Review: Berserk

With two episodes left, I was pretty convinced that Berserk was headed towards joining Neon Genesis Evangelion as my favorite anime ever. The real difference was that I enjoyed Evangelion’s “from left field” ending, (ignoring End of Evangelion), but didn’t enjoy Berserk’s. What can you do?

Briefly, Berserk really has three main characters. For some reason, you only see Gatts mentioned, I have no idea why. Gatts is a swordsman with an absolutely gigantic sword. After the first episode, you might think this is going to be along the lines of Ninja Scroll, watching bad-asses just do their thing. Fortunately, it’s a lot better than that.

The other two leads are Griffith and Caska. Griffith leads a group called “The Band of the Hawk,” and Caska is a captain. Oh, yeah, she’s also a woman. These three get stirred together as Gatts gets recruited and Griffith is climbing the charts towards what looks like becoming royalty after being born chattle.

You’re in for some musings about destiny, and what your dreams and plans for your life are all about. The personal drama in the middle and end I found very compelling. The stage was perfectly set for a home-run ending, but suddenly, you find yourself in what seems like another series altogether. I’m not going to say much about it besides even though it didn’t live up to my expectations, it didn’t altogether disappoint.

I’m going to give it a 8.9/10, and tell you to watch it if you have Netflix.