Berserk

The Internet Hate Train has arrived. ALL ABOARD! WOO WOO!!!!

I put off watching this series for a while because all I had heard was extremely negative! Then my inner contrarian was awakened and I reasoned that the internet anime community also hates a lot of series that I love. Maybe this series isn't so bad? WRONG! I swear this series was produced by the Rapehorse himself!

Background:

The internet anime community only has a couple "sacred cows" where you will get flamed to a crisp if you dare say a negative word about them. One is Legend of the Galactic Heroes and the other is the Berserk ... manga. Many corners of the internet regard it above Watchmen as the greatest graphic novel of all time. 4chan loves Berserk so much that even badmouthing the manga on /pol/ would make people go "WOAH...too far dude! Freedom of speech has limits!" Yet despite the slavish devotion Berserk has online, Japanese producers have always been skeptical and thus rather tight with their money. The original Berserk anime had recycled animation and non-animated splash pages to a degree that was occasionally comical. The soundtrack replayed the same songs over and over. Cool portions of the manga had to be cut out. Yet it was still regarded as a classic and rightfully so. Berserk 2016 on the other hand is outright, indefensible GARBAGE!

Plot and characters:

Berserk 2016 already had a difficult task because the Black Swordsman Arc is... honestly the worst point in the entire manga. It has glimmers of brilliance, but is weighed down by Miura trying to be so dark and edgy it becomes unintentionally hilarious. Examples of this include the infamous rapehorse and a nun warrior burning innocent people alive while fingerblasting herself. The dialogue includes such over the top classics as "Miracles make me wanna PUKE!" Caska comes down with classic soap opera amnesia. Adapting this portion of the manga was always going to be hard, but Berserk 2016 flat out eviscerates Miura's work.

Remember the creepy yet emotionally powerful Rosina Arc that helps introduce us to the new Post-Eclipse Guts? Gone. They cut out the whole thing and gave us some schmuck apostle with no backstory that we have ZERO reason to care about. Remember how morally disgusting Farnese was at first and how big a deal it was that she gradually became good and turned face? The anime version of Farnese blushes at the site of blood and has never killed anyone. Her sadism is implied briefly, but NOTHING like how she was in the manga. The best portion of the entire Black Swordsmen Arc is Miura's impressive ability to actually get the reader to forgive Farnese and want to root for her. The anime fucking ruined it! Characters are watered down, crucial backstory is cut out, and important arcs are entirely skipped. Most baffling of all is that the gore is cut way down from the movies and even the nipples are censored, let alone privates. This is fucking BERSERK! You can cut down some of the pointless squick nudity like the bathhouse chapters with Farnese and Caska. I would actually thank the anime for sparing us the cringe of Schierke’s loli ass shots. However, you can’t simply cut all blood and nudity of Berserk. It is too iconic and integral to the gritty feel of the story. It is true using too much blood and nudity can lead to backlash and unintentional comedy. Look no farther than the internet’s favorite punching bag Elfen Lied. However, going the opposite direction and making a PG-13 Berserk actually robs Berserk of the shock and awe edge that helped Berserk stand out and win over casual fans in the first place.

Art:

HOLY SHIT is the art awful in this series! It uses cell shading CG like Valkyria Chronicles on the early PS3 only the character art is shit and the animation is about 5 frames per second. This means the characters move clunky and unnatural like this was filmed in fucking stop motion. When the skeletons attack it looks exactly like a scene from “Jason and the Argonauts” or “Army of Darkness”. The art in the 2nd and 3rd movies greatly improved from the 1st movie, but the series looks WAY worse than the 1st movie! This art is so bad it simply has to be seen to be believed!

Sound:

Remember how the original Berserk had “Forces” and “Behelit” and other memorable tracks? This soundtrack has none of that! Not to mention the voice actors are almost all amateurs because the producer clearly doesn’t give a shit about this project. The worst of all though is the fucking STUPID sound that occurs every time Guts swings his sword. They go with this metallic BOOONG sound that viewers have described as an empty oil drum being hit with a hammer. This same sound happens no matter what Guts hits with the sword and turns what should be serious scenes into comedy gold. They basically turned Guts into El Kabong! Berserk shouldn’t be making me think of Hanna Barbara cartoons from the 1950s!

Overall:

1 episode of Berserk 2016: This is SHIT, maybe it will get better?
2 episodes of Berserk 2016: I think I’m beginning to lose my sanity!
3 episodes of Berserk 2016: I hear it's amazing when the famous purple stuffed worm in flap-jaw space with the tuning fork does a raw blink on Hara-Kiri Rock. I need scissors! 61!
4 episodes of Berserk 2016: DELETE! DELETE! DELETE! DELETE!

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. Some ... parts 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 writers ... were 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.

Lets discuss things that aren't the animation, which is terrible, but everyone's already said that. Whats more offensive is their handling of the actual material. Even at the ten episode mark, the show has already taken extreme liberties with the stories it does include, and it skips the Lost Children arc entirely. What remains has been butchered beyond recognition, as they rework, reorganize, and repurpose to try and condense volumes of content into handfuls of episodes. Its fair to say that things what work in manga form don't always work in an anime, and therefore to rework some content is not only permissible, but in ... some cases it can be commendable. This, however, is just a hackjob, rushed in an attempt to cash in on the micro-hype generated by the films from a couple of years ago.

Additionally, the sound design is atrocious. Gut's sword sounds like it's hollow, and makes the exact same *KWANG* sound for 90% of the things it collides with. I would not be surprised if there were a dozen stock effects total that they just layered on as approximations.

P.S. The greatest tragedy is the OP, which is beautiful. It's 2D, it's well animated, and even the song is catchy. However, you then go from that, to the 3D abomination of the show. It's like a minute-long tease that shows you what could've been and then asks you to sit through what you actually got.

I do not know why they got a studio known for it's romances and slice-of-life series, but they've fundamentally asked Anne Rice to direct Clint Eastwood.

0/10, "-the manga was better."

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 on ... the 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 a ... sequel 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!

Hey guys....

I dont know why everyone complain about this anime. I love the new animation and grafic. Also the sound of Guts attacks are awsome and the steps of him are like a heavy fighter not like this *small* guy at the start of the anime. So in my opinion everything fits perfect. And on top of all they include nearly all parts of the storry i missed in the "97 anime.

And even if u are not lucky about it.. u dont need to watch the anime. There are a 1000ths of others out there. I am happy they remaked and continued.

Well hater hate...

The negativity from manga enthusiasts is discouraging potential new viewers interested in the anime. Not everyone wishes to delve into the manga guys, so let's refrain from discouraging others from watching this anime or even the 3 movies before this one. As an anime viewer myself, I genuinely appreciate the graphics; there doesn't seem to be any issues here unless you are being extremely picky. Some might be overly critical; in my opinion, the story and animation are fantastic, providing even more excitement than the 1997 version. For those not bound by strict manga preferences, this adaptation is perfectly acceptable and quite enjoyable.

Be careful what you wish for, because you might just receive it.

Fans of the original 1997 series of Berserk, and the manga by extension, could not have imagined how dangerous this desire could be. Diving into the realm of retelling one of the hallmark stories of the entire manga industry, must have seemed foolproof — or, at the very least, risk-adverse. But, alas, even the strongest source material is no match for horrendous 3D animation and mediocre directorial talent. Something is not always superior to nothing, and, in fact, may induce detrimental blemishes on an otherwise fantastic series. Not only does ... this new series mutilate an ongoing classic, but it distorts the perception of Guts to a younger generation of anime viewers. Diminishing the chances of future installments that are faithful to the franchise. That being said, after viewing the abhorrent farrago that is Berserk (2016), I doubt fans will be clamoring for additional adaptations in the near future. Only time can heal the ocular wounds that were inflicted upon viewers while watching this abomination.

A myriad of words come to mind when watching the animation of Berserk (2016); eliminating the numerous profane words, however, leaves us with one encapsulating word: nauseating. Seriously. The camera never stops moving. Constant panning shots make it exceedingly difficult for the viewer to know where they should be focusing their attention. Simple details like depth perception are completely disregarded, as I honestly could not decipher the distance between objects and people on several occasions. Spinning the camera around characters, particularly in the battle scenes, obfuscates characters relative positions on the screen, making it challenging to follow actions and movements. Pausing the episode(s) to relieve symptoms of vertigo, however, leave the viewer with the unholy prospect of staring at the egregious character designs that even Stevie Wonder would find repulsive. Everything about Guts, and the other characters by default, seems so stiff, inflexible, and unyielding. Translating this to battle scenes makes the characters look like rigid action figures that a teenage kid decided to film with his iPhone. Its not a pleasant viewing experience. Let us not forget the superfluous cross-shading implanted on the character’s faces to feign complexity and detail.

Furthermore, the infliction of pain does not carry any verifiable weight. As evidence of this fact, rewatch episode two when Guts is shackled by the Holy Iron Chain Knights and is whipped by Lady Farnese. Immediately after Guts received numerous lashes, he is removed from the tent with no visible wounds. This would imply that during the show’s lengthy hiatus, Guts developed the ability to use a modified version of Wolverine’s healing factor — or, more plausible, the animators were indolent [expletive word implied] who couldn’t be bothered to do their job. Or perhaps they simply forgot. In either case, it portrays an apathetic staff with poor leadership and direction. Speaking of which, why was an anime studio with past credentials of: Teekyuu 5; Usakame; and Wake up, Girls! Shin Shou (there’s a valid reason you haven’t heard of these anime); hired to revive the story of Guts? Surely, some other studio with an aptitude for handling intense action sequences would be more suitable for this kind of work. Of course, this wishful thinking, for all intensive purposes, is a moot point. We are stuck lamenting the appalling state in which Berserk currently finds itself in.

The substandard animation not only contaminates one’s visual acuity, but it corrupts the story itself. Herein lies the problem with adapting a manga from the great Kentarou Miura. The level of detail placed into the character’s expressions, alone, tells a story in and of itself. This, unfortunately, disrupts several key moments, as character expressions do not convey the proper tone. A quick review of the manga will exemplify this statement, and give the viewer a better perspective and appreciation of Berserk the manga. In terms of specific source material that was altered or omitted altogether, there are two arcs, in particular, that have significant differences from the manga: parts of The Black Swordsman Arc, when Guts attains the Behelit and the reader learns about his quest to track down Apostles (we are also introduced to The God Hand — and Griffith by default); and The Lost Children Chapter, which doesn’t necessarily tie into the main story, but highlights how coarse Guts has become since the events of the eclipse. Skipped source material aside, the story that is covered — at least, from my perspective — feels unnecessarily accelerated, making events seem disconnected from each other, as opposed to being part of an interconnected narrative. The anime staff, in my opinion, needs to eliminate ambiguous lapses by slowing the story down to allow events to occur organically, . As it stands, the anime feels like a bullet point presentation of the manga, moving from one section to the next without consideration for fluidity.

As we have established, there seems to be a general misunderstanding from the anime staff regarding the source material and how it should be presented. This, unfortunately, extends into the music selection as well. The opening track has a punk rock vibe that is incompatible with Guts personal plight. We must understand the incomprehensible circumstances of Guts life (from birth to the present moment) and how his anger conceals the tortured soul that resides within. Having a rapid paced, generic sounding opening track neglects the inner turmoil that most of the characters must overcome in their day to day lives. Furthermore, the opening spoils most of the critical elements from The Golden Age Arc, diminishing the prospect of new viewers wanting to go back and watch the original series/movies (although, the movies were quite the gallimaufry themselves).

Recommending this new iteration of Berserk is a sin of the worst kind. Okay, well, there are worse atrocities than watching a horrendous anime, but you understand my point. Rather than allow the proverbial rape horse to confiscate your puerile anime innocence, do yourself a favor: read the manga, and pretend this anime never existed.

Ah Berserk. Yes, the series that fans have been waiting what seems like ages for a new adaptation. Anime adapted from manga isn’t likely going to be perfect and most often times or not, they’re not. Berserk is an interesting case though. The series feels like a bad date that the studio, producers, and director tries to make the best out of. In practice, you should not expect Berserk to be a dream come true. Sure, it’s what fans have been eager for but the tradition of trying to match a series of such high expectations is far from reality. Berserk isn’t a show that’s ... going to change from that.

Adapted from the manga, it’s imperative that fans are familiarized with the franchise. If you plan to watch the series completely fresh, then it’s going to be like a recipe for disaster experience. Taken for granted, the new Berserk is series focuses main protagonist Guts as the Black Swordsman that also serves as a direct sequel of the Golden Age arc.

With that being said, the first episode of the new Berserk series will be painful to get through. Remember that first time when you went to the dentist and had to get a tooth taken out? That’s kind of how it feels like with the impression of the pilot episode. First impressions are important and unfortunately, Berserk dropped the ball. On paper, the animation quality is difficult to get used to. It uses a fusion hybrid between 2D and 3D while the action scenes looks like it’s made from broken cardboards. Mediocre isn’t even a word to describe the effort as the quality falls more into abomination. On the story perspective, the series is a dark fantasy journey featuring Guts. As the Black Swordsman, he is now more of an avenger, seeking vengeance against his former friend Griffith. If you’re unfamiliar with the storytelling about the infamous Eclipse, then you’ll want to revisit a bit of that by either watching the previous season or the final movie of the trilogy. Now on his journey, he is also accompanied by a mysterious elf named Buck and later on gains new allies on the way. While the animation bombed, the story itself is also a mixed bag because by adaptation standards, it sometimes hits the right marks while other times doesn’t. In retrospect, it’s a condensed adaptation with some chapters being followed faithfully while others are reshuffled.

Character dynamics revolves around Guts and his character relationships with the people he comes across with. Some more noticeable ones include Farnese (a leader of the Holy Iron Chain Knights), the ever so cheerful Puck, and runaway thief Isidro. One of the most important relationships from the franchise (if you can remember) was with Casca. However, the new anime downplays that until later on in the story when the two actually meets each other again. In the meantime, Guts’ personality has changed greatly after the nightmarish experience he suffered from events of the Eclipse. He is both angry and also confused at what Griffith has done. Various flashbacks throughout the new season also shows that Guts suffers guilt because of how helpless he was, especially when Casca became a victim of violation. That aside, other characters introduced in the season have some memorable moments such as the courageous Luca. Even the Skull Knight makes a nostalgic appearance but like so many times, he is still a mysterious puzzle. Other characters such as Nina is mostly forgettable and in general, it’s not hard to realize that the characterization is rushed.

As with most dark fantasy stories, expect plenty of violence. Especially for the case of Berserk, we have mature content such as horse rape, body dismemberment, bloody massacres, satanic-like rituals, etc. There’s not much room for humor except for perhaps the occasional comic relief provided by Puck or Isidiro. However, I do give some praise for the show as more episodes progressed. There are even some content that is adapted frame by frame with certain episodes. In keeping tradition of the mature content, some of violence is uncensored. My only pique is the awkward nudity and sex scenes especially with the non-existent nipples on female characters. I guess they had to remove some of that to fit the content to be tolerable for airing on TV. In the meantime, the show follows its tagline pretty well:

“Sleepless nights shall begin”.

And damn right they shall.

Like I mentioned before, it sort of feels like Berserk’s production staff thrown themselves into this project without being fully ready. Early episodes gave us weak impression of the animation quality whether it’s the action scenes or character designs. Luckily, the series does improve a bit more later on as some chapters are even adapted symmetrically frame by frame. In general, it ends up being more of a mixed bag that bounces between trashy to decent for its animation.

On the other hand, the new Berserk really shines when it comes to the music and soundtrack. If there’s anything memorable to take to heart for the first few episodes, it would be the OST. The stellar choreography combined with its instrumental style will make you awe. Character voice mannerism is generally decent with Guts still showing off his manliness and why he lives up to his Black Swordsman nickname.

It’s quite easy to mock the new Berserk at first. The animation looks like it’s a preview of a CGI video game and the storytelling has a rocky start. Yet as time went on, fans can feel somewhat more appreciated by the adaptation. It probably isn’t at a level where we’d expect to every episode to be 1:1 in terms of faithfulness. In a perfect world, maybe. But for Berserk? That’s more of a fantasy. Still, I would give the new Berserk a try. It’s nostalgic enough to give viewers some treat. And plus, who wouldn’t want to see some ass kicking from the Black Swordsman himself?

As you probably know, Berserk is one of the most well-respected and loved manga series off all time, being serialized for over 27 years. With an anime adaptation made in a late 90’s and its three remake movies that came out not too long ago, Berserk’s well-known flashback arc got a complete adaptation, even if it wasn’t the most loyal. But never has Berserk got an adaptation of everything that happens after the events of the Golden Age arc, until recently that is. The 2016 anime adapts its sequel arc, the Conviction arc (albeit skimming its introductory arc and cutting out a filler mini-arc). Though ... it may not be the adaptation fans were hoping, and it sure isn’t getting much praise, I found it hard not to enjoy this adaptation, even with its obvious flaws. Despite the amateurish directing, inconsistent pacing, and some horrid, horrid CGI animations, the anime is able to overcome its flaws with good characterization, great style/tone and some amazing background music. No matter how bad an adaptation Berserk gets, nothing can overshadow Miura’s talentless writing and world-building as long as it’s adapting the manga.

~{Story}~
A popular misbelief amongst newcomers is that the new Berserk anime is an alternate version of the previous adaptations, and that you can watch it without watching the previous ones. That is absolutely false! This adaptation is a sequel to the Golden Age arc so unless if you haven’t watch the 90’s TV series or the three CGI movies, you better watch those first. This is the first time Berserk got an adaptation of what happened after the events of the Eclipse and how Guts’ revenge went. The story of the Conviction arc is about the now “branded” Guts finding the now “vegetable-state” Casca while fighting against a religious cult and a whole lot of Apostles that will hunt Guts down until he’s dead. It’s a nice follow-up to the dark and disturbing end of the Golden Age arc which focuses less on a Guts who wants to find out what he values, and more on the Guts who wants to protect what he values the most. Though the story doesn’t feel as impactful and enjoyable as how it was depicted in the manga due to its directing problems and weird pacing. And the animation quality sure didn’t help either. But due to Miura’s excellent writing in the manga, even a mediocre adaptation can’t cover up the good things Berserk has to offer.
Story: 7/10

~{Presentation}~
Despite the remarks others make about this adaptation, this is actually quite a loyal adaptation of the Conviction arc. Not much of that arc was actually cut out, but pacing was quite uneven. Some episodes adapted more chapters than other making this adaptation somewhat a bumpy ride. But other than that, the anime did the same thing the manga did. There’s one change in the location for the third episode though, but nothing too jarring. However, a mini-arc that takes place prior to the Conviction arc was skipped, although the skipped mini-arc plays no major role in the overall story. And the Black Swordsman arc got skimmed… again! But again, it doesn’t make a big difference. But the biggest problem with this Berserk adaptation is the directing. Despite the fact that the style was just like the manga and the tone is similar to manga (including the lighthearted moments too), the way the anime was presented felt weird to say the least. Due to the lack of proper transitions between scenes, it feels like as if the anime is jumping between scenes, and it makes the overall experience feel jarring. And although the comedic moments are the same as the manga, the tonal shift feels jarring in the anime. But this is a common problem between many manga adaptations where the comedic panels can’t be properly placed in a serious situation without feeling jarring. Also, some of the cinematography in the anime is weird too. The close-ups for the character faces are a little too close up and the camera moves around too much during action scenes, making it a little nauseous. However, whenever the camera follows the Dragonslayer, it’s pretty damn cool.
Presentation: 2/10

~{Character}~
The anime doesn’t waste time on characterization for Guts since it assumes you’ve watched the Golden Age arc (and you should before watching this anime). Guts, who is now branded for restless nights of being hunted, is now bloodthirsty to kill the person who he once considered his first friend and the first person who truly understood Guts. The story of Berserk has always been about Guts and this anime is no exception. Guts is already a well-developed character by the start of the series, however he gets more improvements to his characterization. This anime establishes that Guts is more than a man with a vengeance, but also a man willing to protect the only thing he loves. The other major returning character is Casca, a once strong-willed woman who is now mentally broken and unstable. There’s not much to develop for her character due to her current state, but she’s relevant for the plot. A character that was cut out from the 90’s adaptation makes a debut in this series. Puck, who was originally cut out do to him being a comic relief character, now is in this anime to add a bit of humor and commentary. His character is handled faithfully and his chemistry with Guts is fun. Also, due to a mini-arc that develops on Guts and Puck’s relationship being cut out, the relationship feels a tad weaker compared to the manga. Talking about comic relief characters, and new character named Isidro is introduced and he’s a nice addition to the comic relief. He’s not a complex character or anything (well not until the next arc), but he’s enjoyable and he’s fondness for Guts is adorable in some sense. Two other major characters are introduced, Farnese and Serpico. Farnese is a character who is deeply delusional about her religion and finds herself in stuck between two choices. Serpico on the other hand is more of a man how takes things logically and uses hits wits over his strength during combat. Both characters are nice additions to an already great cast.
Character: 7/10

~{Art}~,
With its CGI animation, it is to be expected that the art will lack a great deal of detailing. Character models are what looks the worst as they’re the ones that are animated using CGI. Outfits look fine, and Guts’ armor looks pretty good, but the character faces looks bad. Due to the lack of detailing, character expressions look plain, unexpressive, and downright weird at times. And the anime using hatching as shading (lines) and it works well when in manga format, but it’s distracting in anime format. The studio thought that hatching can add some volume to their bland character models, but unfortunately it looks worse. Most of the backgrounds are 2D instead of 3D and the contrast of quality is visible. Many of the backgrounds are quite pretty, especially the insides of buildings. The lighting is also quite good, but some shadows can look a little weird. Sometimes 2D art is used for characters for tiny moments to add a greater affect and these moments look quite good. If only the entire series had that art quality.
Art: 3/10

~{Animation}~
Some studios tend to use CGI to makes sequences looks smoother and more fluid, in sacrifice for art quality. The new Berserk anime sacrificed its art quality, while managing to make their CGI choppier than imaginable. The lack of smoothness isn’t entirely bad during normal scenes, but during action-scenes (which is most of the series), it ends up being headache-inducing. But it’s not just the choppiness that’s the issue, but also the cinematography too. Too many zoom-ins make it hard to see what’s actually going on and the camera movies to much during action sequences. There are “still-shot” moments where only some things are animated, while somethings are not, and these moments can look quite distracting. For example, in episode 2’s first fight, after Guts cuts down countless knights in one strike, many of the surviving knights looks at Guts in shock. During this moments, none of the knights are actually animated and are still and the same goes for Guts too, yet the wind is still blowing Guts’ cape and it just looks really weird. Whenever the 2D moments happen, they aren’t really animated much, except for their lips moving while they’re talking and that’s it. And the 2D backgrounds too can also look quite static.
Animation: 3/10

~{Voice Acting}~
Many of the seiyuu from the Golden Age movie trilogy lend their voices in this anime. Iwanaga Hiroaki returns back to voice Guts and he’s just as good as he was in the movies. His voice is quite similar to Ono Daisuke’s, but he can add the coarse feel of Guts. And he’s able to make Guts sound super badass too! Yukinari Toa returns to voice Casca, and even though her character doesn’t have much to speak, he does a good job in what she has to do. And Sakurai Takahiro (who seems to be everywhere recently) returns to do Griffith and does a great job… but too bad you’ll only get to hear him say a couple of lines. Hikasa Yoko does a great job as the religious and somewhat weird Farnese and Okitsu Kazuyuki does a very good job as Serpico and his sarcastic tone works well with his character. Mizuhara Kaoru makes Puck sound exactly as I how imagined it to be and Shimono Hiro, though sounding too old for his character, does his best as Isidro.
Voice Acting: 7/10

~{Music}~
The best thing about the previous Berserk adaptations were its music and this anime is no exception. As a matter of a fact, it’s not farfetched to say that this adaptation has the best background music when compared to the previous adaptations. The OP, “Inferno”, is pretty good and catchy and it matches with the new tone of Berserk. The lyrics in general are quite good. The ED, “Meimoku no Kanata”, is a great song with great vocals, but it doesn’t completely suit Berserk and something else, something more depressing would’ve been better. But the adaptation’s biggest strength it its background music and insert songs. First of all, Hirasawa’s new song for Berserk, “Hai Yo” is fantastic. I personally believe that its better than “Sign” and “Aria”, and it’s on the same caliber as “Forces”. It’s used quite a lot, but it never gets boring. Then we have Hirasawa’s second insert song “Ash Crow”, which is only used once, but it’s great and it works well (Note: Hirasawa’s newly released album features the two insert songs, a really dope mix of “Forces” and some other well-known Berserk songs. Be sure to check that out). A lot of the background music are remixes of the movie trilogy’s OST. The “Blood & Guts”, “My Brother”, and “Griffith's Dream” are fantastic and some of the techno music in the series only adds to action.
Music: 8.5/10

~{Enjoyment}~
This may have not been the adaptation people were hoping to see, but even with such a mediocre adaptation, quite a lot of enjoyment was found to be seen. Even though a mini-arc skipped, what was adapted was adapted well. Some messy directing and haphazard pacing ruins the experience. And the CGI animation quality looks pretty bad most of the time. Miura’s original writing still shines through these issues and the music just makes things better. It’s nice to have more of Hirasawa’s music and those Golden Age OST remixes are great. And when the 2D style is used, it looks nice. But only in a perfect world many we ever get the Berserk adaptation we wished for.
Enjoyment: 4/10

In the end, this new Berserk adaptation is only recommended for those who can withstand the mediocre art and animations and inconsistent directing. As an adaptation of the Conviction arc, it was quite loyal despite its weird pacing and lack of proper transitioning between scenes. The new characters that are introduced are handled well and the voice acting is great too. And even if you get nothing out of this adaptation, you still have Hirasawa’s godly insert songs and great Golden Age OST remixes to listen to while Guts cuts down countless men and supernatural creatures. And unlike most people, I can’t wait to see the next arc adapted next spring!

+ A loyal adaptation of the Conviction arc with no important moments being skipped.
+ Both the returning and new characters are great and well-handled.
+ Berserk’s tone, style, and (new) comedic relief is handled well.
+ Great remixes of older Berserk OSTs and Hirasawa’s two insert songs are fantastic.
- Amateurish directing at some points and inconsistent pacing ruins the experience
- Lackluster CGI animations, which feels even more jarring when contrasted with its 2D backgrounds.

Overall: 5.3/10

Before I begin, I would like to allow the readers some comfort in knowing that although I shall include my personal thoughts, I'll primarily be typing in an objective way of which will in fact differ with that of my thoughts at times. Also I'll not be lowering or raising my opinions on trivial matters such as the old series or the manga, as that is a comparison and not a proper judgement to this work as itself.
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And now, to dive right in I’ll start with the story. For someone with no former knowledge of the series, it will most undoubtedly be confusing at times, ... especially for questions specifically regarding individual characters. Your first thoughts must be something along the lines of “so you’re telling me the plot / character development is slow if not bad, right?”, however, you could look at it in a lighter sense where things are gradually being fleshed out for you rather than put on a platter since most questions will be answered at one point or another. And all those who’ve Berserk knowledge already should find the pacing is fairly well as there isn’t much for pointless content, most episodes seem fairly consistent in tossing a plethora of both action and plot progression. Though it is somewhat hasty, I personally find that any less would be too slow and any more would be too flashy. It seems to get straight toward the point. And so, for a solid and consistent story covering many things gradually while still keeping you wanting to find out more, personally I would like to give it a 9/10 but alas I have to say 8/10. I talk a little about where the first episode started in the final paragraph.
STORY 8/10
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The part most people probably are curious to see as it is under such heavy debate, the artwork. Now, I’m just going to say that having an anime made in CG isn’t on its own a bad thing, but it really depends on the specific series. There are some where they just look terrible, and yet others use CG effectively such as Berserk 2016. Even if you are one of those who dislike CG, for the potential of CG all in all it at least is better than other works. Personally I find this series to be better with CG but for a few reasons, such as: The medieval theme really pushes the use of CG compared to other themes because the scenery/weapons/armors/etc. all have a more serious look and feel to them, imo at least. Another thing is that the manga is drawn inexpressively well, and although this art style lacks the immaculate detail the manga has, it still yields very crisp lines, smooth motion which is most prominent in gracious looking battle sequences, vibrant colors especially during effects. Now, you may disagree with my opinion and points all you want but at least have a valid reason to prefer 2D over 3D art styles other than the repeated “It has no detail” or “It looks absolutely ugly” because trust me, there are probably hundreds of shows that look worse. I won’t only compliment it though, there are moments where it doesn’t quite look right and the most noticeable con to this is some of the characters faces. Do note also, that there are times throughout this series where they immerse themselves between 2D and 3D to emphasize certain moments. I personally have no reason to dislike an art style so I would probably have rated it higher, but I understand some people cannot simply sit for that, and that is perfectly fine.
ART STYLE 7/10
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The audio in this season is absolutely fantastic, and that’s coming from a soundtrack enthusiast. The music tracks are all fairly epic and usually play out at the perfect times, such as the suspenseful tunes when things get dangerous, can really send a chill down your back. Or the amazing “Hai yo” track used during battles or important events really gets the fire burning and pulls you into the moment.
The sound effects are phenomenal as well, with each swing of a weapon, foot step, movements, etc. all have sounds and they are indeed a welcome piece to the show. They at times sound out of place but I’d say they generally have spot on sounds, and so I cannot complain.
The voice acting is very sound too, they did a good job for their parts and really added that Berserk feel if you know what I mean. The voices actually make sense and sound as they should, when situations are raised and tension increases the voices do not falter.
Personally, I find that the sounds/music can make or break a scene in an anime, and so if you are like that I think it will be a great watch for you during those moments.
SOUND 9/10
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The characters are fantastic but as the story would have it, in this season we aren’t gifted with much if any back story or in depth character development. Sure we know a few things but we aren’t given too much information, this applies to basically all characters. It simplifies these characters quite a lot, which some may prefer and others may find offense toward. For Guts his action scenes are a spectacle and his attitude adds to the moments quite nicely. I find his character to be enjoyable and giving you the sense of wanting more. The other characters are fleshed out in certain scenes which is a relief, and it helps to show that though they’re simplified, you can still get a feel for some of them. For those old time Berserk fans, the dialogue might be off throughout the episodes but it should still be somewhat good to say the least. And though you may be used to more in depth character plot and development from the franchise, if you dislike that aspect it is fully understandable. Change isn’t always something people want.
CHARACTER 9/10
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Now, I’m not the kind of person to give a perfect score but in this case a 10 for enjoyment means it had an effect or impression left upon me. Granted you might not enjoy it or you may but with different opinions to that of my own, but either way I hope these words managed to help you decide whether or not it’s something for you. Personally, I very much so enjoyed this series and I hope the same can apply to you all.
P.S – For those who just think it is bad because there is CG, and or only think the good looking moments are the 2D scenes, let me just ask you this: “Are you really serving justice to the franchise your fandom is so loyal toward? Sure it isn’t 2D, but it can’t look wholly bad can it?” Just one more thing too, for those disappointed on where episode 1 starts, since the second season is going to air in 2017 according to the end of episode 12, sure it doesn’t transition very well but it still picked a starting point to carry on from. The moment a new series aired so many years later, you shouldn’t have expected it to transition nicely or you were really just setting yourself up for disappointment. People would hope for it but you would still know it’s probably unlikely. This section isn’t a rant, just my final attempt to hopefully make long time Berserk fans enjoy this series a little more rather than being upset, after all it’s been ages since new TV content, we shouldn’t accept what we don’t like but at least see it out to the end.
ENJOYMENT 10/10
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Thank you, and if anyone took offense to this than I apologise.
OVERALL 8.6/10 so rounded up to -> 9/10

"That anime was too bad to be called Berserk. Too rough, too crappy, too cgi and far too choppy. It was more like a large piece of shit."

So, the new adaptation of Berserk is finally here, everyone was excited, and even if the pv's already were pretty bad and we knew it was going to look ugly, atleast we could expect the story to be presented and the anime to be enjoyable. Was that the case? Oh boy....

Story: 3
The promise here was that we would finally see the Black Swordsman arc animated, finally the story would move on from the Golden Age. Instead what we ... get was a 1st episode that managed to skip 6 volumes from the manga, both Black Swordsman and Lost Children arcs, and moved right into the Conviction arc and even then, they rushed it like hell to fit the arc in 12 episodes. This, apart from not being what was promised, was done in a terrible way. Someone that has only seen the 1997 anime and expects this to be a direct continuation, which it should have been, will be completely lost. They do a terrible job of mixing things from the arcs they skiped, and give no form of conection to the former series so viewers not familiar with the manga can follow. It is safe to say this adaptation is a flop.

Art: 2
Cgi in a budget tv series will never look good, and it looks even worse when it's done by people who have no experience in it. The characters look dull and lifeless, the movement looks janky, backgrounds are terrible and everything just feels like no effort was put into it. Another big problem here is the overall direction of the shots, always jumping from scene to scene like some kid with ADHD together with a terrible use of camera movement makes percieving what is happening in moments with alot of action almost impossible. The amount of zoom in's used is so often that at some points it feels like the characters will hit pop out of the screen or something. I think the biggest problem here was with the director which his bigger works are a sports/comedy short series with frantic animation and camera movements. It might work for something like that, it does not work with a show like this.

Sound: 5
I liked the voice acting in this show, in some characters it doesn't fit, but for the most part i think they are fine. Some of the music are good, mostly tracks they used from the movie trilogy and a great track from Susumu Hirasawa. However the rest of the bgm used is very forgetable and generic. The issue here is how they were used, jumping from scene to scene, ending abruptly and sometimes not fitting the moment they are placed, this again a problem from the way the director did things. Opening and ending themes were alright, i don't think they fit but they weren't terrible. My biggest problem was the sound effects, they ranged from bad to worse and the biggest offender was the memetastic CLANG you hear everytime Guts hits something with this sword. And yes the sound is always the same, no matter what is being hit.

Character: 4
Well then when you cut so much from the story, you are obviously cutting character development as well. The biggest offender of this is the relation between Guts and Puck. It feels unnatural and forced how they in one episode don't get along and in the next they are best buds. Overral, some characters do behave how they should, but with the skiping and rushing of content it doesn't feel natural.

Enjoyment: 1
I didn't enjoy this one bit, being a huge fan of the manga this felt like a bad joke. What really makes me pissed is that this kills any potential for a good adaptation in the future, well atleast until the manga finishes and who know when that day will come.

Overall: 3
It's bad, there is no other way to put it. It's an insult to the source material, and it baffles me how something as big and well renowned as Berserk can't get a good project from some talented team who really cares about it. Well, then again Miura also doesn't care too much about an anime adaptation, as long as he puts his all to make the manga the best he can and Idolmaster exists he is chillin.

People died in the 19 years waiting for a new anime and this is what we got.

Finally we get another Berserk anime adaption, we can't help but expect highly. Of course it's fine to expect high but for your own good, put those expectations away and listen to what I have to say.

This season of Berserk brings us a totally different animation, camera angles and sound effects. I will explain these 3 in detail below.

ANIMATION:
This time CG is used for the entire anime. Not like the movies, this is done in just CG with it's own unique style. This unique style isn't interesting to be honest, it's just how the characters were adapted by the studio. The character always have ... faded lines on them. The reason why they put them there I don't know. In any case the CG can get very bad, this also makes it difficult for us to get into and actually concentrate.

CAMERA ANGLES:
This is important for any anime to succeed, having a great camera movement and positioning. Unfortunately this anime didn't have neither. It was very messy, this leaves the audience confused at times because the camera angles doesn't follow the rules. This is no doubt the biggest flaw.

SOUND:
op&ed - The opening is bait, it's very catchy but the anime doesn't live up to what the op shows us.
sound effects - Right now get two saucepans and clash them againts eachother and get used to the sound. That sound is a very similar to the sound effect of Guts sword. I personally like it so i'm not complaining but there is a lot of criticism about this. If's not metal then there isn't much to discuss.
sound tracks - Very good tracks that work well for this anime. Sometimes the tracks are used wrongly but overall the soundtracks play the most important part.

Those features in Berserk (2016) is what made it unsuccessful. ^

CONTENT:
Arcs skipped - 2
Filler amount - almost a whole episode
Story - interesting and fun at the same time. Not great progress but good development.

CONCLUSION:
It's disappointing, but you shouldn't lose hope in the modern Berserk. It improves but not enough to prevent users dropping it. It's your decision on what your going to do but remember that this might be the last Berserk series we going to get. You could always wait and wait for a doubtful better adaption.


STATS:

(6 weeks ago)
Members:106,012
Users scored: 43,559
Rating: 6.76

(Current)
Members:110,603 (4,591+)
Users scored: 46,412 (2,853+)
Rating: 6.77 (0.01+)

EDIT: 6/6/17 21:10 PM
Episodes watched: 12
Modified by Jeikobu11

Not only a bad adaptation of Berserk, but a horrible anime overall. Can only recommend this piece of shit to people without taste, they seem to like it.

Story - 4\10. And those 4 points exist only because i'ts an adaptation of Kentaro Miura's Magnum Opus and has some ok'ish points. But's it's so butchered - it's impossible to give it even one more point. ALL character development was cut in favour of 360 MEGA SUPER PRO ACTION, which i will talk later.

Art - 1\10. It's so pathetic i don't know, if i want to talk about ... it. Neither the director, nor the animtors themselves know, what the hell they were doing. It seems, like they just looked up word "art" and "action" on wikipedia and tried to make a show out of that. Needless to say - they failed to deliver. Absolutelly horrendous animation, unbearable 3d models of literally everything and shitty shadows do it's best to make you puke.
Oh, and i forgot about the "best" part - every damn fight (which is about 90% of this adaptation) is 360 NOSCOPE shot from the blade of Gut's sword Dragonslayer. + terrible montage makes it impossible to even witness those fights. They are literally cut out for faster pacing. For example: A guy throws a large stone on the group of heroes. It would be safe to assume, that we'll be shown, how they avoid it. ANd in this show they simply skip next 5 seconds to the point, where said stone destroyed a wall. It feels like someone developed King Crimson for "reasons".

Sound - 4\10. Just like with the story, those 4 points only exist because of a treasure, that is Susumu Hirasawa. And imagine what? They destroyed even his music with this terrible show. Don't get me wrong, his ONLY song, which plays in almost every fight scene in great, but it just doesn't fit in with marionettes efortless fights. Like i mentioned, Hirasawa only made one track for this new anime, and oh boy the studio loved it. A bit too much, to say the least. They used it everywhere they could, and where they couldn't - they used their own shitty metal, which desn't seem to fit either.
Every damn scene in this abomination has some sort of a theme. There are literally no quiet moments, no suspence, no thrill. It's just afraid of being "empty", being a full trashcan in result.
And don't forget *CLANG* of Dragonslayer. It cut's metal - CLANG, people - CLANG, monsters - CLANG, ghosts - CLANG and so on. It's the only noise it makes. Why? Is it really THAT hard to record any other suound?

Character - 3/10. Like i said in the "Story" part - there is no character development. They skipped all of them just to get more of that "action".
Hell, i can't enjoy Gut's being badass, because his 3d-model looks like a fucking banana. And there is no reason for him doing, what he does. Why does he want to save Casca? "WHO CARES? LET'S GET MORE 360-SHOTS!" Why does he reject religion in any way, makes fun of it? "BLAH-BLAH-BLAH!"

Enjoyment - 1\10. Do i really need to say why it's so low? So yeah, i was about to rear my hair and rip my own eyes out.

Overall - 2\10. You can say, that even with such horrendous art and butchered story it should be like 1-2 points higher. Perhaps, but i don't want to encourage makers of this shit any more, than i should. I don't know how things really are, but i think the director was the biggest reason it sucks so much. There is no sence of direction, over 12 episodes you have no idea, where this is going and why. They tried their hardest to fail. They REALLLY tried to fail and on that - it delivers. GOOD JOB ON FUCKING THINGS UP!

I am sorry for my harsh language and kind of avarage english. I hope you understood, what i tried to say and why i said, what i did. Please don't give this piece of shit any praise just because it's an adaptaion of Berserk. By this you are just spitting on potential quality.

When I started watching this show (TV series in 2016/09/5) watching 1 episode I was stunned.... why this 3D art is so bad, why they did not leave movie 1,2,3 Art (movie art was amazing for me).
So when I finished tv series my raitings was

Story 5/10- I did not like the fact that they released a whole year of events, and the story turned into a non target slasher, almost no drama just fight and fight, it looked like a game where you fight with boss helpers and after them respawn boss and you kill him and find out the location for the next boss- ... 50/50 it means first 6 episodes I dislike and last 6 episodes I liked.

Art 4/10- I have seen nothing worse about this, the feeling that I was watching the puppet show and if honestly didn't liked art completely missed.

Sound 8/10 - the only honest thing that kept me with this at all times it was sound & music there's really a ''hat off'' the most that remained from sound in memory was Gut's sword when he hit with him and music when guts appear somewhere in ready for action- I very liked.

Character 8/10 Guts stays unchanged, but his friends for them ,+/- they have been told a bit about what they were in the past, if you follow carefully everything you can learn a bit about each one.

Enjoyment 8/10 despite art I was only interested in the whole story and so every time when new episode comes out I immedialty watch it.

Overall 7/10- not more than 7 he has not earned.

But from now 2018/02/16 I started rewatching again but BD version (Blu-ray)

Everything is same except Art 6/10- short and specific, censorship was removed, something has a changed hairstyle, a couple of characters have a face upgraded for the best part and more shading.

Before this anime was out a lot of fools were defending it as amazing because of nostalgia, even though the trailer was nothing but bad CGI and the material it was adapting was nowhere as good as the one from the 90s. Boy, did they regretted being positive about it.

The 90s Berserk is the best dark fantasy anime of all times. The 2016 version on the other hand is yet another dark and edgy mediocrity with cancer CGI, awful directing, and terrible sound composition. You cannot watch 5 minutes without spotting a lazily made scene with bizarre camera angles and effortless lipsync. When Guts hits ... something, it makes a ridiculous metallic sound even when what he hits is not made of metal. And when he cuts someone in half, it looks like a plastic toy because the CGI is rendered cheaply. Berserk, the once best animated dark fantasy series of all times, degraded from a psychological drama to a horribly animated mindless gorefest. I mean, it always had splatter and violence, but at least the Golden Age arc was very focused on the relationship of the main trio. Each one of them had a completely different mindset which elevated the 90s anime to an exceptional character study. You could say it was edge done right.

The problem is, as soon as the Eclipse was over the story lost most of its appeal. Not only because the new anime is all in CGI and has terrible directing. It suffers from the exact same problem as the manga, which doesn’t look like shit. The character dynamics are gone, Griffith degrades to a heartless demon, Guts degrades to slaying mostly monsters instead of people which doesn’t have the same impact, and Caska degrades from a strong willed woman to a damsel in distress with the brain of a vegetable. Also, the newer cast is nowhere near as interesting. They are comic reliefs or background characters who are there just for the heck of it. Guts is the one doing all the work, he is so powerful compared to them that he doesn’t really need them. Yes, later on they help him not to be taken over by evil, it’s still doesn’t take away the issue of them being nothing more than support for the main character instead of having their own strong dynamics.

I also got tired of seeing Guts doing nothing but running after Griffith, as if I’m watching Naruto and Sasuke all over again. I was very patient with it, assuming all the shit that were happening in all these arcs is some sort of a buildup. They are not, the only thing that changes is Guts getting bigger swords and better equipment, stuff that do not count as character development. He just mutated from a man who can’t settle down to a mindless killing machine that wants nothing but revenge. How is that remotely interesting? The story is going nowhere for decades, it goes in circles as if I am watching Inuyasha all over again. The fact that Miura was more interested in playing Idolmaster than finishing the story was just salt on an open wound. He dragged the plot indefinitely so he can milk it with subpar videogame adaptations and then passed away after changing Berserk from an amazing dark fantasy with memorable characters into another edgelord throwaway series. What’s with this demonic invasion bullshit? It made things convoluted and took away the tragedy of death, since now it’s mostly about Guts butchering monsters. You don’t care about monsters, they are 1 dimensional spawns of evil. It’s still a fine spectacle if all you care about is goreporn, but it’s nowhere near as good as it was, and the CGI makes it unwatchable.

After many years we've got a sequel to the great Berserk, this time about Guts as the Black Swordsman, which we've only had a glimpse in the first and last episode of the first anime.

Lots of people are angry with the 3D cell shading animation, but I don't see it as a problem, it as a dark feel to it, which goes well with the themes of the story. The things we can point as negative is that it's a different kind of
animation from the original, but that one as been released 20 years ago.
It also as a low frame rate, which makes ... things less fluid.

About the character design, Guts and the rest of the Taka no Dan are as they
should be, slightly older, we can't forget that this one takes place a couple
of years after the original. Griffith design however seems to different unfortunately.

Enough talking about the controversial visual part, let's get to the part that most matters, the story.

Guts is in his search for his beloved Casca and for the Apostles, which will lead him to a land where the church as lots of influence. Casca as lost her mind in the depths of hell, the same time Guts as been marked to be chasen by demons for the rest of his life.

The story that follows will have several interesting subjects, the Inquisition, thrust an betrayal, the doubts of the Church Knights' Captain about religion and her inner sado-masochist side. We also have lots of violence, due to Guts' fights with the soldiers and the demons and the tortures of the inquisition.

Isidoro and a group of hookers, whose leader Luca have been taking care of Casca, also make their appearance and will accompany Guts, bringing a few interesting stories with them. There is also Puck... a fairy that tries to bring a bit of comedy, it's a meaningless addition.

So we get a interesting story, but it's pace it's kind of slow, we could get it all compressed to 4 or 5 episodes without losing much, as it loses a bit of time setting the mood and with some of the hookers side stories.

Overall, it's worth watching, but is not as good a the 1997 one, without Griffith and all those conspiracies for power and amazing battles between armies, it couldn't be the same thing.
Although it ends with a bang, what might make things more interesting next season.

I give a 7, while the 1997 I gave a 9.

Berserk has a very passionate fan base. When Berserk 2016 was announced the majority of Berserk's followers were caught by surprise. This is the first time in 19 years we were getting a new anime adaptation, and to top it off, the story was finally going to progress past the Golden Age Arc. Sadly, excitement and eagerness gradually began to form into something different, anxiety and doubt. The question of whether it would be animated in 2D or 3D, where the story will pick up, and if it would faithfully follow the source material. As more information was released our doubts came to fruition. From ... the first PV we realized that the animation would be an odd mixture of 2D and 3D animation, which isn't something new to us, as the Golden Age Trilogy movies used the same animating technique. The problem was that it looked stiff, lacked fluidity, and overall looked sub par. As an addition, we later learned that nearly the entirety of the Black Swordsman Arc and the Lost Children chapters, which were part of the Conviction Arc were to be skipped. Expectations were at an all-time low.

The general quality of the show started at rock bottom, but as the season progressed it gradually began to improve itself. It is obvious that the directors were listening to fan suggestions and were actively working to show results. The first episode of Berserk was quickly condensed into an amalgamation of the Black Swordsman Arc, and parts of the Conviction Arc, which made for very awkward pacing. Characters were introduced that wouldn't be shown for many volumes later in the manga, massive character development was cut, and a few notable moments from the cut material were sloppily crammed in to try and kick start the story. This set the first few episodes up for a rough start, which took until around after episode 3 to get back on a more steady path. The dark atmosphere and overall feeling of dread that Berserk is so well known for is generally poorly portrayed. Many aspects go into this, the soundtrack being one of the largest and most notable reasons. Critical lines of dialogue were also removed, but putting the cut content aside, the main substance of the story was very faithfully adapted. So in terms of story you're getting the expected quality of Berserk.

Unfortunately, the cut content leaves close to no character development. The Black Swordsman Arc and early Conviction Arc is very important in coming to understand Guts' character. The exclusion of Jill was a massive hit to the character development, as she was arguably one of the first main causes of Guts' transition from an embodiment of rage and revenge to a more caring and compassionate character. In fact, almost all of the characters are stripped to only the very core of their personalities. You're only given the surface of these characters and what makes them so important. I feel that the character that suffers most from the lack of general explanation is Skull Knight. If you haven't seen the Golden Age Trilogy or read the manga you may have absolutely no idea who he is, why he is there, and what his goal is. However, this can only subtract from the story so much, as every character in Berserk is absolutely amazing, even if you aren't getting all of the characterization and development that they are originally given. A slight nitpick I have is that Guts looks much more slim and generally less menacing (and much less handsome) than he does in other adaptations. I did genuinely love Puck, though. He's a great source of comedic relief and I almost feel like being animated does him much more justice than being in a still panel.

3D animation is seemingly becoming more widespread in anime as a medium as time passes, as it is an efficient way to save money. Though the animation in Berserk 2016 is low effort, crude, and generally visually displeasing. It's even difficult to convey emotion in the characters faces when the animation is so stiff and awkward. Most of the time they almost have a completely blank expression, like a doll. It took a very long time for me to get used to the animation, and even then I couldn't help but be bamboozled by some of the more wonky looking scenes. I particularly think the shading is awful, it sticks out like a sore thumb on top of the 3D models. Speaking of models, they are reused over and over and over again throughout the course of 12 episodes. It's nearly impossible to go through the series without seeing a character that looks identical to one you saw an episode ago, or maybe even a few scenes ago. There are some points where you can spot the same model several times in one frame. Something that may have gone over many people's heads if you weren't observant enough is that the models sometimes even clip into each other in some scenes, which is unforgivable. The cinematography is also something that works against the directors intent. With CG animation, camera angles that wouldn't usually be possible become possible. This is something that should be used as an advantage, but ends up being distracting and unnecessary. The use of slanted and spinning camera angles are severely overused. The moments where the animation transitions from 3D to hand drawn are some of the best and most memorable moments of the show, sadly, this also leaves you wishing that the entirety of the show was hand drawn.

The sound design is one of the more faulty aspects of Berserk 2016. For people that actively followed the show during it's air time, you almost definitely ran into the infamous "CLANG" sound effect somewhere outside of anime itself. The sound design was definitely at it's worst in the earlier episodes, from the complete overuse of music in general, to overly compressed sounds effects. The OST takes more away from the quality of the show than it gives. Most of the OST doesn't really fit Berserk at all, it just gives off the feeling that Berserk is nothing more than a silly action series. Music is also played at very awkward times, and may not even fit the tone of the scene being portrayed. This doesn't mean that the entirety of the soundtrack is bad, though. The new remixed version of "Hai Yo" by Susumu Hirasawa is very good (but slightly overused), and I particularly liked the remixed version of "My Brother" from the Golden Age Trilogy. Surprisingly the voice acting is very good, considering some of the seiyuu's have a relatively blank slate.

Berserk 2016 definitely has massive flaws. It's very hard to re-create something as beloved as Berserk and satisfy the expectations of every fan, but sometimes I thought to myself, "Are they even trying?" or, "If only a studio with a larger budget or a better sense of direction could have picked this up." Regardless, as someone who loves Berserk nearly more than any other series in the anime and manga medium, and has waited through the painfully long hiatuses between new releases, I can't help enjoying it. It was almost like a love-hate relationship, many times I wanted to drop the show because I couldn't stand to see the less than mediocre treatment it was getting, but I couldn't keep myself from watching the next new episode every time it aired. What I'm most concerned about is people that are new to the Berserk series. Is the quality of Berserk 2016 turning off new fans that haven't read the source material? I certainly hope not. If you haven't already done so, please do yourself a favor and go read the manga. Even if you aren't a fan of reading manga, if you're just a tiny bit interested in Berserk it's definitely worth your time to go and check it out. Hopefully you will enjoy it just as much as I do.

Ok, I can't say for sure it this anime is remake or what, but I admit, I didn't yet watched the older version, so FYI my review is only for this version, I might make some error in my judgement , so just bear with me, so my ratings for this anime:

Storywise, I'd say that it was outstanding, now I don't care what others think about this anime, for for me it's an outstanding. The story plot isn't your typical something taken out from some MMORPG genre, it all focuses on man very sin of hatred and lies, where it was combine in a form ... of a dark action , horror and fantasy. Here the church is the antagonist and the only goods guys is an antihero who goes by the name of Guts. It was also not a typical good versus evil but a kind of bad versus evil, so in my book , it's a 10.

Art, ok, the art was bad, but I can forgive it, but what I don't like was Puck being naked, now what the puck (and I do mean "PucK") was the original creator MIura Kentaro think of adding an image of child porn in the form of "Puck?"Geeeez, ok so the fanservice was tone downed so no nipples and hairy pussies to seen from Luca, Farness, Casca and Nina, ok it's understandable, and no dick fanservice from Griffith either (can I say that?) , but still even if Pucks nakedness was tone down it really doesn't look right in this anime, cu'z she or he epitomize every pedophile's dream. So , poor 3 for this part.

Sound, it's good especially when the soundtrack fit's well with the anime's genre. Also every character's voice did matched up very well. Though I may have give this category a good 7....Casca's lines were a bit annoying , since all she does was moan, in a grandma's tone, EEEEEEEEEEHHHHHHHHH!!!!

Character, I may have give it a good 7 , but unfortunately, it would be fair for me to say anything else since they're the same character from the first anime, so jut let it be a 7. sinc ethere is the 2nd season to go for it.

Enjoyment, well it was great , IMO, and I'm looking forward for the 2nd season, it was really worthwhile watching it , there isn't an episode that one would find it boring. So in its overall it's a great 9, and I have nothing more to say.

Guts OUT!