How can I convince my friend to watch/read Berserk?

[The Herald]

I like Naruto okay but only because of its popularity, which is silly because I don't like Bleach because of its popularity. Go figure. Well, I don't like the style of Bleach either. Sometimes for me the story doesn't matter if the style IMO looks bad or off. I like Berserk because it's one of the only manga out there that is historical fantasy but has nothing to do with Japan. About the only thing in it that's japanese at all are those stupid moves that that blue whale knight guy said and some silly things Puck does.

[Rolos]

I have watched both, and still say they are trashy
Bleach not as much.
I wasn't forcing it down anyones throat or anything but he got all touchy when I said I didn't like either.
He said something along the lines of "OMG WTF are you stupid? How could you not like Naruto? I thought you liked anime???"

Thats exactly what makes people hate Narutards. People come to associate the term "anime" and "manga" with kiddie shows like Naruto and Bleach, to the point of immediately disregarding any manga or anime they come across because of it.


Yeah, I know, both of them are pretty fun to watch if you get over the sheer stupidity of the whole thing.............. Ok, stupidity is probably not the word I am looking for. Innocence and Idealism are more accurate in conveying what I am trying to say. Yet if i say Idealism you immediately associate it with stuff that is not kiddie at all, like, I don't know, justice and whatnot.... what I mean is more like "the power of friendship and shit like that, though by no means I intend to say that I don't believe in friendship....*sigh* Ok, let me start all over again...stupidity is not the word........................

Thats what happens to a conversation when someone tries to explain why they don't like Naruto or Bleach. You shouldnt feel pissed off if in most conversations people are not willing to do that.
It's easier to just say: I think Naruto is a stupid piece of shit. Only if its worth it I will elaborate on to why
I think its so mind-shatteringly (and soul-crashingly) stupid.



PD: I have watched both Bleach and Naruto, and they are for kids. Specially stupid ones. Bleach not so much.

[Istvan]

So Rolos, are you saying that real ninja's don't wear, you know, orange?

[Ninjatsu]

Ok, I got a friend that I want to read Berserk. Problem is he doesn't watch anime or read manga. And hes just gotten a brand new gaming pc so he basically plays games all day.

Thing is I used his own tastes to get him to try starting(he hasn't yet, he said he would). Basically hes kind of Agnostic, and hates religions. Just told him about the religions and views in Berserk where its basically just Hell, no heaven, that the main character knows god personally and how he keeps destroying all faith the christians in this comic have.

He was pretty amped to start reading it, problem is he was drunk and stoned at the time....hes probably going to forget what i said

[The Herald]

like i've said before, you can't get someone to read berserk unless they're into gore or comics. i say sit him down and watch the first anime dvd with him. that's how i've gotten EVERYONE into berserk i know. that's one thing anime has on manga, it's more accessible.

[Rolos]

Not necesarily. Many people are into gore, but hate anime (mainly because of prejudices brought about by Naruto).
Hell, I know a whole bunch of them.

Thats why I keep telling you guys, food poisoning is the perfect answer. Works everytime.

[Istvan]

Thats why I keep telling you guys, food poisoning is the perfect answer. Works everytime.

...until you mess up, and one of them dies. Then you're out a friend. Not that this is necessarily a bad thing, but at the least you won't have a perfect success rate anymore.

Oh yeah. And word might get around about your cooking, at which point it'll be hard to get any more vic...er, recruits that way.

[eldur]

The best way to go into berserk when you don't often read comics is the anime.
It worked with my girlfriend.
A good trick to make it more interesting for novices: begin with chapter 2.

[Romdeau]

Fradener, just ragequit on your friend. Comparing Berserk to Gurren Laggan is an unforgivable sin (I absolutely hate that series BTW) and they are no way related. It just seems like he's not interested for one reason or another-some people have the amazing ability to talk themselves almost out of everything-purchases, going out, taking risks, etc.

For the people that are still looking for tips, several good ones (and hilarious ones) have already been mentioned, but here's my piece. Just mention it casually once in a while, when you two are discussing anime/manga for whatever reason. For the first time around, be sure to say something besides "Dude you should totally read/watch this series, it's good!" Tell him/her why it's good to get their interest piqued...saying something's good and leaving it at that is a sure fire way to get nobody interested.

[Fradener]

Fradener, just ragequit on your friend. Comparing Berserk to Gurren Laggan is an unforgivable sin (I absolutely hate that series BTW) and they are no way related. It just seems like he's not interested for one reason or another-some people have the amazing ability to talk themselves almost out of everything-purchases, going out, taking risks, etc.

For the people that are still looking for tips, several good ones (and hilarious ones) have already been mentioned, but here's my piece. Just mention it casually once in a while, when you two are discussing anime/manga for whatever reason. For the first time around, be sure to say something besides "Dude you should totally read/watch this series, it's good!" Tell him/her why it's good to get their interest piqued...saying something's good and leaving it at that is a sure fire way to get nobody interested.

No no, it was a friend of the friend that came up with that comparison.

Anyway update, I finally got him to start watching the show again by making a Trade ("I watch this, you watch that.")

He's watched the next two episodes (So he's up to 3.)

His reaction is.. that it's.. boring. Boring. *facepalm*

I guess on the good side, he doesn't have anything bad to say about it.

It's been so long I don't remember at what point I was hooked on the show myself. I only remember it holding my marathon record of me watching the last nine episodes in a day.

Maybe he'll be interested after Zodd shows up?

[Starnum]

See, that rarely works for me. I'll get through two whole animes that the other person suggested, before they even start my original recommendation. >.>

9 episodes in one day, that's your record? You can barely call that a marathon, lol. Whenever I watched Kenshin the first time, I freaking ate, slept, and shit that stuff. Seriously, I don't even know how many episodes I watched in a single day, at least a full season. My friend and I were on a tight schedule before we had to go back to school and stuff so we really crammed those episodes in there. I just remember two or three days that were nothing but a blur of Kenshin. Hah, it was awesome. Never have time to do that kind of thing anymore.

[The Herald]

Haha, that's no marathon. I'm the queen of marathons, having watched all of Escaflowne, Berserk, and then the entire 60 episodes of Avatar in one sitting. My newyears (or around there) thing to do is sit down and watch all 13 odd hours of Star Wars movies. In order, 1 through 6. They're very emotional if you watch em like that.

As for Berserk, I think I got hooked when I saw Casca lying naked with Guts. Ooh, thread idea ...

[Starnum]

Well, okay, you got me on episode count. We didn't watch the filler after the main two arcs of Kenshin, so that was only like 62 episodes. However, it was non-stop anime watching for at least 48 hours, so that's nothing to shake a stick at. Though now days I don't have as much free time as I did when I was a kid, what with the fam and all, so I'd say 13 episodes in a row would constitute a one day marathon. I can manage that from time-to-time. You got to watch at least half of an entire 26 episode show, right? Even after 13 episodes in a row, you can get more fatigued than you think. Heh, at least I can start to get a little burned out by then. Depends on how good the show is I guess.

[The Herald]

It would take almost 5 days without sleep to watch the entire DBZ in one sitting. Anyone up for it? Starnum I dares ya.

[Starnum]

Heh, I just watched all of DBZ again with the wife recently, remember? Not all in 5 days of course though, heh. Otherwise I might actually give it a try. Maybe in another year or two.

[papasith]

the worst i did was was watch Towards the terra in a single day, and a few or 24 to 26 episode long series. dont think i have watch much more then that in one sitting though :\

[The Herald]

I actually did watch all of Dragonball GT in one sitting. Things either get better in a marathon (Starwars) or worse (Berserk), and that one definitely got worse.

[Fradener]

There's a limit to how long I can sit still!

[Istvan]

The longest marathon session I ever did was watching the the entirety of Neon Genesis Evangelion in one sitting (to this day I'm convinced that marathoning the whole thing is the only appropriate way to watch Eva). I can't imagine staying up long enough to match your record, Herald.

[Born_Loser]

I try to get people into it. I like to... borrow... hbi2k's line "if there is any justice in the world, people will study Berserk the way we study Shakespeare today." I actually did get one person to watch it, they came back, "Meh, it was okay".
.....
I found a trick though. What you do, is you wait until they get bored with the naruto/bleach/inuyasha formulas. Really. I didn't even watch more than 2 episodes of Bleach. It's just "Inuyasha revisited", in my head. People do eventually get tired of that formula, person 1 exchange trash talk with person 2, person 1 does move on person 2 and person 2 evades it. Person 1 explains move A, person 2 does move B, explaining it. Usually, the older a person gets, the more tired of that formula the get.
So.... be watching for the signs that your friends are getting burned out on that formula, and then hit them with Berserk.

[War Machine]

I actually did watch all of Dragonball GT in one sitting. Things either get better in a marathon (Starwars) or worse (Berserk), and that one definitely got worse.

The Matrix collection are great movies when you see them together, you'd be surprised at how well interconnected they are. And before anyone says it, all three movies where finished before the first one started production, so no they didn't do the sequels as a quest for money.

Anyway, I tried watching Bleach from the beginning to the end of the Soul Society arc, but by the later half I was skimming through episodes cause I started getting really bored and tired of them, it happens to anything you try to watch in a marathon. No matter how interesting or funny something is, you gotta draw the line somewhere. Even Monster, an anime that I liked because it always ended in some awesome cliffhangers, wasn't enough to keep me sitting there watching non-stop from beginning to end.

[Born_Loser]

I find opening and closing theme songs get wore out when you watch them in marathon as well. I've seen people do that before, start watching a show, and about 20 episodes later be like "Why don't they ever change the theme song ??". I ran into that problem when i was watching my dad's Stargate collection. I grew to hate that opening theme.

[The Herald]

The problem with Berserk is that you always have to watch the godhand starter because sometimes new animation is thrown in between that and the next DVD frame. Other than that I always skip the opening and endings. The new DBZ DVDs have this marathon choice where you only see the start and ender once per DVD, every five eps or so.

[Istvan]

I'm with The Herald on this one, when I marathon something (and often even if I'm not marothoning it) I make it a point to watch the opening and ending themes once (and again when/if they change) and then just skip them. I can't imagine why you'd bother to watch the same opening and ending over and over again, especially in a marathon.

[Starnum]

I'm with The Herald on this one, when I marathon something (and often even if I'm not marothoning it) I make it a point to watch the opening and ending themes once (and again when/if they change) and then just skip them. I can't imagine why you'd bother to watch the same opening and ending over and over again, especially in a marathon.

Yep, that's what I do too. I usually only watch the opening at the beginning, or if it changes. Though sometimes we chat during the closing, if not I'll skip it and move on.