Line #9 YMMV/Berserk2016


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2	* BrokenBase: This anime has sparked all kinds of debates within the fanbase.
3	** The decision to use CGI for the majority of the animation, and essentially skipping over the Lost Children chapter.
4	** Really, the fanbase is split on what to think of the show after the release of the first episode. Is it an acceptable PragmaticAdaptation of the first few volumes of the manga, or a poorly-plotted mess that rushes far too much of the story to be appreciated, and with horrible and stiff CG animation?
5	** Is the new [[ArsonMurderAndJaywalking Dragonslayer sound effect]] cool, or does it sound inappropriately like a frying pan? To some it literally sounds like the it came directly from Apple Garageband (one of the electric guitar auto-pilot).
6	** Naturally for a show that split the fandom in half, is the confirmation of a second season a reason to cheer, groan, or not care at all?
7	** The recast of the English dub with Website/{{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 ''incredibly 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.
8	* CompleteMonster:
9	** [[Characters/BerserkGriffithFemto Griffith]], the Hawk of {{Light\|Is Not Good}}, was once the [[AmbitionIsEvil ambitious]] leader of the mercenary [[Characters/BerserkBandOfTheHawk Band of the Hawk]], obsessed with gaining a kingdom, and was [[Characters/BerserkGuts Guts]]'s best friend. Griffith sacrificed the whole Band of the Hawk to the demonic Godhand to join their ranks, with the only survivors being Guts and his lover [[Characters/BerserkCasca Casca]], whom Griffith has [[RapeIsASpecialKindOfEvil raped]] to the point of insanity. Griffith and the rest of the Godhand manipulate a long-suffering man into becoming their servant and sacrificing the entire city of St. Albion so Griffith can be reborn on a material plane and usher in the Age of Darkness. The newly revived Griffith presents himself as a messiah to the invaded kingdom of Midland, gathering an army of humans and demonic Apostles to lead them to war against the Kushan Empire while sending his Apostle minions to kill the kindly witch Flora. When Griffith confronts Guts at the resting place of their fallen comrades, Griffith makes it clear that they mean nothing to him.
10	** [[FauxAffablyEvil Slan]] is the only female member of the [[Characters/BerserkGodhandAndApostles Godhand]] and specialises in [[SexIsViolence carnal evil]]. While working with the rest of the Godhand to reincarnate Griffith, she creates a twisted orgy cult that promotes rape and mass cannibalism. Slan corrupts a forest into Qliphoth, a dark and depraved place from which monsters who slaughter villages and take women as {{sex slave}}s are created. [[InLoveWithYourCarnage Intrigued by Guts and his potential for violence]], Slan manifests in front of him before molesting him and attempting to make him give in to his worst impulses.
11	* CriticalDissonance: While a large number 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-". (Most of the praise, mind you, was directed at the original story and writing quality.) WebVideo/{{Arkada}} is also favorable. That said, WebVideo/{{Gigguk}}, WebVideo/SuperEyepatchWolf and WebVideo/BeatriceTheGoldenWitch all ripped it a new one on their respective shows, while Dodger skewered the CGI quality on WebVideo/PressHeartToContinue.
12	* FightSceneFailure: Between the drunkenly flailing camera, baffling sound effects, and generally strange editing choices, there's very few fight scenes in the show that could be called good, and quite a few that make no sense. The fight between Guts and Zodd is particularly absurd--{{Flynning}} is quite reasonable most of the time, but not when both fighters are wielding swords the size of surfboards and every single clash is punctuated by the infamous '''CLANG'''.
13	* ItsTheSameNowItSucks: From about episode four onwards, the show stuck painfully close to what was presented in the manga, and the exact sequence of shots was copied panel-by-panel from the pages of the manga. Many panel sequences that worked well as manga pages did not work well when translated directly into 3D anime, and despite the shots corresponding with the manga images, there was a large amount of unnecessary camera movement in between. On the whole, many fans felt like they were watching an inferior imitation of the manga instead of something new and interesting, and since the hurried conclusion of the second season introduced some new plot holes by skipping the rescue of Princess Charlotte and failing to introduce the Moonlight Boy or Emperor Ganishka, it did not even succeed as a literal adaptation of the story.
14	* MemeticMutation: [[https://i.redd.it/zlganyqrf70z.gif This gif]] has become quite popular among detractors of the show as a perfect example of how cheap and shoddy the animation can look at times. Many people who have not seen the show genuinely wondered if it was a fanmade animation for just how bad it looked. Also, people have pointed out that it looks like Guts's abs are where his pecs are supposed to be.
15	* {{Narm}}: [[Narm/Berserk2016 Has its own page]].
16	* TheScrappy: Nina was already a hated character with a portion of the manga fans because of her whining, DirtyCoward, and ThisLoserIsYou traits, and this anime isn't likely to change their minds. In particular, she was given what seemed like a disproportionately higher amount of screen time in ''Anime/Berserk2016'' compared to more central and popular characters such as Guts, and even some of those who felt her subplot was an important aspect of the manga think that she got more annoying from overexposure or took up space that could have been reserved for more important characters and events.
17	* SeasonalRot: The second season got hit pretty hard by budget cuts and TroubledProduction, and the result shows, with the animation and visual quality frequently dropping from "bad" to "comical" and swathes of important plot points being skipped entirely.
18	* SoOkayItsAverage: Naturally, those in between see the show as this. While acknowledging that the show has some good ideas behind it, the lackluster production values, along with questionable direction at times, doesn't make it worth recommending.
19	* SpecialEffectFailure:
20	** Many fans have reported being yanked out of the action by noticing low quality models and animation, and details like all the possessed cultists in episode seven having the [[YouALLLookFamiliar exact same character model]].
21	** The fluid effects for the all-devouring blobs suffer from some heavy technical limitations, which rather undercuts their impact.
22	** 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.
23	*** There are a couple of instances of the animation consisting of the character appearing to slide (e.g. Guts as the group is returning to the mansion) or moving up and down in a static pose as if the animation cel/3D model was just jerked up and down (Puck in the mansion when Isidro talks to a crying Schierke - bonus negative points for Puck starting to move up and down before the action explaining the movement (Puck standing on Isidro's shoulder as Isidro starts gesturing and talking to Schierke) begins).
24	** While Guts' fight against Grunbeld is quite enjoyable even with its slight framerate/animation issues, Grunbeld proclaiming that his shield has been shattered while the shield looks undamaged (with the damage only being indicated by a glass-breaking sound effect) could have been handled better.
25	* TaintedByThePreview:
26	** The December 2015 preview for the 2016 TV Anime set low expectations for some fans by revealing it to be an AllCGICartoon in the vein of ''Manga/{{Ajin}}'' and ''Manga/KnightsOfSidonia'', with a low frame rate and poor textures. The bland rock music, jerky walk animation, and "rubber" Dragon Slayer received some mockery, and at that time there were already fans swearing off watching the upcoming anime. In contrast, more people have become cautiously optimistic upon seeing that the second preview was more polished, featured voice acting, had the new Susumu Hirasawa song ''Ash'', displayed a nice 2-D shot of Puck, and seemed to indicate that the CGI might not look as terrible as previously feared.
27	** Expectations for the 2016 anime are back down again with the release of the names of the first five episodes, which seem to indicate that the Lost Children and Guardians of Desire episodes will be skipped or compressed into one or two episodes, and then the narrative will jump right into Chapter of the Binding Chain, with Birth Ceremony underway by episode five. Even some fans who were hyped from the release of the June trailer are groaning that maybe ThisIsGonnaSuck after all.
28	* TheyChangedItNowItSucks:
29	** A lot of fans were not happy with Casca seemingly being changed from AmbiguouslyBrown to what looks like a pale-skinned redhead. However, this turned out to be largely an artifact of the visual effects used for the flashbacks, and it turns out that in the present she's about the same color as she was in the ''Golden Age'' trilogy.
30	** The show was ridiculed as a particularly ugly-looking example of an AllCGICartoon, making the much-maligned CG in the ''Golden Age'' movies look good just by comparison, so it was seen as a step down from the visual styles of the previous adaptations and unable to hold a candle to the quality of the manga's artwork. It also skipped most of the Black Swordsman Arc and cut out the Chapter of Lost Children, the latter of which fans were especially hoping to see animated, and was full of {{Narm}} moments caused by poor models and sound effects as well as camera movements that were completely bizarre. In the show's somewhat hurried conclusion, it also skipped the rescue of Princess Charlotte and the introduction of the Moonlight Boy, thus adding plot holes and practically ensuring that this part of the story will have to be re-adapted in the future.
31	** The English dub's voice cast, which, unlike the movie trilogy, didn't bother to get the original anime TV series cast back.
32	* UnintentionalUncannyValley:
33	** The jerky movements and the odd-looking expressions on the characters' faces play no small part in the general contempt for the show's 3D computer animation. For example, there's a shot in episode five where Farnese's 3D model is staring straight ahead without blinking even once, while the 2D woman in the same shot blinks several times. It's common to hear people say, without any irony, that the [=PlayStation=] 2 game ''VideoGame/BerserkMillenniumFalconHenSeimaSenkiNoSho'' had more appealing 3D models, animation, and cinematography than the show.
34	** The 2D animation, while considered one of the show's less offensive elements, isn't all that better than the CGI. The animation is stiff, the character designs resemble those of generic 2010s fantasy anime more than Miura's art, and it’s often poorly composited into otherwise 3D scenes. Furthermore, the same hatching line texture that's applied to the 3D imagery is also applied to the 2D animation. Not only is this effect as ugly and obtrusive on the 2D as it is on the 3D, but its artificial appearance detracts from the hand-crafted nature of the drawings.

Context YMMV / Berserk2016