Berserk

Berserk is a Dark Fantasy that is set in Medieval Setting. The show is a continuation of the golden Age arc. Which had its 3 movie adaptation as well as unfaithful manga adaptation in 1997. This part of the series features guts journey to find Cassca after events of Golden Age. This particular anime has its ups and downs especially due to its unique form of art and animation as well as its execution but I will talk about this more in depth later on. Story: The story is simply amazing, the world is a great representation of the medieval times filled with fantasy touch to them. The grotesque scenes and dark vibes along with great story telling make this a masterful piece to watch and read. This anime adaptation follows the original story(manga) to a high degree. Well although it skips out on "minor" events in order to progress to main story. But this does not feel like pacing is rushed making it a very good watch. Because at the end of the day we all love to see guts swing his big sword at least once per episode. Some key events are changed in a minimal way mainly due to censorship like "child and mother" in the conviction arc. 10/10 Art and Animation: Firstly the animation of this particular series is "ok". The Most noticeable issue is all the combat scenes in early episodes of badly made CGI. It looks extremely "fake". Although this definitely improves over the future episodes. This can be clearly seen as soon as whole conviction arc starts. As for combat animation in conviction arc, some scenes are great the combat looks very fluid, this with the dark toned art that has been blended with CGI animation The art is probably what makes up for majority of the animation the line styled shading adds to this "Dark Fantasy" theme. The use of crosshatching technique really defines the atmosphere to surroundings. Art suffers sometimes with character appearances as it makes some look off model this is partially due to CGI being used. 6/10 Music, and Sounds: Probably the most surprising element of this series. Normally when watching any anime I see the opening and do not pay major detail to any other sounds within the series however the music in Berserk is epic. This is probably the first show where I loved the opening, ending and next episode preview music. Sounds are well timed for each scene, they definitely set the correct vibe for each scene that has to come helping the crosshatching art portray current situation as well as paint the berserk world in its dull colours. The sword slashing sounds are ones that confuse me most. It sounds as if someone was bowling not swinging large chunk of metal. Voice acting is on on par with representing each character. Especially the character of guts. 8/10 Character: I'm general most character models are on point. Some look bit off, MC looks very detailed and straight on point also he is as bad ass as it gets! 8/10 Finally I will simply share my personal opinion about this. I am huge berserk fan, I own DVD and Manga collection for every volume up to date (really hard to get nowadays). I really enjoyed this show as a whole it gave me what I always wanted and that is having my favorite berserk arc animated the Conviction arc. I really like how I get to have very close adaptation, to the original source material so I can re experience all those epic moments the manga had to offer. I definitely consider this to be far more superior version over the old 1997 adaptation simply due to huge upgrade in art and animation over almost 2 decades that these shows have been apart. Especially the following source material as 1997 "conclusions" had made some blunders for future continuation. I gave this show a 8/10 and cannot await to get some of this amazing show. (For those who gave this show anywhere below 5 you guys are clearly mad because you see CGI, I understand the argument that this is not best CGI execution to ever exist but nonetheless this is a very solid show even if the art and animation are Mediocre. As someone who followed berserk from 2004, I feel that some people completely disregard all the positives and great things about this show simply because their fantasies never got met. I am just glad we got an adaptation after such a long wait and I appreciate the studio to take up a task of producing a show that is not another ecchi harem for free money grabs. If we look at anime with 6.5 scores and compare it to this, some do not come even relatively close to this show.)

At first I was disappointed with the shadow effects which was probably added to manga-like feeling. Also that fairy thing, I was like what? But once I passed those two, literally just two! oh boy.. I cried and cried.. The story was so overwhelming.. I found myself squeezing my fist so hard my nails hurt, hitting the sofa and so on. IT IS BEYOND DESCRIPTION. Please disregard the rating and watch it. If I become paralyzed unable to talk or move, please find me and put whole show to replay until I die. PS: I am not great fan (cant even tell the name of charecters) and I did not read the manga

As a huge Berserk fan, I'm trying not to let my disgust with this anime go overboard. For the most part, I'm pretty sure I stay impartial in my review. Story: The first mistake is skipping the Lost Children arc. In doing so, viewers with no idea what Berserk is are left wondering what's really happening. What's the goal? It isn't very clear for many episodes what the intended goal is for Guts, and it's only about 4 episodes in that we're introduced to characters with a legitimate purpose. To engage in this issue further, however, imagine you had only seen the Berserk movies (which I highly recommend) and you went straight into this. It's evident there was a time-skip. This can't be shouldered by quick, dreamy flashbacks. There's a reason Miura wrote it as he did. It couldn't have been done any other way. Or, rather, it couldn't have been done WELL any other way. So really, the first parts of this anime are only accessible for fans of the manga. However, fans of the manga won't appreciate the schlock that is the first episode. Right off the bat, Guts is shown destroying a Tree Ent that is oversized in its manga depiction. Guts clearly cannot win, but with one measly strike, he does something borderline magical. Fans of the manga know that Guts is a good fighter but he wins with cunning swordsmanship. There's a 'power creep,' so to speak, that is very subtle and on a slow incline. There are enemies that Guts can easily tear apart and then others that overpower him. Those that overpower him take time and effort to defeat. We see this happen later in the show, but anyone who doesn't know the seriousness of this effect will not care because in the first episode we see him lay waste to a fantastical creature that is far more threatening than anything else in the show. This takes all tension away for later sections of the show effectively 'effing' the pacing. And, while discussing pacing, holy cow is it bad. I'll reiterate this in the Sound section as well, but holy cow is it horrid. Scenes jump around, music is cut off, this is a real mess. I don't think anyone knew what they were doing when storyboarding, but that's a given considering the same animation team worked on Teekyuu. Anyone who has seen that anime knows exactly what I'm getting at. The story carries itself well enough later on in the show but it's bogged down by a lot of nonsense. The pacing is so poor, like unbelievably so, and all I want to do is strangle whoever thought it was a good idea to cut some of the most moving scenes short within this work. The Tower of Conviction arc isn't one of my favorite arcs in Berserk but it has some moments that earn themselves respect within the narrative, and the team who worked on this anime seemed to ignore some saving moments. I can't go full negative on Story, though. I can't say that things worked, persay, but I can say that I enjoy the narrative of Berserk and this arc enough that seeing it animated, and represented in this medium (albeit poorly) still earns itself some credit. I mean, at least my sister thought it was cool, and now we're going to watch the movies and she'll read the manga, so it did SOMETHING good if she can find it enjoyable as a newcomer, right? Art: Yikes, I had hope for this despite it's 3DCG production. I thought Ajin did a great job with its animation and figured Berserk had the same potential, but then I learned what other anime the production company had worked on. At that point, it had all gone downhill. Even the 2D sections (mostly non-important characters) were stilted and weak. Ajin had humbling combat sequences thanks to great sound design and animation, but Berserk couldn't even handle itself with good combat sequences. Some of them looked alright but most of the time it was cheesy and lame. Underwhelming is a good word for it. Damn, though. There's so much wrong and as I type this review further I keep coming through each section and writing even more. For instance, even the pacing effects the artistic choices. When the brand is visible from the Tower it isn't shown what it is but Guts is panicking, then a later scene it's shown when the effect is gone. Why was this done? Who story boarded this? Did anyone not read how it functioned in the manga? It was a single page, completely petrifying the reader. All of these little things add up to this giant pile of crap. Sound: I figured Shiro Sagisu would have been able to produce a soundtrack as powerful as the animated films but that turned out to be wrong. The direction of the whole anime is very... adolescent. It tries to be cool rather than what Berserk is: horrible, depressing, but filled with an overabundance of hope. This was captured in the whole of the Berserk trilogy films and is completely vacant in Berserk (2016). There's even this horn call that Guts has when he jumps on screen sometimes and it's absolutely horrendous. Man, it's just crazy how much Murphy's Law took hold on this anime. One big point of discussion I've seen is the sound of the Dragon Slayer. Sure, it's a bit strange, but I found it somewhat neat. What really bothered me was how repetitive the sounds became. It was at that point that I became tired of the sound chosen for it and wished they did something different. In all honesty, it didn't need an unrealistic sound. It just had to sound like a sword, but bigger. Character: Things function fairly well in this area. The problem isn't so much the characters but how they are handled through pacing and character themes (so, again, some more music discussion.) I don't really think I can discuss this much further considering I've already said so much elsewhere. The characters here aren't fantastic considering Guts is portrayed as an overpowered in the first episode, then as a slow in the third (having an embarrassingly long discussion with an apostle made me think of how the Gantz anime is all talk and no shooting) and then having characters like Puck take on full comedy relief despite his character during this arc remaining quite serious. Puck has always been a fun character in Berserk but he didn't become this comedic until later arcs. For some reason, they decided to make him really 'funny' early on but all it does is take away. Again, I think the problem comes with the direction this anime has. It's adolescant and childish. It does certain things in its production that are made for teleivison, when this is a narrative made for film. It has to follow a more open set of rules, but television productions are more restricted, especially in Japan. So, the show is made much lighter despite it needing to be grimy and disgusting. This whole arc needed to have the same tone as the third Berserk movie (something this film did perfectly) immediately the show needed to be dark and brooding, and Puck could have a few jokes here and there but the show needed to keep that theme of pure filth. I know I'm derailing a little in the character section but let me continue just for one more paragraph about the overarching theme. This part of Berserk, along with the previous unanimated arc Lost Children, is supposed to be disgusting not just for Guts but for the world within Berserk, too. It means we can get to comedy and stuff after Griffith returns. Why? Because in the lore that's the purpose of the Hawk, to bring order and safety to the people of Midland and, as Griffith wants, the world. We needed a darker tone show to emphasize how the following arc is lighter for the world in Berserk and for our characters. I hate Griffith as much as the next guy but he, for the most part, sets the tone int he entirety of Berserk from the Golden Age, Tower of Conviction, and beyond. This narrative needed to be like carrion so that his arrival is like the spark of (false) hope that everyone wants in Berserk. This anime didn't do that, and now we're stuck with it. If these anime productions finish off by 2018, then maybe we can hope that in 10 years we'll get this po…

Hey, Berserk fans! You want a brand-spanking new anime series that finally covers the story past the Golden Age arc? Well then, say no more. Excuse us as we just slide down our pants and place our puckered asshole right onto your agape mouth and let's proceed to unload this viscous log of disappointment straight in there. What's that? You want a poor mix of 2D and CG? Got it! You want the plot to skip around a bunch? I can't hear you! Lost Children arc? Nah! Nobody wanted that, idiot. I mean, JoJo got it good, why didn't Berserk? We got rape horse which was a plus??? Well, anyway whatever, overall pretty faithful telling of the Conviction arc, I suppose. I 'guess' it looked hype once or twice in some parts as well too. Fuck it, just give me my Schierke and Grunbeld for next season so I can go back to waiting ∞ years for new manga chapters. Salt salt salt salt salt salt salt salt salt salt salt salt salt salt salt salt salt salt salt

The story is about some barbarian named guts or called guts Im not too sure since this isn't a real name which leads me to assume his real name is yami yugi from the classic card game anime he shares the unrelenting determination to fight even past death just like yami and a strong hate of gods also shared by yami and the villain/rival/love interest called griffith represents seto kaiba from the same series seto and griffith are basically the same character from their pompous attitude to their drive for power. casca the easily approachable young lady of the group represents joey wheeler, completely useless, weird, ugly, and unwanted by all The plot so far is pretty decent with a lot of homo tenancies found between griffith and "guts" in the beginning they show a duel between the 2 where griffith dismounts a horse to mount his true stallion (guts), guts starts to lose but shows a rebellious attitude, this further excites griffith leading to him getting violent, after getting beaten by griffith in the duel, guts wakes up covered by a questionable young girl showing that his mere existence attracts loose shoes this part shows how walking on the street equals getting assulted a totally valid life lesson as I've taught my daughter to never step outside the house without a mobile phone, this section also shows if you have white hair you basically get a "use them" card as we are shown how just by having white hair the princess won't resist a man basically sneaking into her room without anyone knowimg for late night relations this shows us a wonderful scene of American pigs grilling outside after a nice cold beer flavored after the fine taste of blood and human screams coming from the money they paid with it for in this act we were shown how oppressive white men were and how the situation would've ended up if the red skins as they were called had the upper hand and shows casca and griffith reenact the wonderfully lovely scenes from Pocahontas were they fell in love with John Smith and smashed just like the history books told us part 4: the feast this shows us a wonderful scene of American pigs grilling outside after a nice cold beer flavored after the fine taste of blood and human screams coming from the money they paid with it for in this act we were shown how oppressive white men were and how the situation would've ended up if the red skins as they were called had the upper hand and shows casca and griffith reenact the wonderfully lovely scenes from Pocahontas were they fell in love with John Smith and smashed just like the history books told us part 5: cocaine is a hell of a drug

Berserk (2016) is a continuation of the Golden Age arc of Kentaro Miura's Berserk story, which has previously been adapted twice already into the anime medium. First was the 1997 series, which is among my personal favourites, mostly because of the great story with compelling characters, but also because of it's old school animation style and great soundtrack. In 2012 followed a movie trilogy, that is due to it's decision to use CGI and underwhelming scenes, that I felt were far more impactful in the original series, not my prefered version of the story. Looking at the aesthetic choices, that were made, Berserk (2016) feels more like a continuation of the movie trilogy. Now to get the elephant out of the room; Berserk (2016) is no feast for the eyes. The movies managed to make CG-animation work to some degree, unfortunately this series is not capable to do so. Hardcore Berserk manga fans pretty much saw this series as an insult, which lead to a bunch of overly dramatic comments flooding MAL forums on the topic of this series. Personally I didn't take it as badly. To be honest, I don't think there is a way you could make Miura's artstyle justice in a weekly episodic series; there just isn't time and money for that. Even if Berserk (2016) did end up a visual feast like Fate/Zero or Fate/Stay Night: Unlimited Blade Works, there would probably still be a few people saying, that it didn't do the manga justice. However, I won't disagree with those, who say that it would have been better, if there was no CGI involved at all. It's a shame actually, because when the series does non-CG animation, it actually looks pretty good. Unfortunately those moments are rare. Most of the time it feels like you are looking at cutscenes from Naruto: Ultimate Ninja Storm or something. But to give credit, when credit is due; in some major events, even the CGI is pretty good. For example the apostle Guts is fighting in episode 11 (I don't consider this a spoiler) is animated pretty well. What some of the offended Berserk manga fans won't address, or likely won't agree with me, is that the story quality is in decline. I'll come to this some time later. First I'll address another complaint; that they skipped a lot. Personally that didn't bother me too much. First some of the earlier chapters of the manga still weren't adapted into anime format. Secondly the Lost Children arc is missing as well. This doesn't bother me, because it's basically all manga filler; things happen, but the status quo doesn't change. There's no significant character development or plot movement. It's all just side stories. I did enjoy them, but I could also do without them. Now to the actual story of the 2016 anime; Guts gets tangled up into the business of some zealous crusaders, because the love of his life and recently gotten mentally challenged person, due to a personal fear of her's becoming reality, runs away and one thing leads to another. What affected my enjoyment of this premise is, that the idea didn't feel particularly fresh or unique. We've already had a fair share of religious extremists, who were portrayed blinded by their faith and one-dimensional in fiction. Another thing that got weaker with post-Golden Age arc Berserk is how the characters just aren't as interesting anymore. Golden Age arc had the strong underlying themes of identity and ambition, that were well reflected in the character arc's of it's leads. What can later Berserk offer you in that category? Guts becomes a pretty static character; hellbent to resolve what transpired in the climax of the Golden Age arc, his biggest appeal is the fact, that he has inhuman powers and mows down demons on a daily basis. Caska is now mentally 2 years old and also pretty static. Miura has tried to get some more variety into the series by introducing more characters, but none of them really feel all too interesting. Lady Farnese feels like a patchwork, that Miura only figured out what to do with, after introducing her. Isidoro is the fighting shounen main character, who wants to be become a fighting seinen main character by clinging on to Guts, hoping he'd learn something. And then there's a bunch of other characters, who are somewhat relevant to this anime series all through, but aren't really interesting and I wanted to get killed, because they kept getting put in dangerous situations, but Miura decided to plot protect them because reasons. All in all it's still a fun story, but it lacks the feeling of completeness and interesting characters, that the Golden Age arc had. Plot (50%): 6/10 Characters (30%): 4/10 Art (10%): 2/10 Soundtrack (10%): 6/10 Score: 5/10

This show was probably most popular in the anime community for making fun of it's shitty CGI and the "CLANG!" sound that Gut's sword makes in the first couple of episodes. The internet hate machine picked up on it and then went on a rampage of unfairly judging the show, making claims like "It's not just the art, it's the pacing and direction" when being called out that they just don't like the CGI, and acting as if the show is an abomination in the Berserk franchise. To get it of the way, yes, the art is absolutely awful. The CGI looks worse than CGI shows in the late 90s at times, and the complaints that it "looks like a PS2 game" are actually unfair in that many PS2 games looked better than the CGI in the show. The show also cuts between 2D and 3D scenes, and the 2D scenes always look excellent- why the heck couldn't they just do that for the entire series? That all being said, the CGI seems to improve a bit as the show goes on and the big fights are always breathtaking and fun to behold. The show basically makes up for the art in every other way, however. Susumu Hirasawa is back with a great, "Berserk sounding" score, the characters are all incredibly true to the manga, Mozgus is suitably over the top and insane, and most importantly it "feels" like Berserk. I still got the feel of absolute cosmic dread throughout the series, and it doesn't shy away from the disturbing Berserk stuff that makes Berserk, Berserk. I can't help but think though that my knowledge of the manga may have filled in some of the character gaps that may have been present. I saw some complaints that the show moved too quick and people didn't know what was going on, but honestly, if you're coming into this show fresh without watching any other Berserk related media you're going to be lost. It takes place during the third main arc of the series where earth shattering events have already occurred. I was afraid that all the fan bitching was going to lead to the show not being continued, but it looks like despite all the whining people are watching the show, big time. The general anime audience seems to really enjoy it, and we're getting a season 2 next year! With the movies, show and new Berserk game coming out, it's a great time to be a Berserk fan after a pretty much 20 year drought of outside media.

Well. This review goes to the best studio GEMBA! Nothing much to review here. Just please delete the whole 2016 series and let us forget what we saw. Story: The story skips basically the most important part or makes them almost invisible by the stupid awful camera movements. Art? Art..? What do you mean by art in this anime? i kinda don't understand in that case, but well if you mean that 3D disabled animations then well. It is better if I skip commenting on it. Btw. Thanks for making Guts look like a fucking pussy with some weird-ass expressions and making it in some family-friendly anime with weird dark red jelly and hidden all gore scenes. BUT YES OFC YOU MANAGED TO TAKE CARE OF THE RAPE HORSE ATLEAST! NICE JOB GEMBA!!! Sound: Well, I didn't know the dragonslayer had the same sound as the frying pan in Team Fortress 2. Character: Mhm yes please more mixing of these 3D and 2D characters in the background at the same time, I love it. Kinda funny when you see 50 different people but they all share the same 5 faces. Is this called character development? Enjoyment: Not at all. I was waiting happily to finally watch the continuation of Berserk. But yeah... Overall: Welp, I'll be kind and I'll give it a 3 because to the end it's Berserk. The whole problem here was and is the studio. The movies were much better and I'd actually enjoy watching Berserk 2016 if the same studio made it. GEMBA just please stick away from Berserk as far as you can. We all beg you. PS: Thanks for destroying my eyes, I didn't have to buy clorox at least.

If you grew up with this anime in the 90's, i can understand the 6/10 score. However if you began with the movies or are entirely fresh to the series i'd say it's a pretty damn cool introductory season. The 3D/CGI artstyle gets so much heat, but i really enjoyed it. I'd say it's certainly an improvement from the movies. I really enjoyed the Sound, english dubs were great, and the music scores were above average. Guts is always a fresh break from most characters, however he's surrounded by pretty boring characters. Good thing lifespans aren't very long in Berserk, lol. Story began strong, ending was unexpected as always - will make you wanting to watch the new season for sure. I can't see all that much point in beginning this anime if you don't know the history between Guts, Casca & Griffith. Considering how much Guts has experienced from the get-go, it's no surprise this Berserk chapter is different. I can pardon small changes and appreciate his character progression.

Berserk (2016) – SS Overview (Short and Salty Overview) Berserk: Conviction (a better name for this anime really) is based on the dark fantasy manga of the same name. It’s also a sequel to the 1997 anime and the recent movies. Now I see that some people are butthurt about the animation quality but those who are familiar with that kind of animation like with Polygon Magic’s works. After a while that animation style grows on you and you become more used to it. Now I for one think it suits Berserk well and have no complaints about it, I did when I first saw it which I think was with how Knights of Sidonia was presented but now I’m fine with it. On the fact of whether or not you should watch it, watch the movies first maybe the original 1997 anime if you really enjoyed it. But don’t just throw yourself into it because it’s a DARK fantasy so it has quite a few disturbing themes like with 3x3 Eyes and Bas*ard, but if your into it then you’ll love Berserk. The Conviction arc is quite a good arc overall, the anime did skip a few things like events prior to that arc but I guess they did it due to it being hard to start an anime on and because its not one of the most interesting side-arcs. I’m glad with how they’ve done this anime, they didn’t skimp out on the violence and blood. No if I’m honest I really enjoyed this new season and can’t wait till Berserk (2017). Berserk (2016) – 8/10 Top Notch Dark Fantasy.

Alright so first of all I want to start by saying I went into this series not knowing about the previous movies and season. Now that I have said that take into account that this review is based only on my impression of this and only this season since I have not seen the previous content. Now lets get started I enjoyed this series now I am pretty sure if I go back and watch everything else I still think I would change much of what I think already. For starter the animation it really popped out at me, now I didn't particularly hate the animation but I didn't love it either it was alright. The story was good I liked it, it was easy to follow and I picked up on what had happened in the past pretty easily. All in all its a good anime a little rough but good other people are burning it to the ground because of the past anime and movies being way better and I can't argue because many people that are giving bad reviews have been waiting on a continuation for I think about 16 years or so, so I don't blame them but either way give it a try and don't really be swayed by reviews and judge it yourself. Well that was my 2 cents later.

If you can get used to the new mix of CGI and drawing in this series you might see that it is kind of fresh and new. Sure it can have some bad moments but it can also have some amazing moments I have found (I just watched episode 9 and it was heavenly. Pun intended) This new Berserk likes to build the story up until it reaches a climax where the music and visuals explode into a kind of character profile. This happens almost every episode. But that's not a bad thing. They do it very well. And it can blow you away! Afterthoughts: This series would be perfect for some vritual reality / 3d experience where the seats vibrate at impacting scenes. With surround sound of course.

The English Romantic Poet, Lord Byron, the 6th Baron of Byron, described the Byronic hero simply put, as a man who knew himself a villain, rarely smiled, seldom sighed. Lone, wild and strange. Rarely had affection or contempt. These traits and characteristics, seem to fit a certain mold of a man, a man with proverbial guts, our most loved protagonist, who in my humble opinion, is the most tragic character in history. Berserk is his story, also his history. This is my .02, my reflection of this utmost masterpiece, a truly faithful adaptation of the manga. Story: 10/10 It was October 8th, 1997 when the original Berserk Anime was released, Kentaro Miura's most faithful adaptation was being released to the public, and we were all waiting for bated breath, lo and behold we were stunned, it was an absolute masterpiece, it is the original seinen, dark anime, it blew all the other competition into the ocean. This adaptation is a continuation of the legacy Kentaro Miura has left us behind. It is visceral, straight to the action, gore, nudity with no nipples, blood, and violence. Unadulterated violence. It is gratuitous and perfect. I won't post any spoilers, but if you watch this show, you will not regret it, nevermind the animation, it will grow on you. You will fall in love with the struggle of Guts, and his romance with Casca, love conquers all, even demons. The Art: 7/10 The main gripe of the art in Berserk (2016) is the 3d and 2d blend, the polygons and geometry side, plus with the shading does not convey the emotions and surroundings, and it also affects depth perception of the anime. There are also other cinematic problems with blending in 3 dimensional images and 2 dimensional images, studios either go the full 3d route or the 2d route, never in between. Japan has always had a problem with 3d rendering, whereas America has been great at it. I.E. Pixar, Toy story, and such. Do not let the art sway you, the content is all that matters, our struggle with #teamguts is all that matters. Sound: 15/10 Susumu Hirasawa is the Mozart of Japan, in my humble opinion, I fell in love with his soundtrack of the Original berserk, and was thrilled when it was announced that he would be continuing his legacy with the new arcs. His music has been slapping inside my vehicle in the Bay Area since the new arc was released. Hai Yo (Oh Ashes) has been my favorite song ever since. -When you watch this series, you will recognize the masterful soundtrack and the perfect placement of every chord in every scene. It is godlike to say the least. Character: 10/10 Kentaro Miura created a world that has been copied by many studios and video game developers who created games such as Demon Souls and Dark souls. If I were in a room with Hitler, Stalin and Griffith. And I had 2 rounds of 9mm Parabellum left in my Glock 17 Gen 4. I'd unload both rounds on Griffith and give Hitler & Stalin a free pass. This is how good, Kentaro Miura created a despicable villain. His writing, and creativity is on the level of JRR Tolkien in my humble opinion. You will love all of the characters of the world of Berserk, they are all multifaceted and cleverly written. Enjoyment and Overall: 10/10. Berserk a serendipitous gem, poorly understood. Not many people will like this anime. A lot of the die hard fans, have given it horrible reviews. With good reason, but the optimist in me, never sees the negatives. I always have a positive outlook on life, and in the world of Berserk that is all you have. What drives a man like Guts? What separates him from the demon he slays? The philosophical side of Berserk is also deeply misunderstood and it is a great anime to ponder over the years, I have clocked in many hours of reading the manga and I have never gotten bored of it. it is in my opinion the greatest seinen anime/manga ever written. See ya later, Space cowboy.

This is a spoiler-free review adapted for this site) [Synopsis]: Picking up around 2 years after the events of the original 1997 series, Berserk (2016) follows the story of Guts on his quest for vengeance after being betrayed and branded as a sacrifice. Haunted by spirits everywhere he goes and driven nearly mad by his rage and pain, he seeks out the demonic Apostles of the God Hand in order to find the man who took everything from him. In his travels he encounters an elf named Puck who accompanies him despite his protests. Guts’ journey of revenge is interrupted when he learns that the only person left that he cares about may be in danger. [Characters]: As a story, Berserk is absolutely loaded with a prodigious number of themes and parallels about dreams, evil, free will, and fate. While the world and grim dark setting of the story is integral in its appeal and presentation, many would argue that its most important aspect is its cast of exceedingly complicated, human characters. Their personalities and experiences are the vehicles for all of the incredible, thematic details the narrative has to offer and the impeccable writing surrounding them is one of the major elements that makes Berserk so endlessly engaging. Where Berserk (2016) missteps in this regard is in how simplistically it portrays its characters. The cast of the show falls into the very same trap as its story which lacks sufficient context for the adventure being told to be truly compelling. Guts himself should appear quite familiar. Clad in a black suit of armor and wielding his iconic Dragonslayer, his characterization touches upon how the eclipse has changed him and how he’s far more bitter and contemptuous than he once was. But that’s about as far as it goes. What’s lacking is a sense of emotion – all the madness, hurt, and misery that made Guts so compelling, callous, and different from the man you once knew are reduced to their most basic traits. You get a sense that Guts has changed for the worse but the scope of it all is greatly diminished and what the viewer is left with is a man who allegedly hunts down Apostles with a giant sword and a fatigued wit. This is the issue with the cast as a whole. We are introduced to a handful of moderately interesting characters with their own unique personalities and motivations however the intricacy and subtext that made them all so impossibly intriguing and complex has been neglected. You can clearly sense that Farnese possesses a set of questionable morals and undergoes a crisis of faith and you can discern Serpico’s cunning but both are presented very straightforwardly and those attributes are all the characters are made out to be. What’s more, the scenes that speak directly to the more complicated traits of the characters then seem awkward because you can’t tell what purpose there is behind them. What remains are the character’s most rudimentary attributes which leave them feeling stiff and even bland in many instances. [Art/Animation]: The show’s production, art, and animation are by far the most discussed and criticized elements of Berserk (2016) and for good reason. The heavy reliance on CG is the most relevant and obvious of the qualms surrounding the show’s visuals however I don’t think that it is in itself the most problematic part of the show’s presentation. The quality of the character models starts off at a horrific low in the first episode and gradually over the course of the entire show improves by an moderate amount. At least by the latter half of the show the characters generally look like themselves with less frequent exceptions. The real damage done by the CG is not just in how off-model a lot of the characters look but in how their rigid and choppy animation cycles and movement drain would-be dramatic scenes of their intensity and seriousness. The juxtaposition of the CG characters against other two-dimensional supporting cast members that share the screen with them further accentuates their outlandish appearance. The most pervasive visual problem with Berserk (2016) is in its directing and camera movement. The cinematography shifts between being relatively smooth and even reasonably inventive at times to being uninspired and obnoxious at the drop of a hat. The ‘camera’ has to do extra work and be over-active to compensate for the low quality of a lot of the scenes but what results is a presentation that feels overly busy and needlessly restless. The camera jolts and darts around to create a sense of action and combat however there is very little cohesion between the different shots so the whole composition falls apart. The directing shows signs of improvement near the tail-end of the show but fails to become anything entirely redemptive. There are some decent key-frames thrown into the mix and occasionally the rather lengthy action shots develop in an interesting way however for the greater part, the whole look of the show is unfortunately pretty disastrous. [Story]: Given the other rather immense shortcomings of Berserk (2016) it comes as some surprise that the show follows its source material fairly closely once it gets rolling. Even within the show the first episode stands out as both visually and narratively different. While the second episode and onward tell a reasonably coherent story, the first episode tries to compensate for an immense amount of content missing from the adaptation – attempting to catch the viewer up with who Guts has become since last seeing him in the eclipse. The show throws together a few characters and concepts to do so but its poor visual design and subject matter predictably aren’t able to fully capture Guts’ missing characterization. This lack of context is what most damages the story. A lot of Berserk’s appeal is grounded in its ability to snowball intricate backstories, character development, and themes into a grand interweaving narrative and the show completely fails to follow through on this. The show neglects prefacing a lot of its scenes and characters, not just in regards to Guts’ shift in personality over the years. The show follows the story rather closely but it gives no weight to what happens. There is no significance or united meaning behind each scene as it transpires and what results are moments with very little build up and little to no payoff. Everything just happens without hardly any justification. Not only does it undermine one of the key elements of what makes Berserk good but its a lackluster example of storytelling in its own right. Berserk (2016) does arrive at moments of importance and is able to execute them with some degree of emphasis and the storytelling like the show’s visuals and sound design improve towards the end of the show. Though the story lacks the implications it originally had, the plot as it unfolds still has interesting developments and characters. This is all to say that, the show is not without its standalone moments but they aren’t impressive enough to fully outweigh the negative elements it possesses elsewhere. [Sound]: Somewhat unexpectedly, it’s the show’s music and sound mixing which is its second biggest shortcoming after its shoddy directing. The sound that Guts’ Dragonslayer makes when it swings through something was comical to the point of becoming a joke. Whether he was hacking through wood, armor, stone, or bones, his sword would emit the same absurd ‘clang’ which felt progressively more and more out of place until it was changed sometime in the show’s latter half. Though the sword example is the most obvious one, this issue of mismatched audio and even poorly timed effects was highly pervasive in the show and led to a lot of scenes feeling very awkward and poorly put together. Things would frequently make inappropriate sounds out of time with the visual presentation. In short, the show couldn’t sell a punch. The audio undermined believably and made the action scenes feel uncomfortable on most occasions instead of impr…

The opening theme is one of the best I have ever seen! It does such an insanely good job of recapping the entire plot between the two verses: the good times, the bad times! The flow of perspective shifts and storyboarding are excellent. If the show could have simply kept that same level of clarity it would be solid across the board. Berserk here is kept alive by the sheer strength of the source material. The characters, situations, and moments are so powerful in the source manga. Even when shown poorly, this is an amazing story. It is understandable if people are just blown away by how fun and interesting the world is, but all of that is thanks to Miura's manga. I am lowering my score on this because: the studio was unwilling to adapt Lost Children chapter, the animation is notably worse than other shows, the show fails to convey the same tone of Berserk through CGI. No worries if you still enjoy it, just because it is Berserk. Sadly, this adaptation lessens the impact of such an incredible story arc. It is unfortunate a studio with stronger convictions (pun intended) was not able to handle the adaptation instead.

What makes this adaptation strong is the OST. Otherwise in reality the animation is not extraordinary. Especially the flashbacks. the falschbak animation really stinks of shit. I don't know how you can have an increasingly mediocre adaptation, when you don't have enough budget, it's better to let it go I think. Even the opening animation isn't really great, but the music is good, the soundtracks are good, it makes the fights feel nostalgic. At first, from episode 2 onwards, I was wondering if it was worth continuing, but for the sake of a review, it's better to at least finish the anime, right? I had a good time watching the anime despite the 3D animation which I don't like otherwise the soundtracks of this adaptation are a treat. The OST made the fights really impressive, I think it's worth watching, I'll move on to the 2nd part of the anime now

At first i was very iffy about the huge difference in animation style to the first series however it was so easy and quick to get used to as the action and story legit just sucked you in. I'm sure a lot of us have watched plenty of anime before, however i must say that this has some of THE SICKEST ACTION that i personally have ever seen. And thanks to the opening songs for both berserk 2016 and 2017, 9mm Parabellum bullet is now my favourite band, they're just so cool! I also want to add that people need to remember that Guts is a little different now as he is low-key traumatised by the whole Griffith incident and so (in a good way) Guts is a lot more mysterious and "cool" but still tough as always ahehehe.

I love Guts, the blood, the music, and the style. The effects look excellent on Blu-ray. I don't care what other people say. Watch this series. Make up your own mind. If you like it, support the creators, read the manga, and get more people into Berserk. Anyone claiming this anime adaptation is terrible and not worth watching is pushing people away from the Berserk community. I feel that people are being unfair, and clinging to their nostalgia. Don't let anyone stop you from giving this adaptation a chance and becoming a Berserk fan! The reaction from the Berserk fan community really reminds me of old school, hardcore Marvel fans who get upset when a movie adapts a super hero for mainstream. Did I even know Deadpool existed before the movie? Nope. Did I read any of the Deadpool comics before watching the movie? Nope. Did the creators of the movie miss stuff? Probably. But none of this prevented me from loving the Deadpool movie and becoming a Deadpool fan, consuming everything Deadpool possible.

From the very beginning, the terrible graphics and animation of Berserk 2016 provoked the natural reflex of an anime fan to immediately switch off. But the strong desire to see an anime adaptation of the great manga, as well as a sequel to the 1997 series, made me ignore the terrible graphics until the bar scene. However, I switched off in disgust when the ping-pong camerawork was added. In short, the first few minutes of the show leave no doubt as to why so many fans are so terribly disappointed. Berserk, the manga written by Miura Kentaro, tells the story of the swordsman 'Guts' and how he came into a serious conflict and desire for revenge. The plot is really dark. The medieval fantasy is both gloomy and hyper-violent, as well as being really bloody. Thanks to the brilliant artwork and the well-thought-out story that Miura-san has created, the manga is legendary. So I agree with the majority that reading the manga is the most satisfying way to experience the story. However, if you prefer to watch the anime instead and would like some advice on how to get started, I can offer you two options: 1. Start with the 1997 series, as the plot is from the "Gold Age Arc", which takes place before Berserk 2016. This will give you the advantage of being familiar with both the characters and their relationships. 2. The other option is watching the three films. There are some differences between the 1997 series and the films. However, both give you enough background to easily follow the sequel, Berserk 2016. The story in Berserk 2016 is taken from the Conviction arc. Guts has been branded and his vendetta is well underway. If you start Berserk 2016 straight away, you may find it confusing. Therefore, it is advisable to read the manga first, or at least watch the 1997 series or the movies. Otherwise you might not know what happened and how it came about. There is often criticism that the story has been butchered. I think that's a bit harsh. But it is true that most of the story arcs: "Black Swordsman" and "The Lost Children" have been omitted. Although this does not affect the story as a whole, it is annoying because on the other hand some unnecessary scenarios have been added that are bizarre and completely out of place, e.g. Farnese / Horse. The manga is brilliant, but "Berserk 2016" is just a showcase for what the "Conviction Arc" is about. Serious mistakes were made in the production. Firstly, the pacing of the story is poor, and secondly, there is a lot of unnecessary padding and prolongation. As a result, many important scenarios were rushed through in order to show as much of the story as possible. This destroyed the few good things that could have been included. As a result, the viewing pleasure was ruined. Unfortunately, the characterisation does not deserve a better verdict. The main characters change their personality and behaviour because of the ordeals they have been through. But these are the missing parts I mentioned earlier. Other characters were not introduced at all or only in passing, such as Dokuro no Kishi. This character is only known to people who have read the manga or seen the 1997 series/movies. Another example is Schierke, who we only get a glimpse of. She is simply thrown into the story without regard to her essential importance to the plot. On the other hand, a lot of time was spent, or rather wasted, on the comedy of Puck and Isidor. The portrayal of the characters in the manga is similar, but the compression in the anime pushes the comedy into the foreground and makes it less convincing. On the contrary, the comedy destroys the last bit of dark atmosphere, which already suffered from the extremely poor visuals and quality. Visual, using this term for almost repulsive optical appearance, is euphemism par excellence! Normally, a brief overview of the aspects of artwork and animation would suffice for this basic term. But that would be too narrow an approach. Cinematography, colours, contrasts and 2D/3D combinations should also be covered here. Cinematography: The disregard for basic principles makes Berserk 2016 terrible to watch. The pub scene is the best case in point. The beginning is reminiscent of the 1997 series in a bar, but the rest is terrible. You lose the sense of space because the camera perspective changes so often. By the time you find the ground again, the editing has already thrown you into another scene. It's not a pleasure to watch. The colours: Good Lord. On the one hand, the palette is drab (Casca, for example) and doesn't have enough depth to describe the atmosphere created as dark and gloomy. On the other hand, there are colours that are so bright that they lighten the darkness. Shadows: This so-called 2D/3D hybrid character and object design with cell shading rendering is simply painful to the eyes. In addition, linear hatching, which looks like pencil lines, was used to create the shadows of the characters and their shading. This is a technique that could be useful for manga. By the way, Minura-san's manga is very detailed and attractively designed. Not that the overall look could be worse, but the anime looks like it was done in a hurry. It looks cheap and doesn't do the original justice at all. 2D/3D combinations and details: As if the aforementioned weren't bad enough, the rare 2D drawings, while not outstanding, look pretty good compared to the 3D animations. Identifying with the characters is made almost impossible by the fact that the animated 3D figures look like lifeless puppets with no facial expressions. Details are only as important as they are relevant to the plot. Nevertheless, the lack of good facial expressions, which could have made the characters more comprehensible, is a serious mistake for an anime from 2016. Thus, the visuals could not compensate for the adaptation's weak characterisation. With such a good manga source with wonderfully detailed artwork, this is a mistake that is hard to forgive if the visual adaptation is a complete disaster. It is not that 3D techniques cannot be used attractively. But as far as Berserk 2016 is concerned, it has to be said that they look unimaginative and unprofessional. A work that simply and clearly says "The cheapest way to make the most money". It is indeed an affront to the beautiful manga! The sound is the only aspect that looked like it was trying to do at least one thing well. Some very experienced voice actors have been hired to synchronise the characters. Griffith is voiced by Sakurai Takahiro, whose CV already includes a lot of speaking roles. The same applies to the voice of Farnese, which is spoken by Hikasa Yōko. Iwanaga Hiroaki is the voice of Guts. Although he doesn't have that much experience, I was surprised how well he fits into the role. On the other hand, some critics have mentioned the good musical arrangements, and I disagree. The music didn't convince me at all. Throughout the series, the BGM often seemed strange and out of place, or even misleading. To give an example: Guts is walking through what is called a gloomy forest, the criticism about the inability to create a suitable atmosphere has already been made above.In this scenario, the only sound is that of raindrops. This was not bad, but as the scene progresses, Guts is invited into the brightly lit carriage and the eerie music begins. This scene shows that the visuals and music are generally out of sync. It is a good example of poor sound direction. Why doesn't the creepy music start a few moments later, when red glowing eyes of creatures appear in the surrounding trees, creating a sense of fear in the audience? The OP has used a few well chosen images in relation to the text and the music. However, this is a deceptive package, as a lot of the images used were taken from the 1997 series. I found the ED completely unimpressive, so I listened to it first and then skipped it. The sound effects, and in particular the sound of the sword, are just so ridiculous. Even though …

I will start by saying two things. First, I liked the original 1997 anime for what it was: an advertisement of the manga. It was nothing great but nailed the tone, and that is really most of what I wanted from it. Second, I have no issue with an adaptation deviating from the source material so long as it results in a more solid and coherent story. The Lord of the Rings films are a good example of this. Okay. That said, this anime is a giant pile of shit. The animation and visuals are terrible. Everyone knows this, though my major issue with them is the direction, and the direction is very baffling when it's not outright nauseating. It's blatantly obvious that the director has no clue how to direct in 3D, and even the direction during the 2D scenes feels inappropriate for Berserk. A lot of the sound design and music choices are also very incompetent (CLANG, Jazz, overuse of Hai Yo, etc..). I will, however, admit that there has been a bit of improvement in these areas in the recent episodes of the 2017 season 2. Not a great deal, but it is noticeable. The story is pure nonsense, though. The 2016 season should not have been an adaptation of the Conviction arc, and it is clear to me that the studio performed a large number of ass-pulls to make the arcs and chapters that they skipped flow into it. Also, this anime seems to be half backstory. Seems like almost all of the events of the Golden Age and the skipped content were recapped throughout, in addition to other things needed to set up the story. Have you seen a movie or show where a character stops the plot for three hours to talk about everything that happened before the movie or show? If so, I hope you really enjoyed it, because "Berserk: Exposition" would have made for a more accurate title for this anime. The characters are not much better, mostly due to the skipped content removing much of their introduction and motivations, but a lot of it is also the really awful script. The most significant problem is that focus is given to useless characters in this anime such as Nina, Collette's father, and the bandits from epsiode 1. Another thing is that the anime is paced much faster than it should be, so character development, where there is any, comes in huge chunks which you really do not have much of an opportunity to digest before other things start happening. Lastly, because of the pacing, characters tend to recover from really horrifying or really emotional things with incredible speed. There's very little sense that anyone in this anime is actually experiencing the things that happen to them. Why should I care, then? I went into this anime with an open mind. And my open-minded opinion is that this anime is terrible. 3/10.