Berserk

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

Compared to the original berserk in 1997 this feels like a completely different show all together. The story is gold, the main character is badass but the delivery and animation of this new series is so painful it makes me go back and watch the opening of the old show then plunge into depression because its never gonna be as good!

The music is repetitive and they have some kind of theme tune going for god hand that sounds like it should be in an Adam west batman episode. The characters have become annoying and they seem to be forcing humour into some places which doesn't ... fit the shows original theme at all. All the sense of impending doom and threat is gone in my opinion and I've realllllllly tried to watch it for just the story alone but keep failing and going to something else.

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

This is my third effort to complete this review. I have never written a preview for an unfinished anime/manga before, neither for one I dropped. I didn't see the point. Also, I didn't like the idea of judging a work that I had not experienced as a whole. I pushed myself to finish the ~750 pages of Red Storm Rising (don't read it) just to be “able” to review it.

After watching the first episode of the new Berserk I simply had to write something. I retouched this review after watching the first four episodes, as I was ... disappointed that things didn't move towards the right direction. After I finished the series, I thought it was worthwhile to visit the review a third time.

I love Berserk. The anime adaptation was reason I abandoned my initial hesitation and started reading manga. Berserk is a genre on its own. And even though the anime is a 1997 work, I still recommend it to my friends. I didn't watch the 2012 movies because of the horrid CGI in the PVs, meaning I was really not prepared when I started this.

It was... well in a single word: Unacceptable. Please don't disregard this comment because I am a CGI hater. Every aspect of it was unacceptable. OK the CGI was horrible,but not only that, the direction reminded me of old console RPGs, those that you didn't get a good sense of the action. Finally, never in my life, I commented about neither music in movies/TV etc nor about seiyus, I probably have a thick and/or untrained ear, but that episode astonished me because I found that everything in the audio department was appalling.

The anime covers the second act of the Berserk story, following the excellent “Golden Age” arc. While this act is not as good as the first, it still remains a masterpiece.

During the first four episodes you get glimpses of the beauty that is Berserk. Unfortunately you have ugly CGI, poor direction -full of strangely rotating angles and trite shots- and irrelevant sound. All of the above makes watching the anime unbearable.

I cannot understand how such a popular source material was given to such an amateurish studio. If you are new to Berserk, you can read the manga. This product does not even come close to replicating the beautiful panels of the original work. If you don't do manga, watch the 1997 anime. It's awesome. On your own risk, you can try this anime if you want to get acquainted with the world of Berserk; if you don't get a headache from the camera work maybe you will enjoy it, or at least whet the appetite for more. I know it made me want to read the manga all over again from the beginning.

While the production values are worth less than 0, underneath looms one of the best stories in any medium. 4.0/10.

(This review has been adapted from my blog/reddit thread. Spoilers ahead!)

Berserk (2016) (or just Berserk for short) has this “soup” that one of the characters tries to eat. A soup filled with sludge, unidentifiable remnants, and a finger or two.

It looked downright nasty; just thinking about it makes me want to puke. It reminds me of the cough medicine my mother used to give me when I was kid. She would fill the cap with the purple, foul-smelling liquid, hoping that I would down the grape-flavored concoction.

I hated the taste. To the point that I would put the medicine in my mouth, shake my head ... at her, and spit it all back out into her cupped hands. Unsurprisingly, I got sick quite a lot.

Berserk does not provide a cure for anything, and it doesn’t exactly “taste” horrible. But it certainly is not the easiest anime to digest – in more ways than one.

STORY

Berserk follows Guts, the infamous Black Swordsman, a mysterious man who wanders the world alone. As he hunts demons, and the demons hunt him, Guts embarks on a journey to see through his personal vendetta against the man who wronged him – all while protecting the only person he holds dear.

What cannot be understated is how violent the anime is. While today the depiction of killing and the like is normal, Berserk scoffs at such pleasantries. Rape is common. Torture is expected. Gore is inescapable. The more the audience watches the anime, the more they become desensitized to the burning bodies, the hanging entrails, and the nonconsenting advances.

This presentation of a variety of vile behavior is not something that the show does just for shock value or just for entertainment. True, it is eye opening when the flesh of a person melts away when they are consumed by a jelly monster. And, sure, Guts smashing in half a handful of knights with one swing of his sword is hard not to appreciate. But a more important point exists beyond the immediate reactions one may have.

One of Berserk’s major motifs is the notion of sin. As can be gleaned from these couple of paragraphs, a lot of that is constantly going on. However, it’s not only the sins themselves that matter but how they affect the world and its people.

It gets at this direction through its religious incorporations. Farnese and her Holy Knights. Father Mozgus and his purging inquisition. The monks, the prayers, and the scriptures. Throughout almost the entire season, religion and sin fight against one another as readily as Guts fights his enemies.

In this world, though, religion is painted in a very negative light. They keep food from the poor, they wrongly accuse people of crimes, and they believe that their grotesque actions are justified by God’s words.

On the opposite end, sin is by no means deified. But it certainly looks more appealing or, if nothing else, relatable. Doing something for one’s self versus for others. Taking part in instinctual desires like casual sex and simple survival. Fighting against conformity.

The pseudo-subplot of Nina “versus” Luca also serves Berserk’s and these intentions. Nina, a very average person, does her best in this messed-up world. But, sometimes, she has thoughts of selfishness like wanting to abandon “Elaine” or willing to let go of Luca. Luca, by contrast, is purely good, supporting the other women through body shielding and word-filled comfort. Where Nina represents the normalcy of sin in everyday people, Luca represents the notion that goodness, no matter how horrible it all may seem, will never truly die out.

While the action and the plot arguably take precedence over these ideas, it’s reassuring to see Berserk challenge the more conventional take on religion by saying, no, it’s not as hunky-dory as one is led to believe.

Unfortunately, the show’s questionable and weak writing choices mire much of the narrative, quelling this message to a degree that the anime never intended.

For example, the anime includes instances of comedy. Puck using his “abilities” or Isidro hiding his erection are the show’s attempts to, however slightly, offset the despair and the debauchery with laughter. But, since Berserk swings so far in the other direction, these moments are unnecessary at worst and jarring at best.

The plot itself also has problems. The first few episodes are there to establish the setting (a disease-ridden world swarmed with monsters) and introduce some of the main players (Guts, Farnese, etc.) Afterwards, though, the show doesn’t know what to do. Guts’s self-proclaimed mission to take out all the Apostles gets pushed aside, and the whole second half of the anime can be boiled down to “save Casca for the four hundredth time.”

This second point is interesting. Part of Berserk’s goal is to depict Guts suffering. Not just on a physical level but on a mental one as well. So, when the anime depicts him losing Casca again. And again. And again. It starts to tax on the audience, too. So, while the plot is unsatisfying, it’s purposefully done to relate to the main protagonist. Still, there are only so many times that Casca barely slipping through Guts’s grasp can be considered a valid plot point.

Other plot points are likewise not as sound.

Near the end of the third episode, the anime depicts a large city rampant with troubles, the death of a king, and a young woman (who is calling out for Griffith) who will inherit her father’s role – just as another nation begins their attack. Yet, afterwards, this city and this girl are never shown again, and that attacking nation (presumably it’s them) only shows up twice more. Once as they tail Guts and once more right as Griffith is reborn.

The whole forgotten-man-turned-world-egg seems a bit more out there and a lot more convenient in regards to the narrative. Sure, the anime alluded to this weird creature in the shadows constantly in the second half of the season, but the explanation behind what he is and what he can do is shoved into a huge exposition scene, creating more confusion than answers.

The reunion between Guts and Casca lost momentum since it got cutoff way too early.

Death plops into the events without much care.

Nina and Joachim have a mishandled romance.

The list of poor plot points goes on and on and on.

Berserk also relies way too much on sexual material. The horse-molestation scene with Farnese, the downright bizarre goat-worshipping fornication ritual, and the pressure-torture of women’s breasts are the more prominent examples. But they quickly illustrate that, sometimes, the anime can go overboard with (consensual or not) sex.

It also has trouble maintaining moral ambiguity. Far too often, the evilness of the situation is overly obvious. Father Mozgus popping multiple arteries in his face or the constancy of men who are nothing more than degenerates leave little to interpret. Granted, insane priests and ugly rapists are nothing but evil, but, when the anime is trying to balance such weighty topics as religion and sin, its inability to use subtlety in delivering in its themes only hurts itself in the long run.

As it is, Berserk has a lot of meaningful ideas to deliver. It’s unfortunate, then, that they are lost among the negatives that plague it for almost the whole way through.

ANIMATION

Arguably, where most people have issues with Berserk is in its artistic merit.

The quick spiel is that the anime chooses a three-dimensional approach, especially with its characters, for most of its run. An approach that ultimately falls flat (or rather bounces spherically off the sidewalk and into the street only for a car to then flatten it, but the idea is still the same).

The fairer spiel is that Berserk’s look is not as awful as it may first appear to be.

On their own, the character designs, like that of Guts or Farnese, have a respectable level of detail and thought. Guts’s spiky, black hair. The knives, bombs, and shoulder plates he wears. The billowing cape that hides his behemoth of a sword. Farnese, with her golden locks, dons pink-and-white armor. A figurative shield that protects her sadism with femininity and kindness.

Their designs (as well as those of the others) also take advantage of shadowing. Darker lines often blanket parts of their faces or necks, adding extra detail or depth to their normal looks.

However, the three-dimensional direction falls apart in its repetition, stiffness, and general lack of polish. Enemies or knights are just cloned one right after another. Most of the characters move in an animatronic style rather than with fluid, believable motions. And a lot of the designs that aren’t the main cast tend to look either goofy or overly ridiculous.

Berserk does tease its audience with two-dimensional, highly detailed art very sparingly. A shot of Guts’s grizzled face or an intimate scene between Luca and Jerome demonstrates what the anime could look like had the creators gone such a route. Whether it infuriates or complements the work is up for the viewer to decide, but it’s not a stretch to say that the what-could-be is far better looking than the what-it-is.

Although, even the two-dimensional aspects are worrisome. Choppy sections are hard to watch, and weird still frames try for spookiness but only end up raising eyebrows.

At the minimum, the demonic and religious imagery, such as the skulls and the crosses, as well as the use of duller, darker colors (lots of grays, blacks, browns) create a bleak atmosphere that aligns with the anime’s tone and content.

CHARACTERS

While Berserk’s story and its art are not in the best of spots come the end of this first season, its characters are in a rather respectable place. Or at least, they are a lot stronger than whatever else the anime offers.

As the main protagonist, Guts stands as one of the most interesting members of the cast. The peculiarity of his character comes from a paradox of sorts: a lot is known about him, but not much is known about him.

That sounds weird, right? But it makes sense. Guts is a person whose past is mired in tragedy. It’s what the anime shows through bits of his flashbacks: the massacre of his friends, the mental loss of his woman, the betrayal of his best friend. It’s also what the anime shows on him: a missing arm, a shut eye, a massive weapon that symbolizes the burdens he carries.

Yet, the audience doesn’t really know him. Those small snippets barely give any detail beyond what must be hypothesized, the non-tragic backstory moments are very few and far between, and his outward characteristics mean almost nothing to him as he wields and wears them all with ease.

So, what gives? What does Guts have going for him currently?

Discussed earlier, Berserk focuses a large deal on religion and sin. To this end, and biblically speaking, Guts is a walking antichrist. He views demons as “miracles.” He mocks the church and their teachings. He cares very little for his own life and the lives of others.

Expanding on this last point, Guts truly only cares about one person: Casca. The comparison is striking. Where Jesus would sacrifice himself to save all, Guts would murder everyone to save just one.

He has a similar revelation after visiting with the blacksmith. He chastises himself for going off on his own (presumably again) and leaving Casca alone when, in reality, she’s all that matters to him. The first three episodes did not establish this motivation of his, so his thoughts and turnaround are not the most impactful. Still, he steels himself, ready to take out anyone and everyone that may stray onto his path.

Yet Guts’s most important contribution as the antithesis to Christ is how he influences the people around him.

Isidro follows Guts in the hopes of becoming his apprentice. Or, at the very least, doing his best to learn from him. So, naturally, he follows the Black Swordsman wherever he goes.

Puck, the blue and floating spirit, tags along, too. But, rather than learning from Guts, Puck chooses to oversee Guts and his exploits – while also seeing the truth behind him and the situation. He annoys Guts, but Puck occasionally helps the weathered warrior (albeit in comedic fashion).

Serpico appears rather reserved at first glance. But, once Guts treats Farnese a bit too harshly for his (Serpico’s) own liking, he takes it upon himself to strike at Guts. Another way to put it, Serpico and Guts are rivals, a brains-versus-brawn dichotomy that won’t give either way.

Casca, the addled woman that Guts sacrifices himself for, doesn’t pay him any mind. Despite his feelings and his obvious actions to save her, she looks at him the same way as everybody else (save for Griffith, given her reaction upon his rebirth). She shows the audience that even Guts, despite his special powers and aura, cannot fully influence everyone around him.

But by far the most interesting is his relationship with Farnese who is very much the best character of the season.

Their initial meeting starts with swords raised, and, already, Farnese demonstrates she is no match for Guts, beating him only due to fatigue on his part. When she unfairly holds him in her tent, his lambasting of God and her own mindset sends her into a furious rage. She lashes Guts with a whip, and, as atonement later in the night, she lashes herself. Thus, Farnese starts as a seemingly pious woman who shows weakness of both body and mind.

Guts soon kidnaps her to keep himself protected, and an interesting detail surfaces: She cannot see Puck due to her narrowmindedness. The subsequent set of events she goes through – the rabid dogs, the cannibalistic man-servant, the ghost that possesses her – begin to warp her worldview. Not enough to change it completely but enough to make her despise Guts for who he is and what he has shown her.

The two don’t interact for a while. Guts runs to save Casca, and Farnese, alongside Father Mozgus, deals with the “questioning” of the refugees. During this time, Farnese’s leadership and sanity are questioned in return. She failed to capture the Black Swordsman, and she cannot seem to control or direct the Holy Knights properly. And she acts strangely content as people burn alive before her. Her faith renewed due to Father Mozgus’s own devout prostration before Him.

Yet the sights of unjust acts, like a mother forced into torture or a bully wrongly accused, haunt her. Though her mind does it most. A nightmare from her childhood, where adults cheered her on for taking part in the burning of heretics, does not just make her orgasm. It makes her question herself.

Guts’s eventual arrival angers Farnese. Both because of her embarrassment at failing in her mission and at having to potentially run into the man that has challenged what she thinks. In retaliation, and in bit of karmic retribution, she kidnaps Casca, taking her back to the nearby tower. There, she learns that she will be removed from this current mission soon, angering her further. But only until she witnesses the summoning of a malformed monster. For then fright overtakes her once more.

She inevitably “runs into” Guts – their first interaction since parting ways at the mansion – and he forces her to come with him despite her extreme apprehension. There, in the torture room, she finally sees Puck, indicating that her mindset has indeed begun to shift.

During Guts battle with Father Mozgus and his “angels,” the situation continues to terrify Farnese, causing her more and more to wonder what’s really right and what’s really, really wrong. She hardly participates, simply watching as Guts shatters everything before her (both literally and figuratively).

The final fight on the wall, where everyone uses flames to stop the monster’s encroachment, pushes Farnese hard enough to change her completely. Guts’s steadfastness – despite the doom, the malignancies, and the evil that surrounds them – awes Farnese. She no longer sees Guts as this cruel, despicable man but rather as a beacon of hope. A shining light amidst the unfathomable darkness. In her own words, “He still stands and refuses to back down in this overwhelming nightmare. In all of this, he is the only certainty!”

She ditches praying at Guts command and stands her ground with the others. Afterwards, once Griffith is reborn and Guts gives chase (with Casca in tow), Farnese also abandons the Holy Knights. Choosing instead to follow Guts, the man that challenged her. In a way, given what Guts represents, she’s merely swapping one god for another. But such blasphemy highlights just how much she has changed – and just how far she is willing to go.

Farnese directly coincides with the anime’s ideas on religion and sin. How the two are different and, indeed, closely linked. Combined with her solid characterization and tangible development, Farnese proves that Berserk, when it wants to, can provide strong, worthwhile material.

SOUND

Another major complaint that most have with this season is its sound-effects. More specifically, Guts’s sword hitting his enemies – be they blobs, stone, or armor-wearing humans – overuses a clang upon impact. While it makes sense that it would make this sound, since it is a giant slab of metal, such complaints are valid, for it diminishes the overall execution of the fights when they all start to sound so similar and lack finesse.

The opening track, though, hits the mark. Its heavy-metal composition, through fast drums and wicked guitar playing, give it a (coincidentally enough) heavy and cool feeling. Interspersed throughout the first half of the piece are lighter moments where the guitar is more soothing than frantic – only for the second half to give way to that overbearing metal sound. The effect becomes a small sense of hope in the beginning yet a constricted sense of despair by the end.

The ending track goes the complete opposite direction (as is common with OP and ED combos). It’s a much lighter, more mystical-sounding song with female vocals and acoustic guitar. Most importantly, it adopts a bittersweet feel that reapplies that glimmer of hope. That maybe, just maybe, everything will be all right – or at least better than how it all is now.

The rest of the original soundtrack goes for atmosphere and epic-ness. Grating violins and humming create the darker, scarier tone of the show. And the different choir sections, plus more heavy metal, make the action scenes and tenser moments more awesome than they would be otherwise.

As for the voice-acting performances, none are notable to discuss.

ENJOYMENT

In the past, when people asked, “Which character has suffered the most?” Guts would nearly unanimously be the top reply. I never understood why. Not that I doubted the answer, but I didn’t think it was as bad as people made it out to be.

But I get it now.

He lost the people he considered family. His arm severed, the other parts of his body scarred permanently. The woman he loves more than anybody else in existence was brutally assaulted to the point of insanity. All at the hands of a single man, the person that Guts once considered his best of friends.

I should note that these words are all conjecture since the anime technically never shows any of it in large detail (although I expect them to do so in due time). Not that I need to see it let alone want to, but it’s not hard to understand that, even with just piecing all the information together, Guts has, indeed, suffered more than any other anime character.

This anime is another one where it pulls me along just for the fact that I need to make sure that a specific character is okay. I.e., Casca. I never like seeing a character in danger for long periods, so, if nothing else, the anime got me watching one episode after another just to make sure Casca was safe.

And, I should say, I do want to know what’s coming next. The duality, relationship, and conflict that Guts shares with Griffith is something that intrigues me a lot. Similar thoughts from me on the other characters. But unless the plot picks up in a significant way, the art gets a bit of a boost, and the action is more than just Guts swinging his sword (e.g., more interesting fights like that of Guts and Serpico’s duel on the cliffs), it’ll be a tough go once more – which may not be worth it.

Berserk (2016) is not without strengths. Its themes on the religious and the sinful are noteworthy, Farnese’s character is well thought out, and the OP is a heavy-metal hitter. But so much else – the weird writing, less-than-ideal art and animation, not much focus on most of the cast, improper use of sound-effects – belittle the experience. Hopefully it takes some cough medicine to cure its ailments before that next season arrives.

SUMMARY

Story: Bad, while themes on religion and sin provide interesting talking points, much of the narrative is mired in awkward plot decisions, too much focus on sex, and a lack of moral ambiguity

Animation: Bad, nice character designs, more negative than positive artistic direction, and below average actual animation

Characters: Great, Guts’s backstory is kept mostly secret for now, but his influence on the others is tangible, and Farnese’s character, in arc, in substance, and in purpose, stands as the top highlight

Sound: Fine, good OP, okay ED, okay OST, okay VA performances, and bad sound-effects

Enjoyment: Fine, Guts really does suffer more than anybody

Final Score: 5/10

Stop crying over the death of the old 97 anime, for all that is sacred. Most of modern animes would look like a children drawing compared to 97 Berserk.

This show fails not because of the high quality of the old golden age arc animation, but because it sounds too presumptuous. While watching it I had the constant feeling that the director is trying to show off, I just can tell *what*.

The animation spins and rotates in weird angles, changes scenes too fast and without a clear connection. Some parts of the fighting scenes look great, some others just look like the director is trying ... to give you motion sickness.

The background music sometimes sounds like the kind of stuff you'd download for free to use as ringtone for your smartphone. It sounds lazy, generic, often anticlimax.

I understand the plot choice. They cut a lot of things, but mostly things that wouldn't really matter right now (yeah yeah, stop crying over the Lost Children Arc). That would be fine if well executed, but it feels extremely rushed. Berserk is action soaked in character development. If you spend 2min of an episode to depict the complex personality of a character like Farnese, you'd better not even bother. The pace is too damn fast, switching between events far apart seemingly randomly instead of focusing into giving the audience the time and depth that they need to feel the characters' feelings and despair. It is just too damn shallow. Unless you did read the manga you can barely follow what is going on.

About the CGI and the colour pallet choice, we all know that it can be done right (3rd Berserk movie was right on spot) so I can only imagine that the director here purposely screwed it up. The animation, very often, hurts the eyes and fails to deliver the Berserk feeling.

This anime feels to me like an ***experiment***. It is sad that we are once again losing this opportunity to have the world appreciating Berserk at its fullest. Let's just hope that they will get someone competent to direct Berserk 2017...

After nearly twenty long years, the anime world finally gets what it was waiting for: the long-awaited animated continuation of mangaka Kentarou Miura's legendary manga series, Berserk. But while the quality of the previous 1997 adaptation was balanced in both story-telling and animation for its time, the anime world has been longing for an adaptation of the arcs after the ever-retold ‘Golden Age’ arc. Does this new-age contender live up to the hype and the amazing story-telling and artwork that Miura is known for? Let's find out. Obviously, SPOILERS will follow. Ladies, gentlemen, and others, I am Cypherial, the Gaming Otaku, and today I bring ... you my anime review for the 2016 adaptation of Kentarou Miura’s Berserk. (INSERT CLANG)

STORY:
The story focuses on the arcs after the ‘Golden Age’: ‘Black Swordsman’ and ‘Conviction’. The first thing to note is that the writers decided to gloss over the ‘Black Swordsman’ arc and outright skip the ‘Lost Children’ arc in favour of the more action-packed ‘Conviction’ arc. The first three or so episodes are a sh*tshow of fast pacing and awful animation (more on that later), and the first episode in particular is just downright bad. Some characters not even in ‘Black Swordsman’, ‘Lost Children’, or even ‘Conviction’ are introduced right off the bat, and the anime rushes the events in 'Black Swordsman' to set up their segue into ‘Conviction’. Some elements included in ‘Lost Children’ are set up in the first episode, such as the introduction of Isidoro's character. It is also interesting to note that this anime is twelve episodes, your standard half-season. Personally, a better way to do this anime would be to have 24 episodes: seven dedicated to ‘Black Swordsman’, seven dedicated to ‘Lost Children’, and ten dedicated to ‘Conviction’ and the climax. Even so, overall I think the writers did a decent job with what they were trying to do. However, some scenes feel out of place without the context that ‘Black Swordsman’ gives. On another note, some crucial scenes lose a lot of their impact because of the way they were written for this adaptation. For example, Miura himself was involved with the writing for episode 3, which contains the Horse, one of the most controversial and simultaneously crucial scenes in the entire manga. However, because of the way the episode was written, the Horse scene lost a lot of its impact because of its execution and the setting that Miura chose for the episode.

CHARACTERS:
The portrayal of the characters in this adaptation are mostly correct, taken from the manga. Guts is portrayed about how you'd expect, Casca as well. The gripes I have are that Schierke (from the ‘Millenium Falcon’ arc) is in a scene in the first episode with absolutely no context that the average viewer would understand (also the line she says is huge spoilers for the end of ‘Conviction’, which I guess I understand as foreshadowing, given that they ended the anime right at that point), Isidoro is introduced way before he ever showed up in the manga, and Puck is relegated to a comic-relief/brevity character. On the subject of Puck, yes, I realise that is his role in Conviction onwards, but because the anime glossed right over ‘Black Swordsman’, the average viewer doesn't get to see that Puck's character actually has a purpose. Moving on, the portrayals of Serpico and Farnese are actually spot-on, which I'm really impressed by given that Serpico is one of the more badass characters in the manga. The only gripe I have towards him is that he has all of two badass scenes in the anime, and one of them is obscured by F*CKING CREDITS, which has nothing to do with the portrayal of the character. Finally, Skull Knight. Badass portrayal, doesn’t have enough screentime (but that’s all on Miura, boys).

VOICE CASTING:
The voice casting for this adaptation was actually well done. Guts is voiced by Iwanaga Hiroaki, his voice actor from the movies, and he does a very good job, despite him having relatively few lines overall in this adaptation. Puck is voiced by Mizuhara Kaoru, known to me for her role as Amano Rea in Mirai Nikki. A lot of people found her voice to be annoying, mainly because for most of the anime, Puck is portrayed as the colloquial “Chestnut Puck”, the chibi rendition of him when he’s to be the source of comic relief for the scene. As a result, the voice for Puck and Chestnut Puck differ in the same way that, for example, Haruhi and Konata differ. We rarely get to hear Puck’s actual serious voice, which isn’t really a plus. Farnese is voiced by Hikasa Yoko, known to me as Weiss Schnee from the Japanese dub of RWBY. Personally, I think she did a fairly great performance as Farnese, however, nothing really stands out to me. Serpico is voiced by Okitsu Kazuyuki, known for his roles as Jonathan Joestar from Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure, and Seishin Muroi from Shiki. Serpico is one of those characters that is simultaneously ditzy and badass, and Okitsu-san really manages to nail down the voice, despite the fact that, like Guts, he really doesn’t have many lines. Isidoro is voiced by Shimono Hiro, known for his role as Katsuragi Keima in The World God Only Knows. I personally am not too familiar with his voice roles, but for Isidoro’s character, I think he did a great job as well. Finally, Skull Knight, voiced by Ootsuka Akio, known for his role as Wammu from Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure and as Skull Knight in the third Berserk movie as well. Perfect voice actor: dark, mysterious, commanding. Love the choice of seiyuu for this character.

ANIMATION:
Studio(s): GEMBA, Millensepee
From the studios that brought you Teekyuu! and…. not much else, its Berserk (2016)! Personally, I don't know if this was a gigantic troll or if they really just wanted to try and run this series into the ground, but...DAAAAAAAAAAAAMNN!! First thing to note, two animation studios. Never a good sign. One of which has done sweet F-A, the other... EIGHT SEASONS OF F*CKING TEEKYUU! All sense of foreboding dread aside, when I heard that the series would be done in full CGI, I personally was excited. I imagined studio Ufotable’s Fate series, and how well that was animated using CGI, I thought of the Berserk movies which blended 2D and 3D cel-shading, I thought of the brilliant usage of 3D CGI in David Productions’ Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure. I was excited, despite what people thought. But…those first three episodes…they were garbage. The animation was horrible. Utterly horrible. It looked like some fifteen-year-old got a hold of a copy of Poser Pro and pumped this out. Granted, the animation got WAY better for the second half of the series, and they even tried to compensate by throwing in some 2D scenes for the actual events of the anime (not just in flashbacks as they had previously done), but ultimately, the animation balances out to just slightly below average for me. Don’t get me wrong, what we ended up with was decent. But this isn’t just some moe-trash or horror anime that only got made to make boatloads of money off fat neckbeard weeaboos. This is Berserk. This is Berserk, and damn it, the animation had better damn well be able to at least hold a candle to Kentarou Miura’s breathtaking art. “Decent” is horrible for Berserk. Berserk, at the very least, deserves PERFECTION where animation is concerned.

OP/ED:
Inferno – 9mm Parabellum
The OP for Berserk (2016) was actually very good. Sure it doesn’t have the horribly-pronounced Engrish and nonsensical verbal nostalgia that “Nothing Will Be Wong” does, but to me, “Inferno” looks, sounds, and feels more like what Berserk should be. “Inferno” basically recaps the Golden Age arc in a flurry of adequate 2D and 3D animation, and you can differentiate which time period it’s in by the animation. The visuals were actually not garbage, despite what Reddit likes to say, and the song did fit the visuals very nicely.

Meimoku no Kanata – Nagi Yanagi
Berserk (2016)’s ED is a very good one. The visuals are simplistic, much like the original Berserk anime’s ending. The ending is basically ethereal outlines of Casca, Isidoro, Serpico, Guts, and other characters on a backdrop of a cloudy night sky which, over time, parts to reveal a full moon. The melody for the ED is one of the more beautiful melodies that I’ve heard in an anime ED, and I can definitely say I liked it.

SOUNDTRACK:
If there was anything perfect about this anime adaptation, it would be the OST. The OST is absolutely astounding, as I expected it to be. The music for Berserk is by and far the best that I’ve ever heard in an anime score, and this adaptation does not disappoint. I only wished they played “Hai Yo” a LOT more.

PROS:
-The great world of Berserk
-No one ever thought Berserk would ever get a continuation ever
-Guts cleaving bitches apart
-Serpico
-Dat ending tho

CONS:
-Below average animation
-Nina
-A lot of cut content from the manga, and skipping the entirety of ‘Lost Children’
-CLANG
-Nina
-Horrible pacing for the first three episodes
-Hey look, more f*cking Nina

FINAL THOUGHTS:
Berserk (2016) has been one hell of a ride. I went from being excited, to utterly despising it, to being very tentative about it, to being fairly satisfied with it. Ultimately, it is not by any means the desirable or ideal adaptation that we all wanted, but the fact that we even got one at all is astounding. Awful animation aside, I can definitively say that this adaptation is adequate. However, I would not ever recommend this to anyone who has never read the manga, or even seen the original anime. It is so difficult for the average viewer to go in blind and be able to extrapolate what the f*ck is going on. Overall, I pride the anime on its source material and soundtrack, and the fact that the two animation studios managed to save the second half by pulling their heads halfway out of their asses. However, good music design and source material are not enough when it comes to anime adaptations. The execution needs to be flawless for it to take off, and unfortunately, this adaptation had a lot of hiccups. The memes spawned from it are some of the funniest I’ve seen, but ultimately, not even CLANG can bump up my score. On another note, I am somewhat conflicted about the announcement of “Season Two”, which will apparently cover the ‘Millennium Falcon’ arc, but we’ll cross that bridge when we come to it. Hopefully the animation studios and directors learned a thing or two from the problems that this anime had, and strive to fix them in Berserk Season Two. My final score for the 2016 adaptation of Berserk stands at a 6/10. I recommend it only to those who have read the manga, and even then, take it with a grain of salt, as it is not anywhere near the best that it could be.

The problem with Berserk is that it was so obsessed over that no matter what we got, people would be upset. I really don't understand the anger over this one though. I read the manga and the story follows it almost identically. Sure, not every page is in it but that's just not really possible. The art is unchanged, the voice acting is great, the music fits. The only flaw is that the animation is bad, but it's not so terrible that it ruins it. It was literally the manga brought to life. As a Berserk fan, I'm deeply grateful for the opportunity to watch ... the story in action.

Well, it's nice to finally have a full adaptation of the Berserk manga. The manga is a huge chunk to bite off, so this anime takes a few shortcuts by omitting what are essentially filler arcs of the manga (like the one with the insect girls in the forest) and just sticks to the main point of introducing the characters and getting Guts' group together.

The biggest shortcoming is the art. The characters all look more like robots than people, with empty eyes and expressionless faces. I understand the use of CGI since there's so much source material to cover and probably scant time to ... do it in, but greater care should be taken with the design of the characters, such as Attack on Titan did with its beautiful character design.

I know it have much hate, but i really enjoyed this season. I saw that minuses about the others spoke(they are many enough), it really could be better in some aspects, but the intensity of the story and some good parts in animation(that i really think they exist and make it enjoyable) made me love it.

I waited to see the worst anime after all criticises but it was different(it is not first time when my tastes don t really coincide with the others and i try to be very open and impartial when i start an anime which i know that its subject, ... its environment appear to coincide with my tastes and also make me feel about it that it really have some potential). I think it really deserve a chance. I am happy this season was made and the animated story continued. It could be much better but it still was good enough to keep me all day on it.

I think a big problem was about manga, being best ranked and appreciated, made people have their expectations on another level. I think guys tha the anime could never show all details as manga can do. I must recognise that i didnt read the manga but i saw some pictures in it and it seems amazing. I wanted first to watch all this series, and after i will definitely read the manga too. If i would read it i think my impartiality abour series and also my enjoyment would be totally diffrent now. So this an opinion, letting the manga outside, just about the anime. In fact the anime was the one which convinced me and make me sure to read the manga.

Story is not presented as well as in the manga, im sure of it, but again it is about the anime, not the manga. So storry is 10, rarely seen in the anime world a more captivating and complex story as here.

Art have many minuses, but the idea of it was good in my point of view. If they would be more careful on some aspects this anime could be much better with this kind of art. There are many details about it that bring this minuses and it is useless to speak about each one, but still i think the idea was good but wasnt well finalised(maybe using a low buget too) so i will give 7 for it because it could make me anjoy it anyway and after a time could make me pass about all the details being focused more on what heppens there.

Sound was very very poor. I think is the worst thing in this anime. i Would give it maxim 2 if there wasnt that amazing OST there, but some was also put on the wrong time, so i can give just 4. But i still listen all day that OSTs, they are one of the best in anime history i think. Also i dont think the open theme fit too well for this kind of anime. So there was a part of the team which made an amazing job, a part of the team which made a really bad job, and this is overall and this made me feel always a contradiction about this anime

About characters i think they show almost what they should(even if they appear sometime not with enough emotion like some kind of robots, but the emotion can be felt. 9

Overall is 9 despite the minuses, Berserk story remain a masterpiece and the anime could make it enjoyable in my opinion(if that stupid sound was better...that is the fact that made me think a time about giving that 9). I know it can t be 10 but in my list i put it as ten because with all this minuses it was one of not many animes that really made me enjoy it. In this case comparation with what could be or with the amazing potential lost there is useless. I think in the end it metter the most how i felt about it and after a time it really could make me ignore all that detail that in so many eyes it appeared as a bad anime. My english is poor, i know and i am sorry about it, but i can recomend you to try it despite all this hate, how i sayd, i really think it deserves a chance. Hope you will enjoy it enough.

I didn't think the day would come where I'd write a review for a show after one episode, but I feel that it's warranted in this particular case.
Berserk needs no introduction. It is among the most iconic anime/manga series period, and for good reason; it's an epic dark fantasy with amazing artwork, complex and interesting characters and amazing writing. The original adaptation might've had its issues, but was still a worthwhile watch. This...isn't. This is not Berserk. I have no idea what the people who created this abomination thought they were doing, but this is not Berserk.
For one, gone is the expressive artwork of the ... manga, replaced with ugly-looking and plain character designs that feel so bland and generic that you would think I'm staring at sketches from Deviant-art. This would look poor at best there, but slips into outright horrid and ugly to look at when taken into anime format. I can't believe someone thought these character designs were a good idea. And speaking of artwork, gone are the gorgeous backgrounds in the manga, gone is the incredibly humane proportions for the designs; everything looks like the developers traced over everything roughly with tracing paper, and it looks like absolute garbage.
Speaking of garbage, the CGI looks horrid; almost no actual animation happens over the course of the episode, and the pacing is jarring and confusing, skipping through massive portions of dialogue (that are present in the manga) and leaving stand-alone watchers confused at what is going on.
The story suffers because of said pacing, as this constantly jumps between scenes and has no sense of flow or direction, but also fails at being compelling because of the aforementioned factors. No just that, but the story also happens to skip out on a lot of careful character build-up, leaving Guts' characterization with much to be desired and flowing like an edgy teenager whose been on drugs rather than any sense of coherency.
This is garbage, this is not Berserk. Avoid it like the plague.
thank you
Millepensee, GEMBA and LIDENFILMS for destroing one of the most anticipated anime of 2016
final score 3/10

CO-OP REVIEW

Story - 5
A - As I didn't watch the original series (1997-1998), there were many points where I was unsure what was happening, as it referenced back to an anime I hadn't watched. Would recommend watching 1997-1998 version before attempting this monstrosity.
B - Having seen the original series and enjoying it considerably, I was excited to watch this new version. The story seems interesting as much as it follows on from what I've read of the manga/original series, but coupled with the addition of some terrible characters and worse art style, it's hard to watch.

Art - 3
A - 70% of the time, the ... characters looked janky af. That time when he swung around a ledge tho.
B - The trailer looked interesting at least. Maybe a mix of 3D and 2D? No, the intro ruins the show by looking great whereas the show looks awful. Nice 2D intro, disgusting 3D characters who move like they're made of wood. Also, somehow uglier than the original series.

Sound - 5
A - While the clang from the sword in the beginning was satisfying, it eventually grated as there were few other sounds of merit.
B - I hate the clanking sound. He wasn't fighting washing machines at least, I didn't think so. The music was pretty generic/uninteresting.

Character - 3
A - I went into this not caring about the characters as I hadn't watched the previous series. I left not caring about the characters as they had no meaningful development throughout the show.
B - As I said before, the characters that were introduced following the original series I couldn't care about in the least. The thief kid who followed him around - why? None of the characters brought anything interesting to the table, which wasn't helped at all by the wooden look. On a side note I did enjoy the main villains (minus Father Ted) who lasted all of 5 seconds.

Enjoyment - 3
A - I wanted to enjoy the show because the concept is quite cool - however the execution was poor so I couldn't enjoy it.
B - Although I did like the villains a little more than anything else in the show, it was really just a difficult watch. With all the characters showing less articulation of joints than most trees, and the fact that the show didn't look that nice in the first place it was quite a slog and wasn't very enjoyable.

Overall - 4
A - Big sword, no character.
B - Clang went the skeleton.

There's a real problem in this show and that manifests itself in the fact that the material is not as good as what is shown during the Golden Age of Berserk.

I'm a little remiss at the treatment of some of the characters during this show. Casca is reduced to a blabbering mess that I'm surprised that they even took the effort to cast an actress for. I suppose some would make the argument that in the aftermath of the Eclipse that her mind would have been shattered. That makes no sense, however, when put under the lens as several female characters in the show endure ... the horrors that they are subjected to. Farnese and the two prostitutes are completely fine after a night of PTSD inducing demon attacks, and Farnesse doubly so after nearly being raped by a horse and possessed.

Guts has no real purpose now. He's just flitting from battlefield to battlefield ruthlessly murdering any angel/demon that gets in his way. I suppose that's fine if the viewer is looking to get into a battle anime, but there's few of those key battles where the characters are pitted against worthy adversaries.

There's little emotional investment going into this show. It's your typical damsel in distress and tough guy needs to save her spiel. Which is sad since I've wanted to get into the manga for some time and this is an indictment of the source material.

Now that the anime has been out for a while and those of you who haven't watched it yet probably heard how bad it is. Well to sum it up... Its pretty bad.
This adaptation takes the manga slams it to the ground and takes a giant dump on it.

Story: It takes what happens in the manga and changes it to an extreme. It has so much to work off yet it skips the majority of the black swordsman arc and the whole lost children arc. On top of that it adds FILLER! Filler in the middle of something that's already happening, it didn't need ... to be there and it could of just skipped it without any negative effects. So it skips to the Conviction Arc for the majority of the show, its a pretty good arc and it has some amazing moments... Too bad they're summed up and the best fights has the worse camera angles I've ever seen.

Art: The 2D art is Very good. Too bad its mostly CGI and nothing else, when we do get to see 2D its only for a split second and barley anything happens, its mostly just a close up of Guts face. The CGI on the other hand is god awful. CGI should only be 2nd after 2D animation not the other way around while other anime that have god like CGI mostly keep it for OPs or back ground objects/characters for a reason. Guts face changes shape almost 3 times an episode and he looks like he's holding in a shit.

Sound: *Clang!* get used to that sound because for some reason steal hitting flesh or steal hitting ANYTHING makes a *Clang!* sound. Other than that its just a lot of high pitched audio sounds that make no sense like why is metal boots hitting the ground making that sound or why did that bomb sound like someone dropped a pan.

Characters: Already the anime has a disadvantage because of it mostly being set in the Conviction Arc that is home to the worst side character in Berserk... Nina. Not going to go into detail but she isn't as annoying in the anime compared to the Manga but still pretty bad. Other than that we don't really get to see much of the character development because the Conviction Arc isn't about that Puck's and Guts bond is from the black swordsman arc and the lost children arc and they where skipped and isiro doesn't have one. Serpico and Farnese don't get any character development until the next arc.

Enjoyment: All together this was doomed to fail. Low budget and a director that has no experience with a full CGI anime and poor experience with action anime. His only other action work is the devil may cry anime and that wasn't all that good. So yeah this anime flopped.

WARNING: This is a review of THE ACTUAL ANIME, not my BULLSH** preconcieved version of what it *should* be. I've judged Mr.2016 on what Mr.2016 offers. Nothing else.
Skip the next 3 paragraths (Between the arrows) for actual review.
-------------------------------------->
I realize manga readers have expectations. It's the best manga ever drawn, every stroke of his pencil exudes talent, purpose & love. It DESERVES to have an anime that lives up to it's brilliance. I can understand peoples disappointment when what they got is a seemingly rushed money-grab with cheap 3D animation. Hell, if fans weren't happy with Studio 4C's version then they're just guaranteed to ... be miserable with any adaptation barring a $100m masterpiece manga-clone with no music, perfect pacing, perfect animation & perfectly portrayed characters.
"They're making a mokery of Berserk. This isn't berserk! "Berserk is supposed to be dark and gritty, look at the bug eyes, his movements are stiff they use cheap sound effects. This is awful. They clearly dont understand what makes berserk good" an understandable 'guts' reaction... ;D Or is it?
I went into the show simply wanting to see what happens next to Guts an Casca..
Something we can all agree on? What a wonderful story berserk is. Mr.2016 might not be telling the story the way you expected nor wanted, but to let a preconcieved idea hurt your ability to enjoy a show? I'll judge the show based on it's own merits.
------------------------------------>>>>>>
Does the anime show enough of the masterpiece story to justify itself amongst other anime? Is it actually the flop people claim?
Should someone brand new to anime watch BERSERK?
;Or would they be better off never experiencing it simply because "it didnt adapt the manga the way I wanted"?? WE WILL FIND OUT NOW, because my opinion is always correct. YW

------------------> ART<----------------- 7 :)
Kept getting reminded of attack on titan while watching. Similar shading and artstyles. You could screenshot almost any point an the still-frames would look very similar to what an AOT still-frame would look like. I would argue the biggest factor in Berserk coming across as "ugly" is because it's not what people expected. Sure, the animation might be a bit stiff at times and the CG stands out a lot more than in AOT.. But the overall look is very similar.

Backgrounds look great, breathy views, a lot of details go into the set designs.
At times there are some amazing animation sequences, a lot of the "epic" moments from the manga have had extra effort an money invested into them and they look amazing. At times looks like it's pulled straight from the manga.

The style is definitely unique, the CG isn't for everyone, however the style grew on me very quickly and I begun to really enjoy it.

--------------->>>>CHARACTERS<<<<------ 7

I was actually a bit disappointed by the characters here. By far my favorite part of the original (and what got me so hooked on the series) was the characters. Guts, Casca & Griffiths character growth, and love-triangle (lol) was incredibly deep and meaningful, it gave a real intensity to the characters. That dynamic is defo missing in this arc...

. No one really develops at all through 2016s adaption (except the temporary characters). However, that's understandable as it takes place over a far shorter period of time (Kind of) but having those intense relationships missing from the plot hurt the story and characters imo.

--------------->ENJOYMENT<<<<<----------- 8

honestly.. so much fun. I binged the entire thing in 1 night. I used to regularly binge shows overnight but it has become less an less frequent with less good anime available to watch. This however wasn't even a challenge.

Every episode ended on a cliffhanger, I was always on the edge of my seat. Always wanting something to happen. Whether it was hoping Casca was okay, if Guts was gonna kill someone, if the dumb blonde woman would hurry up an die. I don't usually enjoy action anime that much, i get more excited for the characters but this defo kept me excited.

There is a lot of uhh... light hearted comedic moments too. I was told they were taken straight from the manga so it was obviously as intended.. I think some people would prefer the show be darker w/o those moments but they kept the show pacing at a good level. If anything it was too fast.. I would have much rather had 2-3 extra episodes for character development.

------------------> MY MAIN CRITICISM??<-----------------

My main issue with mr.2016 is that they like to tell & not show. The 97' version was happy to have long, drawn out pauses with nothing but Guts face. It let us get drawn in, feel for him, empathize with the characters, put ourselves in their shoes. It never really tried too hard to explain things. The characters felt that way, you either picked up on it or you didn't & that is 100% fine.

mr.2016 did do that, but not nearly as much. Guts always had a monologue in his head which I didn't like, there was never any need for it. I would rather just have the scene be silence and tension. It doesn't sound like a big complaint but to me... One of the big draw cards for berserk in the first place was that it never felt preachy, never felt like it was trying to convince you of anything. Guts was a bad ass, they didn't need to constantly point it out.

---------------->OVERALL<--------------------- 7.

Like really MAL peeps? 5000? I understand having a bad "gut" reaction to the art-style but do you people honestly think that an adaption of BERSERK the greatest manga ever written could be worse than all this other trash? Do you think so little of Berserk that you think the artstyle and missing parts of the manga could ruin it so much that it's worse than Fuuka?

So yes, it's underrated. I recommend 100%. Watch the original first, though.

Skip to the end of the review if you don't want to climb this giant wall of text(and crying) that I wrote. This review is based on MY OPINION. You might like Berserk(2016) and you might also disagree with me and my gripes with this anime. Also, english is not my native language so bear with me.
"You don't WATCH Berserk. You read it. And you enjoy it." - Berserk 2016 does it's best to prove this statement. Berserk(1997) was one of the first anime that I have watched. Even though I prefer "light and happy" anime and manga, I liked it. When I first found ... out that Berserk will get an adaptation I was extremely happy. And then - CGI came in. I thought to myself - well, this is going to be bad, but it still might work out. Berserk movies had CGI in them and it wasn't too bad. CGI can be a great tool for creating action scenes and it might allow this anime to become a masterpiece, because action in Berserk is incredible(yet it also has a good story and characters). That was pretty stupid of me.
Let's start with the cons:
1.Art:
When the first episode of Berserk came out I jumped right into it, full of hopes and dreams about how awesome it's going to be. A-a-a-nd it turned out to be a lot of worse, than I was expecting. Art shocked me - it felt like I watch some sort of poorly-made fan-parody. Models with dead expressions, weird shadows, nauseating frame rate - all the good stuff. But! It get's better! Art shoots itself in the foot by replacing poor CGI with a hand-drawn animation during some scenes. Because of that you can clearly see how bad the situation with art is. It destroys immersion completely. And it get's worse and worse with each episode, because it looks like that at some point, guys that were responsible for the art, decided to add more of the 2D "goodness" to the CGI mess they've made. "But it's a good thing!" - you might think. Wrong. Why? Well, imagine this: on the left half of the screen there are poorly drawn static characters and on the right side of the screen there are poorly made CGI characters. By the end of this anime I would hysterically laugh each time I see that sort of "high quality art". I have CGI PTSD now! Oh, and it's not just about "art" itself. Action scenes directed in a worst kind of way. Weird transitions, weird angles and stiff-poker-face(as dead as this meme)-expression on the !thin! face of Guts! Berserk with a kuudere Guts. Simply amazing. Because of the poor art atmosphere is created solely through characters and sound. And even then - if you watch it in HQ and pay attention to details - it burns. And it burns even worse when you notice all the half-*censored* censoring. Women have no nipples. Yep. Berserk with no-nudity and extremely toned down violence. All in all, it turned out to be so bad that I decided to read the manga version of Berserk and after I did that fell in love with it. Art(even first chapters look good), atmosphere, characters, story - everything about Berserk manga is great. Only because of that could I continue to watch this seires.
2.Story:
Lost Children side-arc is nowhere to be found. I read the manga and because of that I can understand that studio had their reasons to exclude this arc from the adaptation, especially if you consider how heavily censored it already is. From what I've learned from words of Reo Kurosu(Berserk(2016) producer), Kentaro Miura wrote the original script for the first and third episodes of this adaptation. You can watch interview with Reo on YouTube. In my opinion Lost Children arc is very important as it has a lot of moments that demonstrate true nature of Guts and the world he lives in, and well, it has some EPIC moments that make Guts look like the incarnation of Death itself. On the other side - I guess it's good that this arc didn't get an adaptation. With the art that this series has, it would look and feel terrible. Still #feelsbad though.
3.Sound:
"CLANG!" - this is what makes Berserk 2016 to be the best comedy anime in this season. Dragonslayer is not empty inside and zombies/knights/apostles/clots of ectoplasm/skeletons are not made of frying pans. Later on it is replaced with different sounds, but still sounds weird. And considering the fact that I am talking about Dragonslayer, it is:
a b s o l u t e l y d i s g u s t i n g
Now to the pros:
1.Story:
Yes, I included it in both pros and cons, same goes for sound. Story is good, because it's Berserk and Berserk has a good story. Adaptation adds some interesting details to the world of Berserk and for the most part(look at cons) strictly follows the source material.
2.Characters:
It's the same as the Story. Berserk has good characters and because of that adaptation also has good characters.
3.Sound:
OST of this adaptation is amazing. It greatly increases immersion(but art spoils it), sounds good and unique. I myself enjoy the OP song, and find it very fitting.
Voice actors did their best to bring stiff 3D models to life. Voice acting is superb.
"CLANG!" - just go to YouTube and search: "Berserk clang".
------------------------------------------
Summary:
Story - 9:
Story is great thanks to the source material. Lost children mini-arc is missing, but story as a whole is still good.
Art - 1:
It is terrible. It is disgusting. Some people get over it, some people don't. And I couldn't stand it.
Sound - 8:
This adaptation has great OST and voice actors did their best to bring their characters to life.
Characters - 9:
Characters are great thank to the source material. And thanks to the original script of Miura Kentarou, some of them get additions to their personalities.
Enjoyment - 5:
Music, voice acting and story were good. Art spoiled all of it.
Overall - 5:
I can't say that it was a bad anime. It has a good story, and it also has interesting characters and soundtrack. But I also can't say that it was a good adaptation. Adaptation should bring characters to life or at least increase this effect. If adaptations fails to do it - there is no need for that adaptation to exist. And sadly, Berserk 2016 suffers from that. Characters look less alive than they did in the manga(How do you even fail that badly, guys?! Your moving characters look less alive than motionless characters!). But! They have voices, nice fitting voices at that. And because of that they at least SOUND alive. And just think about it. If you're a Berserk fan - you should watch it. Because you will do it anyway, right? If you're new to Berserk, or if you don't know anything about it, you should skip this anime, at least for now. Go read the manga, or watch the Berserk 1997 and only after that give Berserk 2016 a chance.

BERSERK... what they did to you?

When I first hear of this new anime adaptation of the extremely geourgeos manga of the same name I was super excited, I've been reading Berserk for 13 years now, then I watch the trailer... it looked bad yes, however, I said to myself " OK come on, it is CG I know, but the movies look good and those are CG as well, if they keep the beautiful CG from the movies there will be no problem" ... how naive I was.

lets start by the obvious this is a fantastical history, because Kentaro Miura's manga has an amazing ... history to tell, however, viewers need to know that this is a continuation of the first Berserk arc ( golden age ) hence, if you haven't watch or read the original arc you'll be completely lost here. Does the anime tells the history on a compeling and understanbable way? no...this awful anime's director doesn't know how to tell the amazing Berserk story. several important panels from the manga were omitted and that may be confusing for viewers not familiar with the source material. scenes just happen ramdonly without much context as to why or what is happening on screen. the way the director tell the story here is very confusing. however, it's Berserk, the amazing mythos created by Miura is still here... it's just not that polish as in the original source.



Let's talk Sound desing shall we?

"CLANK" if you watched the anime ( DONT DO IT ) you know what that means, The overall sound effects are awful or even worse ... non existing, it is awfully weird to see something in screen without its corresponding sound effect, for example: somebody falling to the ground without producing any sound, people opening their mouths just to not make any sound ( at least we do not hear it ) pleople grabiing things that do not produce any sound, makes the impresion that nothing exist or have weight withing this world.

Songs are ok...ish I guess, just one Susumo Hirasawa's song thou. and the opening and ending are very forgettable

Visuals:

Not much to say that hasn't been said ... yes, it is HORRIBLE, unappealing backgrounds, awful and weird animations that does not match the audio. almost non existing facial expressions, dead eye CG models even for the main characters, camera's movements that will make you eyes bleed diarrhea and so on. Definitely the worst aspect of the series by a large margin

It takes little to no effort to realize how bad this adaptation was crafted. It's painful to see one of the greatest manga of all time not being properly adapted to anime, let's be honest, 90's adaptation was not all that good but at least that one had the excuse of being made with the limited technology of the time ( which is not all that excusable because Yu yu hakusho, Gundam wing, evangelion and many other amazing looking anime were created round the same time) but it sure was better that this monstrosity...

The animation for this series rreally doesn't do it any justice . The horrible choice of a very inconsistent CGI model they chose made it nearly impossible to achieve any real immersion in a vert good series and pretty much sucked most of the enjoyment out of watching this series. I really feel if they had used a more traditional looking animation style or even created a more unified look in general it would have made the whole experience far more enjoyabe instean it wen from characters looking from good to the bottom of the uncanny valley so fast it'd make you head spin. ... While it wasn't bad enough where I would have droped the series, I wasn't eactly in any rush to watch the next episode at any point and I hesitate to look at Berserk (2017) because of it.

It's 2020, so Of course I already watch BD version of this series, and I'm Gonna use that as my fondation of this review.

Story: 8
No need to talk about it, We already know that the source of this anime was placed 1st as to scored manga, and I don't want to complaint anything about that, they say it skipped some arc (luckily I not yet read the manga - will watch soon), but I think that's not really Important since I don't find it really odd like what happen to GoH.

Art: 7
Here is the real problem of the show, I remember watch it when it ... first out and I really get itchy with the bad animation. BUT HERE WE ARE NOW, the art really really get better now and it feels like they did that on purpose. I mean the GAP of it really big. The black censor is gone, the stattering art is gone, the animation looks more fluid, The CGI gets much better, everything gets better. I really want to gave it an 8 but remember how bad it was, so i give it a 7

Sound: 7
I don't have any problem with this part. The OP was Good, but not great. Really love the Guts theme. Gave me chill every time hear it. Overall is good

Character: 9
Guts carry the whole series, Really love his character. eventho there is not many character dev on this season, but the char dev from the s2 gave a little bias on my rating, so I give it a 9. I love Guts btw.

Enjoyment: 7
I really enjoy this season, but not as much as season 2. Yeah this what happen when you make a review after doing marathon of 2 season of anime. You can't really differ your feeling of it since you watch it continiously. But I know I enjoy every episode of it.

Overall: 7
Not Much to say, but watching the BD really change my mind of this show. Got a little bias on the scoring, but overall it's good. Remember to watch the second season. It really get much better, especially on char dev.

Berserk is my favorite manga of all time, if no one knows, and when I found that there would be a new anime, I was the happiest man alive. I knew that if done right, for example get the treatment Hellsing, HxH 2011 or Drifters got, that it would be the best anime ever. Nevertheless since the first episode started, I felt like crying blood, because it was HORRID.

Story

One of the major issues was this. The creators skipped not one, but two whole arcs, and thanks to that, I knew that things will not be going in the direction that we the fans deserve. ... It tried to overwrite the first episode from the first anime, while still not being as it was in the manga. Characters that should've been killed, died ahead, and our MC was made very weak in the beginning, which if you are familiar with the source material, Guts (MC) is the most badass character in manga. After they skipped all this material though, they followed (kind of) one arc, even though it was still underwhelmingly executed.

Art

The animation was THE WORST I have ever seen in my life. I am not a huge fan of CGI, nevertheless I have watched CGI shows, and compared to them, this looked like it had the Food Fight rendering, it was so horrible that I could barely watch it, to make things worse, where there a group of people, they drew them with the same design, it felt like the animators didn't care about the show at all. What was most shocking though, was the fact they used 2 D animation for some portions of the show, and it looked phenomenal. Why didn't they do it like that ? I mean, if you want to keep your animation quality poor, then stay consistent, don't add great animation for a second, and then for 15 minutes use crappy one. If this anime had used the animation from the original Berserk anime that was almost 20 years old, it would've still be better than, the art we got here.

Sound

What can be said about the sound, it was almost as consistent with the art. Whenever there was a fight, you could hear a *CLANG*, like Guts' sword is a frying pan. It was disgusting. Don't get me wrong, I would understand if there is a sound like that, if he fight opponents with armor. However there was no such thing. The only redeeming quality though, is probably a little bit of the voice acting. Some of them were trying, the others were like emotionless puppets.

I can't say that I would recommend this to any Berserk fan, but people that are not familiar with the story, and want to lose some time, can give it a shot, and if they resent it after the first episode, than watch the original anime and the movies, they are far superior in quality and production value than what we got here. I am surprised that we will get a continuation of this anime, and I hope that they will mend their ways and give us a far better season, than what we received with this. Albeit I am sure that we will suffer again with the sequel. At least the manga is a GODLY experience.