"Kenpû denki beruseruku" (1997) TV series

Creator:

Kentaro Miura

Seasons:

1

Release Date:

28 May 2002 (USA)

Genre:

Animation | Adventure | Drama | Fantasy | Horror | Thriller

Plot:

Gatsu is a skilled swordsman who joins forces with a mercenary group named 'The Band of the Hawk', lead by the charismatic Griffith, and fights with them as they battle their way into the royal court.

Plot Keywords:

Mercenary | Fight | King | Killing | Force

Cast

Nobutoshi Kanna

...

Guts (unknown episodes)

Also Known As:

Berserk (International: English title)
Berserk (Greece) (DVD title) [el]

Runtime:

21 min (25 episodes)

Country:

Japan

Language:

Japanese

Color:

Color

Certification:

Chile:18 | Spain:18 | UK:15 (some episodes) | New Zealand:R16 | Australia:M (some episodes) | Australia:MA (some episodes) | UK:18 (some episodes)

Company:

OLM-Animation Studio

Trivia:

When Guts' massive sword is unsheathed from his back the sheath often looks similar to a devil's tail. This is most likely a reference to the numerous times Guts or those he encounters are said to have "The Devil's own luck".

Quotes:

Guts: Every sword belongs in its sheath. Go back to the sheath your master holds. Go back to Griffith.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in We Are the Strange (2007)

Awesome. That is to say, it leaves one in awe.

To the one who panned this series after watching an hour and a half of it: That's like watching the first 15 minutes of >insert title of any complicated, intelligent movie here< and dismissing it.

As for the music, it's not standard anime j-pop crap. It's not movie-score like music either. It's definitely not for everyone, as far as just listening to it goes (but I must say I've developed a liking for Susumu Hirasawa's work), but most of it fits quite well (although with the rampant re-use it's bound to not work sometimes), and some of it is great regardless what it's presented with. "Behelit," and "Forces" being the real stand-outs, both in terms of being listenable, AND in terms of reuse with varying degrees of appropriateness. The opening theme does suck though. No question. (In stark contrast to the end credits song, which, while also being an abomination of Engrish, sounds perfect.)

I used to be really into anime. I fell out of it a few years ago, and stopped giving a crap about almost all the anime I'd ever seen or heard of. But as all the chaff blew away, this was one of the few grains to remain. It's unforgettable, especially if you watch the whole series in order. It's unspeakably grim when viewed as a whole, but contains a growing optimism throughout most of the series.

There are only a tiny handful of animes which can stand beside Berserk in the quality of their storytelling. Hell, only a small portion of ANY fiction can be compared favorably to it. Berserk is not just good anime, it's good drama. If you like the fantasy genre in any format, you must see this show. If you like stories about people growing through hardship, you must see this show. If you like stories about unrelenting badasses, you must see this show. If you don't care about anything but eye candy, or you're an anime dork looking for wank-fuel, look elsewhere. Berserk may not have something for EVERYONE, but it has something for MOST people.