Ask John: Will There Be More Berserk Anime?

Question:
I was just wondering if there was going to be any more Berserk anime made? I know that this has been asked before, I am sure, but there is more than enough manga source material to do an OVA series (like Hellsing Ultimate) or another TV series. I am currently reading the manga by Dark Horse right now and it is just amazing and I can’t help but wonder why this stuff is not being animated. I know that the original tv series was not very popular in Japan, but I know that if given the correct material from the manga, I think an OVA series would really be one of the best things ever created in the history of anime. After seeing Claymore animated, that is the kind of animation that Berserk should have to tell the rest of its amazing story.

Answer:
Inquiries about future Berserk animation arise quite frequently. Put another way, this is one of the questions that’s going to keep getting asked until it gets an answer that American fans are satisfied with. Since I’m not involved in Japan’s manga or anime production industry, I don’t have any greater insight or knowledge about the potential for future Berserk anime than any other average American fan. So I can only answer this question with speculation and reference to known facts and rumor.

The Berserk manga series is unquestionably popular in Japan, but grim and violent anime are relatively infrequently produced, compared to more lighthearted, romantic, and humorous productions, because the Japanese viewing audience for dark and violent anime is relatively small. A number of years ago there was a report that a second Berserk anime series was being delayed to allow creator Kentarou Miura more time to pen more of the manga story. Shortly later original TV anime production studio OLM reportedly stated that any future Berserk anime would have to be produced in OVA format because the content of a second series would be too violent and grotesque for broadcast on Japanese television networks. The Berserk manga series is now more than twice as long as it was in 1997 when the anime adaptation covered the events of the first 13 collected manga volumes. So there’s certainly now enough source material to allow the creation of another anime series but there are other considerations to evaluate. The story’s primary conflict between Gutts and Griffith has not been resolved yet, so an anime adaptation would either have to conclude without that resolution, or create an original ending that differed from the manga. Furthermore, because of the narrative structure of the original manga, in order to illustrate any satisfactory amount of the manga story, any new Berserk anime would have to be longer than just a handful of episodes. Regardless of the title, it must be difficult to secure financial backing for the creation of a new, lengthy sequel to a twelve year old show; a sequel expected to have a rather small viewing audience. It may be even more difficult to convince sponsors to fund the production of a lengthy OVA series sequel to a dozen year old title. The existance of the Hellsing OVA series proves that this sort of revival isn’t impossible, just infrequent.

The popularity of a manga does not necessarily ensure an anime adaptation. The tremendously popular and influential Lone Wolf & Cub manga has inspired numerous live action adatpations, but not one anime adaptation in over 30 years. International demand, also, doesn’t ensure production. In 2005 FUNimation organized an American campaign to encourage the production of more Fruits Basket anime. The effort went unrewarded. The popularity of a manga series in Japan does not necessarily equate to interest in an anime adaptation. Presumably there’s not enough demand for more Berserk anime among Japanese viewers to convince sponsors to fund a new production. And I think that if an American company or investor was willing to comission the production of new Berserk anime, it would have happened by now. I agree that given time and funds there are numerous Japanese production houses that could create a breathtaking new Berserk anime. But anime like that doesn’t get made unless it has the potential to generate profit, and presumably Japanese sponsors haven’t seen convincing evidence that Japanese viewers will sustain a new Berserk anime, or that international consumers will contribute enough to validate the investment in a new Berserk anime production.