Berserk

 Anime Review by Ajitsuke

Berserk is an anime and ongoing manga series revolving around three main characters: Guts, Griffith and Casca. While the anime only lasted for one season, the manga has continued to be printed for several years after the final episode of the anime. This short-lived series has so much potential that it’s a true shame that the producers haven’t deemed it worthy of further seasons. The plot is rich and full of action, betrayal, romance and a cast of characters, both main and supporting, that are very “real” and relatable. Everyone should be able to find at least one character with whom they can identify in this show whether it be the lone wolf, Guts, the only woman in a man’s army, Casca, or the pauper born to be a king, Griffith. This is one anime that’s sure to please!

The story begins rather suddenly and almost seems, in order to understand what’s going on, to require some knowledge of the back-story of the mysterious “Black Swordsman.” Don’t worry, though, the first episode simply acts as a teaser to intrigue the viewers and make them want to know the history that lead up to that moment in time. We discover that the Black Swordsman is, indeed, our protagonist, Guts and that he seeks vengeance against a man named Griffith. After the first episode, the series takes a flash back to a young Guts fighting as a mercenary against another mercenary group, the White Hawks. When the battle is over, Guts takes his share of the payment and continues his journey. Griffith, Casca and the rest of the White Hawks spot him on a path and when a few of the group decide to ambush him to avenge their fallen friends, Griffith sends Casca to stop them from dying. Guts attacks her and, as he’s about to strike, is stopped by Griffith. The two men battle and Griffith is the victor. Thinking it a waste to kill such a fierce warrior, Griffith declares that Guts will remain under his control until Guts is able to defeat him in battle.

The White Hawks gain a great deal of respect from the King of Midland, their #1 customer, essentially, and they are eventually knighted and made an official part of the Midland Army. With every battle won, Griffith and Guts’ friendship strengthens and Griffith’s rank in the Midland court rises, the latter fact being quite abhorrent to his fellow court-members and, more importantly, the queen. When a relationship starts to form between Griffith and the Princess, the Queen decides to step in and we finally see what Griffith is truly capable of.


All three of the main characters have experienced some degree of horror in their childhoods but each has reacted differently and grown into completely different people. Guts is the typical “lone-wolf” character: doesn’t work well with others, prefers fighting alone, keeps everything bottled inside and releases it on the battlefield. His ferocity on the battlefield earns the respect and admiration of his fellow soldiers and, despite his aloofness, commands a great deal of loyalty from those around him. Casca, the only woman in an army of men, manages to take a place second only to Griffith in the eyes of the White Hawks. She harbors an unspoken love for Griffith and resents Guts for his friendship with Griffith. Griffith, leader of the White Hawks, is, despite his small frame, the strongest fighter in all of Midland. His ability to lead has afforded him the loyalty and respect of his men, favor with the King and the power to strike fear into anyone that would oppose him. During his days as a peasant child, a fortune teller gives him a Behelit, the egg of the king, and the promise that as long as he keeps it with him, he will someday be king. This simple act ignites the flames of Griffith’s will and now he will stop at nothing until he is declared King of Midland.

There are several side characters that are worth noting, too. Ricket is a young boy that fights with the Hawks. He’s kind of that “heart of the team” sort of character. Judeau is another interesting character. He’s a “you can’t help but like him” character. He’s incredibly skilled with daggers and he used to travel with gypsies. Pippin is the gentle giant until you get him on the battlefield. Corkus is the typical loudmouth character that thinks he ought to be in charge. He has his moments. As for non-White Hawk side characters...There’s General Adon of the Chudor army. His bumbling antics are pretty good for a laugh. He serves as a bit of comic relief in this otherwise severe series. Then there’s Zod. He only pops up a couple of times, but you’ll know him when you see him. He plays a much bigger role in the manga then he does in this series, but he’s a cool character and you’re not too clear on where his allegiance lies. The characters are easily the strongest point of the series.

Yes, the animation is a bit dated. Yes, sometimes huge battle scenes are represented in beautifully detailed still shots with sound effects. Do these things subtract from the series? No, it’s still a good looking series. The characters, backgrounds, armor and buildings are all very detailed but the animation itself is a bit stiff. It’s not the best looking series ever, but it’s not so bad that you can’t stand watching it. Just remember that even your super popular, high budget animes have their moments of jumbled faces and choppy movements too! Sorry, Berserk, but your animation leaves a lot to be desired.

The music is another category in which the series is a bit lacking. Keep in mind that this wasn’t really a high-budget series and that it only lasted one season. Basically the soundtrack consists of about 13 songs. To be fair, there are only ever about five different moods in the whole series: quiet sadness, blinding rage, burning passion and noble calm and various types of anxiety. That’s pretty much it. That might seem a little uninteresting, but the balance is there and the music accents all of those moods very well. Honestly, there’s so much screaming and fighting in the series, that you sometimes barely even notice the music. I was listening to the soundtrack for this review and there were two songs in the list that I couldn’t remember hearing. Also, since most of the music just serves as atmosphere, there are only four songs that can stand alone from the series. Two of them are the opening and closing themes and the other two are just the better background pieces. Taking into consideration the lack of variety but the good use of what was available, the music of Berserk is acceptable but a bit more variety would have been appreciated.

This isn’t the kind of series where you can say, “A great series for any anime fan!” It can be very intense at times and there is a lot of blood and violence. The story is amazingly good at keeping the audience’s attention. This isn’t one of those throwaway series that you can just have on in the background. It makes you want to pay attention because you need to know what happens next. The battles are unique from most other animes, too. Rather than the “Oh, no the most powerful enemy I’ve ever faced is here and my ultimate attack isn’t working against them but here’s my new ultimate attack and now that worked and everybody’s happy but oh no, here’s another enemy that’s even more powerful, etc etc.” that we’re used to, The White Hawks have to use tactics and be smart about how they defeat their enemies. If you die in Berserk, guess what? You ain’t gonna be in Berserk II. So, I suppose it’s a little refreshing in that the battles are almost always armies vs. other armies. Sure, most of the action is focused on the three main characters, but the victory is always gained by group effort. Guts, Griffith and Casca are just the trump cards. For an amazing story and fantastic, well-developed, flawed characters, Berserk takes a well deserved 9/10 overall.