Is the Vinland Saga Manga Finished?
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Vinland Saga is a historical manga written and drawn by mangaka Makoto Yukimura. The series was published by Kōdansha in Weekly Shōnen Magazine in April 2005 before being moved to the monthly magazine Afternoon in December 2005. The manga is inspired by several Icelandic sagas and refers to the discovery of North America by the Vikings. An adaptation into an animated television series by Wit Studio first aired between July 8 and December 30, 2019. A second season is in production by studio MAPPA. In this article, we are going to tell you whether Vinland Saga is finished or if you can expect more content in the future.
Vinland Saga is a series consisting of two works – a manga series and an anime series – and both of these works are still ongoing and are not finished. The manga series has been ongoing since April 13, 2005, and has 26 volumes as of the time of writing, while the anime series has been ongoing since July 7, 2019; although a third season has not been confirmed, it is likely going to be. There is no foreseeable ending for any of these works as of the time of writing.
The rest of this article is going to focus on the publication of the Vinland Saga series and all its aspects. We’re going to go over the whole publication history and ultimately tell you whether the Vinland Saga series is over or still ongoing so that you know how much material from this great series you can expect.
Is the Vinland Saga manga over?
The series debuted in April 2005 in publisher Kōdansha’s Weekly Shōnen Magazine. In October of the same year, the publication was suspended, to resume in December in the monthly magazine Afternoon, also published by Kōdansha. This change is due to the pace of creation that Makoto Yukimura could not sustain; one chapter per week generally seems ill-suited to historical series, where research takes time, where the plot takes place over a long period of time, and where the sets have to be worked on more.
There are, therefore, two versions of volumes 1 and 2 due to the transfer of the series from Weekly Shōnen Magazine to Afternoon. The reprint from Afternoon‘s publication brought changes, different covers, and new comments from the author, especially on the jackets. The author sometimes uses omake, special chapters, and other means to comment on the making of Vinland Saga.
In Volume 2, an omake discusses the research trip he took to Iceland in 2003 before starting the manga, and the author’s comments in Volumes 1 and 3 speak of Yukimura’s desire to learn and portray the daily life of the Vikings, not just the wars and events of historical chronicles. Yukimura is assisted, with the drawings, by four assistants: Haito Kumagai, Kazuoki Suzuki, Tomoyuki Takami, and Daiju Watanabe. So far, 26 volumes have been released:
Volume | Publication date (Japan) | ISBN |
---|---|---|
Volume 1 | July 15, 2005 (Weekly Shōnen) August 23, 2006 (Afternoon) | 978-4-06-363559-1 (Weekly Shōnen) 978-4-06-314423-9 (Afternoon) |
Volume 2 | November 17, 2005 (Weekly Shōnen) August 23, 2006 (Afternoon) | 978-4-06-363580-5 (Weekly Shōnen) 978-4-06-314428-4 (Afternoon) |
Volume 3 | October 23, 2006 | 978-4-06-314433-8 |
Volume 4 | February 23, 2007 | 978-4-06-314440-6 |
Volume 5 | October 23, 2007 | 978-4-06-314473-4 |
Volume 6 | June 23, 2008 | 978-4-06-314510-6 |
Volume 7 | February 23, 2009 | 978-4-06-314544-1 |
Volume 8 | September 23, 2009 | 978-4-06-314581-6 |
Volume 9 | June 23, 2010 | 978-4-06-310672-5 |
Volume 10 | April 22, 2011 | 978-4-06-310736-4 |
Volume 11 | January 23, 2012 | 978-4-06-387801-1 |
Volume 12 | November 22, 2012 | 978-4-06-387850-9 |
Volume 13 | July 23, 2013 | 978-4-06-387909-4 |
Volume 14 | February 21, 2014 | 978-4-06-387956-8 |
Volume 15 | October 23, 2014 | 978-4-06-387999-5 |
Volume 16 | June 23, 2015 | 978-4-06-388062-5 |
Volume 17 | January 22, 2016 | 978-4-06-388109-7 |
Volume 18 | August 23, 2016 | 978-4-06-388170-7 |
Volume 19 | April 21, 2017 | 978-4-06-388251-3 |
Volume 20 | November 22, 2017 | 978-4-06-510362-3 |
Volume 21 | August 23, 2018 | 978-4-06-512433-8 |
Volume 22 | June 21, 2019 | 978-4-06-515180-8 |
Volume 23 | November 22, 2019 | 978-4-06-517507-1 |
Volume 24 | October 23, 2020 | 978-4-06-521004-8 |
Volume 25 | July 21, 2021 | 978-4-06-523605-5 |
Volume 26 | May 23, 2022 | 978-4-06-527928-1 |
As of the time of writing this article, the Vinland Saga manga series is quite alive and well. There are absolutely no signs of cancelation, and while the story certainly is slowly approaching its final arc, there is no news about any cancelation or the series reaching its end as of this moment, which means that there is still a lot more of the manga to enjoy.
Is the Vinland Saga anime finished?
On March 19, 2018, production company Twin Engine revealed that the series would receive an anime adaptation produced by Wit Studio. The series was directed by Shūhei Yabuta with scripts written by Hiroshi Seko and Kenta Ihara, character designs by Takahiko Abiru, and a soundtrack composed by Yutaka Yamada.
Consisting of 24 episodes, the first season aired in Japan between July 8 and December 30, 2019, on NHK General TV, with the first three episodes airing consecutively. The airing of the 10th episode was delayed for a week due to media coverage of the impending arrival of Typhoon Faxai. Due to the broadcast of the World Para Athletics Championships on NHK, episode 18 was delayed for one week and aired on November 17, 2019.
Amazon has exclusive streaming rights to the series in Japan and overseas through its video-on-demand service, Prime Video, and the first episode was released on July 7, 2019. The first episode has its world premiere during the 20th edition of the Japan Expo in July 2019.
The songs of the first opening and ending of the series are respectively produced by the group Survive Said The Prophet and by Aimer. The songs of the second opening and ending are respectively produced by the group MAN WITH A MISSION and by milet.
On July 7, 2021, the production company Twin Engine revealed that it will start the production of a second season with the return of Shūhei Yabuta as director, Hiroshi Seko as the main writer, Takahiko Abiru as the character designer, and Yutaka Yamada as the composer. This second season will be produced by the animation studio MAPPA. The series will air in Japan on Tokyo MX and BS11 channels in January 2023, with a total of 24 episodes. The second season of the anime will be available internationally on Crunchyroll except in Asia and on Netflix except in China.
Everything we’ve said about the manga above can be applied to the anime series as well. Although we haven’t received official confirmation of a third season of Vinland Saga (the second still hasn’t aired, thought), the popularity of the manga and the initial anime adaptations make it almost a certain thing, so we can confirm that the anime is not over either and that we are going to see more of the anime in the future. We just don’t know when.
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