Warning! Spoilers for Vinland Saga Season 1!

MAPPA just released its first trailer for the second season of the anime Vinland Saga, which hints at dark times to come for its protagonist Thorfinn. The anime studio has made a name for itself recently animating the hit anime Chainsaw Man. It will be interesting to see how they adapt their animation style to Vinland Saga, which had a much different style in its first season.

Vinland Saga is an anime based on the manga of the same name by Makoto Yukimura. While its first season was made by WIT STUDIO, the same people behind the first seasons of Attack on Titan, MAPPA is taking over for the show's second season. This isn't the first time MAPPA has taken over a show from WIT, as it is also responsible for Attack on Titan's final season. However, many fans have complained about MAPPA's handling of that show, saying it is much worse than when WIT was making it. So it is uncertain whether MAPPA will be able to maintain the quality of Vinland Saga's first season going into the second. The second season's first trailer however, dispels a lot of those doubts.

Related: Everything We Know About Vinland Saga Season 2

The trailer (posted to Youtube) is beautifully animated in the same style as the first season, and offers some dark hints of what's to come. Thorfinn finally appears to have made it to Vinland as his father wished, but with Askeladd dead he seems to be struggling to find a reason to keep living. At one point in the trailer Einar, a new character who appears to be a major supporting cast member, even confronts him about this. The trailer hints that Einar's backstory is filled with suffering of his own, yet unlike Thorfinn, he seems to be motivated to carry on. Season 2 also seems to be following the early days of Canute's kingship and the struggles that he must face as ruler. But this seems like it will be secondary to Thorfinn's struggles in the New World.

Vinland Saga Season 2 Will Focus on Thorfinn's Inner Struggles

From the trailer, it seems like MAPPA has picked up right from where WIT left off at the end of the first season. But unlike season 1, this upcoming season seems to be focusing a lot less on awesome fights and more so on Thorfinn's inner journey to find meaning in life. This doesn't mean that the second season of Vinland Saga will necessarily be less dark or violent. After all, part of Thorfinn's ear gets chopped off and someone is shown being brutally whipped. But it seems like the epic battles of season 1 have given way to much bleaker psychological struggles.

The trailer should put to rest fears over the quality of the show's second season being worse than the first. In fact, with the dark and less straightforward plots hinted at in the trailer, Vinland Saga's second season may even be better than the first. But fans will only truly be able to find out for themselves when the show releases in January.

Next: Assassin's Creed: Valhalla Gets A Vinland Saga Crossover Manga

Vinland Saga Season 2 releases in January 2023 and will stream on Crunchyroll and Netflix outside of Japan.

Source: TWIN ENGINE