Berserk

Alright so let us get the elephant in the room out of the way, yea the animation and art is bad. However does it mean the anime is bad? Despite what most people will tell you, no not really. The primary focus of this adaptation seems not to be explaining the whole story of berserk in detail, instead it focuses mainly on one arc of the manga and hopes people become interested in the universe of berserk. At least that's the feeling i got from it and i think it does a good job at that. For only having 12 episodes it shows the mood of the world very well, a dreadful world were cruelty is around every corner which our protagonist is fighting against constantly. In the department of character development the anime yet again focuses more on introducing the characters over going into great detail. A few side characters get introduced and over the 12 episodes they show small changes to their personality and personal objectives but it all hints at a lot more to come. As for the story it basically covers one arc of the manga and this is where i feel like the other main critique of the anime lies, it seems to skip a lot of content compared to the manga. But i don't think it is a problem, the arc shown in the anime is pretty complete. All the skipped content wouldn't bother a non manga reader and better yet there is still a lot of new content to discover if someone decides to read the manga after watching this series!

Before 2016 there had yet to be a single anime adaptation of Berserk that wasn't based on the Golden Age arc, of which there are 2, the 1997 anime (amazing anime just saying) and the 3 movies (which are good, not amazing but good adaptations). Members of the fanbase (such as myself) were eagerly awating the day an adaptation of the Black Swordsman arc and everything that comes after it would come, Berserk being almost 30 years old at this point. Well after having watched Berserk 2016, I wish we'd never gotten one. Save yourself some time and read the manga as watching the anime just isn't worth it, the 3d cgi is absolutely terrible and while it does follow the Tower of Conviction arc rather well giving the anime an amazing story arc it feels really weird to start the Berserk story at this point for all new comers and even weirder to expect people already fan of the series to put up with those god sound design and visuals. Only good thing that came out of it was the new Murata track and that's about it.

I'm a great fan of Berserk 1997 series. And I don't find it that bad for Berserk 2016. The Story is still good, that is why Berserk ranked #1 in manga. Many people rated this low, I think because of it's animation. To be honest I found it weird too, they could have just make it normal anime, but I think the production want it to make different. I believe this animation is somewhat like the future animation, but they failed it. If you watch the entire anime, they are making each character to be 3D (which is not necessary), the execution are awful... and what to I mean by awful?....Watch the anime until the ending and the so called " Next episode preview" is just weird, it's like a non-pro in anime can do it. I wish they would change Berserk 2017 into normal anime, stop the 3D animation, it's making a lag when Im watching it. The sound is not that special, unlike when you hearing the sound tracks of Berserk 1997 series..that make you nostalgic and feel the anime. Overall the anime is good Rating:7/10 I would suggest to stop this 3D animation, also why would'nt they show some nude parts? Show the tits! It is an art and not to be ashamed of.

Berserk 2016 is a CGI anime that tries to imitate the feel of anime. Because of this watching Berserk feels like you are watching gameplay footage of a game that has a very low framerate. The sound, though more interesting than the older adaptation is off sync very often. At a few moments the animation and sounds are so off that they create a jarring experience. The anime also seems as if it really doesn't understand Berserk. While Berserk is a violent and horrifying at times, it is also about a man who has survived through great loss. Some of the best moments of Berserk are moments of quiet contemplation. Reading the characters think or talk about the struggles they had lived through is wonderful and gives them layered personality. Only one episode had this trait and it was also my personal favorite episode. The anime also leaves through some of the more interesting/ morally questionable parts of the story and at one point creates a huge plot hole. This may be blamed on the lack of time but this is still a huge flaw. The only thing about the adaptation I can give proper credit towards is the OP, ED and the music. The opening perfectly captures Guts's struggles and is a damn fine OP. HAI YO is an amazing work of music that instantly pumps you up for a battle. All this being said Berserk 2016 was something that made me sad. The only positive is the music and the fact that people who cannot enjoy manga can watch the show, even if it is inferior.

I came into this anime thinking it would be good, but I feel that it just fell flat on its face. Overall (TL;DR) 3/10 The 3D animation feels stiff, the plot is rushed/the pacing is crazy, and the character development is non-existent. I didn't like this at all. I give this a 3/10. There can be much improvement to the pacing and character development, the animation/art style could be forgiven if those 2 were improved. Story 2/10 The story is interesting and I want to give it a chance, but the way it’s done here is bad. This is rushed. I'm not one to really care about pacing too much, but WOW its bad. It’s like I’m watching this on x1.5 speed while skipping non-major plot points. There is always something happening and when it’s done, it’s just a cut to the next thing. There’s so much happening in such a short time. It also seems like there's a lot of character development missing. At the start of Berserk, the elf (or fairy) boy just stuck onto guts (the main character) as soon as he saw him and thought that guts was the greatest. There was no incentive to stick with guts or any build up to it. Berserk (1997) does a much better job with the story. It is also the prequel to Berserk (2016). I would highly recommend watching Berserk (1997) first. Watching Berserk (1997) was the only reason I finished Berserk (2016) because the story suddenly made sense and I then knew the characters. Art 3/10 The animation is bad, its poorly done 3d with 2d thrown in. I believe that this could of been pulled off but the way they have it in Berserk (2016), it’s stiff, like amateur 3d animation (this looks like it could of been animated with Alice if given enough time, that’s how stiff it looks). It does get a little bit better past ep 7 and could be excused entirely if the plot wasn’t so poorly done. Sound 5/10 I'm going to be honest, I didn't pay much attention to the sound design, and nothing really stuck out or bothered me. The OP was good, I liked it, and I don't remember the ED at all. Character 2/10 If I had only watched Berserk (2016), I wouldn’t of knew the characters and wouldn’t of cared at all about them. Berserk (2016) does a bad job with the story in general and the characters suffer because of it. Enjoyment 4/10 I really wanted to like this but I just couldn't for the reasons above. however after watching Berserk (1997) and finishing it halfway though Berserk (2016). Berserk (2016) became watchable. Berserk (2016) also picks up a little after ep 7. *side note: this was my first review, I apologize if things weren't coherent enough, I tried ^.^ Also if anyone was wondering what Alice is referring to, it’s a tool used to learn JavaScript using mostly 3d animation, just look up "Alice 2 Project" and you will instantly see why I compared the 2.

Berserk 2016 review part 1 Hello, you favorite ANIME reviewer that you've probably heard of here. Today I'll be reviewing Berserk 2016, the masterpiece with plot so unique and unpredictable it will keep you on the edge of your seats for 12 episodes straight. The amazing and complex characters will take your breath away as you fall in love with each and every one of them. Absolute 10/10. The story is about a guy named Guts (Gats-kun) who is probably the best character for the average viewer to insert himself into I've seen so far in anime. The guy has absolutely no special features or whatsoever. Normal build, MC haircut, generic voice, even his clothes look boring, honestly. Like if this was an actual RPG this would've been the default level 1 male character. It is almost like Kentarou Miura is trying to tell their audience full of 30-year-old virgins "If this guy can do it, everyone can! Don't lose hope guys!". "Oh come on, no one watches Berserk for the guy anyway. Gimme girls, gimme rape." Well, there is no actual rape (which is probably the only redeeming feature). The girls... Oh... Did I say girl"S"? Well, there was just one girl with three different heads because the budget for this one was probably so low they couldn't even afford changing their height or breast size a little. And how there is no rape you ask? Well, it's quite simple. All of the girls are in love with our amazing protagonist even though they are sisters and aware of the fact that he sleeps with all three of them. "Characters, plot... you are talking too much, this is Berserk remember? No one really cares about that stuff, I just want to fap, that's all.". Yes, but it will be kinda hard for you to do so, because on top of all Griffith probably has the most boring sex scenes I've seen in a while. And it's not because the censorship or the awful animation and voice acting. The creativity in this one was close to 0, just 12 episodes of complete emptiness. It's hard to distinguish one sex scene from the others. Even the most hardcore vanilla fan will probably fall asleep unless he starts thinking about his ex or smh. Story: 1, Art: 4, Sound: 3, Character: 0, Enjoyment: not found Overall: 3D>2D Griffith is an asshole.

Berserk anime...seriously man...this anime rating is not good!!.how can this be possible.this anime is one of the great anime.trust me this anime is full of manliness. you will inspire by this anime in many ways.this anime teach us a great lesson.this anime is full of struggle.you will obviously respect the main character guts.he is a very brave man and his life is full of hardships. here he fight against darkness against his fate.his man's pride is great.no matter what he is not afraid of anything. the only thing he knows is struggle.you also love this anime for daring fighting. this is one of the best courageous anime.don't watch the rating just watch this anime.you will love this anime

(This review has been adapted from my blog/reddit thread. Spoilers ahead!) Berserk (2016) (or just Berserk for short) has this “soup” that one of the characters tries to eat. A soup filled with sludge, unidentifiable remnants, and a finger or two. It looked downright nasty; just thinking about it makes me want to puke. It reminds me of the cough medicine my mother used to give me when I was kid. She would fill the cap with the purple, foul-smelling liquid, hoping that I would down the grape-flavored concoction. I hated the taste. To the point that I would put the medicine in my mouth, shake my head at her, and spit it all back out into her cupped hands. Unsurprisingly, I got sick quite a lot. Berserk does not provide a cure for anything, and it doesn’t exactly “taste” horrible. But it certainly is not the easiest anime to digest – in more ways than one. STORY Berserk follows Guts, the infamous Black Swordsman, a mysterious man who wanders the world alone. As he hunts demons, and the demons hunt him, Guts embarks on a journey to see through his personal vendetta against the man who wronged him – all while protecting the only person he holds dear. What cannot be understated is how violent the anime is. While today the depiction of killing and the like is normal, Berserk scoffs at such pleasantries. Rape is common. Torture is expected. Gore is inescapable. The more the audience watches the anime, the more they become desensitized to the burning bodies, the hanging entrails, and the nonconsenting advances. This presentation of a variety of vile behavior is not something that the show does just for shock value or just for entertainment. True, it is eye opening when the flesh of a person melts away when they are consumed by a jelly monster. And, sure, Guts smashing in half a handful of knights with one swing of his sword is hard not to appreciate. But a more important point exists beyond the immediate reactions one may have. One of Berserk’s major motifs is the notion of sin. As can be gleaned from these couple of paragraphs, a lot of that is constantly going on. However, it’s not only the sins themselves that matter but how they affect the world and its people. It gets at this direction through its religious incorporations. Farnese and her Holy Knights. Father Mozgus and his purging inquisition. The monks, the prayers, and the scriptures. Throughout almost the entire season, religion and sin fight against one another as readily as Guts fights his enemies. In this world, though, religion is painted in a very negative light. They keep food from the poor, they wrongly accuse people of crimes, and they believe that their grotesque actions are justified by God’s words. On the opposite end, sin is by no means deified. But it certainly looks more appealing or, if nothing else, relatable. Doing something for one’s self versus for others. Taking part in instinctual desires like casual sex and simple survival. Fighting against conformity. The pseudo-subplot of Nina “versus” Luca also serves Berserk’s and these intentions. Nina, a very average person, does her best in this messed-up world. But, sometimes, she has thoughts of selfishness like wanting to abandon “Elaine” or willing to let go of Luca. Luca, by contrast, is purely good, supporting the other women through body shielding and word-filled comfort. Where Nina represents the normalcy of sin in everyday people, Luca represents the notion that goodness, no matter how horrible it all may seem, will never truly die out. While the action and the plot arguably take precedence over these ideas, it’s reassuring to see Berserk challenge the more conventional take on religion by saying, no, it’s not as hunky-dory as one is led to believe. Unfortunately, the show’s questionable and weak writing choices mire much of the narrative, quelling this message to a degree that the anime never intended. For example, the anime includes instances of comedy. Puck using his “abilities” or Isidro hiding his erection are the show’s attempts to, however slightly, offset the despair and the debauchery with laughter. But, since Berserk swings so far in the other direction, these moments are unnecessary at worst and jarring at best. The plot itself also has problems. The first few episodes are there to establish the setting (a disease-ridden world swarmed with monsters) and introduce some of the main players (Guts, Farnese, etc.) Afterwards, though, the show doesn’t know what to do. Guts’s self-proclaimed mission to take out all the Apostles gets pushed aside, and the whole second half of the anime can be boiled down to “save Casca for the four hundredth time.” This second point is interesting. Part of Berserk’s goal is to depict Guts suffering. Not just on a physical level but on a mental one as well. So, when the anime depicts him losing Casca again. And again. And again. It starts to tax on the audience, too. So, while the plot is unsatisfying, it’s purposefully done to relate to the main protagonist. Still, there are only so many times that Casca barely slipping through Guts’s grasp can be considered a valid plot point. Other plot points are likewise not as sound. Near the end of the third episode, the anime depicts a large city rampant with troubles, the death of a king, and a young woman (who is calling out for Griffith) who will inherit her father’s role – just as another nation begins their attack. Yet, afterwards, this city and this girl are never shown again, and that attacking nation (presumably it’s them) only shows up twice more. Once as they tail Guts and once more right as Griffith is reborn. The whole forgotten-man-turned-world-egg seems a bit more out there and a lot more convenient in regards to the narrative. Sure, the anime alluded to this weird creature in the shadows constantly in the second half of the season, but the explanation behind what he is and what he can do is shoved into a huge exposition scene, creating more confusion than answers. The reunion between Guts and Casca lost momentum since it got cutoff way too early. Death plops into the events without much care. Nina and Joachim have a mishandled romance. The list of poor plot points goes on and on and on. Berserk also relies way too much on sexual material. The horse-molestation scene with Farnese, the downright bizarre goat-worshipping fornication ritual, and the pressure-torture of women’s breasts are the more prominent examples. But they quickly illustrate that, sometimes, the anime can go overboard with (consensual or not) sex. It also has trouble maintaining moral ambiguity. Far too often, the evilness of the situation is overly obvious. Father Mozgus popping multiple arteries in his face or the constancy of men who are nothing more than degenerates leave little to interpret. Granted, insane priests and ugly rapists are nothing but evil, but, when the anime is trying to balance such weighty topics as religion and sin, its inability to use subtlety in delivering in its themes only hurts itself in the long run. As it is, Berserk has a lot of meaningful ideas to deliver. It’s unfortunate, then, that they are lost among the negatives that plague it for almost the whole way through. ANIMATION Arguably, where most people have issues with Berserk is in its artistic merit. The quick spiel is that the anime chooses a three-dimensional approach, especially with its characters, for most of its run. An approach that ultimately falls flat (or rather bounces spherically off the sidewalk and into the street only for a car to then flatten it, but the idea is still the same). The fairer spiel is that Berserk’s look is not as awful as it may first appear to be. On their own, the character designs, like that of Guts or Farnese, have a respectable level of detail and thought. Guts’s spiky, black hair. The knives, bombs, and shoulder plates he wears. The billowing cape that hides his behemoth of a sword. Farnese, with her golden locks, do…

This adaptation was filled with horrible artwork and animation all around. The artwork was mostly 3D that made PS2 games look like it was made on the Unreal engine. Most character models look lifeless and are reused a lot, the animation does not flow smoothly at all, and there is zero detail put into anyone, even Guts! There are parts where there is drawn animation, but even that is undetailed crap with the only animation being the characters' mouths moving. Plus there was no character development. They did nothing to show any of the characters' convictions or development. All they do to show you how Guts feels about Casca is having him yell her name a bunch of times. They also do nothing to show the complex thoughts rushing through Guts' mind, such as that he actually hates killing and doesn't revel in the blood of his enemies. He is portrayed as some asshole just killing people left and right to get to Casca. A lot of stuff was cut out too, such as the Lost Children Arc, the fight between Griffith and Zodd (which tells us why Zodd is siding with him and missing a horn), and they do nothing to explain why the Knights of the Iron Chain are after him. It was also riddled with horrible editing, extremely poor sound quality (seriously, why does his sword make a sound resembling pots banging together?!), very mismatched music, and a slew of other problems. The creator of this anime adaption was highly unqualified to do this, as he had A) Never worked on an anime with quality or a serious tone, and B) Had zero experience with 3D animation. Even though Berserk is so artistic and complex that it's near impossible to perfectly adapt it, there was no excuse for this steaming pile of shit. And for anyone defending this anime, let me ask, do you like the Dark Souls games? You do? Okay now imagine if we took Dark Souls and lowered its graphics to minimal settings, replaced the sound effects with pots and pans, got rid of 90% of the narrative, and threw in mixes of techno remixes and metal at odd times. That roughly translates to what Shin Itagaki's inexperienced ass did to the Berserk manga. I would not recommend this to anyone, especially any Berserk fans. I would recommend, the Berserk manga (which is one of the greatest manga ever), the original anime (Listed as Kenpuu Denki Berserk), and the 3 Golden Age Arc movies. The movies aren't perfect, but they're 100x better than this.

Compared to the original berserk in 1997 this feels like a completely different show all together. The story is gold, the main character is badass but the delivery and animation of this new series is so painful it makes me go back and watch the opening of the old show then plunge into depression because its never gonna be as good! The music is repetitive and they have some kind of theme tune going for god hand that sounds like it should be in an Adam west batman episode. The characters have become annoying and they seem to be forcing humour into some places which doesn't fit the shows original theme at all. All the sense of impending doom and threat is gone in my opinion and I've realllllllly tried to watch it for just the story alone but keep failing and going to something else.

Berserk (2016) is one of the most horribly animated and directed anime I have ever seen. Every movement is stiff and unnatural and never improves at all throughout all twelve episodes. They attempt to make characters fit the dark tone by placing shading over their faces which only makes it look even worse. The shading seems to move along with the characters' faces rather than being a part of their face and it's jarring as hell. The horrible direction doesn't help, as fight scenes are frantic and hard to follow, which doesn't fit the tone in the slightest. The sound direction isn't much better, with out of place sound effects such as a sword slicing through skeletons sounds like it's giving off sound waves as it is overemphasized and wouldn't make that sound against some bones. Berserk (2016) skips over several important arcs in the story to fit into twelve episodes, which making something as long as Berserk twelve episodes was a stupid decision to begin with. One thing I didn't like about Berserk in general is that it tries too hard to shock the audience and feels forced with constant rape and literal insanity. The very thing that draws people in is also the very thing that pushes people away. Berserk will be hard to watch or read because of its dark nature, and not a lot of people can take watching something like that. Top that off with an adaptation even more hard to watch for all the wrong reasons.

Obviously we are all displeased with the handling of one of our favorite anime/manga stories. I'm very happy that they are actually rebooting the series but if your gonna do something then do it right for fucks sake. If anyone from 2016 berserk production happens to read the comments, just know that it's never too late to fix this. Their are fans worldwide that have been anticipiating this very much and are now dissapointed, although there is plenty of time to make the necessary corrections. I would advise doing away with CGI and keeping it traditional, after all it's the story and characters that has made Berserk fans grow over the years, not the graphics.

This is my third effort to complete this review. I have never written a preview for an unfinished anime/manga before, neither for one I dropped. I didn't see the point. Also, I didn't like the idea of judging a work that I had not experienced as a whole. I pushed myself to finish the ~750 pages of Red Storm Rising (don't read it) just to be “able” to review it. After watching the first episode of the new Berserk I simply had to write something. I retouched this review after watching the first four episodes, as I was disappointed that things didn't move towards the right direction. After I finished the series, I thought it was worthwhile to visit the review a third time. I love Berserk. The anime adaptation was reason I abandoned my initial hesitation and started reading manga. Berserk is a genre on its own. And even though the anime is a 1997 work, I still recommend it to my friends. I didn't watch the 2012 movies because of the horrid CGI in the PVs, meaning I was really not prepared when I started this. It was... well in a single word: Unacceptable. Please don't disregard this comment because I am a CGI hater. Every aspect of it was unacceptable. OK the CGI was horrible,but not only that, the direction reminded me of old console RPGs, those that you didn't get a good sense of the action. Finally, never in my life, I commented about neither music in movies/TV etc nor about seiyus, I probably have a thick and/or untrained ear, but that episode astonished me because I found that everything in the audio department was appalling. The anime covers the second act of the Berserk story, following the excellent “Golden Age” arc. While this act is not as good as the first, it still remains a masterpiece. During the first four episodes you get glimpses of the beauty that is Berserk. Unfortunately you have ugly CGI, poor direction -full of strangely rotating angles and trite shots- and irrelevant sound. All of the above makes watching the anime unbearable. I cannot understand how such a popular source material was given to such an amateurish studio. If you are new to Berserk, you can read the manga. This product does not even come close to replicating the beautiful panels of the original work. If you don't do manga, watch the 1997 anime. It's awesome. On your own risk, you can try this anime if you want to get acquainted with the world of Berserk; if you don't get a headache from the camera work maybe you will enjoy it, or at least whet the appetite for more. I know it made me want to read the manga all over again from the beginning. While the production values are worth less than 0, underneath looms one of the best stories in any medium. 4.0/10.

Stop crying over the death of the old 97 anime, for all that is sacred. Most of modern animes would look like a children drawing compared to 97 Berserk. This show fails not because of the high quality of the old golden age arc animation, but because it sounds too presumptuous. While watching it I had the constant feeling that the director is trying to show off, I just can tell *what*. The animation spins and rotates in weird angles, changes scenes too fast and without a clear connection. Some parts of the fighting scenes look great, some others just look like the director is trying to give you motion sickness. The background music sometimes sounds like the kind of stuff you'd download for free to use as ringtone for your smartphone. It sounds lazy, generic, often anticlimax. I understand the plot choice. They cut a lot of things, but mostly things that wouldn't really matter right now (yeah yeah, stop crying over the Lost Children Arc). That would be fine if well executed, but it feels extremely rushed. Berserk is action soaked in character development. If you spend 2min of an episode to depict the complex personality of a character like Farnese, you'd better not even bother. The pace is too damn fast, switching between events far apart seemingly randomly instead of focusing into giving the audience the time and depth that they need to feel the characters' feelings and despair. It is just too damn shallow. Unless you did read the manga you can barely follow what is going on. About the CGI and the colour pallet choice, we all know that it can be done right (3rd Berserk movie was right on spot) so I can only imagine that the director here purposely screwed it up. The animation, very often, hurts the eyes and fails to deliver the Berserk feeling. This anime feels to me like an ***experiment***. It is sad that we are once again losing this opportunity to have the world appreciating Berserk at its fullest. Let's just hope that they will get someone competent to direct Berserk 2017...

After nearly twenty long years, the anime world finally gets what it was waiting for: the long-awaited animated continuation of mangaka Kentarou Miura's legendary manga series, Berserk. But while the quality of the previous 1997 adaptation was balanced in both story-telling and animation for its time, the anime world has been longing for an adaptation of the arcs after the ever-retold ‘Golden Age’ arc. Does this new-age contender live up to the hype and the amazing story-telling and artwork that Miura is known for? Let's find out. Obviously, SPOILERS will follow. Ladies, gentlemen, and others, I am Cypherial, the Gaming Otaku, and today I bring you my anime review for the 2016 adaptation of Kentarou Miura’s Berserk. (INSERT CLANG) STORY: The story focuses on the arcs after the ‘Golden Age’: ‘Black Swordsman’ and ‘Conviction’. The first thing to note is that the writers decided to gloss over the ‘Black Swordsman’ arc and outright skip the ‘Lost Children’ arc in favour of the more action-packed ‘Conviction’ arc. The first three or so episodes are a sh*tshow of fast pacing and awful animation (more on that later), and the first episode in particular is just downright bad. Some characters not even in ‘Black Swordsman’, ‘Lost Children’, or even ‘Conviction’ are introduced right off the bat, and the anime rushes the events in 'Black Swordsman' to set up their segue into ‘Conviction’. Some elements included in ‘Lost Children’ are set up in the first episode, such as the introduction of Isidoro's character. It is also interesting to note that this anime is twelve episodes, your standard half-season. Personally, a better way to do this anime would be to have 24 episodes: seven dedicated to ‘Black Swordsman’, seven dedicated to ‘Lost Children’, and ten dedicated to ‘Conviction’ and the climax. Even so, overall I think the writers did a decent job with what they were trying to do. However, some scenes feel out of place without the context that ‘Black Swordsman’ gives. On another note, some crucial scenes lose a lot of their impact because of the way they were written for this adaptation. For example, Miura himself was involved with the writing for episode 3, which contains the Horse, one of the most controversial and simultaneously crucial scenes in the entire manga. However, because of the way the episode was written, the Horse scene lost a lot of its impact because of its execution and the setting that Miura chose for the episode. CHARACTERS: The portrayal of the characters in this adaptation are mostly correct, taken from the manga. Guts is portrayed about how you'd expect, Casca as well. The gripes I have are that Schierke (from the ‘Millenium Falcon’ arc) is in a scene in the first episode with absolutely no context that the average viewer would understand (also the line she says is huge spoilers for the end of ‘Conviction’, which I guess I understand as foreshadowing, given that they ended the anime right at that point), Isidoro is introduced way before he ever showed up in the manga, and Puck is relegated to a comic-relief/brevity character. On the subject of Puck, yes, I realise that is his role in Conviction onwards, but because the anime glossed right over ‘Black Swordsman’, the average viewer doesn't get to see that Puck's character actually has a purpose. Moving on, the portrayals of Serpico and Farnese are actually spot-on, which I'm really impressed by given that Serpico is one of the more badass characters in the manga. The only gripe I have towards him is that he has all of two badass scenes in the anime, and one of them is obscured by F*CKING CREDITS, which has nothing to do with the portrayal of the character. Finally, Skull Knight. Badass portrayal, doesn’t have enough screentime (but that’s all on Miura, boys). VOICE CASTING: The voice casting for this adaptation was actually well done. Guts is voiced by Iwanaga Hiroaki, his voice actor from the movies, and he does a very good job, despite him having relatively few lines overall in this adaptation. Puck is voiced by Mizuhara Kaoru, known to me for her role as Amano Rea in Mirai Nikki. A lot of people found her voice to be annoying, mainly because for most of the anime, Puck is portrayed as the colloquial “Chestnut Puck”, the chibi rendition of him when he’s to be the source of comic relief for the scene. As a result, the voice for Puck and Chestnut Puck differ in the same way that, for example, Haruhi and Konata differ. We rarely get to hear Puck’s actual serious voice, which isn’t really a plus. Farnese is voiced by Hikasa Yoko, known to me as Weiss Schnee from the Japanese dub of RWBY. Personally, I think she did a fairly great performance as Farnese, however, nothing really stands out to me. Serpico is voiced by Okitsu Kazuyuki, known for his roles as Jonathan Joestar from Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure, and Seishin Muroi from Shiki. Serpico is one of those characters that is simultaneously ditzy and badass, and Okitsu-san really manages to nail down the voice, despite the fact that, like Guts, he really doesn’t have many lines. Isidoro is voiced by Shimono Hiro, known for his role as Katsuragi Keima in The World God Only Knows. I personally am not too familiar with his voice roles, but for Isidoro’s character, I think he did a great job as well. Finally, Skull Knight, voiced by Ootsuka Akio, known for his role as Wammu from Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure and as Skull Knight in the third Berserk movie as well. Perfect voice actor: dark, mysterious, commanding. Love the choice of seiyuu for this character. ANIMATION: Studio(s): GEMBA, Millensepee From the studios that brought you Teekyuu! and…. not much else, its Berserk (2016)! Personally, I don't know if this was a gigantic troll or if they really just wanted to try and run this series into the ground, but...DAAAAAAAAAAAAMNN!! First thing to note, two animation studios. Never a good sign. One of which has done sweet F-A, the other... EIGHT SEASONS OF F*CKING TEEKYUU! All sense of foreboding dread aside, when I heard that the series would be done in full CGI, I personally was excited. I imagined studio Ufotable’s Fate series, and how well that was animated using CGI, I thought of the Berserk movies which blended 2D and 3D cel-shading, I thought of the brilliant usage of 3D CGI in David Productions’ Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure. I was excited, despite what people thought. But…those first three episodes…they were garbage. The animation was horrible. Utterly horrible. It looked like some fifteen-year-old got a hold of a copy of Poser Pro and pumped this out. Granted, the animation got WAY better for the second half of the series, and they even tried to compensate by throwing in some 2D scenes for the actual events of the anime (not just in flashbacks as they had previously done), but ultimately, the animation balances out to just slightly below average for me. Don’t get me wrong, what we ended up with was decent. But this isn’t just some moe-trash or horror anime that only got made to make boatloads of money off fat neckbeard weeaboos. This is Berserk. This is Berserk, and damn it, the animation had better damn well be able to at least hold a candle to Kentarou Miura’s breathtaking art. “Decent” is horrible for Berserk. Berserk, at the very least, deserves PERFECTION where animation is concerned. OP/ED: Inferno – 9mm Parabellum The OP for Berserk (2016) was actually very good. Sure it doesn’t have the horribly-pronounced Engrish and nonsensical verbal nostalgia that “Nothing Will Be Wong” does, but to me, “Inferno” looks, sounds, and feels more like what Berserk should be. “Inferno” basically recaps the Golden Age arc in a flurry of adequate 2D and 3D animation, and you can differentiate which time period it’s in by the animation. The visuals were actually not garbage, despite what Reddit likes to say, and the song did fit the visuals very nicely. Meimoku no Kanata – Nagi Yanagi Berserk (2016)’s ED is a very good one. The visuals are simplistic, …

I love the world of Berserk. Easily my favorite manga and I can't get enough. This adaptation is pathetic and hurts to watch. From atrocious camera angles and the constant clanging, I wish this adaptation never happened. Story wise they skipped parts out from the manga, otherwise my rank for that would've been higher. CG can definitely work depending on the anime. I enjoyed Kado the right answer's use of CG and Kengan Ashuras at times at least made sense as they conveyed the movements and force to the viewer during its many fights. The Berserk movies were decently done as well especially the last movie. But Berserk 2016 and 2017 truly dropped the ball in terms of animation. I almost wish they never included any of the still frames where the art looked amazing, because it just made me hopeful that the quality would improve in time. The cast and character development in Berserk is nearly unmatched. The CG definitely took away from facial expressions however. I love Berserk but watching this made me sad. 3/10

It's 2020, so Of course I already watch BD version of this series, and I'm Gonna use that as my fondation of this review. Story: 8 No need to talk about it, We already know that the source of this anime was placed 1st as to scored manga, and I don't want to complaint anything about that, they say it skipped some arc (luckily I not yet read the manga - will watch soon), but I think that's not really Important since I don't find it really odd like what happen to GoH. Art: 7 Here is the real problem of the show, I remember watch it when it first out and I really get itchy with the bad animation. BUT HERE WE ARE NOW, the art really really get better now and it feels like they did that on purpose. I mean the GAP of it really big. The black censor is gone, the stattering art is gone, the animation looks more fluid, The CGI gets much better, everything gets better. I really want to gave it an 8 but remember how bad it was, so i give it a 7 Sound: 7 I don't have any problem with this part. The OP was Good, but not great. Really love the Guts theme. Gave me chill every time hear it. Overall is good Character: 9 Guts carry the whole series, Really love his character. eventho there is not many character dev on this season, but the char dev from the s2 gave a little bias on my rating, so I give it a 9. I love Guts btw. Enjoyment: 7 I really enjoy this season, but not as much as season 2. Yeah this what happen when you make a review after doing marathon of 2 season of anime. You can't really differ your feeling of it since you watch it continiously. But I know I enjoy every episode of it. Overall: 7 Not Much to say, but watching the BD really change my mind of this show. Got a little bias on the scoring, but overall it's good. Remember to watch the second season. It really get much better, especially on char dev.

Honestly speaking I gave this show a 6 purely because I've read up until where the manga is currently at right now and can say it's a masterpiece. Essentially the show really deserves more of a 3-4 but I don't want people to see this review and think that the story is bad; it's actually the complete opposite which is why I gave it the score I did. I know the entire Berserk community was so excited to get this adaptation since only the Golden Age arc had gotten an anime but at this point, I feel like we're never going to get a good adaptation of Miura's god-tier story. And that's simply because of one thing: Miura is way too good of an artist. For people who just stumbled on this show, I really hope you don't judge it based on this piece of crap of an adaptation. It completely screwed up the intro of Isidro and even skipped over the Lost Children Arc. This isn't even mentioning the horrible camera angles and movements utilized. Please Please Please discard everything you saw in the anime and go read the manga from the beginning. There's a reason why it's ranked the number 1 manga on this website.

Since this rendition of Berserk was my first contact with both the berserk material and this type of anime, and I loved it, I was kind of surprised to know that is was held in such low esteem. Since then I've seen or read most of the other stuff. The exception being the 97 anime, which really bores me every time I try to start to watch it, on account of its animation style and mood and pacing. What I like is that this series catches the mood well and portrays the kind of characters and the world they inhabit well. And for me, it was a good starting point for the material and this type of broody existential gore. Also that it manages to empathize with this lone wolf anti-hero. What I dislike is the shading which seems kinda wonky/cheap/unfinished in my opinion. Most of the other decisions with the art even though they're not great they fit in the grittiness of the story for me. Also I think some decisions made in comparison to the black and white manga is relevant to focus on the story. Since a lot of the beautiful art in the spreads there doesn't translate all that well to this format. I think that maybe something could be said for a lot of the negative opinion, that I feel is partly correct, is that it could have been so much more. And because of that killed Berserk as a continiuing anime. But I still think that not all of the anime volumes would make for such good source material as the series/movies that has been made. Therefore I'm not as sure that were without as much as one may think.

WARNING: This is a review of THE ACTUAL ANIME, not my BULLSH** preconcieved version of what it *should* be. I've judged Mr.2016 on what Mr.2016 offers. Nothing else. Skip the next 3 paragraths (Between the arrows) for actual review. --------------------------------------> I realize manga readers have expectations. It's the best manga ever drawn, every stroke of his pencil exudes talent, purpose & love. It DESERVES to have an anime that lives up to it's brilliance. I can understand peoples disappointment when what they got is a seemingly rushed money-grab with cheap 3D animation. Hell, if fans weren't happy with Studio 4C's version then they're just guaranteed to be miserable with any adaptation barring a $100m masterpiece manga-clone with no music, perfect pacing, perfect animation & perfectly portrayed characters. "They're making a mokery of Berserk. This isn't berserk! "Berserk is supposed to be dark and gritty, look at the bug eyes, his movements are stiff they use cheap sound effects. This is awful. They clearly dont understand what makes berserk good" an understandable 'guts' reaction... ;D Or is it? I went into the show simply wanting to see what happens next to Guts an Casca.. Something we can all agree on? What a wonderful story berserk is. Mr.2016 might not be telling the story the way you expected nor wanted, but to let a preconcieved idea hurt your ability to enjoy a show? I'll judge the show based on it's own merits. ------------------------------------>>>>>> Does the anime show enough of the masterpiece story to justify itself amongst other anime? Is it actually the flop people claim? Should someone brand new to anime watch BERSERK? ;Or would they be better off never experiencing it simply because "it didnt adapt the manga the way I wanted"?? WE WILL FIND OUT NOW, because my opinion is always correct. YW ------------------> ART<----------------- 7 :) Kept getting reminded of attack on titan while watching. Similar shading and artstyles. You could screenshot almost any point an the still-frames would look very similar to what an AOT still-frame would look like. I would argue the biggest factor in Berserk coming across as "ugly" is because it's not what people expected. Sure, the animation might be a bit stiff at times and the CG stands out a lot more than in AOT.. But the overall look is very similar. Backgrounds look great, breathy views, a lot of details go into the set designs. At times there are some amazing animation sequences, a lot of the "epic" moments from the manga have had extra effort an money invested into them and they look amazing. At times looks like it's pulled straight from the manga. The style is definitely unique, the CG isn't for everyone, however the style grew on me very quickly and I begun to really enjoy it. --------------->>>>CHARACTERS<<<<------ 7 I was actually a bit disappointed by the characters here. By far my favorite part of the original (and what got me so hooked on the series) was the characters. Guts, Casca & Griffiths character growth, and love-triangle (lol) was incredibly deep and meaningful, it gave a real intensity to the characters. That dynamic is defo missing in this arc... . No one really develops at all through 2016s adaption (except the temporary characters). However, that's understandable as it takes place over a far shorter period of time (Kind of) but having those intense relationships missing from the plot hurt the story and characters imo. --------------->ENJOYMENT<<<<<----------- 8 honestly.. so much fun. I binged the entire thing in 1 night. I used to regularly binge shows overnight but it has become less an less frequent with less good anime available to watch. This however wasn't even a challenge. Every episode ended on a cliffhanger, I was always on the edge of my seat. Always wanting something to happen. Whether it was hoping Casca was okay, if Guts was gonna kill someone, if the dumb blonde woman would hurry up an die. I don't usually enjoy action anime that much, i get more excited for the characters but this defo kept me excited. There is a lot of uhh... light hearted comedic moments too. I was told they were taken straight from the manga so it was obviously as intended.. I think some people would prefer the show be darker w/o those moments but they kept the show pacing at a good level. If anything it was too fast.. I would have much rather had 2-3 extra episodes for character development. ------------------> MY MAIN CRITICISM??<----------------- My main issue with mr.2016 is that they like to tell & not show. The 97' version was happy to have long, drawn out pauses with nothing but Guts face. It let us get drawn in, feel for him, empathize with the characters, put ourselves in their shoes. It never really tried too hard to explain things. The characters felt that way, you either picked up on it or you didn't & that is 100% fine. mr.2016 did do that, but not nearly as much. Guts always had a monologue in his head which I didn't like, there was never any need for it. I would rather just have the scene be silence and tension. It doesn't sound like a big complaint but to me... One of the big draw cards for berserk in the first place was that it never felt preachy, never felt like it was trying to convince you of anything. Guts was a bad ass, they didn't need to constantly point it out. ---------------->OVERALL<--------------------- 7. Like really MAL peeps? 5000? I understand having a bad "gut" reaction to the art-style but do you people honestly think that an adaption of BERSERK the greatest manga ever written could be worse than all this other trash? Do you think so little of Berserk that you think the artstyle and missing parts of the manga could ruin it so much that it's worse than Fuuka? So yes, it's underrated. I recommend 100%. Watch the original first, though.