2016 Berserk TV series: Episode 1

[Feeblecursedone]

Anyway, I wonder why they couldn't just use any random apostle here instead? A made-up one, or the Snake Baron or whatever

Yeah, Snake Baron is a perfect introduction into an apostle's world and what they stand for, given his classical villain-ish appearance. Since they already went with made up fights, it could have been at least Guts vs Baron to offer some information on apostles to casual watchers. " Oh ok, so these guys are demons and they're the main opponents for Guts. ) Instead of random possessed tree.

[volatilecurry]

I had low expectations after the previews and the GA movies (which I absolutely hated) and I was still disappointed. The 3D character models and animation is just so stiff and unattractive. 3D chestnut Puck was something I really could have done without too.

The story changes they made here didn't bother me as much as it seems to bother others. Knowing they'd cut early parts of Conviction, it sort of made sense to introduce Isidro the way they did. And honestly, the manga scene that he's introduced in is sort of a throw away. It shows Kushan soldiers and some cool moves from Guts but it can be replaced without any significant impact on the story. Schierke's cameo was unexpected but also harmless. If Miura had planned for her back in 1989, I wonder if she might have had similar introduction in the Conviction arc. I was really thrown off by some of the dialogue though. I don't know what Crunchyroll's track record is with accurate subtitles, but that line about the tree not being suitable firewood was... Well it was something.

On the positive side, I think the Opening was pretty well done. There were some hints of really nice hand-drawn animation in there too, which makes it even more of a shame that this was basically not present at all in the actual show. It's like getting a glimpse of what the show could have looked like if it had a better budget. I think the soundtrack in general is pretty good so far. It's no Hirasawa soundtrack but by no means is it bad.

Overall I felt like the episode was alright. It didn't offend my family like the first GA trilogy movie did but it didn't make me happy either. Knowing it would blend 2D and 3D animation, I had hoped it would use mostly 2D and only 3D during action scenes. That's probably my biggest disappointment with this. But it was still entertaining I guess.

[tariku-san]

To keep it short. The Animation, CG, Music, art direction, illustrations and mostly the story telling where all SHIT, poor in quality and shameful for such a masterpiece. Miura teamed up with the wrong people. The sad thing is he also teamed up with what I believe to be the wrong people for the upcoming game (koei tecmo).

Truly a sad outcome for the franchise and its fans mostly. 

[PENumber2]

Hopefully this series can some day look as good as Sailor Moon Crystal.

It's not so much the look as the animation. It's like they've never seen someone walk. Also the first half of the episode and even the opening intro has a lot of extreme close ups where I just wish they'd have "pulled the camera back some" or drawn more. No one's hair moves, Guts cape is apparently a stiff hunk of plastic. Some shots did look like panels from the manga but they didn't get the tree monster right at all. It needed more faces and they needed to look as if they were carved into it. It reminded me of the skeleton tree from Nightmare Before Christmas.

[Aazealh]

The anime project's initial goal was to animate the entire series, but obviously this hasn't panned out.  These folks attempted to do Golden Age in a single movie for a reason - they wanted to get to new material.

If they wanted to get to new material, they should have started with the Black Swordsman arc. It could have been done in one movie. Then they could have moved on to other things as they saw fit. So I think you're wrong here, and that's supported by what the director said at the time. Anyway, the team in charge of the animation isn't the same anymore so it's moot.

This first episode seems to have been pieced together with the same intention.  It really was a jumbled mess, thanks to the editing, and everything was moving at break neck speed.  The episode shows us that Guts' brand attracks evil spirits, Guts is in constant danger, and he does not bat an eye at taking a life (but not really since he hesitates to kill Colette).  We are reminded of the eclipse, shown some main characters, and get a full demonstration of Guts' arsenal and combat prowess.  The story was butchered to catapault it into the next phase.

Yeah but this misses the point of the Black Swordsman arc (which is entirely new material) playing a vital role in establishing core aspects of the story, the world, and the characters. So they'll shoehorn all that (or skip it) as they go... and for what reason?

My theory - they haven't adapated the story faithfully thus far because they have no confidence in the post eclipse episodes bringing in viewers.  Someone determined incarnation was the way to get the most viewers, so do whatever it takes to get us to that material.

Unfortunately, it's the journey that matters, not the destination. Berserk is the story of Guts. If they have no faith in that, then they shouldn't take on the project to begin with. There's no excuse here.

I think it is entirely possible that we reach a point where the writers believe they have adequately set the table and are ready to present the story accurately.  I could be completely wrong but I'm gonna give this project the benefit of the doubt for a few episodes before I banish it to hell.

I'm willing to bet that you are indeed wrong here.

This was honestly the most disappointing part for me.

You need to set your priorities straight... I mean it sucks that they don't portray her faithfully in the intro, but it's the lesser problem here. Her depiction (yet to come) in the actual series is what should be the real concern.

It looks like someone has done the 1st round of fan edits for the new Berserk series all ready by editing out the op song and replacing it with "Tell me Why by Pen Pals" I can't wait for the ED song to be swapped out for "Waiting so Long by Silver Fins".

Who cares, those were terrible.

I refuse to watch this since it looks so bad but is the Hirasawa song any good? Can't find it on YouTube anywhere yet (and yet that rubbish rock song is, wtf?)

It's only heard after the credits, in the preview for the next episode. It's cool. "Typical Hirasawa stuff" is how I'd describe it. I certainly like it better than the rest.

Since they already went with made up fights, it could have been at least Guts vs Baron to offer some information on apostles to casual watchers. " Oh ok, so these guys are demons and they're the main opponents for Guts. ) Instead of random possessed tree.

Indeed. The Conviction arc assumes that the reader knows about the basic principles of the series. Not mentioning apostles until... the Beherit Apostle? Given how much of a special case he is, that feels like a terrible decision. But then again, for all we know Guts will save Farnese from the Slug Count after escaping the H.I.C.K.'s camp...

Miura teamed up with the wrong people.

Not sure he's got much say in this. Hakusensha does manage the Berserk IP after all.

[asic]

The intro was kinda neat, all nice smooth 2d animation for the most parts and there was a few seconds here and there I liked and that's about all the positives I have. That's barely a few min's out of a full episode.

The pacing was completely Schnoz'd!! There was hardly any time to breathe in that episode everything just went past so fucking quick. We get moments where the camera is not controlled by a 2 year old but instead there is terribly off putting music, ruining what was left to be ruined.

Just fucking great.

Even on a low budget you can have good pacing, consistent art and camera work, it just shows how inexperienced they are or how unprofessionally they take it. For fuck sake will Berserk ever get some god damn respect from these hacks!! Is Berserk so unpopular in Japan that it can't even get a decent budget and studio to make it proper? Is the state of the Japanese animation industry so fucked? Or is it just completely incompetent people in charge? 

[Gummyskull]

You need to set your priorities straight... I mean it sucks that they don't portray her faithfully in the intro, but it's the lesser problem here. Her depiction (yet to come) in the actual series is what should be the real concern.

True. I'm dreading how she'll be portrayed later based on the art direction so far.

[Kaladin]

what bothered me the most isn't even the cgi but how they changed some scenes and mashed these episodes in together, we knew this was gonna happen based on the episode titles so i didn't think i'd get bothered as much but i did. don't really like the intro and that song sounds terrible and i don't see it growing on me, no thank you. other than that i enjoyed it, i think its gonna get better going forward, but thats not really saying much.

oh and Caucasian casca....why just why?!?!?! 

puck was the best part 

here is a nicely drawn shot of him

[ryOtoha]

People who say wether or not this animation is good is a matter of opinion is what annoys me the most when talking about this adaptation, and no amount of actual animation and artistic flaws presented as dare I say it FACT can change the fact that to them we are whiners that should be grateful we are given anything at all. Well I'll be the first to say that sometimes less is more

If somebody profundly loves and respects the work of an artist, well, he knows that the source material is complete in itself. All the rest is either a well or badly designed tie-in product.

[Nothingwillbewong]

If somebody profundly loves and respects the work of an artist, well, he knows that the source material is complete in itself. All the rest is either a well or badly designed tie-in product.

Yes, right you are. The adaptation was just a bad case of the flu for me, now I just can't wait to get more monthly Berserk.

[puella]

Watching the episode, my first impression was that they made the same mistake as the movies: misinterpreting Guts!
I feel like they're depicting Kenshiro (from Hokuto no Ken) instead of Guts. In Japanese, there's a word pronounced "fukashi". It's typically used for a man who does everything in an overly dramatic fashion, which is not how Guts is at all.
Getting the details wrong, using crappy CG... these don't matter much when our main hero is fucked to begin with.

[Nothingwillbewong]

Whoever made the site's emojis should have been in charge of the art department these are amazing ahaha

[Goosper]

Guts is so one-dimensional. None of his motivations in the Black Swordsman Arc (like y'know, hunting down apostles for the sake of revenge) are laid out. He's not aggressive only somewhat cynical, he basically beats the shit out of some guys in a tavern for no reason (because he's an anime hero I guess), and there's no buildup on the relationship between him and Puck. None of this is helped by the dry voice acting and lack of decent facial expressions. When they can't even lay out the basic motivations of the main character in the first episode, then I don't see how this can get any better without an attempt to repair it with some awkwardly placed flashbacks.

Also first time poster. Hi.

[Walter]

SPECIAL: Berserk (2016) Anime Impressions - Episode 1 (19m)

Walter and Aaz share their takes on the new Berserk anime, the day that it aired.

[buttonmasher]

If they wanted to get to new material, they should have started with the Black Swordsman arc. It could have been done in one movie. Then they could have moved on to other things as they saw fit. So I think you're wrong here, and that's supported by what the director said at the time. Anyway, the team in charge of the animation isn't the same anymore so it's moot.

Yeah but this misses the point of the Black Swordsman arc (which is entirely new material) playing a vital role in establishing core aspects of the story, the world, and the characters. So they'll shoehorn all that (or skip it) as they go... and for what reason?

Unfortunately, it's the journey that matters, not the destination. Berserk is the story of Guts. If they have no faith in that, then they shouldn't take on the project to begin with. There's no excuse here.

For the record, I agree with you 100%.  I am in no way carrying water for this adaptation or trying to excuse it.  I wanted it adapted from page 1 using the manga as a story board, but obviously we are light years away from that sort of thing.  I'm suggesting the episode is a cobbled mess, in large part, because they are rushing to the part of the story they want to tell - something akin to what they did with the movies.  When we get to that point, maybe they will adapt it in a more faithful manner.  There's no going back and damage has been done but maybe this series will get better when it hits its stride.

[Aazealh]

I'm suggesting the episode is a cobbled mess, in large part, because they are rushing to the part of the story they want to tell - something akin to what they did with the movies.  When we get to that point, maybe they will adapt it in a more faithful manner.

I understand, and I agree with the first part. Clearly, frankensteining various parts of the story to fashion a makeshift introductionary episode for their anime did not work in their favor. Where I'm less optimistic however is about the fact it might become good. I also had this discussion with Walter on the podcast he just posted. Basically, I don't think the rush to get to the Conviction arc excuses everything that was wrong here. I think the writing is on the wall that these guys aren't very good at their job, and that more important story elements will be cut or changed going forward, resulting in a mess. Time will tell.

[TricksieThiefsie]

I am kinda sad for those who worked on this anime. Not every one of them wanted this to turn out to such shameless, distasteful piece of work. But that is not the worst thing really, we can ignore all of this if we want to. The worst thing is that some people are buried so deep in their own arses that they refuse to see, understand, accept any criticism. For them it's like a godsend, that we got SOMETHING for Berserk. Doesn't matter if it's bad, its existence alone is good enough.

That is a shame, because I always thought that Berserk fanbase is much more "hardcore". I don't mind new people joining in, that's a good thing, but they have to get out of their comfort zone.

[residentgrigo]

@Aazealh I have been lurking for 10 years so don't expect much from my posts but i will note that mangaka have high amount of creative control on the adaptation process if they want to.
They share a 50/50 share in that with the publisher. ANN once wrote a feature on that, please trust me before i start digging. In utterly agree on you podcast assessments that Miura was swindled by 4°C with a fancy pilot, so that's why the films (5/10, 4/10 and 3/10 in the order of release) turned to shit. But the key staff all got fired, so there is that. Yay?
Why is the new show so incomprehensibly broken though? I don't know. He can say no if someone wants to do a Pachinko machine and the publisher will need to agree. I chose this unfitting example as that happened with Kenshin. He could have said no to this show or forced small details on them, as once happened with Fruit Basket (some coloring thing i don't remember). Masami Tsuda more or less got Hideaki Anno (!) fired from Kare Kano as she disliked his comedy focus and i have more strange anecdotes. A lot of mangaka don't utilize these rights though as they are overworked, too "polite", not experienced in such matters or whatever. Thus i don't believe that Miura is involved in more then let's say a DVD cover. So why this latest abortion? My guess:

The films 100% bombed and the property is now "tainted" from an anime adaptation perspective for the next few years. The anime is also a strict midnight / steaming affair and the content in Berserk will keep all sorts of distribution partners away. The last 1997 DVD lacked distribution by US retailers to my knowledge, and they stepped of the content gas compared to the manga. The anime market is still sadly supported by home release sales, for the most part, and in sharp decline for 2 years. Don't get me started.... All of that is a mountain of bad. Berserk, Vinland Saga, the like don't fit into the mold and huge successes in one filed don't necessary translate. Hello Stephen King, Dune, all LoTR adaptations before 2001, Watchmen (great film in the complete cut and more successful that most believe) and so on. Beggars (by God, is this what we are now?) can't be choosers and a no name staff was the only thing left for the (changed) production staff. The manga will again get exposure, with 1 or 2 new volumes around the time of the home release, and the trashy game will also benefit. What we are currently watching is thus a cheap multimedia add. Nothing less and nothing more. I straight out refuse to call ANY of what i saw television, as what i watched was upside-down broken. 3/10 Donīt watch it if you havenīt, just say no.
I of course expect ep. 2 or 3 to be "better" for obvious reasons, a lofty 5/10 even, but what does this mean? Is the promise of me "only" being annoyed and confused for 20 minutes better than questioning the staff's and my own sanity? As this is what i experienced for 24 minutes today.
PS: The mindbogglingly opening is the least comprehensible piece of animation i saw in years and i have graded 2563 pieces of animated content on ANN and even more on Imdb. Was it put together by aliens? Did Japan accidentally discover Dadaism .

A warm hello to the SK staff from Germany, despite this sad day for the community.

[Dragon Warrior]

Does anyone know where i can find the bew song "Hai yo" ?

[Arles]

PS: The mindbogglingly opening is the least comprehensible piece of animation i saw in years and i have graded 2563 pieces of animated content on ANN and even more on Imdb. Was it put together by aliens? Did Japan accidentally discover Dadaism .

That one made my day 

[JMP]

Overall, it was the crap-fest I was afraid it would be. Man, that whole tree debacle was particularly sad. Too damp for firewood is right!   I don't understand why Berserk can't get a good anime adaptation.

[Dragon Warrior]

I guess we all should just be thankful at least this anime is alive again... it's better than nothing.

Even if they skipped lot of moments. I'm still excited to watch the next episode and the rest of the anime



EDIT
I didn't like how they made Isidro appear in this arc (which is never happened in the manga). It just... sounds too wrong, I don't like it when they skip very good moments that happened in the manga and insert NEW moments that never happened.


About Guts's design: It doesn't really look that bad like the movies. Guts design in the movies was really different than the manga. At least this version is closer...

[Jackolyn]

Thanks for the podcast guys! Overall you basically hit the nail on the head and I'm surprised you didn't discuss the animation or music choices, though I suspect it was to save on the run-time.

Personally I went into this as a very eager Berserk fan just excited for new material to be animated. The promotional pieces such as the trailer and posters had me wavering between really excited and terrified as there were a lot of questionable animation choices and I was really sad to see that the first episode didn't clean up as much as I hoped it would. The animation alone I think will scare a lot of people away, (as the movies have done exactly the same) I've never been a fan of 3D anime (ala RWBY) so to see it awkwardly meshed with 2D had me saddened. (They literally overlayed the shadows with a later of scribbled graphite to give it texture....a very jarring choice overtop of 3D character models). I see where they were going but I really hope that the series cleans up as it continues.

As far as the music goes, I'm not a fan of the intro/closing music at all, but I didn't mind the inclusion of some of the movies score remixed, it fit really well and despite taking the heavy metal route a bit too far, I was happy to hear familiar scores overall and found that moments where the movies soundtrack played were my favorites.

I also really enjoyed the sound of the Dragonslayer but they did overdo it a bit when he was chopping up the skeletons. I know they had a bit of armor on, but they were still majority bone...they weren't made of metal.

I will still eagerly tune in every week to see where it goes, overall a very choppy first episode but I look forward to seeing how they handle the rest of the series (and I look forward to hearing expanded musical scores!)

[JellyfishJam]

it's better than nothing.

This might sound harsh, but I honestly don't think it is.

[Dragon Warrior]

I didn't like the intro music much. But at least it was better than ''Tell me why''

It would have been better if they made ''Hai Yo'' the intro song or any other susumu hirasawa song from the past.