Vinland Saga

Vinland Saga is an Epic Historical anime series based on the manga series by Makoto Yukimura and produced by WIT Studio. The series aired from July to December 2019 and a second season has been announced, produced now by MAPPA, though with many of the crew such as the director and the character designer returning.

Plot
Late into the Viking Age, in the year 1012, Thorfinn has joined the renowned mercenary Askeladd in a quest to earn the right and ability to kill him for the murder of his honorable father years ago. While desperately pursuing his goal, Thorfinn is forced into great battles and begins to question his own morals and desires.

Why It Rocks

 * 1) A very interesting premise based loosely on real life with plenty of characters either strongly or loosely based off real-life personages, like Leif (who's a parody of Leif Eriksson, even if it's never directly stated), Canute (based on Canute the Great), and Sweyn Forkbeard (one of the few characters who's entirely historically accurate, the King of Denmark and the English).
 * 2) It also has plenty of events in Viking history around the time adapted very faithfully, making it feel like it's actually taking place around that time, along with plenty of politics around the time included. It's a very historically accurate series, with realistic detail in many smaller things like weapons, armor, ships, living situations, and so on.
 * 3) Tons of complex yet likeable and interesting characters to root for or against.
 * 4) Thorfinn (loosely based on a real Viking who was in Leif Eriksson's expedition), though pursuing revenge in a way that borders on obsession, has a limit to what he will and won't do to achieve this goal. For example, he will battle and kill pretty much any soldier, but he won't kill innocents and even goes out of his way to try and save others from his forced companions, and doesn't take any joy in battle or killing, which play major themes in his character arc later on.
 * 5) Askeladd (an entirely fictional character, unlike some of the others), though he's the villain of the story and uses underhanded tactics at times, is a very interesting individual who takes pleasure and excitement in battle, though he's a man of his word and doesn't break promises made even to his enemies. He also genuinely cares about the well-being of his village and people.
 * 6) Thors develops from a warlord (events before the main story) to a very pacifistic man and loving father to his children (a change brought on by the birth of his daughter, Ylvas), and tries to keep Thorfinn from the warpath and provides plenty of morals and wisdom to him even in death. He also purchases a dying slave from a cruel master to prevent the slave from being tortured and have his last few minutes be peaceful instead.
 * 7) Canute starts out as a very mysterious character who one would assume is just another Viking warlord. It turns out that he's actually quite the opposite of that, in fact, and had a hard life that leads him to be very closeted towards the world, making his character development throughout all the more powerful and extremely interesting.
 * 8) Even plenty of minor characters who don't have much appearance or importance in the story are made pretty likeable, like one of Thors' would-be Vikings (mostly teenagers, though he was secretly trying to bring them to a safe place away from the war) who was blind to the true horrors of war and tried to propose to Ylvas before his departure.
 * 9) A very well-written story all around, showing the different characters and their different morals, but more interestingly, how each characters' actions affect not only them, but also the people around them and people they haven't even met. The series isn't afraid to kill off major characters and also show the consequences of that death on many others.
 * 10) Many interesting and relatable themes are explored throughout the series, like the consequences of war and hypocrisy in the ideal of vengeance, as well as what it truly takes to be a leader or even a king for that matter, and whether killing is ever justified.
 * 11) The series even explores some religious themes in a pretty tasteful way, it's neither trying to force a religious message down your throat nor trying to "prove" that there is no god, it's trying to get people to think for themselves and decide on their own morals and what they believe in while also showing that failing to acknowledge differing ideologies is a bad idea. The depiction of religion in the series is also very realistic for the time.
 * 12) Breathtaking animation all around. Backgrounds are beautifully rendered, character designs are very appealing, and action scenes are very well animated and truly impactful. Battle scenes (much larger scale than the fight or action scenes) are also given a shockingly high amount of detail that makes them equal parts fun to watch and beautiful. Even the 3d animation (sometimes used to animate larger moving crowds) looks beautiful.
 * 13) Amazing musical score, with plenty of standout songs that fit the atmosphere of their scenes very well.
 * 14) On that note, the Openings and Endings have very well rendered animations as well as awesome songs that can easily hook the audience.
 * 15) A lot of tropes in many anime are outright ignored in this series, there's no female fanservice (some nudity, but not treated in such a way), no slapstick, chibi animation, and even the dialogue feels more real and interesting, making the series appealing to both anime fans and non-fans alike.
 * 16) Many great episodes throughout that bring plenty of emotional weight and actually advance the plot greatly. It even sometimes boils down to the point where there's no fighting or battles, just the characters going about their lives and living with the events of the previous episodes. Episode 4 is a particular early standout as it changes the plot drastically by killing off a major character, which influences a great deal of the remainder of the season. There's also deeply emotional tone throughout that serves the series very well.
 * 17) Unlike the manga, the series tells the story almost entirely in chronological order, making it a bit easier to follow.
 * 18) Unlike some other popular ongoing anime like Demon Slayer, who's first season ended on somewhat of a cliffhanger, this series' first season ends on an excellent potential finale where many loose ends are tied up and the character development is brought to full-circle. However, there are still a few things left open for the second season, but not meant to be sequel bait, which is quite an achievement.

Bad Qualities

 * 1) Some unlikeable characters, like Gorm, Askeladd's uncle, who violently abuses his slave. In a touch of irony, even Askeladd doesn't respect him because of this, calling him a "slave to gold".
 * 2) Some of the violence is toned down a bit compared to the manga. This isn't inherently a bad thing, though.

Reception
The series, like the manga before it, has received critical acclaim and numerous awards, with praise for it's story, characters, animation, and historical setting. The Anime series won the Crunchyroll Anime Award for Best Drama and was nominated for many others, including Best Antagonist (Askeladd), Best Character Design, and Anime of the Year. The series is often ranked highly among the Best Anime of 2019, and on IMDb, is ranked #97 on their list of Top 250 TV Shows of All Time, surpassing both Demon Slayer (#126) and Jujutsu Kaisen (#163) released that same year.

Trivia

 * 1) Thorfinn's real-life counterpart, Thorfinn Karlsefni Thordarson, is a legendary Viking who followed Leif Eriksson's route with a small band of Vikings, including his wife, in an attempt to make a permanent settlement in Vinland (now the coast of North America) and has direct family ties to Ragnar Lodbrok.
 * 2) Askeladd is based on an Icelandic Chieftan from the Laxdoela Saga, Olaf the Peacock.

Episodes with their own Pages

 * A True Warrior
 * The Journey Begins
 * The Battle of London Bridge
 * The Light of Dawn
 * Servant
 * Out of the Cradle
 * United Front
 * Reunion
 * End of the Prologue