This anime started airing in 1997 so don't expect too much of the animation , however i re watched the series again quite recently and to my surprise it stood the test of time quite well. If you have watched other anime that came out between 1995-2000 and couldn't watch those because of the animation you may feel the same here but to me the old/faded look of the animation actually suits the world very well making it feel more like a positive than a negative.
The opening of this anime is my guilty pleasure as its lyrics are wacky and yet i love it , the sound effects are good here the clashing of swords the riding of horses and all of the other medieval sound effects that you expect to hear from an anime set in the medieval era are fitting.
As for the characters Guts and Griffith steal the show. Guts isn't really likeable at first but that is on purpose as on the outside he is this serious yet angry man who has beaten armour and a huge great-sword, but as the show progresses we see whats on the inside and what led him to where he is today. Then we have Griffith who in almost the complete opposite fashion has nice shiny armour an elegant rapier and is very charismatic these two characters play off of each other as they have somewhat different upbringings and outlooks. There are also some hidden gems in the supporting cast such as a female warrior named Casca who has interesting relationships with both Guts and Griffith.
The story as a whole is quite simple and is hard to explain without giving away spoilers but i shall try my best. The story starts with guts as a mercenary for hire and he is very good at what he does being one of the best swordsman's in the show, At one point he encounters a group named the band of the hawk led by none other than Griffith and both Guts and Griffiths lives are changed forever as they set out to complete Griffiths dream along with the other members of the band of the hawk. They set out out to achieve this by fighting many battles some on the outside some on the inside. As you can imagine from a show as dark as berserk things don't always go to plan leading to many surprising encounters and misfortunes. While i think the show starts a tiny bit too slow it more than makes up for it especially at the end. It is especially awesome that we get to see many of the band of the hawk members grow closer as they try to achieve their ultimate goal.
If you can withstand some outdated animation and maybe a couple of wacky sound effects Berserk's world will entice you,shock you and hurt you. Much of the story of berserk is tied to Guts and Griffith and boy do they make it an enjoyable watch, Coupled with some great fight scenes that have a lot of weight thanks to the anime's dark undertones and we have something special, we have Berserk.
You like dark anime? Watch Berserk. You like unforgiving anime? Watch Berserk.
