Summary
It is no secret that theBerserkfranchise is one of the most successful fantasy anime and manga series of all time. Its popularity doesn’t die down, even when there is nothing new being produced, and Guts remains an iconic character in the fantasy world. Thesuccess of Grimdarkas a genre helps keep it relevant and keeps fans interested in its world.
However, the most recent anime series ofBerserkleft many fans of the manga wanting. It did not capture the nature of the manga as well as the original anime had, and left some fans disappointed that it was all they got after years of waiting.Leave it to hardcore fansto take things into their own hands, though, which is exactly what a group ofBerserkfans have done. They are working on their own original, fan-made project calledBERSERK: The Black Swordsman.
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Berserkwas first published as a manga in 1998, with the whole series running through 2021 until thedeath of the original writer, Kentaro Miura. A new writer, Kouji Mori, picked up the mantle in 2022 and is currently writing more material even now.Berserk’s first anime series aired from 1997 to 1998, and was also adapted into 3 films in 2012 and 2013. Then, a new 24-episode anime series was released in 2016, finishing in 2017.
This second series is the one thatleft some fans wanting more. Both its writing and its animation style were criticized when it was released, and both of these are what this new fan project is hoping to fix. The 2016 series ofBerserkused a 3D animation style that was not well received, especially compared to the 2D style of the original series and manga that they were looking for.
Rather than redo the two arcs covered by the 2016 series, the Conviction arc and the Falcon of the Millennium Empire Arc, the fan-made series will focus on only the Black Swordsman arc. This arc was only touched on at the beginning of the original series before itshifted into the Golden Age arc. The people behind this new project have revealed they will not include the Golden Age arc at all, though, and will be focused on giving the Black Swordsman arc the attention that it deserves.
BERSERK: The Black Swordsmanhas already released a trailer, which premiered on YouTube about a month ago. It is being made by an independent studio called studio ECLYPSE, and had almost 1 million views at the time of publishing this article. While studio ECLYPSE is hoping to improve upon the disappointments of the last officialBerserkseries, they are being very clear that this project is fan-made, and asking fans to continue tosupport the officialBerserkreleasesas well.
studio ECLYPSE has revealed a few key things about the upcoming series which makes it clear that they are giving the fans exactly what they want.BERSERK: The Black Swordsmanwill be done in the 2D animation style, and will not have any censorship or toned-down scenes. The manga and original anime are infamous for theirbrutality and dark subject material, which the 2016 series did not dive deeply into. It will also feature both English and Japanese vocals, as well as an original score.
The project is extremely ambitious, especially if studio ECLYPSE intends to animate the entirety of the Black Swordsman arc. It seems more likely that they will just make a small part of it, especially due to a poll on their X (formerlyTwitter) account asking what their next project would be, and declaring that the winner would have a “short anime adaption.“Berserkwas the winner of that poll at the time, with their last project being a fan adaptation ofAttack on Titan.
