Berserk Anime/Manga Comparison

Which do you think is a better looking adaptation?


  • Total voters
    47

Griffith

With the streak of a tear, Like morning dew
Here are some side by side comparisons of the new anime to their corresponding parts from the '97 anime and the manga. Feel free to comment and add your own. Also, this is just for starters, compare them in any way you like or can think of; we're not limited to visuals here, and oftentimes the implications of the visuals are far greater than themselves or the superficial.


comparemanga01.jpg

compare9701.jpg

comparenew01.jpg






comparemanga00.jpg

compare9700.jpg

comparenew00.jpg






comparemanga02.jpg

compare9702.jpg

comparenew02.jpg






comparemanga03.jpg

compare9703.jpg

comparenew03b.jpg






comparemanga04b.jpg

compare9704b.jpg

comparenew04.jpg






comparemangazodd.jpg

compare97zodd.jpg

comparenewzodd.jpg






comparemangaSK.jpg

comparenewSK.jpg


Thanks to Walter for the original Skull Knight composite.​
 

Rhombaad

Video Game Time Traveler
I think the new anime looks way better than the old. The colors are brighter, the animation is smoother and the characters look better (IMO). I think the older anime is more accurate in terms of character garb (and in the appearance of the old woman), based on what we've seen so far, but the new anime has much more life in it than the old.
 

Walter

Administrator
Staff member
I was actually surprised by these screens. It is interesting to note how closely the frame composition of the 1997 anime matches that of the associated scenes in the manga.The 2012 anime looks to be deviating a bit, but it's nothing to throw a shoe at just yet. The one that bothered me the most was the Zodd comparison shots, which are absent of Guts in the 2012 anime. I'm still maintaining the belief that those shots, as early as they are, were merely test footage for what was to come. A sort of proof-of-concept for the full production.

I do think that first set of comparisons is a little unfair though. That scene between Griffith and Guts will undoubtedly have different angles. We've just been shown one in the trailer. Though I grant you that the second comparison matches, because of the whole "head tilt" thing.

Rhombaad said:
I think the new anime looks way better than the old. The colors are brighter, the animation is smoother and the characters look better (IMO). I think the older anime is more accurate in terms of character garb (and in the appearance of the old woman), based on what we've seen so far, but the new anime has much more life in it than the old.
Well the new anime has a more "theatrical" presentation, for sure. I'd imagine it has a higher production value for these scenes too.
 

Aazealh

Administrator
Staff member
Walter said:
The one that bothered me the most was the Zodd comparison shots, which are absent of Guts in the 2012 anime. I'm still maintaining the belief that those shots, as early as they are, were merely test footage for what was to come. A sort of proof-of-concept for the full production.

I agree with you that it was most likely test footage. Unfortunately, the trailer has what seems to be a modified version and it's not perfect either.

Zodd-wronghorns.jpg


Sorry to obsess over the horns, but they're blatantly wrong. Like a sheep's. Which brings me back to the discrepancies with the swords/armors, and this quote from the producer:

Aazealh said:
Something more or less interesting: the producer says he chose to make Berserk because it's about young people and the main hero, Guts, doesn't surrender to his fate. While the era depicted is very harsh, he has the power to break through the common hardships of his time (implying a parallel with Japan nowadays?). Other than that, they say about how Japanese swords are different from Western ones so they put a lot of effort into depicting the swords faithfully, the armors are well detailed, etc.
 
Except for the Zodd part and when Griffith is looking at the sky thinking, into the 97' series I find it better for what I can judge for now...

The Zodd part was IMO one of the worst thing in the 97 anime; not even his humanoïd form was horrible; well surely less than his apostle form; he seemed ridiculous to me in the 97' series.
The Guts/Griffith shot isn't that bad in the 97', I don't like the anatomicals "shortcuts" because I believe it's truly important for Guts arms particularly here^^.

The theatrical trailer is great, has a higher definition and doesn't seem to be an old VHS-rip; the background is more complex; but I can't say for now I do find it better...

I believe I'm influenced by the different angle of the new version, but I can't help but think how dumb Guts look like; not only about his expression, but I find his neck too stretched.

Well I merely forgot; I didn't vote yet, too early I believe; even with judging by the trailer.
 

Griffith

With the streak of a tear, Like morning dew
Rhombaad said:
I think the new anime looks way better than the old. The colors are brighter, the animation is smoother and the characters look better (IMO). I think the older anime is more accurate in terms of character garb (and in the appearance of the old woman), based on what we've seen so far, but the new anime has much more life in it than the old.

I think it's more of a toss up as far as looks go. As Eluvei attested some feel the colors of the '97 anime are more vibrant and prefer the consistent hand drawn look, but where the '97 anime can't compete is in the animation department. Just while looking at the '97 version to get these images... well, let's just say I didn't have to be fast to capture the stills I wanted.

Walter said:
I do think that first set of comparisons is a little unfair though. That scene between Griffith and Guts will undoubtedly have different angles. We've just been shown one in the trailer. Though I grant you that the second comparison matches, because of the whole "head tilt" thing.
Well the new anime has a more "theatrical" presentation, for sure. I'd imagine it has a higher production value for these scenes too.

Agreed, I'll repeat what I wrote when first comparing those particular sets of images: "to be fair to the new anime that shot isn't equivalent to the exact moment you're seeing from the manga and the '97 anime, but this one [the head tilt] from a different angle:

So it's actually a composite of those two panels, and arguably does a better job conveying Griffith's body language than the '97 anime did (though not his expression, at least in that still). Guts expression is off too as others have noted"


This is also why I somewhat trickily wrote corresponding "parts" instead of scenes in the OP, which was actually more for the sake of the old woman (since it's not from the same scene, but more a straight up character model comparison). Though, I don't think it's unfair because while they may have shots that correspond better, the shots we do have don't exactly correspond to any angle in the manga anyway. I also tried choosing stills that were flattering to the new anime to compensate for grabbing frames from moving images, like Guts' face isn't as goofy or kitten-like as in this frame, same for Griffith's face here.

Aazealh said:
I agree with you that it was most likely test footage. Unfortunately, the trailer has what seems to be a modified version and it's not perfect either.

Yeah, I maintain that as as far as the promise of improvements to the released footage goes, I'll believe it when I see it. Until then, it is what it is.

Aazealh said:
Sorry to obsess over the horns, but they're blatantly wrong. Like a sheep's. Which brings me back to the discrepancies with the swords/armors, and this quote from the producer:

Maybe he meant the effort to not screw them up was by not showing too many. =)

Theoden said:
The Zodd part was IMO one of the worst thing in the 97 anime; not even his humanoïd form was horrible; well surely less than his apostle form; he seemed ridiculous to me in the 97' series.
The Guts/Griffith shot isn't that bad in the 97', I don't like the anatomicals "shortcuts" because I believe it's truly important for Guts arms particularly here^^.

Yeah, I don't think he was that bad, and people are generally impressed when they see him (because hey, even a bad Zodd is cool), but he does look very flat in the '97 anime, which you can see in the comparison image I posted (despite its lack of exact detail, the new one does a much better job conveying the grandness of Zodd and the moment). Like I alluded to in my response to Rhombaad, in the scene where Zodd is talking to Guts before leaving it's literally a back and forth between still images for like thirty seconds. Zodd's mouth isn't even moving. I didn't notice these things as much before I saw the new trailer. So yeah, the '97 anime is definitely more reverent to the manga when it comes to depicting panels faithfully, even staying true to the still image part. :zodd:

Theoden said:
I believe I'm influenced by the different angle of the new version, but I can't help but think how dumb Guts look like; not only about his expression, but I find his neck too stretched.

Well, unlike specific armor and swords that are tied to greater plot events, I think that's a true example of something subjective and easily overlooked. If that's all that's wrong with it, we'll be so happy I don't think we'll notice.

Theoden said:
Well I merely forgot; I didn't vote yet, too early I believe; even with judging by the trailer.

I voted for the new anime as a better looking adaptation for one simple fact: :SK:
 
Cool thread! I can't wait to see more comparisons as more footage arrives (whenever that will be). I won't vote just yet, because I want to wait a little longer before I decide.
 

Griffith

With the streak of a tear, Like morning dew
More, and more problematic, comparisons. This one is the most straightforward:

comparemanga05.jpg

comparenew05.jpg

I long for the days when Guts was wearing the wrong clothes in the new anime instead of no clothes; though, now the wrong clothes only seem half as erroneous (maybe that's the plan here =). Whatever, but this isn't the kind of creepy vibe Skull Knight is supposed to give off.



This next set is less cut and dry, so I included a couple of manga shots...

comparemanga06a.jpg

comparemanga06.jpg

comparenew06.jpg

No comparison to the '97 anime that I recall, since the people indicate this is Griffith's actual memory, and not the illusion during the eclipse. Nice to know they're going to include that, since it's perhaps the most revealing look at the character and sorely lacking in the original anime.



Now this is the most troublesome, it's a composite of a few angles and moments, but tracks closest to this particular shot...

comparemanga07.jpg

compare9707.jpg

comparenew07.jpg

Here's another panel for comparison. This is actually a cool composite for a promotional image, representing a scene broadly, but assuming this is a shot from the product, it's an odd composite when you consider motion for a couple of reasons (besides Griff's wrong armor and his sword being hugely out of proportion). For example, are they going to have a similar shot for the moment actually using this angle from the manga above? Like, we see Griffith threatening the noble like the above manga image, eventually cut to sword landing in front of Casca, cut back to this angle and draw out the moment, then Casca and noble grab for it... that just doesn't flow very well (I'm assuming they're just going to use some different angles). Also, what noble? He's nowhere to be seen. Maybe they took him out precisely for promotional purposes, or he's standing very far away, or... I don't know what else without seriously screwing up the continuity of the scene.
 
It still beats the '97 anime. Griffith's horse looks kinda gay though, compared to Miura's diesel horse. Sorta reminds me of the Family Guy episode when Peter buys a horse. :magni:

You think maybe they'll push the encounter between Guts and Skull Knight ahead a bit, since in the manga it's winter and it's kind of pointless to have a fire going and no shirt on. The shirtless Guts makes me wonder if they'll put pants on Zodd like in the '97 series.
 

Griffith

With the streak of a tear, Like morning dew
Tzur said:
It still beats the '97 anime.

I'm not so sure. As with our other complaints, it's the deeper consequences of these superficial changes that raise questions...

Tzur said:
You think maybe they'll push the encounter between Guts and Skull Knight ahead a bit, since in the manga it's winter and it's kind of pointless to have a fire going and no shirt on.

...Like this, though that's the least of my concerns.

Tzur said:
The shirtless Guts makes me wonder if they'll put pants on Zodd like in the '97 series.

I guess it depends on if Guts is wearing pants in this shot. Seriously though, unneeded nudity certainly can't hurt Zodd's chances, but from what we've seen I'd be surprised if he wasn't decked out in full armor.
 

Rhombaad

Video Game Time Traveler
The more I look at the pic with Guts and the Skull Knight, the more it looks like two different shots put together. It's possible that for the purpose of the web site, they photoshopped two different sections of the anime to create that image. The Skull Knight doesn't look like he's facing Guts, but that could just be the fault of the CGI.
 
I don't like those inconsistencies as much as the wrong sword being used in the Guts-Griffith face-off. Thanks for bringing them up Griffith! So far the old anime seems to have gone in a true~er fashion than the new one where it comes to the scenes we've been witness to from the new one so far. I know the old one had many problems in terms of story, but this one seems less perfect as well. Oh well.
 

Griffith

With the streak of a tear, Like morning dew
Rhombaad said:
The more I look at the pic with Guts and the Skull Knight, the more it looks like two different shots put together. It's possible that for the purpose of the web site, they photoshopped two different sections of the anime to create that image. The Skull Knight doesn't look like he's facing Guts, but that could just be the fault of the CGI.

I'd like to think these are all things that are going to be fixed in the final product (like the leaves covering Casca, so there's hope! =), but the growing list of inaccuracies and Occam's razor dictates otherwise. More likely what we see is what we're getting, and probably more of the same.

IncantatioN said:
I don't like those inconsistencies as much as the wrong sword being used in the Guts-Griffith face-off. Thanks for bringing them up Griffith! So far the old anime seems to have gone in a true~er fashion than the new one where it comes to the scenes we've been witness to from the new one so far. I know the old one had many problems in terms of story, but this one seems less perfect as well. Oh well.

Yeah, there's a pattern emerging here, but one that might ultimately redeem the new anime as far as these inconsistencies go. As we can see in these examples alone, the '97 anime was relatively exact as far as small details are concerned, but royally fucked up the big picture. So, even if the new anime just does the opposite of that it'll be ahead in my book.
 
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