Vinland Saga 59 — In Which Part of an Ear is Lost

There are hardly adequate words to describe it. Well, there are; but it doesn’t sound as dramatic that way.

This one keeps on surprising, that’s for sure. Here we see the depths of Thorfinn’s depression/emoness. And we clear up that he is not suffering from amnesia: he’s just that emo. The guard guy whose name I can never remember doesn’t care for Thorfinn’s attitude — something about how everyone should fear death, but Thorfinn just doesn’t care either way — so he starts trying to cut him down to size. Literally. And, as the title of this post says, I’m pretty sure I saw a chunk of ear fall off. But hardly even a flinch.

Now, we, the readers, know most everything about this guy’s history. Of course he can take a few puny cuts from some wimp with a sword. But they don’t know that, and that’s what impressed me about this chapter. Most any other story with a similar setup as this would very likely have the lead, Thorfinn, kick the punk’s ass five ways to next Tuesday. But the author refrained, and the story grew for his effort.

There were hints of ass-kicking, but only for a moment. Even when Thorfinn was on the wrong end of the guy’s sword, his stoner, I-don’t-give-a-fuck attitude puts him in control, psychologically. And then the sword guy — Fox, maybe? — Fox’s brother, Snake, comes in wanting to know what the hell is going on. He saw enough, though, to see Thorfinn’s resolve, enough to want to test it himself. So, after punching out the ever-so-annoying Fox — itself a very rewarding scene — he puts down his cup, and we get maybe two pages of semi-action. Snake gets out his knife, and Thorfinn kicks at him, gets blocked by the other arm, and then does a backflip or two. Somewhere in there, Snake makes a sort of grunting noise, and Thorfinn wonders whether this guy might be stronger than Askeladd.

But then, the final blow. After his great big speech about wanting to die, turns out his body might actually still want to live. This shocks him something fierce. Hopefully he’ll lighten up a bit, maybe shave, pull his life back together.

So, yes — amazing as always. The main flaw for me was the pretty sucky translation. (Note: I am not in any way qualified to judge the accuracy of the translation; only the accuracy of the resulting English.) But that hardly seems like a balanced opinion. Must find a negative.

Dammit. Maybe next time.

On a Sport I Only Care about When Fictionalized

I am not now, nor have I ever been, particularly enthusiastic about sports. It always seemed more than a little pointless to me, and it didn’t help I was never any good at them. As a corollary, I’ve never really been able to care about fictional sports. Until very recently, at least.

Since I’m making this post, it shouldn’t come as much of a surprise that I’m about to name the exception: Ookiku Furikabutte, colloquially Oofuri, trans. Big Windup! There’s just something about the series that pulls you into it, no matter your athletic inclination otherwise. It might be the attention to detail — though that, still, accounts for but very little.

Consider. On some of the extra pages in one of the bound volumes, there were included several pages detailing the main students’ routes to and from school, complete with maps, arrival and departure times, and reasons for discrepancies on the return trip. To say nothing of the pages of info detailing personal information (height, weight, blood type, family situation, position of the team, how they bat and pitch, etc). And the last for the opposing teams, as well.

Then there are the characters: there are a lot of them. I probably couldn’t name them all if my life depended on it, but they’re all at least somewhat interesting. Some less than others — though that might just result from a lack of spotlight, who knows.

That same attention to detail carries over to the games, too. One game might very well go on for several hundred pages, with most every pitch thoroughly analyzed. Thankfully, this only happens with the very interesting games. (Note: in the anime, one game took up about ten episodes. Over twenty six or so episodes, we saw about two and a half games.) And right now we happen to be smack in the middle of a very interesting one.

You see, they’re losing. Now, for them to start as the underdog is hardly a new thing. But when your opponent has a counter for your every strategy. . . well, then things might start to look hopeless. The thing is: the opposing team is hardly vilified, as might happen in other shows. Each team they’ve faced so far has very real, complex motivations, and to think of them as the “bad guys” would do them a disservice.

Motivation, fears, strategy — the psychological aspect of the game is very much the center of attention for much of the story. I recall reading the author has a degree in sports psychology, and it shows. A good deal of the more tense aspects in a game focus on the pitcher and catcher — Mihashi and Abe, respectively — deciding what pitch to use. I’d never thought such a thing could be so complicated. I don’t think I can even properly describe it, except to say it involves several levels of “he knows I know he knows I know whatever.”

Like I said, though, they’re losing. But the chapter does at least end on a hope spot, where maybe they’ve possibly figured out a way to actually score a point. Or keep the other guys from scoring. And I really cannot wait for the next chapter. However long that takes.

A Warm, Kind Home

A good while back — there’s no saying how long precisely — I was introduced to an anime called Natsume Yuujinchou, and then later to its sequel, Zoku Natsume Yuujinchou. Both are undoubtedly among my favorite series, and I immediately thereafter began reading the manga. And, though it has been released only very slowly — more so since the announcement of its licensing — I have read every chapter I could find.

Which today amounts to nineteen. Truly, I cannot wait till the official release, which I hope shall have a more regular, faster release schedule. But enough about that.

As it so happens, chapter nineteen is one of my favorite episodes from the anime. Expectations are high.

It begins in the woods, and in a dream in the woods — a dream of Nyanko-sensei’s, a dream of Reiko. And it’s this dream of Reiko that preludes her involvement in the chapter. And though her fingerprints are on most all chapters, if only by way of her grandson’s existence, here we see her as an actual character, interacting with actual people.

Turns out she had a run in with Natsume’s current foster-father when he was only a child. Which makes maybe the first human in the manga to actually remember her. Even if he doesn’t remember the name. But she managed to save Shigeru’s house and family from the evil invader, though destroying a room in the process. And now our protagonist must do the same, for the invader from before has returned.

I really, really like this chapter (even if I think the anime does it better, mostly) because of what it tackles thematically. Throughout pretty much the entire series, Natsume is alone, feels alone, but wishes he wasn’t. In this chapter, he isn’t. He initiates a conversation with Shigeru, asks him questions. We even get to see some of the man’s past. He becomes something other than “the man who took me in” and gets maybe a step closer to being an actual father figure, to say nothing of his advancement as a character on the whole. Because I’m pretty sure this is about the point I realized he even had a name. To emphasize, after I first wrote this, I had to go back and change every instance where I used his name. Because I got it wrong.

But it’s not till the last scene when Natsume notices. He may have damaged his room in the process of exorcising the spirit, but that doesn’t matter. “This is [Natsume's] house, too,” indeed. Until now, the only way Natsume has expressed much of any feeling to his guardians is by trying not to be a bother, to protect them from the spirits he attracts. And that is a good and fine thing of itself, but that shouldn’t have to be his only outlet.

In fact, it isn’t. Justified though his fears and doubts may be from past experiences, where he was tossed about from home to home — none of them so much as resembling a family in their reception of him — and where his ability to see spirits did little to endear him to these relatives, none of that matters anymore, except insofar as he must overcome the baggage. Still, though, it is not so strange a thought he has, not to cause them worry or pain, to avoid asking anything unnecessary or inconvenient, to cost them as little as possible. These are fine and noble thoughts, indeed, from one such as Natsume.

But, and this is important, this is his home, too. It doesn’t matter how he damages his room, because this is his home, too. He doesn’t have to give up his pocket money to pay for the repairs, because this is his home, too. He can talk about whatever with Shigeru, because this is his home, too. He shouldn’t be afraid of being an “inconvenience,” because this is his home, too.

I wonder if maybe I’m being a little repetitive.

His caretakers in the past may not have been so pleasant as these, but Shigeru and Toko have both been nothing short of loving toward him, as if he were their own son. Natsume may not know what to say or how to act now, but by god will they teach him.

Because theirs is truly a warm, kind home.

A New Beginning

So. Let’s try this again.

The latest chapter of Vinland Saga came out last week, and it was wonderful as ever — though maybe I should qualify that. I began reading this manga, all 58 chapters currently out, last weekend. That was. . . an experience, let me tell you. Art, story, characters, action, drama — it has it all, and it does them all really, really well.

Vinland Saga is a story of vikings, of grandiose adventure and brutality — because this manga is nothing if not brutal. Fight sequences are laced with severed limbs or with wounds that could make even the hardiest flinch or squirm. And it’s all awesome, for lack of a better word. The narrative mostly follows a kid named Thorfinn, and he’s supposed to be the main character. He has his moments, true, but most of his time is spent trying to avenge his father. And vengeful adolescents hardly ever make for good characters.

But I can put up with him because of everything else. That, and he does get some character development — and there’s a pretty big moment around chapter 53-4 that I won’t spoil that really makes an impact. Which becomes much less surprising when you learn the first 54 chapters are just the prologue. Seriously.

And the art. . . I really cannot say enough about how well done it is. I almost said “pretty” there, but that’s not quite right. There are stunning scenes, true, and sweeping landscapes that take your breath away. But “pretty” has unwanted connotations. There isn’t very much that’s “pretty” about this story. Breathtaking is probably the best way to put it, especially after the switch to monthly seinen, where the level of detail really picks up.

And did I mention Vikings? Because there are Vikings. Lots of ‘em. They’re not something you see in too many manga, and they really add a lot to the story. Like violence. Remember when I mentioned brutality? Most of that comes from them, and in large doses. Vikings raid villages, murder and rape women, and cause general mayhem. At one point, these guys are raping this woman, and the protagonist, Thorfinn, is trying to sleep in one of the stalls, I believe. The woman’s screaming wakes him up, so he gets up and goes outside. Doesn’t even bat an eye, except to say he’d rather not join them. Too busy brooding about revenge to have sex or anything like that.

Then there’s the actual combat. There are some very large, very strong people in here, and most of them love to fight. One guy even joins the other side in the war so he can fight more. And where most of the rest of the work is ground thoroughly in realism, the fights run on pure awesome. There’s a guy on a horse coming straight at you? Punch the horse! Use your legs as a spring to lessen a punch, and oh shit, you’re above the treetops.

And all the while there’s an actual, engaging story going on. It isn’t just some excuse to have another fight. Characters interact, make decisions, grow as people, and sometimes even die. (Note: there are no few deaths in this thing, seriously.)

What’s really amazing, though, is this is from the same guy who did Planetes. You know, some of the hardest sci-fi ever printed/animated. There are no space stations here, only Vikings.