I've watched under 100 anime, so don't take my word for it but why are you even reading reviews on this? Welcome to "How to Be a Man: The Anime" with your host Guts and his co-star Griffith. This is what happens when someone in Japan picks up a book on on the Medieval Era and then touches it up with some fantasy elements. I say "some" because none of that is actually present in the anime except in certain spots and in the last handful of episodes.
The story follows Guts, a mercenary travelling from battlefield to battlefield scraping together a living and purposely staring death in the face. He encounters the Band of Hawks and through a twist of fate (and some dated battle animations) joins them. Their enigmatic leader, Griffith, has aspirations of one day ruling the land. Drawn in by the charisma and mysterious allure of his being, the Band of Hawks becomes a formidable army that Griffith leads on the road to achieving his dream.
So starting with the story, it's about as generic as things can get. What separates it from other series of perhaps its genre is the way in which the story is told. We see things as Guts experiences them and we come to sympathize with the characters. While everyone has their own personality and own traits, only Guts and Griffith really stand center stage. This is fine; too many main characters can be bothersome. Thankfully, you don't forget about them and the scenes they're in are a welcome distraction from whatever else is going on.
The animation is dated and a bit lazy in places, but that's okay. What makes something timeless isn't the small stuff, but how well the big stuff looks. And wow! Facial expressions and those many interactions are just beautiful. The art direction gives you a feeling of authenticity while the scenes that do capture actual movement last only long enough to show what they need to show. Not a wasted frame most of the time.
The music isn't as strong as other stuff I've watched, but that's fine. "Tell Me Why" is probably one of the most weirdly upbeat and misleading openings of time, but still catchy enough that you don't mind. When that theme hits, you get pumped. Tracks like "Gatsu" are a bit out of place but still work well enough while the high-energy "Forces" is something you would expect out of a much more theatrical performance rather than an anime about a dude who ties logs to his sword and swings it 100 times as "training".
So why is it the "Manliest Anime of All Time"? Go watch and find out for yourself!
