Vinland Saga (manga)
| Vinland Saga | |
| Genre | Historical fiction, Action |
|---|---|
| Manga | |
| Written by | Makoto Yukimura |
| Published by |  Kodansha |
| Magazine | Weekly Shōnen Magazine, Afternoon |
| Demographic | Shōnen, Seinen |
| Original run | 2005 – ongoing |
| Volumes | 6 |
Vinland Saga (ヴィンランド･サガ, Vinrando Saga) is a Japanese historical manga series by mangaka Makoto Yukimura, author of Planetes. It is published by Kodansha, and was first serialized in Weekly Shōnen Magazine before moving to the monthly seinen magazine Afternoon because Yukimura couldn't keep up a weekly schedule.[1] It has been collected in six tankōbon in Japan as of December 2007.
Plot
Vinland Saga's story chronicles the rise to power of Danish King Canute the Great, conqueror of England in the early 11th Century. It draws elements from historical accounts such as the Flateyjarbók, The Saga of the Greenlanders, and The Saga of Eric the Red.
Reception
Vinland Saga has been commercially successful in Japan, with combined sales of 1.2 million copies for the first 5 tankōbon[2] and several visits to the top ten manga sales list.[3][4] It was among the series nominated for the 2008 Manga Taisho award.[5]
The series has not been acquired by any English licensing company, and is available in English only via unofficial scanlations, a fact lamented by The Comics Journal in a 2006 article highlighting worthy unlicensed manga and scanlation groups.[6] The first tankōbon was glowingly reviewed by MangaCast in 2005. This review praised Vinland Saga for its fluid action sequences, remarking how well author Yukimura made the transition to the action genre from his previous work Planetes. The panel composition, realistically barbaric violence, and attention to detail in constructing the setting were praised and compared with those found in Kentarō Miura's long-running series Berserk. Two primary criticisms were also levied: the reviewer found he had to suspend his disbelief more often than he would have liked to in a historical fiction series, and worried that the then-upcoming switch to monthly serialization was a sign that the series production would "slow to a crawl".[1] Another review by Japanator in 2007 again compared Vinland Saga to Berserk, this time in narrative style, as well as mentioning similarities to Norihiro Yagi's monthly shōnen title Claymore. This review lauded the improvements to the art detail that followed Vinland Saga's serialization switch to Afternoon. It did, however, mention that the "over the top" combat scenes detracted from the historical feel.[7]
See also
References
- ^ a b Edward Chavez (2005-10-10). "Valhalla, I am Coming..." MangaCast. Retrieved 2008-08-26.
- ^ Vinland Saga volume 6 obi.
- ^ Edward Chavez (2006-10-30). "Weekly Taiyosha Rankings - for Oct 23 - Oct 29, 2006". Mangacast. Retrieved 2008-08-26.
- ^ Edward Chavez (2008-06-30). "Weekly Taiyosha Manga Rankings ~ June 30, 2008". Mangacast. Retrieved 2008-08-26.
- ^ Edward Chavez (2008-03-28). "And the Nominees Are… (the 1st Cartoon Grand Prize)". MangaCast. Retrieved 2008-08-26.
- ^ Dirk Deppey (2006-10-13). "A Comics Reader's Guide to Manga Scanlations". The Comics Journal. Retrieved 2008-08-26.
- ^ "Scanlation Spotlight:Vinland Saga". Japanator. 2007-07-06. Retrieved 2008-08-26.
External links
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