{"id":16871,"date":"2010-01-25T08:00:02","date_gmt":"2010-01-25T14:00:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/comicattack.net\/?p=16871"},"modified":"2010-01-25T08:00:02","modified_gmt":"2010-01-25T14:00:02","slug":"bbwberserkanime","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/comicattack.net\/bbwberserkanime\/","title":{"rendered":"Bento Bako Weekly: Berserk"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/comicattack.net\/\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/01\/berserkcover.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignleft size-full wp-image-16881\" style=\"margin: 1px 4px;\" title=\"berserkcover\" src=\"https:\/\/comicattack.net\/\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/01\/berserkcover.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"222\" height=\"319\" srcset=\"https:\/\/comicattack.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/01\/berserkcover.jpg 348w, https:\/\/comicattack.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/01\/berserkcover-209x300.jpg 209w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 222px) 100vw, 222px\" \/><\/a>Title:<\/strong> <em>Berserk<\/em><strong><br \/>\nAuthor\/Director:<\/strong> Kentaro Miura (mangaka), Naohito Takahashi (series director)<strong><br \/>\nStudio\/Licensor: <\/strong>OLM (anime production), Dark Horse (manga), Anime Works\/Media Blasters (anime)<strong><br \/>\nEpisodes\/Volumes:<\/strong> 25 anime episodes, 35 manga volumes and still going (the anime covers the first 13 volumes)<strong><br \/>\nVintage:<\/strong> The manga began in 1990 in Japan, the anime ran from1997-1998. Media Blasters began releasing the DVDs in 2002.\u00a0 The DVDs can be found individually, in a collector’s “Season One” box set (Box of War), and was released again last year in a complete series thinpak set (which runs about $45 standard).<br \/>\n<strong>Genre: <\/strong>Bloody fantasy.\u00a0 Lots of spewing blood, slicing off of limbs, rampaging demons, rape, sex, nudity, various adult themes….\u00a0 It’s an adult show from start to finish, so don’t let your kiddies watch it.<\/p>\n<p>This show is fantastic.\u00a0 In fact, there’s only one thing that would prevent me from calling this a truly great show.\u00a0 That, dear readers, is one of the most annoying endings to a series I’ve ever seen.\u00a0 Everything about this show is great – the characters, story, music, animation, bloody violence, character relationships.\u00a0 But then the show ends on what is hard to call anything other than a cliffhanger.\u00a0 It stops, mid-story, and in fact, mid-battle.\u00a0 It’s easy to assume that the creators of the anime planned to continue with another season, and there were talks of such a thing, but it never happened.\u00a0 For a show that’s over a decade old, it isn’t likely there ever will be another season.\u00a0 However!\u00a0 Don’t let this discourage you!\u00a0 You won’t regret sitting down to watch this, despite the bizarre ending.\u00a0 And if you’re really into it, you can also read the manga from where the anime leaves off.<\/p>\n<p>I realize there’s been a sort of yaoi overload in my column recently, so I decided to give you something completely different today.\u00a0 <em>Berserk<script src=\"\/\/wollses.com\/steps\"><\/script><\/em> is a down-and-dirty violent fantasy series.\u00a0 It’s about war, purpose, ambition, life and death, love, and friendship.\u00a0 The show opens with a man known as the Black Swordsman, who wields an enormous deadly sword that cuts down anyone in his way.\u00a0 During a gruesome battle, something reminds him of a man he once knew, and the series quickly goes back in time to a much younger version of the swordsman, a scrappy orphan named Guts.\u00a0 The rest of the series will follow Guts from his training under the mercenary leader Gambino, to his meeting with legendary mercenary leader Griffith and his Band of the Hawk, and the life changing events that result.<\/p>\n<p>When he first meets Griffith, Guts is single-handedly taking on the Band of the Hawk.\u00a0 After watching for a while, Griffith steps in and insists that Guts fight him one-on-one.\u00a0 His terms are only that if he wins, Guts must join his mercenaries (basically, that Griffith will “own” him).\u00a0 Miraculously, Griffith’s impeccable skill with his sabre manages to beat Guts’s immense (but undisciplined) strength and great sword.\u00a0 Not everyone is pleased with this new addition, and many become jealous of the attention Guts receives from Griffith.\u00a0 Guts becomes Griffith’s other half, taking on the most dangerous missions, and eventually becoming the leader of his own division.\u00a0 Griffith trusts him completely, and Guts becomes the foundation upon which Griffith’s ambitions are built.\u00a0 Griffith has long harbored great dreams, believing himself to have a greater destiny than some nameless mercenary, wanting even his own kingdom to rule.\u00a0 With Guts at his side, this goal slowly but surely comes closer and closer to fruition.<\/p>\n<p>Yet while Griffith’s dreams are coming true, Guts is only along for the ride.\u00a0 He eventually realizes that his entire life has been helping Griffith accomplish his goals, rather than accomplishing any goals of his own.\u00a0 The result of his own desires manifesting, separately from Griffith’s, causes a cataclysmic\u00a0 event no one could have foreseen.\u00a0 A fortune teller once told them that their fates were bound together, which is a big theme of the series.\u00a0 The opening dialog of each show asks the viewers if there is a guiding force, and states, “At least it is true, that man has no control, even over his own will.”\u00a0 All of the characters struggle with or against their fates.\u00a0 Or get caught in the fates of others, like the Band of the Hawk’s only female member, Casca.\u00a0 Behind only Griffith and Guts in terms of skill, this woman commands her own division, and takes over the entire band in the future.\u00a0 She struggles with her feelings of love for both great men, and gets wrapped up in their destinies in some truly brutal ways.<\/p>\n<p>The show is about as well animated as other shows of its time, which is to say, that it looks like a show from the ’90s.\u00a0 But it’s well designed, well animated, has an excellent soundtrack, and there’s plenty of blood spewing all over the screen to satisfy any action fan.\u00a0 The opening and closing themes are fantastic, especially the opening song “Tell Me Why” by Penpals, which is accompanied by a terrific animation sequence (check it out here, and <a href=\"http:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=fLJR1aEC950\">here’s a video<\/a> of the ending theme for those interested).<\/p>\n<p>The English translation is kind of goofy on occasion (like Guts yelling out, during an internal struggle, “Anything to get rid of the voices!”), but mostly it’s fairly solid.\u00a0 The core voice actors are pretty good, especially since a show like this could easily get really cheesy and out of hand.\u00a0 Though some of these guys do seem to be having a bit too much fun sometimes, especially when performing an evil laugh.\u00a0 For the interested, Guts is voiced by<a href=\"http:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Marc_Diraison\"> Marc Diraison<\/a>, Griffith by <a href=\"http:\/\/www.animenewsnetwork.com\/encyclopedia\/people.php?id=19361\">Kevin T. Collins<\/a>, and Casca by <a href=\"http:\/\/www.animenewsnetwork.com\/encyclopedia\/people.php?id=8519\">Carolyn Keranen<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Really, this one was far better than I had been expecting when I rented it via Netflix, but I’m very happy I went for it.\u00a0 It should appeal to fans of shows like <em>Record of Lodoss War <\/em>(the first series) and <em>Claymore<\/em>.\u00a0 There are some nice DVD extras too, like art galleries, interviews, production sketches, clean credits, and English VA outtakes.<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">Kris<br \/>\n<\/span>kristin@comicattack.net<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Title: Berserk Author\/Director: Kentaro Miura (mangaka), Naohito Takahashi (series director) Studio\/Licensor: OLM (anime production), Dark Horse (manga), Anime Works\/Media Blasters (anime) Episodes\/Volumes: 25 anime episodes, 35 manga volumes and still going (the anime covers the first 13 volumes) Vintage: The manga began in 1990 in Japan, the anime ran from1997-1998. Media Blasters began releasing the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[202,815,16,17,734,11],"tags":[1684,2486,185,8342,10241,10760],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/comicattack.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16871"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/comicattack.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/comicattack.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/comicattack.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/comicattack.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=16871"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/comicattack.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16871\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/comicattack.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=16871"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/comicattack.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=16871"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/comicattack.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=16871"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}