The amazing Berserk anime from the 90's has long been a source of pleasure and pain for its fans. Sure, we loved the kickass theme song, the brutal action, the renaissance era aesthetic and battle scenes and the “will they, wont they” in your face ambiguity between Guts and Grifith. On the other hand, the series ended at a point that felt like it was about to kick off an incredible new story development and yes, it was finished in the manga, but come on guys, who wants to read, amirite?
So this new season, which picks up after the original, looks set to right those wrongs in awesome ways! The new animation style is really suited to the dark and gritty world that Guts inhabits and the sort of person he now seems to be. One the one hand, the intentionally rough pencil line shading gives a kind of grimy life to the characters, on the other hand, the mostly seamless 3 dimensional CG integration for things like armor and demons makes a very engrossing aesthetic. And Guts’ blade comes across as the impractical monstrosity that it is in the books, a weapon only he can wield.
We get some reference to his escape from the hell we left him in with Grifith and it seems like there is an exciting story there to be unfolded, but we also see what it has cost him. We meet puck, a fan favorite who was absent from the original series and the whole episode seems to be about establishing where we are and who we are working with and what the rules are as Guts uncovers a battlefield graveyard that ....well, I don’t want to spoil it, but it actually does pack a visceral and emotional punch.
On the downside, and this is very much a personal preference that wont bother most fans in the slightest, I find that I don’t engage in the story as much via subtitles. Not because I object to subtitles, but I feel like I don’t get the full range from voice actors when I cant exactly understand them and don’t have the live action benefit of seeing their faces. This is entirely a personal preference and a thing I should probably work on, but I had to find something negative to say so that’s it!
Berserk 2016 can be viewed on MBS Animeism.
