Berserk gets a new anime reboot produced by GEMBA, covering the Conviction arc this new series follows the direction of the Golden Age film trilogy by Studio 4C. In this anime follow-up to the film Guts is now the Black Swordsman and hunts down the apostle of the God Hand in a quest for revenge due to the experiences he suffered in the trilogy.

Berserk 2016 is a 2016 seinen anime reboot series of the manga of the same name, it is produced by GEMBA and licensed by Funimation. It is currently available on DVD and Blu-Ray in English.

Editor’s Note: A review copy of Berserk season one on Blu-Ray was provided by Funimation Entertainment.

The Black Swordsman finally arrives.

Taking place after the somewhat acclaimed Golden Age arc film trilogy, the 2016 Berserk series follows Guts on his quest for revenge against Griffith for his betrayal. Now dubbed “The Black Swordsman”, Guts works with the elf Puck to hunt down the God Hand and their apostles while tracking down his former comrade.

A beautiful (sometimes) disaster.

THE GOOD: At the very least most of the Berserk reboot is canon to the original source material. The studio change is worrying at first coming off a film trilogy already split in quality, but the new studio does it’s best to bring out the best in the series. Most of the story does follow the manga well enough and there’s some really killer episodes, the first episode in season one is an honorable mention.

A number of issues hold back the modern take on Berserk.

THE BAD: The art style can be a mix of gorgeous, intriguing, awful, and completely distracting. I’ve mentioned in the past how I’m not really a fan of blending 2D and 3D animation in anime, in fact only one production company comes to mind that’s seemingly perfected this blend. It just looks really awkward in most cases and Berserk is no exception from this. The non-canonical moments can also get pretty annoying, and episodes are a mixed bag of fantastic to awful.

A solid effort that fans will have a love-hate relationship with.

OVERALL THOUGHTS: Berserk is dark, twisted, enjoyable, and nauseating all at the same time. The more often than not awkward 2D/3D blend is an unnecessary distraction to an otherwise decently animated reboot. It’s great that it bothers to follow the source material mostly, but there’s odd ball in-anime moments packed in. The episodes also tend to have an uneven rate quality wise. Otaku Dome gives Berserk Season One Blu-Ray a 70 out of 100.