll only ever order multiple items at once as it's the best way to ensure they're all packed away in a firm cardboard box, and maximize the probability of packing material inside to keep items from bouncing around.
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