The manga vs. the TV series

[psi29a]

Maybe you can 'borrow' the text for a little while and delete it within 24 hours. That way nobody would know, and it sounds legal-ish. Just giving it a test drive.

Still not legal, kind of like downloading NES roms and having to delete after 24 hours. Still very illegal. If I get a DMCA notice I'll forward it to Nazgul.

Last thing I want happen is this place to be shutdown because of IP infringement.

Khelegond: your posting of the picture is actually covered under the "Fair Use" clause. You only showed a part of the whole work and used it for educational purposes. You have cited the source by saying it came from DH.

[Fuji Nagase]

...i just voted..

[ZoddsNo1Fan]

After reading 3 pages of this thread i must say there are some cool views on this subject. Naturally, me being intruduced to the Berserk story via the anime is going to lean toward the anime. However, after reading a couple volumes of the manga, im stretch over which is...how do i put it...better is the only word i can come up with.

The first volume i ever watched was rented from blockbuster videos, volume 6 i believe, in which Nosferatu Zodd is intruduced to the anime. At first glance i was disapointed, the animation looked choppy and the colors faded. However, after i was done with the first volume, when i went to drop off the one i had, i went in and rented volume 7 and 8. Slowly but surley the picture really didnt matter anymore. There were excelent stills, true some choppy scenes, but the story was unfolding before my very eyes, and i just had to pop a dvd in, sit back and mow on my large little casers pizza while sippen on some sprite!!

Given this, after reading the manga, and watching the first series of Berserk anime, i conclude that you cant watch or read one without the other. The anime's excelnt voiceovers brings out each of the characters true nature and make the manga feel soo much more alive. You can depict Guts mentaly thinking of his darkness he has to endure, or know what Griffith would sound like in a battle.

To watch the anime and then read the manga bring out the story soo much more it seems. Given that there are many more volumes than the anime series, you know what Gut's and everyone elses voice sounded like in the anime and fuel it when you read futhur into this awsome story via the manga. The manga is absolutely amazing though, its illistrated so well that all you need do is read the scripts and the pages come to life on their own!

Anyway, in conclusion, you simply cannot deduce that one is better than the other!! You have to see both to get the full effect!!! woohoo!!!!!!!!!!

[Buzkashi]

Im not much of an anime person. Though I did watch the anime first. I have to say though, that I am shocked at the ammount of votes this thread has recieved. It is far larger than any previous threads that come to memory.

[Fuji Nagase]

ZoddsNo1Fan, i agree. i think that to really get the full effect of berserk, both are nessecary. there are things i didnt get with just the anime, or just the manga. (many of us i think have also talked about watching the anime first.)

wow, that is a lot of votes.

[DarkenRahlX]

Well, I loved the Berserk animation...and I think it's better for a person to watch the cartoon first before they read the comic because they come to appreciate the comic that much more. There are ALOT of things things in the comic that didn't make the transition to the anime....even though the anime did include 1 episode that wasn't shown as a chapter in the book, but the episode was weak. I mean the anime is missing a humongous apostle fight, a couple of major characters, shortened scenes. When a viewer of the anime finally reads the manga they come to appreciate everything in there. I still love both though and is one of the few animes/manga series I've watched in it's entirety. Berserk, Baki, and Bleach.

[ZoddsNo1Fan]

I totaly agree Darken. When you watch the anime, but then go and read the manga you notice there is soo much more detail to the story line in the manga, as with any other movie made from a book. Perhaps its the fact that they have limited time/money or that they can only make a movie soo long or short to fit a T.V. scheldule, as the Berserk anime originaly was intended.

They only had 15 minuites of show time to include all of the chapter/volume content, which in turn made a dramatic change in quality of the anime. Perhaps if Berserk was made into a long movie or series it would have resulted in more detail to the storyline.

I agree with the fact that there is soo much more detail and story because when you have a book as your story medium, you can make as much or as little as you want to put into your plot!!! Perhaps this is the reason why we have the saying "the book is almost always better than the movie"?

[psi29a]

I seem to remember that the episodes are around 25 minutes in length, and 25 episodes spanning 10 or so volumes. 25 minutes * 25 episodes == 625 minutes or 10.4 hours.

Each volume is 10 chapters long, meaning that we have 10 chapters times 10 volumes (length of anime) which equals 100 chapters to fit in a 25 episode.

100/25 = 4 chapters per episode and 1 hour of anime per volume.

That is basically 6.25 minutes of anime per chapter. 6.25 min * 4 25 minutes (the length of an average episode).

[Killfile]

Psi is bad at math, but he makes a good point.

Consider

25 Episodes at 25 Mins each = 625 Mins of anime
Broken down into 10 volumes = 62.5 Mins per volume, or a little over an hour
Broken down into 100 chapters = 6.25 Mins per chapter, or 6 mins and 15 seconds.

Since the DVDs get (about) 25 frames per second, that gives us
6.25 x 60 x 25 = 9375 frames of glorious anime per bloodsoaked chapter.

Now I'll admit, the dialog might seem a bit compacted, but it's definately possible to pack it all in there - and video has nuances that the printed page can never have -- tonal inflection, subtle body language, etc.

Just food for thought.

Of course, if you want to be a metrics Nazi (and I always get a kick out of it) the commercial DVDs pack 5 episodes per disk at 8.something gigs per disk -

8 / (5 episodes) / (4 chapters per episode) = 0.4 GB per chapter -- or 400 MB per chapter.

The manga weighs in at 4MB, 1/100th of the size, per chapter, as downloaded via our lovely bit torrent network.

[psi29a]

Thank you asshat killfile, anywho... ZoddsNo1Fan, thanks for the donation!

Everyone that donates can look forward to special status on the forums. Thanks man!

[Femto]

I don't know what the hell is going on this thread right now, but after buying Vol. 9 and re-reading it, well, my opinion on the manga has improved a lot. I still think the TV series is more emotional in parts, but the manga does a damn well job in others.

In the end, the TV series will always be criticized for cutting stuff out of the manga (the Guts/Caska scene at the end of Vol. 9 is the biggest loss IMO), but the stuff they didn't cut is handled very well, maybe even better than the manga.

Of course, a lot of it has to do with film being arguably a better medium than comics but still.

[Fuji Nagase]

i think it was the animator director of the tv series who used the old japanese quote " dont just put on lid on something if it smells bad." he actually had a lot more of the scenes he wasnt really supposed to have, with all the blood and gore he could put in for TV release. so it was already pushing it. of course, the manga has a load more of sex and gore, but again, its the medium.

[Starnum]

IMO, the most disappointing cuts from the manga to the anime were Skull Knight and the fight with Wylde. After that it would be the love scene with Casca and then Puck, I guess. I think you should watch the anime before reading the manga too, but maybe that's because that's how I did it.

[Fuji Nagase]

i watched the anime first. i didnt actually know that i was missing anything until i started reading the comics. of course now it all makes sense. (more or less) the ending to the anime was really hard to take 1st hand. knowing that there isnt a 2nd season, and not knowing about the manga, i was freaking out like crazy.

i agree about the scenes. i too would have liked to see skull knights (although it wouldnt have made much sense for him to be there, still..) , and more caska. her more subtle actions like when she grabbed his cape and the little flirty things with guts made it better when reading for me. guts and caska's relationship wasnt really done well in the anime. oh yeah, and puck. i dont know if i would want him to be there in the opening scene. it might have made me judge berserk too fast. puck being the little side kick and all. you kind of grow to like him maybe. ove time..maybe...

[Starnum]

Puck is cool, that's all there is to it. I would have freaked after seeing the ending to the anime, but my best friend, who showed it to me, immediately told me there was more in the manga after that, knowing I was on the verge of snapping.

[Fuji Nagase]

yeah, i snapped. for about 2 weeks strait, i was in a constant struggle to regain sanity.(':holycrap:') everything reminded me of how fucked up the ending was, not to mention understanding NOTHING about it. i dont know if i ever really recovered.

im starting to think that berserk had quite an affect on me.

[psi29a]

yeah, i snapped. for about 2 weeks strait, i was in a constant struggle to regain sanity.(':holycrap:') everything reminded me of how fucked up the ending was, not to mention understanding NOTHING about it. i dont know if i ever really recovered.

im starting to think that berserk had quite an affect on me.

I think it did, you are here after all.

[Fuji Nagase]

of course, gladly

[ZoddsNo1Fan]

yeah, i snapped. for about 2 weeks strait, i was in a constant struggle to regain sanity.(':holycrap:') everything reminded me of how fucked up the ending was, not to mention understanding NOTHING about it. i dont know if i ever really recovered.

im starting to think that berserk had quite an affect on me.

Yea whats withs that BS....i mean, the anime ends with caska taking it from Griffeth, Gutts gorging his eye out in his insane rant fest, and just then, when its getting good, the scene cuts and you see Guts walking out of Goto's shop....the picture fades...and thats it? I couldnt believe it.

The only thing i could really do was watch the entire anime series 5 more times, which didnt satisfy. So i desperatly searched forums, trying to find out if theres another series or what the deal was...they cant end on that BS!!!! I kept watching Berserk now and then. A couple years down the road and here i am, the manga english versions are out(didnt want to put up with translation threads) and im still wanting more than ever.

Its been 2 days since ive downloaded the manga, ive read from volume 12 to volume 22 and cant wait to see where the story goes from here!! Ive got 8 more chapter to see how guts gets his berserk armor, and see whats up with griffeth and what happens to midland!!

+Anyone hear any rumors about a second series to the Berserk anime per chance??

[TheDrizzit]

About the episode length thingy a bit back. Why make just 25 minute episodes? Why can't we have more of an OVA length? Hell if I were any good at drawing animation...hell if I even knew how to I would probably make Berserk movies which encompass each volume... probably. ^_^

I'm sure some anime company would like the idea if it were presented. besides, roughly 30 minute episodes suck...they get all good then they end and then the next episode has a crappy recap which takes away from the previous episode a lot.

[Femto]

Why make just 25 minute episodes?

Because it's a TV series and they need time for commercials?

[ZoddsNo1Fan]

Why make just 25 minute episodes?

Because it's a TV series and they need time for commercials?

I concur!!!!@#The berserk import anime was originally aired on late night japanese channels. It was later put into a series format, in which became an english dub/import so that we could watch! I have one other thing that just came to mind.....if we hadnt watched the anime....would we even know or care about a berserk manga? who here read the manga before the anime?? If this is true than we owe the anime some credit for introducing many of us to the series....

[Libaax]

Heh i am the flaw in your thinking cause i have never watched berserk anime and still find the manga.

I found berserk in Gotwoot which had a big thread for berserk manga and people talked about how brutal and dark it was which "gut" my attention cause i was sick of reading and wathing shonens i need something less kiddy.

I loved Berserk in the first page when he blows up the female apostle with his cannon

In those days before EG Berserk wasnt so big as it is now in manga downloading world but now its very big cause of EG is a big group.

I cant remember the number of peopel who asked how good berserk is in irc and other forums. So there is a way to Berserk without seeing the anime.

[LordMune]

It was later put into a series format,

What? It was a series to begin with.

[ZoddsNo1Fan]

It was later put into a series format,

What? It was a series to begin with.

Meant to say video series(box set)/collection, my bad.