I like older anime compared to modern anime. Not that the new stuff is bad (some of it is really good), but the series and movies from the 90s and early 2000s have always stood out to me since that was what I grew up watching. I would sit down and watch Toonami after a day at school and watch series like Dragon Ball Z, Tenchi, Outlaw Star, and even stay up late and watch Trigun and Cowboy Bebop on Adult Swim. You know, a time before you could stream whatever anime you want and before Crunchyroll, Netflix, YouTube, and Hulu. It was that mentality that got me curious to see 1997’s Berserk and I loved it.
However, I have decided to not talk about that for two reasons. One, I encourage you to watch it and form your own opinion without my input. Two, Bennett the Sage has already talked about it and he does a great job sharing what is good about it. Here is the Link- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tO5bXW1tfhE . Which is why I chose to talk about the sequel that came out in 2016… Almost 20 years after the original series.
Berserk didn’t gain a big following when it originally came out, but then it developed a cult following years later, so Universal and Funimation decided to team up and localize a trilogy of films to abridge the original series (don’t bother, they suck), and release a new series and continue the story where the original ended and pick up on where the manga continued (and still continues to this day).
The new series had potential to be one of the best anime for the modern era… Instead… Let me explain. Also, I am focusing on the English Dub, so this is based on season 1 and I know future seasons are in the plans to come out.
Pros- It has some of the best voice acting I have heard. The cast does a great job portraying the characters and they fit better than I could have possibly imagined. I found myself caring about the characters, like I did when reading the manga. That is the best thing about this anime. It has one of my favorite opening credit scenes in anime right now. It pumps you up for what you are about to see and gives you a brief history of past events, so you have an understanding of the weight the main character is going through. I need to talk about the main character, Guts. This is one of the manliest characters in anime history. His appearance is very masculine, and he wields a sword that is as big as he is and it’s very size makes people fear him. He is the best part about this story in every format you are able to see it in.
Cons- The animation is inconsistent. They switch between hand drawn animation and CGI, and while CGI does not bother me in anime, but when it switches between the two at random moments in time (sometimes the characters are just talking and they use CGI and some of the action is done in hand drawn animation) it can cause visual whiplash and confusion. Note this any creator of media: PICK A VISUAL STYLE AND STICK WITH IT. They also tried using the same art style as the manga and while that itself is not a bad thing, the chibi and sometimes cartoonish look of only two characters can really be distracting, because it is only the two characters that make such faces. The pacing is all over the place. They explain what doesn’t need to be explained and leave out details that should be in the story. Also, I need to mention one more thing that hurts the experience. The manga has a lot of nudity (Game of Thrones levels) and the anime decides instead of allowing the R rating to happen to make all the character look like Barbie Dolls when naked. No reproductive organs or nipples are present. I know someone may think, “That can’t be so bad.” The anime takes place in a dark and very serious world and at moments that should be emotional and engaging, all you can think is, “where are her nipples?” The manga has it, the original series was able to avoid it, but if you are going to have explicit content, MAKE IT EXPLICIT CONTENT!
Final Verdict- This was the first time I was truly disappointed in an anime. While the action scenes are fun and the characters are enjoyable in some cases (always when it comes to Guts), I can’t help but feel like all the problems are distracting from the good to stop you from truly enjoying it. So in conclusion, Watch the 1997 original, read the manga, if sex and violence don’t bother you (seriously, Game of Thrones levels of sex and violence), and ignore all modern iterations of this incredible story.
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