Skullknight.NET Podcast: Episode 79

Walter

Walter

Administrator
Staff member

Episode 79: Berserk (2016 Anime) (1h)

In which we review the latest Berserk animation in its entirety. This might hurt.

00:00 Intro
03:55 Overall impressions
07:35 Translating Manga panels into Anime
10:14 Expanding merchandise
12:55 Show direction
16:56 Guts' Beherit origins unexplained and the bar scene
20:31 The Demon Tree (The Shit Tornado)
21:50 Sound design and music
24:57 Soundtrack (Hai yooooooooo)
27:40 Sound effects (CLANG!)
29:27 Character design (Guts' face)
32:00 Cloning effect
33:49 3D mass of spectres
36:01 Why Berserk(2016) kills Berserk soul?
39:07 People being introduced to Berserk by the Berserk(2016)
41:29 Blu-ray price and return their investment
43:30 Will a increase in the budget change the show?
45:34 Casca's skin colour
47:37 Guts' Beherit colour and Zodd
49:15 Animation movement
49:44 Bad scene focusing
51:42 Uncensored Blu-ray
52:16 Crunchyroll (Why Berserk got the shitty treatment?!)
53:58 2nd season speculation
57:55 Would you recommend Berserk (2016)?
 
Perfect! :ubik:

I needed something to listen to before my work opens tomorrow morning! Thanks guys, can't wait to listen to what I'm sure will be humorous and filled with anger and cringe-worthy moments from the anime.
 
great podcast guys, very amusing

Aaz: if you want to make it to the wedding don't (make your fiancé watch it)
Click to expand...
:ganishka:

I'm actually looking forward to how they're gonna do the golems, i can't imagine them not looking funny as hell
 
Great podcast. Delta, your audio wasn't too bad, man. :) All points were addressed and I'll throw in mine.

This is where I draw the line. I've always enjoyed adaptions for what they are, but I honestly felt ashamed watching the 2016 anime. When you're by yourself and feel embarrassed, you know something is very off. The same feeling I had during some very cringe worthy scenes in BvS, a movie my own brother said to go see. Trickery at its best. Shame at the thought of someone walking in on me. I would not show this to anyone because I can't fathom said person ever wanting to hear about Berserk ever again from my lips.

Season 2 is coming and I can't imagine things getting worse, so only better, right? :sad:
 
Walter should start an acapella band, i certainly laughed, and this episode tough me something. Gut´s face IS complicated and very "non-manga". Hm.

I disagree that the movies had a noteworthy budget. 3 films stretched the run-time of 2 (for actual content), so i guess that a version of the original 1-film-adaptation had to suffice. Too many scenes are "unfinished" too. That the new show just followed the manga mustn't be a Miura guideline either. That is 100% the norm with tv anime and even warmly expected. Even US movies are plotted with comic book-y storyboards and the 1 to 1 Monster adaptation by Madhouse proved that such can be crazy artistic. There is a lot of room between the panels after all.

My favorite toon adaptation, after the much changed Akira, is 2012´s The Dark Knight Returns. I got toned down to a less "controversial" PG-13, the action got stretched and that´s it. The director then got a job as a BvS storyboard artist due to the quality, so sticking to the comic can get you far. This is just an international example, feel to dislike the end results, and use GoT S01, Sin City or 300.

The price for the Blue-Rays is 100% normal for anime in Japan but the 2 part release isn´t. That´s a dumping strategy. Midnight anime need to recoup their cost on home media, as the airting during the graveyard shift is ultimately a commercially. The show is thus currently incapable of being a success on it´s own. Streaming and foreign licensing isn´t profitable either. Exceptions as Bebop proof the rule.
A lot of anime just can´t be profitable BUT an anime doesn´t necessarily need to be "profitable" either. They just needs to break even, as most are inexpensive media adds.

Here is this season´s slate, just count the adaptations. I wish that it was different but the original 91 Days and Thunderbolt Fantasy are noteworthy in terms of quality: https://static.neregate.com/2016/04/neregate.com-Summer-2016-Anime-Chart-v3.jpg

You know what i think of the show but a main problem is that it was approached wrongly from day 1. A new 2D production company decided to do a 3D anime and then went to a new studio (GEMBA) that usually does technical 3D animation. Another new 2D studio (Millepensee), that usually does moe shows, did the random 2D bits to "fill the blanks". Most animated shows are done with dozens of studio involved for in-betweens, collaborations are good and needed, but they also NEED to make sense.

That "cool million" for 12 eps. is about what One Piece costs per ep. but you are all correct that no amount money can fix this in S02 with the current staff and time table.

Expect to see simple animation errors, as missing hair or Aryan skin tones, to be fixed + nipples on the discs, but be reasonable. I won´t watch V 1.1 (besides a youtube link) but it´s the sound that needs to be redone the most. The JoJo studio is lastly a new face in the industry, so we didn´t even need veterans. Just people who cared (on every level of production) and i expect S02 to "adapt" the PS2 game.
 
Thank you everyone for another wonderful podcast, I enjoyed listening to all of thoughts on the new anime.

I might sound like a broken record, but I wish they didn't do this adaption now that I've seen it in it's entirety. The 1997 anime series, while flawed, took it's time to develop the characters, the setting and mood. I felt while watching that years ago the creators behind it really cared about Miura's work, and made me feel varied emotions and kept me engaged the whole time. After seeing it I rushed out to purchase the first three manga volumes and was hooked since. I could never see this happening with the 2016 version; congrats to those who want to look further into the manga, but I still feel it's a shame they had to witness a really memorable arc of the story like this.

A few things that bothered me more then others:

- The rushed pace from when Guts is hunting apostles and encountering the demon tree, to already being at Godot's not long after and contemplating his choices on revenge or helping Casca. It works so much better in the comic because it's fleshed out, and the story has room to breathe. Here if I wasn't familiar with Berserk I wouldn't really buy into Guts' quest for war and his quick decisions to leave his love behind and then try to find her again.

- A point everyone else has mentioned, but oh boy the animation. There are a few close ups where things look brilliant (seems more often with Puck) but more often then not it's choppy, sloppily edited and looks very out dated. I wasn't a fan of the mix of CGI and traditional animation in the trilogy, but it holds up so much better then this. It takes me right out of the scenes when they are this bad.

- odd choices for characters or scenarios. One that was mentioned that I agree 100% is the swarm of specters in the black mass; in the manga it is terrifying and I love Miura's art for it, very creepy. The 2016 anime makes them look like... grape jelly? with no detail? Ugh. Some others include: faces not conveying the correct emotion, giving Skullknight some strange metallic look (I liked his design in the movies much better) and not using appropriate sound effects.

I may sound like an old maid on the subject but I am sticking to my guns that it's better to not have new Berserk animation if it's going to be poorly done and with people who don't care. We will always have the original story from the author, and that's all that matters at the end of the day. :iva:
 
Thanks for the podcast! Y'all had me laughing out loud a few times. I didn't make it all the way through the anime. I think I stopped around episode 5. I just wasn't enjoying it. That last episode I watched I got through it and felt absolutely nothing and that's not right for Berserk! :rickert: I think Aazealh summed it up well with the word "soulless". To see a work I think so much of get such a disappointing treatment was really lame and when I think of what a good Berserk anime could be like I feel bummed that it hasn't happened. :sad: It could be so awesome. But, like others have expressed, we have the manga and that's more than enough for me.
 
Sorry for being a month late, I've been a bit busy lately.

Timestamps:

00:00 Intro
03:55 Overall impressions
07:35 Translating Manga panels into Anime
10:14 Expanding merchandise
12:55 Show direction
16:56 Guts' Behelit origins unexplained and the bar scene
20:31 The Demon Tree (The Shit Tornado)
21:50 Sound design and music
24:57 Soundtrack (Hai yooooooooo)
27:40 Sound effects (CLANG!)
29:27 Character design (Guts' face)
32:00 Cloning effect
33:49 3D mass of spectres
36:01 Why Berserk(2016) kills Berserk soul?
39:07 People being introduced to Berserk by the Berserk(2016)
41:29 Blu-ray price and return their investment
43:30 Will a increase in the budget change the show?
45:34 Caska's skin colour
47:37 Guts' Behelit colour and Zodd
49:15 Animation movement
49:44 Bad scene focusing
51:42 Uncensored Blu-ray
52:16 Crunchyroll (Why Berserk got the shitty treatment?!)
53:58 2nd season speculation
57:55 Would you recommend Berserk (2016)?
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top