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Let's keep this short. I have no problems with the audiovisual design or the voice acting. And it's Berserk's story and characters, which are great.
Would be 1 point higher if there was less cut content and it would be a 10 for me if on top of that it had Junketsu no Maria level of combat and armor realism.
Instead, it's even worse than in the manga. For example, what the hell was that scene with just hitting with like 10 overhead slashes in a row and the other guy just holding out the axe horizontally in the same position the whole time?
Why wear that ... heavy and expensive lamellar armor when you can still be easily skewered to the hilt with a normal arming sword by a normal person? Why wear that shiny and REALLY expensive plate breastplate when a bolt from a small crossbow easily penetrates it?
It would make more sense to fight naked under those circumstances, at least they wouldn't be slowed down and overheated by that overweight cardboard.
7.5

To me, this is a very well-done vanilla ero-anime. Yes, it is nothing truly original, but the combination of likeable characters, very good animation and the simple plot made me feel good after watching this.
It must be difficult to present something of value in a total time lower than that of even 1 typical anime episode, but I think, that for what this is, the creators used the time well. I recommend watching the three ~6 minutes episodes at once.
I did think that it would have a wolf-person or wolf-people in it form the title, but despite not getting what I expected, I was ... pleased.

SPOILERS AHEAD


Worldbuilding is significantly lacking, we don't know the geography of the continent which would be helpful. The story is a bit simple for me and I have another problem with it. It's hard for me to believe that the Eighty-Six would accept their fate to such an extent and not try to escape it somehow. For me, there are two potential justifications for it. One would be that they want to protect their people who were not yet conscripted and I guess live between the frontline and the districts where the Alba people live. The second is that they were made to believe that ... the entire world or at least the entire continent was destroyed and there are no other countries or people left alive outside the Republic that they could flee to. We know that it is not true and that the Republic is even worried about international relationships thanks to a conversation between Lena and Jerome.

I imagine that they have to be trapped maybe on a peninsula that is being blocked off from the rest of the continent by the legion. But that still doesn't mean that they can't do anything to try and survive! I believe they could try to retreat behind the Alba territory, hoping that the Alba won't all die without putting up a fight and thin out the Legion's numbers, increasing the chances of success. They could try to look for ports and airfields trying to find aircraft or ships to take over and escape overseas. Finally, they could unite and try to break through the Legion territory, hoping to find refuge beyond the former Giadian Empire, although that would be the least rational of the solutions I think. Istead they act like their death is inevitable anyways so they may as well die fighting in district 86 just as their oppressors want them to.

I also didn't get what happened to the Giadian Empire and why at least it's western part that we have seen was completely desolate. Did the Legion go rogue and start killing all people? Because if the Empire was destroyed by the Republic and potentially other countries, They couldn't have killed such a massive portion of the population that nobody would return to a retaken territory after years. One possibility would have been that maybe that part of the imperial territory was heavily nuked and people didn't want to return there fearing radiation but the scenery didn't look like it was ridden with craters and burned down less than ten years before.

Anyways, if those questions somehow get reasonably answered in the next seasons while keeping the same level of art, I may increase my score.

This will be a review of ONLY episode 3 and will include MAJOR SPOILERS from that episode.



I always took this anime seriously, and I also believe that this episode was supposed to be as serious as the main series, as opposed to the Jean one. With that in mind, wouldn't going after an almost equally numerous group of armed bandits that also have a hostage, while being half-trained and totally disarmed cadets completely irresponsible and stupid? There has to be no way that a training officer of any military would not condemn that, right? Can someone with maybe some military experience please confirm my thoughts?

The ... action also seemed a little unrealistic, staying unnoticed on that branch and then successfully dropping on that wagon and not falling next to it by all of the involved seemed a stretch and then why didn't the brigands on it draw blades? They definitely should have had knives on them...

And then a suggestion at the end, that it all may have been a secret part of the exercise. What? There were so many ways and moments when it could have turned out deadly. Even if the brigands were actually soldiers in disguise, their guns were actually loaded with balls, as seen by the grazing hit on Jean, which also makes this theory even less likely, as if the shooter missed a centimetre to the left, he would have likely killed a cadet. Even if the guns weren't loaded with balls, the circumstances definitely justified killing the robbers with swords for example, which almost happened (by the way, I probably would have given art a 10/10 if the smoke effects for the blackpowder guns were better and if they didn't shoot those ridiculous orange tracers. This is sadly relevant for the main series as well). If the brigands were real, many of the cadets, unprepared for such a mission could have been killed. Then maybe they were real criminals that were caught and then offered a chance to take part in this exercise for a shortened sentence/avoiding execution? That would take half of the military trying to make sure that they don't escape, and they must've been good actors and very dedicated for keeping up the play when threatened with death.

Overall, the idea was good, but the details demanded too much suspension of disbelief for a work that is supposed to be taken seriously. The ODM gear, the titans etc. are just a part of the setting like for example magic in a fantasy work so I have no problem with them, but I don't see how what has happened in this episode can be explained.