anyone read vinland saga

[EvilElitest]

i was recommended this and i read it on one manga. I had never heard of it, but it is actually quite complicated. As far as manga goes, it is quite realistic and very good quality
from
EE

[Tengu_temp]

I heard it's fun, but never read it. I imagine it to be more realistic Hellsing with vikings instead of vampires - dunno how much of that image is true.

[EvilElitest]

i don't think they are at all alike. Its actually very surprising how good it is, you don't expect it at first glance
from
EE

[Tengu_temp]

Its actually very surprising how good it is, you don't expect it at first glance


Actually I will, since I've never heard anyone who didn't like this manga.

[Fri]

Yeah, I read Vinland Saga. At first I'm not too interested, but after realizing that MAKOTO YUKIMURA wrote that...

Have you read Planetes, EE? Simply the most realistic sci-fi manga/anime that I've ever read. With amazing details, hard sciences, and so on.

So I read Vinland Saga. And liking it very much.

But I haven't read too far. Because, it's licensed in my country, and I have this habit on trying to buy licensed things that I like.

So sorry, I can't comment too much. But from what I read, It's an amazing and realistic (both in drawing style and story) action series.

[Wraithy]

Woah, Vinland saga has awesome up the whazzoo.
I think that comment demonstrates my view on it, and I try not to say awesome ever.
Thanks for recommending it to me EE.

[Tengu_temp]

While we're discussing awesome and vikings... (http://www.vikingkittens.com/)

[Oslecamo]

Quite good work. Anime meets viking sums it up pretty well. Most of the world follows quite realistic rules, it's a very nice recreation of the era, except for the main characters who seem to be imune to arrows and some other quircks for the sake of cool. Altough dual wielding axes is kinda cool.

[EvilElitest]

i've heard of planetes, but i've never read it sadly. It is suppose to be good

I like how Vinland saga can use the rule of cool in moderation along with a sense of realism, that requires a good deal of maturity.

Fri, can't you read it on one manga?
from
EE

[Fri]

I suppose I can read in Onemanga. But I prefer on reading printed version. I'm old fashioned like that, especially if it's easily available. Just my personal quirk. If it isn't readily available in other hand, I gladly read them in screen.

(I downloaded some classic book from project guttenberg for example, but I just can't enjoy them. I just have to print them. I guess I just like the taste of paper on my hand).

And I forgot who said something along "a book worth reading is a book worth buying" and/or "the highest compliment for an author is buying his book."

[EvilElitest]

I suppose I can read in Onemanga. But I prefer on reading printed version. I'm old fashioned like that, especially if it's easily available. Just my personal quirk. If it isn't readily available in other hand, I gladly read them in screen.

(I downloaded some classic book from project guttenberg for example, but I just can't enjoy them. I just have to print them. I guess I just like the taste of paper on my hand).

And I forgot who said something along "a book worth reading is a book worth buying" and/or "the highest compliment for an author is buying his book."

no i can understand that, i'm like that as well. I just can't find Vinland saga anywhere else sadly
from
EE

[13_CBS]

Ah, Vinland Saga. Few manga, or even visual media, portray 11th century armor and weapons as accurately as Vinland Saga does (though that's not really saying all that much).

Thorfinn the Viking Ninja FTW!

[EvilElitest]

Ah, Vinland Saga. Few manga, or even visual media, portray 11th century armor and weapons as accurately as Vinland Saga does (though that's not really saying all that much).

Thorfinn the Viking Ninja FTW!

oh it was you who mentioned it, thanks for that
from
EE

[Dode]

Oh, I thought you were talking about the actual Vinland Saga.

[Destichado]

Ehn... I dunno. I enjoyed it, but it felt... off.

It started out almost hyper-realistic, which I really appreciated, but then there were parts that were stupidly overblown later on, and without the element of fantasy or the supernatural that justifies them (as in Berserk), it left me cold. :smallannoyed:

[13_CBS]

Ehn... I dunno. I enjoyed it, but it felt... off.

It started out almost hyper-realistic, which I really appreciated, but then there were parts that were stupidly overblown later on, and without the element of fantasy or the supernatural that justifies them (as in Berserk), it left me cold. :smallannoyed:

It's manga, mate. It's as realistic as it's going to ever get. In fact, we're quite lucky Thorskyll the Tall didn't come out sporting stuff like this: http://images.elfwood.com/art/s/a/samu/viking.jpg

When it comes to Japanese comics, Vinland Saga is as accurate as they come. Dual wielding axes? Lifting huge boulders and throwing them onto ships? Count yourself lucky that Thorskyll wasn't screaming "TRI-CORNERED WHETSTONE OF THRYM" while throwing those rocks. :smallbiggrin:

[EvilElitest]

Ehn... I dunno. I enjoyed it, but it felt... off.

It started out almost hyper-realistic, which I really appreciated, but then there were parts that were stupidly overblown later on, and without the element of fantasy or the supernatural that justifies them (as in Berserk), it left me cold. :smallannoyed:

to be fair, it still keeps up general realism. The one dude is in fact a giant (by the medical term) so we have to cut him some slack
from
EE

[Destichado]

It's manga, mate. It's as realistic as it's going to ever get...
When it comes to Japanese comics, Vinland Saga is as accurate as they come...

Not really. Have you ever read Samurai Executioner (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Samurai_Executioner)?
Absolutely astounding series of manga, and almost painfully realistic and true to history. It's well worth your while to check it out.

[nothingclever]

If you want a manga with realistic and excellently drawn combat I recommend Vagabond. It's gone on very long and there is no bs supernatural stuff and very little if any need to suspend disbelief.

http://www.onemanga.com/Vagabond/

[13_CBS]

Not really. Have you ever read Samurai Executioner (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Samurai_Executioner)?
Absolutely astounding series of manga, and almost painfully realistic and true to history. It's well worth your while to check it out.

Can't say I have: if it isn't one Onemanga, I probably haven't read it.

Stuff like that's very rare though. I'm just glad Vinland Saga got a lot of the costumes right.

[Irenaeus]

As a Norwegian, I felt obligated to read it, and it is great fun.

I kind of loathe the main character, though, and I tend to flip through the overlong speed-striped duels. But often the background panels and the non-action sequences are very beautiful.

I certainly wouldn't have minded more realism, or at least a more saga-like unrealism, but it certainly works, and enough historical characters, events and groups are tossed into the mix to make me really happy (although Torkjell seems slightly overblown).

Oh, and some of the names sound really strange for Norwegians, but you can hardly fault the author for that. It's more of a fun detail.

Edit: But I liked being a dwarf. It seemed nice and unpretentious.

[Fri]

Ah, Vinland Saga. Few manga, or even visual media, portray 11th century armor and weapons as accurately as Vinland Saga does (though that's not really saying all that much).

Thorfinn the Viking Ninja FTW!


Ah, now everything make sense! Thorfinn is a VIKING NINJA!

[Closet_Skeleton]

(I downloaded some classic book from project guttenberg for example, but I just can't enjoy them. I just have to print them. I guess I just like the taste of paper on my hand).

I once read about an old poem (Christabel) that was available on the Internet but I ended up checking the author's name (Samual Coleridge Taylor, or is the other way round?) at the school library and just happened to find a collection of all his work and read it.

[EvilElitest]

If you want a manga with realistic and excellently drawn combat I recommend Vagabond. It's gone on very long and there is no bs supernatural stuff and very little if any need to suspend disbelief.

http://www.onemanga.com/Vagabond/

a dude gets killed by a head butt. So it isn't that far above vinland saga in terms of realism
from
EE

[Wraithy]

...I still say naruto is the most realistic manga out there.

Thorfinn the Viking Ninja, had a very angsty past, and if you ever heard it, you would kick him up the a***.

EDIT: I do hope my sarcasm got through there, ninjas wearing orange honestly?
Now pirates made of rubber on the other hand...

[EvilElitest]

...I still say naruto is the most realistic manga out there.

I can only respond to this through a

VIRTUAL KICK IN THE NADs :smalleek:
never imagine that again. It never happened
Big brother is watching you:smallwink:



Thorfinn the Viking Ninja, had a very angsty past, and if you ever heard it, you would kick him up the a***.
Actually the vikings did have ninjas. They fought a secret war against their arch rivals, the polar bear ninjas.....honest
from
EE

[Tengu_temp]

The most realistic manga is clearly Genshiken (and I'm perfectly aware that it's cheating). Well, if you don't under consideration the very probable theory that President is an alien.

[Closet_Skeleton]

The most realistic manga is clearly Genshiken (and I'm perfectly aware that it's cheating). Well, if you don't under consideration the very probable theory that President is an alien.

Does it entirely lack impossible expressions such as giant sweat drops and super deformed moments? Does it have Japanese people with natural hair colours that aren't black? Does it involve a group of people who are too quiky/cool to exist in real life?

[Tengu_temp]

Does it entirely lack impossible expressions such as giant sweat drops and super deformed moments?

Mostly. No super deformed style or giant sweat drops, but it uses some of the more realistic overblown anime expressions (I'm aware of the oxymoron here) fairly often.


Does it have Japanese people with natural hair colours that aren't black?

The only characters who don't have black or dark brown hair are foreigners or suspected of having it dyed.


Does it involve a group of people who are too quiky/cool to exist in real life?

Quirky and cool? Yes. Too quirky and cool to exist in real life? No, and I know from my own experience.

[nothingclever]

a dude gets killed by a head butt. So it isn't that far above vinland saga in terms of realism
from
EE
I didn't say it was very far but now that I think about it, it actually is. I don't remember any part where a person is actually killed by a headbutt and not simply knocked out and if that does happen I still feel it is much more realistic.

No one throws anyone several meters both vertically and horizontally into a tree just because they happen to be very large. No one survives being thrown that far either and shakes it off to fight some more. There is also a significant lack of stupid ninja tricks or superhuman durability which the main character in Vinland Saga increasingly exhibits as time goes on. The simple fact he doesn't get split in half when trying to block the huge guy's weapons is unrealistic.

Vinland Saga's main character is roughly half the size of everyone he fights and is still highly successful. That's super unrealistic right there. Oh and he fights a guy who's what at least 50% larger than the average guy and superhumanly strong yet can survive.

[EvilElitest]

I didn't say it was very far but now that I think about it, it actually is. I don't remember any part where a person is actually killed by a headbutt and not simply knocked out and if that does happen I still feel it is much more realistic.

No one throws anyone several meters both vertically and horizontally into a tree just because they happen to be very large. No one survives being thrown that far either and shakes it off to fight some more.

I read it today, and i realized i had seen a movie a few years ago ether based upon it, or visa versa.

The manga is not realistic in terms of fights, less so than vinland saga, where at least that one guy is in fact a giant.

In the first 40 chapters we have

1) a man's head chetting caved in
2) the main character throwing a rock half the size of a man
3) bashing a man's skull into a tree
4) Running a man through the neck with a stick
5) bashing a man's head in with a bokken.....which isn't that bad considering
6) a single guy slaughtered at least a dozen armed bandits. The main guy doesn't start out as a samerai, so how he learns to use a katanna is beyond me but hey
7) the amount of damage the main guy can take

Now this isn't to say vinland saga is any more realistic, but you can't claim this one is more realistic, because it quite frankly uses the same stuff, just in Japan. I don't know enough to judge historical accuracy of course



There is also a significant lack of stupid ninja tricks or superhuman durability which the main character in Vinland Saga increasingly exhibits as time goes on. The simple fact he doesn't get split in half when trying to block the huge guy's weapons is unrealistic.
1) The main guy can take a lot of damage, and hacks his way through hoards of mooks quite easily. In the beginning, he does so with a bokken no less (through he could have chosen an actual sword, a little odd there
2) Dispite Vinlan land sagas lack of realism, as far as manga's go its pretty good. Most of the stuff, other than the main character is explained, and even named characters don't avoid problems. I mean, the beserker dies of infection. The giant has shown permanent injury and most of his powers are explained by his massive height and strength (now remember, there are giants in real life, and he is of a large ethnic group). the Duel long axes is a big much but hey
3) And i don't think anybody has actually tried blocking his weapons so far actually



Vinland Saga's main character is roughly half the size of everyone he fights and is still highly successful. That's super unrealistic right there. Oh and he fights a guy who's what at least 50% larger than the average guy and superhumanly strong yet can survive.

He losses the first time, and cheats the second time. He is still unrealistic, but hardly absurd
from
EE

[black dragoon]

Just started reading it. I like it so far. Let's here for an entire society of raiders!:smallbiggrin:

[Closet_Skeleton]

I read it today, and i realized i had seen a movie a few years ago ether based upon it, or visa versa.

Vagabond is based off the novel Musashi, which also has a film based off it. The novel is based off the life of real life badass Miyamoto Musashi but is mostly ficitonal.


5) bashing a man's head in with a bokken.....which isn't that bad considering

Bokken are lethal weapons. That's why kendo practioners have to use shinai instead. There's no reason why a bokken would be any less lethal than a quarterstaff. The manga may exagerate the gore but a good blow to the head from a bokken can easily kill someone.

[EvilElitest]

Vagabond is based off the novel Musashi, which also has a film based off it. The novel is based off the life of real life badass Miyamoto Musashi but is mostly ficitonal.


Yeah, i saw the film, it had Mafunie in it



Bokken are lethal weapons. That's why kendo practioners have to use shinai instead. There's no reason why a bokken would be any less lethal than a quarterstaff. The manga may exagerate the gore but a good blow to the head from a bokken can easily kill someone.
certainly, which is why i said it isn't that bad. however, the fact he keeps using it when there are perfectly good katanna's lying around is a little odd, and he kills several people with swords using one. cool yes. Realistic, not so much
from
EE

[Poison_Fish]

I enjoy the works of the author, so i'm enjoying the read.

Granted, the manga that still holds a special place in my heart is Blade of the Immortal. Though BLAME is starting to come close. In BotI's case, I just enjoy how the action scenes are drawn out along with a fairly complex story.

[EvilElitest]

I enjoy the works of the author, so i'm enjoying the read.

Granted, the manga that still holds a special place in my heart is Blade of the Immortal. Though BLAME is starting to come close. In BotI's case, I just enjoy how the action scenes are drawn out along with a fairly complex story.

wait, what other stuff has this guy done? He is a very good writer as far as manga goes
from
EE

[Poison_Fish]

wait, what other stuff has this guy done? He is a very good writer as far as manga goes
from
EE

Not much, really. Planetes was just extremely good. Wiki link of Makoto Yukimura (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Makoto_Yukimura)

[EvilElitest]

Not much, really. Planetes was just extremely good. Wiki link of Makoto Yukimura (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Makoto_Yukimura)

oh pity, i hoped he did more. Oh well
from
EE

[Fri]

Yeah, i saw the film, it had Mafunie in it


certainly, which is why i said it isn't that bad. however, the fact he keeps using it when there are perfectly good katanna's lying around is a little odd, and he kills several people with swords using one. cool yes. Realistic, not so much
from
EE

Because that's how the legend/history goes? Musashi was supposed to travel around and beat people with his bokken in his youth. Of course folk legend also said that he fought giant lizard once...

I really love the novel by eiji yukimura, and I like vagabond. The most interesting thing for me is the reinterpretation of the characters. The vagabond version of seijuro was awesome (a flamboyant master swordman, with obfuscating stupidity? awesome. In the novel he's just a flamboyant playboy that live from his father's name). I prefer the novel's kojiro though. In the novel he was a handsome, genius, and very ambitious young swordman. Made a perfect contrast with musashi. In the manga he's... a deaf, mute, autistic genius. Huh.

I do have problem with it's drawn out scene though.

I haven't watch the movie though.

[EvilElitest]

I'm not saying it is bad because of the legend, just that it isn't realistic, which is something different

the movie had really bad editing. I find the manga hard to keep my attiention, i don't think the characters are potrayed in a very interesting manner. I haven't read the book however
from
EE

[Fri]

Yeah. I like it not for the manga itself, but because I like the novel. It's like... if you found a manga version of lord of the rings. (though you probably would hate it so much for changing the personality of aragorn and sauron or something).

[Lemur]

I'm not saying it is bad because of the legend, just that it isn't realistic, which is something different

the movie had really bad editing. I find the manga hard to keep my attiention, i don't think the characters are potrayed in a very interesting manner. I haven't read the book however
from
EE

In his writings, Musashi does state a preference for the bokken, as he valued its ability to break bones. But I don't want to get caught up in a realism debate, especially considering how Vinland Saga and Vagabond are basically on the same level. Something like Lone Wolf and Cub might be closer to high realism, although I haven't read enough of it to truly support the notion.

Anyway, I'm curious as to which movie about Musashi you saw. You should watch the Samurai Trilogy, directed by Hiroshi Inagaki and starring Toshiro Mifune. That's the good stuff.

[RobotPerfomance]

I have.... Oh wait you didn't mean one of the icelandic sagas. Never mind then.

[EvilElitest]

In his writings, Musashi does state a preference for the bokken, as he valued its ability to break bones. But I don't want to get caught up in a realism debate, especially considering how Vinland Saga and Vagabond are basically on the same level. Something like Lone Wolf and Cub might be closer to high realism, although I haven't read enough of it to truly support the notion.

Anyway, I'm curious as to which movie about Musashi you saw. You should watch the Samurai Trilogy, directed by Hiroshi Inagaki and starring Toshiro Mifune. That's the good stuff.

that was it actually. Mifune is always good, but the directing/editing weren't that good. I'd say that manga is less realistic than vinland saga, because it is based upon a legend, so has to be epic like that. Its not bad for that but


Fri, i wouldn't mind a LOTRS adaptation as long as it was properly done. PJ was a horrible editer so the movies were only decent

I don't think LOTRS would be a good manga however
from
EE

[Irenaeus]

For a comic set in medieval Europe with a high degree of realism, I'd heartily reccomend Les Tours de Bois-Maury (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Les_Tours_de_Bois-Maury) by Hermann. I have unfortunately no idea what it is called in English.

I think it it interesting that Vinland Saga, despite it being really unrealistic when compared to Les Tours de Bois-Maury, will occasionally contain imagery and depictions of armour and weapons that are superior.

[Serpentine]

Aww. I, too, thought this was about the actual Vinland sagas :smallfrown: ...or is it a manga based on them? If so, which one/s? I can see that being pretty cool... If it is based on those, then you probably can't fault it too much for any lack of realism - one of the first things that happens is one guy skids across an icy lake (or something), jumps up and decapitates another guy as he goes past, and later a woman scares off the skraelings chasing all the men by pulling down her dress and smacking her breast with a sword.

[Irenaeus]

Aww. I, too, thought this was about the actual Vinland sagas :smallfrown: ...or is it a manga based on them? If so, which one/s? I can see that being pretty cool... If it is based on those, then you probably can't fault it too much for any lack of realism - one of the first things that happens is one guy skids across an icy lake (or something), jumps up and decapitates another guy as he goes past, and later a woman scares off the skraelings chasing all the men by pulling down her dress and smacking her breast with a sword.So far at least, it does not have anything to do with Vinland. The setting seems to focus upon the danish invasion of East Anglia in 1013, with many other smaller events being a part of the story.

Of course the saga litterature contains owerblown chatacters and events, and it works fine. I would have preferred it to have an ancient Nordic style instead of a more traditional manga one, but as I said, it works fine.

[Serpentine]

LAAAAAAAAAAME. Call a story "Vinland Sagas" and have it have nothing to do with the totally awesome Vinland Sagas except Vikings? LAME.

[Irenaeus]

LAAAAAAAAAAME. Call a story "Vinland Sagas" and have it have nothing to do with the totally awesome Vinland Sagas except Vikings? LAME.The manga's name is singular. Vinland Saga

Well, the main character is from Iceland, and it occurs less than 20 years later that The Saga of Eric the Red, but yeah. It doesn't have much of anything to do with the Vinland Sagas. That said, I personally prefer the setting used, if not the story.

Also, I don't think neither the Saga of Erik the Red, nor The Saga of the Greenlanders is quite as unrealistic as you state. Skating across a lake and then ambushing somebody is not especially unlikely (although I can't seem to remember the event you describe), and people have been afraid of crazy (and armed) foreigners behaving strangely as long as anybody has been writing history.

I would like Njåls Saga or Egil Skallagrimssons Saga adapted as a comic.

[Serpentine]

Alright then, I'll be a bit more specific: Call a story "Vinland Sagas" and have it have nothing to do with Vinland?

I just skimmed through Vinland Sagas and I couldn't spot the skating story. It's possible it was in an excerpt from another text I read during that class or something. But no, not necessarily really unrealistic, but certainly over-the-top ("There's plenty of fat around my entrails!" upon receiving an arrow wound...).

I think this manga sounds interesting, but I'm disappointed it doesn't actually have anything to do with the Vinland Sagas.

[Lemur]

That's not quite fair. Leif Ericson has a cameo appearance in the early chapters, and in addition to his stories, the idea of a paradise like "Vinland" is revisited periodically with different characters, although they typically treat it with a mythical status (no one really believes Leif's stories either). I expect the story eventually leads the characters across the sea at some point, but it probably won't happen any time soon.

[Irenaeus]

Yeah, the name is not very stronly related to the story, at least not yet, Leif's ramblings nonwithstanding. It might be a pointer as to where the story might be going.
I just skimmed through Vinland Sagas and I couldn't spot the skating story. It's possible it was in an excerpt from another text I read during that class or something.I do that all the time.


But no, not necessarily really unrealistic, but certainly over-the-top ("There's plenty of fat around my entrails!" upon receiving an arrow wound...).Take five points for that quote,Tormod Kolbrunarskald is dead hard, all right! Not only after being hit by an arrow, but after having pulled out the arrowhead himself and having looked at the white and red fibers from his heart.

Yeah. There will be a few very tall tales in the saga litterature, but they don't throw each other a several hundred meters, kill dozens of enemies, or fight mulitiple opponents unarmed. They do in the manga, so the type of unrealistic behaviour is quite different.

[EvilElitest]

i think Vinland is going to become important eventually, the've already referenced to it
from
EE

[Destichado]

Alright then, I'll be a bit more specific: Call a story "Vinland Sagas" and have it have nothing to do with Vinland?

I get the distinct impression that this will be where the main character eventually winds up, looking for peace.

And it's not that bad. Just think, in "Berserk", it took more than ten years and two hundred comics to find out where the comic got its name. :smallwink:

[EvilElitest]

I get the distinct impression that this will be where the main character eventually winds up, looking for peace.

And it's not that bad. Just think, in "Berserk", it took more than ten years and two hundred comics to find out where the comic got its name. :smallwink:

touche, i must say, you can't argue with that.

in the same way, Vinland has something to do with the story, while in Beserk the idea of rage itself is a big part of the story
from
EE