The stage:
Long before the medieval novels' break out (mostly because of isekai demand) there was Berserk, simple times with no extraordinary unfitting technology or stats, skills and menu windows all over the board that the based-on MMORPG-like gernre carries. Somewhat inciting the otherworldy without forcing it up your throat. Mercenaries, kingdoms, bloodshed and frictions within the nobility. This fantasy is written in red.
Presentation:
A very well performed classic animation even by its time, flowing in battles, detailed in conversations and always with a matching tone for each scene. The art style is greatly portrayed, the art direction shines even in the backgrounds and effects like explotions, weapon clashes and repentine movement do not feel off. This series got away with little censorship around mature content without being cheap as each of these displays derives from the plot and adds to it.
The narrative
Story:
Well paced, leaving you with short and long term intrigue, suspense and a bitter-sweet feeling as the series inquires you to look at the colors rather than just black & white situations.
Characters
The animated representators feel pretty much genuine, each with their personality and peculiarities that mostly never betray what you'd expect from them in their actions, decitions, reactions, speech and ideologies.
Interactions
Each dialogue and event grows naturally and fluently; anger, patience, grudges, pity, lust, despair, greed, egolatry, possesiveness, and whatnot are delivered in a way that makes you know more and more of this land, each character and the bonds that are, will and could be.
Final retrospective:
This series is not a 10 just because it doesn't do full justice to the drawn novel (basically because of mostly, storywise faithfullness, and secondly the harsh depiction of human/in-human behavior in such enviroments), yet is the better in-motion introduction you can watch of it as of this review was made. It dives in many subjects that even if developed in an ancient-like age scenary, some could still be apply by today's standards, and grips you into a fiction that more often than not keeps you at the edge.
