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Plot Synopsis

This is a tale of friendship, betrayal and lots of bloodshed, a tale of a young mercenary named Guts... From the moment he was brought into this world from his dead mother's womb, he has constantly been forced to fight, never owning a single friend in his life. That's until the day we see him fighting a huge armored clad warrior, barely surviving the battle himself. After recieving his reward he leaves and finds himself ambushed by a bunch of mercenaries belonging to the "Band of the Hawks", little did he know that after battling it out with their skillful leader, Griffith, that he would serve under the very man that would one day become his most trusted friend. The tale of Guts has just begun...

Story & Characters

Berserk is one of the best anime that I have watched in a long time.

From the start, the story draws you in, not even just in sheer fascination of the gore, but also in terms of character development. It flows seemlessly from one episode to the next complemented by masterful music and amazing characters. I don't really even know how to do justice in my description, but I would definitely reccommend it to anyone.

For more shoujo-oriented fans, there are wonderful blossoming relationships, and amazing character development. For those looking for violence, the battles are masterfully done. The story is a medieval setting, but eschews the common "sword and sorcery" aspects typical to the genre.

The only problems I would point out in regards to this anime would be that the ending arrives at the end of the first arc of the manga. That's about manga 12 or 14. Thus, there really isn't much closure. The manga has been going since 1988 or so, and just recently, the manga-ka has stated that they are about done with the beginning arc (at about manga 27). It's long if you want to get into the manga. There's also a game which covers to about manga 16. That aside, it is still a marvelous anime.

It also deals with several heavy topics, there is quite a bit of blood and violence, I'd probably reccommend it as 17+

Rating

9 (very good)

Art

The visual style of Berserk is one that I have had friends give mixed feelings on. It's very rough and not as clean as most anime now are prone to have. The roughness gives it a very quick paced charm though. It helps very much to give it a darker tone which I believe helps the story in countless ways. It certainly adds to the atmosphere of the piece, and, in its own way, is striking

The characters are not neglected, and in many aspects are more realistic. The fight scenes are amazingly done. Backrounds are beautifully rendered, and I do believe the series is hand painted cells.

Rating

9 (very good)

Sound

The soundtrack is amazing, it's one of the few that I've bought. The background music makes up most of the soundtrack, and is very well suited to the mood of the piece. The main musical theme throughout the series, Forces, is an excellently done piece with winds and, in some versions, very haunting voices. It flows amazingly and, combined with the visual of the series, does an amazing job of transporting and captivating the reader in the story.

The OP and ED of the show are somewhat engrishified rock tunes, the first being a bit more rockish, entitled "Tell me Why" and the second a slower, more subdued hymn entitled "Waiting so Long" In all veracity, even if you don't like the OP and ED, it's pretty likely that you'll be skipping over them by the 3rd or 4th dvd anyhow.

The Japanese voice cast is very good with Nobutoshi Hayashi cast in the lead roll of Guts (Gattsu). He does a wonderful job and may also be known for his roles as Mido Ban (Getbackers), Tasuki (Fushigi Yugi), Knuckles (Sonic Adventures X), and Genmi (Sorcerer on the Rocks). Caska, the lead female character, is voiced by Yuko Miyamura, probably best known for her portrayal as Asuka from Eva, and the enigmatic and charismatic character of Griffiths is played by Toshiyuki Morikawa who voices Naraku (Inu Yasha), Sephiroth (FF: Advent Children), and oddly enough Kasumi (Gravitation). The cast does an excellent job with the characters and the Japanese track is nearly flawless.

The dub is of decent quality too. My brother watched it under the logic that it made more sense to watch an anime set in Europe in English. However, the fatal flaw of the dub for me was the actress cast into the part of Caska. Carolyn Keranen, who voiced Caska, also played Sae Sawanagouchi in Mahou Tsukai Tai!'s dub. It made it very difficult for me to believe that Caska was the strong, knightly female character, when I kept referrencing back to Sae. That kind of spoiled the dub for me. It did not seem to be a bad dub though.

Rating

10 (excellent)

Presentation

The AnimeWorks DVDs contain, like most other DVDs of theirs, outtakes of the English Dub. These are quite amusing. Griffiths' voice actor has the propensity to burst into song. Caska's has developped a rather foul mouth (which was shocking to me who pictured Sae Sawanagouchi every time she spoke).

Apart from that, there are a few image galleries showing both images and character design sheets. Those are always fascinating and do contain some wonderful pictures. Plus, they're always helpful for planning cosplay

The DVDs contain interviews with cast and directors which are quite interesting and insightful.

The show, as I've said a thousand times, was flawless. It was amazing to watch. The story, though seemingly very cookie cutter, was amazing the directions in which it went. Further, I was a big fan of Griffiths/Caska.

All in all, every element of Berserk combines to create a masterfully compelling work. Five stars. I'd reccommend it to my grandmother. Berserk has become one of the unjustly neglected shows in the past decade. It's pretty recent, running from October 1997-March 1998 in the late night spot. (Facts grabbed from Anime News Network)

Rating

10 (excellent)

Final Verdict

9.50 (excellent)

Reviewed by xie-chan, 3y 33wk ago