4/5 Great Movie
  by Michael L. Eates (mle)
Plot is great - artwork is solid - can't wait to see the rest!

4/5 Dark Fantasy
  by Antonio D. Paolucci (Beaver Falls, PA)
Berserk is one of those few anime fantasies that aren't meant to make us laugh. From the first moments to the last, it's as serious as possible. Dark imagery rules this series, with battles and blood and characters that are often angry and trying to prove themselves in some way or another. And the themes are even darker, dealing with vengeance and a hunger for death.

In volume one of Berserk, we are introduced, in the first episode, to the Black Swordsman, a massive man who carries a massive sword. Though we aren't with the Black Swordsman for long, we are introduced through him to the future of this anime series, and to the themes I mentioned before. From there, it gets into the core story of Guts (who becomes the Black Swordsman) growing into a man working as a professional killer. He's a silent, efficient warrior, who's only out for the bounty. But then he meets Griffith, the charismatic leader of the Band of the Hawk, a mercenary group as proficient at killing as a group as Guts is at killing alone. Guts is defeated by Griffith in battle, and is forced to join the Band. It's something that he's never had before, companionship, and he initially wants nothing to do with the Band. Over time, however, he's able to do something he's never been able to do before, and that's find friendship. Though he's still a loner in battle, he feels that his hastiness is more a way to keep his men alive than for actual personal gain. By the end of the volume, Guts leads his own unit of men in the Band of the Hawk, and all his men look up to him as the hero he's become.

The first volume begins with a story far in the future, and from there it's actually a series of flashbacks telling the difficult past of the Black Swordsman, and how he, as Guts, got to where he is now. The early parts of the story is relatively light, but the promise of that first episode is profound, because we already know that, no matter what, something bad is eventually going to happen. And that, to me, is what hurts this series. It seems that Guts's past is nothing compared to his future. Though the story itself is good, why didn't they begin the story a little further ahead, and have shorter flashbacks?

Despite that, though, the beginning of Berserk is still good and shouldn't be ignored. I'd recommend this to those of you who've read the manga, or for fans of a similar anime series, Record of Lodoss War and it's many sequels and prequels. The darkness of this series, the hopelessness that surrounds the main character Guts (later the Black Swordsman), is a different spin that can't be found often in fantasy anime.

3/5 Pretty good.
  by Patrick A. Kellner (Atlanta)
This is a review of the entire series. The series was pretty good. The animation was just ok. This story follows Gutz and the band of the hawk, a group of mercenaries that he is essentially forced into joining when he is beaten by Griffith. This follows the many battles they fight together assanations etc.

The good: The show is pretty violent with plenty of action and fights. Gutz is a cool character and he evolves throughout the series, becomes stronger a better fighter etc.

The Bad: It took me a few episodes to get into it. The animation is just so so. I wasn't too happy with one of the truths about Griffiths past. It gets quite strange at the end. The Anime show does not conclude the story. You can finish it in comic form but I never got around to it.

Although more negative was outlined the show is actually pretty good, (not great) but pretty good. Worth a watch.


4/5 From Guts to Glory
  by Robert evans (USA)
Berserk is not your average anime series.
It's a very dark and grity series. Thats why I love this series
so much. The story is amazing. I love all the characters cause they all have there own thoughts and abilities of understanding.
The character development is great! From watching the first five episodes I can tell this series is just gonna get more bloodier by the minute. This isn't a type of show to watch with your little ones.

I'm not gonna say what the story is about cause theres enough reviews to read from to know what it's about. I think Berserk has it's own unique original story that keeps it in hold. Well duuuu. Of course! After finishing the 5 episodes I knew I had to watch the rest! This series is very addictive.

These 5 episodes are fantastic! I can't wait to finish them so I can start reading the Manga.

Be sure to get this one. It's absolutely amazing!
I will be getting volume 2 of the anime soon.

Ps....The opening music theme is awesome.

Later

4/5 Good enough to want more
  by Sebastian Fernandez (Tampa, Florida United States)
This is my first real exposure to anime. The only other time I watched some of it was in Tarantino's "Kill Bill: Volume 1", but it is only in a few passages in the movie that anime is used. Since I enjoy epic fantasy, I thought a good way to start out in anime was in a series that used this genre. I found that I enjoyed the first five episodes of "Berserk", and even though at some points I found myself having trouble figuring out where the story was going, I was left looking forward to the next disc in the series.

In the first episode, the Black Swordsman arrives in a town looking for a monster that has the habitants under his grip, living in a world of fear and misery. The Black Swordsman carries along a huge sword that is bigger than him, he is branded in one of his shoulders and is visited in his dreams by demons that claim to own him. At this point there is no clear plot in the story, but in the next four episodes the story goes back to our hero's youth and the viewer finds out that his name is Guts and he honors this name to the extreme. Guts meets with the Band of the Hawk, which is lead by Griffith, an effeminate but very skillful warrior. After some initial quarrels Guts joins the band of mercenaries and an interesting relationship develops between him, Griffith and Caska, who was until that moment the right hand of Griffith and apparently is in love with him. In episodes two through five there are three main points of interest intertwined in the story: the relationship between Guts and the other Band of Hawk members; the missions in which the band embarks gaining fame and respect; and the glimpses at Guts childhood, which helps the audience to make sense of some of his actions and attitudes.

The series starts out a little slow, but through the episodes, it captures the viewers' attention and one starts to sympathize with the main character. I was left craving for more information about the characters' past and future and will definitely get the next installment.