Yeah, I doubt Disney would commission an adaptation/dub of Berserk, not like Jim or anyone else are compelled to anyways. Leave it to a willing Japanese studio to do Berserk justice, but there's a possibility that butterflies could break the curse and make a decent Berserk adaptation.
Just so. Even if I wanted the most benevolent WD in all the multiverse to own all the things, this is one particular manga/anime that would be better in native Japanese hands (there are things they could adapt well, up to and including into LIVE ACTION FILMS, but this ain’t one of ‘em Chief).
We can never be sure how a person takes products they never consumed (as I doubt OTL!Jim had time to notice an obscure manga that only started publication the year before he suddenly died), and can only speculate based on our best research, but I’ll say this:
if Jim could stomach
Berserk, he’d hopefully come out of the experience even more inspired creatively, and all the stronger for it; hell, I could see him and Kentaro Miura becoming friendly acquaintances (if not chums) should they ever actually meet… Actually now that I think about it, with
The Dark Crystal being so popular in Japan AND Miura having been a teenager when it first released, I would NOT be surprised if he had it in the dark recesses of his mind when he conceived
Berserk, even IOTL, and could well admire Henson (not that we could ever be sure unless there’s record of him talking about it, granted).
Also, I will attest that the OTL 1997
Berserk anime is, if not totally loyal to the source material (or even the significant chunk of story it tackled) a devoted adaptation in spirit… Don’t look at me like that; if people want to tell me
The Neverending Story was a loyal adaptation to even the first half of the novel (it ISN’T, they undid the deaths that even the book depicted AND they missed the thematic point of a lot of memorable parts of the book, stop saying it’s understanding the more deconstructive threads you bloody twats!) and that I’m wring to see it as not spiritually faithful, then I’m within my right to say the same thing about the first
Berserk anime…
[NB: If it’s not clear yet, The Neverending Story is one of my favourite novels of all time; as far as single volume works go, it ties at the top with Watership Down and no other. I first read both in my mid-teens, along with The Chronicles of Prydain (and too many other books that I don’t recall all the names of), and they left a deeply-felt impact on me like few books could, mainstream or otherwise. So, while I was impressed that Disney adapted the second half of TNS without needing to recast ITTL, the fact it was in essence the same story left me feeling quite apathetic to it in all honesty… I’ll concede that I also read the book first (though after watching the animated series from the mid-90s as a younger child) so I’m not unbiased, but to say I was ultimately underwhelmed by this “classic 80s fantasy film” is… well, it’s like saying that acid burns hurt. Yeah, that sounds about right…]]
But, I digress. Though I can’t see butterflies changing Miura’s creative process (unless they’ve already altered it beyond recognition, and even then…), maybe an even better adaptation could emerge ITTL. This is definitely too far into the future to be sure it will even come up (and I’ve derailed the thread more than I’m comfortable already; if you wanna go further on it we should take it elsewhere for the nonce).
With the WDSS, it does allow more mature forms of horror to be distributed without damaging the brand, so there's a faint possibility that they could adapt Junji Ito's work, assuming Jim is fascinated by the surreal and twisted stories that Ito brings to the table like Uzumaki.
Certainly true, although given my own personal disinterest I can’t say any further on that.
I don't think so, a quick search of his work makes me think that this would be too much for Disney even ITTL. There's a difference between a scare like Dark Crystal & Black Cauldron and straight up horror. Remember even if WED Signature Series is for more mature audiences stupid parents may buy they for their children and a horror film from Disney (by name) will cause a major firestorm.
Perhaps if Jim chooses to go independent again it could happen; otherwise, you may be right that it’s too unlikely.
