Vinland Saga (TV Series) The Troll's Son (2019) User Reviews

Askallad is amazing.

[nucleus-24718 · 9/10 · 22 April 2022]

This episode shows the impact of Thor's death for others and how Thorfinn pogresses through that. It is clear he knows it was his fault and is trying to make up for that desperately. It keeps building up more and more and the pay-off will most likely be amazing.

The animation isn't anything too amazing or anything. The soundtrack works well and the voice acting is incredibly good in english and japanese.

Askallad is the highlight of the episode by far. He is both honorable and dishonorable in the same time. There is an excessive coolness coming off of him. There is more to him that I don't know of yet and I'm excited.

9/10.

Pretty great for an anime original episode

[hejodi-54006 · 10/10 · 1 June 2024]

Yes, everything in this episode (apart from the Ylva subplot) was completely anime original content. Usually, that's a very bad sign. But not in the case of this particular episode. I think it does an amazing job at exploring and enriching early Thorfinn/Askeladd relationship and provides a pretty good explanation to the question that I always had with this part of the story - "why did those vikings even take a scrawny and small kid like Thorfinn into their war party?"

Also, the production of this episode is excellent. The backgrounds, soundtrack and voice acting are top notch. This is definitely the best (mostly) anime-original episode that I've ever seen for a manga adaptation.

Out of manga, building characters

[vault13-347-485335 · 7/10 · 7 August 2019]

People call vinland saga a slow building manga. I was against this as a manga reader till this episode. Its an anime only episode with an ova-like episode of the manga. And its slow. They could have shown us a bit, as a flashforward, of what thorfinn became just like the manga began an the series skipped. Still a good episode to build Askeladd's character, someone who is not what you think he is.

Revenge, tenacity and honor

[Victor612 · 7/10 · 11 June 2024]

Thorfinn pursues Askellad's troop after losing Thorns, and his desire for revenge leads him to break into Askellad's sleeping quarters at night to murder him. Despite his mad rage, Thorfinn is paralyzed, remembering Thorns' words and behavior. A true warrior cannot kill a man without having him fight a duel. Thorfinn therefore renounces the idea of killing him in this way and waits for him to wake up to challenge him. Far outmatched by his opponent, Thorfinn perseveres and trains to fight the wild animals of the forest. Once prepared, he challenges Askellad again, but is defeated once more by his opponent, who tells him he'll be able to accept again if he proves himself in real battle like a Viking.

This episode reveals more about Askellad, the series' main antagonist. He shows a certain honor by sparing Thorfinn and giving him a chance to defeat him. The episode also takes a brief moment to reveal another facet of Ylva, Thorfinn's sister.