‘Castlevania’ Producer Reveals How He Would Adapt ‘Berserk’

Adi Shankar has been a huge hit with anime fans lately as not only did he successfully oversee two seasons of a strong Castlevania anime series, but he’s going to tackle Devil May Cry, another property fans did not expect to see an anime series from.

But what existing manga series would Shankar take on? In an interview with Forbes, Shankar revealed that he would bring Berserk back to anime in a big way.

Shankar revealed that if he were to acquire the rights to the series, he would want to bring the anime back to 2D hand-drawn animation, “Berserk needs to come back. If someone reputable gets me the rights I’ll bring it back in that 2D hand-drawn vibe and make is closer to the manga, because the hyper-detailed beauty of Kentaro Miura’s artwork in the manga is the true masterpiece.”

Berserk has had a few anime adaptations over the years, beginning in 1997, with varied success. In 2016, from GEMBA and Millepensee, the second anime adaptation of the series was tentatively praised for its writing, but became infamous for its poor use of CG animation and low quality production.

With as much good will Shankar has with anime fans due to Castlevania, the idea of a 2D Berserk anime certainly would be an interesting one. Even more so due to Shankar’s clear reverence for Miura’s work as well. If fans are unsure about Shankar taking on Berserk, it should please to know Shankar respects the animation medium quite a bit.

When asked whether he would adapt Vampire Hunter D., Shankar responded, “”No. Animation is timeless, so there’s no need to reboot or remake Vampire Hunter D. There are other stories from the manga that could be adapted, but then you’d need to top a masterpiece.” It’s not a leap to imagine he wouldn’t take on Berserk unless he had a great vision for it.

If you’re not familiar with Adi Shankar and Netflix’s take on Castlevania, then you can check out the show’s first season on Netflix as well. The series first premiered to both critical and commercial success, confirming the release of a second season, and eventually a third due to its popularity.

The anime series is based on Castlevania III: Dracula’s Curse from 1989, and the game itself takes place in 1476 and follows as a hunter known as Trevor Belmont as he tries to take down Dracula, who’s become a vampire lording over much of Europe. The synopsis for Netflix’s Castlevania reads as such:

“Inspired by the classic video game series, Castlevania is a dark medieval fantasy following the last surviving member of the disgraced Belmont clan, trying to save Eastern Europe from extinction at the hand of Vlad Dracula Tepe himself. The animated series is from Frederator Studios, a Wow! Unlimited Media company, written by best-selling author and comic book icon Warren Ellis and executive produced by Warren Ellis, Kevin Kolde, Fred Seibert and Adi Shankar.”

Berserk was originally created by Kentaro Miura for Monthly Animal House magazine (now Young Animal) in 1989. The series follows Guts, an immensely strong warrior who is known for his massive sword. Guts lives his days fighting in a demon-infested medieval world where corrupt nobles rule. The hero is plagued by demon assailants thanks to a curse he had branded on him, and Guts continues to fight in order to keep a vow. The man promised to slay a former friend of his who became a demon and ripped away Guts’ former life.

via Forbes