Berserk

Kenfu Denki Berserk

Also Known As: Swordsmanship Romance Berserk

Genre: Action

Format: 25 Episodes

Allegiance: Oriental Light and Magic/VAP

Director: Naohito Takahashi

Vintage: 1997

Intelligence Agency Report by: Lady Sage

Guts’s only purpose in life was to fight and kill for money - it’s the only life he’s ever known. But then he is taken into the Band of the Hawk, the famed mercenary band led by the charismatic and power-hungry Griffith. Guts and his comrades are willing to do just about anything to help their esteemed leader, but what happens when things go too far?

Field Agent Report by: Lady Sage

Plot
Characters
Impact
Visual
Audio

9.00
9.00
8.50
8.00
7.75

Overall

8.75

(not an average)

Berserk’s main problem is that it starts and ends on a bad note, in more than one sense of the word. The first episode has been known to drive off potential viewers; since the story is told almost entirely in flashback, the first episode is more like the end of the story than the beginning, and few people like to be thrown into something without having any backstory. But for those who stick around and let the backstory come to them, Berserk is one of the best anime of the last decade.

The other bad note that Berserk begins on is something more literal: the opening theme song, “Tell Me Why,” is one of the worst pieces of Engrish rock I have ever had the misfortune of hearing, and does not fit the series at all. The ending theme, “Waiting So Long,” also entirely in English, does not fare much better. Furthermore, the background music has pretty much one theme, albeit one that is hauntingly beautiful. However, it’s not always appropriate for the times it’s used, such as in the middle of a brutal battle sequence. The voice acting was good; no standout performances, but everyone portrayed their characters well enough.

And what amazing characters they are! Since the show is largely about a mercenary band, there is a sizable number of characters, but not one seems extraneous or unlikable. True, not everyone is perfectly lovable, but that’s life; and just another attribute that makes the anime realistic. Guts, Caska, and Griffith – the most pivotal characters of the cast – all grow and change incredibly throughout the course of Berserk, especially the former two. The Guts at the end is only recognizable as the Guts in the beginning through physical resemblance.

Plotwise, Berserk distinguishes itself in particular with one notable quality: there is no filler. Every single episode is somehow important to the plot, which is fairly linear but nevertheless excellent. Everything about the Hawks’ rise to power, the character relationships, and even the fantasy world they inhabit is presented in a completely believable manner. It’s as close to perfection as I’ve seen a television anime get. And then…

It ends. Berserk has one of the most frustrating and abrupt endings I have seen anywhere. Consider Aristotle’s model plot as described in Poetics: setting, rising action, climax, and dénouement. Well, Berserk has a well-established setting, superb rising action, and an incredibly powerful climax…but then, it stops. There is no dénouement. The series managed to get to the most intense moment just as it reached the end of its running time. As a result, I was left with an agonizing sense of incompletion as I stared numbly at the ending credits, which can only be resolved by reading the lengthy manga.

Berserk is definitely a worthwhile series that you won’t regret watching. With one of the most hoped-for sequels in modern anime fandom, it is a series that leaves you wanting more, making it both a blessing and a curse that it is awesome enough to make you feel so.

Field Agent Report by: Phate

Plot
Characters
Impact
Visual
Audio

8.00
7.75
7.00
7.25
7.75

Overall

7.25

(not an average)

After a long hiatus from anime viewing, I decided that watching one of the most well-known, perhaps infamous, shows in recent memory might be a good way to rejuvenate my interest in the medium. Unfortunately, it seems that in order to get my interest flowing again, I’ll have to look elsewhere.

Berserk’s storyline is commendably straightforward and, for most of the show, very coherent. Everything that happens is sufficiently explained without leaving any holes for the viewer to ponder over. This creates a story that flows like a stream of cool dihydrogen monoxide in spring time. Of course, even considering that, a story also still needs to be interesting and engaging – and for the most part it is. However, once the final couple of episodes are reached, it becomes obvious that not everything will be resolved by the end of the 25th. To be blunt, the show doesn’t even try, and while all the episodes leading up to the final two were interesting enough, the ending brings Berserk to a grinding halt that is impossible to ignore and leaves a nasty aftertaste.

The grass isn’t much greener when it comes to the characters either. While the main characters are developed well, none of them are easy to sympathize with. Guts and Griffith are little more than generic in their respective roles, and Caska, while original, is just hard to care for with her abrasive personality. The secondary characters are more likable than the main ones, but also suffer because they are too generic to be memorable in any way. By the time the show reached its climax, I didn’t care what happened to anyone.

It’s with no hesitation that I warn anybody thinking of watching Berserk that its notoriety is undeserving. Proving itself to be little more than another action show with ho-hum animation, the only thing I felt necessary to take note of by the time it was all over was to get my hands on the soundtrack – or at least, the two themes that accounted for all of the background music throughout the entire run.

Field Agent Report by: Tremolo

Plot
Characters
Impact
Visual
Audio

9.00
9.50
10.00
8.50
8.50

Overall

9.25

(not an average)

Berserk is a series famous for its violence. With someone being sliced in half with a ludicrously enormous sword in the very first episode, Berserk sets the tone for what is to come in style. Thankfully, what does come next isn’t just 25 episodes of non-stop gore, death and blood-letting on a scale that no other TV anime before or since has yet to match. There’s also a story, proper characters, and actual drama, and all those things are executed beautifully.

Berserk follows the relatively well-trodden narrative style seen in so many gangster films over the decades. Anyone familiar with the standard “rise and fall” story will be fully aware of what sort of direction the series takes, but this isn’t 20th century America, this is a brutal medieval world called Midland. The storyline may follow a template, but it reaches heights you could never imagine or predict. The building in intensity is palpable, and the shocks, revelations and horror – both psychological and real – are so compelling, and handled with such skill and finesse that it leaves you gasping. Whilst its spiritual successor, 2003’s Gungrave, straight-up deals with both mafia and monsters, the world of Berserk is much deeper, darker and more fleshed-out.

In terms of the characters, Guts initially seems like he could be incredibly boring, but this is far from the case. Shaped by his truly traumatic past, Guts is a character forced to suffer as soon as he enters the world, and this creates a character that rises well above the standard big sword-wielding strongman. He is multi-layered, complex and driven. However, compared to Griffith, Guts is certainly not frighteningly ambitious. Griffith will do literally anything to fulfil his lofty dreams, and the depths these dreams take him are lower than you could ever imagine. Griffith may not be original in his outlook, but I guarantee you will never see such a charismatic and truly terrifying anime character like him ever again. It’s also interesting to watch Caska, the sole important female character of the series, develop from an annoying pain in the neck to a person you can’t help but care about by the end.

In terms of visuals, Berserk has a suitably raw, blood-soaked look to it, with mangaka Miura Kentaro’s memorable character designs replicated perfectly. Taking into account its low budget late-night cable TV origins, it’s surprising the series looks as good as it does, with the animation doing everything it needs to do. If you’re watching a lot of episodes in the row, the stylistic use of painting-like still frames during critical moments might start to grate, but it’s not a series-spoiling complaint. Hirasawa Susumu, easily the most underrated musician in anime today, turns in a score that fuses the medieval feel of the series with more electronic, bombastic influences to striking effect. This is music that really stays with you, and considering how nondescript most anime music is, this is a very good thing indeed.

Finally, Berserk’s ending is even more controversial than its many violent elements, and for good reason. There seems to be no middle ground when it comes to opinions about it, and it’s perfectly understandable as to why. What can’t be denied is the impact of the ending. It’s a punch in the gut of epic proportions, one that will simply leave you gasping and breathless and one you won’t ever forget. It’s also one of the main reasons why I can’t give this series a perfect score, even if other areas may not be completely perfect. I love the ending, but it leaves the series incomplete, forcing you to read the (admittedly wonderful) manga to find out what happens next.

Berserk is an important series. It’s proof that you can produce wonders with a modest budget, proof that slick animation isn’t necessary to tell a damn fine story with characters you really, genuinely care about and proof that massive swords will never, ever go out of fashion. Even if you are of the weak of heart and the faint of stomach, you need to see Berserk.