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The Summer 2016 Anime Preview Guide


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residentgrigo



Joined: 23 Dec 2007
Posts: 2404
Location: Germany
PostPosted: Fri Jul 01, 2016 2:51 pm Reply with quote
I will write up my actual thoughts on Berserk later but here is a summary:

I don´t even know what they adapted here but i sure as hell NEVER read it. Next week can only improve but i apologize, on behalf of the fanbase, for the "quality" of the films and of this broken pile of garbage to everyone who watched them. The actual manga is a "masterpiece", i swear to the God Hand, please believe me Crying or Very sad . 3/10


Last edited by residentgrigo on Sat Jul 02, 2016 6:21 am; edited 1 time in total
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SnowyLightning44





PostPosted: Fri Jul 01, 2016 3:22 pm Reply with quote
Momokuri, the premise of the story didn't really get to me and I couldn't really didn't find most parts funny but the were some bits that I enjoyed like when the Kurihara said she just got there after waiting 40mins so it still wasn't bad 2.5

ReLife, I found this quite enjoyable and like pointed out in review the fact that he was just an ordinary person that couldn't get a job rather then an otaku who wouldn't get a job made the show feel more believable and the comedy felt pretty well placed as well 4.0
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DmonHiro





PostPosted: Fri Jul 01, 2016 3:31 pm Reply with quote
Berserk 2016... you have failed me. Between the PS2 era CG, the horrible pacing and the skipping of arcs (WHAT THE HIFL?!, this "adaptation" is DOA for me. The voice acting was OK, the music was great, the small hand drawn sequences were good, but the rest is a mess. Even the opening, which is supposed to get you hyped as hell is only mediocre. Why give this to an animation studio that only did shorts? Why give this to an animation studio to hasn't even done 3DGC? Why the hell is Casca so pale? This anime, to me at least, is repulsive. I recommend you watch the original anime, then read the manga. Maybe someday, someone will make a real Berserk anime again. Hoping for MAPAA for animation.
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Sahmbahdeh



Joined: 05 May 2015
Posts: 712
PostPosted: Fri Jul 01, 2016 3:37 pm Reply with quote
Berserk: 2.5/5. Let's get the negatives out of the way first, shall we? The CGI being bad is obvious, and the biggest issue hampering my enjoyment. It's just ugly and clunky, and unfortunately there's a lot of it. We all knew it was coming, though. No use crying about it more than we have to. The character designs for a lot of the thugs were cartoonishly ugly, and didn't fit the rest of the shows aesthetic. The editing was also choppy, and the pacing felt really off to me. Almost all the scene transitions felt really abrupt as well. The music itself was fine, but it's implementation was less so. Finally, Puck. While I had no real issues with Puck in the manga, I realized that part of why that is, is that I don't have to listen to Puck's annoying, whiny voice when I read the manga, but here I do. Very unfortunate.

Now for the positives. I really like the shading, and all of the 2D stuff is gorgeous. The camera during action scenes is very dynamic, which really ups the tension and sense of momentum. Also, the fact that it's CG means the animation staff doesn't have to compromise Miura's incredibly detailed designs, which I appreciate. The writing seems to be intact, and there were some very powerful moments, especially at the end of the episode. Finally, they really nailed the tone and atmosphere of Berserk, which is especially great.

Overall, as long as I can get used to the CG, I'll be fine. Here's hoping the editing and use of music improves.
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justsomeaccount



Joined: 24 Oct 2014
Posts: 471
PostPosted: Fri Jul 01, 2016 3:46 pm Reply with quote
I'm so glad to nor have watched Berserk so I can easily skip most of these posts, la la la ~~

Momokuri: 2,5 / 5. Meh. It's better at being cute than being funny, where it's not really obnoxious but "ocasionally" so, where you get tired to the girl's stick being drawn out too long (her voice doesn't help), and they could at least put some backgrounds in those comedic scenes, I know you want to cut corners but it becomes confusing and it overplays the jokes. But at the same time, as Rebecca said, it's harmless in its nature, the girl's creepiness goes too far to being funny but not too much to be just uncomfortable to sit through, and there's some cuteness and atmopshere in there when it wants to. Not for me, but eh.

ReLIFE: Overall 2 / 5. Content 3 / 5. Direction 1 / 5. The content's fine, it's not really funny but it's not grating. the characterization is fresh for what you see in typical anime and where you see that this comes from a (korean?) webmanga, the way the character speak with each other even when they are acting in some "anime-isms" feels a little different, more witty and friendly, so in those respects I'm fine with this.

However, the direction... ugghhhhh. I just wanted to clarify, I'm not referring to the animation or even art design or color despite being low. I know this is a modest webmanga and it's not going to have a big budget, these are things that I get and there's a lot of shows that are minimally animated or even artistically but still carry the basic story fine. My problem with this show is:

1-The pacing. This goes to Tatami Galaxy levels of quick pacing, where you don't have a single moment to breathe and everything is too fast to process. And honestly Tatami Galaxy's pacing was a big problem for me to engage with it, but I still saw more technique and point with its use than in this series, where it uses the same for. Every. Single. Scene. It never stops, there's not ocasional pauses, everything is so fast that you cannot take a breath and I had to stop the episode 10 times to get through. And that affects everyone, there are some jokes where the quick pacing benefits it but many others are cut before you can process them and you are left confused, and there's tone whiplash from light-hearted to somber in two seconds very oftenly. I found it really incompetent in my opinion.

2-Those super-zoomed claustrophobic short shots. Most of the episode is like that, when the opening came I was glad to see some big general shots of the environment for a few seconds, the rest are so compressed and quick that it contributes to that exhausting atmosphere, especially when most of them are really basic postures that feel like very amateur storyboarding. I don't know if this is because of the format of the original webmanga, but you could have gone better for this anime adaptation you guys.

Between those problems, I'm afraid I can't get through this series. I'm glad it exists to give opportunities to good webcomics, and If I can maybe I'll check out the webmanga because the content itself is okay and modest. But in anime form I doubt it.
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VoidWitch



Joined: 14 Mar 2016
Posts: 157
PostPosted: Fri Jul 01, 2016 4:10 pm Reply with quote
ReLIFE Cautious 3/5.
So far looks like a pretty generic drama show with comedic elements as to be expected from an unoriginal premise. Quality-wise - nothing special. I'm worried about romance implications in the opening though... There is a lot of potential for the narrative to become really creepy as a part of a fantasy of becoming a high school student once again. I would be pleasantly surprised if it's just a "besties" kind of a thing, but let's be honest: it's not going to happen. Which means that it's either going to be an uncomfortable(to say the least) love story or there will be some BS reason as to why these characters can be together. I don't know if I want to know.
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CrowLia



Joined: 24 Feb 2012
Posts: 5500
Location: Mexico
PostPosted: Fri Jul 01, 2016 5:10 pm Reply with quote
So Berserk... man it looks worse than I expected. Although it does have a handful of beautiful 2D shots, they're pretty meaningless in that ocean of crappy CGI. The movement in particular is so uncanny and cringe-worthy. I also can't believe they made Caska white. I never understood why they did that in the movies and I certainly don't get why they did it here. Ugh. The rest was okay but not really groundbreaking. I've read up to the Lost Children arc in the manga, so no surprises here. Something I did like was Puck's voice, it was very fitting. I'm giving it a 3/5 because the direction was pretty good in spite of the crap visuals and it was fina as an introductory episode. That OP animation though is utterly revolting and I hope they change it.
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thekingsdinner



Joined: 25 Sep 2010
Posts: 1067
Location: Geertruidenberg, Netherlands
PostPosted: Fri Jul 01, 2016 6:27 pm Reply with quote
Berserk: 0.5/5. ...I don't have much to say what anybody else has already said about this one. All I'm gonna say is that watching Berserk at 5 frames per second doesn't do it justice.

Dropped. I'm just gonna go ahead and read the manga further, I'm almost past Golden Age now anyway.


Last edited by thekingsdinner on Fri Jul 01, 2016 6:36 pm; edited 1 time in total
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Theozilla



Joined: 27 Sep 2014
Posts: 135
Location: Oakland, California
PostPosted: Fri Jul 01, 2016 6:35 pm Reply with quote
I'm honestly surprised how generous the reviewers were with Berserk at least number score-wise. Even just viewing it as its own product separate from the manga, it was still a pretty mediocre episode IMO.
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ICO44



Joined: 28 Aug 2015
Posts: 103
PostPosted: Fri Jul 01, 2016 6:58 pm Reply with quote
Damn, I love Beserk too much to see it like this!!! They caould at least do better CG, like they way Guilty Gear Xrd did it.
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Wingbeats



Joined: 23 Feb 2015
Posts: 272
Location: Boise, Idaho
PostPosted: Fri Jul 01, 2016 7:25 pm Reply with quote
I've never been able to keep up with CG shows for long, since the character animation weirds me out. I always give them a shot...but bleeeh.

Beserk is no exception. The crosshatching makes it look nicer than usual, but the character movements and talking still places this firmly into the uncanny valley for me. It's just...failing to look like anything but awkward puppets.

Then there was the weird jerky scenes? As if there was no inbetweens animated or something. That was hard for my brain to process. There was a few moments of really nice 2D animation, but those just felt like teases. While the content and such were spot on, I just can't with the animation. I'm sure there will someday be a show that can harness the cg tech enough to make the animation look natural, but today is not that day.

I guess I'll continue to stick with the manga.

Berserk: 2/5

Edit: I watched Relife next! I actually very much enjoyed the show, as I find the main character relatable and endearing. The jokes made me laugh and cringe at the same time. I need to finish watching Kabenari and also check out Monokuri, but I definitely want to keep watching this one. It gets to stay in my queue Smile
4/5


Last edited by Wingbeats on Fri Jul 01, 2016 8:12 pm; edited 1 time in total
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XakonXIV



Joined: 28 Jul 2014
Posts: 25
PostPosted: Fri Jul 01, 2016 7:36 pm Reply with quote
I was initially going to write a post here regarding my issues with the newest adaptation of Berserk. As I begun writing, however, I quickly realized that any such attempt would not only take way too much time to write, but it would also result in a post of such unreasonable length that I can't imagine a lot of people would read it anyway.

Hopefully, the next episode won't be quite as much of a jumbled, sloppy and tone-deaf clusterf*ck as the first one turned out to be, but I won't hold my breath.

Oh, and that soundtrack sure was effective. Mhm. Yay for generic metal music mixed with (supposedly) ominous chanting.
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Gina Szanboti



Joined: 03 Aug 2008
Posts: 11306
PostPosted: Fri Jul 01, 2016 8:19 pm Reply with quote
Zach wrote:
The director really nailed the atmosphere and tone of the manga... This may be the closest they've ever gotten to nailing the mood of Berserk...

Huh. My first thought on finishing the episode was, "Have these people even seen the first series or read the manga?" Smile They don't seem to have any idea what this story is. It felt like they were thinking people just want blood and guts (npi) and action hipness. This isn't your father's Guts - this is Guts for the 21st century!! :/

I felt no sense of despair or desperation or even rage in Guts' epic battle, just ain't-it-cool sword swinging as he apathetically mowed down skeletons while looking at his watch to see if it was quitting time yet. There's just no heart in this. But maybe it was mostly the upbeat preview, the FMA OP and light fantasy ED that made me feel that way. I mean, they did kinda establish a nicely dark mood at times, but the musical choices bookending the episode really make it hard for that to stick.

Also, it would have been nice to get at least one image of Caska in which she wasn't reduced to a naked victim. I realize she spent a lot of time in the manga being traumatized and victimized, but a reminder that she could also kick some ass would've been welcomed.


Last edited by Gina Szanboti on Fri Jul 01, 2016 9:56 pm; edited 1 time in total
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prime_pm



Joined: 06 Feb 2004
Posts: 2333
Location: Your Mother's Bedroom
PostPosted: Fri Jul 01, 2016 8:25 pm Reply with quote
Having caught up with the webtoon, I pretty much know what I'm getting into with Relife, so I'm enjoying the animation thus far. Nice how they condensed all those chapters into the first episode.

Question: Is anyone else getting the whole season of Relife on their Crunchyroll account? Because I'm watching episode 2 right now.
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Clodus



Joined: 25 Dec 2005
Posts: 497
Location: Kansas
PostPosted: Fri Jul 01, 2016 8:34 pm Reply with quote
yappers4 wrote:
I have been wanting to get into Berserk for a while. I was too young in the 90s to even know about it, and I haven't even heard of the series until about last year. Where do I begin to watch? Any help would be tremendously appreciated. By the way, I'm not a manga-only type of person as I like to experience both every medium of a franchise as possible, beginning with anime first.

Recommended Viewing Order

1 ) Berserk 1997 TV Series by Oriental Light and Magic Studio - Skip Episode 1 and start with Episode 2. After you finish the series then go back and watch the first episode. That's the correct chronological order. For some stupid reason, they put the epilogue on episode 1. Even if you do watch it first then it's not going to make a lot of sense so just take my advice. Don't listen to some of the fans who recommend you to skip the ending. Most of the material is canon. Don't be turned off by how old the series is, it's still pretty dam good even by today's standards.

Justification - Some of the reasons why you want to start with this series first is because they skip a lot of important details in the Movie Trilogy like Gut's past, his foster father, details about Griffith's motive for associating with a certain lord were also not present in the movies. This is not to say that the 1997 TV series was perfect because it was also missing some canon material from the manga. The most obvious one that comes to mind is Gut's companion, Puck whose existence was excluded all together.

2) Berserk: The Golden Age Arc: Movies 1-3 by Studio 4C - The Movie trilogy is a modern adaption. For the most part, it is an accurate adaption but they Added some details to a lot of scenes that weren't present in the TV series or the Manga. I assume because they wanted the original fans to enjoy some new material. Just think of it as the same scene told in a different way with small additional details added here and there. One thing that comes to mind is the first battle with the Basuzo and spoiler[his eyeball pops out of socket.] There are also 3 sex scenes that were extended along with a certain torturer dying in a slightly different manner.

Justification - The trilogy has details that weren't present in the 1997 TV series. They continue slightly after the TV series ended. I believe starting from the ladder half of the second movie and onward. One of the details I vividly remember is the King's feelings for a certain person that wasn't mentioned in the TV series. I don't exactly remember everything but my point is, you get most of the details if you watch the TV series first then the movie trilogy will fill in some blanks.

I haven't watched the 2016 series yet but from what I've been reading then I will probably be disappointed. I had suspicions that the series will be SHITily adapted based on my basic research on the 2 Studio and Staff involved. Both studios and the staff involved based on their past works aren't what I would consider top tier skilled. One of the studios looked like they were a New Start-Up so I was counting on the fact that some New Studios generally do pretty good when they first begin. I felt my blood begin to boil just from reading the ANN reviews. Maybe I should just be happy that its getting a reboot at all after so long. I was initially super pissed off when I saw the CG animations for the Trilogy too but I got over it with time. Its funny that I don't get angry much in real life but when its about one of my hobbies then I go full bat shit crazy even if I do painfully realize the creators have no obligation to cater to a fan's wants and needs.
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