Berserk (2016) Episode 3 Review

I gave it a chance… and then THIS happened. 

Well… what can I say? This has been… quite the experience. I kind of forgot what happened around this point in the story and rumor has it that Miura himself wrote this episode. So putting that into consideration, the writing itself felt fine from a short-term perspective. But let’s talk about the animation, I really want to talk about animation.

I didn’t like it. I see what they’re going for, giving the nightmare material a lack of the sketchy shading and anime style. But let’s face it, the models are just bad. They look like they’re from a very low budget PS2 game that was trying too hard to be edgy. But oh god, it feels so jarring. Even if you ignored the terrible framerates that wrecked the action sequences, today’s episode just used too many different art styles within single scenes. It’s jarring, and the atmosphere collapses when there’s such lack of unity in the assets. It’s also odd when they do or don’t decide to use 2D. If it was for flashbacks only, that’s understandable and does a good job of triggering certain atmosphere. But the 2D style has been seen in a few scenes in ‘present time’ shattering any theory other than “creative choice”. It’s jarring, and the atmosphere collapses when there’s such lack of unity in the assets. At this point, I’m assuming it a “whatever was cheaper”driven creative choice.

I mean, I guess I’m sticking with this series because I just feel like genuinely hate-watching something now. I will rejoice if it gets better, but I certainly am not holding my breath.

For reference, the manga equivalent for the main image above.

Dough monsters scare me too.

Pictured below is a scary horse, in anime and manga versions. Please note they are scary for entirely different reasons.

For comparable 3DCG, please do click here.

Eh, well what do you guys think, am I too salty? Was it as bad as I think it is? Feel free to leave comments below, and thank you very much for reading~

To cleanse your eyes, check out my Kabaneri review. Finally, to worsen the sadness you’re feeling after seeing this episode, check out my Grave of the Fireflies review.