Itwęs Nom, on 06 May 2019 - 07:03 AM, said:
Hello
Never been a fan of anime except for Ghibli stuff and I've just finished Berserk aaand it's fucking great. Particularly the darkness, brutality and humanity of it. The demons and atmosphere were like straight out of a painting by Bosch.
So could anyone recommend something similar in those terms with similar setting? Also the sequels or whatever they are, are they worth the time?
Hi Nom!
That's a bit of a tall order, since Berserk is one of the most widely acclaimed manga of all time... it'd be a bit like saying "I just watched all of the best Alfred Hitchcock's movies, can you recommend some other classic psychological horror movies that are just as good?"
That being said, I can give you one recommendation:
Dororo, which is currently airing. Much like Berserk, Dororo follows a misfortuned wandering swordsman on a quest of revenge, encountering lots of hardships and suffering peasants along the way. Set in Edo Japan but with the occasional real demons showing up, this one certainly doesn't shy away from the brutality of man and ponderances about humanity.
Runner-up could be
Attack on Titan, which is very popular amongst non-anime fans. It's not quite the typical fantasy/Edo setting like Berserk or Dororo, instead it's set in a bizarre world that has basic steam and gunpowder technology, but the entire world has been overrun by gigantic man-eating Titans, the last vestiges of humanity living in the one remaining walled enclave. Doesn't go as much into the humanity themes as the other two, but there's still some there, and people getting eaten by titans is consistently pretty brutal. Lots of fun plot twists, too.
If you're willing to give up the requirement of a similar setting, there's a few others that you might find very interesting: Last year's Netflix-produced
Devilman Crybaby was an absurdly over-the-top adrenaline sprint of guts, gore, sex, hiphop, carnage, and the complete devolution of human philosophy.
Death Parade is an anxiety-inducing introspection of human motivations and deception set in a purgatory-like afterlife where the recently deceased are judged and sent to heaven/nirvana or hell/reincarnation via bar games.
Psycho-pass is a near-future sci-fi police thriller all about how to judge and control human morality, with laser guns that make people swell up and explode.
Monster is a deeply unsettling urban serial killer drama/thriller that leans very heavily on themes of human nature and despair.
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