Flaws in the 1997 Anime

So the new trilogy wasn't the best. It was choppy, full of bad CGI, and the only real reason I personally enjoyed it was that it had the name 'Berserk' on it. Everybody tends to, justifiably, shit on the new trilogy while holding the 97 adaptation to a high esteem.

However, with the new project coming out in July (please, God, don't let them fuck it up) I think we should also address the issues the old anime had.

The flaws I had the most beef against was the lack of Puck and the Skull Knight. I get that they didn't want to introduce Puck that early for a series that was probably, and in fact didn't, continue after the Eclipse, but the Skull Knight was pretty damn important. Without him, the entire ending to the series feels very abrupt. They could have at least had him show up to save Guts and Casca after the rape scene.

Also, without Puck, the entire Black Swordsman episode feels clunky and half developed. It jumps from one point to the next, trying to compensate for the entire plot shift it had to take.

These are just personal gripes of mine. Anyone else have any grievances against the original anime?
 

Kompozinaut

Sylph Sword
TheAlmightyDork said:
Everybody tends to, justifiably, shit on the new trilogy while holding the 97 adaptation to a high esteem.

You won't really find such sentiments here. Before the trilogy came out, the '97 anime was generally considered a poor representation of Berserk. After the release of the trilogy, however, the anime now looks much much better by comparison, and thus it is remembered more favorably as the adaptation that did the most right (or rather, the least wrong) out of the two.

Again, it's not that the anime is in high esteem, it's that its just less shitty than the triology.
 

Walter

Administrator
Staff member
I don't really like either adaptation. The 97 anime was what first got me into Berserk, but as soon as I discovered the manga, I never went back.
 

Aazealh

Administrator
Staff member
TheAlmightyDork said:
These are just personal gripes of mine. Anyone else have any grievances against the original anime?

I've got a boatload of them honestly, and have already lengthily detailed them in past posts.
 
For me I have always liked the 97 anime well enough. Not perfect but I think it does a pretty good job and it's what got me to look into the manga. I honestly think that's it's real value, as a tool to get people into the manga. It at least tells a coherent story unlike the movies which are basically embarrassing.
 

Kompozinaut

Sylph Sword
Quirkus said:
Not perfect but I think it does a pretty good job and it's what got me to look into the manga. I honestly think that's it's real value, as a tool to get people into the manga.

Exactly. I actually got a few friends into the manga by showing them the first episode. They were pretty impressed with the tone of the series and so I handed over the first 5 volumes of my collection and got them to read up to the current episode (sometime around Griffith's meeting with Ganishka in ep. 283...wow that was a long time ago).
 
Since I immediately started with the Dark Horse Berserk manga volumes, I've only seen bits and pieces of the 1997 anime, so I can't really comment on its overall quality as an adaptation. However, what I really appreciate its existence for is the existence of its soundtrack. Susumu Hirasawa's music is fantastic, and reading the manga while listening to the soundtrack really enhances the experience.
 
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