Beserk

^{(0 = Worst, 10 = Best)}

James Newman (Member, 2004)

“People bring the small flames of their wishes and come together. Since they don’t want to extinguish the small flame, they’ll bring that small flame to a big flame. A big flame named Griffith. But I didn’t bring a flame with me.”- Gatts

This series has a killer start- not only introducing the main character as he is at the end of the series- hideously scarred both physically and emotionally, thus setting the appropriate feeling of impending doom throughout the series, but it also climaxes in an impressive fight scene between the seven-foot sword wielding protagonist and a huge snake demon. [yes, the SWORD is seven foot, not the protagonist]

Once the first episode is over, the rest of the series is flashbacks to tell how Gatts, the main character developed from a young, skilled but unfriendly mercenary into a vital part of a highly successful mercenary group led by its young, talented and insanely ambitious leader, Griffith.

Most of the plot revolves around three main characters: Gatts, Griffith and the mercenary group’s second in command, Casca, fanatically loyal to Griffith and ruthless in disposing of threats to him. And a reckless new recruit is just such a danger.

It must be said, the animation is not great. It isn’t bad, and some fights, especially the sadly few times where demons enter the fray, are *very* impressive, but generally speaking, it is more ‘gets the job done’ than anything else.

The voices are all suitable and the background music is nice, but the intro music is fairly hideous, though the melancholic ending theme almost makes up for it.

Berserk is atypical for an action anime in that the bulk of the plot is not in the first episode and little changes from then, the plot slowly develops over the entire series. This means those expecting wall-to-wall fighting from episode 2 onwards will be disappointed- there is a fairly good balance between plot and fighting throughout, but this requires patience- those only interested in action will find the plot bits too long and may lose interest.

Final warning: the series ends on a cliffhanger and there are currently no plans for a season 2, so if you want to find out what happens at the very end, you have to look at the manga.

Warnings: Very bloody, a few objectionable scenes, though only one is really dwelt upon, during the cataclysmic finale. Final value on the gore-ometer: 7.

The DVD set, although available in America, is not available over here yet.

In short, an actioner with a brain. Good fight scenes (though don’t be expecting Kenshin vs Shishio (AKA mummy guy) level), interesting plot and deeper-than expected characters.

4 out of 5