Podcast: Download (Duration: 2:12:14 — 60.6MB)
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2025 is off to a terrible start, not just in terms of current world events but because in this episode Daryl follows up on his previous review of the 1997 Berserk TV series with this review of the decades-anticipated Berserk sequel TV series from 2016. Oh boy.
Introduction (0:00 – 56:51)
It’s finally happened, after years of waiting! All of Macross (almost) is now streaming in the United States…with closed caption-y style subtitles because it’s Hulu and some edits to content because um…Disney? It’s still a major step forward. In addition, the one that isn’t streaming–Macross: Do You Remember Love?–is also now out on 4K UHD and finally with official English subtitles after decades of waiting…and it’s an AI upscale, like how they did Macross Zero. The Summer 2025 issue of Otaku USA Magazine is now out, and we’ve got reviews in there for some highly anticipated titles such as the They Were Eleven manga; no longer must you pay hundreds of dollars for used copies of Viz’s Four Shojo Stories! Discotek Media annnounced a new set of licenses, so we recap their anime announcements. This time around, they were focusing more on live-action and US animation than anime, but there’s still some solid Japanese animation picks worth considering. We then talk about what we’ve checked out in this current anime season that’s just started, as one has to do every few months lest you fall too out of touch. Contrary to popular belief, the AWO is watching current anime regularly. We’re just mostly writing about it rather than doing podcast episodes, because we like to wait for things to be completed before reviewing them just in case the quality of the show varies relative to how it started.
Review: Berserk 2016 (56:51 – 2:12:14)
Now that we reviewed the original 1997 television series, it’s only fitting that Daryl follow up and review the Duke Nukem Forever of anime: the 2016 sequel that is a hybrid of 3D CG with some traditional 2D digital animation. Perhaps comparing it to Duke Nukem Forever is unwarranted. After all, even Duke Nukem Forever at least had Dr. Proton. Let’s not think too hard about the fact that Duke Nukem Forever is now such a long time gone that it’s been out for pretty much as long as people were waiting for it to come out in the wake of Duke Nukem 3D. Anyway, this Berserk 2016 TV show remains a meme, and it’s been almost a decade. Daryl elected to show Gerald and Clarissa–who’d never actually seen it before–the retail Blu-Ray version (which he owns!), since that’s the “fixed” and “cleaned up” version rather than the broadcast version everybody else gets their animated GIFs and screen grabs from since that was a massively anticipated simulcast once upon a time. There is probably nothing about this we can say or insight we can provide that hasn’t extensively been said before by others who know Berserk in far more granular detail than we do.
I’m jealous that apparently Daryl actually got the They Were Eleven manga to review. I’d never heard of it before listening to your review of the anime many years ago, and i snapped up a pre-order as soon as i could, and now it looks like another delay to March. 🙁
Surprised that you guys didn’t mention Zenshuu as a show you are watching this season. Basically, it’s about an anime director that gets isekaied, and she gets the ability to bring to life something she animates on the spot. The animation she creates is much more old school and even makes references, such as the Tiger Mask one. Definitely worth checking out.
This is Gerald. It was mentioned but it was edited out as there was an overly long back and forth about whether it was an isekai or not, at the time neither of us had actually watched the show, I since have watched an episode and it most definitely is an isekai and kind of a letdown, so far.
I have actually watched all of Berserk 2016. I’m not a person who gets annoys with bad animation or rather I don’t think animation shouldn’t be 90% of an anime’s worth. I did read the part of the manga that anime covered (I did watch it week to week). I do understand why they skipped the Lost Children part.
I think the version of the anime that the Berserk fanbase wants is a pipe dream which is pure 2D with all of the detail from Miura’s artwork. I’m pretty sure that would require at least 2 Unlimited Budget Works or maybe even 3 to hire all the animators they are going to need for it. CG is probably the only realistic solution to a Berserk anime beyond the Golden Age.
Speaking of the Golden Age, it has been my own belief the original 1997 anime created this unrealistic view of Berserk. The Golden Age doesn’t involve much supernatural elements that the rest of the series has. Sure you have Zod and the Eclipse but beyond that, the supernatural aspect is nonexistent. Gerald is probably the only person who has admitted to prefer the Golden Age over the rest of the series. I suspect there is a good portion of the Berserk fanbase who only watch the anime and saw the 2016 series using the bad animation as an excuse to ignore the overall story.
Being on a boat meme should be transferred from Berserk to Hunter X Hunter since they been on a boat for years at this point.
I agree with Gerald. The world is so horrible that, aside from under very specific conditions, I require happy endings in my media, to maintain my emotional and mental health.