Should I Watch Berserk or Read The Manga?

In the past when television was a mere fantasy, or far away from the approach of ordinary folks, people found pleasure in reading. Most of the hit movies of today are inspired by novels of old times. Now that we have the option to watch, no one considers reading the story because why spend hours to finish something when you can simply sit down and enjoy some marvellous animation and sounds.

TV directors do try their best to cover all the details of writings in their shows but it is not possible to capture 500 or more pages of a novel or a book in a 2 hours movie. So before watching a hit show, a thought must have crossed your mind what would it feel to read the same story with all the details.

The same is the case with comic books on which tv series are based. The idea of comic books seems a little old-fashioned. Many comic books are now replaced by anime shows. You can watch them with audio so why get into the trouble of reading them. But the charm of reading a comic is absent in anime.

What does manga mean?

The term “manga” refers to comic books or graphic novels written by Japanese writers. The idea was generated back in the 19th century. The graphic novel is called a comic book if written in any part of the world except Japan. Manga is the specific term used for comics written in Japan.

Magnas are written in almost all kinds of genres including romance, fantasy, action, adventure, comedy, or drama and all age groups are interested in them.

What is Berserk?

Berserk is one of the manga series written by Kentaro Miura in 1988. It is a dark fantasy genre series of comics that focus on a story of a gang.

Inspired by the manga, television launched an anime tv series Berserk in 1992 and 2016. But the tv anime does not beat the level of the original manga series, and many original fans are against it because according to them it just does not do justice to them.

Read or watch Berserk: What’s better?

As a matter of personal opinion, I always consider reading the story through a book better than watching it on television. But if we are talking about the Berserk series, watching it is not a good idea at all.

Berserk is an epic manga series. It has a separate fan base. Nothing can beat the level of fantasy, action, and suspense of this manga. The illustrations in the comic are beyond appreciation. It makes the reader indulge completely in the beauty of the art. There is nothing in comparison to reading the manga. So if you are looking for some real entertainment, go for a read. Because there is no analogy of the amusement you will get after reading. Furthermore, something should be better left the way they were originally designed or intended to be. There is a huge gap between when the comics came out in 1997 vs 2016 because the technology had changed so much in this time that the two things appear to be generations apart and that is a fact.

As a one-line answer to this: reading the manga is better than watching the series.

Lack of details:

In the tv series, the beauty of details is not as epic as in the comic. The fighting scenes are more breathtaking in the comic. There is the masking of some fine details. It is by design because it's impossible to cover all the details in limited minutes. Just like the case with Harry Potter or any other famous adaptation because due to the lack of time, many details are left out and thus the charm of the original story is never met.

However, there is also a slight difference between the series of 1997 and 2016. But overall, the more amusing option is to read the manga if you don’t want to miss the details.

Some scenes missing in tv series:

It is not possible to cover every detail of a book or a comic in a series. The same is the case with the Berserk series. The comic contains many scenes and events that are missing in the series. Some of these scenes are important to grasp the idea of the sequence of events. Without them, the Berserk anime series leaves the viewers in utter confusion.

The 2016 series, however, tried making amends by covering the missing scenes but it still cannot reach the perfection of the manga. So I would say you should read the comic for a better understanding.

Comic illustrations vs anime:

The characters of Berserk are very finely defined in comic illustrations. When their anime was made, there was a big difference. It is like looking at two different people, however, the characters are the same. So if you have read half Berserk and now you are thinking of watching the rest, it would be a worse idea because the characters do not look the same at all.

Background aesthetics:

In the original manga, the idea is to create an aesthetic sense by giving a black and white background to the images. It has its charm. Both the characters and the background compliment each other. This monochrome background well supports the idea of events and scenes and it leaves the reader totally in love with the comic. Whereas in the anime, there is no such detailing and it is not as good as the comic.

Expression of emotions:

The anime doesn't show all the emotions in the way they are depicted in the manga. So if you don't want to spoil the feeling you get from emotions according to the scene, read the comic.

The comic is always a good version:

Television did try its best to make Berserk as perfect as it is in the comic. And they did make some success in the 2016’s series, but it still could not compete with the original manga. If you are looking for true action and fantasy, anime cannot provide you with that because it simply doesn't do justice to the hard work of the writer.

Plus, there are so many emotions going on with the original comics and the reader is left to perceive them the way they wish to do so. In the TV version, those emotions are rather the ones that are dictated.

Summary:

Japanese comics are the most unique art. They give a good understanding of events and characters. If you are to compare manga with anime, manga is always the best because anime can leave out many details and scenes. They also do not care to focus on backgrounds and emotions related to the characters. If you have watched anime, you can still read the comic. Many details are only understood when you read them.

You can also prefer watching if you cannot give enough time to the show, or if you are not interested in building a fantasy image of characters and background. The story of both of them is the same so there is no harm in watching it either if you only want to have an idea of what Berserk story is.

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