DESCRIPTION

CAST

MANGA ActionBerserk
ANIME ActionBerserk

REVIEWS

• 

  TheGruesomeGoblin

  60/100
  The continuation of Berserk 2016.

  ___"TEEKYUU"___

  Okay, it's finally time to talk about my real favorite anime. I mean I figured it'd be a perfect time to do it with the ninth season coming up, so I just decided "hey let's do a motherfucking Teekyuu review".

  Millepensee, how can you make such a great anime? Tennis gags? Yes. Alien Teekyuu, best Teekyuu? Yes. You just end up watching an episode and saying yeah sure, I'll watch another episode. Then you realize oh SHIT, you just marathonned seven seasons of Teekyuu back to back.

  To conclude the first ever TGG review of a TV short that isn't literally go fuck yourself, I give it a score of 65 out of 100. And I know that seems low but god damn, for these reviews, that is comparatively high.

  Anyways yeah, that's the whole thing. Upvotes please. This is literally the fourteenth anime review, I'm taking a page from Millefleshrot's book and slimming these things down to only the essentials. No more gimmicks.

  The gimmicks had a good run but it's time to go back to vanilla and ranty TGG reviews of a few months ago--okay what the flying fuck is that.

  

  That is so shoddily made. Like one look at it and right away you go "oh okay yeah that's totally the thing that it's supposed to be and not something that was just slapped together." A Microsoft paint Brand of Sacrifice? I mean didn't I just say no more gimmicks? Look, Anilist deserves a Teekyuu review and that is what this is.

  Sacrifice? Get outta here, I don't give a shit about the Invocation of Doom--

  

  ---

  Berserk: Falcon of the Millepensee Empire

  

  BERSERK 2017 OR "BERSERK 2" IS JUST STRAIGHT UP THE CONTINUATION OF BERSERK 2016, WHICH ITSELF COVERS FROM AN ALTERED START OF THE MANGA, THEN SIDESTEPS TWO ENTIRE ARCS, AND SKIPS OVER THE GOLDEN AGE STUFF BECAUSE THAT'S BEEN ADAPTED TWICE ALREADY. BERSERK 2017 AT LEAST STARTS IN AND ENDS WITH FALCON OF MILLENIUM EMPIRE STUFF. POINT IS, THIS WILL CONTAIN SPOILERS FOR EVERYTHING BEFORE THIS PART OF THE MANGA/SERIES.

  That warning shouldn't even be needed at this point, but...

  ---

  A "Brief" Introductory Note

  Since this is the second review, I will be attempting to not overly repeat anything I said before. But I'll certainly be addressing the returning flaws from 2016 as well as the slight improvements since and any sudden or sharp changes in quality that just sort of happen with NO warning whatsoever. Thinking about it a bit further, an actual serious attempt to not write another four thousand word long review on this adaptation seems futile.

  But yes, here we go again. Another season of Millepensee's Berserk. I really don't think anybody asked for a season two this time around. Which is sad because people waited NINETEEN YEARS (since the 97 anime) to see an anime with Guts beyond the Golden Age. But since they announced the second season with the end of the first season, it must mean they had been planning on doing 24 episodes from the start no matter what. After all, as far as my knowledge goes, Berserk 2016 sold like absolute dogshit. But no matter how negative I may be towards MillepenshouldsticktoTeekyuu's Berserk, I can't really say I wish that it didn't exist at all because maybe if it didn't, we wouldn't have gotten Berserk Musou. Which... just yes. God yes.

  Still, where there is a Berserk adaptation... I will unfortunately eventually end up there. Hell, I'll even read the new light novel if it ever gets translated even though it's WRITTEN by one of the guy who did the new anime's script which immediately raises a red flag. But Miura did the illustrations so it's possibly canon unless he outright says it's not at some point in the future???

  I don't even know anymore, man. I really don't. Before we really finally get this party truly started again, I just want to say on a serious note that the Berserk 2016 review was the first review I wrote and it was the start of a downhill slope of a bunch of horrible shit happening. And, looking back, I have a bunch of problems with my Berserk 2016 review.

  Therefore, following eesnepelliM and GEMBA's examples, I will make an effort to improve with this Berserk 2017 review. In doing so, I will start by sharing how to make a proper, well loved, and faithful adaptation of a manga the MilesforPens and GEMBA way.

  

  First, get the manga in question to be sacrificed to the dark lords, your trusty clanging instrument, some handily packaged Behelits from Walmart and the rest is self-explanatory really*. You can't make a proper anime adaptation without breaking some manga. I mean like, everyone knows that.

  *No wild manga were harmed in the making of this review. I was stopped before I could go through with it.

  ---

  Let's Start Out Positive

  Hey, anybody remember that first teaser they released where CG Guts' face was actually Guts' face? Also the Dragonslayer fucking bent as he swung it, but for at least one shot of the teaser, they had CG Guts actually have a 2D face. But of course they realized the main character having a 2D face throughout all of the action scenes (and most of the dialogue scenes) would be way more expensive so they jettisoned that.

  Point is, it's very slight, but in Berserk 2017, Guts and Casca's CG faces actually look... somewhat better? It's sort of telling that this is actually a positive that I'm bothering to mention. "Oh yeah, the characters look more like the characters they're supposed to be." Also CG Griffith is actually pretty alright, so there's that too.

  The OP is... well first off, I liked Inferno of the first season, but honestly I actually really prefer Sacrifice. 9MM Parabellum Bullet calmed themselves down a little bit because for season two, the opening of the show is an actual opening rather than just the Eclipse shrinked down to a minute. Also, why is the opening now entirely 2D, and why is the 2D better than the first season's opening?

  Millemisery, do you just love laughing at an entire fanbase? The first season's opening at least had a few seconds of CG Guts clumsily swinging the Dragonslayer around at nothing in an empty field. Because you know, that's the actual show. But okay, people seem to like the 2D parts the best, let's make the entire season 2 opening 2D while keeping the rest of the show almost entirely CG.

  That'll definitely fix the problem.

  Oh yeah, we're not in Conviction land anymore, so at the very least we don't have to tolerate any more of Nina. I didn't even mention her in the first review because they actually captured her character perfectly. The walking worst part of the Conviction arc, manga or otherwise, is gone. Hell yes I'm actually seriously listing this as a positive.

  

  Most of Schierke's magic stuff and stuff with the Astral Realm was pretty good. Matter of fact, that was probably my overall favorite part of Berserk 2017, to be honest.

  

  Um... there wasn't any outright copy and pasted mobs this time... they still do the CG and 2D on the screen at the same time but it's certainly lessened comparing to last season.

  That's about all I can think of right now. Now, let's not have any more false starts and just get into it finally.

  ---

  The More Things Clang... the More They Stay Hai Yo.

  Episode one thirteen, here we GO.

  "Why is the camera shaking? Good lord, could you just keep it stable for two seconds? The shaking does not add to the actio--OH GOD RAPID FIRE CLANGS. THEY LEARNED NOTHING."

  Guts still clangs, Zodd clangs, Grunbeld clangs. Really, the clangs must just be an indicator if it's a strong character or not. Literally no other characters clang. And yes, it's the exact same clang from season one. They still didn't have enough money for a new sound effect. But you know, I have to state I do respect Millefoolery for sticking to their guns and keeping the clang. The memes this show has spawned aside, like Hai Yo, the clang is a staple of this adaptation. A small part of me would have been sad if it was gone.

  Wait. What?

  

  ...Guts used his sword as an actual sword against the ogre in episode nineteen. It clearly cuts through the ogre, and it does not clang. But spirits, possessed little girls, soldiers... everything else it clangs against? And I mean the clang is present throughout the episodes after this one so... why? Seriously, why only this scene?

  

  Actually, I was wrong. It happens against the trolls in both the episode before and after this one. Still, why only against the trolls and ogres?

  

  "Oh my god they did Raksas PERFECTLY. And in full 2D! Wait no, the only reason why they would do that is if this is his only appearance in what they're covering of the arc."

  I was correct. Berserk 2017 is only covers a part of the Millennium Falcon arc. Unfortunate, but was to be expected. There was no way we were ever gonna get to the boat. Or the World Transformation.

  

  Was kind of really surprised that we even got to see the Abyss. You know, since both times it actually appears other than this time, have always been skipped over by various Berserk adaptations. It's what he says in the manga too, but I could only stifle a laugh when Guts says "he's seen it before" in Berserk 2017. Yeah, we could have seen the introduction of it if they hadn't decided to just skip everything else to just get to Conviction with Berserk 2016.

  It's fine, really. The entire main theme of the first review was me ranting about them leaving things out from the manga. I shouldn't be annoyed that they actually included something, even if they left out the actual introduction or explanation of the thing they included.

  ---

  Seriously, Stop With Hai Yo

  For the full experience, only click on the above link while wearing headphones and having volume up to full blast.

  I had thought they were going a little bit crazy with this in the first season. Almost every single time Guts appears or steps out with the Dragonslayer, Hai Yo starts to play. I know it's Susumu Hirasawa and he's a __walking musical god__, but there is such a thing as overuse. I honestly think that GEMBA and co. honestly couldn't afford a full Susumu Hirasawa OST like some other Berserk adaptations or maybe Susumu Hirasawa was like...

  "No, you can have TWO songs. Only two. Because I don't want people to associate my music with... well, with this."

  

  And quite honestly, I can't blame the man if that was actually true. He probably felt obligated because apart from Satoshi Kon's stuff (which are all winners by the way, especially this) and this, the only series he's ever done music for is Berserk.

  Like if they had just tried a bit harder with the OST, they wouldn't have had to rely on Hirasawa's Hai Yo and Ash Crow. With season two, I guess they felt that they needed to experiment because on two separate occasions, both early as well as later in the season, they suddenly just bust out some jazz.

  ...Jazz? In Berserk? You... you did watch the previous Berserk adaptations right? You did... you did listen to the music Susumu Hirasawa did for Berserk before, right? Why in the fuck would you ever think jazz would be a good idea to trips over a stack of conveniently placed frying pans

  But no really, jazz aside, almost the entire OST is totally forgettable and that's just... honestly one of my least favorite parts of the entire series. Maybe I'm just biased because of how much I love the 97 series/Susumu Hirasawa. But no really... there's Hai Yo, Ash Crow, this, Blood and Guts (but that's from the 2012 movies), some generic metal and/or horror sounding stuff, and that's basically the entire OST that I can even barely remember at this point.

  Well actually, there was also My Brother. Which was quite good, but for some reason every time I hear it, I just think I've heard it from somewhere else. Oh right, it's actually a remix and from the 2012 MOVIES. But it's fine really. Why even try to do something new when you can just rely on the music from past adaptations? Just be sure to get Susumu Hirasawa to do at least a few songs, and then use those as much as humanly possible until people literally get sick of it.

  I honestly truly liked Hai Yo early on in the first season. It's literally one of the handful of reasons why I and several others stuck around. People were literally trying to construct Hai Yo each week when they played snippets of it before Hirasawa's new Berserk album with it even came out. But I can safely say despite it being a Hirasawa song, because of how much they relied on it, I wouldn't mind if I never heard it ever again.

  Oh yeah. I almost want to genuinely applaud them for apparently at least having enough sense to go with Ash Crow with the Berserker Armor reveal. Because I genuinely was preparing myself for a completely out of place Hai Yo. Hai Yo does not fit the Berserker Armor or even the Grunbeld fight in general for that matter. It's supposed to be a fucking hugely dread and violent struggle against this gigantic Apostle fire dragon, and Guts has now been put in a suit that will essentially force him to continue fighting as his bones break because the armor will literally dig into his flesh and repair his body enough to where he will still be able to move.

  

  I was going to applaud them, but then in the actual fight, Hai Yo starts on full blast the moment Schierke helps Berserker Guts get back in control of the armor. Like immediately the moment you can see Guts' eyes through the armor, Hai Yo starts. Yeah, no that's okay, Hai Yo definitely fits for a severe and desperate battle against an inhuman monster... or trolls, or ogres... and it also fits for when Guts steps out to brutally kill a bunch of just normal human soldiers. It fits for everything, so why not use it for everything.

  Oh hey, got an idea. Here's an idea of how Guardians of Desire (from that little unimportant arc of the manga, you know, the very first one which they mangled entirely, THE BLACK SWORDSMAN ARC) would play out if it would ever be animated (it won't) and it's animated by Milleplease and GEMBA (I hope it won't). Again as always, thanks goes out to the Berserk meme community which yes, is a thing, who I know for a fact LOVED Berserk 2016 and Berserk 2017 because it gave them so much material.

  ---

  Really Not Much Else Going For It Beyond the CG Monsters

  I think in general, the CG for most of the monsters is fine. Some of the CG Apostles are iffy at best, but at least they got Grunbeld down okay.

  

  Which I suppose is the absolute bare minimum because when you say "we're gonna adapt Falcon of the Millennium" to a Berserk fan, immediately their minds are going to jump to "Oh God, how bad is the Grunbeld fight/Berserker Armor going to look?" and I hate to say it but... the fight itself was okay. I'd still take what a random Berserk fan could edit together from past adaptations over it for a billion years, though.

  "The PS2 game looks better" is not just a silly meme, holy shit. Admittedly, he also threw some of the Berserk Musou's (which came out literally thirteen years after the PS2 game) cutscenes in there for what was missing from the PS2 game.

  

  "There he is. The best Apostle of all of Berserk, animated. My boy, Schnoz."

  Also, can I just take a moment to say that... from season one, I hated Millehack and GEMBA's tendency to put credits over scenes? I didn't even bother to mention it the first time around, but this time, they actually did it with one of my favorite parts of this arc, and probably one of my overall favorite panels of Berserk in its entirety.

  One of the better scenes of the episode and Berserk 2016/2017 in general, hey let's put fucking CREDITS OVER IT.

  

  ...I really like this scene, and even how they did it. Like seeing Guts' party through Guts' eyes while in the Berserker Armor and their panicked voices being distorted... but, sure yeah, let's put the credits over this scene. No big deal. But would they have ever put credits over "Guts fights trolls as Hai Yo gets blasted"?

  Nope, not in a MILLION FUCKING YEARS.

  

  ---

  The Worst Episode of Both Seasons

  Episode 9 or Episode 21

  There's no way this wasn't gonna get a section for itself. The very slight improvement of this season puts you off guard, and then wham. There's no excuse for this, really. Are we still at "it's better than nothing"? How far does the rabbit hole go?

  Disclaimer: That Hai Yo is for comedic effect because again, Ash Crow plays on the immediate reveal of the Berserker Armor, not Hai Yo.

  I honestly did not think they could top that episode in Berserk 2016 with the cult orgy which was __really really bad__. This is the episode where the Berserker Armor is revealed and it's just absolutely awful. I know that they probably saved all their money and time for the Berserker Armor itself as well as the impending Grunbeld fight (there was a recap episode the week following this episode as if to underline that fact) but oh dear god.

  Like obviously they were not prepared to actually have to animate Apostles all of a sudden. Especially not several in the same episode. Apostles just sort of suddenly transitioning into their Apostle forms is just... unforgivable. It's even worse that they actually did it with Zodd too. You know, considering we've seen him transform before...

  This episode is so bad that it honestly... like if this episode wasn't anywhere near as bad as it was, I would have probably put Berserk 2017 actually above Berserk 2016. But the overall incompetence of this episode alone has dragged it back down into the mud where it belongs with its sibling.

  ---

  Not Important To This Arc or Review At All

  

  ---

  The Pinnacle of Despair

  

  "I can't believe they decided to end with the introduction of the cartoon pirates. The Grunbeld Fight, the Boat... both of the best spots where they could have ended it, they decided to go with the Pirates instead. I just can't believe this. Oh well, I'm fine with them just ending here rather than rushing any further to get to something else..."

  

  "Yeah, all's well that ends well... let's just get to the credits... I'm sure we'll get to see the rest of this arc animated never. Because there's literally no fucking way there'll be a season three..."

  

  "...Excuse me? Aren't we ending here? What is going on?"

  

  "...After twenty four episodes, you're doing this now."

  

  "...You're finally giving us a full 2D non-flashback scene at the very end of the adaptation. With very little chance of a season three happening and even if it did, the CG would be back in full force just like it was with this time."

  

  "...Not only did you wait until now to do this, but you decided to have the credits run over this scene."

  

  "...You cracked and you decided to give us what we wanted from the very beginning, but you simultaneously still managed to ruin it."

  

  "...I just don't understand. I can't even begin to try and wrap my head around it."

  

  "..."

  

  ---

  Conclusion

  ...I never want to talk about this adaptation ever again. And thankfully, it seems like I won't have to.

  

  Because if they were gonna do a season three, I don't see why they would have put "the story continues" because that just reads like "just go read the manga, dudes". This adaptation was a very mixed bag until the very end, but Berserk 2017 did... feel kind of better than Berserk 2016. But part of that for me is because again, with this season, they were starting as well as ending in Falcon of the Millennium. Berserk 2016 started with a VERY LIGHT touch of Black Swordsman stuff, and just skipped full steam to straight up Conviction. Which... infuriated, and still infuriates me.

  If it wasn't for that one really trainwreck of an episode, I'd give this season like a 65 out of 100. But instead, a 6 out of 10 is a fine. The exact same score I gave to Berserk 2016 which is admittedly still on an overall basis worse than this.

  So yeah, to conclude, go watch Teekyuu. I genuinely only watched Teekyuu because of Berserk 2016 because I wanted to have a look into the other anime Millepensee had done and... you'd be surprised. It was pretty enjoyable and I will in fact be watching the ninth season, and I hope there are many more because I'd rather Millepensee keep going than the ICLA guys with Yami Shibai.

  Am I really beginning and ending a Berserk review with Teekyuu shilling? Yes, yes I am. Teekyuu forever.

  
  Continue on AniList
• 

  moistmossyroc

  68/100
  Please just bd, tv release is torture.

  Overview:

  Berserk 2nd Season starts out by showing the main villain and having him confront Guts for reasons explained in the first episode. With this season it is more of a focus on this main villain starting his domination in order to obtain his long standing dream. This person is still pretty much in the background but is prominent for the events that do happen as he is directly linked with them.

  Orcs and the witch is basically the entire season with an end goal of reaching the fairy kingdom… still. More is learned about the fairy kingdom in the last couple of episodes. As for the witch and orcs, they were needed to give some additional background for some characters and allow Guts to obtain a pretty badass set of spikes… hehe, those who have broken down to watch it will know it can pull you back together to finish the season out.

  There is a real emphasis on the world changing from what was once the golden age, everything slowly becoming darker and darker with more and more vial type scenes of rape and topics along those lines.

  Visuals/Music:

  Just like the Berserk [2016], the animation style is 3d based for better or worse. There is a slight improvement I think but that might just come down to better refinement that the studio was able to do given this was about a year apart from release, so they had more experience with the style chosen.

  3d is still meh with the character animations, mainly the mouth movements seeming out of place… not considering the models themselves most of the time feel quite out of place. At times when the character models were not moving, it looked proper and they felt part of the show. Once movement started occurring is when things started to go south.

  There is stutter movements and animations due to the fps of the show, Knights of Sidonia never had this problem, so I believe it solely comes down to the company and the way they animated it. Due to the show being 3d, should have rendered it out at 60fps to make it appear smoother, even 40ish fps would have been perfectly fine more than likely. Sometimes the movements felt 10fps though and it looked terrible breaking any immersion that could have been left.

  As for the music, the same OST from Berserk [2016] is used. This is a good thing due to how good it was. Sadly, there was not any additional tracks added afaik, meaning no tracks that could be more soothing for those types of moments, at times it felt too intense.

  Sound affects were still bad, after a year and no change to make them better and rid the mic rupture esque effects is simply a shame. Should have swapped them for better ones and balanced them out with the rest of the audio as the huge attacks that land get annoying real quick. The effects used don’t match as one would expect breaking immersion.

  Final Thoughts:

  For those that have watched the other seasons/movies of Berserk, might as well finish it out since it is a good show. There are glaring flaws more prominent here than other shows out there but that isn’t a reason to skip it. The action scenes are enough and when the fights and soundtracks meld together it can get you hyped for a fight… as much as the models try to break you of it lol.

  There is explicit scenes of rape and topics along those lines, less torture scenes that 2016 Berserk though. Still, if a person doe not want to see these topics, avoid watching since it has not changed and will probably become more prominent and dark as the show progresses.

  Characters (main) – 3.5/5
  Characters (sub) – 3/5
  Enjoyment – 4/5
  Visuals – 3.5/5
  Music – 3.5/5
  Story – 3/5

  Overall Ratings - Rec: 3/5 Raw: 68%

  Continue on AniList

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