Kenpuu Denki Berserk

Guts, a man who will one day be known as the Black Swordsman, is a young traveling mercenary characterized by the large greatsword he carries. He accepts jobs that offer the most money, but he never stays with one group for long—until he encounters the Band of the Falcon. Ambushed after completing a job, Guts crushes many of its members in combat. Griffith, The Band of the Falcon's leader and founder, takes an interest in Guts and duels him. While the others are no match for Guts, Griffith defeats him in one blow.

Incapacitated and taken into the Band of the Falcon's camp to recover, Guts wakes up two days later. He confronts Griffith, and the two duel yet again, only this time with a condition: Guts will join the Band of the Falcon if he loses. Due to his fresh injuries, Guts loses the fight and is inducted by Griffith.

In three years' time, Guts has become one of the Band of the Falcon's commanders. On the battlefield, his combat prowess is second only to Griffith as he takes on large groups of enemies all on his own. With Guts' immense strength and Griffith's leadership, the Band of the Falcon dominate every battle they partake in. But something menacing lurks in the shadows, threatening to change Guts' life forever.

[Written by MAL Rewrite]

Guts Main

Canna, Nobutoshi Japanese

Griffith Main

Morikawa, Toshiyuki Japanese

Casca Main

Miyamura, Yuko Japanese

Judeau Supporting

Ishida, Akira Japanese

Nosferatu, Zodd Supporting

Utsumi, Kenji Japanese

Pippin Supporting

Amada, Masuo Japanese

Rickert Supporting

Yajima, Akiko Japanese

Slan Supporting

Tanaka, Atsuko Japanese

Void Supporting

Ishizuka, Unshou Japanese

Godo Supporting

Nishikawa, Ikuo Japanese

Nakatani, Toshio Producer

Okuno, Toshiaki Producer

Takahashi, Naohito Director, Episode Director, Storyboard, Chief Animation Director, Key Animation

Tsurumaki, Kazuya Episode Director

Reviews

Jul 5, 2025

catyo

Recommended

The idiots who say animation is for kids should watch this. One of the darkest pieces of fiction, one of the best anime series, and also probably the worst starter anime ever.

Berserk is a 1997 Japanese dark fantasy anime series based on a very controversial and disturbing manga from the late 1980s. I have not read the manga, but what I can tell is that it must be horrific if it is generally considered more gruesome than this.

As this anime was made in 1997, the budget was unfortunately very low causing the animation here to look quite dated. But from what they had, I actually ... think they still did a very good job. While events will sometimes shortly linger on one still frame, the landscapes and medieval-like settings do look very good.

The action scenes are also amazing, they don't hold back in brutality, there is a lot of blood but it still isn't gratuitous enough to show full-on gore in every episode.

I also love the characters and world-building, but instead of complimenting the anime, I should be complimenting the source material. Also, the music! Susumu Hirasawa, who also worked on three Satoshi Kon projects, did an exceptional job here! I love the tracks Gats, Behelit and Murder which are one of the reasons this show is so amazing. Murder was used very well in the climax.

Oh yes, the climax! The last four episodes were incredibly harrowing, tragic and just absolute nightmare fuel, and definitely the best part of the show. The scene at the end was just... so gruesome.

Top notch storytelling. A dark and twisted piece of work.

Reviewer’s Rating: 10

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Jun 28, 2025

Abhi108

Mixed Feelings

"Berserk" (1997) is an anime adaptation of the legendary manga BERSERK by Kentaro Miura. First, let me say this-the manga is one of the greatest of all time. But unfortunately, this anime adaptation doesn't even come close to capturing half of its greatness.

The anime has 25 episodes with the classic 90s animation style. While the animation is decent for its time, Berserk is not just any random show-it deserves far better animation to do justice to the intensity and scale of its story.

The pacing feels off at times, and the music and soundtracks are below average, which takes away some of the emotional depth and ... intensity that the story demands.

However, if you stick with it until episodes 16-17, the plot starts to grip you, and you'll find yourself hooked.

Many fans consider Guts to be one of the most suffering and tragic characters in fiction. But based on the anime alone, I wouldn't go that far - there are other fictional characters who've endured just as much, if not more. The manga, of course, explores Guts' pain and journey on a much deeper level.

The final episode is both powerful and traumatic-a truly memorable and shocking ending. But here lies the biggest issue: that's where it ends.

There's no continuation after that. If you want to know what happens next, you'll have to read the manga. Also, the anime skips several important manga moments, which is disappointing.

Overall, if you're looking for an introduction to the world of Berserk, this anime is a solid starting point.

But if you want the full experience, with its true depth, themes, and storytelling-you must read the manga.

Reviewer’s Rating: 6

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Apr 12, 2025

the-adventurer

Not Recommended

Funny

Having watched this anime, and reading some of the reviews on the manga now, I've come to the conclusion that Berserk is vastly overrated.

(Caution: This review contains sarcasm and a decent helping of bitterness.)

Of course, I cannot gauge whether there is some saving grace to the manga or the main anime series, but as for the prequel; I would only recommend it to the die-hard Berserk fans who won't a flaw in anything Berserk-related anyway.

First things first: I was recommended this series by someone who thought "You like FromSoftware games? You must love this."

Uhm. No.

One thing I dislike about Dark Souls is the medieval setting, ... and thus, I don't really like Berserk's setting, either. It's been done to death. Almost every Fantasy story and every second RPG uses a medieval setting. I'm tired of castles and knights, but it's a flaw I will overlook if the franchise brings some other original concept with it.

What about the animation? It's stiff. Uninspired. The backgrounds feel bland. I could give it a 6/10 at best as it wasn't horrible to look at, just boring. I was expecting an action series, but there was surprisingly little action in it.

The characters? I couldn't relate to the majority of them, and they weren't particularly interesting to me, either. Griffith proved to be an ass, and Guts - who knows what's going on inside of the strong and silent type, anyway? The only character that had me invested was Casca, because she was a female mercenary in a world that disrespected women, and had been abused in the past. Unlike with Guts or Griffith, she faced a daily challenge to prove her standing and independence. I was rooting for her to stand strong in battle and show those men up. I ... was starting to have doubts when Guts had sex with her.

But surely the story made up for all of that?
Nope. For an anime about an awesome swordfighter, it had very little awesome fights. It didn't have a lot of monsters, either. Most of the time, characters were just talking, and I never quite got what it was all about. There was some political intrigue going on, and the only real fantasy aspect in this series up until its finale was Griffiths super weird "egg of god" pendant. Actually, I think the prequel might make more sense if you've seen or read the original series first.

I was tempted to drop the anime several times, but since Berserk is super popular, I kept watching in hopes it would get good eventually or at least save itself with some awesome twist.

Well. There was a twist.

At the very end, the anime cranks the grossness level up to 11.
Griffith transforms into some kind of ugly-ass demon and rapes the only character I was remotely invested in. And we don't even see her fight back much, despite of her being a mercenary and fighter. By comparison, she was raped and abused in the past, but that wasn't explicitly shown, and she had no fighting skills at the time to even try to fight back. Moreover, it gave her a reason to learn fighting, and it served to establish the overall world setting. This second time, by Griffith, served only to appal and disgust; the narritive itself objectified and abused her. And holy crap. I will NOT let a series get away with showing rape, especially if it doesn't serve a strong enough purpose in the narrative, because it's a indicator the author did it because he liked it.

Guts fights gross demon Griffith, stuff gets bloody and gorey for a bit, and that's that. The closing scenes of the final episode (Guts fighting demons and Griffith having taken control of the country) were more intriguing in terms of story than the entire rest of the anime.

Huge thanks to the guy who recommended I watch this because I like SOME FromSoftware titles - Thanks for wasting several evenings of my life and making me never want anything to do with Beserk ever again.

Reviewer’s Rating: 2

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