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Berserk

Genre: Dark Fantasy

Date Submitted:April 16, 2003

Review By:Tama-chan

Plot Summary:
This anime tells the story of Guts/Gatsu (spelling varies, but I'll just stick with Gatsu for this review), a wanderer known as 'The Black Swordsman' who roams around the coutryside seeking revenge and slaughtering demons. Well, that's what it seems like the series is going to be about, if you watch episode one, anyway. Episode two and upwards revolve around showing the events of Gatsu's life story; from his childhood, to his meeting with a group of mercenaries known as 'The Band of the Hawk' lead by the charismatic and ambitious Griffith, to the sequence of events that actually leads to Gatsu becoming The Black Swordsman. It's an epic story, and one you KNOW is going to end up going straight to hell by the very end... But that's the fun part, guessing all along why things will go so wrong ^_-

What to Expect:Expect to see, amongst other things: lots of blood-spray flying around, one main character wielding a bigass sword, court politics, a plot with no filler episodes, demons, and probably the prettiest bishounen in an arguably 'shounen' anime, if you get the terms.

Main Characters:
Gatsu is, without a doubt, the main character. If you can't tell that, I didn't do my job ^_^; He's the strong, silent type to the point of being antisocial, and he wields what can only be called a bigass sword. Though he may sound like about half a dozen anime male main characters, is is much more insightful and better-spoken than many of them, at least at times. You get to experience that because the story basically focuses on his experiences and point of view, which is a good thing. Also, once you see his background story, you'll easily see why exactly he's so anti-social. I usually don't go for this type of character, but I really am fond of Gatsu. The other main character is Griffith, mentioned above. Griffith is very complex, but I can't say much about him because half the fun of the series is figuring him out... I will say that in some cases, he's just about THE polar opposite of Gatsu (In character design AND attitude. Example: Gatsu- Antisocial Griffith- Charismatic, or, Gatsu- Dark manly man Griffith- Pale bishounen), and then in some other ways, the two of them are exactly alike. Have fun figuring out THAT statement ^_- There is also Caska, the only female mercenary in the Band of the Hawk. She's a fairly typical strong female character, in the begining, anyway. She immediately has quite the antagonism going for Gatsu, and a great hero-worship-y attitude towards Griffith. Her backstory is also revealed by the end, and her relationship with both men does change somewhat as time goes by.

Final Grading:
Quality of artwork is fairly decent. This is television anime, so expect some cheap shots and variance in character design (Griffith seems to have a bad hair day every once and a while, for example. And some characters get some inexplicably pointed ears), but even at its worst, it's still not too bad. Story is excellent, at least once you've gotten past the first episode. While episode one is fun in retrospect, the real meat and potatoes of the series is the rest of it. I'm a fantasy fan, true, but usually I'm a LIGHT fantasy fan. Despite some cute moments, Berserk is by and large an angsty, dark, serious series. You don't even have the 'ooh pretty sparkly' effect of a lot of magic tossed around... As far as I can tell, the only supernatural goings-on in this series has to do with demons, and even those seem to hide for a great deal of the series. ...And yet, after episode three or so, I was hooked. Berserk benefits hugely from a tightly-told storyline, and even for a light fantasy fan, a dark non-magic-y fantasy series can be rather refreshing. Watch it for the storyline, folks, and you'll probably not be disappointed. Character Development is much like the Story... Excellent. You WILL care about the characters sooner or later, even the minor ones. You will see why Gatsu is the way he is the first episode by the end of the series. You get backstory material for other characters. And, I repeat, you will care even for some of the minor characters... Which just makes things more effective once things start going badly. It is one of my favorite series, even if it isn't entirely the genre I usually go for, and it's a series I've gotten at least three people hooked on, so far, anyway.Overall, despite only average style for the animation, I'd give the series a 10/10.