I disagree that they should have expanded it in any manner. I forget how it ends exactly, but the eclipse is enough. Any continuation, SK Zodd and all else, would best be done in this style for sure, but it’s unnecessary. Stands alone.
It's honestly not a great ending, but it certainly caused people to seek out the manga (I know I did)
Questions about what happens after the anime were at a fever pitch back then (1999-2002). When this site launched, I put up some scans to show those next few episodes just to answer the demand. I hope it did some good, because I do think that learning just a bit more about how the world opens up after the Eclipse is important to seeing where the series continues.
I imagine that the omissions of Silat and Wyald were due to budget constraints since animating either of their fights would be difficult and extensive. One of the issues I would bring up with the animation would be how it portrays the speed of the action. For instance, in the second episode where Guts fought Bazuso, there are comments from random soldiers about the fast speed of Guts' barrage of strikes, but I found the animation portrays Guts slowly striking the guy akin to a small kid beating a pinata. The few times where the anime managed to portray fast action were often looped like in the case of Adon's fight with Casca at Doldrey in order to save on animating more of the fight. So, to portray a quick and nimble fighter as Silat that relies on unorthodox fighting techniques using the 97 animation would be difficult, to put it lightly.omitting important scenes with Silat and Wyald and replacing them with filler.
I reckon my last full re-watch was around 2017. Back when I first watched the anime, I did not mind the dub. However, listening to the dub now have dampened my enjoyment since I can't help but notice the inconsistent voice quality of the tertiary characters.
I imagine that the omissions of Silat and Wyald were due to budget constraints since animating either of their fights would be difficult and extensive.