Berserk

A Parent's Guide to Anime
Rated: X

For Adult Audiences Only

This title will be coming out soon through Urban Vision. Here is my review of all 25 episodes.

The story is about a lone swordsman named Gatts and his journeys with the Hawks. It takes place back in the 18th century. Gatts joins a group of mercenaries named the Hawks. Among them are Griffith and Casca. Griffith is the leader of the Hawks who wants to rule the world one day. Casca is the female of the group. She is in love with Griffith even though he has no interest. I can't talk too much without spoiling stuff but the series is superb. It ends on an extremely dark note and overall made me love anime again. I suggest all (of age) to give it a definite look.

Warning:
Violence - OH SO MUCH! Gatts giant sword cuts through everything and anyone. In every battle there is an amazing amount of blood. Almost as much as Ninja Scroll and this is in EVERY EPISODE! In one Gatts kills 100 men! People are shot at with arrows, in one scene alot of characters are burned alive, and several are beaten unmercifully. One character brutally chops his own forearm off. The last 2 episodes stand as some of the most violent things I've seen ranking up there with Ninja Ressurection.

Sex - Again, very heavy. We learn that aristocrats rape little children. There are a few instances where Casca is almost raped. Griffith sleeps with a teenager against her will (although it's not really rape). We learn Griffith had a homosexual affair. Casca and Gatts sleep with each other. They kiss a few times.

Nudity - In almost every scene involving rape we see a woman's chest. In one scene we see a nude Gatts running although nothing is drawn. In another we see Griffith bathing nude. In the final 2 episodes we see about 3 females' chests and at the end Casca is completely nude and begins to be fondled.

Topics to talk about - The constant death, the rape, the corruption of officials, the last 2 episodes are filled with demonic imagery and disgusting scenes of sacrifice and extremely violent killing. Although I highly, HIGHLY doubt any parent would let their child watch past episode 2.