The thing about a good anime, or any story for that matter, is that there has to be a good compelling reason to get into it, a good reason to keep watching it, and a good ending to tie it altogether.
Berserk was interesting enough to get into, and had high ratings to make me curious to watch it. There was no discernible plot until later, which was basically Griffith wanting to conquer the world and be king. This was his dream goal. There was some very loose ties to the necklace that he was wearing, the King's Egg, and this main plot. Most of the episodes existed outside of the main story, it seemed, with interesting fights and their conquests. The final episodes felt very rushed and detached from what the show had been building towards. It's was as if the team had suddenly been told "oops, hey you were supposed to have time, but ... well, finish it now" and it really shows.
I had to really struggle getting through the last episodes which became super dark, where the rest of the show wasn't. The shift in story and direction made me feel like it was a totally different show. It's not the show I got into, and as a result, the ending was a total mismatch from what I had expected and not at all satisfying.
There were some good quotes to think about, and the idea of fulfilling dreams in general. But it totally fell flat on its face on the end. I'm not sure why people overlook this in the other reviews, but I can't. There are many anime that will give you a good story as well as a coherent ending, this isn't one of them.
