2016 Berserk TV series: Episode 1

[volatilecurry]

From a financial standpoint only, aren't we somewhat obligated to grit our teeth and support this?  Don't shoot me down, just here me out a little.  Berserk is a niche property, and from the little I know (yes, little) about marketing, if we continue to shoot down every crappy release, won't we be more likely to get more, yet spaced out crap?

I'm honestly wondering should one of these adaptations, bad as they may be, if one were to find financial success, could this in turn grant us someone's attention who wants to invest in a bigger, better translation of the story?

To some degree, I think so. If we can prove to those in power that Berserk is a series that can attract a lot of viewers and make money, I believe the chances of us getting another adaptation with a better budget is there. The scary part is, this series becoming successful can be interpreted two different ways. It can either be

A: "Berserk has a lot of potential, let's do another season and increase the budget"

or B: "The fans liked this? Great, do another one exactly the same way."

I pray we get the former instead of the latter. My hope at this point isn't even that we get a full series that covers the entire story from start to finish (the dream), but I'm more hoping that we can get OVA's or movies that tell specific events. An OVA for Lost Children would be perfect. An OVA or movie for the Black Swordsman arc would be perfect. They could fit certain chapters of later arcs into a single movie as well, without too many cuts if the money and effort was there.

Anyway, What this all means to me is that I'm going to keep watching the series on Crunchyroll, buy the Musou game, buy volume 38, buy the bluray of the '97 series (if it ever comes to America), and I'll probably buy a physical release of the 2016 series too. The best I can do to tell them that Berserk can make money. Hopefully it sends them the right message.

[Salem]

Apparently by getting pissed about Colette's death. Beats me. It was almost shounen like last minute power-up. Im surprised his hair didnt change to yellow.

I was enjoying "the brand" part of the episode quite a lot, but then the tree showed up...

That power up thing, coming from someone who's only exposure to anime has been berserk, is a little....silly to me.   

[residentgrigo]

The worst part about the "anime", is that it started to mess with my recollection of the manga. Especially due to the first anime. I thus read the adapted parts again on Sunday and will now continue to do so until we are rid of this mokery. I binged all of the new Voltron (8/10) the other week. Night and day, man. Night and day. Thank god for JoJo on the same day.

Just put all your money into the manga or even dvds of the old show to give away. That message i can endorse, but every man for himself.

[Feeblecursedone]

Anyway, What this all means to me is that I'm going to keep watching the series on Crunchyroll, buy the Musou game, buy volume 38, buy the bluray of the '97 series (if it ever comes to America)

Agreed. I actually bought the complete collection of 97's anime yesterday on base.com 

[volatilecurry]

Just put all your money into the manga or even dvds of the old show to give away. That message i can endorse, but every man for himself.

If you're supporting something then you're doing your part TBH. If you can't get behind "Berserk 2016" I understand. A lot of people can't. But I do feel like we as fans are obligated to dump some money into the series in one way or another right now. We're at a point in time where we actually have options for investing into the series. However you want to do that should help at least a little.

[Salem]

If you're supporting something then you're doing your part TBH. If you can't get behind "Berserk 2016" I understand. A lot of people can't. But I do feel like we as fans are obligated to dump some money into the series in one way or another right now. We're at a point in time where we actually have options for investing into the series. However you want to do that should help at least a little.

Good way to express all that.  I am behind this message 100%.  Being the first episode and readily prepared for it, I'm very understanding if someone has rage about the anime.  Supporting Berserk is something important to me, so I feel obligated to find the pros and point out the cons without making someone feel isolated from the entire thing....Even though there are plenty of flaws.   

I've tried to get my best friend to read the manga and have shown him the adaptions.  This came out and I was trying to say how they didn't do a good job and he said he loved it...   I wanted to tell him how ignorant he is, lol, but I feel that's a bit trivial if word of mouth gets more into the REAL story.

[residentgrigo]

Putting your money where your mount is, is important, but evangelizing the series is also key. I wrote a lengthy and spoiler free review for the overall manga on amazon years ago and i bring the series up to everyone in my life who can get behind such content. Look how big the "un-adaptable" Ice and Fire got! Some had to start that fire. That is one of the reasons i own and wear a Beherit. Consider me a living add for Berserk, Batman and more nerd stuff.

Yet Berserk is no joke either with about 40 mil. in sales and i wrote a bit more in the poll. The Souls comparison videos should be the best thing that happened to the manga this decade, to advertise it, and the most important factor is Miura“s health. Berserk the manga will survive, even if no proper adaptation may ever come, and that is my ONE real concern. Hell, i am still waiting so see my Dune epos, and it is the bestselling sci-fi book of all time! God Emperor of Dune needs to be unleashed, but i am just happy it exists. (No money for Brian Herbert from me).

[Proj2501]

Very rough in most places. I hope there's improvement as the season marches on. I wasn't surprised at all when Isidro was introduced out of the gate. He's a character younger viewers may gravitate towards (basing that off Isidro's age and the main character from One Piece and how wildly popular that series is) and I suppose the producers thought it couldn't hurt to include him from the outset. In a sense, they were right, it won't change much. Like most properties based on books, it'll never stay totally faithful and compromises will be made.

I do think it's important to see the good, however little there may be of it, in this situation. There's no way it won't bring new fans to the manga and hopefully Miura made a solid chunk of change of this too. The show's kind of shit as of this moment, especially this episode, but I hope it makes us eat humble pie by the end. Make no mistake, it's shit so far, and I'll only stick around and half heartedly watch it to see Mozgus. 

Yeah, we all want anything Berserk related to be perfect. I think that's a naive way of thinking though. This show is targeted for the youth. No one cares about hardcore fans like us. Kids hear the music used and go, "Ah, sugoi music! Kakui!" We sit here reminiscing for ol' Susumu and throw the Dreamcast OST on.

We're old men on our lawns yelling how the old days were better. They were.

The manga was always and will always be the perfect form of Berserk.

This is us basically:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hUkCJDkG3fg

[Aazealh]

Yeah, we all want anything Berserk related to be perfect. I think that's a naive way of thinking though. This show is targeted for the youth. No one cares about hardcore fans like us. Kids hear the music used and go, "Ah, sugoi music! Kakui!" We sit here reminiscing for ol' Susumu and throw the Dreamcast OST on. We're old men on our lawns yelling how the old days were better. They were.

First off, I'm not convinced this is actually aimed at kids, and if it is then the project is misguided, shouldn't exist, and will fail. Second, I don't think settling for shitty things is ever justified, and it certainly isn't by the cynical view that "it's just the way it is these days folks".

The manga was always and will always be the perfect form of Berserk.

That doesn't mean the other stuff has to be absolute garbage.

[TricksieThiefsie]

I have a feeling that some people who hate this new anime now are going to like it after next few episodes. Time softens and I believe thoughts like "it's the only thing we got for now" are going to be regular. In the end this anime may become passable in a way that it will encourage studios to continue doing such a half-assed job and we, as hardcore Berserk fans are going to suffer even more. I am not saying it's a given but I really hope Berserk 2016 will fail as much as possible. If it means not getting any adaptation from now on, I am fine with that.

[residentgrigo]

@Tricksie I may be the most negative on the show here (3/10), and no 180% will come from me.  I have Berserk stitched into my literal flesh after all, due to my tattoo.  Only 1/4 of the poll participant could even stand the show and only 3 of those loved it. Who? The game is also destined to be better, i guess. We will live.
I even fully expect to see a few worse or equally bewildering episodes after a destined "recovery" due to less rushing. They chose some of the hardest materiel to adapt in terms of content, for heavens sake! I am also calling at least 1 ep. of filler (nothing new here). The clip show age of TV / anime is further over but who knows. A 2 cour run could lead to that one too. At least i have company, right gang ? Gooble Gobble One of Us.

I hated the 2nd and 3rd film when they came out and still do. That“s over 3 years ago. Batman Forever (worse than & Robin IMHO) is now 2 decades old for me and i still don“t acknowledged it, to give an example from my "other" life. Time Heals No Wounds.

[Gamehowitzer]

Hi everyone im new here. just registered a couple days ago bc i wanted to talk about the new anime too. OFC the general consensus is that its bad, but what about the staff? Not the voice actors or anything but the actual animators. I dont know much about anime staff but i want to know if the staff, or the studio is a the problem.

[CCS]

I guess I have low expectations or something cause I was alright with it. I wish they had the budget to do 2d for the faces all the time though. That's the major complaint I have. The Guts CG model looks alright from the side but the front view has some major issues and his mouth doesn't look too good. And the girl and her father's face in this episode were even worse.

[jackson_hurley]

I would not be surprised if they scene where Guts eats a rabbit is inspired by the scene where he is eating a leg of whatever in the prototype. I was just browsing through it while my relecture of volume 14 and there is that scene where he has a big mouth filled...

[Aazealh]

Hi everyone im new here. just registered a couple days ago bc i wanted to talk about the new anime too. OFC the general consensus is that its bad, but what about the staff? Not the voice actors or anything but the actual animators. I dont know much about anime staff but i want to know if the staff, or the studio is a the problem.

Hi. Well given the poor quality of the show it seems clear to me that whoever is working on it is severely incompetent.

I would not be surprised if they scene where Guts eats a rabbit is inspired by the scene where he is eating a leg of whatever in the prototype. I was just browsing through it while my relecture of volume 14 and there is that scene where he has a big mouth filled...

Hah! The prototype has him eating in an inn while talking to villagers, even that would have made more sense than what they did here.

[DasBouf]

Holy hell, the anime and GA arc movies had their problems, but this is in another league.
This is only the first episode ofc, so the potential to get better exists (technically)
There are so many the first and most glaring being the 2fps animation. I personally like the art style, and wouldn't mind CG so long as it was smooth, but this is horrendous to look at. There are these really awkward moments of stillness where characters look like they're having 'Nam flashbacks ( https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x-KBSKEI33Q )
Overall the look of it would be best described as "wonky"
However the animation issues are far out shined in my opinion by the pacing problems.So many awful choices, rushing over Lost Children and Black Swordsman, throwing in Isidro, things like this are so off putting.
Do they want to get to Flora's mansion by the end of the season? At the rate they're going they'll be ahead of the manga soon lmao
I was hoping for 3 episodes dedicated to the Black Swordsman arc and then the rest to cover Lost Children and Holy Iron Chain maybe, but I'm a fool for wanting things to be paced properly. Looking at this studios track record I am fucking baffled as to why they were given the Berserk anime.
Perhaps they are trying to give the viewer the same sense of suffering that Guts feels, so we can properly empathize with him. Perhaps that is the fate of Berserk fans, to suffer as the protagonist of the series does.
What a fucking embarrassment.

[Skeleton]

There are these really awkward moments of stillness where characters look like they're having 'Nam flashbacks ( https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x-KBSKEI33Q )

God that's great.

[Pink-Dark-Boy]

'Nam flashbacks ( https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x-KBSKEI33Q )

I was really not expecting that video 

[Feeblecursedone]

Apparently frozen skeletons and other characters are a thing in this anime.

[jackson_hurley]

Hi. Well given the poor quality of the show it seems clear to me that whoever is working on it is severely incompetent.

Hah! The prototype has him eating in an inn while talking to villagers, even that would have made more sense than what they did here.

I know right! But still, let's suppose here that said producer or whatever read volume 14 for reference, stumbled on the prototype part and got to that part, turned his head to a partner and said: "Hey let's make him eat in the night with no worries and that goofy face..." Ugh... Pisses me off.

I'm still gonna watch it cause I'm curious to see the damage done.

[Aulė]

My first impression is really bad. (cringeworthy)
...
pfffff
It's a pity... it could have been one of the best anime out there if: 1) No CGI (like the opening which I really liked) and 2) Don't skip stuff from the manga. This sequencing of storyline makes ablosutely no sense.

[enjoy]

I`ll be quick as most of my concerns have already been addressed by everyone here.
The thing that really made the biggest impact on me, besides the fast pace and choppy writing, is the animation and how it was handled.
I love hand drawn animation because it offers so much detail and it is just beautiful to watch (80`s, 90`s Anime).
Of course the addition of CGI is always welcome if it blends well with the overall animation of the series. I think that good CGI is barely noticeable and is used to tweak things like background, effects and other touch ups. Well here, unfortunately , it is in your face and it just doesn't do the Anime justice. It`s just sad to watch a CGI model of Guts when we could have had a beautiful drawn model of him and every other character. That scene with Isidro moving like a muppet in the tavern is sad to watch. 
I really hope that they improve on the animation and storytelling of the series in the upcoming episodes.

[Skullgrin140]

Okay so having sat down and watched the first episode to this a few times, my thoughts regarding this 2016 adaptation of Berserk. Despite it's fair share of horribly glaring flaws I rather enjoyed the first episode, although parts of the Black Swordsman arc were significantly cut out and unnecessary parts added in such as Isidro serving Drinks and Flora and Schierke at the beginning I thought it was a passable attempt at bringing parts of the first volume to life.

However much like everyone has been mentioning, The Animation really is incredibly jarring and very wonky to look at. The Animation I think is going to take a very long time to get used to as this is done by a company who has had no past experience working with this kind of property. I imagine that in the hands of a company such as Madhouse I think this would have had a better chance of serviceable animation, the biggest issue for me however really is the score because I found it to be complete and total wank, the whole Dubstep/Grunge Guitar mix really feels horrible and brittle to an anime like this and it makes me miss and appreciate so much of what Susumu Hirasawa did for the original anime. Plus the theme song really doesn't help when it just sounds bland and forgettable like the score.

On a few positive notes when it does 2D animation it displays it rather well in this when it uses it to show freeze shots of the characters, I can imagine however that for an anime based off a highly detailed manga however so much detail would take eons to really process into a full length TV series which makes the production struggle to make it as good as the manga.

I do hope this show improves however because I want this to do well, Also why the hell is Casca white?

[PENumber2]

I wonder if they chose to start with an episode that featured that tree monster, which is wooden because of their own ability (time and funding?) to animate it. I imagine had they done the Barron or that girl who turns into the moth might be harder to animate properly. 

[Dar Klink]

This is exactly how I feel.