{"id":17189,"date":"2022-08-22T19:34:15","date_gmt":"2022-08-22T23:34:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/brandywinebooks.net\/?p=17189"},"modified":"2022-08-22T19:34:15","modified_gmt":"2022-08-22T23:34:15","slug":"amazon-prime-viewing-report-vinland-saga","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/brandywinebooks.net\/?p=17189","title":{"rendered":"Amazon Prime viewing report: ‘Vinland Saga"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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My curiosity got the better of me. <\/strong>I couldn\u2019t resist sampling Vinland Saga<\/a><\/em>, a Japanese anime series about Vikings set at precisely the point in history I\u2019ve been writing about in my Erling books. What follows isn\u2019t exactly a review, because I don\u2019t think I\u2019ll be finishing the series, but it\u2019s certainly interesting enough to tell you about. You may be surprised to learn that I have a lot of positive things to say.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When we think of Vinland and the Norse discovery of America, the name we generally think of is Leif Eriksson. But in many ways the real hero of the saga (at least in one of its two versions) is another man, an Icelander called Thorfinn Karlsefni (the nickname means \u201cquite a guy\u201d or \u201cmanly stuff\u201d). Though it\u2019s not plainly stated, I\u2019m pretty sure the Thorfinn portrayed in Vinland Saga<\/em> is that guy \u2013 but during an imagined childhood and youth.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As the series tells it, Thorfinn is the son of Thors, the Troll of Jomsborg, a former Jomsviking (a legendary order of Vikings based in Poland) who grew to hate war and deserted, fleeing to the peace of Icelandic farming. A friend of theirs is Leif (Eriksson, one assumes, portrayed here as a wandering blowhard rather than chieftain of the Greenland colony, as he actually was), who regales Thorfinn with tales of the rich soil and mild climate he encountered when he visited Vinland, years ago.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Then the Jomsvikings show up at their home, extorting through threats of violence Thors\u2019 agreement to join them in enlisting in the army of Svein Forkbeard of Denmark in his conquest of England. Thorfinn stows away on the ship, eager to see war. On the way to England, Thors (who\u2019s all but invulnerable) is murdered by the pirate leader Askeladd (a name borrowed from a figure from Norwegian folklore, something like Jack the Giant Killer). Improbably, Askeladd is amused by Thorfinn\u2019s attempts to avenge his father, and keeps him with his army, promising to kill him in a proper duel when he\u2019s old enough.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The next episodes deal with the Danish conquest of England, as Thorfinnn grows to be a feared warrior. At that point, I kind of lost interest. Not that the story wasn\u2019t interesting, but the whole thing got too weird for me. I think there\u2019s a whole artistic sensibility surrounding anime as an art form that I\u2019m too old to adjust to.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Nevertheless, I have to say that there were elements of surprising authenticity. I\u2019d say Vinland Saga is at least 50% more faithful to history than the History Channel Vikings <\/em>series. Costumes and props are surprisingly good in a lot of cases. The history follows actual chronology. Real persons show up all the time \u2013 though sometimes in bizarre ways. Thorkell the Tall is an actual giant here. King Svein\u2019s son Knut, later to become King Canute the Great, is presented as a guy who looks like a girl (and how they\u2019re going to develop that story line I have no wish to discover).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In short, you can learn some genuine history by watching Vinland Saga<\/em>. I did not expect to be able to say that. If you appreciate anime as an entertainment form, you just might enjoy it.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

My curiosity got the better of me. I couldn\u2019t resist sampling Vinland Saga, a Japanese anime series about Vikings set at precisely the point in history I\u2019ve been writing about in my Erling books. What follows isn\u2019t exactly a review, because I don\u2019t think I\u2019ll be finishing the series, but it\u2019s certainly interesting enough to … Continue reading Amazon Prime viewing report: ‘Vinland Saga<\/span> →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[15],"tags":[162,3272,4309],"class_list":["post-17189","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-reviews","tag-amazon-prime-video","tag-vikings","tag-vinland-saga"],"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/brandywinebooks.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17189","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/brandywinebooks.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/brandywinebooks.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brandywinebooks.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brandywinebooks.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=17189"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/brandywinebooks.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17189\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":17191,"href":"https:\/\/brandywinebooks.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17189\/revisions\/17191"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/brandywinebooks.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=17189"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brandywinebooks.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=17189"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brandywinebooks.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=17189"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}