My Opinion on any future Berserk Adaptations

I've been doing some thinking about the past adaptations, and I wanted to like, word vomit out my thoughts on what I want in any future Berserk adaptation. I think that some time should be given for Berserk 2016/17 to be forgotten, or at least lost relevancy. Being 2022 now, it's been over 4 and a half years since Berserk 2017 aired it's finale. Along with the announcement of the new Rurouni Kenshin anime at Jump Festa 2022, I think it'd be about time to get a pickup from the end of 1997, given that's a possible path for the Rurouni Kenshin show, being a sequel to the original anime.

I think this point needs explanation: Don't redo Golden Age unless the studio is going to animate the entire series. If the full series is adapted in one adaptation, that will be the all in one adaptation. If, however, the studio has no plans on adapting the full series, and is instead only adapting a few arcs, I think it'd be okay to omit Golden Age. Two full adaptations of it is fine, even if it cuts important things. Maybe add the stuff that was cut out via flashbacks if they're that important (Skull Knight for 97 for example).

Start with an arc that has no proper adaptation, The Lost Children Chapter of Conviction or Black Swordsman. Black Swordsman has received 2 anime adaptations, being Episode 1 of the Sword Wind Romance and the single fight in 2016, being the Skeleton Fight, with the addition of the bar scene, but that was butchered. Lost Children, however, has not been adapted at all. Maybe due to the graphic violence that happens to children, maybe cause the main apostle is a child with bare breasts. But regardless, it has received no adaptation, not even in Berserk Musou (which adapts most of the series, sometimes in a rather messy way). If a new adaptation is to happen, and isn't going to adapt the full series, I think starting with an arc that has no other animated counterpart, like Lost Children, but also at a big change in the world of Berserk, like Post Eclipse, which would be where both Black Swordsman and Lost Children would be.


Next, just a few Studios I've heard tossed around that should animate a Berserk show. WIT and MAPPA, both also having animated Attack on Titan. First, WIT. Given the fact that they did animate AoT for 3 seasons, and having amazing animation in key points, like Levi vs Beast Titan in S3 P2. The issue I have with this is the amount of time those scenes took to animate. If a single scene, like that fight from AoT took a very talented animator one month on the storyboard and three months to draw out, imagine if the whole show was animated to that quality, with that time dedicated to it. One animators talent does not speak for the entire studio, especially when WIT's third season caught a lot of flack in general. The next issue with WIT and the first one with MAPPA is the same issue. While I understand it is difficult to animate hyper detailed figures for whole episodes, CGI shouldn't be the immediate first thought for an alternative. It also comes back to Berserk fans bad experience with CGI from 2016/17. There's not a whole lot I can say other than it sounding like "CGI bad, 2D better". Another issue I have with MAPPA has moreso two issues in the one. The first of those subissues is the fact that they have so many big named licenses, like Attack on Titan, Jujutsu Kaisen, and Chainsaw Man. The other is the fact that, with so many licenses, the life of these animators and the struggle to meet deadlines must be terribly difficult, so adding a Berserk Adaptation to their plate may lead to a downgrade in all their licenses.

My final statement on this is this. Yes, Berserk is amazing. No, no adaptation could EVER capture the painstaking effort and dedication Miura put into every chapter, page, panel, or line. But, I do think if the adaptation was done so well some people may call it the "perfect" adaptation, I think that'd open the Berserk community up from the scale it is now to much, much larger. If could be looked at as a bad thing, but in my opinion, if more people experience Berserk, that's the best for everyone.
 

Aazealh

Administrator
Staff member
I think it'd be about time to get a pickup from the end of 1997, given that's a possible path for the Rurouni Kenshin show, being a sequel to the original anime.

If you mean that a sequel to the 1997 TV series should see the light of day... Well, it won't happen. Not only would it be very complicated given all the material that was cut or modified, but it's also simply unnecessary at this point.

Start with an arc that has no proper adaptation, The Lost Children Chapter of Conviction or Black Swordsman.

If I were in charge of producing a new anime, I would definitely make a feature film from the Black Swordsman arc, then if budget allowed I'd follow it up with an OVA adaptation of the Lost Children chapter.

My final statement on this is this. Yes, Berserk is amazing. No, no adaptation could EVER capture the painstaking effort and dedication Miura put into every chapter, page, panel, or line. But, I do think if the adaptation was done so well some people may call it the "perfect" adaptation, I think that'd open the Berserk community up from the scale it is now to much, much larger.

Berserk has sold over 50 million volumes. It's not an obscure little thing no one's heard about. If the online community isn't as big and noisy as some others it's probably because the fans are older and less online on average.
 
I always kind of wished Berserk got the Hellsing Ultimate treatment. OVAs, one per volume of the manga (with some shuffling for pacing). Black Swordsman would make a great two or three episode OVA, anyway.
 
I always kind of wished Berserk got the Hellsing Ultimate treatment. OVAs, one per volume of the manga (with some shuffling for pacing). Black Swordsman would make a great two or three episode OVA, anyway.
Fully agree!! It may be able to fit the Slug Count and the Guardians of Desire into a 3 Episode run if they trim some of the moments that are used for dramatic tension and chapter ends transitioning into each other. Maybe a long running anime isn't what Berserk needs, as in a full season. OVA's may be exactly the right way to adapt Berserk.
 
I always kind of wished Berserk got the Hellsing Ultimate treatment. OVAs, one per volume of the manga (with some shuffling for pacing). Black Swordsman would make a great two or three episode OVA, anyway.
I wouldn't give hellsing as the best example honestly. The Hellsing Ultimate OVAs looked great, but they came out (almost) once per year, and they could do that cause Hellsing is just 10 volumes long.
For Berserk which is 41 volumes, if they were to do the same thing it would take them somewhere from 20-40 years to catch up. The pace of a volume or two per year is extremely slow and unlikely.
 
If we were to get a new Berserk anime, I think the Production Committee would push for a complete adaptation. As Aazealh has pointed out, the original 1997 anime is too far removed time wise from any future projects to make any effort of a connection, regardless of the fondness Berserk fans have of it. Moreover, the Golden Age is a great story in and of itself, it's easier to adapt, has name recognition and let's not forget that a complete adaptation of the Golden Age is enough to provide for 3-4 seasons of an anime (20-24 episodes each), if not more. Just look at AoT, another monthly series that with only 139 chapters has produced 4 seasons of 24 episodes and, most likely, a movie covering the last 8-10 chapters, that's a ton of money and repercussion and keep in mind we are talking about a whole series that is just slightly longer than the whole of 1 Berserk arc.

It must be conceded that the anime adaptation done by WIT has done a lot to elevate the original source material (Isayama Hajime is not the best artist, specially in the early volumes), which brings me to my next point: I think the optimal path would be to follow the "Mushoku Tensei: Jobless Reencarnation" route, that being the creation of a Studio whose only purpose would be to produce the Berserk adaptation. The current big studios are filled to the brim with work, and its unlikely that they would take on such a project and, if they do, they will most likely take their time between releases (just look at the time WIT took with AoT or David Productions with their Jojo adaptations), which is not a bad or a good thing, just the state of the industry nowadays. A new studio could tackle such a project, as well as attract passionate talent for the property, but all of the above hinges on the key component that is money, but that is another topic.
 

Aazealh

Administrator
Staff member
all of the above hinges on the key component that is money, but that is another topic.

It's actually the only topic that matters. You're right about the studio, of course. But the real issue is that a worthy adaptation of Berserk wouldn't be profitable, or at least not to the extent the average producer would want it to be. Without having a true lover of the series behind the project, I think it would have little chance of being good. Hence the modest proposal I suggested above (which you'll notice could later be integrated as part of a second-phase full adaptation :slan:).
 
It's actually the only topic that matters […]
Hahaha, yes, that's the reality of the industry, which is why having a good Production Committee is key for the success of any anime adaptation, much more for the case of Berserk which would have to already compromise on lots of areas.

Hence the modest proposal I suggested above (which you'll notice could later be integrated as part of a second-phase full adaptation :slan:).
Honestly it would be the safest bet, two small projects "easy" to fund and who could, potentially, yield profits and could serve to gauge the public interest for a full Berserk series. Plus, the fact that the Black Swordsman Arc can placed both before or after Golden Age with not much issue (although narratively it would be better to keep the original release order).
 
let's not forget that a complete adaptation of the Golden Age is enough to provide for 3-4 seasons of an anime (20-24 episodes each), if not more. Just look at AoT, another monthly series that with only 139 chapters has produced 4 seasons of 24 episodes and, most likely, a movie covering the last 8-10 chapters, that's a ton of money and repercussion and keep in mind we are talking about a whole series that is just slightly longer than the whole of 1 Berserk arc.
I have no idea how you have this impression. The Golden Age arc in terms of episode count is, I believe, 104. On paper, that does sound at least somewhat comparable to AoT's 139 episodes, but that's assuming the episodes have similar page counts, which they don't. Berserk's golden age arc comprises about 10.5 volumes of Berserk in totality, whereas AoT on the whole is 34 volumes long. This is because AoT's chapters are almost all over 40 pages long. Berserk was doing those numbers early on, but shortly into the Golden Age arc it shrinks down to around 20 to 25 pages per episode. my point being that AoT is much longer than one arc of Berserk, it is close to being as long as ALL of Berserk (Minus ~6 or 7 volumes).

A faithful adaptation of the Gold Age would probably be about a cour and a half, so around 36 episodes. '97 adapted most of the content in one already, leaving out big scenes like big chunks of Guts' youth, Skull Knight's introduction, Silat, The Bakiraka, Wyald, and basically everything after Guts is pinned down, so also accounting for the fact that '97 had two filler episodes, I think the un-adapted material would add maybe 10 more episodes. I think you could do Black swordsman and Golden Age together as two 24 episode seasons.
 
I have no idea how you have this impression. The Golden Age arc in terms of episode count is, I believe, 104. On paper, that does sound at least somewhat comparable to AoT's 139 episodes, but that's assuming the episodes have similar page counts, which they don't. Berserk's golden age arc comprises about 10.5 volumes of Berserk in totality, whereas AoT on the whole is 34 volumes long. This is because AoT's chapters are almost all over 40 pages long. Berserk was doing those numbers early on, but shortly into the Golden Age arc it shrinks down to around 20 to 25 pages per episode. my point being that AoT is much longer than one arc of Berserk, it is close to being as long as ALL of Berserk (Minus ~6 or 7 volumes).

A faithful adaptation of the Gold Age would probably be about a cour and a half, so around 36 episodes. '97 adapted most of the content in one already, leaving out big scenes like big chunks of Guts' youth, Skull Knight's introduction, Silat, The Bakiraka, Wyald, and basically everything after Guts is pinned down, so also accounting for the fact that '97 had two filler episodes, I think the un-adapted material would add maybe 10 more episodes. I think you could do Black swordsman and Golden Age together as two 24 episode seasons.
My mistake, you are indeed correct. The Golden Age starts with chapters of, around 40-45 pages but from Nosferatu Zodd (1) onwards they are all 20ish pages long, and it's a silly mistake given the fact that I have both series side by side on my bookcase and, just one quick glance tells you the difference in page count :farnese: (I'd blame my tiredness, but that wouldn't be fair). With that in mind, your calculations seem to hit the mark, you could bump the number if you expand the battle scenes somewhat but, at most, you'd get 40 (or you could add in the Black Swordsman arc as you suggested as part of Season 1).

Silly mistakes on my part not withstanding, the point I was trying to get across is the fact that the Golden Age arc is too good a thing too pass on if you are planning on adapting the story, due to the facts I pointed out earlier (relative length [even with a revised page count in mind], recognizability and the fact that it's a "conclusive story in an on itself" [has a clear beginning, middle and end, even if we know that the story is not over by a long shot], making it easier to adapt).

I hope I have cleared up any confusion I may have indadvertedly caused with my last post.
 
Silly mistakes on my part not withstanding, the point I was trying to get across is the fact that the Golden Age arc is too good a thing too pass on if you are planning on adapting the story, due to the facts I pointed out earlier (relative length [even with a revised page count in mind], recognizability and the fact that it's a "conclusive story in an on itself" [has a clear beginning, middle and end, even if we know that the story is not over by a long shot], making it easier to adapt).

I hope I have cleared up any confusion I may have indadvertedly caused with my last post.
Oh, I agreed with your post otherwise, don't worry :ganishka:

A full Berserk adaptation really can't skip the Golden Age, because both previous adaptations leave out too much important stuff. I just think the fact that it had been done twice is a big reason why it may not happen again any time soon. The conviction arc has even worse odds, since despite being awful, Berserk 2016/17 is still very recent. I think most studios would see it as redundant compared to more original productions.
 
Honestly, I think the problem with MAPPA isn't that they'd overwork their animators by adding another license to their workload. From my understanding, MAPPA hardly has any in-house animation teams so the reason why they've been able to increase their number of works per year isn't that the same team is being overworked to hell, but they're able to pretty much import different teams for each project. They rely on hiring freelancers (like most other studios, anyway) for the duration of the project. The issue with MAPPA is that despite this tactic, they value quantity over quality so many of these series end up being rushed from their very creation through the entire production. Attack on Titan TFS for example is the result of a production committee that insisted on a inhumane schedule (having the Final Season start in Fall 2020) and no other studio beside MAPPA accepted it because they saw profit in it.

That's not to say that this is the standard approach they have, in fact it seems that they're being quite generous with some other projects like Jujutsu Kaisen and (apparently, but we'll have to see the final result) Chainsaw Man. Rumors has it that they're also going to produce Vinland Saga S2 (maybe onwards as well) but the director already specified that most of the core staff has remained the same from S1 when it was produced at WIT. Anyway, MAPPA seems like the strongest candidate to high-demand "mature" manga adaptations so I wouldn't be surprised if sooner or later they may be involved.
Honestly I'd be pretty happy with them if they could maintain a Shingeki no Bahamut S1-S2 level of quality. Sadly though, those were done before the studio began shifting to their "quantity > quality" and it was financed by Cygames that granded an insane amount of money for them, and it shows... both seasons have gorgeous animations and near movie-level quality not to mention being scored-to-picture which is something only Demon Slayer is getting these days. Fun fact: the character designer and chief animation director of both seasons of Bahamut already worked in the same staff roles for the Berserk: The Golden Age trilogy. For those curious, here are a few trailers (S1 and S2), they're quite a fun watch, especially S2. Sadly I think these types of productions can't happen in the current state of the anime industry.

As for WIT, personally I think they're a great studio, but their problem is that they're not exactly willing to tackle a multi-season adaption (Attack on Titan was an exception due to the unexpected success of S1, they took years to produce S2 because they had already started working on a number of other smaller or original titles in the meantime, and the production of S2-3 was so taxing that WIT decided to abandon it after S3), not to mention that since the Netflix partnership started with Great Pretender in 2020, they're pretty much booking all of their calender for next years. Right now they have like 5 projects announced with them and I doubt WIT will ever have the motivation or time or effort to dedicate to a full Berserk adaptation. If they'd ever start a Berserk adaptation they'd likely drop it after one or two seasons.

The idea of founding a Berserk-only studio may be a great plan, but it's extremely risky. "Mushoku Tensei: Jobless Reencarnation" had nothing to fear due to being, as far as I know, the quintessential isekai light novel which relies abundantly on pleasuring the horny audience with fanservice of both adults and lolis and really that's the best way to make profit in the current state of anime. I know of another adaptation that attempted a similar route: Kouta Hirano's "Drifters" which was only able to provide a 12-episodes season in 2016 and a bunch of OVA episodes in the last 6 years. I'm not sure if the reason is due to lack of popularity, high budget (it has pretty much the same level of animation as Hellsing Ultimate OVA) or the manga going at a pacing incredibly slow and Hirano not being able to provide enough material for another season. Honestly I found if quite fun and a weird mix of an isekai / Fate plot with Hellsing style. Honestly, I don't think a Berserk anime could ever be profitable enough to receive that level of high production. The mere fact that it contains heavy sexual (and not of the arousing type) and psychological content, and the type of story and tone it has would easily turn off a large portion of audiences that just wants isekai, cheap comedy, school romance, adaptations of lame light novels or Weekly Shonen Jump adaptations. Nowadays even JoJo gets trouble in getting funds, to the point where it needs Netflix money to be made. 50 million copies sold is a great number, but one thing is if it's done in 5 years, another is if it gets those sales in 30 years and when 3 adaptations have already been attempted.

Honestly I'd prefer the OVA adaptation approach, simply because it would give less restraints to the form: no need to cram chapters in 2 blocks of 10 minutes runtime per episode (this is especially true to Black Swordsman and early Golden Age volumes), no risk of messy television production schedules, not to mention censorship and budget limitations, give each episode the time necessary. Then, as Hellsing Ultimate did, potentially rely on different studios in order to provide a full adaptation.
Alternatively I'd trust studios like Sunrise (man, having the Gundam team would be incredible. Gundam Thunderbolt was phenomenal), Production I.G, Bones or maybe even Ufotable if they'll ever get free from their TYPE-Moon and Demon Slayer adaptations... even though Ufotable tends to rely too much on their visual tropes and I fear they'd turn Berserk into their next sakuga fest with Fate aethetic and not care enough for the story, characters and tone of the story.

If I could ask for a miracle though, I'd rather prefer have a full cels-animated Berserk adaptation by 1990s-2000s Madhouse, directed by Yoshiaki Kawajiri (he really has a perfect eye for appealing aethetics and great action direction). Man, I miss cels animations and this is another strong reason why I think that the 1997 adaptation would still be better than any potential new adaptation from a visual standpoint. There is just that beauty with those colors, with those hand-painted cels that for some reason modern animation hasn't been able to replicate yet.
 
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If I could ask for a miracle though, I'd rather prefer have a full cels-animated Berserk adaptation by 1990s-2000s Madhouse, directed by Yoshiaki Kawajiri (he really has a perfect eye for appealing aethetics and great action direction). Man, I miss cels animations and this is another strong reason why I think that the 1997 adaptation would still be better than any potential new adaptation from a visual standpoint. There is just that beauty with those colors, with those hand-painted cels that for some reason modern animation hasn't been able to replicate yet.

While I think cell animation is, sadly, an impossibility nowadays, contemporary projects have shown that a similar vibe and style can be achieved with digital animation (I'm thinking of the first third of the latest Evangelion movie, the village segment, or some of the more recent Ghibli movies), but I'd have to agree in the colour department. On that note, I'm very exited for the recently announced adaptation of "The Girl from the other side" manga by Nagabe, a manga that has a very water-colour/XIX century vignette feel to its art, and it seems that WIT is trying to replicate that as faithfully as possible, so it would be an interesting project to gauge how much has digital artistry advanced in the last couple of years.

Nevertheless, the use digital animation by the industry allows for scene creation and composition that, simply, wouldn't be possible in the past. Look no further than Demon Slayer; even if the style is not at all Berserk like, their excellent use of space and spatial awareness when creating action scenes has helped elevate a manga that, regardless of its virtues and flaws, simply doesn't have the same kinetic energy that some of the manga panels from Berserk have. I can only imagine what such a team could do with the Battle of Doldrey or similar scenes. Moreover, and I know saying this is bordering on heresy, CGI technology seems to be getting out of it's "growing pains" phase and, under the right team and circumstances, it can be a very useful tool not only to save on costs but simply to create an anime on it's own, if the Beastars adaptation is anything to go by. That being said, I'd rather they keep CGI out of a Berserk anime all together.
 
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Speaking of WIT, I'm thoroughly loving their currently airing work Ousama Ranking (not on par with latest episodes because I had issues finding subtitles in my language which I prefer, but I guess I'll switch to English) and just like The Girl from the Other Side, they're showing an excellent variety and creativity in the art of animation. Btw, they already released a short OVA episode a couple of years ago and it was really majestic.
Even if they're involved in making some more "mainstream appealing" works such as VIVY, I'm happy to see them dedicate to crafting really original and fresh works.

Ousama Ranking (other than being a great story, like one I haven't been enjoying this much in ages) also has an aethetic that I think relies on hand-painted / watercolored backgrounds and the way character outlines and coloring is processed give it a more "concrete" oldschool look (maybe a similar goal to what Megalo Box aimed to, but without the 720p downscale) and I think is a great achievement. Personally I'd love to see what a studio with these creative talents may come up with a project like Berserk, but many things scare me. Even just the idea of animating Zodd is a massive project (whether it's CG or 2D, that whole lot of fur and movement will be a nightmare! Nothing really compares to the incredible detail that can be given to a manga page).
 
Love seeing the discussion here but I have a question that I don’t know would’ve been touched on otherwise. To some of you educated as to how anime production actually works, this may seem silly. I’ve gotten a career job for the first time since graduating and, after having an actual savings account for the first time in life, my fantasies are running rampant. Specific to berserk, I have told several people around me I will always dream of throwing a million here or there for a full adaptation of berserk (disclaimer: after 200 k in student loans I will likely never have a million to throw at an anime, but a boy can fantasize). I won’t get into the details already discussed (very exciting that so many contributed to this along the lines of my own wondering) but I am stuck on the money. Is there a number that this price could possibly be? I’m sure the range of millions is a bare starting point. With that said, I feel hopeful enough about the community, especially in the last 5-10 years, to think that some sort of crowdfunding could even provide a substantial amount of money for this later in time. Does anyone care to entertain the colossus financial aspect of these imaginations?
 
I'm not an expert on the matter, but from my uninformed POV, crowdfunding can achieve nothing if there's not a production decision of some sort. First of all, it needs to be seen who owns the rights, if there are any plans to make a new adaptation or if there are impediments due to contracts or something of that nature. Secondly, whoever may potentially be on the receiving hand of the crowdfund better be someone within the industry that is actually in a position to be starting the production and is able to gather a dedicated team (and with the current state of the industry I guess it's super-hard to form one, regardless of money, at least if we're talking strictly to Japan).

I am very skeptical at the idea of just accumulating a massive sum of money and let that be like honey for bees and attract producers / creators for a new adaptation. I'd rather see creators actively working hard on making a good project and at that point start a crowdfund to help sustain the production, if necessary. To be honest I'm not even sure if doing a crowdfund in order to make a donation for an animation production is actually a thing that can be done.
 
Speaking of opinions on any potential future Berserk adaptation, does anyone have any preference regarding key cast or staff for it?

I have a few for my own to share:
- Director: Yoshiaki Kawajiri (I think he has a great sense of action and fights against supernatural creatures especially in Ninja Scroll, iconic imagery / animation / backgrounds and there are some instances of scenes from his movies which are somewhat reminiscent of Berserk itself for me (such as a part in Vampire Hunter D: Bloodlust being reminescent of the cave episodes which include Casca's flashback or just how Jubei in Ninja Scroll is an excellent and skillful fighter, still human, but get beaten up by monsters in his fights). Also, he can tackle upsetting sexual content without going too overboard with it, yet I find his writing to be lacking. Other directors that I would like would be Tetsuro Araki and Yuichiro Hayashi, which I think did / are doing a good job in adapting AOT (that's not to say that I would like that approach for Berserk) and whoever worked in Hellsing Ultimate.

- Music: I find if obligatory to feature Susumu Hirasawa in any Berserk adaptation and not just for random songs, but for BGM. Guts' Theme needs to be used, also because Miura himself picked up Hirasawa for 1997 so I feel that it's imperative to keep either him doing new music or use the 1997 soundtrack. But I would also love to see different composers doing new things. In this area I'm heavily biased in this since Yoko Kanno is my favourite composer for anime and I would adore to see what she would do with Berserk, especially the "lighter" parts being early to near-late Golden Age, parts of Millennium Falcon and Fantasia especially. I have a feeling that she could nail the dramatic / emotional / heartfelt moments perfectly (in my head this track suits The Morning Departure like a glove (especially those final woodwinds, a perfect match for that Casca panel when Guts leaves; there's plenty of romanic music for my imaginary romantic reunion of Guts and sane Casca, but also great fanfares, melancholic or reflective music, I would gladly expand on this but it would be an endless list of Kanno songs!), but I genuinely don't see her working on the darker parts of the series such as Black Swordsman / last acts of Golden Age / Lost Children & Conviction, simply because she has more or less avoided working or providing music in her career that focus a lot on heavy and dark works. There are some instances of dark music in her works, but I feel that it's by far not her preference. So I think even if Kanno could be involved, a co-composer would need to be brought in, and I'd think of people like Hayato Matsuo (look no further than Hellsing Ultimate, which has awesome "dark" action music and I just see him providing great stuff precisely for the aspects where Yoko seems lacking). Other composers that occasionally strike the right chord for me (I must stress out the "occasionally" part) are Yuki Kajiura and Yugo Kanno, which seem to be very repetitive but rarely still find that spark of creativity that really inspires me. Additionally, just like 1997 did, I would also like to feature music from Western soundtracks as well...
As for Shiro Sagisu's soundtracks, I have to admit that I'm not that much of a fan. I certainly like portions of it but I think that it is completely hearless and he often ruins the action tracks with his annoying choir which seems more like an amateur gibberish/rap performed by choir than an actual operatic choir. He's also way too bombastic for my taste and I just don't find in him the nuance that Berserk deserves in my opinion.

- Cast: I would really love if any potential new adaptation could reprise some cast members of the 1997 anime, namely Griffith (by Toshiyuki Morikawa) and as for the God Hand, Void (by Unshō Ishizuka who sadly passed away, but he was so perfect!) and also Slan (by Atsuko Tanaka). Oddly enough I don't feel that strongly about the 1997 voices of Guts and Casca (maybe a rewatch will do) but I think they were great as well. Also, I recently found out that Casca was voiced by Yuko Miyamura (who voices Asuka in NGE, and this alone makes me revaluate her performance as Casca) and I have to admit that Nobutoshi Canna's performance as Guts in key moments such as the Bonfire of Dreams monologue or as Guts leaves are pitch-perfect.

This is pretty much it for me for specific people I'd love to see involved.
What do you guys think? Does anyone else have some very specific preferences for a potential new adaptation like I do?
 
Personally, I'd like to see Yugo Kanno (composer for JoJo's Anime) take a crack at Berserk, given he can nail high octane tracks, as well as slower tracks, like how he did Psycho Pass, Inochi no Arikata being one example. He has such a long discography that pointing out ideal vibes for certain scenes would be hard. And, of course, Susumu Hirasawa would have to be involved in some amount, given his affinity for nailing the series in terms of music.

Another pick could be Hiroyuki Sawano, notable for his work on AoT (it keeps coming up, I apologize). He can nail the energy needed for certain scenes, with radically different vibes. For scenes with a sadder tone, I could see something like Omake-Pfadlib (Levi's Pain). For Guts' big, action heavy character moments, or climaxes of his fights, something like YouSeeBIGGIRL/T:T fits.


Another name I'll throw out is Yûki Hayashi, composer for MHA and Triangle (which he composed with Hiroyuki Sawano). Guardian Dance could be an ideal vibe for some fighting scenes, just some background OST.

But, similar to an animation studio recruiting multiple animators, it'd be interesting if all of these talented individuals could come together and come up with a killer OST for a full length Berserk adaptation. A guy can dream, right?


 
Personally I'd like someone more "old fashioned" instead of the popular modern composers haha.

If we're talking about action music with the occasional slow track, I guess we're pretty good, but I think I'm looking for someone who could provide a more soulful effort. I feel that there are so many composers that can suit perfectly if the job is just doing action music and some slower tracks, but I think the approach I'd prefer would be to give the focus on the more emotional aspects of the story. At least, that's where most of my wishful thinking goes to :ganishka:

Brief comment on Yugo, Sawano, Hayashi: I am not too knowledgeable of them (especially if we're talking about the length of their career, I mainly know a part of their more recent and popular works) but I feel like they're somewhat stagnant, especially in recent projects of theirs. Yugo Kanno used to provide awesome orchestral tracks in his 2000s works (and actually, I read pretty much all the Golden Age for the first time to this edit of mine of his orchestral Psycho Pass music) but having followed him in the past couple of years, he's becoming less inspired just as much as overworked. Sadly it got to a point where even his music for Stone Ocean doesn't stand out that much, and he's relying more on electronic noises rather than inspired orchestra (even though he can do that from time to time). Surprisingly though, he also gave a pretty good (at least for me) Susumu Hirasawa impression but for some reason the track randomly shifts into his usual noise stuff halfway through...

Hiroyuki Sawano did great for his Attack on Titan work, but I feel like he grew tired as the seasons kept being done. The energy that was there in S1 was already less present in S2, S3 felt a lot more empty and he has pretty much given up on TFS leaving almost all the music to his collaborator Kohta Yamamoto (and this has happened exactly like this on a number of his franchise works, except Gundam). I'm not much of a Sawano fan and I feel like he'd use Berserk as another project where to showcare will already well-known style, but that wouldn't be very original imo.

Yuki Hayashi... I really like his energy, but I feel that he's more suited for sports works (that's also his background as composer, since he started producing music for rhythm gymnastic performances) and I'm feeling lukewarm about his other efforts. MHA S1 was great but, again like with Yugo and Sawano, I feel that his steam of originality became weaker in following seasons.

Sadly, for most of them I feel their works more like "stylistic exercises" than actual heartfelt music stemming from the story (I guess it can be simply my opinion, so I hope I'm not offending you by saying this) while there are very few composers that can make me feel emotions just through the music.

Another composer I'd add to the list of potentially good but that became somewhat repetitive would be Yuki Kajiura. She can really nail more thoughtful / emotional / delicate tracks and I really like earlier works like Hokuto no Ken and Kara no Kyoukai but I'm somewhat tired of her repetitiveness nowadays. Still, I think she did awesome tracks I do see fitting for Berserk, such as this one being my ideal "Moonlight Boy Theme" but even action parts like this track (I personally imagine it while Guts and Casca ride away at the end of Conviction, in ep.176).

Speaking of other specific tracks I associate to Berserk, I've got this track by Yoko Kanno for Ghost in the Shell I can't help but think of as a "Puck Theme", what do you think of this (it's more the "normal" Puck and not Chestnut Puck btw)? I think at some point I'll make either a mega reply or a new post linking several Kanno (and other composers) tracks so that I can share my ideas on how I imagine Berserk sounding :D
 
I've been doing some thinking about the past adaptations, and I wanted to like, word vomit out my thoughts on what I want in any future Berserk adaptation. I think that some time should be given for Berserk 2016/17 to be forgotten, or at least lost relevancy. Being 2022 now, it's been over 4 and a half years since Berserk 2017 aired it's finale. Along with the announcement of the new Rurouni Kenshin anime at Jump Festa 2022, I think it'd be about time to get a pickup from the end of 1997, given that's a possible path for the Rurouni Kenshin show, being a sequel to the original anime.

I think this point needs explanation: Don't redo Golden Age unless the studio is going to animate the entire series. If the full series is adapted in one adaptation, that will be the all in one adaptation. If, however, the studio has no plans on adapting the full series, and is instead only adapting a few arcs, I think it'd be okay to omit Golden Age. Two full adaptations of it is fine, even if it cuts important things. Maybe add the stuff that was cut out via flashbacks if they're that important (Skull Knight for 97 for example).

Start with an arc that has no proper adaptation, The Lost Children Chapter of Conviction or Black Swordsman. Black Swordsman has received 2 anime adaptations, being Episode 1 of the Sword Wind Romance and the single fight in 2016, being the Skeleton Fight, with the addition of the bar scene, but that was butchered. Lost Children, however, has not been adapted at all. Maybe due to the graphic violence that happens to children, maybe cause the main apostle is a child with bare breasts. But regardless, it has received no adaptation, not even in Berserk Musou (which adapts most of the series, sometimes in a rather messy way). If a new adaptation is to happen, and isn't going to adapt the full series, I think starting with an arc that has no other animated counterpart, like Lost Children, but also at a big change in the world of Berserk, like Post Eclipse, which would be where both Black Swordsman and Lost Children would be.


Next, just a few Studios I've heard tossed around that should animate a Berserk show. WIT and MAPPA, both also having animated Attack on Titan. First, WIT. Given the fact that they did animate AoT for 3 seasons, and having amazing animation in key points, like Levi vs Beast Titan in S3 P2. The issue I have with this is the amount of time those scenes took to animate. If a single scene, like that fight from AoT took a very talented animator one month on the storyboard and three months to draw out, imagine if the whole show was animated to that quality, with that time dedicated to it. One animators talent does not speak for the entire studio, especially when WIT's third season caught a lot of flack in general. The next issue with WIT and the first one with MAPPA is the same issue. While I understand it is difficult to animate hyper detailed figures for whole episodes, CGI shouldn't be the immediate first thought for an alternative. It also comes back to Berserk fans bad experience with CGI from 2016/17. There's not a whole lot I can say other than it sounding like "CGI bad, 2D better". Another issue I have with MAPPA has moreso two issues in the one. The first of those subissues is the fact that they have so many big named licenses, like Attack on Titan, Jujutsu Kaisen, and Chainsaw Man. The other is the fact that, with so many licenses, the life of these animators and the struggle to meet deadlines must be terribly difficult, so adding a Berserk Adaptation to their plate may lead to a downgrade in all their licenses.

My final statement on this is this. Yes, Berserk is amazing. No, no adaptation could EVER capture the painstaking effort and dedication Miura put into every chapter, page, panel, or line. But, I do think if the adaptation was done so well some people may call it the "perfect" adaptation, I think that'd open the Berserk community up from the scale it is now to much, much larger. If could be looked at as a bad thing, but in my opinion, if more people experience Berserk, that's the best for everyone.
I completely agree with this statement also how likely or possible do you think that a new berserk anime could be announced or more over how do you think it could be handled personally your right though i dont think any anime would be to replace the manga however i would like to see an anime adaptation that atleast does the series justice
 
I think a movie adaptation of Black Swordsman could work, as well as an ova of lost children as mentioned above.

The animation style the movie trilogy used was great.

If they reach the same spot as ch 364 I’m more cautious. Muira seemed to trust his assistants so I’m willing to extend the trust but I’d want them involved
 
I don't know if this was already "pitched" but I think a cool thing they could do is a sort of Berserk Tribute project. Get some passionate directors/artist/musicians in the industry involved and produce a series of shorts/anthology centered around the world of Berserk. They could be something like 5-10 minutes each and each short would be produced by a different studio/director. I'm thinking something like The Animatrix, Genius Party, Batman: Gotham Knight.

I think it would be cool to do a short for each major arc, but obviously this isn't necessary if the directors were passionate and had specific scenes/ideas they wanted to create. They could adapt the scenes themselves or could be more creative/original and show a Berserk worldview. Obviously if they were creating a more original short it would be pertinent to have a director with intimate knowledge of the story and really wanting to do it justice (which I'm sure there are many leading people in the industry that would).

I think this is a great way to create new Berserk content while also showing respect and celebrating the Miura's legacy. The idea of it being a tribute project would reduce the pressure on delivering something long form while also being condensed enough to create something high quality.
 
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