Are you sad? I thought it was obvious.
Hello and welcome to our weep there yet in exploration and education and anime. I'm your anime idiot, patrick dugan.
I am an anime expert, B hollander.
And I'm brenna mccullough, your anime leaf. erickson hanga dinga. durgan.
Hanga dinga durgan, indeed. We're ready. It's time. We have gathered all the journalists in the world and they agreed, okay, it's.
Time we'll give you this one.
We don't have direct things mimicking what's happening. So yeah, we're going to finally circle back to something. Isn't that wonderful?
Wonderful.
We're committing to it something we said we would do and we're actually doing it. Wow.
The first time I personally have shown follow through in this podcast.
I don't know, we made it to 200. I feel like we're doing pretty good.
Fair. But what are we watching this week?
It's been 200 episodes. I figured I've been trying to watch this one probably since episode 50. So let's get to it. Let's finally stick to it. But this week we're watching vinlin Saga.
Yes.
Are either of you familiar with it beyond our constant delaying of it?
Well, since you have wanted to watch it for the podcast, we had some friends over and one of them was actually talking about how good it is. So hey, that's good.
I guess no one likes it.
A recommendation out in the wild speaks wonders in the anime community.
His mom likes it. Yeah.
And do you happen to know offhand how perverted she is?
Unfortunately not. I mean, this guy this guy calls friends, his name is jorge. listens to the podcast. He's a very nice guy. So I think he's crossed. His mom is also a good person. Sure she is.
Be weird if they had a very strange relationship and they watch anime together. But you know what family, it's a weird thing.
Their relationship is strained because they watch it.
That makes more sense.
Just kidding, mom, I don't want to.
Talk about my finances anymore. I'm trying to watch one piece.
It's a big rift on my mom's side of the family. They love bleach. And boy, howdy am I? Just fine. Never talking to that side of the family ever again.
They disowned you.
What's yours on foctelle. I was like dead. You're dead to me. Gone by.
Brendan, I hate to tell you. You don't hate them because they don't like bleach. You don't like bleach because you don't like them. It's very deep seated therapy now, folks.
Oh, boy.
Yeah. We're going to go to break. We're going to help Brendan through some breakthroughs and maybe watch some anime.
Excellent.
It's going to be a long break. It makes sense now with the horses. Every time with the horses.
Oh, my god. A horse went by was so loud.
They're trying to intimidate.
They learn how to drive.
But I'm proud of you, Brendan. We really went through it with you, boy.
We went through a metamorphosis. And that's time. All right, back to the podcast. So what happened in episode one?
Tell us. Throw your tears.
Here we go. Episode one. Let's get into it. It opens up with a guy standing in a wheat field. We love it. You love to see it. We've all seen gladiator see a woman with a baby, and they're calling out to him, and he's like, ah, the dream heaven. As he steps forward towards them, he hits something and hears a clink. And he looks down, and it's a bunch of dead people. He's on a long ship in the Northern Sea, and they're at war. They're fighting, and he's surrounded by bodies.
Yay.
Good times.
Starting off with a bang.
Truly, it wouldn't be Vikings if it wasn't perpetually in war. So, yeah, we see a large battle going on, and his body gets up next to him, fighting off some guys. He's like, hey, you dozed off there. And he's holding up a shield, blocking against a bunch of arrows. Just the casual back and forth conversation between two bros in the midst of battle where everyone's dying left and right, and they're discussing their battle strategy, what they're going to do. And we see our main guy just run and try to jump from longboat to longboat with ease and killing. I'm going to say rough estimate here. Not an exaggeration. Like, 30 guys without blinking.
Like many men. He's very talented, very strong, very sensual, very hot.
He's moisturized. He has a ponytail. We love him.
This is the new assassin's creed game, right?
Don't give them ideas, Brendan.
They already did.
Vikings.
That's what I was saying.
We'll work through my assassin's creed baggage in another episode. I got okay, but yeah, this guy is just slaughtering people left to right, just cutting through them like butter, like, truly insane. And we see while he's on one of the boats, it starts hailing, and he's a little caught off guard. And then he gets hit in the shoulder by an arrow and doesn't even flinch, like, at all. And it's like, this guy's somewhere else. He's an absolute machine. And we see as the arrow came from another boat that's crashing into the boat he was on, as a few guys start running overboard and trying to attack him. And as he's fighting with one guy, he wrestles him off the ship, and they both fall into the waters. And while the one guy's, like, trying to strangle him and our main boy here just takes his sword out of the guy's sheath and stabs him with his own sword and kills them. And then while he's still underwater, he's like, hey, it's a good time for me to dip on out. And we see him swim.
Goodbye.
You know what? Not loving this. Not fun. I'm going to head on out now. And we see him swim to shore, and as he gets out, he looks back out into the ocean and sees all the boats fighting with each other, just that warrants all of them, like, on fire. Just a huge scene. And then we get the opening. Pretty standard action anime, opening sequence songs. Nice. Gets a little mettaly at the end with some screaming.
I liked it.
Yeah, I thought this was an absolute banger because it truly is just a screamo song I would have listened to in 2008.
Yeah, and then we cut back, too. We see a little kid pulling up a bucket of water from a river, and we see him bringing it home. We see that it is 15 years after the battle in the opening sequence. And as he gets home, his sister asks him, hey, thorfin. He's like an orphan of thorpen.
The names are good.
Actually, a lot of these names are just like, imagine a viking name. That's them. That's all of the names. It's exactly what you think they are.
I know exactly two Norwegian names, and we're going to use them, but not exactly.
And we see. Yeah, she says, go handle the livestock for her. She's doing some other shores. And he's like, will lose this, and runs off. And as he's taking care of the livestock, he stares out into the ocean. The boy yearns for adventure. And then we cut to him inside of a house, listening to, like, a storyteller with a bunch of other kids and the storytellers talking to them about discovering a new continent. And they said this land was beautiful, had huge fields and fruit trees as far as the eye could see, and it was an absolute paradise. They called it vinlin. This is the vinlin saga. This is the thing.
It's the title. He said it.
He said the thing. And as it comes back out of, like, the fantasy, he's like, painting comes back to and he's smoking on his pipe. And I forget how he says it, but it's basically like, ah, thanks for telling us. You know, that story is as true as my name is leif erickson. He's the guy. spongebob guy.
Hey, I know that guy.
God knows it's not from history. It's from spongebob.
I hate to say it, I completely missed that.
And I.
Truly was just calling him mustache Man this entire time. Totally did not. I miss the most crucial detail possible. I think I need to stop this recording and go watch it again because I didn't appreciate it.
I got to watch it with the new context.
My opening bit finally pays off. Finally, after episode 200, it's a new era of are we there yet? I'm being relevant for once bit clarity. I can.
And you're certified now, so they're landing better.
That's what it is. It's going to be more work for me. And yeah, he tells the story and all the kids are enamored by it, and they start asking questions about the new land and stuff and how it's different than iceland. And I don't know why I wrote iceland. We find out later. They're in greenland. greenland near iceland. But, yeah, they're asking about finland. It's a lot of land. And Lee erickson is talking about this headdress and pipe he got from some of his new friends from finland. I'm not 100% sure, but I'm thinking finland to Canada. And thorpen is very admirable of this guy. He's admiring this guy a lot. He's like, old golly gee, lee Fartson so cool, said no one. And some other kid speaks up and he's like, you're full of shit, old man. The story is all made up. What are you talking about? It's like my dad says, you're a loser because you don't get into any of the fights. You're a coward and you're not brave, so that means you're also a liar, so you're making up stuff to seem cooler. And Levargan is like, come on. I'm not that thorpen. You like me, right? You think I'm cool, right? Thorfin's like, if my dad says you're a warrior, I believe you. But I don't know.
I'm only allowed to like you if my dad does basically, please, I need.
The validation of children. Then you'll think, I'm a real warrior.
I'm a real tough guy, aren't I? Six year old. So they wrap up the story, and Thorpen's dad, thor's, tells him, like, all right, wrap it up, Christmas. Send all the kids home. So a guy scores them all home, and while they're leaving, we get a bit of a snowstorm going on outside. And then we cut away in the snowstorm to someone else. And it's a man in chains hobbling his way towards the village in the storm. And then we cut back to the house with all the kids gone, the adults around talking, saying how people in greenland where they are starving, it's a rough environment and they're not doing greatly. And we see Alpha, Thorvin's sister, comes in with some more livestock. Seems like they're doing well. But, yeah, greenland is not in a great position right now, and it seems to be like the dead of winter, so it's the rough period.
Well, greenland. Yeah, greenland's. Just like that, I think.
Yeah. iceland's the one with green and greenland's the one with ice. It's intentionally confusing.
It's a fun joke that they played on us. Whoever named them I forget, was it the Vikings?
Whatever. I think it was actually named that too dissuade, like invaders. So they went to the wrong one. And Lee talks about how his brother is making plans to leave since they can't survive the oncoming winter and they got aspirations to go into vinland again, we cut to Thorvin having a dream of being an explorer out at sea. He's still six in his dream, which I love. I love the idea of the child captain who's like, oh, no, Mr. thorpen, we got a big monster coming. What do we do? It's like, I'll save us it's, like, hilarious. It's always funny to mention that I love one piece. I have a one piece reference later. It is the same thing. But yes. thorpen is having a dream of being an adventurer and slaying the Yargamander, the world serpent, and he's woken up by his sister in bed with him and squeezes them for warmth. And when he wakes up, he asks her what the adults are talking about, and he's like, don't worry about it. Your kid. Don't get too wrapped up in this nest. And the next day, we see them shoveling snow off the roof. And elfa. That's going to be rough for me. I think it's elva ilva sister is complaining.
That's how I was pronouncing it, too.
It's a northeastern accent. We both have. Sister, sister. And yeah, she's up on the roof with thors. Her dad complaining about shoveling the snow off of it. And they're like, Why don't we just buy a sleeve? We got enough livestock. We can make some money and just buy someone to do this for us. And thoris is like, no, we do things our own way. We're not just going to cop out like that. And while she's shoveling snow off you.
Lazy gen beers.
She falls off the roof while they're shoveling. He's like, oh, are you okay? She's like, yeah, but I fell on something weird and starts digging into the snow blow. Turns out it's the guy from the snowstorm who was walking through with the chains on. He died.
He doesn't look good.
He wasn't doing good before a basic full human dropped on him.
True.
And then he slept it off in the snow. In a blizzard. Always sleep off your concussions in snow. And we cut to Thorvin is out of the shipyard helping Leaf patch up a boat, putting a new coat of shellac on it. I don't know boats. And he's asking Leaf like, hey, how much that story about Vinland was true? Like, you're a known liar. Is it really there? And Leaf is like, yeah, you got to trust me, man. Thoroughly. Says, like, I want to go on exploring too, and go on big adventures and fight our enemies and stuff. But dad's being stingy and won't take his literal six year old child to war. And leif is like, yeah, no, he's a good parent by not doing that.
Sorry, kid.
He's being very careful, which is good of him. And Leaf tells him, like, a little quick story about a previous trip that Lee was on where they got ship wrecked along some, like, ice floats, and the ship eventually got crushed and they ran out of food. Leaf was the only one to survive. How? Convenience. Leaf ate people 100%. He ate so much through. And thorpen asked, like, why do they work so hard to live in such a rough, like, uncaring and, like, inhospitable environment? Like, not by choice. There my boy.
I ask myself the same thing every day.
Oh, boy, love. Almost October and being 110 degrees, he asked, why do they live in such a rough environment? Meanwhile, we come back to thor's, back at the house, trying to save the dying man. He's doing his chest compressions on him, and they're trying to warm them up. And, yeah, we see all of his hands and legs. Like, all of his limbs are just, like, pitch black from just necrosis and stuff, the frostbite. And the sister is like, why are we even trying to save him? He's an escaped slave, and he's dying. He's pretty much dead already. Like, let him go. Let the person collect them. We're just throw, you know, why bother? And we cut back to Leaf with thorpen. And he's talking about how their ancestors escaped from Norway, saying that they they're in this rough environment because they escaped from Norway. They were fleeing the forces of harold I. He proclaimed himself King of Norway and basically said, like, you can obey me or die or get out. So they said, all right, I guess we're we're hoping ship. So they left. And Thorpen's like, no, you're a liar. That's not true. My dad and his ancestors were brave. They would never run away. It's like, my boy, my kids. It's not that easy. So thorpen throws a little hissy fit and runs home. And he comes home to see his dad trying to save the escaped slave. And we see right as thorpe and comes home, the man starts, like, coughing and gets his heart started back up again by thor's. And he's brought back to life. And thor starts asking him questions. Are you from with anyone else? yada. yada. And the man asks if he's going to be sent back to Lord Healthton's, who we find out is his master and lives beyond the mountains, wherever that is, the magical land beyond the mountain. And then we see a man then a man runs into Lord oh. Then we see cut to the harbor, where we see Lord Healthton's ship arriving. And we see, like, a man run into one of his guys. And they start, like, arguing and bickering back and forth. Surprise, surprise. Lord Health and is looking for his escape slave.
And what a coincidence.
What a so.
I know where he is.
I just saw that fella not too long ago. Hey, chain around his neck, black arms and legs, dying. I know this guy.
Likes coughing a lot, hates living, just.
Can'T stand the stuff. And we see, like, the group kind of arguing back and forth. And we see the Lord Health and making this big proclamation saying a chain is the only thing that should be around people's neck. Not gold, not jewelry. It sets the law in place and keeps people in order. Real understanding, diplomatic fellow. And then we see his gang arguing with the gang that's circling around him at the harbor. And two guys start arguing like, hey, you're the guy that cut off my arm last year. Well, you cut off my brother's leg. It's like I'll tell you. And they immediately started, like, going at it. So Lord Healthton walks up, whirling around the chain in his hand, wraps it around the guy from his own crew, and pulls the chain back, just ripping the guy's face off clean. And it's like, wow, sick as fuck, gnarly yikes. Basically saying the guy was saying, I'll kill you for taking my arm. I don't care what the law says. And Lord Health and saying, the law is the only thing that keeps us civilized as he rips a man's face off.
You took my eye. Now I have to take your eye. Can we lay this on any thicker?
The metaphor nea. He says, like, he the law will not be disrespected in his presence. Meanwhile, we cut back to the thor's household, and, yeah, the slave is not doing well. He is dying fast. And as he sees thor's and his wife hovering above him, he calls out to his mom and dad and his sister or his brother, I think. So he's getting, like, the hallucinations, and thors tells him all about finland, about this paradise across the sea, and they'll take him with him, and he'll be safe there, and he'll live in peace. Basically just giving him something to think about as he passes. And as the man passes, lord Healthton kicks in the door to their house. They found them, and he says, that's my slave. Give them back. And Torfin's sister is like, oh, yeah, we wanted to warm up. We didn't know who it was.
We were literally keeping him warm for you.
Fresh off the stove pipe and hot. And thor's says, she's basically saying, we'll give him back to you right away. And thoris is like, no, I'll pay you for him. How much did you pay for him? I'll give you what do you got, like, one and a half sheeps? I'll give you three. Lord Health and is like, no, he escaped. I have to send a message to the other slaves, so I need him back. It's not about price. And thor's is like, double it. Lord Health and say, no, he's like, double it again. quadruple it. So he ends up offering him eight full sheep for this escape slave.
Eight full sheep? As opposed to what?
One and a half.
You get the meat, I guess so.
You do know what happens to the sheep after he gets them, right?
Yeah, you keep them and you keep them as pests, and you shear them when they need to be sheared.
And you take grass.
Oh, yeah. You count them when you have to fall asleep.
Yeah, it's just funny to say it's. A half of a sheep.
Half a sheep. It walks around real weird.
Yeah.
So he ends up offering him eight sheep for this slave who is acting on his very deathbed right here. All right? And Lord Halveston is like, hey, that's a deal is a deal, man. I love the law and all, but that's that's a bargain. So as he's leaving, he tells thors, he's like, do you really think you just freed this man from his chains? Do you really think your efforts were not in vain? And then we cut to Sister crying on top of a gravesite of the slave who died immediately after that scene. And Thorpen's like, oh, are you sad that the band passed away? And she's like, no, we gave away eight sheep for a dead body. Like, fair, I get it. And then Thorvin asked about the story of his family. He asked his dad. He's like, are we actually from Norway? Do we flee from a king and run away like cowards? thor's like, yeah, pretty much, as far as I know it. And I think I wasn't super clear. I think he was he fought in the battles he had Norway 15 years ago. I think that's what the opening battle was. But I'm not super sure if it was that recent or if it was just like a skirmish or something. But, yeah, thor is basically confirms, like, yes, we ran away from Norway. That's why we're here, and we didn't win that fight. And thor's ask where they escaped from and if they needed what? My notes suck. And basically saying is, that why we save the slave? Because he ran away from people he didn't want to fight against. And we ran away from people we didn't want to fight against. Drawing the parallels. And then we get a shot of some mean looking viking sailing, and then we get another shot of thor's weapon in its chest. And that's the end of episode one.
We start out episode two. It's Saturday, so it's viking bath day, and this is a flashback. We're all having a great, grand time. All of the boys are naked in the river. It's great. But, oh, no. Those tricky English who we're in a war with, because it's the year 1005 where they sneak up and attack. All the Vikings in the water, caught.
Them with their pants down, literally.
And then they cut back to current day, and we see all the kids fighting. They're using toy swords, having a fake battle. And we see two kids laying down in the snow, dead. And they're like, we're so small and weak. One of these was thorfin, right?
Yes.
Okay, cool.
Because why else are we watching?
I wrote down two kids, and then I was like, Wait, I think I learned his name after this point. But yeah, he's like, since I'm just a six year old, I always get knocked out by the big kids first. We're not courageous enough to go to valhalla like the rest of the kids. And also, it really made me think, hey, if you're training to fight, don't let the weakest ones get out and then sit out of the battle so.
They can't train anymore.
That seems counterproductive.
You want to be good at the sport? Sit on the bench forever. Wait a minute.
But yeah. So we see mustache Man, Aka Leaf erickson, he's packing up his boat, and Thorpen's like, hey, where are you going, old timer? He's like, well, I got to sail back to Norway. Got to do a bunch of trading. Got to get some wine for Christmas time. You know those Christians we love Christ here.
Oh, boy. Valentaler.
And thorpen's like, oh, can I go with you? He's like, no. In fact, why don't you go tell your dad that some warships are coming and look over the horizon and just see a big boat on its way in? So we see thors hanging out with a bunch of other hot dads. All right, I just wrote down buff dad pot time. Because they're just scrubbing, like, a single pot in the kitchen.
How many hot dads does it take to clean a pot? I don't care. I just like looking at them.
I'll do all the research possible to find out. So they see the ship coming. So everyone goes and sees what the hubbub is about, and they just see a ship full of warriors. And we hear people talking, like, oh, those aren't just run of the mill soldiers are warriors. And they're, like, unflinching. But once thor's walks up, Captain blonde's flat top man by the name of his name. Yes. This one I did catch because it's Floky.
Jesus Christ. I cannot believe it. It's floky and thor's.
Thor and loki. It's like, no, those are copyrighted by Marvel. Now we have to make them legally dissimilar. FLOKI. nailed it. Perfect.
These character names come from the venice boardwalk T shirt shop.
It's a weird, off color of normal designs. We know.
Yeah. So they got two names. They're like, thor great great main character. Main character's. Son, let's go. thor again.
We'll mo again. Run it back.
And what about, like, his brother in arms?
FLOKI?
I'm sorry. loki. Oh, no, that's a god. His name is he's not a god.
That's silly, FLOKI, he's a god.
Loki is a god.
No, FLOKI is not.
Oh, okay.
FLOKI is more of a goddamn no.
I don't like this guy.
He looks like a gi.
Joe. He's voiced by Keith Silver. Scene I'm biased. I'm always a sucker for him, but.
He'S in charge, and he's like, thor, it's been so long. So he calls for aid, and he takes them back to his house, and they're talking about stuff. So I'm getting the timeline mixed up, and it's coming back to me now, because while I watched it dubbed, all the, like, text was not translated. So I think I said was a flashback of the viking attack at the beginning. I don't think it was, right?
Yeah, it was like a flashback in like, last week, but it was, like, current times. Yeah, okay.
I think when I initially watched it, I was like, oh, this is like, you know, the format of the last episode. We have a 15 years ago situation, and then we jump to the future. But that makes sense with his info. So FLOKI says that his men were attacked while they were naked in that bath massacre. One of the people caught up in it was, like, a Danish nobleman's daughter or relative. So he's pissed off, and he's gathering his armies to also go invade England. So FLOKI is gathering. He's getting the band back together. He's gathering all of the yams viking warriors, all of the greatest hits. We're doing an expendable situation, but we have, like every kid in the village is listening in at the door. So they're like, oh, yum, Vikings.
What?
That sounds so hardcore. And they're like, if you join us in the invasion, this is your chance to make up for deserting us in the middle of babel.
Yikes.
That's right. You thought you tricked us, and we all thought you were dead, but here I am calling your bluff. So please. And as they hear people listening in on the conversation, all the kids, FLOKI is like, be a real shame if war came to this area and all these people you're trying to keep out of war end up experiencing war. huh? So as all the kids run away, they're like, we're going to war. This is so rad. We can finally show off what badass soldiers we are. All that sort of hero idyllic views of war. And they're all excited until they get down to the docks and they make eye contact with one of the actual viking warriors, and he's just, like, dead eye and just, like, staring them down. And they're like, we're not you mean we might have to try to kill someone like that? Oh, weird.
Maybe not.
So beverkson gives the backstory. Like, young's Vikings were the most elite mercenaries. They were the fiercest battle. You've seen an anime. So flaky goes out and proclaims to the town that thors agreed to provide a warship. And whoever in the town wishes to fight, you're welcome. And all the young folk are like, we're going to war. Isn't this great? This is the best day of my life. And thor's is sad for some reason.
Weird. It's almost like he's the only one that's actually experienced war and has seen it with his own two eyes. And it's not as great as these children think it is.
Should we maybe respect his opinion on his first?
No?
Okay, good.
I think he's being a bitch anyway, but I'm the tough guy.
I know what I'm talking about. I'm 15.
So seeing him all bummed out, he ends up telling his wife and leif erickson how basically the whole backstory of he was this badass soldier, he had a change of heart. Mid battle and had to choose a more peaceful life. But it's time for him to take responsibility, because deserters, he was due for execution immediately. So for him to get a chance to redeem his name, he's like, all right, I have to do the honorable thing, or else I'll have to kill all the assassins they send after me again. You've seen anime. But all the kids are dragging the big warship of their village out. They're all excited and talking about it. They're all trying. They see leif erickson still there, and they're like, hey, you were actively leaving yesterday. What's up? And he's like, oh, once that chip came in, I delayed my trip, so I'll go out with you. It'll be safer.
They scare me.
Yeah. So we see the kids are play fighting again. This time, they're like, oh, there are actual stakes. We're really training now. And thorpen again gets knocked out, but this time, he doesn't go down. He doesn't play by the rules, and he goes out and just starts beating the shit out of a bunch of, like, ten year olds.
He gets knocked down, but he got up again.
He takes a whiskey trick. He takes a vocal trick.
He gave their tubs a good thumping, and he ends up breaking one of the kids arms.
Wolf, there is truly nothing more terrifying to me than a bloodthirsty child with no concept of morality.
Yeah. Especially all these kids are like, no, I'm the main character. No, I'm the main character. And this brooding little could either be a Chosen One or Dark Lord. I'm the main character. Yeah, okay.
He's in the opening.
We know he's the main character. Yeah. Everyone else is like, hot popped you in the head. You're down. thorpen snaps the kid's arm in half. He's like you're dead. Jesus, kid. Pull back. Pull it back.
So dad brings him to thors to fix the broken arm, and all the kids are like, yeah, your your son did that. He's like, oh, shit. Well, that's whack not great for my whole pacifism thing. But the other kid's dad is like, oh, but, I mean, he's six, and he's beating the shit out of ten year olds. He's quite the warrior. Probably takes after you. And we see all the older teens and young adults actually suiting up in armor for the first time, and they're like, oh, no, I look like a badass. No, you no, I'm better looking than you. blah, blah, blah. And we see Thorpens running home all sad because he got so frustrated with not being able to prove himself as a warrior because he's small. So he runs home, and he's digging through his stuff, and he's like, hey, sister, where are all the weapons in the house? Truly terrifying to hear a child say that. But he ends up pawing through stuff in the back of the closet and finds his dad's chest full of all his old armor and his knives, and he takes out the beautiful knife that we see him using in the first episode. But his dad sneaks up behind him and just grabs the blade so tight, his hand starts bleeding. And he's like, all right, you're looking for a tool for killing. So you're trying to kill who is it? You're trying to kill my six year.
Old son, my itty bitty baby boy.
Who'S trying you, baby?
And he's like, oh, well, the older boys are bullying me. And his dad's like, again, jesus Christ. So you're looking for a tool to kill you a six year old have no enemies. No one in the world has enemies. You this is even beyond your comprehension. But, yeah, he says, no one deserves to get hurt in the world. And thorpen says, that's big talk for someone going to war tomorrow. I'm not a baby. I can go with you. I'm a big soldier, too, and runs away crying as big soldiers do.
Yes, of course.
I'm not a baby, says the literal baby.
So thors and Leaf erickson, they're standing at the shore in the morning. They're like good sailing weather. odin looks after us. We found another name. Quick name.
Shit. Quick.
Oh, no, ma'am. And we cut away to another camp of viking soldiers. They're throwing axes at a tied up friar because they're torturing the Christian English baby. And we see floki, and he's talking to a sketchy mercenary man, I forgot.
That was his name.
Let's call this guy floki.
I was going to call him bloded.
When blowing retains a little too much water weight.
Beers all night. He's been blown and smoked up my ass.
So they're talking, and they're like, your men are so disorderly attacking these Christians. And they're like, yeah, we don't like Christians. I'm like, yeah, I get that fair again line.
We don't like the British or Christians.
But floki is like, no, we're way too civilized for that kind of behavior. So I need you to kill my old buddy for me. And Put asked him to kill thor's. And that's where we end episode two.
Yes. I don't know if we ever actually get this man's name, so I will just keep calling him blode in I.
Don'T think we actually do in these great.
His name is Blowden. So these two are discussing payment for blowin killing thors.
Oh, man, it sounds like he just bit your tongue in your reciting mythology.
Yeah. So he tells Blowden that he can have thor's ship and the cargo once he's dead. And Blowden talks about how thors was a hero to their people, but he was a deserter, so he's got to go or no, floki says that, I think, and that he was supposed to be executed 15 years ago. And Blowden is like, is it even, like, worth the trouble anymore? Why don't you just kill him yourself? Like, why pay me to do it? And flaky is like, that's not your concern, and you should stop asking questions. So Blown In asks for five more pounds of gold. And then from his guys goofing off outside, a spear comes flying into the hut. And we see floki gets taken aback by it. He gets startled, and it kind of, like, embeds itself into the wall right near them. And floki agrees to the five more pounds of gold. The bloden asks what kind of warrior thor's is, and floki says, he's not a warrior anymore.
He's a dad, but also not helpful. Like, he's asking, what kind of fighting style should I look out for?
Zoning to be so dramatic.
Then why can't you kill him? He doesn't seem like a problem if he's not a warrior anymore, I don't.
Want to do it. Which is a very low key move to just be like, I don't want.
To pawn it off with someone else. I was thinking that with the last episode when thor's grabbed a knife. Like, I get you're trying to send a dramatic scene. You did just cut your open palm, and that's a bitch to heal because you grabbed the handleman.
Dude, you're going to war tomorrow.
I have to say.
You're going to sail, so you have to grab at least one rope. That's not going to be fun.
Boof. So Blowden goes out there with his crew and tells them that they have a job to do. And back in the hut, Sloky moves the curtain that the spear was embedded in and reveals that it killed a guard. There was a guard standing back there.
What? ambushed the ambush?
Yeah. So back in the village, we see some guys are readying up the ships. One of the young men that's going off to war, his name is ari. He's talking to yelva. ilva not yelp, sister. I like the name ilva very much, so I'm going to say it.
Please respect our New England culture.
So sorry. Me actually Norwegian.
Mouse.
So he's talking to ilva, saying that he's going to bring her a beautiful necklace. And then he gets really quiet, and he's like, so maybe you can marry me when I get back. And then his mom comes by and brings him some lunch for war. And he gets embarrassed and walks away. And then three more boys who are leaving come up to talk to her.
She's like, the only teenage girl in the entire village.
And she's also well, we see that she's not, but she is very beautiful. So the lads are ready to go. They're saying goodbye to everybody, and everyone is kind of putting their faith in thores. They're like, he's done this before. He's got this he's great at murder. Yeah.
If it's so much killing in this.
Thing, this is when we see a different teenage girl. She runs up to ari and tells him to be careful, and Leaf tells her. After the boys walk away, leaf tells her that they're actually not going to battle, so they'll be okay. I might be wrong. I thought he said that they were going to Norway to get more soldiers to help so they won't have to go to war, and then Leaf will bring them back. But I don't know if that's correct.
Yeah, they were going to drop off somewhere to get supplies. And thor's is going to go off on his own to get other guys to help. And Leaf is going to take everyone else back.
Got you. Yes. So thors is walking around the village looking for thorpen, but he doesn't find him before it's time to go. And on the boat, we see that thors has one huge or just sitting on one side of the boat. And then all of the boys have their own small ores for rowing.
Literally as strong as five men.
Yes. Maybe that's why his name is thors, because he's as strong as multiple thor. So thors tells his wife helga to tell thorpen, but he can't even say it. And she just says, I will send.
The cradle in the silver.
So off they go. Out at sea. They've been rowing for a while, so the boys are exhausted. One of them is seasick. And thor gives them orders, and he asks ari if he's tired. ari says he's not. And thor tells him that they don't have to row for now because the wind will take them where they need to go. And then we hear a small voice coming from a barrel. And the barrel calls thor's dad. Oh, no.
Fuck a barrel.
So thorpen is in the barrel. He shouldn't be there.
What are you doing there?
Which was a little surprising for me, because I really thought this was just going to be like, oh, thorfin was hiding and thorpes was going to go die, and he didn't get to say goodbye to his son. But no, Thorphin stowed away child soldier.
This is the one piece reference I was talking about. This is literally how one piece starts.
So he's just like stoked to be out at sea. And then we see blowden. He's talking to one of his guys, saying that he thinks there's something flaky isn't telling them. He thinks that there isn't actually an execution order on thors and that this is an assassination. And again, he wonders why he wouldn't just do it himself instead of paying them to do it. And Blowden thinks that floki is afraid of any retaliation he would get for killing thor's. Then it's nighttime, nighttime at sea. And thorpen is snoozing. And it's papa's lap. And ari wonders how they can tell where they're going when it's so dark. Then we see Leaf in another boat. He calls out that the wind has changed, so they have to adjust their sails. And ari asks thor's what it's like to fight in a real battle. And he is so ready to kill somebody and prove his strength. And thors is like, that's good. My daughter likes strong men. wink and thors talks about when ilva was born and he was still in the army. And there's a flashback of right after she was born, him picking her up very wrong, just letting her head dangle back. He's like, Why is she so loud? Why is she crying so much?
Dumb back in the straight bro days.
Yeah.
And he just puts her down with Helga and says, Next time, give me a son.
Boo bad.
Thor'S. And he tells ari that his wife was the army's leader's daughter and that childbirth was very difficult for her. And then in the flashback, helga tells thors that he needs to give the baby a name. And he says, Just call her whatever you want. I got to go. But helga sits up and she says, you have to name this baby. And he says, in their 15 years together, this was the only time that helga has ever been angry with him.
That doesn't seem like a healthy relationship.
No.
I mean, you like to think that maybe he learned his lesson after that.
And that's why but became a wise guy after that.
Yeah.
The one time I actually noticed she was mad.
Yeah. There you go.
She is very like, when we've seen her before, she's just kind of chilling. She just does whatever he says, kind of.
Yeah.
But ilva is named after his mother. Hi jasper. He tells ari that when he started that was when he started fearing battle. So after ilva was born, he fled the army. And then Leaf calls out that there are islands ahead. So thorfin wakes up and asks if they're in England yet. Leaf says that they're not. They're at some islands halfway between Norway and iceland, and the boys are going to have to row again now. So Leaf is pounding on a drum for them to row to, like, the rhythm. And they're like, between two cliffs. And he stops, and he says something's off. So thor's looks around. Leaf notes that there aren't as many houses on the shore as there have been before, so they think they should turn around.
Some are shy. They're hiding.
We see some guys up on a cliff watching them turn back, and they push a bunch of wood and rocks onto the ships, but they were mainly using it to block the way in out. So they're trapped all of the boys in the boats. They're all okay. There's no damage to anyone or the boats themselves. And then we see other boats approach, and they're pirates. And Blowdin is here to assassinate thor's. Man, let somebody else do it. And they get the money for it. So the boys are now freaking out a little bit. ari starts to pull out his sword, but thoris tells him to stop because they don't stand a chance against these guys. But he walks over to the chest and pulls his own sword out because he just means that these literal teenage boys children will not be able to fight these pirates. And I have to say, I feel like this is a trope I've seen before. I love the eager boy goes off to war. Trope gets to war, and it's not what he expected. And he breaks down. It's a good one.
It's a good one.
Yeah, because ari is just, like, sweat. He's just, like, on the verge of a meltdown. Like, realizing that this could be the moment he has to actually kill somebody.
Or he will be killed.
Yeah.
It's not a dragon I get to stab once. It's like sailors.
It's like 15 men.
This isn't like dnd at all, ma'am.
So he also hands thorpen the small sword from the last episode and tells him to use it only to protect himself. And ari asks if they're going to kill these guys, and thor tells him to stop using that word because he keeps saying it. And I don't know, there's something about that.
I was like, oh, I hate the word bees.
So blowden's. Like, right hand guy, he's this big dude. He's the one who threw the spear. In the last episode or the beginning of this episode, he puts a mushroom in his mouth but doesn't eat it when he realizes how few people there are with thors. So presumably this is something that gives him a power up. Much like Mario. mama mia.
He'll get even bigger.
Yes. And thors hops onto their boat, and some pirates run at him to attack, but he takes them down on his own super easily. And that's where we end episode three.
He doesn't even draw his weapon. He just punches them out.
Yeah. Just using his fists.
He's a pacifist now until I guess so. I think he's avoiding killing. Otherwise, he could just have them all.
I would like to introduce you to my fists. Logic and reasoning, love and compassion, left and right.
I'm not creative.
We finally watched vin lin saga.
We did it. Are we there yet?
This honestly kind of worth the wait.
Oh, wow. I'm surprised by that.
Yeah. I'm also surprised by that because yeah, viking warfare, whatever. I think the pacing of this show is very cinematic, and it struck me in a little bit more of I don't know, all I could think of was, like, HBO pacing where it's like, okay, first episode prologue. Let's get some backstory. And also, like, morality tale to show our main character is, like, a decent guy, when in most animes, that would be like, hey, I'm a good guy. I have a good heart. anyways, now I have to fight the villain.
Trust me on that. Moving on.
Yeah. Take it at value. We don't have enough time. But this is like, no, this is important. We want you to care about this. I think they definitely take a lot of care with the story and making you actually be interested. Obviously, I didn't pay the closest attention missing that literally farrickson. But yeah, I'm liking this. The ultra brutal skull crushing with the chain. I was like, oh, okay. I see we have peaks to get to. But you're showing restraint early on, I'll take it, because it's kind of gnarly, but it's not like the most brutal thing we see. I like more have seen an anime.
I like how you said ripping a dude's face off with a chain is restraining yourself.
Again, anime standing.
True. Yes. Fair.
So, yeah, I was really liking this. I'm interested in continuing.
Yeah. This is not something I ever would have chosen to watch myself. But based on the opening, I'm really excited to see where it goes. Just because another trope I love is boy experiences trauma and becomes unhinged.
It seems like the show all right.
Yeah, I'm pretty sure the description of the show is that, like, thorpen watches his dad die, so whoops, you already know that, but just by reading the Netflix description. Thanks, Netflix.
In the opening, we see thorfin grow up. So there's at least some time skips or time passage where he's going to go through some stuff promised in the.
Opening, you just watch the light leave.
His eyes and his goatee grotee.
So, yeah, I liked it. It was a good one. And the animate, we didn't talk about the animation or the style or anything, but it's very nice.
Yeah, animation is incredibly well done. There's clearly a very talented studio and a high budget behind this first season. Yeah, we see, like, older, burnt out, hates the world thorpen in the intro. That's actually a week. He's still six. That would be fucking insane. Yeah. I'll be honest, I continued watching it a bit. I'm pretty sure no one in media has ever had a goatee and wasn't evil or just a heartless, ruthless dick. We see this trend continue with Blowden. Truly weird. Yeah, we do get, like, a lot of sorry. We do get a lot of previews in the opening. Like, it kind of tells, like, a lot of the story. We're like, I get it. I can see where this is going, but, yeah, it's interesting. So, yeah, I've heard nothing but praises for this series and even for this anime adaptation, which sometimes fails to carry over the nuance of the manga. But this one seems to do really well. And yeah, it's season one. It's 24 episodes, and I think season two is coming out as of this episode, releasing, I think, this month in October. So, yeah, it's got weight behind it and people are hyped. So, yeah, it's good. And I'm surprised it was worth the wait because it was quite a weight.
Yeah, I didn't know how I would feel about it, but it is. Yeah. In my mature age of 25, my bones. Hey, I'll be 26 next week, I find that I like more kind of I don't want to say serious, but more, I guess, dramatic. I don't know. Paul and I watched a series on HBO called The Night Of, which is not something I ever would have thought that I would want to watch. But I really enjoyed it. And I feel like this is similar where it's like, if I was 16, if this was ten years ago, I probably would not have enjoyed this. But yeah, right now it was hitting, it was real good, and thor's is hot as hell.
Rip stop. Yeah, this is the shit I grew up on. If I saw this as a teenager on tunami, this would be incorporated into my personality wholeheartedly. Very much so, yeah, I do enjoy it. That definitely has the intense brutality of war, but I think it does well and trying to not glamorize it even early on, with thor's being like, nah, war sucks. Don't glorify this. This is horrible. And we see that in some stuff, because I saw on a list going around, I'm like, best anime of all time, and they put, like, Made in abyss on there, which I would categorize as suffer porn, because it's truly just the most upsetting and depressing stuff. I still watch it. It's great, but I love it.
It's one of the best anime of all time.
Children suffer.
No, but like you said about watching stuff as you get older, that's more dramatic. With Main abyss, I think that is purely made just to make people feel dread and depressed and just, like, truly suffering. This is dramatic repercussions, but it is history. Like, people are like they're glorifying wards. Back then, that's all you really had. Either phone the war or you died from the plank.
History sucked, and we're not getting much better these days.
End happy note.
We've are there, though.
We are there. If there's an anime you would like us to watch, you can send your recommendations to us. Our email is arweather@gmail.com, or you can reach out to us on Twitter, Instagram, or TikTok at areweevariat on all three.
You can find me on Instagram and TikTok at honeyperiod or on Twitter at honey. D eight and honeydart. And honey is spelled H-U-N-N-I-E. Don't find me.
Leave me alone. I like my privacy. Instead, I recommend the Banner Saga, which is a trilogy of video games that are very heavily inspired by norse mythology, incorporating a lot of them, but still a new original story. It's a tactics game with incredibly beautiful, well done art and animation and a very interesting, rich story that is grossly overlooked by the populace. And I think it needs it deserves a lot more attention.
Hell yeah.
I would also like to make a recommendation. There's this comic book company called Marvel, and they have named thor and loki pretty underground. There might be something similar to what we watched.
There might be a little connection.
Thank you to camille, really, for our artwork. And thank you to Louisong for our theme song stories. You can find all of louie's music at Louisong Vancamp.com. Thank you and we hope you'll join us next week as we learn to live with anime.
There's also God of War ragnarok, which comes out next month.
Hell, yeah.
We love norse shit in this house. Key you.