Kenpuu Denki Berserk

Guts, a man who will one day be known as the Black Swordsman, is a young traveling mercenary characterized by the large greatsword he carries. He accepts jobs that offer the most money, but he never stays with one group for long—until he encounters the Band of the Falcon. Ambushed after completing a job, Guts crushes many of its members in combat. Griffith, The Band of the Falcon's leader and founder, takes an interest in Guts and duels him. While the others are no match for Guts, Griffith defeats him in one blow.

Incapacitated and taken into the Band of the Falcon's camp to recover, Guts wakes up two days later. He confronts Griffith, and the two duel yet again, only this time with a condition: Guts will join the Band of the Falcon if he loses. Due to his fresh injuries, Guts loses the fight and is inducted by Griffith.

In three years' time, Guts has become one of the Band of the Falcon's commanders. On the battlefield, his combat prowess is second only to Griffith as he takes on large groups of enemies all on his own. With Guts' immense strength and Griffith's leadership, the Band of the Falcon dominate every battle they partake in. But something menacing lurks in the shadows, threatening to change Guts' life forever.

[Written by MAL Rewrite]

Guts Main

Canna, Nobutoshi Japanese

Griffith Main

Morikawa, Toshiyuki Japanese

Casca Main

Miyamura, Yuko Japanese

Judeau Supporting

Ishida, Akira Japanese

Nosferatu, Zodd Supporting

Utsumi, Kenji Japanese

Pippin Supporting

Amada, Masuo Japanese

Rickert Supporting

Yajima, Akiko Japanese

Slan Supporting

Tanaka, Atsuko Japanese

Void Supporting

Ishizuka, Unshou Japanese

Godo Supporting

Nishikawa, Ikuo Japanese

Nakatani, Toshio Producer

Okuno, Toshiaki Producer

Takahashi, Naohito Director, Episode Director, Storyboard, Key Animation, Chief Animation Director

Tsurumaki, Kazuya Episode Director

Reviews

Aug 20, 2024

GjsBurner

Recommended

So you like subtle gay romance?
Berserk is definitely for you lmao

What does Berserk 97 do good?
1. Story, This is by far the best thing this anime has going for it. It shows how our Main Character Guts from Episode 1 came to be in that position by explaining it in the rest of the anime (episodes 2-25). This anime on a story level shows how in depth and exciting anime can be.
2. Characters, Not only are the main characters interesting and detailed, so are the side characters, every character in this anime feels like they could've been a real human being. I feel the dark ... themes in the show amplify the humanity in every character, because instead of making them idealized, it gives characters such amazing depth people can unironically make hour long video essays on one character.
3. Conflict, the drama in this show is pretty good, I would almost say it's the best part of it, but seeing the characters as one group poised to make this terrible world better by following Griffith is amazing to watch.

Weaknesses:
1. Too Edgy For You?, it probably is for the average person, but if you don't mind gore and very graphic depictions of horrific crimes then this might not be a weakness for you.

When the anime's only weakness is that it can be too dark at some points, you know it's a pretty good anime.
if you're willing to watch large scale medieval battles, characters grow with each other, some graphic violence, then this show is for you.
Berserk 1997 is Fantastic, 10/10.
(GRIFFITH!)

Reviewer’s Rating: 10

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Jun 23, 2024

crowncontrol

Mixed Feelings

I think this anime is good, it has some amazing qualities, but I would not recommend it to people who are unfamiliar with Berserk.

Perhaps you've never read Berserk and are wondering if this is a good starting point. In my opinion, even as someone that hugely prefers watching a good anime adaptation over reading a manga, this really isn't serviceable for that purpose. Much of what makes Berserk as great as it is is highly compromised in this adaptation. Not to suggest this show is unworthy of praise, but the general opinion of it definitely has the benefit of having been many people's introduction to ... Berserk. It was localized in an official capacity long before the manga, and even longer before manga was easily found online or in stores. In 2024, however, there's no reason not to read it first. Read up until the end of the "Golden Age Arc", you will know when that is, and come back and watch this anime if you enjoyed it.

The "vibes" of this late-90's anime are nearly immaculate. Some scenes are beautiful and/or horrific, the music by Susumu Hirasawa is haunting and incredible, but it doesn't really do the source material justice. While it may not sufficiently replicate Kentaro Miura's vision when it comes to the story and detail, it is still an interesting adaptation for the entirely unique and never-replicated qualities it does have.

If you've read Berserk up to the end of the Golden Age Arc but never seen this, it's absolutely worth a watch.

Reviewer’s Rating: 8

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Jan 10, 2024

ma1kawa11

Not Recommended

Funny

I've heard so many good things about this anime, that this was the best adaptation of a ridiculously good manga, that it's a 10/10 show... After watching it I'm unfortunately quite disappointed because In my opinion it is terribly overrated.

For a show produced in 1997, it feels extremely dated, like it was made 10 years prior. Actually, I've seen better produced shows that were released decades before. There are particularly notable issues with the animation, or often lack thereof. The art style itself was fine, though at times detail did feel a bit sparse depending on the scene.

The music was extremely lazy. There ... are only 11 tracks in total for this OST which is way too small for a 24 episode series. As a result each theme is ridiculously overused. Not to mention that the music itself very much relies on bland copy/paste work. It's not that it was merely attempting to be minimalistic, it was that, it completely failed to properly use even basic techniques that make minimalism remotely interesting. Other tracks which are playing during dance scenes that are trying to 'imitate' baroque style completely fail to follow the rules of baroque music, making numerous mistakes throughout the track. It screams to me amateurish. This was made further apparent by the fact that the composer, Susumu Hirasawa attended a Designer college which does not offer a music program from my research. This is not to say that I'm against non-classically trained musicians... quiet the opposite until I attended music school myself I was originally self taught at composition. However, that doesn't mean that his music can't be critiqued. And unfortunately in Berserk it just does not work in my opinion. That is not to say I have a problem with his music entirely, I did enjoy the soundtrack he wrote for Paprika.

When it comes to writing, the macro plot was fairly decent, though somewhat standard. I understand and forgive the ending cutting off the way it does because I'm aware of the history of the manga's production. However I do have some fairly significant issues with smaller details of the plot. I didn't particularly enjoy the writer's compulsive obsession with having all of his female characters raped every other episode. Nor did I enjoy the somewhat blatant homophobic writing that focused on the 'disgustingness' of an act of homosexuality that happens in the show, not because that act wasn't done out of mutual love but for political reasons. Additionally, although the show does have a strong female lead, we frequently see her saved by her male companions, and raped on multiple occasions. Though she has her moment where she can stand up for herself at least. The same cannot be said for every other woman in the series... who are either simply portrayed as gawking after men, or are simply not treated as equals. While there is no issue with writing a society that has an issue with sexism, it must be carefully balanced with the broader message that the writer is trying to say to the audience, and berserk (at least in this adaptation) does not clearly nor articulately present any meaningful message that this society which treats women disgustingly badly is wrong for doing so.

Perhaps the manga is better, but that does not excuse a poor adaptation, and also given the chronic nature of some of my issues with this show, I doubt I would find the manga any different to be completely honest.

Reviewer’s Rating: 4

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	Poll: Berserk Episode 25 Discussion ( 1 2 3 4 5 ... Last Page ) Friendlysoul - Mar 11, 2008	516 replies	by oldstylepilsner »» Sep 8, 1:09 AM
	Poll: Berserk Episode 1 Discussion ( 1 2 3 ) Scribbly - Jan 31, 2009	129 replies	by Captain_V_59 »» Aug 31, 2:08 PM
	Poll: Berserk Episode 20 Discussion ( 1 2 ) Zell182 - Aug 5, 2009	50 replies	by Bird88882227 »» Aug 20, 7:28 PM
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