History YMMV / Berserk2016

* SugarWiki/AwesomeMoments:
** Even in a series plagued by low production values and questionable directing from beginning to end, Guts' climactic combat with Mozgus is epic enough to knock your socks off.
** When Guts puts on the Berserker Armor for the very first time, you'll be jumping up and down in your seat in childlike glee.
*** Especially when you consider THIS IS THE FIRST ANIME TO ACTUALLY GO PAST THE ECLIPSE! Finally other fans can witness the Berserker Armor the series is famous for on TV.
*** In Episode 22, Guts in Berserker armor tearing into Grunbeld is very well done, especially for this series.
* SugarWiki/AwesomeMusic:
** The remix of "Blood and Guts" that plays during the nightmare sequence from Episode 1 and when Guts is getting his equipment back from Farnese and the Holy Iron Chain Knights in Episode 2.
** Susumu Hirasawa's new song, [[https://youtu.be/JbIIkteR7iU Hai Yo]] ("Ashes"). It has been the most consistently well-received aspect of the new anime, with even the series' detractors celebrating its awesomeness.

* SugarWiki/VisualEffectsOfAwesome:
** [[UncannyValley No, the CG doesn't work for the humans]]. But when the monsters and ghosts are rendered in the CG animation of the show...it's honestly an almost frightening spectacle.
** Mozgus in particular looked surprisingly awesome in his stone angel form, with some impressive animation for his prehensile wings and his spectacular fiery demise.
** While the Berserker Armor is mostly rendered in CG, it looks ''really'' good, and when its helmet transforms into the visage of Guts' EnemyWithin, it's a genuinely chilling scene.

* SugarWiki/AwesomeMoments: Even in a series plagued by low production values and questionable directing from beginning to end, Guts' climactic combat with Mozgus is epic enough to knock your socks off.

* {{Narm}}: Some of the show's attempts to be really badass and horrifying fall flat and instead produce giggles for one reason or another, which is why several of them have become memes:
** The rabbit that Guts kills with a throwing knife, which dies with such a stiff and silly animation and a completely deadpan expression.
** A major source of narm is the sound effects (CLANG!) for the Dragon Slayer striking enemies, which have been variously compared to knocking over a stack of pots and pans, hittings something hard with a frying pan, or beating a garbage can with a metal pipe. This contributes to the narmiest moment in episode 1: Collette's dead body has been possessed by a ghost, and she comes out of the wagon holding her father's severed head. Guts is paralyzed with horror as she approaches him, the music is building, and even as Puck begs him to snap out of it he cannot move. Images of a smiling, innocent Collete flash in his mind. She stabs him, their faces are juxtaposed in split screen...and the camera zooms out as he chops her body in half with a ringing metallic '''''CLANG'''''. This sound and the abrupt cut of animation absolutely kills the drama of that moment by making the viewer laugh, since it sounds so completely unlike a squishy human body being chopped in half with a sword and makes the action look more like a baseball player hitting a ball out of the park. This moment basically set the tone for all subsequent parody and mockery of the show, and no review or meme video is complete without it.
** The second episode shows a pair of Holy Iron Chain Knights mourning the death of one of their comrades with melodramatic cries of "Oh Tonio! He was a good man!" right when sad music starts playing, as if to dramatize the death of a completely [[FacelessGoons Faceless]] RedShirt. It didn't help that the line was included for the episode's preview for really no reason. To make matters worse, this scene was actually connected to a series of events in the manga. With the mourning knights attacking a defenseless Guts in retaliation, and with Azan chewing them out for it. Azan then proceeded to give a speech on the duties of a knight that [[KnightInShiningArmor gave a very good insight to his character.]] Without all that, the event just comes off as pointless.
** Given the subject matter that's being depicted on screen, including horrible torture sequences and human beings being hacked apart every time Guts swings his sword, the shows tendency to depict female characters [[BarbieDollAnatomy lacking nipples]], is just outright bizarre and distracting. This is especially true for episode 5, which involves two characters having sex on screen, and yet sticks to this practice. It may be due to the TV censorship regulations, but it doesn't make it any less weird, given the other stuff shown on screen.
** The [[MemeticMolester Rape Horse]] scene in episode 3 is even more ridiculous than in the manga or ''VideoGame/BerserkAndTheBandOfTheHawk'' because of the deranged low-quality 2D animation and how the camera lingers on the most lurid, creepy parts--especially the LecherousLicking. As if that weren't enough, the sound when Guts beheads him is the exact same CLANG from when he cut Collette in half!
** Nina gets a spanking from Luca, [[MundaneMadeAwesome with dramatic]] [[{{Fanservice}} 360 degree camera work]]!
** When Guts stops the Great Goat from assaulting Casca by cutting off one of his hands, Casca's dress billows up in the wind so that we're treated to a view of her naked behind that lasts almost four seconds and kind of [[DistractedByTheSexy distracts you]] from the sight of the monster getting cut. There's nothing like a gratuitous PantyShot at such a dramatic moment to make you giggle and shake your head at whoever thought that was appropriate.
** The scene where Mozgus cries tears blood in his Apostle spawn form is a bit hard to take seriously. The exaggerated amount, along with the poor animation, makes it look like his eyes just exploded.
** The monstrous beast Zodd has an unconvincing fuzzy fur texture so that he looks like a giant teddy bear, and his color is also oddly purplish.
** In episode 13, Guts' reminiscing about Griffith is accompanied by {{Sexophone}} music. Then, when he approaches Griffith, his brand suddenly squirts out blood that looks and sounds like ketchup. There's also the hot dog arms meme, and perhaps funniest of all the way Guts is thrown back a ludicrous distance at an equally ludicrous speed from being hit by a falling rock when he's trying to save Casca. It looks less like he was blown away and more like some powerful force ''yanked'' him backward at 300 miles per hour, and then he immediately gets up not even stunned after being smashed against the wall at a speed that rightfully should have squashed him like a bug!
** Episode 21 has multiple examples:
*** Skull Knight performing a DiagonalCut on an Apostle while it's still in mid-air leaping at Guts, and after a second it starts spurting crappily-rendered HighPressureBlood while jerking rapidly back and forth like a videogame physics glitch.
*** Schierke is inside the mansion looking for Flora, and she and Isidro trip and collapse in a heap. Schierke is disraught, and her actress is doing a valiant job of trying to make her fear and crying convincing, but the contrast between the serious emotion and the complete lack of realism in the scenery makes it funny. Serpico is talking about how using his wind sword against the fire would only fan the flames, but there's just a bit of smoke in the background and the orange background light is just a pleasant, steady glow instead of flickering and threatening, so there is absolutely no sense that the building is actually on fire or that they're in real danger.
*** When Zodd transforms, the Skull Knight tries to ride past him, but Zodd [[GrievousHarmWithABody hurls the body]] of the henchman whose head he had just crushed for daring to question him, and the body flies through the air past Skull Knight in a completely unnatural and silly manner, while the Skull Knight's reaction includes severe interpolation between the key frames. Also just like in a crappy videogame, his cape jerks upward in a gravity-defying manner, as if it were stiff as a board.
*** Grunbeld striking his cannon makes the CLANG.
*** The Apostle who tries to break into the treasure chamber is so horribly cel-shaded and animated that the mere sight of him can make you stop taking this episode seriously.

** Practically everything in episode 21 goes wrong, including smoke and fire that look totally fake and fail to create the impression that the mansion is actually burning.

** Episode 21 is such a complete production trainwreck that it's hilarious to watch:

*** Schierke is inside the mansion looking for Flora, and she and Isidro trip and collapse in a heap. Schierke is disraught, and her actress is doing a valiant job of trying to make her fear and crying convincing, but the contrast between the serious emotion and the complete lack of realism in the scenery just makes it funny. Serpico is talking about how using his wind sword against the fire would only fan the flames, but there's just a bit of smoke in the background and the orange background light is just a pleasant, steady glow instead of flickering and threatening, so there is absolutely no sense that the building is actually on fire or that they're in real danger.

*** The Apostle who tries to break into the treasure chamber is so horribly cel-shaded and animated that the mere sight of him will make you stop taking this episode seriously.

** A major source of narm is the sound effects (CLANG!) for the Dragon Slayer striking enemies, which have been variously compared to knocking over a stack of pots and pans, hittings something hard with a frying pan, or beating a garbage can with a metal pipe. This has been mocked mercilessly in what seems like every review or reference to the series. The ringing metallic sound when he cuts Collette absolutely kills the drama of that moment by making the viewer laugh, since it sounds so completely unlike a squishy human body being chopped in half with a sword and makes the action seem more like a baseball slugger hitting the ball out of the park.

* BrokenBase: This anime has sparked all kinds of debates within the fanbase:

** The recast of the English dub with Creator/{{Crunchyroll}} deciding to use Creator/BangZoomEntertainment is this. A ''lot'' of fans are upset that the dub isn't done at Creator/NYAVPost where the original dub of the Berserk anime was done. More importantly, many fans are i''ncredibly pissed'' that even if it's done at Creator/BangZoomEntertainment, there is virtually no excuse for not letting Creator/MarcDiraison and Creator/CarrieKeranen to reprise their roles as Guts and Casca respectfully, noting that both the said voice actors are currently residing at Los Angeles[[note]]Some speculate it has more to do with the ExecutiveMeddling from the Japanese side of things[[/note]]. This was even [[https://twitter.com/SeanSchemmel/status/842905659192496128 acknowledged]] by Creator/SeanSchemmel, expressing disappointment for not being in the dub. Other fans don't mind the recasting and are just happy that a mediocre anime sequel got a dub anyways.

* LoveItOrHateIt: There's a lot of polarization over this anime, and the people who speak loudest tend to feel strongly one way or the other. The show has set off fan wars between the people who love it, calling the haters [[UnpleasableFanbase unpleasable]] snobs who don't appreciate that they're getting an adaptation that they think is good enough where it counts, and the haters, who claim the lovers have no standards and are willfully blind to how bad it is. There may be a substantial group in the middle who see both sides as exaggerating, but even if they do comment they're less willing to get involved in the {{Flame War}}s or influence people's recommendations.

** The [[MemeticMolester Rape Horse]] scene in episode 3 is even more ridiculous than in the manga or ''Anime/BerserkAndTheBandOfTheHawk'' because of the deranged low-quality 2D animation and how the camera lingers on the most lurid, creepy parts--especially the LecherousLicking. As if that weren't enough, the sound when Guts beheads him is the exact same CLANG from when he cut Collette in half!

* CriticalDissonance: While the majority of fans are in uproar over the series and have derided it as an unworthy adaptation of the manga, some critics published on major Western websites such as Cecilia D'Anastasio on Kotaku and Meghan Sullivan on IGN have given it praise. Even Jacob Hope Chapman of Anime News Network, who sharply criticized the visuals, gave episodes 1-3 a relatively generous grade of "B-". WebVideo/{{Arkada}} is also favorable. That said, WebVideo/{{Gigguk}} and WebVideo/{{Digibro}} both ripped it a new one on their respective shows, while Dodger skewered the CGI quality on WebVideo/PressHeartToContinue.

* BrokenBase:

* LoveItOrHateIt: There's not much middle ground when people discuss this anime. The show has set off fan wars between the people who love it, calling the haters [[UnpleasableFanbase unpleasable]] snobs who don't appreciate that they're getting an adaptation at all, and the haters, who claim the lovers have no standards and are willfully blind to how bad it is. Those in between see both sides as exaggerating and that they should stop wasting time fighting eachother, and as such avoid most discussions.

* SequelHook :
** At the end of season 1, the story is brought to a rushed close and a promo for season 2 (or Berserk 2017) is shown.

* LoveItOrHateIt: There's not much middle ground when people discuss this anime. The show has set off fan wars between the people who love it, calling the haters [[UnpleasableFanbase unpleasable]] snobs who don't appreciate that they're getting an adaptation at all, and the haters, who claim the lovers have no standards and are willfully blind to how bad it is. The little ground in between see both sides as exaggerating and that they should stop wasting time fighting eachother, and as such avoid most discussions.

** In episode 13, Guts' reminiscing about Griffith is accompanied by {{Sexophone}} music. Then, when he approaches Griffith, his brand suddenly squirts out blood that looks and sounds like ketchup. There's also the hot dog arms meme, and perhaps funniest of all the way Guts is thrown back a ludicrous distance at an equally ludicrous speed from being hit by a falling rock when he's trying to save Casca. It looks less like he was blown away and more like some powerful force ''yanked'' him backward!

** In episode 13, Guts' reminiscing about Griffith is accompanied by {{Sexophone}} music. Then, when he approaches Griffith, his brand suddenly squirts out blood that looks and sounds like ketchup. Throw in the hot dog arms meme, and altogether you'll have a hard time taking all this seriously.

** A major source of narm is the sound effects (CLANG!) for the Dragon Slayer striking enemies, which have been variously compared to knocking over a stack of pots and pans, hittings something hard with a frying pan, or beating a garbage can with a metal pipe. This has been mocked mercilessly in what seems like every review or reference to the series. The ringing metallic sound when he cuts Collette absolutely kills the drama of that moment by making the viewer laugh, since it sounds so completely unlike a squishy human body being chopped in half with a sword and makes the action seem more like Guts hitting a baseball out of the park.

** The rabbit that Guts kills with a throwing knife, which dies with such a stiff and silly animation and a completely deadpan expression.

** The recast of the English dub with Creator/{{Crunchyroll}} deciding to use Creator/BangZoomEntertainment is this. A ''lot'' of fans are upset that the dub isn't done at Creator/NYAVPost where the original dub of the Berserk anime was done. More importantly, many fans are i''ncredibly pissed'' that even if it's done at Creator/BangZoomEntertainment, there is virtually no excuse for not letting Creator/MarcDiraison and Creator/CarrieKeranen to reprise their roles as Guts and Casca respectfully, noting that both the said voice actors are currently residing at Los Angeles[[note]]This was even [[https://twitter.com/SeanSchemmel/status/842905659192496128 acknowledged]] by Creator/SeanSchemmel, expressing disappointment for not being in the dub. Some speculate it has more to do with the ExecutiveMeddling from the Japanese side of things[[/note]]. Other fans don't mind the recasting and are just happy that a mediocre anime sequel got a dub anyways.

** The recast of the English dub with Creator/{{Crunchyroll}} deciding to use Creator/BangZoomEntertainment is this. A ''lot'' of fans are upset that the dub isn't done at Creator/NYAVPost where the original dub of the Berserk anime was done. More importantly, many fans are i''ncredibly pissed'' that even if it's done at Creator/BangZoomEntertainment, there is virtually no excuse for not letting Creator/MarcDiraison and Creator/CarrieKeranen to reprise their roles as Guts and Casca respectfully, noting that both the said voice actors are currently residing at Los Angeles[[note]]Some speculate it has more to do with the ExecutiveMeddling from the Japanese side of things[[/note]]. Other fans don't mind the recasting and are just happy that a mediocre anime sequel got a dub anyways.