A Few Random Thoughts…

More reviews are coming, but first…

I was looking at the amount of “Star Wars” comics on my shelf recently and it hit me.  Not the shelf, but a realization:  By the time I stopped buying all of the “Star Wars” collections that Dark Horse put out (I think their “Darth Maul” mini-series was the last one I picked up) I had 27 trade paperbacks.  After starting again with the first volume of “Legacy,” I’ve picked up an additional 34 since then.

Did I lose, or did Dark Horse win?

Also, a new “Berserk” anime project was announced in the wrapping for vol. 35 when it went on sale in Japan earlier this week.  I can’t remember if I ever mentioned it in the anime podcasts I’ve done with John, but the original anime from the late 90’s was absolutely fantastic… until you got to the BRUTAL cliffhanger ending which felt like a giant middle finger from the anime producers to all of the people who weren’t familiar with the manga.  For years afterwards, fans (including myself for a while) clamored for a sequel to explain what happened after the end and while a lot of people still clamor, others (like myself) made their peace with the series after they read the manga.

Now that a new project has been announced, I can’t really get excited about it.  Anything “Berserk” related is bound to get my attention, but this is such early news that the format (TV series, OVA, movie) has yet to be announced.  I think a movie would be unlikely for the simple reason of “What part of the series do you adapt?”  Condensing the anime would be a mistake, while adapting later arcs would require too much exposition to get everyone on the same page to be practical.  An OVA would be more likely since you wouldn’t have to deal with the content restrictions of TV and the CG animation shown in the ads for vol. 35 looks appropriately high-end for such a project.  By doing it this way, you’re also catering solely to the hardcore fans who will be the only ones to pay the high price of each OVA and put up with the presumably months-long wait in between volumes.

Thinking on this further, a new TV series seems more likely.  “Fullmetal Alchemist:  Brotherhood” showed that fans would stick around for a show that told the same story as the previous series, but followed its source material more closely.  While I didn’t have the inclination to stick around for “FMA:B” after the second episode, I’ll admit that the thought of a new “Berserk” series that actually works the Skull Knight into the plot does appeal to me on some level.  Still, it’d mean that we wouldn’t get to see any of the stories that came after the anime, and that would be a goddamn shame.

Now, if I were in charge of this, here’s what I’d do:  An OVA episode “0” to start off the series by serving as recap and an introduction to the Skull Knight by re-inserting him into the scenes he was cut from in the first series.  With that done, you can start the TV series by having him arrive to save Guts and Caska and then they’d bee free to chronicle Guts’ adventures after that point.  They’d probably be able to get up to the return of Griffith comfortably in 24 episodes or so, and up to vol. 34 if they wanted to give it a full 52 episodes.  As for content issues, the violence will have to be toned down even if it airs in a late-ngith slot but I understand that DVDs which feature content uncensored from its TV broadcast have been big business in Japan lately.

Yeah, it’s just wishful thinking.  But if I can’t dream here, where else can I?  Here’s hoping we find out what form this new project takes before the end of the year.