After losing the battle against Harald's invading army, the people of Norway were forced either to serve or leave the land. Some of them left and ended up on the cold lands of Iceland. As the harsh cold climate makes it hard for livestock to survive never mind humans, they seek a new warmer and greener fertile land to the West known as, "Vinland". Unfortunately, 15 years later battle soon breaks out again as England invades their lands. Thors Snorresson "The Troll" who had once lead a life of killing as the strongest warrior amongst the mercenary Jomsviking in the Nothern Sea, soon finds his past catching up with him.

His son Thorfinn is left behind on a path of vengeance as he follows the pirates but he barely manages to survive as he is thrown into the rough alone. Thorinn does his best to keep the values his father taught him and seeks vegeance via a fair duel. As he finds himself lacking the power, he soon finds himself used by the pirates as the daring and manipulative Askeladd, leader of the pirates will only grant him further duels after he has impressed him on the battlefield.

Didn't know anything about Vinland Saga other than the hype. Didn't know it was by Wit Studios either who produced Attack on Titan and Kabaneri so guessing people watched it because of that... So it's a show about Vikings.

Based on the history of Vikings with a few familiar names from history such as Harald, Humber River. It even goes into the history of Vikings invading England in the 9th century when King Edgar still ruled before Ethelred took over and started attacking the Vikings. It's probably enough to pique your interest in Norse history. You might even learn a bit of history as it was before the days Britain was united by England conquering the rest of the land.

From watching the OP you can pretty much tell it's the old vengeance path but the show doesn't rush and leads up to it well, despite the overpowered characters. Perhaps the overpowered characters is also the reason why you empathise as you consider how powerless the victims are. You could almost call it One Punch Man the way the main characters are one man armies. Despite that the choreography during the "boss fights" are done really well so you can actually admire the movements rather than your usual hack and slash action. The slowdown at the right moments makes up for the overpowered characters and it's good to see a few of them pitted against each other to keep the balance and in turn keep the show exciting.

You watch as Thorfinn does his best to follow the pirates who just couldn't care less about him as they do not offer him any aid at all most of the time. He does his best to improve himself so that he can get his vengeance in a fair warrior honoured fight. The rest of the show is more about watching the intense battle of the Vikings trying to invade England really while Askeladd uses his wits to manipulate all sides.

The artists have paid attention well on the stylish Viking longboats and patterns on their weaponry which stand out well but, I think the team also went a bit too daring with the 3D CGI which just stands out the odd times. The brutality and level of gore is probably the same as AoT with flying limbs everywhere. Both the music, sounds effects work great with the direction.

In some ways the direction's kind of like AoT when you watch the way Thorsfinn fights, his expressions and reactions. Probably kind of like Kabaneri too even with the amount of gore flying around as if they're fighting zombies sometimes. Thorkell kind of reminds me of Goku. Same laid back nature and always wanting a challenge but in a bad way with a huge bloodlust. Even Saiyan's turning into crazed monkeys.

If you're looking for an intense medieval show full of brutal battles and dramatic one-on-one fights, you'll probably like this. There are no nice characters, just times where only the bold survive. If you're expecting a harem then well, there's none here. Ladies might get offended as women are treated as commodities amongst the barbaric Vikings. There's plenty of ridiculing Christianity too.

It just almost got itself in the recommended with its intense and jaw dropping moments but then always fall back to where it started. For over half the show you're just watching Thorfinn getting stuck in his vengeance obssession but even after that when it does get better, it just returns to ruin it. While I admire Thorfinn's initial determination and perserverance, it's quite pitiful that he's putting himself through so much just to get an honourable revenge. It gets to the point where you think, "Oh no, this again..." and his fights are there just to say, "Hey, I'm still here."

The other point is the world setting since it's based on history, it's not really original and creative. A original world with plenty of attention to its detail can help a show like this full of great art, characters and direction shine a lot more in my opinion.