Vinland Saga

Description

From Kodansha:
As a child, Thorfinn sat at the feet of the great Leif Ericson and thrilled to wild tales of a land far to the west. But his youthful fantasies were shattered by a mercenary raid. Raised by the Vikings who murdered his family, Thorfinn became a terrifying warrior, forever seeking to kill the band’s leader, Askeladd, and avenge his father. Sustaining Thorfinn through his ordeal are his pride in his family and his dreams of a fertile westward land, a land without war or slavery. The land Leif called Vinland.

Official English

Note: Was nominated for the 2008 Manga Taisho award. Won the Grand Prize in the manga division of the Japan Media Arts awards in 2009. Won the 36th Kodansha Manga Award for Best General Manga in 2012.

Type

Manga

Related Series

Ganso Ylva-chan (Spin-Off)

Animal Land Saga (Spin-Off)

Associated Names

Saga Winlandzka

Vinland Destanı

Vinrando Saga

Сага про Вінланд

ヴィンランドサガ

ヴィンランド・サガ

海盜戰記

Groups Scanlating

4chan

Anonymous Spore

Binktopia

Black Cat Scanlations

More...

Latest Release(s)

c.219 by Project Vinland 6 days ago

c.218 by Project Vinland 3 months ago

c.217 by Project Vinland 5 months ago

Search for all releases of this series

Status in Country of Origin

28 Volumes (Ongoing)

Completely Scanlated?

Anime Start/End Chapter

Starts at Vol 1, Chap 1 (S1) Chap 1-2 adapted in EP 7-8 / Vol 8, Chap 55 (S2)

Ends at Vol 8, Chap 54 (S1) / Vol 14, Chap 100 (S2)

User Reviews

Vinland Saga by canucks

Forum

9 topics, 77 posts

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User Rating

Average: 8.8 / 10.0 (1985 votes)

Bayesian Average: 8.76 / 10.0

40%

30%

17%

Last Updated

July 1st, 2025 10:11am PDT - 2 days ago

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Genre

Action Adventure Drama Historical Mature Psychological Seinen Tragedy
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Categories

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Recommendations

Author(s)

Artist(s)

Year

Original Publisher

Kodansha

Serialized In (magazine)

Afternoon (Kodansha)

Shuukan Shounen Magazine (Kodansha)

Licensed (in English)

Yes

English Publisher

INKR

Kodansha Comics (14 Omnibuses - Ongoing | Premium Collector Hardcover 3-in-1 - 2 Vols - Ongoing)

Activity Stats (vs. other series)

Weekly Pos #246

(-2)

Monthly Pos #324

(-42)

3 Month Pos #359

(+30)

6 Month Pos #301

(+43)

Year Pos #275

(-25)

List Stats

On 7771 reading lists

On 2455 wish lists

On 178 completed lists

On 185 unfinished lists

On 852 custom lists

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Forum Posts Click to view the forum

Vinland Saga Anime Gets 2nd Season

4 years ago

Makoto Yukimura Starts Drawing Final Arc of Vinland Saga

6 years ago

Vinland Saga gets TV Anime by Wit Studio

7 years ago

Where is this going?

9 years ago

Discussion up to ch.56

13 years ago

User Comments [ Order by usefulness ]

One of my favorites! (Been following for years)

by crazyazn69
2 years ago

Rating: 10.0 / 10.0

The story has continued to evolve far beyond my imagination. I highly recommend it.

The art is great.

The characters are deep and interesting and there are many of them.

The characters have meaningful interactions.

The plot devices make sense.

The story highlights some fascinating facts about history that are fun to look up.

The philosophical moments are meaningful and deep. There is no superficial good or bad guy. The MC's worldview, while beautiful, is always tenuous. That is to say that you never know if his dreams for the future can really come to be. So, the story carries a wonderful tension that keeps readers engaged.

I highly recommend this to everyone!

... Last updated 2 years ago

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Devolves into TRASH

by ciel_bleu
3 years ago

Rating: N/A

This manga is over-hyped. Story would have been half way decent if it didn't go and kill the only interesting character (Askeladd) and then devolve into some lame moral preaching that doesn't even make sense. The sudden character "developments" are way too contrived. Canute went from being a bumbling idiot whose only redeeming quality was being able to cook a decent stew- to being an authoritative prince plotting to overthrow his father- all because of the empty words of a drunk priest and a half baked epiphany? REALLY? Just like that? He got high on some words? The guy who got high on berserker shrooms made for a more compelling plot device.

This story is just a bunch of needless war, gore and some mild nudity. Do not mistake that for realism, because people seem to be getting stabbed, shot by arrows, having their fingers cut off- without incurring any tetanus. It's just incredibly fantastical and silly when we know simple flesh wounds could kill people during that time.

As for the MC, what a wasted potential. He loses a man he was supposed to hate but had come to see as a second father. He lived from fight to fight, simply to duel him and win in an honorable fight for...revenge? He lived with Askeladd's troupe for years, knew they worked for money, and never questioned why they chose to kill his father? Never even thought about "WHY"? In the end he couldn't seek revenge against a man who wasn't even the person who conspired to kill him in the first place. He remains blissfully ignorant of the reality of that day. OKAY At this point i should probably confess i dropped the series at chapter 122 so I don't know if he found out later, and frankly I just don't care.

He's basically now haunted by the deaths he caused and thinks that by being a pacifist he's somehow redeeming himself. His moral platitudes about the "futility of revenge" doesn't even make sense within the story. First of all, its the dark ages, where death and destruction are normal. He feels responsible for the people he killed but we all know he was a mindless killing machine for someone else. If he didn't do the killing, someone else would've. The people he killed would have died even if he wasn't the one to do it. Second, Askeladd had a very satisfying story of revenge against his own father and breaking free. So where does he get off, preaching about the benefits of pacifism? And not seeking revenge? In fact, his moral preaching gets in the way of actual justice. The slave master Ketil rapes and impregnates his slave Arnheid. When Ketil is branded a traitor and has the king come after him, he feels powerless to do anything. He becomes unhinged when he realizes that Arnheid tried to escape, and sought to "punish" her. It's simply a way to get back his agency and get rid of his own feeling of powerlessness- by exerting power over the powerless slave and take back the feeling of control. He beats her with enough force to kill her and the unborn child. He was stopped from killing her on the spot because others intervened. She died later due to the injuries. So he's basically committed needless homicide. Our dear Thorfinn stops Einar from killing the slave-master because "revenge wouldn't do anything". Except, it wasn't revenge, but repurcussion and justice for Einar who sees the love of his life get killed brutally. The Ketil slave master was already branded a traitor and it wouldn't have made a difference if he was killed. But instead, he gets to live, eat the fruits of slave labour and live a comfortable life while reminiscing about the slave he raped and killed. Great going. IF the moral of the story was that he lived his life in regret- that's bull.

Life itself is a precious privilege. Ketil Slaver got to enjoy his. While Arnheid didn't. There's no justice in the path Thorfinn has chosen. His pacifist lifestyle depends on the generosity of his opponents. Another person in his position would have died a long time ago. Hell, he would have died if his opponents used the sword instead of the fist. His pacifist morality is simply a veneer for self gratification, and a way to soothe his own nightmares and live easier with his past. That's him being selfish in his own way. Maybe Einar would have felt better after meting out his own justice. We'll never know because the story has devolved into some pompous self righteous sermonising. BLEH. I need a palette cleanser after this.

... Last updated 2 years ago

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I like the storyline

by poien
4 years ago

Rating: N/A

The story line is great.I really like this one, even though sometimes the story can be confusing for me i still enjoy it a lot.

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The Gold Standard

by firefox1234
6 years ago

Rating: 10.0 / 10.0

Compelling plot? Check.

Dynamic characters? Check

Fleshed out main and secondary characters? Check

Arguably the best manga of all time? Check

If you have any doubts about this manga, throw them away. I would suggest reading the manga over the anime(which is also good)because the source material has more details and is put together better.

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One of the best

by Sburator
6 years ago

Rating: 10.0 / 10.0

I really enjoyed every page.

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On the summit!

by Jiambi
7 years ago

Rating: 10.0 / 10.0

Clearly one of the best, more mature and developed mangas there is! the art!!! every panel has so much input it hurts!!

Character development is profund, intrincate, layered and realistic!

The whole story has an impecable historical setting with lots of cool references. Lastly battles are as good and bloody as it gets!! if you liked mangas in the vein of Berserk, Historie or Vagabond dont think it twice!

(also, just to be clear, imho this manga has a lot of points in common with berserk, a tragic main character, a party journey in a huge world, extremly detailded artwork, extremly bloody battles, scarce comedy relief... not fantasy though, and main character motivations are diferent, but i can see why people who like one of them would definitly like the other)

... Last updated 7 years ago

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Still have way to go

by wansmor
9 years ago

Rating: 8.0 / 10.0

I don't understand why people relate this series to Berserk, Vagabond maybe but not Berserk. Berserk's headline is a fight between monsters and humans. This is not the case with VS, which headline the journey of Thorfin, a Viking boy who's seeking a mean to his life after his father was killed in front of his very eyes.

Naturally, gore scenes is plenty on VS early on, because of the rough life style of the vikings, but there's more depth to it. While it's true that the viking lives from one battles to another, this series also shows that there are those who fights with wits among them. This made VS shows more than just gore from one chapter to another, but also tactical maneuvers.

VS then made brave turn, when Thorfin lost his revenge target and went into a slump. The author showed that he intended VS to be a whole story, not just a simple war seeking Viking lifestyle, but instead the Story of Vinland itself. And because we have yet to see the actual Vinland, it is safe to say that this series, as of the time this review was written, is still far from over.

... Last updated 9 years ago

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Not Berserk

by DrManga
10 years ago

Rating: 9.0 / 10.0

I do not see why people compare it to Berserk. Berserk became extremely shallow and it was being milked by extending the number of volumes and not getting anywhere for a very long time. It just kept repeating the same shallow formula over and over.

For the people who complain about the farming arcs, Seriously go reading berserk if you want constant fighting. It only adds to the manga quality.

It goes on full retard on volume 16 (The hunter and the hunted) with just absurdity (circular saw?) and full on feminism. It seemed to be heading that way for the last few volume, but still. Hope this arc finishes soon.

This is not Berserk. Nothing like Berserk. This has a lot of depth and intrigue. Only problem, I do believe it gets released once a month. Maybe one should wait until it is finished before reading ^_^

... Last updated 10 years ago

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Terribly Underrated but Only for the Mature Reader

by taichokage
10 years ago

Rating: 9.0 / 10.0

So to be straight to the point, if you favorite series include the likes of Naruto, Bleach Fairy Tail, or mainstream Shounen, there is a fair possibility you will not enjoy this series.

If your favorite series are Ecchi or Comedy based, there's a high possibility that this series will just be meh for you.

But if your favorites include the likes of Vagabond, Berserk, Ubel Blatt or Wolfsmund, you will most likely enjoy this series a great deal.

It is not as action packed as the aforementioned series but is not without it's battles scenes. Without spoiling, thus far in the manga, there are 3 distinct periods in the series, the 3rd being relatively new on the block. This is a story about 1 man's development primarily, but later molds into that man's quest and desire.

It's a tale of revenge and repentance in one taking place in the early 1000's. There are many complex factors to this series. But please do yourself a favor and begin reading this.

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you decide..

by LockONN
11 years ago

Rating: 10.0 / 10.0

I normally wont bother with ratings, and they generally tend to annoy me whenever I read them, People writing what is just opinion but, is spelled out as if it were fact always gets me. I will say that I think that the story is excellent regardless of preference, I liked the the way it was told and the amount of depth in many aspects of the story to say the least. I feel that is always important to see and decide for yourself whether you will like something or not. Instead of believing what is only someone's opinion which is faultless ignorance it is better to know, and decide for yourself. In my opinion the story is at the least worth a glance. I feel that its is by no means a superficial story only interested in characters that look cool, but an earnest read to say the least.

... Last updated 11 years ago

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