Berserk

Now I feel like Guts standing in front of the army of the new Berserk hating people. Bring it on then! No seriously I believe that many people rate this anime focused way too much on one thing, not looking at it objectively. Let's start with the main problem, the animation. It is bad! When I though I got used to it after the first episodes but another punch in the face came. Silly censorship incarnated into characters with no genitals. The animation is a mix of CG and drawn one. The CG parts are really strange. However it's not like a total fail. Someparts were beautiful. Some were sadly, hilarious. So I can't agree with statements like "The whole animation is terrible!". More like "Some parts are funny. (When they are not supposed to be funny.)" Enough of that. If you forget the animation, then this anime is pretty good. Exactly what I expected and wanted to see as a sequel to the original series. The dark and raw atmosphere is still there, even darker. Guts is as badass as always and you even see some old characters not only in flashbacks. There are also new characters that are really well made with a focus on their inner feelings. They are just humans after all and they act like that. There are some inner conflicts and deep thoughts. Also some epic quotes that we "anime only watchers" were waiting for! The sound effects are very specific, especially Guts and his sword slashes will leave a trace in your memory. The music is a treasure. Really an amazing OST. (Susumu and his Hai Yo really reminded me the previous anime adaptations.) So I have really enjoyed this show despite the bad expectations I had after watching the trailer. I was really wondering if I should watch or drop it. Glad I stayed. You know it was also announced that the season 2 is coming next year. Give it a shot, survive the animation torture and you'll never regret it!

It truly saddens me that this new adaptation of Berserk we receive after patiently waiting for almost two decades had to turn out like it did. This is a far cry from what the older adaptation managed to achieve and is regarded as a timeless classic, then again the previous anime was working with arguably the best source material out there with that being the 'Golden Age' arc. The decline in quality was to be expected as Berserk certainly peaked during the conclusion of that arc with the events of the Eclipse. The problem with this current adaptation was the fact that the script writerswere adamant about fully adapting the Conviction arc but at the expense of rushing the Black Swordsman arc and completely omitting the Lost Children side story arc. The latter is understandable due to the censorship that modern anime are subject to and so with current regulations it was an uncertainty from the beginning it was announced. This adaptation focuses on Guts trying to locate and eventually rescue Casca who has very much turned into an invalid after the traumatic events of the Eclipse. This is mainly due to the negligence of Rickert who as a former Band of the Hawk member was concerned with the mental state of Caska who was under his protection the whole time. This responsibility is ultimately Guts' one in the end but would make his main objective seemingly more difficult. Learning about the details of Caska's movements, Guts along with a new companion named Isidro who is obsessed with him and aspires to emulate his heroics find themselves in the desolate refugee camp called Albion. This is where the tower of 'Conviction' run by the Holy Iron Chain Knights is located and where the main events takes place. Apparently the damage was already done when the fans of Berserk realised that the first few episodes did not cater to their expectations. Let's be real here, anyone here knowing Berserk's relationship with CG animation should have had the mindset of wanting an average/decent adaptation, only to get a big f*ck you when butchering the source material. If you are reading this then you are a brave soul indeed after experiencing this abomination that may have scarred you permanently. The verdict of most fans by now will probably be dismissing the show and refusing to acknowledge its existence. The series barely manages to retain the authenticity of the manga with it being a decent portrayal of a dark fantasy series. It still possesses that gritty, inhumane atmosphere that is commonly associated with Berserk. It could even pass off as a post-apocalyptic setting due to the state of events within Albion where poverty and desperation is strife due to an outbreak of the plague in certain cities in the Midlands leading to an influx of refugees seeking help. Religion is the main theme for this arc as it is seen as the way forward when experiencing hard times - basically the only means of salvation for these commoners who would do anything to survive. This is evident in the numerous amounts of individuals being put to death after being accused of being heretics hence is linked to the tower of 'Conviction', where all sorts of horrific torture and other forms of extreme brutality taking place in the name of religion. The hate for the animation techniques used in this anime is probably the single reason why many dropped the show. I abhor the use of 3D and 2D animation ever mixing and to me are like oil and water when done in a mediocre fashion. The ratio between the two is the most disturbing factor personally, as I'm actually impressed by the hand drawn animations which are sparse and are used occasionally as a means of conveying certain facial expressions such as Guts purely concentrating for the kill. This is short lived though as we are expected to put up with the unsightly 3D which infuriates me. 3D models of the characters make up the majority of the animation but are heavily altered with shadings being applied to everyone and the rest of the designs being drawn over by the animators. If there is a positive from this show (though not many) the character designs are consistent but is not always the case as there are times when normal animation is used randomly in certain scenes such as the girls from Luca's group. The more episodes you watch, you gradually become more accustomed to the CG which would be case for those who managed to stay on. There is no smooth movement from the animation as it can look jerky at times mainly through different shot compositions such as close ups and its use in the background. The last thing that needs mentioning was the opening had good animation but that is just pure deception compared to what actually takes place. The sound is one aspect that probably goes unscathed in my review as the voice actors did a reasonable job at performing their characters. Characters such as Farnese and Mozgus sound just like I had imagined them when reading the manga which was unexpected. The soundtrack is a slight disappointment as it can't compare to the greatness of Susumu Hirasawa's one for the original series. This series just has one theme that I find worthwhile whereas the other has plenty to offer in comparison despite it being half an hour long. The background sound use is adequately used in most cases except for Guts and his use of his broadsword which can come off as being similar to striking a metal bannister when obliterating his enemies. I was very much hyped about Berserk getting an adaptation because everyone hates cliffhangers after the 1997 Berserk finale. I wouldn't even call this a direct sequel as it assumes you have prior knowledge of the manga when watching and for an anime-only would be difficult to follow. This show is not worth your time and so like they say, avoid it like the plague.

Berserk returns with a whimper than a roar! The return of Guts and his tale feels like a horribly put together fan project. Story 4/10 Berserk initially had many fans, myself included, anticipating its return. In this installment of the once great franchise the story and plot lacked the intensity & excitement the original series presented. This series was supposed to follow the manga according to what is on file in the MAL/ANN database. For the most part, it didn't follow the original source as much and sort of pulled random things out its ass to improvise. I found this to be both unprofessional and lazy onthe director’s end. Of the many, one of the most disappointing things about the story is its overall presentation. It comes off ass.. (He he, I wrote ass) as, lazy. It appeared as if Berserk was only made just to cash in on the franchise some more. The story is painfully weak in terms of plot & narrative. The beginning and middle, rising action, parts of the story were perhaps the biggest turn off. The amount of action, gore and death in the story felt limited. This ruined a majority of my experience with the beginning and conclusion of the story. I strongly believe that the writing could have been much better. Few moments into the introduction, the first episode pretty much plays homage to the original anime series. Guts arrive at bar or brothel saves a woman, etc. Except, now in the 2016 version Guts saves a woman, befriends a possibly homo-sexual fairy, who doesn't shout "Hey, Listen" and the two become buddies. I don't remember the time it takes for all of these events to happen, however I believe it was about 10 minutes into the show that I wanted to drop it simply because of that. The stories appeal is bad enough to make even people who haven't seen the show turn away from it. Lastly, the main story gets even worse when it gets taken over by an awful intrusive sub-plot that focuses more on some of the most uninteresting characters in the series. This isn't so much the case in the manga however, I digress. Towards the middle of the series, during maybe episode 6-9 (69.. ha ha children, see I have sex jokes) the story focuses less on Guts and his goal to save or abduct his mentally disable, brown sugar skinned goddess. Instead the story decides to focus more on the supporting and non-supporting characters. This wouldn't be so bad if only the characters were not so annoying, troublesome rather. For example when the prostitutes arrive, and Elaine is first show, at this point in the story is where I felt things became horrible. . The settings that the story took place in were not as visually horrifying nor did they set the tone for any new developments. The narrative, or rather, the way that the story was told, it failed improve successful elements that the original story used. The unfortunate thing is that although the story is somewhat part of the original work, the way that its' been directed so far, makes Berserk feel like a horribly put together fan project. Shallow story, coupled with bad action scenes, animation and horrible dialogue made me cringe. Kentaro Miura should be ashamed for agreeing his work to be animated in CGI poorly. His Penmanship, his detail in the original work is God-Like! (No exaggerations needed.) The Golden Age Arc of the series looks like perfection compared to this ugly, unappealing and awful, simply awful visuals. Details, there was a lack of the detailed gore like dismembered bodies and such for berserk. The dark settings and somber tone berserk once had seemed to have vanished. For some strange reason, berserk, the settings seemed to have taken a JRPG style setting. Woods, forest, deserted battle fields etc. Detailed animation on these settings was very minimal and unfortunately took away a lot of the enjoyment. In all honest though, the type of CGI, the art style is what ruined this once great series for me. I felt that I focused too much on how bad the art was that it completely turned me away from the story. It needed more work, it needed to feel more realistic not forced! Or over the type.. Or "Edgy" as the hip people say. CGI, CGI, I still feel like CGI based anime is still a work in development. I would not be surprised if Berserk was used for this very reason and we were all the test audiences. If this is the case I do fear what else animation studios are planning to redo or "re-master" in full on CGI. I digress, using CGI over the traditional style that made berserk such an amazing series that is what hurt the series the most for me. There was simply no enjoyment, nothing to saw "wow what amazing settings or detail, and I feel that it was the CGI to blame for that. The voice acting was on and off. Sometimes I felt that a majority of the actors were over-exaggerating when it came to screaming. When there were serious moments in the dialogue, I wasn’t convinced that events were as bad as the characters said they were. The soundtrack wasn’t impressive for the show. Fight scenes were not nearly as intense because of the music. Enjoyment I was not impressed with any of the characters. Lack of character development and bland personalities is what kept me from making any sort of connection. As mentioned earlier everyone was riddled with problems and awful traits. The show didn't seem like it was ready for release. It's sort of like a video game... which ironically there is a game coming out. There were so many problems with it that it needs patches to fix them. I felt like what was released, wasn't the shows full potential. It almost feels rushed. Perhaps they didn't have any editors to look over it before release. I don't know what they were thinking when releasing this. However, it totally could use work on the story, animation, and settings. Maybe a dialogue that isn't so stale a cat wouldn't even eat it. Overall, I simply was not impressed with Berserk 2016.

*Minor spoilers for Golden Age and Berserk 2016 below* Miura’s Berserk is a classic manga series beloved by many and deals with dark, gritty violence and mature themes. Miura started writing Berserk in 1989; however due to many factors, most of which I am not aware of, the manga has turned into Hiatus x Hiatus over the past decade or so. Berserk received an anime adaption in the 1990s covering the famous Golden Age Arc, a flashback/prequel that covers roughly 13 manga volumes, and ever since fans have been asking for a sequel. This manga is held in such high esteem by so many that asequel would never be able to live up to its hype. Manga lovers love the manga so much, and when they saw the first episode of Berserk 2016 and didn’t get exactly what they had yearned for for twenty years they immediately wrote it off as a horrible adaption. I have read the manga chapters this anime adapts and, as a whole, this is a very good adaption of the Conviction Arc. Story (10/10): Berserk 2016 starts two years after the Golden Age Arc with Guts wandering the countryside looking for apostles so that he can question them about the God Hand, a collection of five demon-like creatures that follow the guidance of the Idea of Evil, or God. The Idea of Evil is an entity born from humanity’s unconscious desire for something to blame suffering on. Among the God Hand is Femto, who was once the human Griffith and Guts’ best friend. During the events of the Eclipse two years ago, Griffith became Femto by sacrificing the Band of the Hawk, his army of companions. Only Guts and Casca escape, but not without injury: Guts has lost an eye and an arm and Casca has lost her mind due to a truly horrible gang rape. Both are branded as sacrifices and these brands bleed whenever evil is near. As these brands also attract evil beings, Casca is kept safe at a friend’s house while Guts roams the countryside killing apostles. He is haunted by a demon-like baby, the remains of Guts and Casca’s miscarried child after Femto raped her. Guts’ experiences during the Eclipse have shaped him into a cynical, violent, untrusting person. He saves Puck and inspires Isidro at a bar but doesn’t warm up to either of them until later on in the story. At the same time, the Holy Iron Chain Knights have been searching the countryside for the prophesized Hawk of Darkness, a being that would plunge the world into a dark age. The Knights, led by Farnese, believe this Hawk to be Guts after encountering him in a forest and they become recurring antagonists for him throughout the anime. Guts eventually learns that Casca has been missing and goes off in search of her at the Tower of Conviction. The most compelling part of this arc, besides the characters, is how Miura handles the concept of religion in this world. The Holy See parallels the Catholic Church in the Middle Ages and the Tower of Conviction is home to an extensive torture chamber. Refugees from war and famine surround the Tower and daily “heretics” are dragged into the Tower to confess their sins. One priest claims that only priests are able to interpret the Holy Scriptures. The God Hand are continuously referred to as angels, leading to the question: How do you know what you are praying to is actually a benevolent God? Some of the heretics actually go off to unknowingly worship one of the God Hand. As a whole, the followers of the Holy See are ultimately painted as hypocrites, either too blind in their faith to realize that they aren’t worshiping a benevolent God or using religion as a way to excuse their personality defects. This arc is about surviving, and in a world where anyone could claim you were a heretic, all most of the refugees can do is bow their heads and do what they are told. In the end, those that ran away from the Tower survive, while those who believe in God and run to the Tower are killed. As a non-religious person, I could probably write pages on all the ideas that popped into my head about religion. It’s simply fascinating. Characters (9/10): Another compelling part of Berserk is the rich characters that make up the story. Guts in particular is especially riveting as he slashes his way through his enemies. After the Eclipse, he cares for no one except Casca and he is a violent, untrusting person. He doesn’t get much development here in the Conviction Arc, but I’m excited to see him grow next season. Puck is my favorite and is the series’ comic relief character along with Isidro. When he isn’t a chestnut head, he usually badgers Guts about being a better person and is a source of morality for Guts early on in his quest for revenge. Unfortunately, most of this material is cut from the anime. Nina is annoying at best, but I think it’s important to realize that she represents the average person and she does what she does to survive. Lastly, Farnese is simply horrid here in this first arc as a devout follower of the Holy See. There is a lot of backstory to her that makes her who she is. Eventually, her faith has been too shaken by her encounters with Guts and malevolence that follows him. I’m excited to see her grow next season as well as her character gets so much better. Griffith’s character is also fascinating as the series’ main antagonist, however, that is a story for another time. Art (4/10) and Sound (8/10): Unfortunately, the animation is terrible. Many have already complained about the awful CGI that makes up the majority of the animation, so I won’t go into too much detail. Towards the end, the quality gets better, though that may be more because I got used to it. I will admit, if the story wasn’t Berserk level quality, this anime would be shit. The sound is better, though the sound Guts’ sword makes is jarring at first. The opening and Hai Yo are amazing. Many manga lovers will complain that the first arc and the Lost Children arc were cut and cry foul. They were cut for reasons we can only speculate on, though I do believe that the graphic depictions of children dying, killing each other, and being brutally raped were a factor in the Lost Children arc being cut. Perhaps I’m just more sensitive to that sort of thing. In any case, this anime was meant to be an adaption of the Conviction Arc with background plot sprinkled into the first few episodes. Should they have marketed the anime to reflect that? Probably. Should people really be so up in arms that it cut material? No. Anime adaptions do that all the time. To be upset about such a thing is ridiculous. It’s like being mad that the Harry Potter screenplays weren’t directly lifted word for word from the book. Enjoyment (8/10) and Overall (8/10): Berserk 2016 is a good story packaged with shitty animation. The main problem many people have with this adaption is the animation and the fact that the manga wasn’t copied panel by panel to match the Berserk anime image most dreamed of. Berserk may not be my favorite manga, but I do understand your pain (I'm a One Piece fan and the anime is killing me slowly). Yes, the animation was bad. Yes, it doesn’t do the manga justice. Yes, the best thing about it is Miura’s story. But is it still a good, entertaining anime and I believe that any fan of action, adventure, or fantasy will end up liking it. And if you’re thirsty for more when you’re done, I would recommend starting at Volume 1, Chapter 1!

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