I've only watched the anime of Vinland Saga and neither read nor watched Vagabond so answering these will be rather difficult for me. I may come back to the thread later after reading both though.
Vagabond doesn't have an anime sadly. Doesn't the Vinland Saga anime only cover the very first arc?
I personally think Guts. Musashi and Thorfinn are really well written characters as well.
All three of those are excellent, agree with Guts being the best.
Berserk takes this. I really like Sasaki Kojiro as well.
Kojiro is an interesting character, and Griffith and Zodd are two of my favorite characters in all of manga.
Berserk & Vagabond. Can't really choose between the two lol.
Berserk has better imagery imo, i feel like Vinland Saga is below these two for sure. Not saying that Vinland has bad art, it's just not onpar.
There are just many more often recurrent relevant "strong" cast in Kingdom compared to the others. Kingdom's relevant side characters are just more "central" to the story, so we see them much more often, rather then them being scattered. In Kingdom every enemy's main goal is Qin, while in the others the enemies has their own goal unrelated to the main cast.
Yeah, I agree. Kingdom has sooo many decent written side characters. Ousen, Moubu, Tou, Kanki, Yotanwa, Baijo, Shouheikun, Mougou, Duke Hyou, etc, Saitaku, Ouhon, Mouten, King of Qi.
Kingdom has done an excellent job of giving those characters adequate screentime.
Berserk is the most complex, but within the individual styles of their worlds, the designs are all well done and fitting. Despite so many characters in Kingdom and Vagabond looking similar, they all still manage to stand out.
Agree.
So many dudes in Vagabond have the same hairstyle, but they still manage to look completely distinct from each other. Kingdom characters like Kochou and Rokuomi don't have the most original designs, but they still manage to be memorable.
Main antagonist: Berserk.
Side antagonist: equally Berserk, Vagabond, Kingdom.
Griffith and his new band of hawk are fantastic, and soo many of the side apostles were great opponents for Guts. The Count, Rosine, etc.
Kohei and Inshun were the most memorable Vagabond antagonists to me after Kojiro.
Riboku and Ryofui are great villains, and I enjoyed Gokei, Renpa and the heavenly Kings too.
f you told me that Kingdom and Berserk took place in the same universe, I would believe you. That's how well the warring states period was integrated within the supernatural aspect of the Berserk world. All 4 of them do a great job of recreating their respective "historical period" without it feeling like a lazy copy paste.
I remember wishing we could get more information on the Kushan Empire during one of my Berserk reads, seeing faction clashes during the Golden Age was also interesting.
My thoughts:
Which of these 4 fantastic mangas do you think is the best overall?
I think Berserk is objectively the best of these 4.
Which one do you think has the best mc?
Easily Guts. He is an amazingly well crafted character. His relationship with Casca and his traveling party are touchingly emotional and well written.
Which manga has the best supporting cast?
Kingdom has a very memorable cast of supporting characters.
Which manga has the best designs?
Berserk>Vagabond=Vinland Saga=Kingdom imo.
Miura was a master of crafting amazing designs, the apostles are all almost perfect in terms of design:
Which manga has the best antagonists?
Berserk>Vagabond=Kingdom>Vinland Saga imo.
Which one has the best art?
Berserk>=Vagabond>Kingdom>Vinland Saga.
Which story has the best fights?
Vagabond fights always have great build up and emotional weight, along with fantastic art. Berserk fights have fantastic art too. Kingdom has Rinko vs Shin, which I consider to be the best "shonen" fight.
Which manga has the best character development?
Easily Berserk imo.
Which manga has the best worldbuilding?
Vagabond/Kingdom/Vinland Saga all perfectly develop their worlds, based off historical information and own ideas by the author.
I'd give a slight edge to Berserk tho.
Which manga has the best story arcs?
All of them.
What are your favorite moments from each manga?
From Berserk: Zodd's first appearance, Guts vs Griffith, The Eclipse, Guts vs Rosine, The revival of Griffith, Ganishika vs Zodd and Guts, The creation of Griffith's empire, every scene with the Skull Knight.
Vagabond: The end of every duel.
Vinland Saga: Askeladd killing the King, then being killed by Canute.
Kingdom: Sei vs Ryofui, Hyou breaking Houken's arm, Ouki's death, Renpa breaking through Mougou's fort, etc.
Share your personal rankings of the 4 manga.
Berserk>Kingdom>=Vagabond>Vinland Saga. I think Vagabond is better than Kingdom, but I still like Kingdom more.
