2016 Berserk TV series: Episode 12

[Roderick]

I'm insulted that there are viewers who think this is acceptable to watch. I'm insulted that this manga, which is so masterfully crafted in its storytelling, art and characterization, is dragged through the mud so horridly, while completely shitty shonens, moe fanservice and even hentai are given royal treatment. And that people are actually fine with this!

Not that it's much surprising, but now that this season is over, a deluge of fan reviews have surfaced today blasting this series.  Sure there are inexplicable defenders, but for every one of those there's at least five panning it.

Also more than a few giving this the "honor" of most disappointing anime of the year, which is hard to argue against.

[Gamehowitzer]

Not that it's much surprising, but now that this season is over, a deluge of fan reviews have surfaced today blasting this series.  Sure there are inexplicable defenders, but for every one of those there's at least five panning it.

Also more than a few giving this the "honor" of most disappointing anime of the year, which is hard to argue against.

I feel like it deserves more than most disappointing anime of the year. How about most disappointing anime in the last decade? unless anyone can think of something worse...

I can't imagine how miura feels about this anime. i know that he's supposed to very humble, but honestly does it keep him up at night?

[N7Paladin]

The terrible animation was in full force for the final episode, specifically how awful Zodd looked. Griffith was poorly done as well, and those guitar riffs....

Oh well, I guess its over now. Goodbye Berserk 2016.

Credits
Music
灰よ Hai Yo
灰よ Hai Yo
灰よ Hai Yo
灰よ Hai Yo
灰よ Hai Yo

[Tama]

Walter, will you and Aazealh still be doing a podcast for the series summary? I know the show as a whole was pretty awful, but I figured I'd ask if you had any plans, maybe talking about the future of Berserk anime from here on out, and so on.

[Walter]

Walter, will you and Aazealh still be doing a podcast for the series summary? I know the show as a whole was pretty awful, but I figured I'd ask if you had any plans, maybe talking about the future of Berserk anime from here on out, and so on.

Yep. Sunday.

[Vixen Comics]

you know in the end I think Luka was the only thing that I really liked about this new anime series adaption. She is a wonderful character and I feel her character portrayal was handled well and I liked her voice. Her actress actually bothered to act out her her lines. I feel like she was the hidden gem in this whole mess, but I think that stems from Miura writing Luka is a rather straightforward way in the manga that I feel she was mostly spared from being woefully mishandled. Could her character been handled better? Yeah, I think so, but from what we got from her I actually enjoyed. Actually, I enjoyed Isidro and Puck the most besides Luka as far as their banter and comedic asides were concerned.

Everything else I merely tolerated or outright hated. So much lost opportunity I wanted to weep, or kick someone in the face. The best stuff in this arc were either skipped over or emptied of any depth. I hated the way Farnese, Guts, Casca, Serpico, Skull Knight, Zodd and Mozgus, and his torturers were portrayed. Especially their voice acting. i don't think I have ever come across an anime were I thought the voice acting was lame or hollow. Japanese voice actors are usually phenomenal in their performances. I'm usually deeply impressed and pulled in to their emotional performances. Most of them are top notch and even when I feel that they do not sound like how I think they should have sounded in the manga in my head, most of them can deliver! I have actually wondered if i am just being overly harsh on them because of my bias, but really no, I have genuinely not cared for the vocal performances of Serpico, Farnese, Casca, and especially Guts.

They messed up the biggest emotional pay off of the tension for guts in this whole arc. The moment he finally embraces Casca and she tentatively grips him back. Casca does not let men grab her like that  in her state, and she was agitated by getting manhandled by an angry mob and nearly burned and then seeing things that reminded her of the eclipse, that it was an important emotional moment she allowed Guts to do that. It was supposed to be the pay off  for Guts after being so close to her several times and having her ripped away from him by all the crazy events going on around them. That was so powerful in the manga that I got goose bumps when it happened. This part fell flat.

Correct me if I'm wrong but i think they also cut out pieces of Farnese's childhood that explained why she was such a zealot and Serpico's past with his mother and burning her?

[Cyrus Jong]

Correct me if I'm wrong but i think they also cut out pieces of Farnese's childhood that explained why she was such a zealot and Serpico's past with his mother and burning her?

No, Serpico and Farnese's backstory wasn't cut. Berserk doesn't go into full detail with them until the early parts of the Millennium Falcon arc, specifically v22. The anime did include the bit with Farnese attending her first witch-burning as a child, which was covered in the Conviction arc. It just...wasn't done well. Like most everything else in the show. They didn't include any of Farnese's narration for it; they just showed a bunch of weird imagery of her throwing torches onto a fire without any context in a scene that lasted a little over 30 seconds.

[Vixen Comics]

The anime did include the bit with Farnese attending her first witch-burning as a child, which was covered in the Conviction arc. It just...wasn't done well. Like most everything else in the show. They didn't include any of Farnese's narration for it; they just showed a bunch of weird imagery of her throwing torches onto a fire without any context in a scene that lasted a little over 30 seconds.

thats what I meant,it was shown at the end of one of the episodes but was not executed coherently. I do accept that my memory of when things happened is getting blurred, but that scene with Farnese and the witch burning was so cropped, I don't see how anyone would know whats going on without prior knowledge. Which the one of the major issues with this anime.

[residentgrigo]

I borderline hated the last ep. (3/10) due to the awkward everything, but i found this one to be "better". It was bad but still a 4/10. It was a piss poor adaptation, it butchered key moments, donīt get me stared what was missing and Zod... by god, what happened. The movie model could at least move and the Dreamcast game did a better job! Still, it was "watchable" from an animation and sound-design perspective. I didnīt "like" what i saw, i have zero interest in a followup by the same people, but i didnīt suffer. This is all i can ask for at this point. I am happy it ended.
My 3/10 Imdb review for the show stands, i wonīt change a single word, but feel free to raise the score by 0.5. Final word: Donīt come back for the rest if you left "early", you are in a better place.

@Walter I suggest too google Liden Films before recording. They changed the animation studio for Terra Formars S02, as S01 flopped, but the end result was noticeably inferior in terms of budget.
This may be the worst put together project they ever did. Unbelievable.

[DANGERDOOOOM]

A disappointing finale from a disappointing anime adaption. What a crazy roller coaster this season put me through. With everything they did in season 1, I hope for season 2 they learned that there were some large issues in the direction and execution from this season. I'm not expecting much from the next season. If there is anything I'm looking forward to, is seeing the Qliphoth, the relationship growth between the characters in Guts' party, and Guts donning the Berserker armor. Keeping my fingers crossed for better animation and episode storyboards!

But for now...

[Lawliet]

Well that was an awkward finale. Zodd looked liked a moving action-figure, so lifeless and bland, couldn't take him seriously at all. All the great moments in this part of the story were underwhelming here too. Oh well, here's hoping the 2017 season will be better (and really, it's not hard at all for it to be better, given what they have delivered so far).

On the bright side, Nina's gone. Her voice actress was absolutely irritating to my ears. 

At the end of the day, I'm most grateful for Susumu Hirasawa's Hai Yo track. It's easily one of his best songs. I'm absolutely addicted to it. 

[VladimirPutin]

This episode was mostly bad, but it has some good moments. First, I think 11 episodes is too little to adapt 57 episodes of manga. It should be a little more than that. So the action was going too fast. And I'm not even talking about visual side of anime - it's shitty, but at least they should try to give more time on some scenes - but no, why should they do such thing ... If everyone will watch it, because it's called Berserk. Meh, in the end I will give 6/10 - because it's still Berserk, but I don't think it really deserves it.

[Aazealh]

A tepid conclusion to a sorry excuse for an adaptation. Fraught with the same problems all other episodes were afflicted with. Experiencing Berserk this way is a crime against good taste.

[Gamehowitzer]

A tepid conclusion to a sorry excuse for an adaptation. Fraught with the same problems all other episodes were afflicted with. Experiencing Berserk this way is a crime against good taste.

I feel like anyone could have done a better adaptation. quite literally.

[TheBlackMist]

merrrg, such an anti climatic episode  the ending looked like a Disney version of Game Of Thrones

[SuperVegetto]

Perhaps the worst episode out of a pretty bad adaptation.
And why are Ninas in anime so annoying? Whoever watched this and Code Geass will understand

Also, I haven't read the manga in a while so my memory might be shady, but did this scene with Griffith reincarnating there even happen? I thought it happened in the hill of swords

At least we got Hai Yo and a fantastic Berserk album out of it

[Walter]

Perhaps the worst episode out of a pretty bad adaptation.

I think Episode 1 was far, far worse than this one.

Also, I haven't read the manga in a while so my memory might be shady, but did this scene with Griffith reincarnating there even happen? I thought it happened in the hill of swords

You're not remembering correctly. Femto is incarnated into a physical body after the tower falls. Later, he and Guts have a discussion on the Hill of Swords.

[SuperVegetto]

I think Episode 1 was far, far worse than this one.

You're not remembering correctly. Femto is incarnated into a physical body after the tower falls. Later, he and Guts have a discussion on the Hill of Swords.

Well that's better to know because it means that they didn't completely remake his incarnation. Although they did execute it pretty terribly...

[Squiddot]

By the third episode this had plummeted through the realms of bad adaption and just became bad story. Was there anything this show got right? The pacing was atrocious, the character's butchered and every single scene was dulled by completely soulless animation.

[residentgrigo]

@Squiddot The ending stills tended to be amazing. Shaders can really make all the difference:
http://imgur.com/a/ofefZ
 

[DANGERDOOOOM]

By the third episode this had plummeted through the realms of bad adaption and just became bad story. Was there anything this show got right? The pacing was atrocious, the character's butchered and every single scene was dulled by completely soulless animation.

I'd say what made me somewhat happy was Isidro and Puck's screen time together. Their voice actors did a great job and together they made a great pair to get a laugh or smile out of me.

But yes, other than that it was a rather disappointing journey.

[Mammon]

I've finally watched this episode, took my sweet time... I wasn't stocked about it but I figured that having suffered through 11 episodes, I could at least watch the finale....
And what a let down as usual, I won't speak of the music since several every poster ITT already pointed all the flaws... still, IIRC (I didn't rewatch any of the episodes), that was the first time I loudly proclaimed "Oh come on!" instead of thinking "Wow that sucks".

Let's try to be positive:
- I liked Silat much more in this adaptation (as opposed to the third movie), same voice actor (Yūichi Nakamura, "Greed" from FMA Brotherhood and Cid from FF XIII among many other voices) but this time he didn't sound like a sadist getting a kick out of beating Casca up, I thought that was kind of out of character in the movies...
So decent improvement in the voice acting for that chara, but he didn't look as good as in "Descent".

- Puck was overall (relatively, compared to the rest of that mess) fun and pretty well done, if you omit his healing skills shown once (I think), after Pepe got whipped. And it was a background event, easy to miss.

Aaaaand I'm struggling to find some more positives things to say.
I remember when I was completely disappointed when I bought the "Blade of the Immortal" 13 episodes (just covering the beginning of the manga) anime adaptation (this manga was one of the first I bought, and it's still comfortably in my top 3).

I also thought that the "Kingdom" (I'm quite fond of this manga, it's not Berserk/BoTi/Vagabond tiers but I still enjoy it a lot) anime adaptation was a disaster (especially season 1) but compared to what I've witnessed these last few weeks, the second season almost look good in comparison...
"Berserk 2016" is just on a whole other level.

And since I'm the "Berserk dude" in my circle of anime-enthusiasts friends, I can only say "Wait this is not what it looks like  " even if surprisingly they enjoyed it a lot (like a lot of people on the internet apparently).
 I get a lot of questions but I don't want to spoil the manga for them... so I pointed some of them to=>

It makes the Golden Age Trilogy look brilliant by comparison, and I had a lot of issues with that as well.

... our friend ApostleBob's excellent "Berserk Redux" Golden Age 4 movies, if they want to learn about Guts past but don't really read manga/like anime better it was the best option.

So thanks a lot Bob, never got the chance to congratulate you
It was a very ambitious project, but you put so much effort in it, I couldn't not recommend it to friends who want to know what happened previously (when reading the manga is not an option for various reasons).

Ok, I'm off to listen to the Walter/Aaz podcast, that should be... interesting 

Let's hope that they will have learned from their mistakes and that Berserk 2017 will be a notch above this mess.

Has Kentaro Miura commentated on this season? I remember the infamous "Miura had an enigmatic smile after watching "The Egg of the King" 

[Aazealh]

I get a lot of questions but I don't want to spoil the manga for them... [...] if they want to learn about Guts past but don't really read manga/like anime better it was the best option.

In life, you can't always have what you want. If they don't want to read the manga, then they obviously don't care enough about the story. You shouldn't bend over backwards to indulge people's laziness.

Has Kentaro Miura commentated on this season?

No.

[Mammon]

In life, you can't always have what you want. If they don't want to read the manga, then they obviously don't care enough about the story. You shouldn't bend over backwards to indulge people's laziness.

No.

Thanks, too bad about the comments... I was especially curious about episode 3 since Miura was so involved in it. Maybe in the  Blu-ray/DVD comments. But probably not.

About the rest, I guess I should clarify what I meant...
when approaching a story (let's say Hellsing), some fans will choose the manga, others the anime, others both.
"Hellsing Ultimate" is a legit way to experience the story, I like this version but still prefer the manga.

Some fans, on the other hand, are hardcore anime enthusiasts (except for some rare gems, I'm generally not an anime watcher), they have nothing against mangas but if a solid anime alternative is available (Dragon Ball, FMA: Brotherhood, SNK/Attack on Titans, Hajime No Ippo, One-Punch Man, Yu Yu Hakusho , to name some pretty faithful major titles adaptation) they will go for it.
 
Some of my friends are "anime only" people, with huge collections of DVDs, who visit anime forums, etc... and they actually liked that 2016 Berserk in their own way; 

they were intrigued by this whole story & characters, and when consulted, I pointed them to ApostleBob's redux; so they can have some very basic backstory on Guts, Casca and Griffith; why not, after all? 
It's not like I haven't offered to lend them my volumes over the years...

[TheBlackMist]

I was a little confused though, wasn't Zodd suppose to loose a horn in a fight with Griffith? THEN he joins the new Band Of The Hawk? or did I fall asleep through that bit in the episode