Seems like many people misunderstood what I'm searching for. Unless I'm really getting the wrong idea of what Berserk is, you're posting shows that have jack shit to do with Berserk and merely try to pass as "deep" and "mature" by throwing in as much gore and sexual content as humanly possible, while having a storyline as deep as a dried up puddle. Only Garo: Honoo no Kokuin and Mushishi appear to fit what I'm looking for more or less, so I'll check them out. Let's hope I won't get disappointed.
Seems like many people misunderstood what I'm searching for. Unless I'm really getting the wrong idea of what Berserk is, you're posting shows that have jack shit to do with Berserk and merely try to pass as "deep" and "mature" by throwing in as much gore and sexual content as humanly possible, while having a storyline as deep as a dried up puddle. Only Garo: Honoo no Kokuin and Mushishi appear to fit what I'm looking for more or less, so I'll check them out. Let's hope I won't get disappointed.
Call me judgemental as much as you want, but their affinity to the shonen subgenre was enough to rule them out. Shonen anime is always done basing using the same pattern, so I already know what to expect.
Call me judgemental as much as you want, but their affinity to the shonen subgenre was enough to rule them out. Shonen anime is always done basing using the same pattern, so I already know what to expect.
I'd say biased. Tokyo Ravens suffers a bit from escalating too fast compared to the manga but plays it's depth well with out excessive gore or too much sexual content. Aside from minor innuendo stuff that is.
Nurarihyon No Mago is really an underrated gem that got stuck in the Shonen genre because of it's rather young protagonist. While it has gore and blood and a bit of playing the sexy card... It really stands on character development and plot line. I mean it revolves around a clan of demons and their soon to be leader who's three quarters human. As he balances his human and yokai sides, masters his abilities, and becomes the successor to the name his grandfather earned. But it lacks the puddle shallow plot of InuYasha or the tossing aside of supporting characters like Bleach.
EDIT: If there really isn't anything out there in terms of fantasy, then how about something that's still dark and relatively mature, but set in a world stylized off ancient/medieval Japan? I'm pretty sure it'll broaden my options.
Well, I recently finished Shinsekai Yori (From the New World) which might be somewhat of interest. It's actually set in the future, but post-apocalypse (let's call it that) where the population has regressed a bit in terms of technology. They have electricity but...barely - it's actually just mentioned, and never really shown (they seem to use it for lighting). Oh and people get magic. The best way I can describe it is probably along these lines:
Imagine Hogwarts. There is no Harry Potter in it and it's written by Stephen King and George Orwell together.
Overall, I liked it. I think it could have been improved slightly if it was a couple of episodes shorter as it slightly begins to drag at the end (the final ~6 episodes could have been ~4) but it's otherwise good. It reminded me a lot of some older sci-fi I've read, and that sci-fi was good.
Just FYI: There are also 3 Berserk movies which re-tell the Anime arc and go a bit further than the TV episodes. However, the combination of CGI and animation is hard to watch in some places.
And I might miss your parameters with these suggestions, but I liked them very much, even after watching 'Berserk':
Try 'Shigurui Death Frenzy'. (12 episodes)
I've seldomly seen such artistically presented violence.
It's about a school of Samurai that spiral deeper and deeper into utter madness and cruelty. The first episode is a bit strange and slow, but there's a reason for it. Just believe me, it's good. Sadly you can only get the first half as Anime, but the manga has a definite (disturbing and depressing) ending.
There's also 'Texhnolyze' (26 episodes)
It's a Sci Fi setting, but very dystopian and with a comparable atmosphere to 'Berserk'. Again, the first episode is very experimental, but the less you know about where it's all headed, the better. It has strong philosophical implications and a fair share of graphic deaths.
Last, but not least: 'Fate Zero' (24 episodes)
It takes place in our time, but revolves around a fight of mythical figures from ficiton that are summoned to our world. It can get a bit wacky in places, but gets darker every episode. In the end every character has sacrificed almost everything. You could also check out 'Garden of Sinners' (8 movies) if you want are looking for characters with deep issues.
Tokyo Ravens suffers a bit from escalating too fast compared to the manga but plays it's depth well with out excessive gore or too much sexual content. Aside from minor innuendo stuff that is.
Nurarihyon No Mago is really an underrated gem that got stuck in the Shonen genre because of it's rather young protagonist. While it has gore and blood and a bit of playing the sexy card... It really stands on character development and plot line. I mean it revolves around a clan of demons and their soon to be leader who's three quarters human. As he balances his human and yokai sides, masters his abilities, and becomes the successor to the name his grandfather earned. But it lacks the puddle shallow plot of InuYasha or the tossing aside of supporting characters like Bleach.
Well... I guess I can give them a benefit of the doubt.
DoPo said:
Well, I recently finished Shinsekai Yori (From the New World) which might be somewhat of interest. It's actually set in the future, but post-apocalypse (let's call it that) where the population has regressed a bit in terms of technology. They have electricity but...barely - it's actually just mentioned, and never really shown (they seem to use it for lighting). Oh and people get magic.
Sounds pretty interesting from what I've read about it on MAL. Might be worth a try. Thanks.
Xerosch said:
There's also 'Texhnolyze' (26 episodes)
It's a Sci Fi setting, but very dystopian and with a comparable atmosphere to 'Berserk'. Again, the first episode is very experimental, but the less you know about where it's all headed, the better. It has strong philosophical implications and a fair share of graphic deaths.
Well, I guess at this point the sci-fi setting doesn't bother me at all. I'll check it out.
Xerosch said:
Last, but not least: 'Fate Zero' (24 episodes)
It takes place in our time, but revolves around a fight of mythical figures from ficiton that are summoned to our world. It can get a bit wacky in places, but gets darker every episode. In the end every character has sacrificed almost everything.
Tokyo Ravens suffers a bit from escalating too fast compared to the manga but plays it's depth well with out excessive gore or too much sexual content. Aside from minor innuendo stuff that is.
Nurarihyon No Mago is really an underrated gem that got stuck in the Shonen genre because of it's rather young protagonist. While it has gore and blood and a bit of playing the sexy card... It really stands on character development and plot line. I mean it revolves around a clan of demons and their soon to be leader who's three quarters human. As he balances his human and yokai sides, masters his abilities, and becomes the successor to the name his grandfather earned. But it lacks the puddle shallow plot of InuYasha or the tossing aside of supporting characters like Bleach.
There's also 'Texhnolyze' (26 episodes)
It's a Sci Fi setting, but very dystopian and with a comparable atmosphere to 'Berserk'. Again, the first episode is very experimental, but the less you know about where it's all headed, the better. It has strong philosophical implications and a fair share of graphic deaths.
Oh, fuck - I've watched that. It's pretty depressing, really. I don't think it's that comparable to Berserk. Here is how I'd describe the difference:
In Berserk, the show starts with the world in the shitter but then gives some background when it was better and how it went downhill. Before the final bit, things were almost looking up, even. The ending was dark but there was some hope - we see it in Guts in the beginning.
In Texhnolyze everything goes downhill all the time. There almost isn't a time when things aren't getting worse (well, few occasions, but that's it - things never improve). The ending brings my mood down at least a few notches every time I remember it. I'm not exaggerating. Yes, including now.
I can only recommend it if by "dark themes" you mean you enjoy "really fucking depressing".
As the title says, can you suggest anything for me? I really wanted to watch Berserk because I dig all kinds of dark themes, but gave up on that idea because of its infamous "fuck you, go read the manga" ending, so I'm looking for a suitable alternative. Can you suggest a series that's already finished, doesn't require reading any manga or playing any obscure games to enjoy it (i.e. everything that needs covering is covered within the episodes, and the series doesn't leave out any unecessary openings), is similarly story-driven, dark, grotesque, and bleak as Berserk is, and takes place in a similar setting?
I've already tried the universal go-to anime people are suggesting everywhere for folks who like Berserk - Claymore. I gave up after 4 episodes, though, as it turned out this serie literally has no depth to it and is just another run-of-the-mill "the protagonist will stay strong and won't die no matter what" shonen title, while I'm looking for something far more mature in its themes and their portrayal. I'm not expecting Game of Thrones, but at least find something that isn't naive and cringe-worthy to the core, and is actually enjoyable for an adult person.
I facepalmed pretty hard after finding out Clare didn't turn into a demon because of the power of love(?) Raki had for her, despite the fact that only 2 episodes ago it was stated the process is sudden and irreversible when a Claymore overexerts herself by using her powers too much. My face still kinda hurts.
Can anybody suggest something for me or am I beyond help? Or perhaps I'm getting the wrong idea of what Berserk is? Either way, enlighten me.
Also, please refrain from convincing me to read/watch Berserk. I've made my decision and your every attempt at doing so will result in your time being wasted.
To be honest I have to concur with the general consensus here. Berserk was pretty much a western style dark fantasy story done as an anime with a minimal amount of cutesiness thrown in, to try and make it as deadpan serious as possible. That makes it fairly unique, and as an anime it was apparently also unsuccessful with it's core audience because it wasn't continued (and it's been around for years now). Anime as a general rule tends to be fairly light hearted, and even the grimdark works tend to include elements to lighten them up... or perhaps more commonly tend to do a fairly standard story and then go really dark towards the end. Anime also seems to tend towards science fiction rather than fantasy when it wants to go dark.
See there are some fairly serious fantasy works, especially looking at some older stuff like "Lodoss Wars" but that's not dark, since it's aiming for high fantasy tropes. Things like "Soul Eater" can be pretty dark but also lighten things up frequently, and tend to go for a far more surreal form of twisted, sort of like Majora's Mask turned into a monster fighting anime.
There are some attempts at horror anime, especially those with adult labels, that are just pure darkness all around when you get down to it. Urotsukidoji (Legend Of The Overfiend) and it's sequels are a classic example of this, a few others like say "Crimson Climax" are going to rank right up there as well, but your generally looking at pornographic modern horror. A few attempts to do much the same thing like "The Dark Myth" (ancient) or "Crimson Garden" (I think that's the name) were mixed to say the least.
The closest your going to come to finding something like Berserk is probably going to be western Dark Fantasy literature, which you may or may not find appealing. The father of this whole style, and the guy Berserk's creator seemed to be channeling is Michael Moorcock, a british fantasy Grandmaster whose work pretty much laid the foundation for british sword and sorcery, Warhammer Fantasy for example is pretty much his stuff, as the way everything looks (elven wargear, warriors of chaos, etc...) is almost verbatim as he described it, and the chaos powers are very similar to his chaos gods from his various writings even if the names are different.
Michael Moorcock is one of the writers who started the idea of having all their stuff tied together through one continuity. Sort of like how Steven King's works are all tied together through his "Dark Tower" series. In Moorcock's case everything basically comes down to this guy named John Daker who pretty much wins the cosmic lottery one day and gets summoned into a fantasy world to be the great hero "Erekose" he's pretty much handed the love of a beautiful princess, a ridiculously powerful magical sword, and an entire kingdom of warriors who were just waiting for him to show up and save the world. The problem is that when he goes to war, he wants up deciding that the race he's fighting, basically elves called the "Eldren" (later you find out Eldren, Vadgagh, Melniboneans, and elves are all the same thing in other books) are more worthy of survival than the humans, so he switches sides and genocides all the humans that trusted him. Needless to say the cosmic forces that made him the chosen one the so called "Lords Of The Higher Worlds" were pissed about this. Sure it's their fault that they didn't really explain anything and that while the Eldren weren't terrible right then, and yes it was their worlds and humans were invading, but it was one of the few points in time multiversally speaking where they could be put down easily, which would prevent them from travelling to other worlds and doing all kinds of truly horrible things. As a result they curse John Daker with a form of immortality via reincarnation, as well as eternal misery which he can only relieve temporarily if he does exactly what his incarnations are told to do. As a result all of Michael Moorcock's stories need to be understood as coming from this common root as all of his heroes Elric, Hawkmoon, Corum, Jeremiah Cornelius, etc... are all the same dude. In some incarnations he's aware of all of his lives, sometimes only the one he's living but he remembers others through his dreams. Through the stories he's usually forced to kill a dark haired beauty that is an incarnation of the woman he fell in love with as Erekose, especially when he's not behaving himself. In almost all his incarnations it all comes down to the burden of free will. While all Michael Moorcock's stories are tied together by the same mythology his main cycle deals with Corum, Elric, Erekose, and Hawkmoon, who all wind up meeting each other at one point due to dimensional manipulation despite all cosmically speaking being the same person.
Elric is perhaps the most classic series, and also the most frequently misunderstood. In that one he's reincarnated as a Melnibonean (the same race he spared) and just happens to be the emperor of all evil whose destiny it is to subvert his world to evil and chaos because such is what the overall cosmic balance demands. Of course the thing is Melniboneans at this point are lacking all softer emotions and well as this thing we call a "conscience" which Elric posseses because he has the soul of a human without realizing it, and of course because The Lords Of The Higher worlds want him to suffer. The entire series is pretty much Elric refusing to do what he's supposed to and spitting in the eye of fate, which crushes him more and more before he goes out in one final act of defiance. Compared to some other incarnations where he does the job he's supposed to more or less as he's supposed to and as a result finds some degree of peace.
The imagery is similar to Berserk in terms of the various Lords Of Chaos that appear through the books, as well as there being what is actually a nearly invincible hero who is always plagued by massive amounts of angst (before it was a stereotype, Moorcock sort of invented the trope, or at least popularized it). When the Champion and his sword (The Black Sword which reincarnates as different weapons along with him) which is supposed to keep him on task are one, the guy can literally destroy every demon in a given dimension's hell, as he is pretty much the incarnated judgement of The Multiverse and supreme champion of the cosmic balance, or course half the point of the stories is that this rarely occurs, but when it's does he does things like leads a charge of 500 guys against an army of millions literally swarming a continent and wins. It also has moments where like the Champion Eternal will like run into some god chained to the bottom of the valley of eternal pain, and have the aforementioned god give him secret knowledge for reasons like "oh wow, hey, your really screwed and miserable. I'm at the bottom of the valley of eternal pain, but I know my eternity ends some day... you, your really screwed, who did you piss off? Just meeting you makes me realize my existence isn't so bad and for that let me help you...."
The style is a bit different but it has some similarities to Berserk, the main difference is that even if the story doesn't always make it obvious and tries to play it low key the definitions are always cosmic, and unlike Guts who is just doomed by fate, The Champion Eternal does a similar schtick but has a massive amount of potential power because of it. Pretty much you piss off this lone, miserable, guy and whatever his job is supposed to be he can wind up killing not only you but your city, your kingdom, and your entire pantheon of gods, many of which would look at him if they became aware and go "holy crap, he's here".
If that's the case you might want to give a pass to Nurarihyon no Mago as it's more or less a story of over coming adversity. In spite of it's dark subject matter.
Tokyo Ravens on the other hand gets bitterly depressing at points, and even early on there are some real tearjerkers of episodes.
If you don't mind an older anime try Record of Lodoss War. It's somewhat similar medieval fantasy like Berserk though not quite as deep and brutal. Texhnolyze is definitely very good, though I don't quite see the connection between cyberpunk and Berserk to be honest.
It was stated it's solely about the dark and depressing atmosphere similar to Berserk's. And since there are no titles that are exactly like Berserk and I'm looking more for the atmosphere, cyberpunk is fine, too.
I'm surprised that no one has mentioned Psycho Pass yet. It is a Dark SciFi that is set only a few years into the future, I'm terrible at summary so I'll just post the wikipedia synopsis:
The story takes place in an authoritarian future dystopia, where omnipresent public sensors continuously scan the Psycho-Pass of every citizen in range. The sensors measure mental state, personality, and the probability that the citizen will commit crimes, alerting authorities when someone exceeds accepted norms. To enforce order, the officers of the Public Safety Bureau carry hand weapons called Dominators. The story follows Akane Tsunemori, Shinya Kogami, and other members of Unit One of the Public Safety Bureau's Criminal Investigation Division, and the crimes they investigate using Dominators.
I don't know. So hard to judge what you're looking for. I'm mostly not into anime like that.
My most 'serious' stuff I actually have watched are
Gunslinger girl - cute loli cyborg assassins, but takes it's premise incredibly seriously. (as in, ultra-realism kind of serious) Very short though, 26 episodes in total, and doesn't really have an ending to speak of, nor match what's in it's manga...
Saikano, the last love song on this little planet (alternately called, she:the ultimate weapon) technically a love story, it isn't that great in a lot of ways. Very short (13 episodes), but it is a complete story. It's basically world war 3, and about a girl who was turned into japan's 'ultimate weapon'. A lot of it is about her awkward relationship with her boyfriend... But it's just so absurdly depressing and hopeless... It just gets worse and worse and worse...
Not brilliant though. Has a lot of cringeworthy scenes in it...
Haibane renmei - kind of ironic in that it is one of the most mature series I know of, while simultaniously being one of the most child-friendly. Probably not even slightly what you're looking for though.
It is about the haibane renmei, which are people (usually children and teenagers), who have wings, and are born fulky grown into a town with regular humans. There is a wall around the city, and nobody knows what's beyond the walls. It's completely non-violent, and very vague.
But in short it appears to be a metaphor for life itself. Being born, dying, religion, the unknown, questioning the nature of reality and life and death... That sort of thing.
It's strangely optimistic, but never answers anything, preferring to just be as mysterious and vague about every aspect of what it depicts as possible.
Another short 13 episode series, it is a complete story, in as far as something that vague can be, obviously...
Anyway, none of that is likely to be remotely what you're looking for, but I thought I might as well mention them...
Have you seen monster? It's not a fantasy, but it is quite serious and mature and it gets very dark at points.
Higurashi no naku koro ni is also very dark but can get very silly at times.
Ooh. What about Rin: Daughters of mnemosyne? Imagine if you were immortal. That'd be pretty cool, right? But then what if someone captured you and tortured you? Imagine if no matter how badly you were damaged, you could never die. Yeah, this show gets pretty dark.
inu-kun said:
Chaika the coffin princess, yes it looks like a moe anime, but it's got good female characters with actual flaws the evolve through the story. It's also a bit more realistic and doesn't have the god mode sue anime likes to devolve to.
Greetings fellow Chaika fan. Isn't it a shame how rushed the final episode was? That show would've been pretty much perfect if it were only 1 or 2 episodes longer.
I don't think it's what OP's after. It's pretty much just action all the time, not much darkness in it. Sure, it's not like it's bright colourful and humorous, erm, all the time, but it has those sections which definitely brighten it up. And then it follows up with throwing gallons of blood everywhere and tons of dudes at Alucard to slaughter with glee.
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