I've only recently picked up on the odd similarities between the current Berserk Sea God arc and One Piece. Granted the similarities were superficial, it was still odd given their content in 2011.
The movie is interesting, but I'm still worried they are going to do a rush-job in regards to the plot and only focus on the "important" aspects. No black swordsman expansion, no Silat, no Wyald, no Puck, etc. At least they are going to include the Skullknight for a change, but everything else looks like a retread of the flawed 1996 anime adaption, only with slicker production values and even more streamlined. Hopefully, I'm proven wrong, but I'd like them to flesh out Berserk beyond the "Golden Age" arc in an anime adaptation for once.
@Monkey:
Also the anime operates off just assuming the macro-story doesn't matter. If you really think about it the whole aspect of the Godhand makes no sense in the anime as we're never given any context for it at all.
I agree that much of that aspect was a bit hard to follow. They're just…there. Zodd's really the only bridge, outside of the very unusually paced Black Swordsman episode. It felt that they were afraid of including too many of Berserk's more fantasy-oriented elements up until the "surprise" climax.
Actually, when I first watched the manga several years ago, the last episode or two with the eclipse had me laughing in hysterics. It was a combination of the Hellspawn appearing out of nowhere in an instant, the laughably bad voice "acting," and the hilarious way most of the Guts vs. monsters fight choreography was handled with tons of floating animation and awkward poses. Of course the rape ending brings (most of) the silliness to a complete halt, cutting off at the grimmest note and leave only guesswork as to how Guts becomes the Black Swordsman.