Berserk

A haunting, masterfully executed dark fantasy tragedy. The 1997 adaptation of Berserk is an absolute masterclass in character development, atmosphere, and tension. The relationship between Guts and Griffith is beautifully written, making the inevitable descent into horror hit incredibly hard. Susumu Hirasawa’s soundtrack is legendary and elevates the grim, hand-drawn 90s aesthetic perfectly. It loses half a star only because of the abrupt, agonizing cliffhanger ending and some aged, static animation frames. Otherwise, it is a timeless masterpiece.

Episode 23 of Berserk, “Eve of the Feast,” slowly builds dread as tension tightens around the Band of the Hawk. The mood continues to shift into a darker tone, showing haunting imagery and subtle hints that something devastating is lurking around the corner.

Episode 22 of Berserk, delivers intense emotional weight and rising tension. The atmosphere turns darker both visually and thematically. The episode is fast paced, but strong character moments and haunting visuals make it a gripping and unsettling episode.

Episode 1 of Berserk, “The Black Swordsman,” throws you into a brutally grim and dark world with a lone warrior driven by rage and revenge. It’s violent and intense. The episode sets a haunting tone while hinting at deeper trauma and mystery behind the titular Black Swordsman.

The 25th and final episode of Berserk delivers a devastating, unforgettable climax. Pushing characters even further past their limits and shattering everything built before it. It’s even more brutal and haunting than past episodes, and it leaves a lasting impact on all who watch.

Episode 24 of Berserk, “Eclipse,” is a devastating and memorable turning point in both the story and the tone of Berserk. The stakes are higher than ever, characters are pushed to their limits, and the violence is as graphic as ever.

The final episode delivers a devastating and unexpected turn. Power shifts, loyalties collapse, and the world becomes darker than ever imagined. The emotional weight is overwhelming, and the sense of helplessness lingers long after it ends. A bold and unforgettable conclusion.

Personally, I think this is just an advertisement for the manga, but for all the right reasons. Yes, I will acknowledge that it ends at a bad place but there are reasons for that. First off, when the anime ended, it was technically caught up with the manga so they really couldn’t continue yet, but the bad news is, the anime still cuts out a lot and I felt they really rushed things through, but still covers the central basics with the characters and themes. I say what really brings people into the anime outside of the action is definitely the themes this anime has on friendship, acceptance, fate, destiny, and life in general. It really makes you think in that kind of way. The characters all have their uses and they all stand out where you really get to know them. Also, I liked how Guts and Griffith really contrasted each other in terms of personality that you would have to see to understand because I don’t want to spoil it. But I just felt that the absence of the Skull Knight, or Knight of Skeleton and Puck and when they fought that other aristocrat in the manga just really stood out to me. I do have a strong pet peeve when adapting anime and I just felt that those elements being cut out I wouldn’t say offended me, but still bothered me because of how passionate I am of the actual manga. Well, the character design is very faithful to Miura-sensei’s art style, but I just feel it’s not the same without his way of shadowing and cross hatching. But going on, the designs of the core characters really come across as threatening and intimidating where you just want to say to yourself, “I don’t want to mess with this guy.” The fights are pretty intense, brutal, and gory. Guts’ fighting style where he just goes for broke is very appealing because he’s just a man that’ll do anything to win. Even though he really has no graceful form like a fencer, it’s just his experience and his instincts really define his fighting style and makes it really exciting. The designs of the monsters are really gruesome and scary as well where you may have nightmares of being chased by them in a place where you can’t escape from them. I’ll open up this part of the review by saying, the dub sucks, don’t bother watching it. But I still feel that the dub from the Dreamcast game was much, much, much superior and very excellent. I felt that Nobutoshi Canna was born to play Guts, or Guts was created to have Canna voice him, I don’t know, but they clicked like peanut butter and jelly. Miyamura Yuko, the voice of Asuka from Evangelion is also an excellent choice to played Caska. Caska sort of reminded me of that character and I felt Miyamura’s talent brought that presence into the show. So with these two names alone, you got a very excellent voice cast in which they represent their characters in a very accurate and believable manner. Other names I wanted to mention is Morikawa Toshiyuki as Griffith. He was just very charismatic but yet very cold. And Utsumi Kenji was simply born to play Zodd. The music is also pretty frickin’ sweet if I say so myself. You got heavy metal, mystical music, midevil, you just got a whole bunch of things that really represent the dark atmosphere of this series. It’s also cool that the composer, Hirasawa Susumu was brought back to do the music for the games on Dreamcast and PlayStation 2 and still keep that feeling of intensity in this franchise. Despite being dark and gritty, it’s still very intense and addicting. Especially one of the insert songs, Forces. Well, in case you haven’t been listening, I personally recommend you read the manga instead of watching the anime. I just feel you’re being cheated if you’re more familiar with it. I hear all kinds of rumors on why they won’t continue Berserk such as violence. I say fuck that shit. I feel we’re owed that much. Anyway, I say the closest you’ll get to more Berserk anime is playing the Dreamcast and PlayStation 2 games, which I recommend you do get and I personally like them a lot. Even though I have criticized the anime for its execution and length, I felt that the music and the voice acting brought a different kind of definition to the franchise which gives it a different sense of identity rather than just the story and the art of the manga itself which makes the anime very worth watching .

I want to suck a dick of guts

no matter how mush I love this anime and rewatched it multiple times, it's still adapts only one arc and cuts off awkwardly at the end of it

Subarashii. I haven't seen something this good in a very long time. Griffith, Really bro? 😭

Griffith what have you done?

Bone chilling ending.

Subarashii.

I love this show.

Cool episode.

Zodd the Immortal bailed out Guts. What an episode.

The War begins. This will be amazing.

Bonfire of Dreams.

Guts. Oh my god he's peak. 100 men.