EpisodeSummary: Muhyo, a diminutive child-like individual, and Roji, his put-upon assistant, work in supernatural law. Muhyo is a famous executor who punishes spirits for encroaching on the lives of human beings, his looks and foul temperament belying a savvy expertise. Roji is an apprentice hoping to learn the trade from the very best. One afternoon a young student named Rie approaches the professionals to seek help. There’s a ghost haunting one of the platforms at the local train station, and Rie believes herself to be responsible for its existence. She was very close with her friend Taeko since they were both outsiders at school. When Rie joined the volleyball team she began to disconnect from Taeko, and their last meeting ended when Taeko fell backwards onto the tracks and was killed. Now her ghost is unable to let go of the human world and has been grabbing other passengers by the ankles, searching for Rie. Muhyo agrees to take the case. After nightfall, the three travel to the train platform and wait out the ghost, which doesn’t take very long. As suspected, the creature is an amalgamation of many ghostly grudges with Taeko’s death being the catalyzing factor that’s drawn them together. Muhyo calls upon Hades himself to capture the monster and draw it to Hell. It’s only Rie’s insistence on holding Taeko’s hand that allows Taeko passage into a kinder afterlife. With Taeko now at peace, Rie can live her life normally again.
Beautiful high school girl Satō Matsuzaka believes she has finally found the meaning of love when she begins living with a younger girl. Previously, Satō never refused the advances of any guy around her, but that changes when she meets the girl Shio. The background and age of the mysterious girl are unclear. When Satō is with Shio, she experiences a very sweet feeling, which she understands as love. In order to protect that feeling, Satō is willing to do anything, even if it means committing murder. – ANN
Episode 1 Summary: Satou used to sleep around with various guys, but ever since discovering true love, she’s left the revolving door of men behind her. The object of Satou’s affection is Shio, a young girl of indeterminate age who lives with her. Now that the two are on their own, Satou is the primary breadwinner, so she quits her lower-paying maid cafe job to become a waitress at an upscale restaurant. As an attractive young lady, Satou draws the attention of one of her male coworkers, but as with all other potential male suitors as of late, she rebuffs his advances. Afterwards, she sees him entering the female manager’s office. Suddenly the manager starts giving Satou significantly more work than the other employees, ostensibly in order to make up for having declined her coworker’s advances and causing discord in the restaurant. The long days keep Satou from seeing Shio, and she begins to experience some intense negative feelings towards the manager for keeping her away from her love. Payday is the final straw – Satou doesn’t receive any pay related to the overtime she’s been forced to work. But Satou knows the manager’s dark secret and threatens to blackmail her. Satou has some secrets herself, though; her “happy sugar life” as she describes it may not entirely be based in reality, and the blood-covered garbage bags in her back room may have their own tale to tell.
Most girls waking up without any memory and meeting a serial killer would panic, but not Ray. In fact, far from being her biggest problem, killer Zack might just prove a convenient resource when it comes to finding a way out of the building in which they’re both trapped. – ANN
Episode 1 Summary: Rachel Gardner wakes up in an unfamiliar hospital room. She vaguely recalls meeting with a psychiatrist to help her talk through her trauma of witnessing a murder, but beyond that she has no idea where she is or why. Things about her surroundings feel unreal and there are strange cryptic words written on the walls. All Rachel wants is to leave the hospital and return to her parents, but it quickly becomes obvious that she’s in some way trapped in this scenario against her will. She takes an elevator to what appears to be a city street, and is quickly face-to-face with a terrifying man with a scythe. It’s all she can do to hide from him and keep quiet until he loses her trail. The problem is that he’s great at sniffing out victims, and comes for her just as she’s escaping back into the elevator. Rachel takes it to the next floor up and there she encounters Danny, the psychiatrist she was seeing prior to this ordeal. He makes a show of looking out for their shared interest, but quickly reveals that he has designs on Rachel’s eyes. He has a false eye, you see, and wants a replacement, and hers remind him of his dead mother’s eyes. Though she makes multiple escape attempts, Danny outsmarts her and she loses her will to keep fighting. Rachel is saved by an unlikely source – the scythe-wielding killer from the previous floor stabs Danny to death and is about to finish Rachel off, when an announcement comes over a loudspeaker. Mr. scythe broke the rules by killing another denizen of the building, and now he and Rachel have the same goal – to escape without losing their lives in the process.
Review: This review contains some spoilers for episodes 1-4 of the Netflix Castlevania series.
Content Warnings: These episodes contain depictions of extreme graphic violence against human beings. The story also partly involves corruption within the Catholic Church.
The video rental shop from which I used to rent NES games as a kid had quite the eclectic mix of cartridges from which to choose. Along with the typical things like Super Mario Brothers and The Legend of Zelda, they also had less memorable titles like the deplorable Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde stinker, Legendary Wings, and Milon’s Secret Castle (an exercise in frustration, to say the least). They didn’t carry all the entries in the Castlevania series, but they did have the third title, Castlevania III: Dracula’s Curse, for rent. My first experiences with the franchise were based around that game; I would call it a formative experience in my gaming fandom.
Castlevania III combined the standard whip-based monster hunting from the first game with unique features like branching level pathways; completing certain stages gave you a choice of multiple paths to take forward. The protagonist Trevor Belmont also had the ability to partner with one of three secondary characters, each with their own strengths and abilities of which the player could take advantage. I spent a lot of my parents’ money renting that game, until I eventually acquired a copy of my own. Even as an adult I still occasionally go back to revisit the game (luckily my cartridge still works!).
Lisa meets Vlad in his imposing home. Copyright 2017 (c) Netflix/Frederator Studios
When Netflix and Frederator let on that a Castlevania animated series was in development, there were definitely a lot of questions. Was this to be based on one of the games specifically, or was this outing planned as a separate, new story set somewhere in the existing timeline of the franchise? It was only within the past week or so that I learned about Castlevania III serving as the source material, and it was very welcome news to hear. Not only is the game regarded as one of the best in the series, it also features elements like multiple characters and a richer, more well-defined setting. It seemed like an obvious choice to adapt. While at this point it’s difficult to tell whether the endeavor has been entirely successful, since the first chunk of episodes released feel like a first act rather than a full narrative, I think the show is off to a good start.
The show takes place in fifteenth century Walachia, a territory inside what is now Romania. A woman named Lisa visits the castle of Vlad Tepes and seems mostly unafraid of the experience despite the desolation of the surrounding landscape and copious amount of skewered human remains lining the path to Vlad’s front door. Her thirst for knowledge and desire to bring medicine and science to the superstitious populace has brought her here, and her curious attitude and lack of fear intrigues Vlad, who is otherwise cynical about humanity’s value as a species. The two begin a relationship, Lisa convincing Vlad to explore what it means to live as a human. Unfortunately, over the years, Lisa’s proclivities towards science paint her as a witch and heretic, and a motivated local bishop acting under what he interprets as the will of god has Lisa burned at the stake. In his pain and anger, Vlad, known also as the legendary horror Dracula, curses mankind, giving them a year to get their affairs in order before unleashing the creatures of Hell across the land. He makes good on this promise, and the cities of Walachia begin to fall under the wrath of the king of vampires.
Sypha Belnades is returned safely to her grandfather. Copyright 2017 (c) Netflix/Frederator Studios
Enter Trevor Belmont, a member of the disgraced Belmont Clan. Excommunicated from the Catholic Church, Trevor has been skulking around the countryside living only for getting drunk and surviving – barely. His travels bring him to Gresit, the last remaining large city in Walachia not to have been taken over by Dracula’s army. He means to pass through and get out of town, but encounters a group of Speakers, a nomadic group who maintain a wholly oral history that predates the advent of the Church. One of their own is missing, and though Trevor would like to leave them to their own devices, he allows himself to become entangled in their affairs due to his family’s connections to the group. He rescues the missing grandchild, a magic-user named Sypha, then chooses to defend the Speakers against the Bishop, who has turned them into scapegoats by blaming the current demon infestation on their heretical beliefs.
Trevor and Sypha, somewhat by accident, begin their descent into Dracula’s ever-changing castle. It is within the shifting walls that the two encounter someone who could ultimately turn out to be a friend or foe.
As I mentioned above, this group of four episodes feels much like the first act of a larger tale. While there’s still a self-contained story revolving around the errant Bishop and a demon “mid-boss” of sorts, the fourth episode ends with our intrepid heroes beginning their descent into the castle in earnest. Considering how Netflix typically releases its shows in larger chunks, I was expecting something more like a 13 episode release of the entire narrative adaptation. That said, I suspect that a gritty animated series aimed at an adult audience was farther from a “sure thing” than Netflix would have liked, so in a way it makes some sense for them to dip their baby toe in the water before diving right in. That aside, I’m optimistic about what I’ve seen so far and about where the series might be headed.
Trevor meets with the Speakers, who wish to remain in Gresit despite the Bishop’s promise to execute them. Copyright 2017 (c) Netflix/Frederator Studios
It’s an inevitability that this series will be compared to Japanese animation, so I’ll go ahead and do that without reservation; this animated serial incorporates a lot of anime’s positive traits to its benefit. While serialized stories are no longer a rarity in Western television entertainment, it hasn’t been until more recently with series like Avatar: The Last Airbender and Steven Universe that specifically American-created animation has more often chosen to take that path. But those of us who are avid anime viewers are more than familiar with the technique of depicting limited stories that unfold across a relatively small number of episodes, and this series already has that sort of feel to it. There’s also a fairly obvious aesthetic similarity between the two; while the character designs do tend towards the more obviously Western-style, my partner remarked (having seen some of the screen shots I’d taken) that he wouldn’t have been surprised to hear that the show shared staff with the Boondocks animated series, known for its anime-inspired look.
The series also doesn’t shy away from adult material, though whether some of it is to its benefit or detriment might be up to the tastes of the viewer. There’s no other way to say it; this show can be graphically violent at times. In incarnations of the source material, there’s a lot of demonic death; in Castlevania: Symphony of the Night there are enemies called “Bloody Zombies” that explode into a gush of blood when you kill them, screaming before they disintegrate, and that’s just one of the many examples from the broader game franchise. I expected there to be some of that kind of content in this adaptation, but what I wasn’t prepared for was the extensive depictions of human death; beginning almost right away in the first episode as Dracula unleashes his minions, people (men, women, and children) are torn in half, decapitated, stabbed, burned and bloodied in multiple creative and horrific ways. There are human entrails draped across the rooftops in one unfortunate town, in addition to things like rotting heads on pikes. This kind of content is pretty much par for the course for a lot of TV series that aren’t restrained by the rules of regular television broadcast standards, so I expect that a lot of people will be used to it. However, this is one area where the show really differs from anime; while a lot of anime can be violent, depicting detailed gore is often avoided or at least censored somewhat, and it’s hardly ever the focus of the scene. Castlevania seems to revel in it sometimes, and that’s something I’m not really used to.
Sypha uses her magic to rescue Trevor from the angry townsfolk. Copyright 2017 (c) Netflix/Frederator Studios
Something else that felt a little bit artificial to me was certain aspects of the writing and dialog. There seems to have been an effort to depict Trevor Belmont as a cynical, somewhat-smarmy asshole, and to try to accomplish that he occasionally expresses a bit of nihilistic gallows humor and some “witty quips” in his lines. There’s also a lot of swearing sprinkled throughout the entirety of the dialog, and while I like to swear a lot when I’m speaking casually and can recognize that this is occasionally entertaining to others, oftentimes in this context it feels forced and sort of anachronistic to the particular setting.
On the upside, the animation was generally of pretty good quality, and in some instances stepped over the threshold into “awesome” territory. The creators and animators seemed to recognize where best to focus their resources, and this falls into step with how a lot of anime looks and feels. During dialog-heavy scenes, there’s more focus on atmosphere-building through color choice and the relatively static positions of the characters. When warranted, however, there are some excellent action sequences that are on par with some of the better Sakuga scenes from recent anime productions. I think this is generally a good approach that places focus on the cooler, more memorable scenes in this chunk of episodes without having to put quite as much strain on the animation staff.
Adrian Tepes (aka Alucard) makes his appearance. Copyright 2017 (c) Netflix/Frederator Studios
That said, there are a few visual missteps that I think are worth pointing out. There’s some use of 3DCG for a few elements, including a mirror apparatus Dracula uses in the first episode, and some CG demons in scenes where there are large groups flying through the sky at once. Generally the slightly uncomfortable coupling of 2D and 3D doesn’t bother me much anymore, but the frame-rate of the CG elements seems overly-smooth and out of sync with the traditional elements which ends up inadvertently calling a lot of attention to it. There are also some scenes in which the characters aren’t joined well with the background art; it’s difficult to explain what I mean, but it can feel like they don’t entirely exist in the same universe as if they’re floating above a painting. I think part of it is that there isn’t enough grittiness to the visuals; there’s a good use of color and darkness to create a good atmosphere, but it looks too shiny and clean to feel real. Perhaps some different kind of filtering might have avoided this issue in the final product.
The last item that came to my mind and that I thought might be worth mentioning is that the Speakers, the (ethnic?) group to which Sypha belongs, are a pretty obvious analogue to the Roma/Romani people, a persecuted nomadic ethnic group now found all over the world. I don’t know whether this group was depicted this way for a reason beyond that of narrative flair and flavoring (and I have a worry in the back of my mind that the creators might get something wrong in the future), but I found it heartening to see that a group that is still maligned to this day in some areas by some people was used as inspiration in a positive manner.
Overall I would have to say that I’m very pleasantly surprised with how Castlevania has panned-out thus far. Considering the failure rate of properties based on video game source material, I was hoping for the best but expecting the worst. However, it seems like this adaptation is taking what’s there from the game (which is extremely bare-bones, typical for NES-era games) and expanding on that in a way that isn’t slavishly-devoted to its game origin and feels fairly natural. Netflix has already ordered a second season of 8 more episodes, and I’m looking forward to seeing the continuation of the story.
Pros: This feels like a good adaptation of the source material – faithful but not “like a video game.” The look and feel take good parts from Japanese animation and Western animation.
Cons: There are some visual missteps that can be jarring. There is a lot of graphic violence and quite a bit of strong language.
At Hyakkaō Private Academy, the sons and daughters of the wealthiest of the wealthy engage in a unique curriculum geared to teach them to how to read their opponents. Specifically, students have a rigorous curriculum of gambling where the winners live like kings, and the losers are put through the wringer. When Yumeko Jabami enrolls, she’s decides to teach the students what a real high-roller looks like. – ANN
Copyright 2017 (c) MAPPA
Streaming At: Netflix (assuming it will be a late-cast in the US)
Summary of Episode 1: Ryota Suzui is in dire straits. After losing 5,000,000 yen to the devilish Mary Saotome at one of Hyakkao Academy’s after-school gambling sessions, he’s fallen deep into a debt that he’ll be unable to pay back for a long time. For now, his status is that of a lowly housepet, and Saotome-san is taking advantage of that as much as she can. When a kind-hearted young lady named Yumeko Jabami transfers into his class, he can only look on as Saotome strikes swiftly to try and take her out of the equation, but during a specialty game of “rock, paper, scissors,” the entire class discovers that Jabami-san is a wolf in sheep’s clothing.
Impressions: Several years ago, Madhouse produced an (informal) trilogy of gambling-related anime series that featured characters who demonstrated an almost devilish amount of luck. Akagi featured a teenage mahjong prodigy with a demonic ability to psychologically dismantle his opponents and cheat death when his very life was on the line. Kaijiwas about a hapless debtor whose inherent gambling skill only revealed itself when he was backed into a proverbial corner. And One Outs (which to this day I don’t believe has seen any official release in the US) starred a baseball pitcher whose skill made him rich in spite of sports managers who tried to take advantage of him. All three anime were really fascinating for their examination of human psychology, specifically the ways in which people act when they’re faced with overwhelmingly negative odds in situations where much of the results are left up to the luck of the draw. On the other had, each one was also an unrepentant sausage-fest, with hardly a woman in sight (and sometimes when a woman made an appearance, one wished that maybe she hadn’t). It always left me wondering what the same setup might be like with a cast full of young women.
Saotome turns Suzui into her personal “dog.” Copyright 2017 (c) MAPPA
In both the East and the West, when we think of gambling, we think of smoke-filled mahjong parlors populated by old men, or Texas Hold’em tournaments starring poker-faced and often quirky male players. Women can sometimes be seen as lacking the cunning and guile that it takes to gamble an opponent into oblivion. While previous series like Saki have avoided the discomfort of the situation by moé-ing things up and making the characters at least look non-threatening, or turned the gambling scenarios completely comedic like the awesomely-trashy Rio: Rainbow Gate, it hasn’t been until the moment that I watched the first episode of Kakegurui that I felt like I’d seen something that captured the same sinister tone of the aforementioned gambling trilogy. The show just happens to accomplish this while still inhabiting that most popular of anime settings – high school.
The premise of the show is inherently unbelievable in that, while I’m sure elite high schools exist in Japan, I’m almost positive that there are none with such a bizarre curriculum (I hope). But within a medium where there are plenty of series about magical high schools, haunted high schools, high schools with clubs that battle with one another or those that band together to solve mysteries, it’s ultimately not that difficult to suspend my disbelief. What Kakegurui does manage to accomplish with this not-quite-believable premise is to demonstrate a fairly decent sense about how ijime/bullying operates within a classroom social system, even if the type of bullying itself is unrealistic. Jabami-san is picked out as an easy target by the class bully and her cronies, is seemingly turned into a victim to the point where it seems like she’ll be banished to a life of subservience, much like our poor POV character Suzui. Of course, the sick pleasure to be derived from the narrative is that Jabami isn’t innocent whatsoever, and completely turns the tables on her antagonist.
Jabami gets turned-on by the thought of a challenging risk. Copyright 2017 (c) MAPPA
Jabami’s two-faced character is probably where the show demonstrates its biggest issues, however. There’s a problematic concept that shows up a lot in Japanese media but can be found in books, TV series, and films from all over the place, and that’s the figure of the woman who expresses her threatening, violent, or cunning nature via her hyper-sexuality. Suzui is drawn to Jabami when she seems demure and innocent, but is threatened and horrified when she switches into high gear – her eyes gain a sinister gleam, her skin flushes, and her lips plump and moisten. There’s also some “moist” visual symbolism that shows up briefly when she gets the upper hand on Saotome. It’s weirdly uncomfortable in that it ties together the idea of the sexual woman with an evil, aggressive, and cunning woman, and likewise conflates chastity with goodness in a way that places value on women’s state of being. This is something you just don’t see in Akagi or One Outs – when the protagonists of those series go into “battle mode,” they’re threatening and frightening because of their almost supernatural knowledge and their ability to think and manipulate themselves out of a corner, seemingly with ease. Here, Jabami also thinks her way out of her predicament using some amount of logic, but she does so while (figuratively) sopping wet. Our milquetoast POV character is put off by this demonstration, and I feel like we’re supposed to be also. It’s an unfortunately weird sex-negative scenario and a problem that’s much bigger than this show.
That aside (if you’re able to set it aside – it’s likely that many won’t and that’s understandable), this episode is something that I wouldn’t describe as “good” but might be tempted to describe as “awesomely-trashy.” It’s entertaining and problematic, and deals with characters who are awful people. It’s not normally my jam to watch stuff that’s quite so cynical about human nature, but I’m still morbidly curious about this truly strange title.
Pros: It’s a gambling tale with mostly young women as important characters. It does a decent job of demonstrating the workings of bullying in an unrealistic setting.
Cons: In this setting, women’s sexuality is seen as threatening. The fact that our POV character is a personality-less dude probably spells trouble.
Guts, a man who calls himself “The Black Swordsman” looks upon his days serving as a member of a group of mercenaries, the Band of the Hawk, nicknamed “the Grim Reaper of the Battlefield.” Led by an ambitious, ruthless, and intelligent man named Griffith, together they battle their way into the royal court, and are forced into a fate that may change their entire lives. – ANN
Summary of Episode 1: Following Griffith’s initiation of the Eclipse and transformation into the demonic God Hand Femto, Guts finds himself on the run from the evil forces that have been unleashed on the world. He’s a branded man – the insignia burned into his neck draws wicked spirits and the restless dead to him in unending waves, and it is with his gigantic sword, really just a crude, gigantic slab of metal, that he fights them off one-by-one. After a bar brawl, a young elf named Puck begins to follow Guts. He becomes a first-hand witness to the horrors that now define Guts’ life as a kindly monk and the young girl accompanying him become victims of the risen dead.
First Impressions: I want to start off by mentioning that the Berserk series in general needs a big giant content warning for violence, gore, war crimes, and rape. This series is the very definition of grim-and-gritty and bad things happen to both good and evil characters.
The scars from Guts’ past are evident.
It might come as some surprise to those of you who only know me via the internet that I actually really, really enjoy Berserk. I count the original anime series among my favorites, and though I haven’t in any sense of the word caught up on the manga, I really like what I’ve read (part of that is Kentaro Miura’s incredible artwork, obviously). The story is certainly incredibly violent (not something I normally like) and the three main characters of the initial story arc are essentially defined by how non-consensual sexual situations have affected them (and these things are shown rather than suggested in most cases), but the story as a whole just holds a certain appeal to me. Perhaps its unflinching darkness hit me at the right time in my anime fandom to leave a mark. In any case, anyone who’s seen the original anime series knows that it leaves off on what’s basically a cliffhanger. The Eclipse happens, we see Guts obtain his sword, and that’s about it. The show is actually sort of circular – if you watch the first episode directly after the final one, you’ll see what I mean. But there’s so much more story to tell, and fans of the show, myself included, have been waiting a long, long time for more of it to be animated. When the trilogy of new films that reanimated the “Golden Age” story arc (the one covered by the TV series) were released recently, I think many of us began to suspect that something might be in the works. Soon enough the speculation became reality, and here we are.
I’ll say, I definitely have some mixed feelings about this, and I think those of you who’ve watched the episode already will probably have some idea where I’m going. I really, really am not a fan of the way CG is used to animate the majority of this show. On the one hand, it allows more consistency and detail in the characters and backgrounds, and that in and of itself isn’t bad. One hallmark of Miura’s art is that it’s hopelessly detailed (there’s some speculation that one of the reasons that it takes so long for a new chapter of the manga to get finished is due to the detail in the artwork and the fact that he might not be utilizing the services of any assistants to keep things on pace). The original anime series just didn’t even try to animate to the artwork, and used a lot of still-frames and pans to tell the tale of Guts and company. It got the atmosphere down very well and really captured the grittiness of the story, but there just wasn’t a lot of actual animation to speak of. This episode is fully-animated, and we get a lot of cool camera angles and body parts flying, but the characters look like puppets because of the way their limbs move – it’s both too smooth and overly-clunky at the same time. Anime-style animation is all about dynamic character posing and bursts of energy in between static shots; Even though Guts is doing some cool stuff with his swords, the overall movement is too smooth and restrained. Puck’s chibi form is also so disastrously out-of-place when animated this way… yikes.
The Black Swordsman lives up to his name.
There are a few moments that are clearly hand-drawn, mostly close-ups of faces and some scenes from the opening theme (especially those that hearken back to the previous series), and those scenes are like reaching an oasis in a desert. It’s in those instances where the fine details really seem to come alive. I realize that hand-animating a series like this would require a lot of person-power and that using CG models allows the animators to maintain a consistent quality level without going overboard on labor, but considering how famous this series is, how much merchandise there is for it (it keeps being produced!), and the fact that it’s pretty much earned a place in the pantheon of anime classics, you’d think that perhaps some more resources and care would have been allotted to make this into a prestige piece. It’s like Sailor Moon Crystal all over again (except with more demons, decapitations and flying human entrails).
That being said, there will always be a certain amount of BS I’m willing to deal with in order to see a great story make its way to one of my favorite forms of media. Despite feeling a tad disappointed in some of the visual choices made, watching the first episode of this new chapter of the story feels a little bit like returning to the person I was in the early 2000’s when I first saw the original Berserk series. That is to say, very in awe of the sheer number of anime available in the world, most of which were still out there for me to discover. There really are not a lot of anime around today that really go all in with violence, gore, horror, or the darkness of human nature they way TV series and OVAs did in the 1990’s. I think part of that is just that tastes have changed and we as anime fans have become more accustomed to embracing life’s cuteness and not giving a damn about what non-weebs think of us for it. It also seems like, since the early 2000’s, the world’s real-life horrors have become so much more pronounced, and our escapism is more aimed at contrasting that with happiness and simplicity. Of course, this is also the age of Game of Thrones, where some of the worst aspects of human nature are put on display from week to week to the delight of millions of viewers (and yes, I’m one of those viewers, too). I suspect there is something in many of us that gets lit up when we feel powerless to help ourselves or to make real change in the world. Sometimes it’s just satisfying to see someone in a bad situation bust out and make heads roll, literally. It’s stories like Berserk that put a voice to that urge for me.
Guts endures a flashback while asleep.
Content-wise, I don’t feel like there’s much for me to worry about. I don’t really question the strength of Berserk‘s underlying story, though I’m interested to see how well the anime adapts it and what sort of pace it will take (I’m unclear on how many episodes there are supposed to be and how much of the manga storyline they’re planning to tackle in this segment, so I’m not willing to start making any big predictions). One thing that might be frustrating for some people, though, is that this series pretty much picks up where the previous one left off. If you haven’t seen it, you’ll either have to watch the trilogy of recent films (pretty easy to do, but they’re not streaming anywhere that I know of so you’ll have to get a hold of the DVDs or Blu-Rays somehow) or dig up an old dusty copy of the original anime series (it’s waaay out of print at this point, though I hope maybe the remaster will get re-released someday or that Crunchyroll might add it to their back library now that the new show is coming out). It’s certainly worth your time to do so if you can handled the content. As a side note, I was interested in how they were going to account for Puck since he was cut out of the original series, but this episode did a pretty good job of plopping him right on in!
I really like Berserk and I’m still looking forward to watching this show despite the visual missteps. I think the first episode “feels” mostly correct to me, even if I still find it weird that a story that is so much of a certain time and place has dramatically succumbed to the realities of the modern anime industry. I’m looking forward to continuing the story this season.
Pros: I’ve been waiting a LONG time for more of this story to get animated! It’s quite different in tone than a lot of what’s popular in anime right now, which makes it feel fresh (even though it’s a story that’s been in the process of unfolding for a good 25 years at this point, in manga form).
Cons: Ugh, that CG. Someday we’ll get to a point where it looks almost as good as hand-drawn animation. We have not reached that point, yet. The content will also be too intense for some viewers, as it delves into some pretty violent and explicit territory.
“For high schooler Kei -and for at least forty-six others- immortality comes as the nastiest surprise ever.
Sadly for Kei, but refreshingly for the reader, such a feat doesn’t make him a superhero. In the eyes of both the general public and governments, he’s a rare specimen who needs to be hunted down and handed over to scientists to be experimented on for life-a demi-human who must die a thousand deaths for the benefit of humanity.” – Vertical Inc.
Summary of Episode 1: Kei is like many high school kids; he has a steady group of friends, cares about his family, and spends a lot of time worrying about passing his entrance exams. Unfortunately, his current life has come as the result of some sacrifices, namely his close childhood friendship with a boy named Kai. Kei’s mother disapproved of the friendship since Kai was carefree and significantly less studious; in her eyes, the road to maturity is paved in part by the cultivation of one’s relationships, and only those who exhibit positive traits are worthy of association. Kei and Kai still see each-other around town, but their interactions are strictly limited to wordless acknowledgement.
Kei realizes with horror that he is one of the reviled Ajin. Copyright Polygon Pictures.
In school, Kei and his classmates are learning about Ajin, a new species of intelligent life that appeared during a war in Africa seventeen years ago. Ajin are unique in that they can be mortally injured but cannot die. This makes them of great interest to several world governments, and once they’re discovered (generally when they are injured by chance and are able to quickly recover), they’re captured and experiments are performed on them in captivity. Kei seems disturbed by the concept, and as he crosses the street deep and thought, he’s hit by a truck. And then, his mangled body rises up from the bloody pavement and Kei realizes – he’s been revealed as one of the most hated beings on the planet. It isn’t long before the police begin searching the town’s outskirts for him, and Kei calls the only person he can think of who might possibly not try to turn him in to the police – Kai. Kai has already begun setting things in motion, and rushes to save his friend, no questions asked. The two ride away in the dark of night, fugitives for the crime of being other than human.
First Impressions: First of all, it bears mentioning that this series is another of Netflix’s late-casts, similar to Knights of Sidoniaand The Seven Deadly Sins, so it will be appearing in an official capacity at a later date (they’ve said “Summer 2016” but not given a more accurate time frame). Normally it would be my practice to watch an official version of an anime series since I really believe that anime streaming has virtually removed most of the need to watch fansubs (and now most of the sub groups are either ripping official subs and adding stuff like -san and -chan, or their translations don’t demonstrate a clear understanding of English spelling or grammar – I think all the good translators have probably gone legit). In this case, though, I was personally interested in the show from reading the manga, didn’t see a lot of other impressions of it (since it’s not easily available), and wanted to see ahead of time if it was worth checking out in full at a later time (I have a Netflix account but for some reason it’s like pulling teeth getting me to actually use the service that I pay for every month.) I think this is why I never checked out Knights of Sidonia (though I did buy the DVD and will watch it… eventually). I didn’t want a repeat self performance.
As for the first episode of Ajin, I was pleasantly surprised. I’m familiar with the general story from what I’ve read of the manga (I’m not far in but have at least read what’s covered in this first episode), and this is a good adaptation. One of the fears I had going in stems from the fact that this is both 1. the story of a teenage boy who (unwillingly) gets some special (and very violent) powers and 2. the general concept puts the series in the “edgy” category. I’ve had supremely bad luck with this sort of thing in the past – Deadman Wonderland is a good example of something that was really popular and people on the internet swore up and down was really intelligent and edgy, but turned out to be so, so violent and mean-spirited without much of a coherent message. I was worried that this would end up being another “sad teen fights violently with a bunch of people” anime.
Kei finds himself cornered by the police. Copyright Polygon Pictures.
I think what quelled that fear for me, in both the manga and this episode of the anime, is that the friendship between Kei and Kai seems to play such an important role in establishing the plot. Their relationship seems to represent a microcosm of what is happening out in the world – Kai is misunderstood and assumptions are made about his character because of how he looks and the way in which he disregards school, just as the entire world has made assumptions about Ajin and how “othering” them has given society at large an excuse to mistreat them and remove their rights as human beings. In a way it’s a sort of clunky allegory for race relations and the way we have treated almost anyone who is “different” – disabled folks, people on the autism spectrum, trans individuals… the list is extensive. In any case, one thing I really appreciated was that Kai was ready, no questions asked, to help his friend despite the fact that their relationship hadn’t been close for several years. It’s a level of kindness and emotional maturity that surprised me, especially since teen boys in anime tend to be given short shrift when it comes to being given any sort of sensitivity or basic humanity.
I’m betting many of you are wondering about the animation in this series, and it’s definitely worth mentioning. We seem to be entering an age when 3DCG animated anime is becoming an actual thing. I have a lot of mixed feelings about that. Anyone who’s watched the anime series Shirobako (and for those who haven’t, you really should because it’s downright excellent) will probably have a greater appreciation for the role that CG plays in anime and the work that goes into making convincing 3D elements, and I really try to keep that in mind. Unfortunately, I don’t think that CG is yet up to the task of convincingly recreating the look of typical 2D anime, and in many chases the movement of the characters just seems… off. I’ve spent a lot of time trying to figure out why this is and why it’s so difficult to accept that 3DCG anime is probably an inevitability, and I think what it comes down to is consistency. One of the hallmarks of Japanese anime is just how inconsistent it is. When you see characters’ faces from different angles, the mouth positions and how they appear don’t actually make sense a lot of the time, but it’s a type of stylization that we’ve come to expect and accept as consumers of the medium. There are also often vastly different animation styles and frame-rates even within one episode of anime. Important scenes are given more attention and often certain animators are given free reign to go off-model and demonstrate their particular command of movement, and I find that these special scenes really give me a thrill and are one of the reasons why I enjoy watching anime. The use of computer animation removes that unexpected attribute.
Kei makes his escape. Copyright Polygon Pictures.
That said, I think what Polygon has done in this series actually looks pretty good. It took me until a few minutes into the episode to stop being distracted by the 3D models and the cell-shading and such, but much like watching Gankutsuou (which you should also go watch as soon as you have the opportunity if you would like to see why people used to like Gonzo), once your eyes have adjusted the look kind of becomes a non-issue. It’s not my favorite, but it’s admittedly a lot better than watching a show that’s consistently off-model for reasons that have nothing to do with artistic style (side note: people complaining about Ping Pong being off-model need to go educate themselves). I think people who are not married to anime’s particular aesthetic will be even less distracted and will likely not be bothered at all (this is a series I would show my parents, for example – my mom isn’t an anime fan, but she does like horror and thriller-type series so I bet it would be up her alley).
I really liked this first episode. I don’t know if I’ll keep up with it right now since now I feel kind of bad about downloading an unofficial video of something which is going to be released officially, even if the official release isn’t technically a simulcast. It’s funny how your conscience can adjust like that, isn’t it?
Pros: The show takes a concept that could easily be mishandled and injects it with enough humanity to keep it from becoming one-note. The friendship between the two male characters forms a believable core.
Cons: The 3D animation will definitely be an issue for some. It’s a Netflix late-cast, so the official release won’t be available for several months.
Streaming: Crunchyroll
