5/5 Berserk
  by SveXo (Seattle, WA)
This is a very good anime. The animation is not top notch in any way, but the story is second to none. This anime gets its spirit from the Manga that it comes from, and if your into comics, I'd have to recommend picking a few of those up, they're damn good. But back to the anime; Like the manga, it is very mature in content and theme. Which is made incredibly evident on the last episode(I literally get pissed off very time I watch it). What kept me into this anime was the music, the story and the characters. All of which are top notch.

If your looking for an anime with a mature theme and interesting characters, this would be a great one to consider.

5/5 Flawed, but unparalleled
  by Karen (Brooklyn, NY)
Berserk is not a perfect anime. In fact, it has many problems. Nonetheless, no story has ever affected me as viscerally.

First the problems.
1. Visually, Berserk is not stunning. The animation is definitely sub-par; there were times when I felt like I was watching a slideshow with sound.

2. The first few episodes were dull and made Guts seem very one-dimensional. I wondered whether I should continue watching such a poorly animated series if there was no depth to the characters.

3. As the anime progressed, Guts became much more than a bloodthirsty swordsman. Griffith and Casca too were fleshed out into interesting characters with deep motives. Berserk is a story about Guts, Casca and Griffith: sometimes I felt as if the other members of the Band of the Hawk were just stock characters. This isn't a major critique, just an observation.

That's all for the bad parts. The plot becomes engrossing if you can stomach the first few episodes. The plot has its moments of intensity and darkness, but the overall intensity of the plot pales in comparison to its ending. I felt as if the brunt of the story was a vehicle for increasing the visceral potency of the ending. Some people hates that the series ended on the note that it did; I loved it.

It sent me on a dark fantasy bender. I began searching for something dark and bitter that could affect me as powerfully as Berserk's ending. There was nothing. The premise of Death Note seemed to fit the bill but, in the end, it was cheery and weak relative to Berserk. The only thing that evokes some of the same dark themes with similar is Clive Barker's dark fantasy. I suspect Miura was inspired by Hell Raiser's cenobites, at least with respect to designing the God Hand. If you're left with a gaping void after watching Berserk, and I guarantee that you will be, try exploring some of Barker's darker works.

5/5 Best anime ever
  by M. Brommelhoff
Ok, so maybe this product was a little expensive, but it is well worth it. I had a hacked version of this already ($0 dollars), but the BOX OF WAR video quality is so much better, I would definitely recommend buying this item.

4/5 Another epic ruined by North American voice actors
  by HeavyMetalThunder
OK, first of all, this's undoubtedly a great story. On the whole, the original manga is classified as fantasy genre. And I love the original one, too. Since this anime version doesn't go beyond the first season, you don't get to see the world of swords, magic and monsters except for the first, and a couple of episodes in the end. So it is more like a period drama of the protagonist's golden era of youth with his best friend and downfall. And it still works! Maybe even better for some people.

My problem is the translation! I don't only mean the sub but also English dub. Some of the translation is utterly wrong and sometimes flip the meaning to complete opposite! For example, see the correct translation first, "My dream can only be realized by stepping over the bones of the dead. After all, it is a dream of blood shed. I don't regret or feel guilty for this. But my dream is not cheap enough to realize without myself getting dirty while risking hundreds of thousands of others' lives." Now see the line for English dub, "I can't just step over the bones of the dead in order to realize it. My dream, my dream is already smeared by blood. I don't regret. I don't feel guilty. But I'd rather sacrifice myself than watching any more innocent children die in the name of my dream."...it ruins everything.

Another problem is North American voice actors! When will they ever learn to act professionally. All those overacting with too much grunt, absurdly clear pronunciation with exaggerated stress on each sylable that make intonation weird! Sickening. And you know what, the story takes place in feudal era much like Dark Age. King and princess and knight and aristocrats! Please, speak British accent! In live films, even North American born actors speak British accent in period stories! That's the real professional actors.

Some of you who read my review might say, "Why don't you watch in Japanese, then, if you have problem with English dub and you can understand Japanese?" I'll say, "Does it look like Samurai story? Is there any Japanes in the story? Didn't you ever feel weird to watch blondies with fair face speak Japanese to each other in stories that obviously take place in countries other than Japan? That's my problem."



5/5 Topnotch dark anime!
  by R. Landis (texas)
This is the kind of show that keeps me wanting to check out new anime! I can honestly say that I couldn't hardly stop watching the series until I went through all the disks! The cliff-hanger at the end of the series even got me reading english translated manga.

I must have more anime like this! Truly great stuff! Defiantly not for children though, this is for adults.