Sword Art Online Season 3 Episode 1 English Dub Crunchyroll

[Albertina Drybread]

Oneof the best ongoing stories in anime and manga is Makoto Yukimura's "Vinland Saga." Set in Europe during the 11th century, it follows a young man named Thorfinn, who after having lost his renowned warrior father Thors as a child, has devoted his life to getting revenge on his Viking killer Askeladd. In his blind vengeance, Thorfinn wound up serving under his quarry. As his journey continues and he loses what drove him, Thorfinn learns there's more to being a warrior than wielding a sword.

The manga, numbering just under 200 chapters, is currently in its final stretch. The anime, meanwhile, is currently in its second season. The first season's 24 episodes adapted the manga's first eight-volume arc (out of four major ones), featuring Thorfinn fighting in Askeladd's band during the Danish invasion of England. Season 2 adapts the second arc, where Thorfinn is enslaved on a Norse plantation and must find a new reason to live.

"Vinland Saga" premiered in Japan in 2019 on NHK General TV. The manga had been running since 2005, so the anime came with an established fanbase. Perhaps because of this, it didn't have to wait years to reach the West as some anime do. Instead, it was confirmed from the outset that Amazon Prime would be streaming the series both in Japan and internationally.

Almost a year later, in June 2022, it was announced that Netflix, Crunchyroll, and HiDive would join Amazon in streaming "Vinland Saga" globally. Moreover, Netflix would produce its own English dub in conjunction with the VSI Group. Any fan of "Neon Genesis Evangelion" will tell you Netflix likes to have control of the anime dubs it streams. The following month, the Netflix dub's cast was confirmed with a trailer.

Then in October, both Netflix and Crunchyroll announced they would be simulcasting season 2. Crunchyroll's dub debuted on January 23, 2023, and reused the Sentai cast. (The dubbing studio for Crunchyroll, previously Funimation, is based in Texas and often uses the same pool of actors as Sentai.) Netflix's dub arrived later on March 9.

So, which dub of "Vinland Saga" should you watch? Only you can choose, but I'm here to help you make an informed decision. The differences between Netflix's dub and the Sentai/Crunchyroll one aren't just in who's voicing the characters, it's also in how they speak. The Sentai dub uses more accurate Norse pronunciations (thur-finn, a-sha-lad, vee-kings), while Netflix goes for phonetic (thor-finn, -ska-ld, vai-kings).

Furthermore, the text of "Vinland Saga" acknowledges that the Danish and the English speak different languages. However, this doesn't translate into dialogue, where the audience always hears the same language. This can lead to some dissonance when characters can't understand each other, despite the audience hearing the same words out of both their mouths.

The Sentai dub tries to reflect this by having its cast employ different accents. English characters have Cockney accents, contrasting American English representing the Danes' language. The French soldiers in episode 7 and Welsh characters in episode 13 likewise have regionally appropriate accents. The Netflix dub doesn't bother with any differentiation and has its actors all speak in American-accented English, regardless of their characters' nationality.

For starters, there's Thorfinn. We first meet him as a young child and frankly, Laura Stahl in the Netflix dub blows Shannon Emerick in the Sentai dub out of the water. Thorfinn's declaration of revenge is laughable in the latter dub compared to Stahl's pitch-perfect anguish.

Moving onto teenage Thorfinn, Aleks Le in the Netflix dub is just exquisite. Le's passion for the character bleeds through every line delivery and when he yells, he feels like both a murderous warrior and an angry teenager. In the Sentai/Crunchyroll dub, Mike Haimoto isn't bad as Thorfinn, but he sounds too old. Conversely, David Wald sounds too young as Askeladd, whereas Kirk Thornton in the Netflix dub sounds fatherly, better emphasizing Askeladd's relationship with Thorfinn. Wald's Askeladd is slyer than Thornton's ill-tempered take, so it comes down to which side of the character you prefer.

That's not to say the Netflix dub has the Sentai dub totally beat with casting. Jason Douglas as Thors in the Sentai dub is the superior performance, sounding older and more paternal compared to Greg Chun's flat and distant Thors in the Netflix dub.

Owing to the change in studio, the Crunchyroll dub of season 2 saw a crew change compared to Sentai's work on season 1. At Crunchyroll, the ADR director is Jerry Jewell, while at Sentai, it had been Kyle Colby Jones and John Swasey. This might be why the Crunchyroll dub ditches the accents. In the season premiere, new co-protagonist Einar and his family have American accents despite living in North England. However, I actually preferred Crunchyroll's version of the premiere.

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