Berserk

[Carnage]

Your mistake was not reading the manga first. You dun' goofed.



is the single greatest manga in history, read that shit.


Fixed.

[MFauli]

But for you all that watched the anime with or without reading the manga : Did the end satisfy you ?

Watched the anime first, then started the manga.

Of course, it didn´t leave me satisfied. Hence, me starting to read the manga. BUT: The ending of the original Berserk-anime is one of the most powerful emotional impacts an anime ever had on me. This surreal feeling of hopelessness, pure brutality, cruelness. It´s never been done as well again.

[TwisT]

+1

Inazuma, you talked about the ending. You know what happens after he left. Remember episode 1? That's what happened. He tries to keep everyone safe at the same time as he wants revenge at Griffith. That's the tone the series continues with.

You really should read the manga if you enjoyed everything but the end since the manga continues that story.

[DarthEnderX]

Well to me that was painful - because I spent so much time with Guts, with his hardworking ass trying to save more or less everyone.
Everything blows up in the last episode, Casca, the whole gang - everything goes to shit.The part of the series that's covered in the anime is basically just Guts' "tragic backstory" that explains what drives him to kick so much ass in the rest of the series, which you haven't seen, because the anime didn't show it.

It's like taking, well, any other anime character with a tragic backstory, and making JUST that flashback into a series.

Outside of that context, it's just real depressing if you never know that Luffy goes on to be a great pirate after Shanks sacrifices an arm to save him.

Or that Ichigo goes on to hunt Hollows someday after a Hollow kills his mother.

Or after seeing his brother slaughter his clan that someday Sasuke...becomes an asshole.

...they're not all great examples...

[Shinji Ikari]

Berserk movie 2 released with chinese subs, or so it would seem. Not watched it yet so I don't know. See in an hour or two when it's down.

http://tokyotosho.info/search.php?terms=berserk

The Second movie is indeed out... But it has Chinese subs and it is censured... So for those who doesn't want to wait, pick it up and enjoy ^^

[Idealistic]

Watched the anime first, then started the manga.

Of course, it didn´t leave me satisfied. Hence, me starting to read the manga. BUT: The ending of the original Berserk-anime is one of the most powerful emotional impacts an anime ever had on me. This surreal feeling of hopelessness, pure brutality, cruelness. It´s never been done as well again.

Pretty much how I felt. Don't care what people say... the anime was fucking awesome.

[Shinji Ikari]

Unc RAW version of Berserk II out
http://www.nyaa.eu/?page=torrentinfo&tid=384529

[Y]

For the record the Golden Age of Berserk is the only great arc of the series, so I really didn't mind the anime only covering that part. It's not like there was an option to just wait until the series was done, as even at the time it was obviously never, ever going to be finished.

[DarthEnderX]

For the record the Golden Age of Berserk is the only great arc of the series, so I really didn't mind the anime only covering that part.PFFFFFFFFT!

I actually prefer the later High Fantasy stuff that comes after the series to all the boring feudal stuff and the depressing demon crap in the first part of the series.

[Y]

PFFFFFFFFT!

I actually prefer the later High Fantasy stuff that comes after the series to all the boring feudal stuff and the depressing demon crap in the first part of the series.

You crazy. The tight plotting and air of foreboding in the volumes leading up to the Eclipse leads to the best character arcs. Berserk up to that point stands almost as a rebuttal to what it eventually turns into. Guts getting a team of generic RPG cliches and heading to Fairy World is so at odds with the "realistic", dread-filled depiction of the fantastical in the Golden Age that it feels like a different (worse) series.

[Carnage]

You crazy. The tight plotting and air of foreboding in the volumes leading up to the Eclipse leads to the best character arcs. Berserk up to that point stands almost as a rebuttal to what it eventually turns into. Guts getting a team of generic RPG cliches and heading to Fairy World is so at odds with the "realistic", dread-filled depiction of the fantastical in the Golden Age that it feels like a different (worse) series.

Albeit I must agree that the Golden Age arc was the best, I must still say that the Tower of Albion, Berserk Armor, and the arc in the city after that are amazing. It is a different feel, but I think Miura had a purpose to that. I dont think its fair to downplay the later arcs just because the Golden Age saga was so good.

[DarthEnderX]

Guts getting a team of generic RPG cliches and heading to Fairy World is so at odds with the "realistic", dread-filled depiction of the fantastical in the Golden Age that it feels like a different (worse) series.I don't disagree with any of that except the "worse" denotation.

I'm just the kind of person that prefers Lord of the Rings to Game of Thrones. Which is a comparison that I think perfectly encapsulates the difference between the two parts of this series.

[MFauli]

Man, I´m glad I like all parts of BERSERK the same. Yay me!

[Idealistic]

http://www.nyaa.eu/?page=download&tid=385091

There's a rip of it with english/french subs. 3.1gb. Just finished downloading it. Seems good so far.

[MFauli]

Disappointing, unfortunately.
Not just the visuals (somehow, the use of this new, cheaper tech was more visible in this 2nd movie than the 1st one). But also the changes in story.
Didn´t Zodd throw Guts his sword during the fight against Boscone? Why cut that? Also the cut fight against Adon´s elite soldier during the 100 men-battle in the woods. Probably even more stuff that got cut.

But whatever. I´m happy that it is made into an anime, fullstop. AND: The third movie should easily turn out to be the best so far. Did Studio C4 announce already how many movies there´d be? Because the intro of this one showed Shulke and the other late-story companions of Guts´.

[Belial]

They said it would be 3 movies for the golden age arc + maybe something like a tv series / ova in the future (i guess if the movies did / do well)

[Dark Dragon]

The movie was ok

I'm actually in agreement that the Golden Age Arc is significantly better than everything afterward.

It's a testament to how good it is when every successful new fantasy Seinen is essentially trying to copy off that formula.

[Idealistic]

It's a testament to how good it is when every successful new fantasy Seinen is essentially trying to copy off that formula.

What other shows are there? I don't know of many fantasy seinens aside from Berserk and Claymore.

[Dark Dragon]

Not shows, most of these are manga i'm currently reading.

There isn't really a long list of dark fantasy seinen since it's a niche market. Of the top of my head i can think of Ubel Blatt, Claymore and Shingeki no Kyojin. In my opinion, both UB and Claymore almost copy berserk in story structure, while Shingeki no Kyojin is heavily influenced by Berserk. There is a very similar theme of human helplessness in the face of mythical enemies and a constant struggle between remaining human and giving in to power/chaos.

Vinland Saga is another series that is heavily influenced by Berserk. It features a lot of the same themes, setting and story structure as Berserk minus the fantasy elements. If you include part of VS into the more realistic part of Berserk, it might be hard to distinguish the two.

[shinta|hikari]

Your comparison of Berserk and Shingeki no Kyojin is too sweeping. I agree with the rest.