ProcrastiFusion

[Fusion X. Denver]

 

What this is: A blog where I list my impressions for certain anime that I watch. I'm not going to get too technical or objective when talking about these shows; it's more about giving a good idea on what I personally felt about it. Like if I were to do a TTGL post, it'd mostly be me gushing about how awesome and epic everything is and how I don't care about this and that flaw. Though I am welcome to people disagreeing or contesting things I say in the spirit of healthy debate, if anyone feels inclined.

 

Why that name: Truth be told, that logo was supposed to be for a different blog idea where I'd talk about assignments from school that I'm procrastinating on (the joke being they'd be insane workloads that no sane person would wait to start on). But the logo's cool and well-made (thanks Cauchemar) and it's true that I'm watching anime during times I should be preparing for real life and stuff.

 

Whited out text or spoiler tags will cover any spoilery details I bring up.

Updates have no set schedule, but I watch anime a lot so there shouldn't be too big of a gap between updates.

 

Hope you enjoy.

 

 

[spoiler=Berserk]

Berserk had been on my radar for years ever since I got into the anime/manga medium.  I’d seen its name thrown around the same time as other series were mentioned like Gantz, Hellsing, Claymore, etc.  So I figured it’d be an intense and graphic series whenever I did manage to get around to it. And my first exposure to it was during an AMV where Guts was chopping his arm off so I was preparing myself for a bloody experience.

I finally watched the anime recently and was surprised at first because it wasn’t too intense.  Well, not as intense as I was expecting it going in.  You see Guts and Griffith forming their friendship and help building the Band of the Hawk up together as well as the politics and cast of characters involved in their endeavors.  It wasn’t at all what I was expecting, but I enjoyed myself immensely regardless. It turned out that the anime was adapting the Golden Age, before things took a huge turn towards Berserk's well-known grim status quo. So you can think of the anime as a prequel before the main story starting this summer.

 

Guts seemed kind of boring at first, though you could certainly empathize with his backstory and hope to see him do well as time goes on.  But man does he grow on you, he turns into this badass complete with unrealistic huge sword swinging and blood showers heavy enough to fill ten swimming pools. It's cool to see him opening up and start thinking for himself rather than letting life do the thinking for him. I think his character development is aided in a big way thanks to the people he interacts with, particularly Griffith. 

Griffith’s a very charismatic and interesting individual to watch.  You’ve seen his type of character before, but not in this way. His air of mystery makes you intrigued as to what he’s thinking and his determination to succeed makes for many memorable interactions, especially towards the end of the series where things get shaken up. The relationship between him and Guts is one of the main compelling points of the series and one of the big reasons to watch Berserk.

 

Speaking of the ending, I won’t give anything away, but I am glad that Berserk is getting another anime this summer. I credit Glass Reflections for this analogy, but Berserk basically pulled a Gainax ending before they were known as Gainax endings. In light of the sequel anime, I am thrilled and anxious to see what happens next as opposed to frustration I would have had watching this without knowing that.

For advertising the manga, it does a brilliant job on that front.  I also think it’s worth watching for the action scenes and score that helped accentuate what was happening on screen.  I watched the subs version and the seiyuu did a very bang-up job, though I heard decent things about the dub too.

 

I gave Berserk 4.5/5 and I definitely deem it a series you should check out, but it’s not for the faint of heart. 

I haven’t read the manga yet, but I’ll probably get to it after the 2016 anime finishes airing. The main thing that bugs me about it is the author takes longer hiatuses to work on it than Hunter X Hunter does, which says a lot. But I believe it was recently announced to be continued soon, so there you go.

 

And in case anyone was wondering, the 3 Berserk movies released over the past couple of years adapt the same material as the anime does. I'll watch them at some point, I heard they're a little off-kilter with some things and the CG doesn't particularly suit Berserk, but the action sequences were stellar.