Hell has frozen over...Berserk gets a new anime!!

TemJin3000 said:

HOLY SHIT...A TRAILER!

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fuuuuuuuuuhhhhhhhhhhhhcckkkkkkkk

old footage.

No it ain't.

The 5 seconds of Griffith in his post Eclipse armor is definitely new (I'm pretty sure that armor didn't even exist when they were producing the anime), as is the 2 seconds of Guts swinging the Dragon Slayer. The duel part is recycled footage.

I just checked, since I haven't bothered to look for a new chapter since the end of February, and there have been 3 new issues. Issues. Not volumes. That means only 6 issues for the year. The new anime really could catch up with a a decent sized run. Retribution, Conviction, Millenium Falcon arcs could be wrapped up in 52 episodes.

Eric said:

The duel part is recycled footage.

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Eric you ass, you actually made me look it up.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J_06rBUoVsU&4m34s

Skip to 5 minutes in. The duel is not recycled.

Looks like you're right. So 12 seconds of new footage that we shouldn't be expecting to see for about a year unless they skip 10 volumes.

LoneSage said:

I often wonder what I would have done if I were in Griffith's position.

I mean, I 'know' I wouldn't sacrifice all my comrades, but then again, man. What shitty circumstances.

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My thoughts about this are written as though the characters were real, living people even though I know they are works of fiction. Miura has obviously crafted very complex and interesting characters to provoke such reflection. It's not a simple question to answer, and all of the elements that comprise the fictional premise of Griffith's choice can't be fairly addressed unless you take the time to analyze all the factors.

It was unforgivable and he needs to die.

I've heard it rationalized that they were willing to die for him anyway, so there's no difference in how they died to make him stronger. This is mostly rationalization from people that like Griffith and want to somehow justify his actions.

I've always argued that they were willing to fight beside him and risk dying for him so that their dreams could ALSO be realized. They didn't just join him solely to help him become a nobleman. They also wanted their own lives to be better, and they thought Griffith would lead them all to a brighter future, one they'd all share together. This is seen when the leaders of the Band of the Hawk all become nobles after the war with Chuder ends. It's also evidenced as the 'faceless' members of the Band of the Hawk are sitting around campfires thinking about how they'll live their lives after the war is over and they've all received due rewards for their efforts. They see a future, the poor decieved bastards.

Only Guts seems wholly uncomfortable with the notion because the life of a nobleman was never what he was seeking. His dream is not the same as Griffith's. And unlike the rest of the Band's, his doesn't even run parallel to it or dovetail with it. Obligation fulfilled, he chose to strike out in pursuit of his own dream. Griffith couldn't handle that, and it broke him completely.

Granted, he was always a bastard, and willing to sacrifice anything and anybody to get what he wanted. This is driven home as the story clearly points out that only his affection for Guts ever made him stray from his purpose. Some have argued that the God Hand decieved Griffith into making that choice, but this is a a fallacy in my opinion. The God Hand wasn't deceiving him of anything. They were, through a complex series of psychological dramatizations, REMINDING him of his original focus and desire. That focus and desire which were obfuscated when Guts entered his life. This is enforced as Griffith is gestating and he sees Guts coming towards him. He's hoping Guts doesn't reach him because if he does, he'll change his mind and refuse the transformation. Only Guts could make him rethink his course of action at that point. The others don't matter.

Then there's the whole 'I'm going to have my way with Caska and force you to watch before you are both killed and eaten.' They were sacrifices, just like all the rest. They were supposed to die. Only because the Skull Knight intervened were they able to survive. Granted, there's the whole logic that Caska was his means to be reborn again at a later point and that he still has affection for Guts, but even if this is the case that still doesn't justify raping Casca when she probably would have willingly had his child, even for such a purpose, if he'd asked. It certainly doesn't justify pinning Guts down and forcing him to watch.

And all those other people that died? What, they didn't matter? If he'd warned all of them ahead of time that he'd sacrifice their souls just for the sake of his own dream if it came down to it, I'm sure less of them would have signed up. In fact, probably none of them would have signed up.

He was a scumbag from the start. True to his own dream, but trampling the lives of all others, friend and enemy alike, to get what he wanted. He needs to be maimed and kicked into the abyss so that all the people he fucked over can get their revenge on him. They're suffering eternally for his actions. So should he.

Man, it's amazing how impassioned this series makes me feel. It's one of a very few comic books I still get emotionally invested in. Pretty much this, The Walking Dead, Vagabond and Blade Of The Immortal are the only ones I care this much about. The rest are just comics.

Eric said:

Looks like you're right. So 12 seconds of new footage that we shouldn't be expecting to see for about a year unless they skip 10 volumes.

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I can accept being wrong here. Nice to see a good faith showing of what the anime will look like.

Zodd trailer:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n4m9sDeor3o

Looks like Golden Age rehashed. It's beautiful looking, but he's got two horns and he's fighting a bunch of soldiers in an underground dungeon type place.

Unless Zodd somehow regrows his horn and starts killing his newfound human allies in the wake of the Ganishka/world outside of reason arc. I haven't read vol. 35 yet, since it just came out. Might take a trip to Sanseido this weekend to see if it's on their shelves.

Trying to find more about this, and the only article I found was
http://news.searchina.ne.jp/disp.cgi?y=2010&d=0930&f=national_0930_052.shtml

So it's going to air in January?

in the link posted, it was shown that issue 35 came out this month. At least that's good.

One of the things about Berserk is that the manga continues to floor me. The way Miura portrays the events occuring in the story, he makes me believe in the severity of them. I've been reading comics for 34 years. I've seen lots of big events come and go. Each one was supposed to be 'the next big thing' but regardless of the format (manga, super heroes, alternative,) they usually just seem like stories to me. There have been very few instances where I felt a 'new direction' carried the weight it was supposed to.

When Griffith displaces the Skull Knight's slash and uses it to cut Ganishka open and there's that LONG sequence of splash pages showing how the three worlds are merging into one, I truly feel the epic quality of it. I'm just as nervous for the people of that world as they are as they all stand on the precipice of something the universes of all three worlds hav never seen before. Perhaps the most striking pages are the scenes of the human soldiers standing by the apostles, all unified and of a single purpose. This sequence really communicates to me the reality that 'all are in one place.' Of course, I know something is terribly wrong because the desires of the God Hand are also manifested in the world of man as well at that point. It can't end well for people, who now have to deal with being the weakest/lowest life form in this new world. The heirarchy/caste elements of such a world would be nightmarish.

Berserk is one of very few manga that make me consider all the epic elements of a universe evolving. It's bigger than 'hey look, there's a dragon on top of that castle.' That, in and of itself, would be amazing for people of that world to see for the first time. But there are much broader changes and consequences to what Griffith's done. At this point, Guts could kill all five of the God Hand and I'm not so sure it would make a difference.

How will the Skull Knight react to all of this? Griffith obviously needed him to do what he, himself, couldn't. What will be his stance on this new world? Will he continue to fight or will he accept the way of things? This is a world he can actually exist in. Does his quest change or is he still going to be bent on killing the God Hand?

Man, what a profoundly great manga. Miura is the master of his art form.

When the fuck are they gonna make a new Berserk game on current gen?

One where you can unlock Silat, those quadruplet freaks(tapasa?) and the bakiraka as playable characters. Or Zodd (with the pelts, not the fur thong).

I wanna play as that tiny little mini-arab assassin with the blow gun lol. Or that naked chick covered in bombs.



Or Rakshas! fuck that was a cool design....so much cool shit for a video game right there.

Jesus.

Update:

Berserk anime project to start as a movie first, and the plan is to adapt the entire series. It's unclear at this point whether subsequent chapters will take the form of other movies, a TV series or OVA.

Here's the link at ANN where I got the news.

I actually like this plan, to some degree. Kicking it off with a movie feels important, like they want the relaunch to mean something more so they're kicking it off in a big way.

Still not too keen on seeing them do the Golden Age arc again, if only because the TV series pretty much covered it. However, some stuff was left out, most notably



and it'll be cool to see it all presented again in the same art style/unified visual direction of the new production.

I just hope they don't overly decompress things to keep the pace slow. I'd rather they did it the way DB Kai does it in relation to the source material: tell it at the proper pacing. If they catch up to the manga, just put the whole thing on hold or have Miura expand on the backstories for the supporting cast and make it an anime specific thing so that there is grist for the mill while the next tankoban is being completed.

I also wouldn't be averse to them properly inserting the DC game's events into the storyline. That is a canonical event and takes place after the Coviction arc, when Guts, Caska and Puck are returning to Godo's smithy. They could even get some mileage out of the original story in the PS2 game as well, which takes place (mostly) after Guts leaves Godo's Smithy following his duel with Zodd.

Cool beans.

Taiso your spoiler doesnt bode well. Those are important plot devices.

whatchu talkin bout popcorn

Popcorn Sutton said:

Taiso your spoiler doesnt bode well. Those are important plot devices.

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Maybe I worded it wrong.

I was saying those things in the spoiler were omitted from the ORIGINAL anime series. Adding them in to the new version of the anime, if their intention is to cover 'the whole series,' gives extra value to retelling the Golden Age arc in animated form.

Edit: No, I don't think I worded it wrong.

If only the new series is half as good as the old one.. Except for the last 2 eps, it's one of the best things I have ever seen on tv.

I stopped watching anime years ago, but I will definitly not miss this.

i'm surprised this thread lasted more than a page before the "read the manga" comments started popping up.

can't talk about Berserk without the manga geeks popping out.

I'll still to my anime and only be a little creepy kkthx...

There's nothing creepy about reading the manga. It's a comic book. Taken at its face value, it's no more creepy than playing video games or posting messages at a video game forum.

The old anime is very good.

It SUCKS compared to the manga, and I say that any Berserk fan is doing themselves a disservice by not reading it.

You guys didn't like Berserk's ending?

Yeah, it's weird as fuck, but thats what I liked about it.

FusionITR said:

You guys didn't like Berserk's ending?

Yeah, it's weird as fuck, but thats what I liked about it.

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thing is, the anime didn't have an "ending", not really.
it just stopped mid-story.

Taiso said:

Edit: No, I don't think I worded it wrong.

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Yeah you worded it just fine. My mistake

I'm a lot more interested and excited about this project!

The anime, when taken at a whole, isn't about the resolution of a plot driven arc.

It's about the resolution of a character arc.

That arc being 'How did Guts become the person you see in the first episode?'

It's clear it was intended to go on, but when that didn't happen, it had to be communicated in a way that told a contained story. But that story isn't about getting revenge on Griffith or killing the monsters.

Granted, the final product is uneven precisely BECAUSE they had to perform some messy post op on it for the sake of cohesion, but the Berserk anime's narrative can't really be taken as anything else other than a depiction of a character's evolution from abandoned child to bitter monster hunter.

Tangent back to the manga:

That's why the manga is better. It's not just about people. It's about people working TOWARDS something. It possesses all the great character dynamics a good story needs and also feels like it's building to an incredible payoff.

This story has existed for 20 years, folks (albeit sometimes with a gruelingly slow publishing schedule due to the exorbitant production.) And it's still very strong and engaging even after all this time. I can think of no better endorsement for reading it than the fact that it continues to remain relevant. People still care so many years after the fact.

Nice.

I am happy to hear that, but to be honest I'm fully content reading the Manga. It's a given that a new anime series still would lack the depth and emotion of the Manga. Nonetheless, but it'll be nice to see a new take in Anime style, and the Animation thus far looks very well done.

Another thing... I LOVED the ending of the original Anime. The ending was simply wonderful, it implied that Guts made it out of the Godhands world, but didn't tell the viewer how... it basically inspires you to read to Manga. The ending of the anime embodies the "spirit" of the Manga well, imo. It's an epic and violent tragedy, not a Disney movie.

taiso:
were there plans to continue the anime? or was that it?
if so, what happened?