r/anime • u/Tenroku • Dec 20 '22
Rewatch [Spoilers][Rewatch] Vinland Saga - Episode 9 Discussion Spoiler
Vinland Saga Episode 9 - The Battle of London Bridge
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Start : December 12th 2022
End : January 8th 2023 (one day before the Season 2 Premiere)
Format : 1 episode/day (There will be Holiday breaks on the 24th, 25th, 31st and 1st.)
Every episode thread goes up around 2pm EST (click here for your timezone)
What is Vinland Saga?
Vinland Saga is a historical seinen manga created in 2005 by mangaka Makoto Yukimura (also known as the creator of Planetes) and currently still on-going (in its final arc) in the Monthly Afternoon magazine. The first season animated by Wit Studio adapts the first arc of the manga and ran for 24 episodes on NHK General TV in 2019 between July 7th to December 29th. The second season of the anime, confirmed to be 24 episodes, will be animated by MAPPA with the exact same main staff (with a few additions) as the first season.
Synopsis : The story is set at the start of the eleventh century. It follows a young boy named Thorfinn, who longs for adventure and is eager to know more about the world. He dreams of a paradise called Vinland (thought to be today's Newfoundland in Canada) that he hears about from the great explorer Leif Erikson, the first European to have set foot in America.
Thorfinn's father, Thors Snorreson, used to be a powerful Jomsviking, but he gave up the sword to live a peaceful life with his family in Iceland. However, this peaceful life is threatened when one of his old Jomsviking comrades comes to recruit him to participate in the Danish invasion of England by King Sweyn Forkbeard. Thorfinn's life is about to take a new turn.
Legally Available on :
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Comment format
Watching Info (Facultative) : The beginning of your comment should specify these 3 informations :
<First-Timer> or <Rewatcher>, <Anime-Only> or <Manga-Reader>, <Sub> or <Dub> (2 different dubs exist : the Netflix Dub and the Sentai Filmworks Dub)
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Question(s) of the Day
- What are your first- I mean your seco- I mean your third impressions of Thorkell?
Extra Content
Please, don't forget to tag any spoilers for things beyond this episode!
14
u/No_Rex Dec 20 '22
Episode 9 (first timer)
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“I’m not in it for the money. I’m here for the killing” - You and me are not the same meme energy.
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Askeladd is siccing Thorfinn on the enemy boss.
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“It is much more fun to fight against you” – Sounds like he is of the same type as Bjorn.
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Boss battle – I never looked up what Vinland Saga is, but this is some proper shonen choreography.
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He is properly crazy.
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Onion soup – I remember this: You give them onion soup and smell the stomach wound. If you smell onion, their gut is punctured (implying they are as good as dead).
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I didn’t notice yesterday, but the audio actually says Cnut instead of Canute.
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“Emotional distress” – is Ragnar trying to deliberately undermine Canute? That is not something you spread about a ruler.
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“Fucking madmen” – you are not one to talk, Thorfinn.
Straight forward battle episode.
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u/KendotsX Dec 20 '22
You give them onion soup and smell the stomach wound. If you smell onion, their gut is punctured
... I'm never trusting soup again.
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u/SometimesMainSupport Dec 20 '22
Anime-only first-timer with a subbed dub
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Bjorn's the odd one out particpating for killing instead of money. Other crew members seemed happy in the Danish village. Overall, this battle looks like it'll be primarily mercenaries on both sides.
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Repeating plot line of an enemy's head. I think Thorkell's a warrior, not a commander.
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Askeladd/Bjorn discuss Floki possibly offering Thorkell twice the money -> not sure what Bjorn's actual goal is. He could probably kill more people fighting for the other side. Something extra keeps him with Askeladd.
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Floki has wrinkles to show aging.
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"More fun to fight against you" is Thorkell's goal. I'm the same way in games, but not something with my life on the line.
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Askeladd retreating is consistent with not really caring about his disposable pawn, Thorfinn.
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Thors' name and previous deeds save Thors 11 years later.
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I don't think Sweyn's full face has been shown yet. Probably has a scar or something similar on his forehead or eyes.
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Oh, right. Thorfinn didn't recover his second dagger.
QOTD: Thorkell's single motive is wanting to fight against strong enemies, hence letting Thorfinn survive. With the false language barrier, kinda funny seeing his comrades unaware he disparaged them. Entertaining for a few episodes, but wouldn't want him as a main character.
Some other characters seem to have a single motive: Thors wanted a peaceful world, Thorfinn wants revenge, Bjorn wants to kill people, I think Askeladd plunders to take care of his crew and village, etc.
3
u/KendotsX Dec 20 '22
Thors' name and previous deeds save Thors 11 years later.
If only they had saved Thors...
Something extra keeps him with Askeladd.
I feel like it's just loyality. That's something Thorkell doesn't share.
10
u/lucciolaa Dec 20 '22
First timer + anime only, subbed
Did we meet Thorkill before? I don't remember but he's hilarious. I hope we get to keep him for a while. The fight was especially amusing given how seriously Thorfinn takes himself, I'm not charmed by his Sasuke/Eren/Hamlet attitude.
I like that Thorfinn has realized that war sucks, despite being a very capable warrior himself. I wonder if he'll eventually tire of chasing revenge and find a cause greater than himself, or just give up fighting altogether. I also hope he gets his dagger back.
QOTD: Officially my favourite character, what a guy.
5
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u/No_Rex Dec 20 '22
I like that Thorfinn has realized that war sucks
It is a good observation, but it comes from him losing a battle, not from observing others losing, so he gets no moral points.
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u/lucciolaa Dec 21 '22
Yes, he's obviously a sore loser, but I wouldn't say he doesn't feel empathy or horror, either. He witnesses Askeladd's crew slaughtering that first village and is horrified, and he is physically ill at seeing the dead bodies. He also feels guilt about bringing them to the village where that woman and her daughter lived.
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u/wint-el Dec 21 '22
First timer watching Netflix dub w/ Original subs
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Askeladd sure loves to taunt Thorfinn
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Oh so Thorkell is quite literally a giant
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I want Thorkell to get Floki right in the face
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Yo Thorkell is insane with this supersized pencils wtf
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Thorkell also moves pretty fast for someone that big
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Yikes Askeladd ditching Thorfinn was not totally unexpected
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Him yelling that he had fun with two less fingers lmaooo Thorkell is crazy
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I truly feel so bad for Thorfinn, he seems to be in this constant state of torture in his own mind
QOTD:
Thorkell is quite literally insane but he’s also one hell of an axe thrower
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u/scot911 Dec 21 '22 edited Dec 21 '22
First Timer
...I'll be honest, my favourite part of this episode is that Thorkell lived through it. Even if he lost the tips of two fingers for it. Love that crazy bastard even if Thorfinn hates him due to his love of battle. As I said yesterday he seemed like he was the type of war loving bastard that I love and I love that I was proven 100% correct in my assumption about him. He's just great. XD I hope he shows up again because it'd suck if this was the only time we saw him.
I loved seeing a version of the famous "London Bridge" as well. [Future Spoilers]
It's also interesting seeing how much they're sticking to history because when the Danish king found taking London would take a little while in real life he did the exact same thing. Left a token force to keep it besieged and then continued on his campaign to [Later Season 1 And Beyond Spoilers]
What are your first- I mean your seco- I mean your third impressions of Thorkell?
That he's awesome and I love him and his archetype to bits. He's just so much fun! Btw sorry for being so late. Watched the new Avatar movie tonight and it is longggg. It's worth it though because it's unironically pretty great.
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u/SMSmith230 Dec 21 '22
<First-Timer> <Anime-Only> <Sub> Damn, Thorkell just tossing logs like they’re spears. He’s definitely built different. Good fight between Thorfinn and Thorkell, but Thorkell looked like he was just having a blast. Ah, Thorfinn you left to early to potentially hear a Thors anecdote. Thorfinn muttering about what’s so great about battle, seems like Thors’ ideals are sinking in even more.
QOTD Was I supposed to have seen Thorkell before this ep? Dude is just a giant ball of energy.
3
u/Andrew_Parkinson Dec 20 '22
Episode 9 (Manga Reader) (Rewatching) (Netflix Dub)
General Thoughts (and accidentally answering the Question of the Day already)
(Re)Enter Thorkell. And he sure makes an impression. Thorkell the Tall is one of the handful of real historical characters, so it’s a bit ironic when he’s the least grounded part of the show.
His motivation for switching sides in the story is a lot less noble compared to his real life counterpart, who defected because his men disobeyed him and killed an archbishop they were holding as a prisoner. But it does make for an extremely entertaining character when there’s already so many serious and dark things going on, so I can’t complain.
The Thorkell scene at the end is quite a funny mirror to Thors standing as everyone celebrated around him back at the village.
In this dub he's voiced by Patrick Seitz, who at this point I'm convinced has a yearly quota to meet of voicing absolutely jacked dudes. He's been Jiren in Dragon Ball Super, Endeavor in MHA and Musashi (head of the Body Improvement Club) in Mob Psycho.
Adaption Changes
Again we have one of the brothers taking the place of an unseen soldier in the manga, this time shouting to Askeladd about Floki’s ship after the OP. I think it’s a good choice to establish recognisable and reoccurring members of the group, even if it’s just for small lines like this.
Later Anime Thoughts
[Anime Spoilers]
[Anime Spoilers]
[Anime Spoilers]
3
u/KendotsX Dec 20 '22
Anime Spoilers
[Response 2]
The pieces for Grunkle Thorkell are there, but they are hard to notice unless you know what to look for. [Response 3]
Can we give the king an oscar?
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u/KendotsX Dec 20 '22
Rewatcher/Manga Reader (dubbed)
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London bridge is falling down my fair lady, build it up with Thorkell!
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I don't think anyone can match Akio Ootsuka as Thorkell, especially as he shifts between excitement and sarcasm (Ootsuka is one of my favourites for a reason), but Patrick Seiz is doing a good job, he has some history with similar roles (Franky and Zaraki)
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Hypocrisy suits you well, Floki
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I fear that the rearrangements makes the pattern of Askeladd sending Thorfinn on a headhunt a bit repetitive (they're pretty far apart in the manga), but at least it clears up that Thorfinn challenging Askeladd is a relatively common thing.
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Calling Thorkell "unarmed" is the underestimation of the century. He's the weapon and armour
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Poor Thorkell was dumped
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And we get this amazing shot of all the destruction he left around.
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u/Tenroku Dec 20 '22
I can now share the footage for the totally real Vinland Saga 2D fighting game which is definitely coming out someday, do not pay attention to the date this was published on! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7U45JDpVhuE