Thorfinn, born in his homeland of Iceland, had once received a bespoke piece of advice from his father: “You have no enemies, nobody does. There is nobody who it’s okay to hurt.” But when a man named Askeladd kills his father, Thorfinn takes up work as a mercenary, seeking revenge with death and war becoming the reality Thorfinn endures in his daily life in Vinland Saga. With constant war between England and the Danes, the Vikings actually enjoy making a living collecting the spoils and making names for themselves. Recalling tales from sailors he’d heard as a young lad, tales of a land warm and fertile and free of fighting, Thorfinn seeks the legendary Vinland.
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The Vikings in Vinland Saga live to fight and Thorfinn fights in the hope that he can eventually find something more to live for. With much gore and action, Thorfinn’s views on violence drastically change over the course of the story. But if you’ve already seen the 48-episode total, 2-season series and are craving more historical anime, you’ve come to the right place. Whether you’re seeking hardcore action, lifestyles of long ago, or major past events, this list has it all.
1) The Elusive Samurai
Tokiyuki Houjou, living a peaceful, carefree life in Kamakura, isn’t just skilled with dodging and hiding in the art of evasion, but also spends his time dodging and hiding from his responsibilities as the heir of a shogun. But when a coup suddenly upends his peaceful life as his clan is brutally wiped out, Tokiyuki becomes wracked with guilt for being the sole survivor and considers honorably ending his own life. Fortunately for him, his body is innately able to dodge any danger. As the enigmatic priest Yorishige Suwa had prophesied Tokiyuki to someday becoming a great hero, Tokiyuki, alongside Yorishige’s powerful allies, finds new purpose in using his evasive skills to avenge his clan. But, instead of fighting with swordsmanship or archery, how will Tokiyuki conquer his enemies by running away?
Like Thorfinn losing his own family to savage enemies, so too does Tokiyuki lose his clan to brutality. And while both take place in a medieval time period only a couple hundred years apart, Thorfinn charges headfirst to fight against his enemies in Iceland as, halfway around the world in Japan, Tokiyuki instead runs away from his. While fans quickly realize upon research that this anime follows the Kenmu Restoration’s events closely, it’s through a frame of magic realism, with all the embellishment necessary to create an incredible visual journey across the end of the Kamakura period into the Muromachi era.
The Elusive Samurai can be streamed on Crunchyroll.
2) JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure
Beginning in 19th century England, this series follows the Joestar family as the generational narratives interconnect with self-contained stories of each Joestar as they find their destiny through their unique supernatural abilities, such as Hamon (sunlight manipulation) and Stands (manifestations of life energy). As each cursed Joestar bloodline member encounters great adventures throughout their lives, new settings, eras, and supernatural foes are introduced in each installment. Although each arc may vary in tone and alternate adventure, suspense, mystery, and horror, action and comedy are always trademark occurrences.
Whether it’s the action or historical settings you love about Vinland Saga, JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure definitely delivers, possibly even more so depending on the vibe you’re going for. Despite its wild premise and obvious supernatural elements, its rendition of real history as a backdrop is surprisingly strong. With its many enemies, action, and expansive generational settings and locations, you can’t go wrong with this classic series.
JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure can be streamed on Netflix, Crunchyroll, and Tubi.
3) Dororo
With his land in despair, the greedy samurai lord Daigo Kagemitsu makes a deal with 12 demons to grant him power and prosperity, but at the cost of his firstborn son. Somehow living but born without limbs, nose, eyes, ears, nor skin, the child was disposed of in a river to be forgotten. Saved by a medicine man, Hyakkimaru is given weaponized prosthetics and grows up able to fend for himself. Not just being able to live despite being unable to see, hear, or feel, but fending off the demons hunting him as a sacrifice. One day, an orphan named Dororo decides to accompany Hyakkimaru on his journey to destroy each demon to regain the pieces of himself that had been refused to him from birth.
Dororo, set in Japan’s Sengoku period, has plenty of action and historical grit for any Vinland Saga fan but with a dark fantasy twist. As Thorfinn faces monstrous yet human enemies, Hyakkimaru and Dororo face both demons threatening them with evisceration and the demons of peoples’ hearts they meet on their journey.
Dororo can be streamed on Prime Video, Hulu, and HIDIVE.
4) Black Butler
Ciel Phantomhive, dubbed the Queen’s Guard Dog, is charged with taking care of the string of mysterious, unsettling occurrences across Victorian England. As the young master of the Phantomhive estate, Ciel doesn’t take on these dangerous tasks alone, but is aided by the services of his loyal butler, Sebastian Michaelis. But with Sebastian’s seemingly inhuman abilities, there’s more than meets the eye than just being one hell of a butler. Amidst Ciel’s secret, tragic past, desperate to be saved from a horrendous fate, Ciel had made a contract with the demon Sebastian, his soul in exchange for Sebastian’s undying loyalty in servitude to exact vengeance. Together, the master-servant duo unravel the mysteries of both supernatural incidents for Her Majesty and Ciel’s own misfortunes.
Although Ciel and Sebastion tend to take on more supernatural enemies, there’s certainly no shortage of action in Black Butler as compared to Vinland Saga. Even so, Sebastian tends to execute both his duties as a butler and his enemies a bit more gracefully in Victorian England than Thorfinn does dealing with the Vikings in Iceland.
Black Butler can be streamed on Crunchyroll.
5) Grave of the Fireflies
1945 Kobe, Japan. After an air raid by the American B-29 Superfortress bombers firebombs their hometown, young 14-year-old Seita and his little 4-year-old sister Setsuko become separated from their mother while their father serves in the Japanese Imperial Navy. At first, the two siblings go to live with their distant aunt, who becomes increasingly resentful of having to care for them. As supplies dwindle and tensions grow, the children are left homeless after deciding that they’d rather fend for themselves. Living in an abandoned bomb shelter, Seito struggles to care for his younger sister amidst the devastation of the war. But with famine, disease, and the harsh reality of war, as the siblings struggle to stay together and survive, even the fireflies don’t live long.
Although this film differs from Studio Ghibli’s typically more uplifting and hopeful films, Grave of the Fireflies still definitely deserves to be viewed at least once. As a beautifully haunting and devastating masterpiece, the film is a visceral and grounded reminder of the very real consequences of war, even more so than the portrayal of savagery in Vinland Saga.
Grave of the Fireflies can be streamed on Netflix.
[RELATED: Studio Ghibli Classic Gets New Blu-ray Release for an All-Time Classic]
6) Hetalia Axis Powers
Amidst raging World Wars, Germany must reconcile that his only allies lie with North Italy and Japan. Although Japan tends to be the more pragmatic and reliable, North Italy on the other hand, though a descendant of the once renowned powerful Ancient Rome, has been reduced to being weak and rather useless, only really caring for his love of pasta. As the Allied Forces arrive with their own disorganized antics to try to stop the Axis Powers, Germany must figure out how to make his own allies work together.
Taking a complete 180 in terms of the portrayal of war, Hetalia Axis Powers gives a lighthearted, comedic take on how historical nations would act out conflicts through personification. Although fans of Vinland Saga may enjoy the grit of historical happenings, Hetalia Axis Powers gives the historical genre a refreshing parody twist.
Hetalia Axis Powers can be streamed on Crunchyroll.
7) The Apothecary Diaries
When Maomao, an apothecary’s daughter from the red-light district, gets kidnapped and sold to be a servant of the imperial palace, she’s thrust into a world of mysterious disturbances within bureaucratic disputes. Trying to hide her literacy and medicinal knowledge, when the emperor’s children begin falling gravely ill, she can’t help but quietly solve the “curse” anonymously. When the beautiful eunuch Jinshi manages to single her out, she’s promoted to concubine Gyokuyou’s lady-in-waiting and poison taster. But as Maomao’s skills prove her indispensable, she begins facing risks and dangerous situations and uncovering secrets that go beyond the hazards of tasting for poisons.
While not as action-packed and visually visceral as Vinland Saga, The Apothecary Diaries delivers in historical and dramatic aspects that fans of Vinland Saga can definitely appreciate. It may not be set in a real historical setting, but its clear Imperial Chinese setting is a compelling and gorgeous backdrop. Besides, with her vast knowledge of drugs, Maomao would most certainly be interested in getting her hands on a Viking berserker mushroom if given the chance.
The Apothecary Diaries can be streamed on Crunchyroll.
8) Baccano!
The setting is America in the 1930s where, in Chicago, the transcontinental train, Flying Pussyfoot, begins its bloody journey. Meanwhile, in New York, a bottle of an immortality elixir has gone missing, and the scientist Szilard and aide Ennis are desperately searching for it. Elsewhere, the war between mafia groups worsens. In 1711 aboard the Advena Avis, alchemists learn the price of immortality. Although these events spanning different times and different places may seem unrelated, they each play a part in an over-encompassing story. All along the way of the concurrent events, Isaac and Miria, two kindhearted would-be thieves, become key players in merging the events and connecting the various characters and consequences.
Set in the Depression era, Baccano! creates its own style of recounting historic-like events by interweaving multiple tales across multiple locations and including multiple figures. With Prohibition-era gangsters and ruffians, the historical action may be presented differently than in Vinland Saga, but is just as attention-grabbing.
9) Samurai Champloo
When clumsy waitress Fuu Kasumi accidentally spills a drink over one of her customers her peaceful life begins to uproot. As the group of samurai starts harassing her, she calls upon the help of Mugen, a samurai with a unique breakdance-like fighting style. But when Mugen picks a fight with the otherwise unwilling Ronin Jin, who wields a more traditional sword to fight, the two end up destroying the teahouse and accidentally killing the local magistrate’s son. As the two face execution, Fuu takes it upon herself to not only rescue them but, unable to return to her old peaceful life, hires the samurai as her personal bodyguards. With a new goal to search for the samurai who smells of sunflowers, the trio set off on their quest. That is, if the two samurai don’t kill each other first.
If you’re a fan of Vinland Saga looking for a unique twist on historical action-adventure, Samurai Champloo, set in an alternate Edo Period of Japan, spins an iconic fusion of samurai sword fighting and a hip-hop-infused soundtrack.
Samurai Champloo can be streamed on Crunchyroll.
10) Orb: On the Movements of the Earth
In the early 15th Century fictionalized Poland, or P Kingdom, the Church believes in geocentrism — the theory that the Sun revolves around the Earth — as the sole truth of the universe and brutally punishes heretics who go against these beliefs, Rafal, a young prodigy, faces much adversity in his pursuit of higher knowledge. Although Rafal publicly declares his pursuit of the highly regarded study of theology, he also believes in living rationally. Though he is determined to prove the theory of heliocentrism, the alternate theory that the Earth revolves around the Sun, Rafal will have to overcome not just discreetly pursuing evidence through performing his research, precise calculations, and building empirical theories to create a heliocentric model of the universe, but also avoiding the prying eyes of the Church lest he comes face-to-face with challenging a gruesome heretical fate.
Vinland Saga portrays a history rife with bloodshed, which is pretty accurate for actual history, especially for that of the Vikings. History is also jam-packed full of the pursuit of knowledge and higher education. Unfortunately, these two things often historically went hand-in-hand, such as when these pursuits tended to go against dominating theocratic authority.
Orb: On the Movements of the Earth can be streamed on Netflix.
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Image courtesy of Netflix.
