his favorite anime doesnt get another season... he really is a anime fan now

I feel like you would love "Orb: On the Movements of the Earth"

Small thing.
Butterflys symbolize death in Japan. That is why current Canute is covered in them.

I think Ketil is incredibly interesting, because you can see how empathy is spread thick in some areas, thin in others, and doesn't necessarily prevent cruelty. what I mean by this is... Ketil is kind to his slaves, in token measures, because he doesn't want them to be mad at him. we see what Gardar does out of anger, when he is mistreated by his master. Ketil doesn't want anyone below him to get mad enough to try their hand at killing him. so his affectation toward them is pleasant.

but that doesn't mean he's actually invested in bettering these people's situation. he'll let the slaves earn their freedom, which is more than he's obligated to do, but only in exchange for their labor. he could free them outright, but instead he has Thorfinn and Einar clearing a forest... by the time they turn it over to Ketil, the land will already be producing crops, which Ketil will also keep. and consider what freeing slaves means in this context. while they are enslaved, Thorfinn and Einar get fed and housed for free, because Ketil treats their care like the maintenance of livestock. a small investment in their wellbeing ensures that they keep doing the free labor he wants them for. but once they're freed, they have the option to stay on and become retainers. and, well... we've seen how frustrated those guys are.

their beef with Thorfinn and Einar early in the season seems to come out of sheer pettiness, but really, it comes from the fact that their lowly status puts them almost at the same level as slaves. they work for pay... but not very much of it. they're perpetually poor, and have no class mobility. that meager pay has to cover food, clothes, medicine... all their living expenses, which aren't taken care of by anyone but themselves. in some cases, the slaves that Ketil provides for might even be better off when it comes to purely material resources. they bully Thorfinn and Einar because it's the one way to really distinguish themselves from slaves... by exerting a type of social power that they're assuring themselves they have the right to.

but trying to draw a distinction between themselves and the farm's slaves is misplaced frustration. Ketil is the one who decides what they're paid, and that it won't be very much. and when it causes a full-on fist fight between the slaves and the retainers, Ketil just sits back and tells them to settle down, as if he didn't cause the frustration of both sides. whatever profit is produced by the farm, Ketil keeps the lion's share of it. and while he will get out there and work the fields with everyone else, that doesn't exactly justify pricing his contribution at a greater sum. but this is exactly what Sverkel warns about. when one person has something, particularly in abundance beyond what they need, others will covet it. you might see this in the form of a frustrated impoverished workforce, a jealous suitor, thieves enticed by the solution to their needs, or even a king noticing where resources have pooled.

Ketil paints a target on himself every time he acquires slaves, has them clear new workable land, frees them while offering guaranteed immediate employment as low paid retainers, still needs the money to pay those guys, plus needing to hire more security to protect the land, which incentivizes expansion so he can plant more crops and turn a bigger profit... and there's the tie into Canute's prerogatives. because on a country-wide scale, Canute feels the need for security, needs to command more men, which requires more funds, which has to come from somewhere. all the things Canute wants power for (creating a utopia) are out of reach because of what the maintenance of his power requires (conquest). this is what Sweyn meant when he said that the crown has a mind of its own, and the king serves its whims, far more than it serves the will of the king. would Canute choose to do any of this, if he actually had the freedom to do what he wants?

no... in the same way that Ketil wouldn't have beaten those children who stole from him, if he was just acting on his mood. but if you're going to maintain power, you have to act like the kind of guy that others believe should have it. you either have to come off as good enough that they'll give it to you... or terrible enough that they'd never try to take it from you. Ketil maintains the reputation of Iron Fist Ketil because it intimidates people, and makes them leave him alone. Thorgil likely grew up believing that this was his legacy, and he turned into exactly what you'd expect. but Olmar both reflects the truth about Ketil (that he is a coward) and shows us that Ketil could, at any point in time, choose to own up to what he is, and make a more honest man of himself. he simply won't.

and it's ironic how the incident with those two children shows us exactly what Ketil's cowardice leads to. in order to keep looking like the intimidating man whose reputation he wears, Ketil violently beat a child. so when Canute threatens the farm, he has to keep acting like he's Iron Fist Ketil... he has to do what that guy would do. beating Arnheid is something else entirely. when Ketil feels like he isn't at liberty to make the choices he'd prefer (ironically by trying to keep control of everything he's built) that's when he retreats to Arnheid for comfort. never mind that Arnheid has been uncomfortable (understatement) since her life fell apart. we never really get any indication that Ketil even knows what Arnheid's life used to be like. he's probably never asked. that, or he does know... which would be even worse. Arnheid is another victim of Ketil's tendency to think that his letter-of-the-law decency (like letting his male slaves earn their freedom) gives him the right to whatever he's decided the other end of the deal should be.

the problem with men like Ketil isn't just that their power inspires resentment from those beneath them, and temptation from those above them... but it also means that people like Arnheid only have security as long as Ketil promises to be a good man. when he slips, there's nothing to protect her from whatever he decides to do.

Ketil is a great character because he has relevance to just about everyone. his sons, his slaves, his retainers, the thieves, Arnheid, Gardar, Snake, Sverkel, Canute... there's something informative to notice about his relationship to all of them.

next up is "Orb: On the Movements of the Earth"

One of us, one of us

ok guys, say it together now: ORB! ORB! ORB! ORB! ORB!

The ending of season 2 actually had me weeping, had to call my mom after I watched it

12:54 The over-the-topness of the action in earlier seasons might be related to Thorfinn's perception of violence. When he was younger, he may have percieved violence as a lot more glorified, with tales of warriors' feats being a lot more vivid in his mind. Then, as he grew up, so did his perception of violence become a lot more grounded.

Ketil was "kind" because he was weak and just wanted to avoid confrontation.
Thors was kind because he was strong and saw that confrontation was pointless.

The idea of Valhalla as a horrifying Hell realm makes so much sense... I fucking wish I'd come up with that idea

I think that you would love Monster or Orb: On the Movements of the Earth

I don't think Gardar got an afterlife, it was just him imagining the ideal world where his son, now older still recognizes his father and runs towards him. Garder even says "i'm home" in his dream and irl.

"Can you imagine if I actually knew how to like, look, at art on a deeper level, and draw proper conclusions"
- Quote from man who analyzes animated shows and openings deeper and more thoroughly than any other creator on the platform.

No talk of the genuinely heartfelt “carve it” bit? Genuinely makes me teary. Just so good.

Now that is a fitting title for Vinland Saga

You've said you're not a fan of D&D Animes, but Delicious in Dungeon (or Dungeon Meshi) is a very good watch. Its a very interesting show about how a dungeon would actually exist as an ecosystem, and its character writing is phenomenal.

10:43 He ended up a slave to a cruel master that tortured him mentally and physically. Gardar was a good man that made a mistake and spent the rest of his life paying it for it.

I've never had problem with super strenght in Vinland Saga because Vinland Saga is based on the actual Vinland Saga and as all Viking Sagas this one was orally transmited for most of the time that story was told which lead to the feats of Strenght being exagerated, every Viking Saga has absurdly exagerated feats of strenght and even some Sagas even have Dragons in it so I would say this is totally Historically accurate for the way the story is supposed to be being told by some storyteller at a fireplace or something like that

Letssss goooooooooo!!! I’ve been waiting for this video for weeks