If you follow the socials, I have recently gotten back into anime. I watched some back in college, which was (Oh crap!) 25 years ago.

Back then, I watched what are now considered some of the classics: Akira, Cowboy Bebop, Outlaw Star, Neon Genesis, Gundam, etc. Then I attended the Official Strongman Games in Wisconsin, to watch my bud do badass things as he tends to do (sixth in the world!)

A guy there had booth set up with shirt and poster designs, combining anime with fitness. We talked for a bit. He was cool. I discovered recently there is a whole new generation of anime fans and a few of them are my athletes. You should definitely check out his work at Anime Fitness Alliance.

Talking with him at the show, I got an idea. I wanted to do a commission with him and have him draw a gym logo for my garage gym, Asgard Athletica. I like the idea of combining anime styling with norse mythology.

So it only seemed fitting to watch Vinland Saga early in my journey back into anime. You know, for design ideas. And totally not just because I’m a nerd. I was “researching”.

Vinland Saga is a (so far) two season story of Thorfinn, an Icelandic warrior, beginning with his childhood and witnessing the murder of his father by another warrior. What follows is one season of rage, ware, battle, rage, and more rage. It is all gas. It is fun, it is gory and it is what you expect of a Viking story.

Then season two takes a sharp right turn. After 24 episodes of violence, season 2 is all about the growth of a warrior into what a warrior should be. Spoiler: it is not what you probably think it should be. I try not to spoil too much when I do these little write-ups. But if season one was all gas, season two was more diesel. It still had some burn to it, but it was a slow burn. I liked the payoff at the end. I try my best to avoid reading reviews of stuff until after I have put my thoughts on paper (or screen). But I have seen some comments that make me think most people liked season one much more than two. I get that, but I think season two might age well. Think season two of The Wire. It lacks the youthful “cool” factor, but it is a more mature story.

I enjoyed the show. I would give it a 4 out of 5 so far. But then again, I am the guy who returned from Iceland with these two things:

As for Elvis and that commission. I waited until after the holidays and after completing this show, but I reached out this week. He is on board. I gave him my idea, which includes some styling from one of my favorite side character of this show (Thorkell!). I am excited to seeing what he comes up with. Until then, he does have one Vinland Saga shirt design I already ordered.

Up next, I am going to finally get around to that Roman Empire docuseries on Netflix for a season, then swing back around to another anime. I’m currently debating between resuming Dragon Ball, or starting either Naruto, One Piece or Solo Leveling.