August - Issue 1

The 1997 Berserk anime series is based on the manga series of the same name by Kentaro Miura. The episodes are directed by Naohito Takahashi and animated by Oriental Light and Magic. The first thirteen volumes of the manga are covered. The series' twenty-five episodes aired between October 8, 1997 and April 1, 1998.

The series focuses on the life of Guts, an orphaned mercenary warrior who calls himself "The Black Swordsman", as he looks upon his days serving as a member of a group of mercenaries, the Band of the Hawk. Led by an ambitious, ruthless, yet intelligent and graceful man named Griffith, together they battle their way into the royal court, and are forced into a fate that may change their entire lives.

Story

Berserk is an amazing anime. This anime depicts the battle of human suffering in the wake of divine fate and the ambition of one's fellow man. Set in a medieval world of strife, vast green lands and blue skies obscure the supernatural demonic powers lurking in unseen shadows. It is a story about a world full of evil and brutality, of dreams and despair, where people struggle to find themselves in the midst of it all and define the meaning of their existence. Friendship and love are slow to come, but when it's there it'll bring tears to your eyes, for the relationships forged in Berserk are more meaningful than almost any you'll find in anime. All in all, this anime has everything I wanted. Friendship, love, betrayal, and a lot of blood and gore to set the pace. All set in a very adult, and mature tone. The best part is it's all done correctly.

Characters

The characters in Berserk are quite memorable. Most of the characters' past development is heavily focused on Guts, while the other main characters get only a few spotlights on their history. However, the feel that Berserk provides with all of the characters during their present life as mercenaries is very amazing. Facial expressions, past experiences you see from watching it, and monologues mix well together to give you a true insight into everyone's mind, and current thoughts.

Animation

Animation is not the highest-selling point here (and not because it is over a decade and some years old, since sometimes vintage anime can be pleasurable to view) but most of the scenes just feel like manga art but coloured and more detailed. It does have the speed lines whenever action is happening instead of actually animating it, but then again, this is the work of Oriental Light & Magic (the same production company that made the Pokémon anime series, so I can see why they might have to cut corners).

Music

The music is an odd blend of pounding medieval instruments and passionate folk singing that really serves the series well and sounds downright amazing. The music is downright beautiful, while the opening and ending themes are fairly good songs but the pieces that truly stand out are the background music like, “Forces”, and “GUTS’ theme” both done by Susumu Hirasawa, famously known for doing the haunting theme for Paranoia Agent. The score does have a slew of instruments (such as piano, bagpipes, violin, harp, flute, classic guitar, electric guitar, drums, harpsichord, synthesizer, and Amiga as well as voices) for its diverse range and its fluent state.

Enjoyment

This is definitely not a light-hearted anime. It can be embraced to the extreme of obsession because of the interesting, deep perspectives that operate in the story. The good development quality only makes it further enjoyable. But this anime is truly for a certain crowd because of its extremely deep nature and depictions of extreme brutality. This is going to be a 'hate it or love it' sort of anime.

Tower of God is a Korean anime which is the adaptation of a very popular webtoon/manhwa by the same name. It follows the story of a kid named “Twenty-Fifth Bam”, who follows a girl named Rachel, even after she abandons him to enter the Tower of God.

Surprisingly enough, that single line explains the story quite efficiently! ;) The backstory of the protagonist (whose name is shortened to ‘Bam’) is not very clear, but he is alone in a dark place for a long time before a girl named Rachel frees him. She teaches him a lot about the outside world and slowly becomes the world to him. But one day she abandons him to enter the “Tower of God” - a place where any wishes you have are fulfilled if you reach the top . The devastated Bam decides to follow her and begins his own journey through the Tower, starting an adventure full of determination, betrayal, and treachery.

The animation isn’t mind-blowing since they tried to depict the characters the way they’re shown in the initial chapters of the manhwa, but if they announce the season 2 of this anime then the audience is in for a pleasant surprise as the artwork improves a lot after this story arc. Apart from animation, its music stands out and is appreciated around the world. The pacing of the story, on the other hand, is rather fast, and sometimes fast enough to make it hard to follow the story.

If you’re looking for a one-season action flick then I’d definitely recommend Tower of God. It is dubbed in English and Japanese in addition to its original Korean language, and is available on Crunchyroll and Netflix in a couple countries.

Kimetsu No Yaiba Kimetsu no Yaiba is a Japanese manga written and illustrated by Koyoharu Gotouge. This was the author's first serialization. It has two manga spin-offs, created by different authors, depicting events related to other characters which occur before the beginning of the manga. Before this, the author had published 4 one-shot works, the first one of which, Kagarigari, served as a basis for Kimestsu no Yaiba. It was serialized in Shueisha's Weekly Shonen Jump February 15, 2016, to May 18, 2020 in Japan. It is available in digital form on VIZ’s website and translated into English. Being a traditional manga it is predominantly available in black and white, but some chapters contain coloured opening panels.

The story takes place in the Taisho-era of Japan. In this world, the demons prowl in darkness and devour the humans they come across, sometimes turning humans into demons. A secret organisation going by the name of Demon Slayer Corps, has been fighting the demons for centuries - which can only be killed by sunlight or the poison of wisteria flower. Conveniently, there is an ore which absorbs sunlight, and Nichirin blades are forged from this ore, allowing demon slayers to kill demons by cutting their head off. The demon slayers employ different breathing techniques, to empower their attacks and make their body stronger to fight the demons, who have superhuman strength, speed and regeneration - and stronger demons possess their own magic, called blood demon arts.

The story follows the adventures of Kamado Tanjirou, who joins the Demon Slayer Corps after his family is murdered by a demon and his sister is turned into one. Even though the story follows a standard pattern, since it is not a very long running manga, it is packed with surprises and is an engaging read. From the beginning the plot unravels quickly, with the events setting up the recruitment of Tanjirou into the Demon Slayer Corps in the first chapter only. The pacing of the story is really good for the most part, without any stretched plot lines or filler. The action content of the manga is high, but there are also some excellent emotional moments that even make you sympathise for the demons. Demons in this manga are more complex than you are first made to believe, sometimes making you rethink your image of them. Sympathy is one of the main themes depicted by the plot, even for demons. One point worth mentioning about the plot is that the manga does not suffer from power level inconsistencies. It is a pleasant surprise to not have to swallow random changes in power levels like many other manga. Once a certain power hierarchy is established, it remains in place throughout the story.

The characters are interesting and you can relate to some of them, but you might find the main character to be a bit boring if a goody-two-shoes is not your cup of tea. Characters other than the protagonist are also given proper development in the story, and that says a lot as it is filled with a sizable amount of characters for such a short manga. But if you enjoy stories in which even the less relevant characters are fleshed out, then this will be a big disappointment for you. In this manga for most part, the characters relevant to the fights are given much more attention than even allies on the sidelines. The history of the other members of the demon slayer corps, even the organization itself are overlooked in favour of the current demon slayers themselves. But apart from this, the characters are given interesting arcs depicting their motivations, goals etc - even for the demons.

One part where this manga falls short is in the art department. Compared to a few of its contemporaries in the action segments only, like One Punch Man and Vinland Saga, the art is at best mediocre. If you are dejected by lackluster art, this manga might not be up your alley. This is in striking contrast to its anime counterpart, with superb visuals by Ufotable . However, it is not terrible, and as the manga progresses, the artwork becomes better. Apart from art, the other aspects like panelling and flow are handled well and lend to a pleasant reading experience.

To sum it up, the story is concise and doesn't wander off the path from start to end, the characters are interesting, power scaling is consistent and the flow of the story is smooth. Reading Kimetsu no Yaiba is an enjoyable experience if you are fine with average art at the beginning.

Most of you probably haven’t heard of this anime. It suffered a major setback due to lack of proper marketing and has remained a rather unknown masterpiece. Unlike many other action anime, it is rather well-rounded, with its fair share of comedy, romance, and thrill - which perfectly complement, which is honestly somewhat rare.

Released in 2015, Chivalry of a Failed Knight shows an uncanny resemblance to "The Asterisk War", another anime released in the same season and on the same date.

It is set in a world where certain humans exist who wield the ability to materialize their soul into devices that greatly enhance their combat abilities, by allowing them to use magic. These humans are called blazers.

This anime follows the story of a high school blazer, Ikki Kurogane, an outcast of the most prestigious and noble blazer clan of Japan, who always suffered mistreatment from his own clan due to his astonishingly low magic potential as a blazer. Considered to be the weakest student in his grade based on the gauged physical and magical abilities, he is further bullied and looked down in his school by his peers and is given the nickname 'The Worst One'.

This is the story of how a guy as weak as him fights to become the champion of the upcoming national high school blazers tournament and redeem himself in the eyes of his peers and family.

This anime has exceptional character development, portraying the ups and downs, sorrow and joy, and hopes and despair of the characters to its best - though at instances when some of the character development seems rather rushed and confusing. The protagonist isn’t the stupid and dense type (as seen in most shonen) and does not overcome impossible situations with mere determination (again, as seen in most shonen), which earned this anime some brownie points. It has emotional moments, too, that canmake your heart throb in pain or flutter in joy. If you like high school romance, I’d definitely recommend this.

Plot aside, this anime offers one of the best animations that you can find in 2015 with fabulous artwork and satisfying fights. A well matched OST hypes the fights very well, and the opening theme is also great. Even if you usually skip the opening theme, I’d still recommend giving this one a listen.

As good as it is, considering it is one of my top 20 picks in my completed list of over 240 series, this anime legitimately failed to become one of the most popular shows of the season as it suffered more than its share of setbacks. Horrendously poor merchandise marketing and an equally bad promotion and advertisement of the show kept it from receiving the light and popularity that it deserved. If you feel like reading the manga, you won't have much luck there either because the manga was discontinued after the unfortunate death of the artist. The only option left for fans is the light novel. Such unfavorable factors made this a rather underrated and unknown anime.

Thanks for reading my recommendation; I hope you find it interesting and give it a watch!

Dororo is a remastered version of the anime “Dororo To Hyakkimaru”(1969).

Summary of Dororo from Anilist:

“Dororo, a young orphan thief, meets Hyakkimaru, a powerful ronin. Hyakkimaru's father, a greedy feudal lord, had made a pact with 12 demons, offering his yet-unborn son's body parts in exchange for great power. Thus, Hyakkimaru - who was born without arms, legs, eyes, ears, a nose or a mouth - was abandoned in a river as a baby. Rescued and raised by Dr. Honma, who equips him with artificial limbs and teaches him sword-fighting techniques, Hyakkimaru discovers that each time he slays a demon, a piece of his body is restored. Now, he roams the war-torn countryside in search of demons.”

MAPPA studios show off their art and animation skills with amazing action scenes and beautiful scenery. Dororo presents and deals with various emotions from hardship, sadness, despair, and helplessness to accomplishments and happiness in those small moments.

It is the story of how a boy who was stripped of everything right at birth does not give up at any point and keeps going through harsh paths to rightfully take back what was his, and an orphan who accompanies him and gets a journey of his own. Dororo and especially Hyakkimaru undergo huge character development in these 24 episodes, and we watch how Hyakkimaru, who had basically no emotions, learns of grief and joy.

The action scenes are smooth and fantastic while emotional scenes are moving/heartbreaking. Various other characters like Hyakkimaru’s actual family, the doctor who took in and raised Hyakkimaru and the people our duo met on their journey have their own depth and tales.

Set in the Sengoku period, when war and religiosity ran rampant in Japan, the first OP gives the chills and sets up the atmosphere, while the second OP is calmer yet amazing in its own right; both the EDs work similar to the OPs. In my opinion, this anime is an underrated masterpiece.