Berserk Lost Children Arc Anime Coming

Renmauzo

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I just finished watching the first episode...amazing!!! Very faithful to the manga, and the soundtrack...nay, the audio in general is fantastic!
 

Taiso

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So I just watched the first episode and here are my thoughts.

This is clearly a spiritual sequel to the movie trilogy, if not an actual sequel. It's a different anime studio handling the visuals, whereas Studio 4C did the movie trilogy. But the reason I feel it's being treated as a sequel and not merely as an adaptation of post-golden age stuff has more to do with the music than anything else. Firstly, it's the same composer (Shiro Sagisu) and a lot of the music is either the same as from the movie trilogy OST or is an amped up remix of many of those tracks. This tells me that, at the very least, they want the people that saw the movie trilogy to make some kind of connection, even if it's a subtle one. Using the same composer and the same music are not accidents. Since the voice actors are all the same as from the movie trilogy as well, the thought of being a sequel are more strongly reinforced in this way.

As for the narrative, I will admit to a bit of disappointment that they are not adapting The Black Swordsman arc but, unlike many purists, I am not one of those people that gets upset that it's not 100% faithful in this respect. If you want an opinion filled with those kinds of unreasonable demands from entitled fanboy whiners, you can find those views somewhere on the internet I'm sure.

Skipping over The Black Swordsman means they'll have to explain via flashback how Guts obtained a Behelit (which is shown among his possessions when Farneze is interrogating him in the preview for the second episode). I just hope they don't go back and do a series of episodes on The Black Swordsman while he's in captivity. The anime adaptations have long suffered too much from 'going backwards' to tell their story. It's time to just progress with events, since they're going beyond the Golden Age at long last.

I am a little unsure of them introducing Isidro so soon. At the end of the day, I am cautiously optimistic that it will be fine and they'll find a way to make it all feel natural within the context of this particular adaptation. It's always 'the blueprint' problem, and Game of Thrones, by way of example, has suffered more than a few times because of it. Isidro didn't exist in Miura's mind when he started the series, so they have to be very careful as they study the narrative to make sure that his inclusion, this early in things, doesn't feel out of place or incongruous. The tone of the character doesn't exactly fit very well with the creator Miura was before he formally introduced the aggressive young urchin, and if they aren't careful with these things his place in things may end up causing a bit of a tonal identity crisis when he eventually takes part. Then again, Miura is an executive producer on the series and took six months off from the manga to work on this so perhaps it will all work out in the end. Who's to say Miura wouldn't go back and change a bunch of shit if he could? He removed the entire 'Idea' chapter from the storyline when they printed the tankoban where it was supposed to occur so...you know, there's a precedent.

I think the episode got a lot right, tonally. Guts is exactly who I expected him to be and they brought across the essence of the character very well. Yeah, he kills a lot of monsters and beats up a bunch of thugs and even has a boss battle near the very end, but these things are simply functions of who he is and do not define the character. It's more about the cynical view on humanity, his obstinate nature and his unwillingness to succumb to a fate everyone tells him is unavoidable. The angry perseverance of the character, the seething rage that refuses to let him give in, is what makes him a survivor. Not just the anger, but the unwillingness to succumb, are huge aspects of his character and they absolutely nail it here. he has a sensitive and begrudgingly compassionate side as well, but he's quick to bury that around strangers and is something that will eventually be a part of his development later on (as with the manga).

I also thought Puck was amazingly well adapted, and added a lot of much needed levity to what might be otherwise an oppressively grim storyline. Puck isn't a subtle personality on the printed page and it's nice to see that they intend to keep his lovably oafish charm in the anime.

i thought that the world was very well represented. It's a grim and inhospitable place filled with arrogance, violence and disregard for the plight of others. It's a cruel society in the manga and we see that it's the same in the anime, given Isidro gets stomped on by a local tough very early in the episode. It wouldn't be Berserk if it was a friendly world, and it's not. I appreciate that about the first episode.

Now, let's talk about the elephant in the room. The animation style. Purists and anime 'classicists' are going to say it's too heavily computer generated, but quite honestly these people are living in the past. The industry is not what it once was and for a show like Berserk, lacking a moe harem, high school setting or light novel source to adapt from, is a miracle in this day and age when sailor fuku and slice of life rule the medium (mostly because they're cheap to produce and sell like gangbusters to the lowest common denominator-the anime otaku). But what Berserk does here is establish the visuals of the series as a sort of 'pencil art cel shading' that looks a lot like a manga fully animated. I think that if the show is going to be as heavy on CGI as this one is, it's good that they try to find a unique visual identity for it and I think they've succeeded. It is most reminiscent of the cutscenes from Final Fantasy Tactics: War of the Lions for PSP and mobile devices in terms of its textures, while deriving its linework pretty much from the manga directly (a good thing, to be sure). I personally don't mind the more fluid, CGI style animation and think that it lends itself very well to dynamic action scenes. If there is one thing I am tired of in anime action scenes, it's shitty fight scenes where frames of animation are missing and the character dimensions are inconsistent, and this has happened not for stylistic reasons but because anime has become such a budget industry of late that its production staffs have forgotten, or never learned, the virtues of a well storyboarded and animated action sequence. But in Berserk, the violence is visceral and resounds with a gritty fury, and I feel that more fluid animation is required to effectively bring the manga to anime and, not being able to have our druthers and enjoy classic hand drawn combat given the state of the industry, is vastly preferable to some awful light novel stylistic visual direction for the exciting bits. Also, the action on the page is sometimes difficult to interpret due to the swirling typhoon of destruction that is Guts, so a smoothly rendered sequence where the animators have complete control of the camera is great. Especially because they don[t need to do the anime equivalent of jump cuts-they can follow through on the scene that is playing out and we get to witness it all clear as day despite all the flowing blood and tumbling body parts all over the place.

So yeah, I liked the episode. CGI and all. They're trying to do something different with this style and I think that they've captured the tone and essence of Berserk very well so far. It's not perfect, but we aren't going to get perfect so, judging this for what it is, it's done well enough. I am excited to see how far this season goes.
 
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Taiso

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I've watched the episode a few more times and it's growing on me. I think the visual style is pretty cool, actually. I think over the course of a season, this will be just fine. The tone is right, I appreciate the visual aesthetic and I think the music is pretty great. The voice acting is top notch so far and they're hitting all the right notes with me. I have a feeling that not a lot of hardcore Berserk fans are going to like this, but I don't have time for their bellyaching.

This is good.
 

StaticX

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Saw it. Loved it. I've only ever seen the dub for the North American releases but the sub was pretty great. I'd kill for them to get Cam Clarke back for puck if they could.

Anyways, I'm wondering if GOT and Dark Souls popularity got the anime greenlit?

Never thought I'd see this get released in my lifetime.
 

evil wasabi

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I watched the episode and enjoyed it. It wasn't as tight as it could be, but it's a warm up to the adventure to come. Next episodes will be about assembling the new allies.
 

evil wasabi

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Anyone know how far this season will go? Will he get Schierke on his team? I imagine that the next episode will have Serpico and Farnese capture Guts after the battle with Rosine.
 

Montatez

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Happy to see this thread. Just saw that episode. I loved it it was a great start to bring the series around again. I have read the manga a bunch of times and by far the best anime out there. Animation style is a new twist but Guts still has grit. I like it.
 

Taiso

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StaticX: I'm not sure if GoT had anything to do with it but the director of Dark Souls I and III, as well as Bloodborne, has stated on record that Berserk is a massive influence on the games he's worked on. It's in the interview portion of the first Dark Souls art book, I believe.

Wasabi: I believe that this season will be 24 episodes and should cover Conviction in its entirety. That's volumes 14 to 21 or 22, I believe. It's just what I've heard, though. Can't confirm that.
 

DNSDies

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The quality of the 3D is terrible.
It's almost painful to see.

But, like a man in the desert, I will greedily gulp up any water, no matter how filthy it is.
 

Chempop

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I grabbed the three disk 2015(?) golden age arc boxset last week and watched those this weekend. So the new series continues from when that left off, but are TV length episodes rather than movies? Was kinda hoping for new movies but anything will do.
 

MattBlah

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I watched it last night, and I was pleasantly surprised. I'd heard so much negativity about the style and people saying the violence was going to be toned down, but it felt like Berserk to me. I wasn't sure about the CGI, mainly the skeletons which I felt looked out of place, but this didn't ruin it for me. I'm still super excited for the rest of the series. I'm going to have to watch it a couple more times before episode 2 later this week.
 

Taiso

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I grabbed the three disk 2015(?) golden age arc boxset last week and watched those this weekend. So the new series continues from when that left off, but are TV length episodes rather than movies? Was kinda hoping for new movies but anything will do.

No.

Just...no.

TV episodes allow them to tell the story properly and not have to truncate as much. They're already cutting a shit ton of corners, and have been with every anime adaption of Berserk we've ever gotten.

As inadequate an adaptation as the animes have ever been, the '97 series is vastly superior to the movie trilogy in every way conceivable.
 

Montatez

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No.

Just...no.

TV episodes allow them to tell the story properly and not have to truncate as much. They're already cutting a shit ton of corners, and have been with every anime adaption of Berserk we've ever gotten.

As inadequate an adaptation as the animes have ever been, the '97 series is vastly superior to the movie trilogy in every way conceivable.

I could not agree more. I feel the original anime really had the best character development and had you really care about the characters, even better then the manga did. IMO.
 

cat

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No.

Just...no.

TV episodes allow them to tell the story properly and not have to truncate as much. They're already cutting a shit ton of corners, and have been with every anime adaption of Berserk we've ever gotten.

As inadequate an adaptation as the animes have ever been, the '97 series is vastly superior to the movie trilogy in every way conceivable.
Yeah i gotta agree as well, the original series is the best, it miss's some of the story out but it get's a hell of a lot right.
It's a classic, and with good reason.
 
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evil wasabi

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the 97 series did have the right idea in including the highs and lows. In the remake, the highs were gone, and it was just a lumbering series of lows, where the emotional effect is diminished entirely.

If you really want the audience to feel something, you have to consider the yin and the yang.
 

Montatez

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IMO it has alot to do with the complete feeling of despair at the end. Just like attack on titan did in its series. It did not just show those characters feelings, you felt them.
 

DNSDies

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I think the Eclipse was done better in the movies.

Additionally, the movies have a few things the 97 series didn't have. They're both worth watching.
I just hope this new series gets some improvements soon. It's pretty low quality.
 

Taiso

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Actually, I'll give you that Eclipse. Thought it was better in the movie than in the TV series.

I also think the music in the movies is really very good. It's more typical medieval fantasy, but I think it's very well composed and conducted.

And I also like the battle scenes in the movies quite a bit.

I think the biggest failures of the movies were in not establishing any empathy with the Band of the Falcon and also with the Guts and Casca in the cave scene, which felt extremely truncated. I really feel that scene was missing all the Griffith details that would have added important context to the attack on Doldrey.

The films weren't long enough. They could have easily each been 20-30 minutes longer and I think they would have done a much better job capturing some of the more essential moments.

The movies are also missing Zodd's recurring presence, and that goes hand in hand with his rivalry with the Skull Knight. Giving some more background on Skull Knight and his beef with the God Hand would have helped, and i think that 20-30 more minutes each for the films would have remedied a lot of it. It still would have felt abbreviated but it would have been better.
 

2D_mastur

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The 3d looked pretty shitty and awkward (the movement of the models). No way this sort of 3d is near state of the art, couldn't they do better? Does their budget amount to peanuts? Beggars can't be choosers though, it'll have to do.

Looking forward to seeing Gut's new crew in animation form.
 
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Chempop

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I never said the movies were better than the original TV series, but these days I'm older and I have less time and patience for a 24 episode arc than I do watching 3 more movies in the fashion of the recent ones. I miss the music from the old series but certain things about the new trilogy were awesome too, like the skeleton knight and his beef with zodd, none of that was in the first series.

Like I said, any new Berserk is fine by me, but if you want to poo-poo me for enjoying the new movies then by all means, continue bitching about the 3D like children.
 

Montatez

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I never said the movies were better than the original TV series, but these days I'm older and I have less time and patience for a 24 episode arc than I do watching 3 more movies in the fashion of the recent ones. I miss the music from the old series but certain things about the new trilogy were awesome too, like the skeleton knight and his beef with zodd, none of that was in the first series.

Like I said, any new Berserk is fine by me, but if you want to poo-poo me for enjoying the new movies then by all means, continue bitching about the 3D like children.

I dont disagree i did not think the movies were bad. But we all compare it to the original 24 episodes which sways our opinion of anything new. I for one am optimistic and excited to see a new adaptation! As long as they keep it gritty!
 

Taiso

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I never said the movies were better than the original TV series, but these days I'm older and I have less time and patience for a 24 episode arc than I do watching 3 more movies in the fashion of the recent ones. I miss the music from the old series but certain things about the new trilogy were awesome too, like the skeleton knight and his beef with zodd, none of that was in the first series.

Like I said, any new Berserk is fine by me, but if you want to poo-poo me for enjoying the new movies then by all means, continue bitching about the 3D like children.

LOL I like the 3D and I think I said so.

And sorry you're older and don't have time to watch it. But it's just better for Berserk to be a TV series and for us fans to just find the time to watch it.
 

Renmauzo

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I like the sketch line shading aesthetic; I think the comparison that Taiso made to the FFT: War of the Lions cut-scenes was apt, and a look I really like for that style of game with those themes. Overall, this particular style lends itself well to dark, medieval themes quite well, almost like you're delving into an old tome with subject matter leaning towards the sinister.
 

StaticX

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Truthfully, I'm happy with it. I'd love to read the manga, but I just don't have the patience to hunt it all down. 97 series, DC gane and movies are my link to that world. The ps2 game is now accessible to me since I can now read japanese quite well. That all said I'm very happy this even happend I know you guys hate the 3d of this show, but I feel like it's better then nothing.

Knowing more about the skull knight would be great.

Not relevant but MY 400TH POST!* lol
 
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joecommando

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I had a similar experience to Taiso where I was kind of like meh about the animation at first but after watching it twice I think its F****** awesome and I cant wait to see more.
 
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