Review: Berserk

Paul

Paul

Ghost of Animes
Administrator
Surprising us with his first review for a very, very long time, Stuart Bullen has sent us a Region 1 series review of Berserk; a series that has yet to show any signs of appearing in the UK just yet.<ul><span class="menu">"Thanks to the makers' almost reverent adherence to the source material Berserk is every bit as exciting on the small screen as it was on the page, the epic sweep of Miura's manga has made the translation intact, boasting intense action, drama and a sprinkling of political intrigue that'll keep even the most ardent fantasy fan smiling."</span></ul><a href="http://www.animeuknews.net/viewreview.php?showreview=110">Read full review.</a>
 
This is truly one of the greatest anime out there. I love every single aspect of this show , the dark brooding plot , the thrilling action are all wonderful aspects of it.
However its the charecters that are my favourite part of this anime. Guts , Griffith and Caska all rank in my top ten favourite charecters of all time. The relationships between the three as the dark plot unfolds, produce some of the most detailed charecter development Ive seen in an anime. The rest of the cast all receive enough development to make them interesting to watch too.
I'll stop typing now as Ill go into raving fangirl mode if I talk about the how good this show is anymore , but this is one anime that deserves 10/10. If you import just one series on R1 this should be it!
 
I'm sure people are getting sick of my raving about this show, but it really is a fantastic anime series. When watching, I knew from episode two onwards that I would love Berserk. It's the way the characters interact with each other; the action is all well and good, but it's the relationships that really make Berserk stand head and shoulders above any other anime I've seen. For those who loved the dark side of Lord of the Rings, Berserk is everything those movies could have been. I'm determind to make it the first R1 art box I buy, but would love MVM to release it over here.
 
Concrete badger said:
seconded on the region 2 release. i've yet to hear a bad thing said about this show.
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Here's two, 1. the delibrate plot holes and 2. the ending. The show was made to promote the manga and thus things and characters where left out to leave questions about what happened so that people would buy the manga answer the questions and the ending is very rushed, the material that made up the last 2 eps was 3 full volumes in the manga, which leaves alot of very cool stuff out and because one of the characters that played a mojor role in that part of the manga is left out the story jumps from an important part to the very end without resolution of what happened making the end a huge anti climax and with it jumping to the cliffhanger as well it again means you have to read the manga to know more.

That said its a good series for what it is, a companion to the manga, and thankfully now with the manga finally seeing an english release you can now no longer need to make do with just the anime.
 
Hybridchild said:
Concrete badger said:
seconded on the region 2 release. i've yet to hear a bad thing said about this show.
Click to expand...

Here's two, 1. the delibrate plot holes and 2. the ending. The show was made to promote the manga and thus things and characters where left out to leave questions about what happened so that people would buy the manga answer the questions and the ending is very rushed, the material that made up the last 2 eps was 3 full volumes in the manga, which leaves alot of very cool stuff out and because one of the characters that played a mojor role in that part of the manga is left out the story jumps from an important part to the very end without resolution of what happened making the end a huge anti climax and with it jumping to the cliffhanger as well it again means you have to read the manga to know more.

That said its a good series for what it is, a companion to the manga, and thankfully now with the manga finally seeing an english release you can now no longer need to make do with just the anime.
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A lot of the "plot holes" or manga omissions you've mentioned aren't too important to the actual anime story though. As a die-hard fan of the manga, I'm sure it was annoying not to see The Skull Knight, or the Wyald fight or even a fleeting glimpse of Puck- but then, with the exception of Wyald, all of this stuff could be tacked into a second season anyway, especially the Skull Knight.

As a manga fan your critisism stands, however, outside of the people who haven't already read that material, Berserk (the anime series) is a masterpiece.
 
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Paul said:
A lot of the "plot holes" or manga omissions you've mentioned aren't too important to the actual anime story though. As a die-hard fan of the manga, I'm sure it was annoying not to see The Skull Knight, or the Wyald fight or even a fleeting glimpse of Puck- but then, with the exception of Wyald, all of this stuff could be tacked into a second season anyway, especially the Skull Knight.
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Well the main problem was with how they done the ending how Gatz managed to escape from the Eclipsealways bugged me until i read the manga and found out, the cliff hanger didn't bother me much as it does other because the main point of the story was how he got to be the way he was and they explained that brilinatly. Explaining that and including the other scene where he first met the Skull Knight was all that was needed.

As a manga fan your critisism stands, however, outside of the people who haven't already read that material, Berserk (the anime series) is a masterpiece.
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I should point out i read the manga more than a year after seeing the anime and the problems i have with it i had before being a fan of the manga thats why i recommended treating it as a companion to the manga.

Over all it is an amazing well excuted series the character development and story telling in it is masterful and the intregue is up to the standrad of any political thriller and the battle tactics used in it where obviously written by someone who had knowledge of the warfare of the middle ages which makes it a great show but i just wanted to point out that it a couple of little things could have made it even better.
 
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