Dark Horse Releases "Deluxe" Berserk Edition

Walter said:
Volume 1, Pg 4
Japanese (Digital)
Japanese (Print)
English (Digital)
English (Print)

Volume 1, Pg 24
Japanese (Digital)
Japanese (Print)
English (Digital)
English (Print)

Dark Horse's digital quality really isn't that bad, except for the obvious banding issues that happen when there's a detailed pattern or screen effect. Even still, the Japanese digital editions weren't great in the first few volumes, either. Volume 1 in particular looks quite washed out. I don't know why, but they improved over time (as did Dark Horse's coincidentally). Maybe they were still figuring out the best method for scanning the originals, and never bothered to do another pass once they optimized? Either way, my money is still on the Japanese print being the best, most consistent visual quality, except for the very limited color pages, in which case the Japanese digital pages obviously win, as they're just fucking pristine. Alright there goes my evening, somebody buy me a drink.

I would've said "Sure thing, next time you're in the city lets meet again at Puck Fair" but sadly, that place shut down in 2016 :judo:, +1 karma for now *clink*! Thanks for breaking it down so well, with various formats in mind. I'd forgotten about DH's digital version because I don't own the series in digital format (yet).

EDIT

Amazon pre-order link is now live, available for $49.99 - https://www.amazon.com/Berserk-Deluxe-1-Kentaro-Miura/dp/1506711987/ref=sr_1_fkmr0_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1538501218&sr=8-1-fkmr0&keywords=berserk+deluxe+edition
 

Griffith

With the streak of a tear, Like morning dew
Walter said:
I haven't done an extensive comparison between the official digital scans from Dark Horse and the print editions, but I really wonder if they're improved.

Scratch that, I did it:

Volume 1, Pg 4

Volume 1, Pg 24

Damn, I would have just believed your description! With the color pages considered, though their relevancy obviously dwindles with time, it's hard for me not to consider the JP digital the best option visually. On the other hand, being able to get the gist of the dialogue makes a strong case for DH. Hey, does the DH digital revert back to the original art in cases that were modified in print? I think the most prominent example I'm thinking of is either the Zondark, Count, or Femto fight in volumes 2 or 3, where Guts is being knocked/pulled away screaming. Don't trouble yourself looking if it's not convenient.
 
If it was a couple years from now or a few years ago I'd be happy but Berserk's been on a bad losing streak. It's gotten hard to be optimistic about anything. It's ownership doesn't understand the material or the target audience which has caused vast amounts of damage. At least it's not Dune where it's been the author's own son trashing the franchise.

Last year master editions of Blame! by Tsutomo Nihei were released. It is excellent. The art looks great the translations are as good as it gets and it's a good size you can see all the detail. There aren't any bonuses or new drawings except for the new character designs from the anime but I can live with that. The important part is they nailed the material and fixed (many) earlier mistakes.

But that's a Vertical release not Dark Horse. Ideally it would be similar to the Blame! release but without the new character designs from the anime and some new art by Miura. It doesn't need to be anything fancy or extra but they need to fix their mistakes. A translation by someone who understands the story, maybe even gets into it and the nuances. Instead of hammering it out as a 9 to 5 job translating as dully as possible with no eye for context.

If it's just a copy of the earlier translations with a fancy cover printed on bigger paper it'll be very disappointing even if it contains the token beautiful new Miura drawings.
 
therevverend said:
If it was a couple years from now or a few years ago I'd be happy but Berserk's been on a bad losing streak. It's gotten hard to be optimistic about anything. It's ownership doesn't understand the material or the target audience which has caused vast amounts of damage. At least it's not Dune where it's been the author's own son trashing the franchise.

Last year master editions of Blame! by Tsutomo Nihei were released. It is excellent. The art looks great the translations are as good as it gets and it's a good size you can see all the detail. There aren't any bonuses or new drawings except for the new character designs from the anime but I can live with that. The important part is they nailed the material and fixed (many) earlier mistakes.

Those new Blame! Translations are terrible IMO, they spell Killy as Kyurri, they embelish the text with swear words, and apparentley they screwed up the final battle between Killy, Sanakan and the huge safeguard. At least we got high quality scans though.
 

Walter

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MrFlibble said:
Those new Blame! Translations are terrible IMO, they spell Kill as Kyurri, they embelish the text with swear words, and apparentley they screwed up the final battle between Killy Sanakan and the huge safeguard. At least we got high quality scans though.

Blame's main character is not named "Kill." Kirii and Killy have been acceptable in the past. Also, "Blame!" Itself is a bad translation, since it's pretty obviously supposed to be the onomatopoeia of a gun firing: "BLAM."

Anyway, I have all of the masterworks editions, and they're gorgeous. I wouldn't expect anything close to those from Dark Horse. It sounds like we're getting the same translation (see my post above). And new art from Miura for a localized edition? Theres no precedent for it, so probably not going to happen.
 
Walter said:
Also, "Blame!" Itself is a bad translation, since it's pretty obviously supposed to be the onomatopoeia of a gun firing: "BLAM."
I have no doubt you must know what you're talking about but are you sure? (I didn't read it yet.) In that case it's probaly not a mistake made by Dark Horse Vertical since it's exactly written "Blame!" on the japanese volumes. Or maybe that's what you meant? :???:


On the subjet of the Deluxe Berserk edition, as long as it's not something official from Miura/Miura's editors I'm not interested. They'll probably reuse the same sources files and stretch them.
 

Walter

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MiyamotoPuck said:
I have no doubt you must know what you're talking about but are you sure? (I didn't read it yet.) In that case it's probaly not a mistake made by Dark Horse since it's exactly written "Blame!" on the japanese volumes. Or maybe that's what you meant? :???:

It has nothing to do with Dark Horse (what?). Anyway, Japanese people get English words wrong all the time. Look no further than "Knight of Skeleton" :ganishka:
 
MiyamotoPuck said:
I have no doubt you must know what you're talking about but are you sure? (I didn't read it yet.) In that case it's probaly not a mistake made by Dark Horse since it's exactly written "Blame!" on the japanese volumes. Or maybe that's what you meant? :???:

I knew it's supposed to be pronounced "BLAM" as well.
 
Walter said:
It has nothing to do with Dark Horse (what?).
Oh. My bad. I'm not used to english editors and you were also speaking about translations by Dark Horse so I got them confused. Sorry. :farnese:

Walter said:
Anyway, Japanese people get English words wrong all the time. Look no further than "Knight of Skeleton" :ganishka:

True haha! :serpico:
 
Americanized Japanese slang translated back into English. The question is whether it means anything in Japanese or they say it because it sounds cool. I'm going to have to listen carefully next time a gun fires to hear if it says Bam! or Blame!
By 'better translations' for Blame! I should have said much better then the original Tokyopop translations. But the manga was never about the dialog...
 

Walter

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Amazon has Vol 1 of the deluxe edition up for ~$20 with a preorder code.

Go here: https://www.amazon.com/Berserk-Deluxe-1-Kentaro-Miura/dp/1506711987/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1544359611&sr=8-1&keywords=berserk+deluxe

Use this at checkout: GIFTBOOK18

Thanks go to Reddit for the heads up
 

Walter

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Staff member
First look at the inside of the deluxe editions: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FGTp_PPBoDA

Paper quality looks improved. It looks genuinely stitched (not glued), which is great. And sound effects were added, but the translation appears to be the same. Haven't had a chance to do a 1:1 comparison myself (at work).
 
Walter said:
And sound effects were added, but the translation appears to be the same.

If they went over the sound effects but are not gonna bother at all with the translations...man, just thinking about it pisses me off. It would be a shame, because this edition looks good otherwise.
 
I have a question, is there a good reason why Dark Horse didn't include Miura's original color pages in the Deluxe Editions? Seems like an obvious missed opportunity. Also the pages are not gloss (similar to photocopy type paper) which we see in other manga 'Deluxe Edition' releases. Considering the high retail price, i'm a little bewildered.
 

Aazealh

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apozim said:
I have a question, is there a good reason why Dark Horse didn't include Miura's original color pages in the Deluxe Editions? Seems like an obvious missed opportunity.

I see two possibilities: the first is they didn't have access to them, the second is that they went for the cheaper option. My guess is #2.
 

Walter

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apozim said:
I have a question, is there a good reason why Dark Horse didn't include Miura's original color pages in the Deluxe Editions?

It seems they're re-using the assets they have on hand, not re-licensing additional editions from Hakusensha. After all, the standard Japanese volumes don't have the color pages either. Only a few international editions brought those over, along with of course the original episode publication. So I wasn't surprised to see them absent here.

Also the pages are not gloss (similar to photocopy type paper) which we see in other manga 'Deluxe Edition' releases. Considering the high retail price, i'm a little bewildered.

Non-glossy paper isn't really the status quo for deluxe manga editions. I actually can't think of one that does it (I'm sure they exist, but I don't own one nor have seen one). Anyway, it doesn't mean it isn't good stock, or a good print. You can still get good looking prints out of uncoated paper.

That being said, it's tough to tell from a YouTube video but ... the biggest issue I'm seeing in that video is the image banding on several of the shaded areas, which was always a big problem with the early Dark Horse volumes. It's a technical problem they solved in future volumes, but never retroactively fixed in the older volumes. It's also present in a few pages of the Japanese volumes as well, but not in nearly as many places as Dark Horse's scans, so it's clearly a compounded issue. I'm guessing they scanned it poorly on the first pass at the assets, and left it that way for ... reasons. See a few examples below.

Now, I understand that Dark Horse may be limited to their existing scanned assets for licensing reasons (you licensed this edition, this is what you get -- one pass at it), but if they're going to just upscale these scans with known issues, I find that problematic for a premium edition. Of course, re-scanning everything would also necessitate them laying out all the translated speech bubbles on the fresh scans, but well guys, it says "Deluxe" right on the box, so that's not really my problem.

So what we're left with here is, it's a bigger, leatherbound edition of the same volumes you already have. +SFX.

vol1-banding1.png
vol1-banding2.png


vol1-miuralol.png


There's also this problem on the Miura page. The Dreamcast game came out in 1999 (2000 in US).
 

Aazealh

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Walter said:
It seems they're re-using the assets they have on hand, not re-licensing additional editions from Hakusensha. After all, the Japanese volumes don't have the color pages either. Only a few international editions brought those over, along with of course the original episode publication.

The "MyBestRemix" reedition in Japan included a bunch of color pages (but not all of them) from the early volumes.
 

Walter

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Aazealh said:
The "MyBestRemix" reedition in Japan included a bunch of color pages (but not all of them) from the early volumes.

Sure, but I mean the standard Japanese volumes from Hakusensha. I'm sure there are a variety of other editions, but the ones that Dark Horse licensed most closely resemble the standard editions.
 
Not a huge deal but it's also a bummer that they didn't include the actual volume covers before the starting episode of each volume. This is done in almost all comic and manga compilation volumes, a nice illustration of the single release with no text. Since they're not doing it now, I'm not sure they'll do it in the future. It would've been really nice to see some of the later volume covers of the series uncropped and clean of any text.
 

Walter

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Kaladin said:
Not a huge deal but it's also a bummer that they didn't include the actual volume covers before the starting episode of each volume. This is done in almost all comic and manga compilation volumes, a nice illustration of the single release with no text. Since they're not doing it now, I'm not sure they'll do it in the future. It would've been really nice to see some of the later volume covers of the series uncropped and clean of any text.

Those are placed in the back of this volume, no text anywhere on them, art only. But you're right that they're not interspersed where they should appear in sequence.
 
Walter said:
Those are placed in the back of this volume, no text anywhere on them, art only. But you're right that they're not interspersed where they should appear in sequence.

Oh nice! I skipped around through the video so I missed that part. This means we should be getting 9 color illustrations starting with the 8th deluxe edition.
 
Aazealh said:
I see two possibilities: the first is they didn't have access to them, the second is that they went for the cheaper option. My guess is #2.

I can't imagine that would've caused such a huge financial dent for them. I'm more inclined to believe that getting a hold of the original colored pages was more trouble than they were willing to put up with; and there's also a third possibility which is that they didn't even think or care about it in the first place.
 

Aazealh

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Bleac said:
I can't imagine that would've caused such a huge financial dent for them. I'm more inclined to believe that getting a hold of the original colored pages was more trouble than they were willing to put up with;

I'm willing to bet you're wrong. Same reason the covers are put together at the end of the volume and not inserted where they'd be relevant: more complicated (and therefore expensive) to do. And I'm not saying it would have cost millions, just that they weren't willing to do it.

Bleac said:
and there's also a third possibility which is that they didn't even think or care about it in the first place.

Yeah sure, that goes along with it.
 
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