Forum - View topicEP. REVIEW: Berserk
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Stark700
 Posts: 11762 Location: Earth |
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Yeah this show...I really have mixed feelings on it so far. Beyond the weird CGI, they're also adding some original content although they are also adapting some of the more violent content.
Very mixed thoughts on Berserk so far. It's also a 2 cour so plenty more to come from this series later.... |
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wolf10
 Posts: 901 |
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I'm basically a Berserk virgin going into this series, knowing only that some really horrible stuff happened at the end of the Golden Age and that Griffith is a bad dude, but I stumbled across the most recent volume recently and was impressed enough to dive into the beginning and realize: all of that is okay.
The first episode of this new anime is actually an adaptation of the very first chapter of the manga, which takes place some years after the Eclipse, with Guts wounded and broken on a quest for revenge against Griffith. The whole thing is such a late-arrival spoiler that the manga originally started in medias res years after its most infamous story arc. |
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Sahmbahdeh
Posts: 712 |
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Episode 1 was pretty bad, but I think episode 2 was a huge step up in every way. The direction and editing was way more comprehensible, camera angles made the CGI more bearable, the music was better utilized, and the story and themes started to get going. Episode 3 was a slight step down from that, but still better than episode 1. It looks like we'll be getting introduced to Mozgus next episode, so there's that to look forward to. As far as fucked up content goes, to this day very few series can hold a candle to Berserk, so if you want something more extreme, it still has that.
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SNaGem
Posts: 41 |
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I think the series is too rushed for my liking right now. I understand the desire to skip Golden Age so it's not adapted for the third time, but (despite what the anime claims) skipping The Black Swordsman Arc (except for the first episode) and jumping straight into the Conviction arc, giving Guts his comrades, prevents us from seeing the contrast of Guts straight after Golden Age and Guts when he builds a new set of companions. I dunno, I think it'll rush too much and not leave room for the characters to develop.
CGI is janky and crap except when it's done for the monsters... it made the dogs look terrifying. Regular animation is no prize, though, with the only good parts being closeups of the faces. Anytime they do an actual scene, the framerate is so low I am legitimately thinking I'm watching Teekyuu. Yeah, and Jacob mentioned this, but the music is questionable at best. Sometimes it's some nice, cheesy dark opera-laden symphonic rock piece, but most of the time it's weird EDM stuff. |
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Lemonchest
Posts: 1771 |
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I've been pretty fine with the series so far. Berserk is one of those stories that can carry you through it's at times very shoddy presentation, even if I doubt it'll ever exceed what was in the Golden Age arc. Lets face it it's been nearly 20 years since there first series (which was no looker itself) & I can barely think of any fantasy anime that hold a candle to it.The fight scenes tend to be pretty good once Guts gets his giant iron phallus off his back. Speaking of the direction, there's one shot they've used a couple times when the camera pans down the length of Dragonslayer while turning to face back at Guts that looks really cool. Cribbed from a Final Fantasy cutscene, I imagine, but cool none the less. Of course there's also been plenty of times when I thought a sequence would look much better as several separate cuts rather than having the camera rotate around the scene.
There's some visual things that do irk me a bit. I don't like that Casca apparently had the melanin shocked out of her skin by the Eclipse, or that Serpico looks like Link & Puck looks like a cross between Navi & the GdGd Fairies when they randomly switch to blob form. I don't normally like the chibi art switchero thing a lot of anime like to do, but in Berserk it seems especially out of place. Also that scene when Farnese is whipping Guts looked terrible & I've noticed they like to use the same stock walking motion that you see used by every CG background character. But tbh as low budget animation goes, I've seen a lot worse, even if we might expect better from a TV production in 2016. It doesn't help, though, that they have those flashbacks & other shots done with digital 2D that look better & remind people why they were so pissed off at it being done with 3DCG. Susumea's insert song is alright, if not as good as Forces or Gutsu. They certainly seem to be using it a lot. I don't like most of the music by the other guy doing the actual OST, particularly some of the rubbish EDM stuff. The OP is leagues better than the awful PenPals song from the 90s series, although the ED is a bit bland. |
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MarshalBanana
 Posts: 5307 |
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It isn't all that bad, yes the heavy use of CG is the main issue, but at least it isn't bad and it makes for some well made fights. And apart from the Lost Child arc and a bit of an alteration with the last episode. It is so far very faithful.
As for the actual story itself, there is a part of the Berserk fandom, mostly comprised of OLM fans for obvious reasons, who prefer the Golden Age arc over everything else(even though it was just a setup arc). And I think JesuOtaku is a part of that, which makes me wonder if this will be a fair review or a string of comparisons to the golden age arc. Last edited by MarshalBanana on Sun Jul 17, 2016 11:05 am; edited 1 time in total |
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Souther
 Posts: 602 |
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For someone who hasn't read the manga, JesuOtaku's already picked up on Farnese's and Serpico's characters. Though, I don't think Farnese's comparable to Casca, she's very different. Same with Serpico, though I suppose he is reserved with his feelings in a similar manner to Judeau.
And as for supernatural creatures and God in Berserk, this contains spoilers for the 1997 anime and the 3rd movie, seeing as the reviewer hasn't read the manga: spoiler[yeah, creatures that could be considered pagan exist. As for God, during the Eclipse in both the anime and 3rd movie, the God Hand talk about God and how he was "born of man". Also, consider the names "God Hand" and "Apostles". It's...a bit more complicated in the manga, let's say that.] Anyway, so far, I don't think this has been a very good adaptation of the source material, and the concessions they had to make to contain the story into 12 episodes could've been done a lot better. Guts in particular suffers; his development and his relationship with Puck has been lost, resulting in a flatter character. A good amount of details and themes about this arc have been lost as well. Barring episode 2, the first few episodes have been a mess, but afterwards is when we'll get to the meat of Conviction, and I think it'll pick up from there. Last edited by Souther on Sun Jul 17, 2016 11:04 am; edited 1 time in total |
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Valhern
 Posts: 916 |
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About keeping Miura's world intact...eh. I would discuss you on that for sure. The Apostle we found in Episode 3 was a mash-up of the Count, the first seen antagonist in the manga, and Rosine, the first antagonist after the Golden Age arc. The Count is an Apostle that we see in the making, we see how an Apostle becomes one, and that sort of helps to understand what happens during the Eclipse (the Golden Age is like a long flashback arc in the manga), but reversely the Eclipse helps explaining the creation of Apostles. All we saw about this in the anime was some fast shots of a Behelit, the guy getting beaten by the masters of the house, and then him eating his lady-master.
But here's the deal, that's not how it works. To become an Apostle, you activate the Behelit and you offer your most precious person as sacrifice. Like, see what happened in the Eclipse with Griffith? The same, but in a much smaller scale, and it doesn't involve that mess of crawling demons and stuff, since the God Hand is created with a different Behelit and on different circumstances. That girl's half body that was put there? Vanished, her whole being should be consumed after becoming a sacrifice. Not only that, but this guy was defeated incredibly easy. An Apostle might look like a "minion" but these guys are FREAKING strong. Healthy Guts (same armor and weapons) almost gets killed to defeat the three he fights in these arcs. Even a stronger and better equiped Guts would have trouble against any Apostle. As for how ugly and uncanny valley Guts is to me, another matter. Last edited by Valhern on Sun Jul 17, 2016 11:03 am; edited 1 time in total |
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Themaster20000
 Posts: 863 |
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It should be pointed out too that Miura himself wrote episode 3. I do think the camera work is kinda of a double-edged sword.Episode 2 was very efficient with it,but then you have Episode 3 where some of the choices make you scratch your head (zoom in on those PS2 rendered dogs!). That episode itself was a mixed bag;Miura basically took this apostle that had a few pages of screen time and gave him a backstory,while mixing elements from the Snake Baron,and Count apostle (torturing for information,and showing they retain some of their humanity).
Episode 2 was the highlight,with the other 2 being pretty mixed. |
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Johan Eriksson 9003
Posts: 281 |
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Actually, this guy did appear in the manga as well, and he was defeated even easier back then. He is the first apostle that Guts kills with the Dragonslayer after the eclipse. He is just some pathetic low-level apostle that was apparently late for the big feast and managed to find Guts where he was recuperating. |
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Ulinox
 Posts: 687 |
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The flashbacks in episode 2 were really good, and the whole ending with the king and the princess in episode 3 were nicely done aswell. Mostly because they were all done in traditional animation, and just looked way better than the CG battles Guts has in "present time". The soundtrack is amazing, and also made the flashbacks better. The preview for episode four has Rickert and Casca in it, so hopefully we'll get more backstory on them and more flashbacks, because they've been the best part of this anime so far.
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Valhern
Posts: 916 |
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I literally do not remember him, and as for how I remember the scene of Farnese almost being raped by the horse is in the outskirts, not inside a mansion, and all Guts killed at that moment was some monsters that were following him and nothing else. Did he appear in the Black Swordsman arc? That arc is probably one of the most experimental parts of Berserk, since all Apostles shown after the Count are incredibly strong. I don't even remember if he had a backstory at all. |
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Souther
Posts: 602 |
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He appeared post-Eclipse, at Godo's place. He tracked Guts down and wanted to "finish off the leftovers". |
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Videogamep
 Posts: 564 Location: CA |
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I haven't seen past episode 1 since I'm waiting for the dub, but I didn't hate the CGI. It's not good, but Berserk has never had a well animated adaptation. The original anime skimped on frames like they were an endangered species and had more still frames than anything I've ever seen. As long as more Berserk is getting animated, I'm happy.
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ICO44
 Posts: 103 |
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I wish ufotable was the one would animate this. It could have make the show godly.
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