Vinland Saga Season 2 is Already Beautiful.

[Season One Spoilers Ahead!!]

Two episodes of Vinland Saga Season 2 have been released as of today, and Studio MAPPA is doing the series justice keeping up with the beauty of season one which was done by WIT Studio. From what I've heard, if season one of Vinland Saga is about what it means to fight and die, season 2 is about what it means to live. Before understanding the first couple episodes of season 2 we have to go back to what happened in the first season.

To begin, Vinland Saga takes place in England in 1013 AD during the era of the Vikings. We begin with young Thorfinn, son of Thors being curious about the world and a place called Vinland which is supposed to be a bountiful land due to stories told by Leif Erikson. This leads Thorfinn to sneak onto his father’s boat as Thors, Leif Erikson, and other warriors were headed to fight in the invasion of England. This ends up being a trap set by Floki who was the one that forced Thors to take part and fight in the invasion. Thors and his men get ambushed by Askeladd’s men (one of the greatest antagonists to ever exist) and this confrontation ends with young Thorfinn watching his father, Thors, die at the hands of Askeladd. Thorfinn swears revenge on Askeladd promising to kill him to avenge the death of his father and that sets the stage for the prologue of Vinland Saga.

The next few episodes of season one entails Thorfinn following Askeladd and his men everywhere in an attempt to take revenge but failing every time. We see Thorfinn grow up throughout these episodes as Askeladd practically takes Thorfinn under his wing but Thorfinn’s mentality still stays the same as a child’s, only focused on his rage and taking revenge for his dad. Askeladd makes some big moves in the following episodes taking part in the siege of London where Thorfinn faces off with Thorkell, his biggest opponent yet. Thorfinn manages to cut a couple of fingers off Thorkell but fails to do any more damage before escaping.

Soon we meet Canute who is the son of King Sweyn the First, the king of England. Prince Canute is timid and frail at first but Askeladd sees him as an opportunity to turn him into a capable and strong king in order to overthrow King Sweyn I. At this point in time, Thorfinn is already starting to view Askeladd as somewhat of a father figure and Canute is starting to become a prince worthy of becoming king. In the episodes that follow, Askeladd kills King Sweyn I at the grand banquet after King Sweyn announces that he plans on invading Wales which is where Askeladd grew up. This is where Askeladd reveals his true name “Lucius Artorius Castus”. With King Sweyn dead, Canute has to step up as king which leads Canute to mortally wound Askeladd. This was all Askeladd’s plan to make Canute the ruler of England. Thorfinn seeing Askeladd wounded makes him lose himself and almost takes Canute’s head off. The prologue ends with Thorfinn dropping his knife as he’s carried away for attempting to murder Canute. This symbolizes that Thorfinn has lost almost everything as scenes from the season flash through the knife of everything Thorfinn has been through.

Season 2 begins with us meeting a new character, Einar. We already see certain parallels to Thorfinn as within the first episode, Einar loses his mother and sister to village pillagers and is taken to be sold into slavery but he knows that he has to keep on living. This is shown beautifully and the soundtrack of season 2 is already nothing short of a masterpiece. Einar meets Leif Erikson who is looking for Thorfinn and is shortly after sold to a farm master who seems like a relatively nice man. After being taken to the farm, Einar meets Thorfinn for the first time and that starts what is said by manga readers to be the best arc of the series. Welcome to Farmland Saga.