Audience reviews
20 · Sample from the first available page, separate from the total number of ratings.
the-adventurer
Having watched this anime, and reading some of the reviews on the manga now, I've come to the conclusion that Berserk is vastly overrated.
(Caution: This review contains sarcasm and a decent helping of bitterness.)
Of course, I cannot gauge whether there is some saving grace to the manga or the main anime series, but as for the prequel; I would only recommend it to the die-hard Berserk fans who won't a flaw in anything Berserk-related anyway.
First things first: I was recommended this series by someone who thought "You like FromSoftware games? You must love this."
Uhm. No.
One thing I dislike about Dark Souls is the medieval setting, and thus, I don't really like Berserk's setting, either. It's been done to death. Almost every Fantasy story and every second RPG uses a medieval setting…
Read at the sourcestarfarts
[SOME SPOILERS]
Back in high school, my English teacher was big into literary treasure hunts. We would read the classics and spend days or weeks dissecting words written hundreds of years ago for hidden secrets or obfuscated intentions supposedly stashed away by authors who obviously knew that pimply kids half a millennium later would be sweating over term papers. "Yes but what did he MEAN by that?" she would lecture. I didn't know--who really does?--I just wanted to test out of English in university so I would write parodies and fake it.
Berserk is like an old classic written by a roguish magician. I was very much into the series in no small part due to my recent re-addiction to Mountain Blade (Perisno in particular), and I wanted to enjoy an anime that followed a mercenary company. Jo…
Read at the sourceKrunchyman
SUPPOSING that Griffith did nothing wrong — what then?
Is not every philosophical query subject to intense debate and perspective, as opposed to the dogmatic ideologies of “Thou shalt” formed by the traditions of past “truth” seekers? Reinforced, of course, by the power structures of the political and social elite, whom wish to subjugate the free exercise of thought via strict punishment and/or ostracization, forcing the majority to acquiesce to a slave morality. But these “slaves” — sheep, if you will — are passive, meek creatures whom simply wish to get by, rather than transcend their fears to transform themselves into a creature of higher worth. A “worth” that is worth remembering. Only when one embraces an uncomfortable disposition among the masses, does he become capable of owning h…
Read at the sourceLIQfilms
Fatigued, broken and injured, the remnants of The Band of The Hawk make haste after their once powerful and great leader; a shell of his former self. This man's dreams, hopes and work are all hopelessly destroyed, and, as he calls out for salvation, the sky is adorned with a deep, dark red tint that masks the entire area in the colour of blood. Bone-chilling laughter fills the cold, stifling air, as the mere mortals look on in despair at the grotesque and horrifying beasts before them. The eclipse has begun...
Berserk is easily one of the most critically acclaimed and beloved series out there, sitting at the number one manga spot here on MAL and not without good reason. The manga tells an epic tale of man versus beast coupled with fantastic artwork, interesting and memorable characters as…
Read at the sourcedefunctmaluser
What follows after is unknown, but what came before is a tale of friendship and of camaraderie. It is a tale of hardship and of sacrifice, fuelled by the pursuit of one man's dream. Unfortunately, it's a tale without a proper conclusion. You ever watched something that had you completely engrossed with what was going on and then RIGHT when it gets to the most soul-crushing and depressing part, it suddenly ends? No? Well too fucking bad. That's what the deal is with Berserk. This is my third time watching the anime, and even though I've forgiven virtually EVERYTHING else that was wrong with this show, I can NEVER let such a gigantic middle finger of an ending slide, especially given how much was cut out of the manga (albeit with Kentaro Miura's approval).
Let's start off with what this sho…
Read at the sourceliteraturenerd
This is my 100th review for MAL! Before I start this review, I want to thank all my MAL friends and everyone who has ever said that they enjoyed one of my reviews, as well as those that gave me the constructive criticism I needed to become a better reviewer and a better writer in general.
Overview
Today I will be looking at one of the most critically acclaimed, lauded anime of the last 25 years. Berserk is difficult to review because so many critics that are far more articulate than I am have already looked at it. What can I possibly say that hasn't been said before? Probably not much, but I will try anyways. Fun fact: the words Berserker and Berserk come from the Norwegian poem Hrafnsmál, written by the Viking poet Þorbjörn Hornklofi in the 800s AD.
Oh and spoilers!!! Is it even poss…
Read at the sourceHybridMedia
You wondered why people overuse the word, “Epic” for anything and everything in the world, no matter how mundane and pointless it really is. This is especially the case in anime, as when people tell me to watch this show and how epic it is, I just don’t feel it and there is also the fact that I might’ve been underwhelmed by it and people seem to look at me weird by that. However, I knew about this anime by this time the newer Berserk movies were coming out and the fact that I listened to the DREAMcast episode 20 about Berserk, which was the one anime that I intend to review but not too soon and now here we are in 2013.
Guts, the Black Swordsman, wanders around in a mediaeval world slaying demons as they are attracted to a demonic mark on his neck. To his help he has inhuman strength gaine…
Read at the sourceYasuiWainnoKishi
It's bad anime. It is below averange level for grown-up people.
I didin't read the manga, I don't know how's with it, but this anime is bad. If you haven't watched it, you can of course but I tell you - go with some other series with high rating. You won't waste a day of your life this way.
Why?
I don't know what do people that claims it to be 10/10 see in it, maybe it's because they loved the manga or they watched it in school and feel a sentiment.
Well I didn't read it and I'm not in schoolage, and here's how it looks for me:
Good things:
Good thing in it for me at least is medieval setting, knights, kings, castles and all - wich can be in some degree enjoyable.
Now bad things:
It's not so easy to stand the old-fashioned art and poor animation it has but it's somehow understandable a…
Read at the sourceMoonlith
I'm one of those guys who usually read the manga before watching the anime. You can imagine, then, what my sentiments were like when I began watching a 25-episode-anime of which I'd read 300+ chapters of manga. To clarify, I was preparing for a completely unripe anime-draft of a manga praised to the heavens that'd actually been worth it, and then some. To my pleasant surprise I discovered the anime adaptation of Berserk lost to its original version in nothing but length and detail.
But the main elements, the magic that made the epic manga what it is are all present in the animated version. Guts, The Black Swordsman, is still the hapless avenger wandering in search for revenge and peace of mind. The world in which the story is set is still that medieval realm right down to the brilliant ca…
Read at the source5camp
It's amusing to look back at my first impressions after episode 1 of Berserk. I laughed at how corny the level of violence was, giggled at the demons’ constant references to the tearing of flesh and crunching of bones. The rest of the series was nothing like that first episode. Totally different in terms of tone, direction and purpose. And yet, in the grand story of Berserk, was every bit as important as any other episode in the rest of the series.
One thing stands out from that first impression though: how perfect the pacing felt. Well, that continued throughout the series. Not just the pacing though. Never once was there a misstep in directing. Not once would a scene leave me thinking that they could have done that better. Not once did the story become diffi…
Read at the sourcemanley377
The first thing I’m going to say about Berserk is that you really don’t get the full effect of what you’re watching until you finish it.
It was one of the first anime I watched as an adult and at the time I was just looking for something with a bit of violence and gore but I ended up with much more than that.
The story I’m not going to talk too much about. There are a few differences between the manga and anime but the characters are the same. And it’s with the characters that this story draws you in. the first episode may have people believing its going to be shallow, nothing more than a large man ripping monsters to bits. Watch beyond it. After I watched it I wanted to know others opinions on it, so I started reading up on it on review sites. What I found was a lot of reviewers saying…
Read at the sourcezenoslime
What are you living for? This is the question posed by Berserk, pitting humanistic free will against nihilistic predestination. More intimately, this is the battle of human suffering in the wake of divine fate and the ambition of one's fellow man. Set in a medieval world of strife, vast green lands and blue skies obscure the supernatural demonic powers lurking in unseen shadows. One man named Griffith, graceful leader of the notorious mercenary group Band of the Hawk, stakes everything on a fate he means to forge for himself at any cost, and as he shines ever brighter the shadows nearby grow ever darker. Ultimately, this is the story of those who are caught up in his conquest—the conquest of their hearts, of the kingdom of Midland, and of his own destiny.
One of those people is a young ma…
Read at the sourceJesuOtaku_
Now, you may or may not be able to tell by looking at this show that it’s about as ugly and grizzled as its demon villains. The animation is bare-bones in this show, absolutely putrid sometimes, and guess what? I almost don’t care, because the story is an absolute masterpiece. Equal parts political intrigue and fantastical nightmare, it sucks you in like few stories can. If I may be hoity-toity for a moment, it reminds me of the great Greek tragedies and blood-stained Roman myths where grandiose characters with small tragic flaws would be lifted to the heights of great godhood before inevitably crashing down to their human foibles. When I was little, I spent many an hour I should have been doing homework reading the classic D’aulaire’s book of Greek myths, so seeing a story where even the…
Read at the sourceCredulous
As I write this review I realize that I may have been slightly too hung up on the thing I'm hung up on that results in me giving this anime a lower rating than it probably deserves. The thing is, Berserk is a good anime, I enjoyed it immensly with its shady animations and art that you just have to love yet you wonder if you should take it seriously. I loved the characters of this anime, they were all so tragic, almost too tragic on the verge of being funny, yet it never crossed the line over to funny, so they were tragic, really tragic. Truth be told the entire anime was pretty tragic, even when the plot went into lighter things it still had tragic undertones, or overtones.
In any case, the story of the anime was pretty straightforward yet really complex, something that may seem paradoxal…
Read at the sourceYoungVagabond
Berserk is one of the best series I've ever seen, in a different league than most anime, which are too often filled with pointless, arrogant ideals shouted by quasi-female, one-dimensional characters in dire need of a haircut.
Berserk is different. I first downloaded it because I heard it had a lot of action and violence. It turned out to be a bit more than that.
Guts is a battle-hardened mercenary whose only knowledge and pursuit in life is massacring a never-ending stream of enemies with his sword. He's good at it.
The series begins when he comes across the Band of the Hawk, a feared group of mercenaries led by Griffith, a young man with endless ambition and correspondingly tremendous talent, bravery, and intelligence. He has a dream to rule a kingdom, and has no qualms about doing or…
Read at the sourcejmoriarty84
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 Gut…
Read at the sourceNanotype
Review by theme analysis:
There are three major themes that mark this series: (1) MEDIEVAL, (2) GORE, and (3) PHILOSOPHY.
This is why I think this is a great series: this combination of themes, which is already rare in anime, are very well incorporated together as a complete story.
The (1) MEDIEVAL theme brings the setting of the story. creating an atmosphere where the gore and philosophy can develop together. This also sets the pace of the story based on the technological circumstances of medieval culture. The slow nature of this large-scale medieval story allows enough time to unravel the deep characters.
The (2) GORE theme accents the philosophy, reinforcing characters and foreshadowing the character progression by their behaviour in battle. This is a real treat to see the battle be…
Read at the sourceFreyrXtreme
I think everyone who has saw this anime would come to the same conclusion, it is a masterpiece.
It has all the Shakespearian package (friendship, love, treason and death), perfectly combined. The way the story is told immediately gets you onto the medieval, kind of magical world, all the characters are deep and well developed and you can’t help to identify yourself with any of the characters or their ideals.
The only flaw that I could see in this anime would be that for some animated scenes, it often uses the old water painting technique (static image to show a scene and the camera would just move around that image), but it’s easily to ignore it once you start getting in to the story. It also has a slow start but by episode 3 you’ll get hang to it.
The anime follows a…
Read at the sourcealtras
JUST a masterpiece ! A superb balance of everything! I don;t have the words to describe it! Everything is perfect - from the animation, through the marvellous soundtrack (a excellent work from Susumu HIRASAWA - Paranoia Agent, Paprika - just can\'t describe the emotional feeling from the music ) and finally to the magnificent story!
Yosh, let\'s cut the story into pieces -> everything is so simple , but PERFECT! 3 main charecters - Guts (The Black swordsman), Griffith and Casca. Guts is out to get the King of a country called Midland. Simple enough to be perfect, as i said. OUTSTANDING plotline and magnificent twists withing the plot itself!
The superb story is represented with a far more great animation. The art itself is just a masterpiece, nothing less ! The atmosphere is shady, black…
Read at the sourcejupiterjazz
Story: 10/10 Did you get the meat for my dog, boy!?
Berserk is an amazing anime. Although I heavily disagree with starting the first episode in a time line after the last episode in the series as it has discouraged more then a few people who I have had to set strait. After you get to the meat of the story, and the relationships between Guts, and the other members of The Band of the Hawk you will find yourself in a late night cram session feeding your brain with episode after episode of Berserk. All in all this anime has everything I wanted. Friendship, love, betrayal, and a lot of blood and gore to set the pace. All set in a very adult, and mature tone. The best part is it's is all done correctly.
Animation: 10/10
Dark, gritty, detailed, and a lot of mis-placed body parts. Could you ask f…
Read at the source