Berserk (2016 TV series)

• 1. Introduction

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  Berserk, Kentaro Miura's sprawling dark fantasy manga, returned to Japanese television screens on the 1st of July 2016 with a new anime adaptation that picked up a story left dangling since 1997. The question hovering over that premiere was a simple one: could a new production finally do justice to one of the most uncompromising works in manga history? And could it pull off something the 1997 series never attempted, covering the brutal Conviction arc for the first time on television? What followed was a series that critics could not agree on, a production that sparked fierce debate about craft and compromise, and a chapter in the long history of Berserk adaptations that remains divisive to this day.

• 2. Picking Up the Swordsman

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  Guts, the Black Swordsman, had appeared only briefly at the very start of the 1997 television series before that show flashed back to tell the story of his origins. The 2016 series planted itself firmly in the present, building directly on the Golden Age Arc film trilogy that had preceded it. Guts was searching for the God Hand's Apostles, hunting down each one in his pursuit of Griffith, the former leader who had sacrificed his followers, the mercenary band, in a ritual called the Eclipse to become one of the God Hand and seize the dream of ruling his own kingdom. Guts and his lover Casca were the only survivors of that ritual. Casca had lost both her sanity and her memory from what she witnessed. She was left in the care of a blacksmith named Godo, his adopted daughter Erica, and Rickert, the sole Hawk who had been absent during the Eclipse. An elf named Puck joined Guts on his hunt as the forces of the God Hand moved toward something they had long been waiting for. At the conclusion of the first season's final episode, a teaser confirmed that a second season, covering the Hawk of the Millennium Empire arc, would arrive in April 2017.

• 3. A Hybrid Animation Experiment

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  Producer Reo Kurosu described the show's visual approach as a hybrid between 2D and 3D, and the method was genuinely experimental. Director Shin Itagaki came from a 2D animation background, meaning every storyboard was conceived in that tradition. From that point, the production team decided scene by scene whether to use full CG animation, traditional 2D, or a combination of both. The 3D characters and objects were rendered using cel shading to pull them closer in appearance to hand-drawn art. A distinctive touch was a linear hatching effect applied to shadows on 3D objects, designed to simulate the look of shading done with a pen or pencil. That same hatching was applied to shadows on 2D models as well, so the two approaches would feel like parts of a consistent world. Animation studio Liden Films produced the series with GEMBA and Millepensee handling the animation production side.

• 4. The People Behind the Sound

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  Shirō Sagisu, who had scored the Berserk: The Golden Age Arc films, returned to compose the music for the new series. Susumu Hirasawa, who had written music for both the 1997 series and the Golden Age Arc films, came back to produce two songs: one with a Japanese title not transcribed in the source, and one called "Ash Crow". The opening theme for the first season, "Inferno", was performed by the rock band 9mm Parabellum Bullet, while the ending theme was performed by Nagi Yanagi. The second season reused 9mm Parabellum Bullet for its opening theme, a track called "Sacrifice", and its ending was performed by Yoshino Nanjō featuring Nagi Yanagi. The primary Japanese voice cast reprised their roles from the Golden Age Arc films. Unshō Ishizuka, the Narrator of the original 1997 series, returned in that same capacity. On the English side, Crunchyroll announced at Anime Expo on the 1st of July 2016 that it would release the series with an English dub on Blu-ray and DVD. The dub was produced by Bang Zoom! Entertainment and distributed by Funimation. That arrangement meant NYAV Post had no involvement in dubbing Berserk material for the first time since the game Sword of the Berserk.

• 5. What Critics Heard and Saw

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  IGN contributor Meghan Sullivan rated the opening episode 8.5 out of 10, writing that despite what she called somewhat distracting visuals, the premiere got Guts' quest for vengeance off to a strong start. At a publication named Kotaku, Cecilia D'Anastasio argued the opening episode already outshone the 1990s original, even while noting the sub-par animation quality. D'Anastasio concluded that the series proved directors of fighting-heavy anime were making a greater effort to do justice to manga that showcases writing and ingenuity. Anime News Network contributor Jacob Hope Chapman took the harshest line, describing the show in a review of its first three episodes as an abominably ugly and almost forcefully unpleasant realization of the source material, citing cut-rate CGI, questionable music choices, and disorienting camera work. Chapman still acknowledged that Miura's story and the world it built were compelling enough to carry the show through, and that Itagaki's frenetic directing kept the action from collapsing entirely.

• 6. How the Series Came Together

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  A new Berserk anime was announced in December 2015 in Hakusensha's Young Animal magazine, and a short preview trailer followed at Comiket that same month. In February 2016 the anime's website confirmed the project as a television series. A second trailer arrived in March 2016, and a teaser video was streamed on the series' site in early June 2016. Manga author Kentaro Miura served as executive supervisor throughout. The series was written by Makoto Fukami and Takashi Yamashita, with character designs by Hisashi Abe. The second season began airing on the 7th of April 2017 with a two-episode, hour-long premiere. IGN released a clip of the English dub on the 17th of March 2017, and the first season became available through Funimation on the 20th of March 2017.