Berserk (2016)

Title:Berserk (2016)
ベルセルク
Overall:Watch
Keywords: , , , , , , , , ,
Notables:
Guts, known as the Black Swordsman, seeks sanctuary from the demonic forces that pursue him and his woman, and also vengeance against the man who branded him as an unholy sacrifice. Aided only by his titanic strength, skill, and sword, Guts must struggle against his bleak destiny, all the while fighting with a rage that might strip him of his humanity. Berserk is a dark and brooding story of outrageous swordplay and ominous fate, in the theme of Shakespeare's Macbeth.
(Summary Courtesy of MyAnimeList.net)


Summer 2016 anime that premiered on July 1, 2016.
Animated by Millepensee.
[edit] The ↗Berserk franchise:

TV Series: Movie Trilogy Remake:
OverallArtAnimationCharacter Design MusicSeries StoryEpisode StoryReviewer
Watch 6 6 6 6 6 6 Ggultra2764 [series:3213#1552]
This one's a mixed bag. This anime adaptation of Berserk adapts the Binding Chain and Birth Ceremony sections of the Conviction arc where Guts comes at odds with the Holy Iron Chain Knights, who seek him out for supposedly being linked to a prophecy that will bring ruin to the land if he is left unstopped.

Where Berserk's quality takes a hit to a great degree comes from its first half. Before this anime came along, only parts of the Black Swordsman arc and the entirety of the Golden Age arc were properly adapted into anime form between the 1990s TV anime and the later film trilogy. This creates some issues with the narrative of the anime since some elements to the manga's plot are not properly fleshed out due either to being left out of earlier anime adaptations or the Lost Children section of the Conviction arc not being adapted into anime form. A good deal of alterations and changes were also made to elements of Berserk's story in its first half to introduce characters earlier than they would appear in the manga, change up the circumstances with how the Binding Chain arc starts by mixing it with a story from the Black Swordsman arc, and removing some scenes that hinted to the major development to come in the Conviction arc's finale. Basically, the anime wanted to adapt the mentioned two parts of the Conviction arc, yet had to get to it in a haphazard way that impacted the show's pacing and plot development in major ways since some major story elements were not properly explored due to parts of the manga's storyline being cut from the anime.

On the plus side, the major plot developments of the Conviction arc remain intact with Guts dealing with the knights and later having to rescue Casca from them when she is captured. In addition, major characters introduced in the arc like Farnese and Nina get properly fleshed out and get some developments that change their views of the world and personalities for the better in spite of the horrific events that escalate into Berserk's second half. Berserk's second half is also much more faithful to the manga unlike its first half with little differences between both adaptations and whatever was added or removed not significantly altering the anime's narrative too significantly compared to the first half. Still, the anime ends inconclusively since its events would continue into the Falcon of the Millennium Empire arc, that will apparently get an anime adaptation next year in Spring 2017.

In terms of presentation, the Berserk TV anime employs CG animation similar to the Golden Age arc film trilogy yet with a TV budget in mind as the character rendering and animation looks quite rough and stiff at a number of points throughout the series despite maintaining the appearance of many of the character designs used from the manga. The soundtrack also has its fair share of issues from employing J-Rock for a number of its musical tracks which clash poorly with Berserk's intended mood as a dark horror/action medieval fantasy series.

Overall, this is a rather mediocre attempt to adapt one of Berserk's later story arcs. While retaining the major story elements and mood of the series, the show's attempts to build up its major conflict in its first half have some rather haphazard narrative direction coming from a combination of its fast pacing and some elements of Berserk's story not being properly fleshed out due to removed sections of plot and a full part of the Conviction arc. A rather underwhelming effort of an adaptation as epic and famous as Berserk.

Last updated Friday, September 16 2016. Created Friday, September 16 2016.
Unevaluated Stretch [series:3213#628]
(One episode watched):

After reading the synopsis above I could only guess that the reason why episode one didn't impress me was because the makers were trying to hook viewers with a lot of violence in this initial episode, and were saving any serious revelation of the plot for later. About the only things I learned from episode one were that Guts is an awesome swordsman (so what else is new?) with some sort of curse on him. He doesn't exactly seem likeable or heroic. The show seems to have a nihilistic, depressing tone to it. The animation seemed stiff and movement was unrealistic, which annoyed me--usually I don't notice much about such things at all. But it sounded like there would be a plot eventually, and Berserk is a fairly famous show, so I wanted to continue watching. But it turned out that while I had assumed that this was a remake of the classic anime TV series, it was in fact a sequel, and a sequel of a number of movies, none of which I have seen. So, I decided to drop this show.

Last updated Saturday, September 17 2016. Created Wednesday, July 13 2016.

Other Sites
NameURL
Official Japanese Series Web Site http://berserk-anime.com/

Community Anime Reviews

anime mikomi org