Hello, everyone.
I watched the anime back in 2006 and it completely blew me away - blew me out of the water.
Never before had I seen anything remotely this awesome, except maybe the original Star Wars trilogy when I was a kid. Berserk is on a different level than other stories, animes, movies, books, IMO.
Obviously the Griffith character and the clarity of his dream are what first got my attention. When he schooled young Guts without breaking a sweat I was like, "Whoa, who is this guy?" Then all the characters spent the next ten episodes talking about how epic Griffith is; I particularly enjoyed Casca’s back-story where Griffith allows her to save herself from the nobleman. Griffith is definitely one of the great all-time characters. (I thought the dude who voiced Griffith's enlgish dub was flat-out perfect.)
Guts... what can you say about Guts? He's simply the most badass character, ever.
What I really loved was the plot. Griffith's maneuvering in the court, the invincibility of the Hawks, the assassination of Julius, the kidnapping plot and resulting death of the Queen and her co-conspirators. I love those kinds of machinations toward power.
But then the story took a sudden and shocking turn I had no idea was coming -- what happens when our dreams crumble?
I'm stating the obvious here when I tell you that I was in utter shock and disbelief during the last couple of episodes of the anime -- the Eclipse.
I had to rewatch that many times, to make sure I had seen what I thought I'd seen. Back in 2006, I read some forums where I saw some idiots saying that the ending "was a letdown." Or a "bummer." WTF! What did they want, another Disney ending? The balls it took to make the ending as dark and tragic as it was is what I loved about Berserk.
BTW, the “Beherit” and “Guts” music in the anime just added more magic to the viewing, along with the strategic amounts of weed I was blazing when I watched. ;)
Anyway, after 2006, I became busy with my career and travel, and didn't return to Berserk until recently. I rewatched the whole thing and can now fully appreciate and embrace the Golden Age Arc story as one of the best stories ever told.
I have never read any Manga nor comic book in my life, but I have now begun to read the Berserk manga, starting around Volume 9. I'm up to Volume 19 now, I think. Definitely love the Puck character. I cannot wait to see where this story is going!!!
Please no spoilers beyond volume 19. Part of the beauty of watching the anime was that I was taken totally by surprise and had no idea what to expect. I'm trying to stay as spolier-free as possible until I can get up to speed on the latest installments.
Anyway, thanks to the forum owners here for providing a place for this rambling post. :)
I watched the anime back in 2006 and it completely blew me away - blew me out of the water.
Never before had I seen anything remotely this awesome, except maybe the original Star Wars trilogy when I was a kid. Berserk is on a different level than other stories, animes, movies, books, IMO.
Obviously the Griffith character and the clarity of his dream are what first got my attention. When he schooled young Guts without breaking a sweat I was like, "Whoa, who is this guy?" Then all the characters spent the next ten episodes talking about how epic Griffith is; I particularly enjoyed Casca’s back-story where Griffith allows her to save herself from the nobleman. Griffith is definitely one of the great all-time characters. (I thought the dude who voiced Griffith's enlgish dub was flat-out perfect.)
Guts... what can you say about Guts? He's simply the most badass character, ever.
What I really loved was the plot. Griffith's maneuvering in the court, the invincibility of the Hawks, the assassination of Julius, the kidnapping plot and resulting death of the Queen and her co-conspirators. I love those kinds of machinations toward power.
But then the story took a sudden and shocking turn I had no idea was coming -- what happens when our dreams crumble?
I'm stating the obvious here when I tell you that I was in utter shock and disbelief during the last couple of episodes of the anime -- the Eclipse.
I had to rewatch that many times, to make sure I had seen what I thought I'd seen. Back in 2006, I read some forums where I saw some idiots saying that the ending "was a letdown." Or a "bummer." WTF! What did they want, another Disney ending? The balls it took to make the ending as dark and tragic as it was is what I loved about Berserk.
BTW, the “Beherit” and “Guts” music in the anime just added more magic to the viewing, along with the strategic amounts of weed I was blazing when I watched. ;)
Anyway, after 2006, I became busy with my career and travel, and didn't return to Berserk until recently. I rewatched the whole thing and can now fully appreciate and embrace the Golden Age Arc story as one of the best stories ever told.
I have never read any Manga nor comic book in my life, but I have now begun to read the Berserk manga, starting around Volume 9. I'm up to Volume 19 now, I think. Definitely love the Puck character. I cannot wait to see where this story is going!!!
Please no spoilers beyond volume 19. Part of the beauty of watching the anime was that I was taken totally by surprise and had no idea what to expect. I'm trying to stay as spolier-free as possible until I can get up to speed on the latest installments.
Anyway, thanks to the forum owners here for providing a place for this rambling post. :)