Kentaro Miura's masterpiece manga series, greatest stories told in the medium. Excruciatingly dark at times, but also serving up incredibly hopeful themes of perseverance and recovery, Berserk has long been one of the most successful franchises in the industry, with masterfully written characters and some of the greatest artwork ever produced helping elevate the series to legendary status. Though its creator ed away in May 2021, Berserk continues under the supervision of Miura's longtime friend and artist, Kouji Mori.

When a manga series reaches even a fraction of Berserk's popularity, it is near guaranteed to receive an anime adaptation, and many times the anime will then boost its source material's popularity in return. It's incredibly rare that a manga series reaches the level of success Berserk has enjoyed for decades without a top-notch adaptation. And yet, over the 35 years and counting the series has been active, it has yet to be adapted into an all-time great anime. In fact, the series boasts one of the most hated ever.

Berserk's History of Anime Adaptations Is Rocky at Best

One of the Greatest Manga Series Ever Has Failed to Spawn a Great Adaptation

Berserk, though one of the highest-selling manga franchises ever, wasn't always incredibly popular. It wasn't until the series reached far into the Golden Age arc that readership boomed, and, in turn, its first anime adaptation began production. One of the first TV anime series produced by OLM, which is still active today and thriving with shows like Odd Taxi and The Apothecary Diaries, 1997's Berserk adapted the majority of the Golden Age arc, while making minimal changes to the source material in order to ensure the series could stand on its own.

What resulted was arguably Berserk's best adaptation to date. Despite some stilted animation throughout, the series' visual aesthetic and otherworldly soundtrack, along with its faithful depiction of the source material's characters and events, led to an anime series that is still enjoyed by countless fans today. Unfortunately, however, the anime had caught up to Kentaro Miura's manga by the time it reached its finale, and ended on one of the most shocking cliffhangers in anime history.

While 'Berserk '97', as fans have come to call it, is still a worthwhile watch despite its flaws, the same cannot be said of subsequent adaptations. A trio of films released in 2012 and 2013, produced by Studio 4C, also tried its hand at adapting the Golden Age arc, and though the movies weren't necessarily bad, they weren't very good either. A relatively dull visual style and the underwhelming implementation of CGI effectively took away from both the manga's and the '97 anime's greatest strengths.

However, the films were a bit more faithful to the source material than 1997's Berserk, and offered viewers just a short peek at what happened beyond the original anime's conclusion. For fans of the series, the Golden Age films might be worthwhile to give a try, though anime fans looking to introduce themselves to the series would likely be better off watching Berserk '97. Unfortunately, neither adaptation traveled beyond the manga's most popular arc, and the one that finally came along and did was tragic.

Berserk Deserves a Better Anime Than Its 2016 Adaptation

2016's Berserk Is Not ed Fondly by Fans of the Series

When someone claims that Berserk is home to some of the greatest artwork in manga, they aren't exaggerating, and that can be problematic when adapting the series into the medium of animation. 1997's Berserk likely made compromises by keeping its animation stiff, allowing the series' artwork to shine. The trilogy of films that came later attempted to have the best of both worlds, featuring hand-drawn sequences during slower moments and CGI during the action. The third anime adaptation, 2016's Berserk, used a strange 2D CGI hybrid for nearly the entirety of the show.

What resulted remains one of the most controversial anime adaptations in history, and one that longtime fans of the series have done their best to forget. Clunky movement and character models that lacked detail led to entire scenes that were shocking to the eye, while questionable audio direction assaulted viewers' ears with comically loud and distracting sound effects each time Guts swung his sword. In the years since 2016's Berserk, the series has become little more than a meme within the anime community.

It's a shame Berserk's latest adaptation failed, being the only anime to cover the series' later arcs. Following the Golden Age, Kentaro Miura's already incredibly impressive artwork only improved, and that was likely the reason for the anime's struggles. As visual quality rises, so too does the difficulty that comes with adapting a series, and another recent, controversial show proves that.

Another Failed Series Showcases Why a Full Berserk Adaptation Might Not Work

2024's Uzumaki Proves That High-Quality Artwork Is Difficult to Adapt

Like Kentaro Miura, Junji Ito is a manga creator whose artwork is undeniably impressive, and in 2019, it was announced that his magnum opus, Uzumaki, would be faithfully adapted in a style that would capture the original manga's essence. The series finally premiered in September 2024, and was largely unfinished. Following a masterful first episode, the remainder of the miniseries was a bit of a mess, and its executive producer took to social media to let fans know that production issues stemming from a lack of time and resources sunk the project.

Faithfully reproducing such high-quality visuals likely costs more time and money than investors are willing to give, and following the disastrous response to 2016's Berserk, studios might be hesitant to pick up the series going forward. It's uncertain if Berserk will ever receive the adaptation it deserves, and history as recent as only a few months ago suggests fans may be waiting quite some time before seeing the manga's later arcs properly brought to screens. However, a good Berserk anime has been made before, and if a brave studio is awarded the proper resources, it can be done again.