Berserk’s New Anime 2016!?
The cult favorite manga Berserk has a rocky history with anime/movie/game adaptations. This summer, on July 1st, another shot at animating the gore filled medieval masterpiece by Kentaro Miura will premiere in Japan and simulcast to the world via Crunchyroll. Personally, I’m worried. I’ve been reading the Berserk manga for several years, and am currently caught up; stuck in the purgatory that is waiting for updates since December 2015. Miura took a break at producing the manga, first for alleged hand injuries, then obviously to take part in the new anime.
Additionally, the manga is set to resume in Summer 2016, just as the new anime begins! But what I really wanted to talk about is my feelings toward the new anime – this piece is mostly for Berserk fans; if you haven’t read the manga you’re missing out.
This official video is the most recent of the previews for how the new anime will look.
So on to what we know, and what I make of it:
This new anime will be covering the Black Swordsman arc, which is in direct contrast to the older anime from 1997 that covered the backstory of Guts while still allied with Griffith and the Band of the Hawk. Rather than events of the past that built tension and motivations for characters, the Black Swordsman arc covers the more urgent issues of the plot: ‘Apostles’ threaten the entire planet and human race with their power, for reasons still not entirely clear other than carnal desire – all with Femto leading them.
According to some trailers, we can confirm that Guts will be united with his band of misfits; Casca, Puck, Farnese, Serpico(♥♥♥!), and Isidoro. Additionally, Mozgus, a key villain with a lengthy arc, can be seen in the top of the following key visual:
So hooray, right! This amazing manga is getting another anime adaptation to spread its fame! Right? Well..
Why I’m worried about Berserk 2016
Of course I’m scared of my favorite characters getting hurt in the manga, but what I mean here is the new anime. This may sound harsh, especially since I’m a die hard fan of the series — but the previews and concept art for the new series are disappointing me.
It hurts to say it, it does, but the animation quality looked poor from what was seen in the above video. The CGI looks awkward, especially for an action heavy series like Berserk. The approach to this iteration of Berserk is to meld hand drawn style with computer generated 3D images. This has worked sometimes, such as in studio Ghibli films, but when you mix traditional and old styles you need to be careful not to make things look, well, unnatural.
Beyond the inherent pitfalls with using heavy CGI in whats supposed to be an anime, I think 3D CGI in a series like Berserk robs the series of what makes it unique – furthermore, even animating it does the same thing. Why, you ask?
- Berserk is a graphic and mature manga, intended for adult audiences with specific tastes. Murder, mutilation, abuse, grotesque creatures, rape, and Eldritch horror are common and prevalent through the entire manga. The beauty in that is when you’re working with pen and paper, you aren’t constrained to the continuity and details that the constant motion of anime demands. Side note; it’s easier to get away with mature themes in books, but in anime, censorship of graphic scenes is common! (See, JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure Part 3: Stardust Crusaders)
- There are some panels of the manga I just cannot see working in an animated format. Lighting and dynamic body movements used in Guts’ sword techniques are vital elements to the action of Berserk – how will they execute it using CGI? The videos use of CGI to show Guts attacking enemies looked a bit awkward, and compared to the action scenes of the manga, unimpressive. The entirety of the manga has been in black and white, spare the cover art. This can be thought of as intentional, since Berserk itself is a purposely dark series. To manga readers, this may ruin some of the emotion that was present in certain chapters, if the use of color and atmosphere is off.
- The quality of the CGI really was poor. I may be too critical or spoiled by modern anime standards, but jeez, is there any excuse for this?
To be fair this was a dynamic action frame… no, lets not be fair – what the hell is this? Ugh.
So the studio doing this may be on a tight budget – and i’m choosing to believe that this is early, rough work, not the quality we’re going to see in the anime come July. But this makes me a bit crestfallen.
If anything, i’m looking forward to seeing some chapters I read years ago being animated. The arcs the anime seems to be covering were amazing (in the manga!) in that some new characters with depth were finally added to the plot, and Guts finds his true resolve as a character.
I’ll have my fingers crossed, though. If anyone does plan on watching this just because it’s going to be out for the summer season, i beg of thee; read the manga. Don’t let this be the only impression of Berserk you ever have. No, Berserk isn’t for everybody, but it is a high quality manga with a deep narrative and subtly meaningful imagery and art. For the sake of fans like myself, I hope Berserk 2016 is okay, at it’s worst.
