When I first heard the news of Berserk coming back and FINALLY getting its deserved sequel, all I could think was that animated gif of Ron Paul... IT’S HAPPENING!

If this is your first time watching Berserk, you’re not going to be getting any back story. Really, I’m not even sure why you’re starting here. Go watch the movies. Anyway, all we can seem to gather from this uninformative first episode is that Guts, our protagonist, is a “mercenary” with a mechanical arm, can swing a huge sword like no one’s business, and attracts incubi (demons born from people that died). There’s also an obnoxious eunuch fairy named Puck that likes to pester Guts. That’s it.

The animation is all over the place and I fucking hate it. Some parts are CGI, some parts are traditional animation. There are even places where it’s both at the same time. Even worse is when characters switch to a different style in the same scene. In one instance, CGI Puck is bothering CGI Guts as he’s eating. After Guts tells Puck to fuck off, Guts switches to traditional animation as he takes a bite out of his dinner. Little things like that make this difficult and extremely annoying to watch.

The unfortunate thing is that both animation styles are done poorly. The CGI, for the most part, is flat, lacking lots of detail and shadows. When it’s not CGI, the traditional is reminiscent of those Marvel anime, inferior and cheap looking. I’m not sure why both styles are even present. Is it cheaper to have both? Is it faster? Maybe I should watch more Shirobako to find out.

I’ll be honest with you: I’m a huge fan of the franchise, but this shit flat out sucks. From the second I saw that the animation was going to be CGI, I knew it was going to be a problem. Not only that, but they didn’t even bother to give the series another name. Unless you’re a fan and/or have read into the series, there’s no way of knowing this is a sequel. I really wish I had something positive to say but I don’t. I will only continue watching this because of my personal bias.

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https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=1&v=XQr7LvFZrlE

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