English Dub Review: Vinland Saga: “Awakening”

Overview: Thorfinn (Mike Haimoto) and Einar (Ian Sinclair) meet Snake (Christopher Sabat), who rouses something deep within the war torn warrior. 

Our Take: “Awakening” breathes new life into Thorfinn, or, rather, makes him realize what has been there all along. Fox is a bravado driven thug, one who is not a legitimate threat, at least not enough to scare Thorfinn. 

Snake, on the other hand, very much lives up to his name by slowly, but surely going for a lethal strike towards Thorfinn. A dangerous man who inflicts fear is a riveting way to impress upon Thorfinn the innate value he attributes to his life. It also paints a picture of how outstandingly kind Snake is comparatively to the bloodthirsty men he leads. This seems to be just the tip of a colossal iceberg in delving deeper into what Thorfinn holds dear and his purpose. 

Einar discovers the truth about him, unleashing the rotten core of anger within him since his family’s death. There is moral complexity in Einar contemplating taking Thorfinn’s life with the role men like him played in his tragedy. Einar shows how much of a polar opposite he is to Thorfinn in some ways. Because even more compelling is what he chooses to do instead. His moving words of encouragement being that of his mother’s is powerful in the guiding light they are for him. With a positive buddy like Einar, this will hopefully be the inspirational friendship Thorfinn needs.