Good anime for non-otaku part 2

Change of plans. I enjoyed Netflix and chill so much with 20 season of "South Park" and forgot about review of 5th episode of "Tower of God". I'll save it for later and for now, enjoy 2nd part of my biggest text. Give me your feedback - what kind of topic do you prefer. I can write about anime, movies, tv-shows, have few articles about "The Witcher" on my fanpage. Have a nice day.

Ghost in the Shell

During the premiere of 1 cinema film, I was about 5 years old. Poland was a bit at the level of Ukraine a few years ago. You played on slot machines, old consoles, PCs, few had SNES (like me) or PS1, I didn't understand anime at that time. At most, some "Transformers", "Maya the Bee", "General Daimos", or other similar stories from Japan. "Ghost in the Shell" was, however, a unique title and its premiere a special event. For many, especially in countries such as Poland, it became clear then that stories can be shown at the level of the best literature or film art in the form of an animated film. GitS hits the viewer from the first moments - shooting, escape with a special camouflage, and a brilliant opening. Especially he permanently entered my place as one of the best opening sequences in movies in general. And this is not the only cult scene, there is also a fight with a Tank, or a chase after the hacker, which crowns the solo between him and Major. Then it was a shock, the first contact with such a thing. Such a cyberpunk style, way of dressing, the idea of ​​inserting a cable into the spine - everything that has more penetrated into human consciousness with the help of the "Matrix" from 1999. Today, it is a completely different view of this form of art and interest itself, then in most people's awareness, animation meant production directed at children. There were no cinema screenings, although maybe there were some single, closed shows. You watched on CDs, VHS copies from abroad (official/unofficial versions), copies from Canal + or on this station, as you had knitted parents. I don't remember when I saw it for the first time, but it was definitely a pirate CD. Today this phenomenon is rather unplayable. Not these times, not this level of consciousness, and we are too often bombarded with strong impulses in the form of movies/series/anime, that the premiere would cause such a shock.

As I grew up, I returned to this work many times, and in the meantime I saw the continuation of whether both TV seasons and the film crowning them. They delighted me almost the same, maybe even more in some respects, but it was the 1995 film that made the biggest impression on me, and when I watch it every few years, I discover its beauty again. These frames, numerous details, a showcase of the work of cartoonists and animators, great assembling it together. And this music ... I know that I tend to repeat words too often, but this time I will do it on purpose. I discover its beauty and adaptation to video scenes again, I am touched and I fall into deep reflection, even though I've seen them 10 times. I am delighted and I am full of admiration when I see scenes of fight or pursuit. There is practically no passing time. I mean, bright - the colors may be too faded for some, some elements (clothes, weapons, approach to some matters, writing some threads) may have grown old, but these are only individual things that do not have a great impact on the whole. At most, I could agree that some of the talked over passages could be rewritten to go a little faster and better, but I wouldn't do it by myself.

GitS is not only movies but also two great seasons of the television series. They focus on the threads that took place before the cinema events. They also slightly differ from them, put less emphasis on philosophical and existential matters, but catch up with more actions. Some complained about it, and for me it was a step in the right direction. Especially the two, which at one point was too much talked about. The plot of both does not differ much from what we saw in the 1995 picture. In the near future, humanity has reached such a level of development that you can exchange limbs or individual organs (eyes, ears, brain, respiratory system) for their electronic substitute, which is much better than the original. And along with technological progress, as in life, criminals, terrorists, etc. start to use it immediately, so the government must establish a new, independent police unit to deal with the enemy armed with new toys. This is the public safety section number 9 chaired by Daisuke Aramaki. The group is made up of people who mostly have implants - e.g. the Saito sniper has a cybernetic eye that has communication with satellites. In turn, Batou, a muscle of this group, second only to Major, does not have both eyes, only implants. Kusanagi aka Major is a cyborg, like C-17 or C-18 from DBZ. A mechanical body, but it has a human brain, which is the title "Spirit in the shell."

When it comes to graphics/animation, this one presents the worthy level of its cinema brothers. Something similar to "Mandalorian" relative to "Star Wars" movies. It's the same world, the same atmosphere, animation, line, graphics, weaker in proportion to the cinemas, but outstanding on the background of many anime. Even better is the music that was composed by Yoko Kanno (Japanese with the skills of Hans Zimmer or Bill Conti), and some of the songs were sung by late Origa - Japanese with Russian roots and a beautiful voice. These two ladies and the other people did IMO an even better job than Kenji Kawai and his team. If you are here and you do not know this anime, I recommend starting YT and letting go both openings (Inner Universe and Rise) or Player, an editorial for the "Solid State Society". To sum up, I think that the old GitS (i.e. 2 movie screens, 2 TV seasons and the special episode "Solid State Society") is one of the better options on this list if I were to recommend something universally good for the widest possible audience of people who do not know Japanese cartoons.

Legend of the Galactic Heroes: Die Neue These

I've written about this anime so many times that not wanting to repeat myself too much, I'll start with a different manner. LotGH is such a Japanese "Star Wars", but without aliens. But with equally interesting heroes, even larger battles in which tens of millions of soldiers sometimes take part. We see different perspectives on them - from mechanics practicing for several hours, pilots from the first front line, special forces such as Rosen Ritter (commandos such as the Grom unit), lower-level officers, commanders of various ships or combat stations. Yes, they also have their own Death Star and there are several others, though with less effective defense than Thor's Hammer. On Gineipaedia they reported the maximum power of this weapon, source from volume 3 - 924 million megawatts. I asked my friend for the expertise and said that one such shot is the equivalent of 181,000. Bełchatów power plant. And so this energy beautifully frying the opponent's units, honey for space RTS fans ^^.

It is also worth mentioning that the author shows the action from the perspective of two sides of the conflict and their commanders and politicians - the United Planet Alliance (such an amalgam of what we now understand as democracy) and the Galactic Empire (modeled on Kaiser's Germany). Both countries have different problems (though arising from the same denominator - human insatiability, broadly understood hunger and a tendency to expand their influence), limitations, as well as ways of dealing with them. The UPA resolves this by bureaucratic means, by committees, there is probably some equivalent of a triple division of power that prevents you from gaining a dominant position in the state. The temptation is also limited (which threatens every man, unless he has a neurological disease, he developed in a fairly normal way - almost every man shows greed in some way) to expand his power or gain new competences. Generally, such a stew from the systems prevailing in Europe and America.

The empire is slightly different. It is mainly the military hierarchy or origin that counts - if you were not born among the rich nobility only in the poor, impoverished or you come from a pleb, you can achieve something only if you go to the cadet school and get a sufficiently high grade. Sure, you can become a super-scientist, etc., but this applies to the promile of citizens, while every healthy peasant can go in the shoes. The "big maybe more" principle applies here (in total, the same as in democracy, except that it is done in white gloves and through lobbying), which boils down to the fact that if you have the power, there is real power behind you ( military or something that makes you impossible to touch you) and you have big enough balls, you can impose your will and go for someone else's. Kaiser, in turn, can make any decision, at any place and time for himself, because he is not embarrassed by procedures, restrictions, and papermaking. It may sound boring to some, but calm - Die Neue These, unlike the old series two decades ago, is a fast tale. Here, the action is simply overwhelming, sometimes a bit too fast, not all events can sound strong enough. I do not remember that there were any dragging, and you can forget about filler threads. We have only meat, I.G pulled out what is most beautiful in the old series, they slightly diminished a few things, but the rest more or less makes up for it. I sincerely sympathize with those who have not seen the old TV series, it is not difficult to find spoilers on YT.

I was unable to avoid repetition, but after so many commands, it is not difficult. Either way, it's not just one of the best anime I've ever seen, but above all the best story about history, politics, and war I've seen. Ba, this is one of the few works that very well shows the pacifist attitude, as well as all the dung and dirt of war. I suspect that if the studio adopts the whole saga by Mr. Yoshiki Tanaka, then anime will only gain time. Maybe this comparison is a bit exaggerated, but I think she presents her world like the author of "Beastars". He does not judge, does not try to give morals, and tries not to be selective. We see what should happen, something that is a logical consequence of the character's actions in a good story.

Monster

I have a slight problem with this title. On the one hand, I love him for his line, plot, flesh and blood characters, music and atmosphere, but I can't say for the whole. The series could be slimmed down, a few threads could be quickly accelerated or shortened. I would not like too much to violate the structure of the whole and delete any specific scene, or. I just think they can be made even better. "Monster" is a story about ourselves, about monsters that are stuck in many people and take control over them more than once. This is a great police and detective thriller that will often surprise us while watching or reading. The author not only created great heroes, but also placed the action of his comic in realities close to us. The story takes place after the fall of the Berlin Wall, and the main character is the Japanese - Dr. Kenzou Tenma. A young, honestly good man, an ideal doctor, a talented surgeon. She has an idyllic life, his maiden is not the ugly daughter of the influential director of the hospital, but she has plenty and opportunities for development. All this is lost when he decides to operate on the boy instead of the mayor of the city. He is pressured to give birth to a kid whose life supposedly does not matter, with such a personality. Tenma has it deep in the nose and deals with a patient who was previously hospitalized. The case comes back to him after a dozen or so years when he came over after a turbulent and hard period in his life. The young man he previously saved grew up and begins to murder other people. The Japanese, having no other choice, follows John, trying to find out why the boy shot his patient. A quirky but horribly effective German police inspector follows him.

I tried not to spoil too much, so at this point I am finishing the story and I will start writing in a fun way about the advantages of this work. Before this happens, however, allow me to gently reveal a secret to encourage the undecided. The services that evoke my association with the German Abwehr (though perhaps wrong) continue their experiments. In complete secrecy, practically not disturbing anyone. Indeed, they are unleashed because they have broken free from the service of the state and open special forces. Their goal is to create a perfect soldier. It is not unusual, many countries have tried such practices. In this case, however, they wanted to create people who would be outstanding politicians, cool calculators, intelligent commanders, people stripped of emotions and limitations. Being able to massacre others, without restrictions, which we acquired during education and socialization in our culture (e.g. Asian culture has always been more brutal than European). They were to continue the work of the infamous watercolorist, unfortunately, something went wrong.

As I wrote earlier, the series has many advantages that together make up a beautiful overall. I will not describe each of them in detail, because it would take too much space, I will focus on a few selected ones. I love Urasawa's creations, each of them is a thoughtful and coherently designed character. Each of them is different, there are no unnecessary heroes or those who would not contribute anything to the story. E.g. Heinrich Lunge, Eva Heinemann, the pampered daughter of an influential daddy who lived under his security cloak for a long time, Kenzo Tenma, a good, honest, good man who fell into heavy shit by accident, Johan Liebert, a charismatic young man a flawless face that hides pure evil. Along with the characters and the plot, the equally wonderful element of "Monster" is its wonderful atmosphere. It consists of a line, music, and the location of the action in our part of Europe. There may not be too many locations or objects that clearly show us where the action takes place, but you can see that the author of the comic is well acquainted with it. I live near Lubin in Lower Silesia, so I have not far to the Czech Republic and Berlin, and when watching most of the episodes, I felt as if the drawings were European drawers. You can see familiar colors, forest species, means of transport - very good work. It is hard for me to fault anything and if I had to, it would be a bit too slow. Some colleagues accuse me of heresy (I greet you, Kamil), but I think that if you shorten some of the threads or faster to present certain events (not to be confused with accelerating their course), this would only come out for the anime. Of course, it's a long way from slow pacing in a few other series, but it doesn't change the fact that there were two seats in "Monster" which slowed down a bit too much. If it bothers you so much, I recommend a comic book that reads faster than watching anime. If not, I recommend you to overcome, or rather remember this story for many years.

Nana

Before I start writing anything, a warning. The comic strip, which is the source material for the anime, was suspended by the author in 2009. Almost 11 years have passed, we have focused on returning with other fans several times, but ultimately nothing happened and I have already put a line on this fairy tale. This is a great story, but unfortunately we will never know its ending. And why the warning? Because I know how many people hate infinite history or those to whom the continuations go sooooo slow, just like "Game of Thrones". It didn't bother me once, but after getting into "Nana" and later "Hunter x Hunter", it started to piss me off and I don't go on with endless stories, series, books. However, if this perspective does not bother you, then you will have 47 amazing episodes and more or less the same, only in the form of a manga. Due to the author's illness and uncertainty about the continuation, the MadHouse studio decided not to film the other chapters of the manga.

The plot of "Nana" focuses on the two title characters, Nana Komatsu and Nana Osaki. One day they meet on a train on their way to Tokyo, where each one travels for a different reason. Both are also different - Komatsu comes from the province and as it sometimes happens in such cases, due to his carefree, free life is naive and too trusting. She also lacks love and attention, which manifests itself in a looser approach to sex and adhering to the boyfriend, and even becoming addicted to him. Osaki is a vocalist in a punk rock band, which can be seen also in her character traits - she is proud, confident, knows what she wants from life and tries to consistently implement it. Both women thought it would be a one-time meeting, but fate decided differently, at least for a while. Due to certain events and turbulence, Nany meets again, now as roommates sharing a flat. Together with the next episodes we get to know the other characters, we discover the bonds connecting them with the heroines and observe their life prose.

To put it simply, I saw this anime for the second and last time from 8 years ago, so many things I have already forgotten about the details, but I did not remember the whole anime the worst. As with "Beastars" from Paru Itagaki, Ai Yazawa does not like powdering reality and shows what male-female relationships look like. In order not to spoil too much, I will limit myself to describing one example. The author even emphatically shows that they do not look like in romantic films or fairy tales. Too good boys have much less chance for girls, and girls are not always as polite as being squeezed since childhood. Relations between us are complex, and both sexes are usually largely hostage to their emotions, hormones and experiences that have influenced their lives. Slightly spoiling, Nana Komatsu has similar problems as some peers in a similar situation. The older ones have already managed to become independent and leave the nest, and those between childhood and adult age serve as help for the youngest. And as it usually happens, these youngest collect the most affection and good words from their parents. This translates into her adult life, in which she is looking for bad boys giving her both positive and negative emotions and usually a shallow relationship limited to the simplest emotions - reading bed adventures, a strong feeling of desire. That is, situations that too good and overly pleasing boys cannot provide. At least not in such a strong way. And yes, at the beginning of the anime it is clearly indicated that Komatsu likes to be fucked properly. However, even if one does not follow, this approach to sex is one of (but not the only, because there may be completely opposite reactions) of characteristic reactions to DDA syndrome, excessive poverty/pathology at home, lack of understanding from parents, an insufficient amount of love, etc.

I could not fail to mention music, which is the second strongest advantage of anime. Once, when I studied and was at the stage of writing a bachelor thesis, my friend devoted a whole chapter of anime promotion, music, artists employed to voice (guided, among others, by what, when choosing, for example, Dandelion to "The Witcher" - the ability to sing ), generally took "Nana" for production and promotion. Bajka had a huge advertising campaign, which directly translated into viewership results. Not many anime, which flies at later times, so stuck with high viewership (Being released somehow at 2 am had 5% viewership). As for voice actors and music, Anna Tsuchiya (Nana) and Olivia Lufkin (Layla Serizawa), two talented singers from our world, were hired for the roles of the two greatest singers in this anime. They recorded several songs for the needs of the fairy tale, and also released two albums, which are called "Anna Tsuchiya Inspi 'Nana (Black Stones)" and "Olivia Inspi' Reira (Trapnest)". Generally speaking, "Nana" has one of the best soundtracks in the history of anime and it is worth to know them only for her. The horrible life story is by the way. Oh, curiosity - Anna's dad has Polish roots.

Psycho Pass

I am not a fan of this fairy tale and I rarely mention it. Not because it is poor, or forced myself to watch the next episodes, as in the case of "Kill la Kill". I just didn't like it enough in the world that I would like to come back after one screening. Maybe someday, maybe the upcoming movie will be good enough to motivate me to show again. Why did I choose this title? For several reasons - plot, music, quality of workmanship, an interesting idea for the world. Well, my opinion belongs to a minority, almost every friend/friend who saw PP, praises him more than me.

Well, let's start from the beginning. In the 22nd century in Japan, the Sibyl system was implemented. It is a hive mind with an inhumanly efficient AI, which immediately associated me with the "Minority Report". Sibyl and his film counterpart work in a similar way and come down to counteracting crime. I don't remember exactly how it was in Spielberg's film, but in the anime, Sibyl constantly analyzes the behavior and mental state of all citizens in terms of the possibility of committing a crime. In a situation when a person plans to do something wrong, the system finds out quickly enough and pacifies the threat. While Sybil copes very well with monitoring the society and approaches every case in an objective way (without fatigue, nerves, no animosity regardless of the cause and other factors that may disturb sober judgment), the system itself has no physical ability to wield someone for the grille. This is a task for employees of the Public Security Bureau, more specifically analysts, inspectors and enforcers. The task of the former is to collect information and pass it on to inspectors. The latter, because of their functions, must have a standard level of Psycho-Pass, stable personality and be able to control their emotions. The last group are enforcers, secret criminals who work in the field and enforce sentences imposed by the system with the help of Dominators (large gnat that can make a strong crunch if someone fires their full power). Enforcers, like analysts, do not need to have a model PP, but are subject to inspectors and cannot take many actions without their consent. In fact, having one could be harmful. Why? For the same reason that policemen with specific functions have to rub a little bit about the criminal world or at least get to know it. Okay, they don't necessarily have to, but it is an additional advantage for them, such as technical / engineering skills for the military, or a hobby for a journalist that can be used to enrich his article. Thanks to this, they will see certain threats easier and faster, they better understand the way criminals think, and thus know what to look for. For a similar reason, some companies for whom security counts like to employ former hackers. As the English say - Fight fire with fire.

In addition, PP looks nice, sounds and everything moves well in it. I do not know if it has endured the test of time badly, but as I delve into my memory, I do not remember anything that caught my eye when I watched this fairy tale in 2013. It cast in a negative sense (e.g. some extremely ugly drawn frame, poor fight sequence), because when it comes to positives, there were plenty of reasons to be happy. Interesting vision of the city of the future, nice Dominator designs, well-created characters, both in terms of appearance and character. In addition, it has a good soundtrack, and especially the openings that perfectly introduce the viewer to the world and atmosphere of this anime. To sum up, a solid cyberpunk. I hope that this brand will be developed after GitS ceased to be an attractive brand because although I don't have big needs in relation to this genre, I sometimes like to see something like that.

Space Brothers

It's hard for me to write about this anime without praising it at every turn. It is such an exception contradicting the rule that if something is for a too wide audience, it will not really satisfy anyone or a small number of people. I don't know too many fairy tales that are watched equally well regardless of age and the only example that comes to my mind is the classic "Batman TAS". SB most of the time deviates from the seriousness, some may be a little irritated by characters that behave slightly infantile, or an excess of often simple and repetitive jokes / gags, but when the situation requires it, we see scenes that good series intended for older audiences would not be ashamed of . Children will enjoy a colorful, fairy tale with a rare plot and space, and adults will appreciate this level of realism, detail in presenting astronaut training, the equipment they use, and well-created characters. It is not without reason that I compared SB to TAS in this field, because I see a similarity in the skillful representation of the plot and showing sharp scenes that give the adults ’say. Simply put - the child will see his, but really understand these scenes in a few to several years. For example, one of the characters was miraculously saved on the moon, being on the verge of life and death due to lack of oxygen. Or during a landing attempt, when the safeguards fail, the entire crew falls freely to Earth. In both situations, feel the gravity and the burden of inevitable death. Well, at least in the case of the crew, because that astronaut had minimal chances of survival.

The story begins with the birth of two brothers and a brief presentation of their childhood and teenage period. We observe what influenced their decision from the puppy years to go into space and how their approach changed over the years. Or rather it changed in the case of one of the brothers, Mutta. An inconspicuous type who, because of his shyness, gives the impression of a very stiff and formal person. Nothing could be more wrong, though he is not relaxed and confident as his younger brother, Hibito, he can also have fun and chill out. He makes up for it with his knowledge, plastic mind and imagination, thus being no less intellectually efficient than Akagi, Lelouch or other recognized mango "brains". And he has light complexes towards his younger brother, who through his boldness has come further than him. It is such a life that people who are a bit insolent and overconfident take even more from it. One night, while observing the sky, they come across a truest UFO. This is not a prank or some kind of deception, a mistake with e.g. too strong light or something in this pattern. They decided to go into space and find out where this unusual flying saucer comes from. Characters are an important part of the story. I admire the author of the manga, like Eiichiro Oda, or the author of LotGH, for creating so many heroes with their own story. Almost each of them has even a minimal contribution to the development of the title brothers or has a significant contribution to their goal. And of course, this can be said for many anime, books, or series, but it's a completely different league. Not every author knows how to make subsequent use of the character he introduced only for the needs of a given arc/plot. Some, in turn, create them on the basis of specific patterns, characteristics of specific personality types. In the case of OP, SB, LotGH, I may not be able to say this about every character in the series, but most of them are already.

As I mentioned earlier, "Space Brothers" is an anime in which we do not see too much fantasy or exaggerated simplifications in relation to the reality we know. Well, I'm not the type of engineer and most of the things related to technology, physics, space are black magic for me and I can not say that "this is certainly the case" or "it is close to the facts", but I did not find anywhere complaints reminding the author of excessive ignorance, and blatant simplifications. Anyway, even if a guy does not really take in the training process and the astronaut's very work, he does not show it. He approaches his job quite meticulously and tries to bring the entire recruitment process in the best possible way. Thanks to this, I fully understood the aspects that I didn't understand before. For example, why is it so important that the astronaut does not have any, even the slightest problems with the psyche. I had already realized that such a long stay in a limited, closed space is a very difficult challenge, e.g. because of boredom. You can laugh, but the stereotypes of fantasy books/series did not come out of nowhere and most people can't stand too long boredom (which usually doesn't end well), not to mention the prison syndrome, which can make even the best buddies be averse to yourself. Physical training is just as important. Not only due to the fact that muscles disappear during space travel (making the astronaut feel like a drug downhill after returning to Earth, i.e. like a horse after a western, but a few times more), but also because of his influence on the psyche.

Although the series suffers from slight dragging at some stage (I am talking about the stay of one of the heroes in Russia) and sometimes such CGI, it can be experienced. In the worst case, you'll have to rewind the episode by a few minutes. CGI, in turn, is not painful enough for the eyes to interfere with the screening. As far as I am concerned, it has absolutely no effect on the nozzle I put on this anime. It offers far too much for such details to change anything. For example, it motivates well to work on myself and develop my dreams, even those unreal. With the right opportunity and work, you can achieve them even when they are difficult to implement.

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Vinland Saga

This anime should appeal especially to those who know the serial "Vikings". Both creatures differ from each other and put different emphasis on different things, but several similarities can be found. For example, contrary to popular belief, the Vikings not only fought, but traded, wanted to settle down somewhere permanently, but were eager to hire Englishmen or French as mercenaries, also to suck their homies. European rulers willingly paid because the Normans were stronger and used weapons better than the average European. Well, ending the topic of similarities, in VS we will visit the same lands, we will be able to feel a similar atmosphere + both creations are slightly colored in the field of historical truth. In "Vikings" this can be seen from too advanced crossbows (they were not so simple and quick to use at that time, as shown in the series) and a few historical distortions, in VS after too strong characters who perform impossible actions, e.g. father main character smashing a group of pirates with his bare paws, a giant-Thorkell, who throws axes at +300 meters, throws a spear at a distance of about 5km, stuffing 4 warriors like a shashlik, fights with a log of wood, as if it were an ordinary Seba-coke with a baseball bat, or already not to mention Thorfinn. Don't worry, it looks worse on paper than it looks in motion. The creators of the series would probably also allow such actions, so why not take advantage of the possibilities that the animation art gives us to effectively crank up some scenes?

The story of the comic focuses on Thorfinna, a young boy who was kidnapped by Norman pirates and had to go through an accelerated course of growing up. He is helped by their leader of these pirates and one of the main characters of the series, Askeladd, who can be compared to Ragnar Lothbrok from "Vikings". A cynical and selfish dick that will not twitch his eyelid when he must act for his selfish motives or the people he leads. Even if it means slaughtering women and children. A man who has a great sense of situations, people and is both a great tactician and a strategist. He is neither good nor bad, he uses all possible opportunities for profit, but he is not afraid of sacrifices and is ready for them when the game is worth it. With each episode we see how his relationship with Thorfinn, who wants to avenge his father, evolves. At first he hated him, but with time he gains more and more respect for him, extinguishing the grief that irritates his angry soul. As a colleague of Mango Nałóg once wrote more or less - "Askeladd better brought up Thorfinn and prepared him for the dangers of this world than his biological father would." It is hard to disagree with this, especially if one takes into account the swish character of the young. It is difficult to raise such (or rather especially such) children with a soft heart and much better to such cases speak hard, cool upbringing and ruthless, indifferent attitude.

One of the main goals of this anime is to show the necessity of change and the fact that a person must move forward, because sticking in place or wrong beliefs, or a role that doesn't suit us, is destructive. For example, Prince Canute, is at first an outstanding coward and a sweet, effeminate boy who would make a quick career in gay adult movies. He must leave his comfort zone and see some things, otherwise, he will fall off the bicycle during the game of the throne. His father, King of Denmark, in turn, sat on the royal throne, which made him lazy, lazy and lost one of the most important royal qualities - vigor for quick and wise reaction. He just doesn't want to go anymore, which is destroying his kingdom. Thorfinn, a warrior with great potential, who is blocked by his emotions and past affairs that he cannot work or suppress in himself. Askeladd has shown him many times that he is becoming a bream that is devastated with his bare fists in a sword fight because anger obstructs his opponent's moves. Sure, the stories of Danes, Anglo-Saxons, Romans, and Vikings are an important part of this story, but (as I mentioned earlier) in my opinion it is above all an addition that is supposed to emphasize their worldviews, the validity of some changes and show why some behaviors are bad and do not bring long-term anything good. Maybe this is my overinterpretation, but it seems to me that the author showed us most characters or stories in this way for a reason.

As far as the audio-visual side and duels are concerned, this is at least good. CGI is not perfect, there are worse drawn drawings, the animation does not knockdown, but all this presents a solid enough level that I see no reason to complain. Trees, the rest of the vegetation, mountains, sky, ports, cities, general nature and background elements work in a similar way to me, for example those from 3 parts of "The Witcher" or the serial "Vikings". I like to look at them and, like the above, I have paused more than once in calm shots to be able to calmly look at the details and admire their beauty. Just like in the case of fights. There is a lot of blood, the characters do not stick with each other and hurt badly - be it by breaking the skin with a chain, poking their eyes or simply torturing prisoners in various ways. When it comes to fights, I will describe it on 1 example. Thorkell fights by default with 2 axes, but to tell the truth he doesn't really need any weapons, because getting a fist alone can result in death. 230 cm tall and 180 kg weight is doing their job. Ordinary warriors massacre by sheer posture, then tearing them at pieces of meat with the help of axes. In general, the stories about him and the person himself cause the enemies to shit at the thought of fighting him. Well, what else would you expect from a one-man-army, which throws scare in the ranks of the enemy and throws small ships with one throw of a log/log of wood In addition, he has a great voice actor (like most in this anime, with special mention of Askeladd) who is simply created for this role, like Robert Downey Jr for Iron Man.

I highly recommend, the moment I write these words, I am a dozen or so hours after the last 2 episodes. It's worth getting over the Japanese language and some exaggerations because it's a noteworthy series from which you can get a lot of cool things and, above all, fun.