Berserk, one of the most classic anime that fans still recommend to watch, was slated for a Season 2 release in 2024 and 2025. The trailer for Berserk: The Black Swordsman dropped earlier this year making the fans anticipate the return of their favourite anime. The fans online have often complained about the non-adaption of the first arcs of the manga in the anime adaptation. However, this trailer promised covering such earlier arcs of the manga, though the 2016 anime adaption failed to do the same. But wait, here’s the catch. This return of Berserk wasn’t officially announced or released by the original studio that hosted the anime.
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Berserk: Bold attempts at adaptation
Berserk, both the manga and the anime has its own fan following and the fans were quite disappointed and heartbroken when the manga’s writer and illustrator – Kentaro Miura passed away in 2021. With the manga’s anime adaptation, eventhough many of them acclaimed it as one of the best animes to be made ever with highly dark theme and characters that are potentially not pure or white as many other protagonists claim to be, it was still far from the manga’s quality, arcs, plot, art and the legacy. The well-known and acclaimed Berserk (1997) can be considered one such exception to the manga adaptation, but the fans of the manga still have a bitterness towards it as it didn’t follow the initial arcs of the manga.
The follow-up adaptations of Berserk (2016) turned out to be dull and not living up to the legendary legacy, as the adaptation failed to live up to the grandeur, quality and the innate depth of characters that the manga brought into life. Berserk is touted to be one of the best manga’s for its influential quality and the impact it brings on its readers, but yet the adaptations fail to live up to the expectations of the OG fans.
The manga was first animated in 1997, after not including many arcs and storylines so as to fit the narrative and focus on necessary characters. And this 1997 version of Berserk is still considered to be one of the best dark fantasy anime to be made and has become a benchmark for such genre. Berserk was later on adapted into animated movies (2012) after a decade of its anime release. The trilogy titled as Berserk: The Golden Age Arc received quite a lukewarm experience as opposed to the expectations of the makers. Despite such response, Berserk (2016) anime was made, being a bold attempt after such a dull performance in the theatres.
Many fans were disappointed about Berserk (2016), not only because of the plot and the narrative style, but also about the animation and art style in the anime. It is quite understandable if the adaptations do not move in the same pace or cover the whole arcs and plot of the manga, which the 1997 Berserk adaptation failed to do so as well. 2016 Berserk was and is still one of the cursed anime in the history of the anime world, for its failure to adapt the important arcs of the manga and for its poor animation, tampering the legacy. And after such failure to meet up the legacy of one of the most beloved and revered manga, any further adaptation of Berserk was dismissed or more or less cancelled.
Though the producer of Castlevania anime – Adi Shankar expressed his interest in working on anything related to Berserk and adapting of the same, the manga rights owners are yet to approach him in an official position.
“Getting a shot at Berserk would be a dream come true.”
Any news on anime or film adaptations of Berserk in the following years were mostly from fans who were so interested in the manga, that they started to release fan-made trailers or adaptations which were not technically from official sources.
The fan-made project: Yay or Nay
With the new anime trailer for Berserk: The Black Swordsman out on the internet, fans and anime watchers were looking forward to another adaptation of Berserk, hoping that it lives up the magnum opus and grandeur hype the manga has created. Though the project promised the necessary completion and representation of the earlier arcs in a refined manner, it was not originally from the official studio which has the original copyrights or manga owner’s rights of work.
This was supposed to be a fanmade project by Studio Eclypse, which is also a YouTube channel run by anime fans and novice animators. Rumors has it that the studio was asking funds from the public and fellow anime fans for working on the project, so as to bring out Berserk to life. With many fans anticipating the news about Berserk return and old fans backing away from the fandom, many found the initiative by the Studio Eclypse to be relief for their expectant souls.
The fan- made project – Berserk: The Black Swordsman which was supposed to be released in 2025 was apparently shelved after the official announcement from Hakusensha, a leading publishing company in Japan. It explicitly denied and warned against such use of content and animation without the permission of the original copyrights holder – Studio Gaga and Kentaru Miura. The fans were quite shocked and disappointed to see such a helmed project face a drastic fall, though they were quite skeptical about the animation style that the new Berserk adaptation would bring in.
Berserk being one of the most renowned and well-known manga for its storytelling, narrative style and dark theme, is harder to adapt and it was way ahead of its time. Concepts and influence of Berserk is no joke as similar themed manga’s and dramas are often compared to Berserk for its consistent character arc, art style and the heavy themes depicted in it. Fans still expect a decent adaptation that lives up to the legend that Berserk is, though it’s been nearly 40 years old since its initial publication.
Source: AnimeNews
