Berserk: The Golden Age Arc I - The Egg of the King

Just earlier this morning upon writing this review, I had the privilege of watching this movie in theaters in Japan. For the longest time, virtually everyone who has watched the original Berserk anime series have endlessly demanded more. And now that day has come upon us though not really in the most idealistic of terms. Many of us wanted a continuation of where the series leaves off, but for now, we have to settle a re-telling of the Golden Age arc which will eventually pave way for the rest of the manga to be adapted. As for what it is covered, if you're already familiarwith the source material you of course know what to expect and it's once again faithfully adapted (spoiler: there is no blackswordsman arc at the beginning). But I feel that for those already familiar with story, you want to see it with whole new animation which the original series was harshly criticized, then new animation is what you get and it's pretty awesome. But I suppose starting from the Golden Age, it can attract new audiences as well. The action is very fluid and I feel that the postures and the weight of the armor and swords are properly depicted in the battle scenes. There are no still shots or any corner cutting. It really felt like an animated 300 but without all the trendy slow-mos and bullet time. What I really liked in the opening battle sequence is that the soldiers on both sides show fear in their eyes and that their arms and hands do shake when in battle knowing they could die. I like how more danger is more implemented with the battle scenes. Of course the battle scenes are violent, but I feel there is more psychology behind the battles as well. I like how Guts in his earlier days is portrayed as someone who fights off his experiences and instincts. When he's on that field, to him, it's just a day at the office. I felt that the shaky camera angles you see in the Borne films was utilized too much. The panning both zooming in and out and the circular shots try to give it a live action feel. At this point, the fighting isn't drastically defying the laws of physics so the action does feel realistic. What I felt somewhat upset that they changed the voice cast from the original TV series who were also used in the DC and PS2 games. I felt that the new seiyuu for Guts didn't have the same intimidation and that don"t fuck with me attitude that Nobutoshi Canna had. Sakurai Takahiro did capture some of Griffith's qualities but strongly lacked his charisma. Casca's new voice actress is nothing compared to the great Miyamura Yuko. If they could get those voice actors for the games, why not for something as big as this? Was this Miura's choice like masami's when they did the new Saint Seiya oavs? Thankfully the music is once against compared by Hirakawa Susumu. To me, not having him for the music is like not having Kanno Yoko not doing the music for a Cowboy Bebop sequel and it would also be like Initial D without the Eurobeat. The style is still the same but brought to a whole new intensity appropriate for the epicness this project will bring. For now, this movie does a great job of being just the beginning of what is to come. I understand this is supposed to be released internationally. I hope when it hits theaters or is on DVD wherever you are, you support this movie.

(This is a review for all three Berserk movies, butspoiling none of them, so feel free to read it) Griffith believed that, regardless of class and status, all men will sooner or later start yearning for their dreams. The white haired man had concluded that dreams support men, hurt them, revive them.. and in the end, dreams kill them. Apropos of this, Guts had no choice but to accept that outlook of his and live by it. In the world where the aeonian war between Midland and Tudor preserves perpetually for hundreds of years, two extraordinary beingnesses exist. The overpowered mercenary warrior, Guts, whose young years of life render him unaware of towards what direction he should focus his excessive strength to, and the Band of the Hawk. Incidentally, that unawareness of his, has him fighting in the war as an outsider and ensuingly with great skills and a great sword that man marches through death with the sole purpose of feeling alive. A series of coincidences leads Guts to join the infamous mercenary warriors...The Band of the Hawk.. and thus, with the meeting of these two extraordinary beingnesses the story is being set into motion. At the same time, expected aftermath of this union assisting in the war as a Midland force, is the tide of the war to turn in their favor. The core of the story however lies further, in the individuals leading the band of the Hawk. Griffith is the definition of nobility, dignity and later on of ambition and obsession.. A role model to his subordinates as well as capable to convince anyone in following him. The white demon with the baronial and angelic form and conduct is the source of inspiration, dreams and desires in the series.. Only, when Griffith comes across Guts, that flawless balance in his predisposition slightly wavers... For the reason that Guts has every potential in becoming Griffith's equal, to be what they dare not utter-a friend- And when Griffith senses that possibility, perhaps subconsciously, he keeps Guts close to him. Be it out of fear of losing the gem he found within the rocks. Be it out of fear of something equal to him existing, he does, and thus a bond of pure and omnipotent friendship is formed. However, Griffith's ambition shines too bright, so bright it engulfs Guts whom stands beside him contributing in that very ambition. And after three years of mutual sympathy and respect, three years with the sweetness of the word friend in the tip of his tongue, his belief is shaken. Because equality to Griffith means being made of the same material, and equality is what Guts' soul desires. Consequently, the only solution in finding a sun of his own is to further away from him, but Griffith's light is long used to Guts' shadow it would wither had he left his side.. Because, if Griffith was a river, he was the mountain.. he flowed through him while he owned the conditions to his survival.. If Guts crumbled, he would perish.. And if Griffith evolved, he would thrive.. none of them knew, none of them admitted, that if one was to change shape, both of them would decay... And then Casca, whom found in Griffith's face everything she, as an individual, considers to be meritable or deems as wondrous. Because their meeting to Griffith might held the meaning of saving her, but for her it meant reviving her. Casca, who unlike Guts, Griffith's light enhances hers, not putting shade to it.. Her will is admirable.. The fact that she only wants to fight for the person she looks up to, inspiring.. And her feeling of dispirited melancholy for not being able to stand at the point she desires beside him, sorrowful... On the whole, all characters in Berserk meet the necessary development.. At a point where you may not even notice, but ultimately you end up with a complete global view of everybody's personality and stand in the anime. Those three however, remembering their initial attributes Griffith, intact purity and charisma Guts, valiance and immeasurable kindness Casca, a true Artemis and Athena it becomes enthralling following the course of these attributes alterability. (always adjusting logic and objectivity in the terms and concept of the respective story, a human who kills insatiably is by no means immeasurably kind irl ;) ) Yet another strong asset in Berserk, is the quality of the battle scenes, which even though they do not contain magic, flashy spells, Rasengan and Santoryu in general, they are addicting to the eyes and fit to keep you at the edge of your seat. Furthermore, aside brute strength, those scenes could also be characterized by intelligence, the strategies Griffith is coming up with in particular, to many viewers the capture of the impenetrable fortress of Doldrey might seem similar to the battle for defending the Ring of Isengard in Lord of the Rings, or at least not less riveting. At the largest part, the desire of the characters to conquer the world becomes your instant desire. The strain in Guts' billion muscles as he faces powerful opponents or intimidating number of enemies becomes fleeting strain in your respective number of muscles. The length of the series do not allow much development in political affairs, however the general vibe of the civilization and culture in Berserk feels like the one in Game of Thrones, multi-dimensional and partly rotten. When it comes to the direction, it has to be said that it is simply amazing, be it because it's a movie and they took greater and more careful care of it, be it for the reason that it is a rerun and they know what to improve, the point is that the scenes succeeding each other will never get you bored. One might easily watch all three movies in a row, for the plot is unpredictable the battles enthralling and the characters alluring. And of course the strategies during the war, as well as the vibe of thousands of fists raised in the air swinging their swords might remind you of Lord of the Rings. The massive palaces and castles, the mythical atmosphere, the rotten predisposition of the privileged and the overall medieval culture might remind you of Game of Thrones. However, the red Behelit hanging around Griffith's neck, extends beyond Macbeth's tragedy, it's the monopolistic touch that only a mangaka can add, the mystery and the darkness that gathers all good concepts together to transform them into Berserk... As far as the artistic part is concerned. For starters, the art in the manga is known for its high level, known for the detail each panel contains as well as the fluid, realistic and clear fighting scenes. Therefore, the movies that are its adaptation and an improved version of the tv anime, bring forth the dynamic attributes of Berserk in all of its glory.. Studio 4°C had Toshiyuki Kubooka take Miura Kentarou's masterpiece and elaborate it into an action, fantasy and seinen adventure as the perfect prologue to the source. The water feels alive, the color of the trees appealing and the stone and marble all castles and towers are made of, coarse or silky inside your very palm. On top of that we have Susumu Hirasawa performing-he also composed it-Aria, the insert song in all three movies. Aria, a dynamic, epic opera insinuating everything that will follow in a most effective and dulcet way. And then, Shiro Sagisu composed and arranged the soundtracks for the series.. the piano and violin everytime leaves fly around a serious conversation.. the opera in between the dust caused by the horses galloping and the steel meeting steel... and the heavy organ heightening the tension at crucial moments.. All in all, music in Berserk has a feel of professionalism and it sure is a notable component of the show. In conclusion, a characteristic that needs to be noted is the broody, hectic and dark part of the anime.. as far as the first half of the third movie, the show is so worthwhile that one who doesn't enjoy blood in particular might not mind it...The conclusion of the story however takes an incredibly different turn towards dark fantasy that made me rush over to the pc next day to confirm whether what I had watched last night was real.. At first glance, the conclusion of the movies seems unreasonably unjustified, like there is no explaining why the author would create such an appealing, sophisticated story only to give it that kind of ending.. but then I found out that in fact, the movies are a fascinating prologue to the manga.. so for those who can not handle violence, be aware that the third movie contains 18+ material. Berserk is the story of the venerable Lord Hawk, the woman whose emotions shifted her structure into a warrior's metal one, and of Guts, the man owning every shred of the word valiance, devotion and integrity all wrapped into the concept of outrageous swordplay and ominous fate... a story bringing its title to life.

I first saw the original Berserk TV series about 2 years ago and thought it was pretty good. By 'pretty good' I mean I consider it to be the greatest story ever told, better than The Odyssey, Hamlet, Citizen Kane and Big Oiled Butts 3 combined. 15 years later they've brought out a Berserk movie. A trilogy no less, the first of which was just released in good old illegal format for all of us dirty foreign pirate scum to watch. Early impressions: They've changed a few things. Very few things. The movie covered about 10 episodes of the original, from when Guts first meets Griffithto the part where the assassination attempts start happening in the royal court. They cut out a fair amount of scenes, the most noticeable of which being there was no naked water fight. Seriously, no naked water fight means you might as well not call it Berserk anymore. Not that the homoerotic subtext isn't there anymore. Forget subtext, Guts outright states that he'll happily be Griffith's whore. Berserk has always ridden on their relationship and how closely interlinked their goals in life are and how they define each other, so at the very least they got that part right. The movie did cut out a lot of content, as I mentioned before, but the fact that the only content I can recall them skipping was the naked water fight goes a long way to showing how what they cut out wasn't vital to the story. It did feel a bit mechanical the way they jumped from plot point to plot point, making the movie feel disjointed like you could feel the gaps where the episode would normally end or the manga chapter would cut out, but perhaps this is only noticeable to me as a fan of the original. They still got across the importance of the relationship between Guts and Griffith, along with Casca's jealousy, which is all that really matters. The main big change they made, apart from streamlining the story, was the animate the movie entirely in CG. As much as I hate to chime along with everyone else who talks about this movie, but the majority in correct in this case. The CG simply does not look good. It might look good compared to many of the other CG anime I've seen over the years, but it still looked awkward and unnatural. From the trailers I thought the character animation for the CG looked fantastic, but now having watched the movie I have to confess that those scenes I thought were great CG were actually just standard 2D animation. When they cut to the free-flowing CG stuff it looked plasticky and artificial. The use of CG ties into something else bigger going on with the tone of this Berserk movie. The movie is going for a more high epic fantasy adventure rather than the gloomy gritty affair that was the original TV series. This does come with its own set of problems though. The fight scenes in Berserk are as bloody as hell, with characters heads being cleaved in two and arms flying around and the camera being smeared with blood. The original Berserk had all this as well, but here it felt gratuitous and immature, like you had some suger-rushing 15 year old boy off camera going "fuck yeah now cut his head orf yeah!". The original Berserk was harsh and brutal. The level of violence fit the tone because it was a tough world they lived in and people die and have brown smeared over everything. By no means do I have anything against high fantasy, what with the Lord of the Rings movies being my favourite movies of all time. But with this mechanical look and bright colour palette, the gore feels out-of-place. I maintain that the best fully CG anime is Fireball, precisely because the fake mechanical look to CG works when the characters are all robots. It doesn't suit something that's as gritty and dirty as Berserk is. God only knows how they're going to handle what happens later on in the story when shit really gets brutal. That brings me on nicely to my final point about this movie. This Berserk remake trilogy plans to cover the 'Golden Age' arc, which is exactly the same material the original TV series covered. It's still the same old Berserk story. That story may be fantastic. The duel between Guts and Griffith where Guts bites down on the sword is still an awesome scene, as is the washed up Guts standing on the stairs after the assassination and looking up at Griffith as he gives his speech about dreams. These are still powerful scenes that show Berserk is as great a story as it always was, even in this streamlined version. But it brings so little new to the table to Berserk that I don't get why it exists. What little it does bring, shifting the tone to a more high fantasy one, makes the darker and more brutal elements of the story seem gratuitous and silly. I'll have to wait to watch the rest of the trilogy to make some sort of final statement on this, but I don't think this is really worth watching. If you're a newcomer, watch the original TV series or pick up the manga if you're more of a manga person. At least those versions have the naked water fight.

Art: Where to begin with how much the art sucks? The fact that a movie released in 2012 somehow has worse 3D graphics than a computer game released a decade early? The fact that the same fucking "nameless soldier" model is used for hundreds of soldiers in every fucking scene regardless of whether if it's action or not? The fact that the models are ugly and plain as fuck even when used for close-ups and still shots? The fact that the faces are completely flat and not even shaded 90% of the time? Everything in the movie is undetailed, from the weapons, to the faces,to the armor, to the clothing - it's like everything was made out of Lego. The main point is that 3DCG is shit. You don't get the motion blur that you get with 2D hand drawn, meaning the action looks choppy as fuck. Where we would normally see the sword swing being blurred, in the movie it's presented as 2 discrete frames of the sword being in 2 different positions in air. It does not provide any illusion of movement. In the original 1997 series there was motion blurring of the sword noticeably in the assassination escape scene. In the movie (I watched the scene frame by frame about 10 times so I know exactly what I am talking about) there was exactly one frame that had a tiny fraction of the tip of the sword blurred. You can't even notice it. In the 1997 anime this scene was so well animated it was easily OVA quality. You could easily see the exact path of the sword with clarity even though it was played out in real time. The camera angle of the 1997 anime portrayed it perfectly, showing us exactly what happened. It was one of the few well animated bits of the series. In the movie we got a view from behind the two guards in front of Guts, so we got to see as little as possible of the actual action. I'm not sure if this was intentional or not but it's little things like these that add up to make me think the director had really no fucking clue what he was doing. Corkus' helmet design seems specifically to avoid having to animate his mouth because he talks a lot. When he said "this bastard's the real deal", he's is supposed to look surprised - he didn't. The soulless CG models made it impossible to show any emotions. This is the same as when the two soldiers saw Guts killing Adonis - they were supposed to be outraged but the soulless 3DCG face just looked dumb. Adonis' death scene in the original 1997 series was 1 billion times more emotional than the death scene in the movie, and I am not exaggerating. Those of you who think I'm exaggerating - go watch the original series right now. Episode 10, 07:30. The detail on the artwork is, as mentioned before, far, far superior to the artwork on the new Berserk movie, the animation in that particular scene also happened to be one of the best in the series. The raw emotion in that particular scene (again, not saying the 1997 series was good, in fact it sucked, just that it had some good moments) is just incomparable to the soulless movie adaptation. You could actually feel the pain Adonis experienced, the guilt Guts felt, the guards' anger. It was all there. The movie adaptation was absolutely shite in this regard. Animation: The animation was on the whole, somewhat fluid. However, the 3D movements looked wrong despite supposedly using motion-capture technology. I find it difficult to believe that people behave in such a jerky fashion during motion capture. Their limbs were constantly wobbling around and their heads constantly nodding about. Also during the fight scenes it looked like many of the soldiers were just waving their weapons around, not like they were actually fighting at all. If you can't be bothered to animate it properly because they weren't main characters, don't animate it at all because it looks fucking dumb. I can also go into how the depiction of the fights were not well done at all, not even compared to the 1997 series which was a low-budget barely animated piece of shit. The original anime showed the axe cracking when it hits the helmet from the top in slow motion, making it very clear that axe cracked upon hitting the helmet, whilst the same scene in the movie was shot from behind the helmet and few frames were used thereby making it very difficult to discern what exactly happened. The fact that the original anime, which was a low-budget barely-animated piece of shit, is still better than this movie, shows just how much this movie sucks ass. It's worse than shit. Choreography: The choreography was a mixed bag. Let's start with the Bazuso scene. The movements of the guy who hired Guts for 7 silver coins' movements were completely bizarre and didn't look human at all. Bazuso's movements also looked completely ridiculous. There was too much unnecessary movement, Bazuso was bending his legs moving up and down, nodding his head back and forth for no reason apparently other than to show that this movie is, in fact, not very well choreographed. Guts' movement as he walked up to Bazuso was also fucked up, as in he looked like he was just shuffling and not really walking. His sword's movement also looked strange because the inertia was not portrayed well at all. A heavy sword like Guts' should have a ton of inertia and so cannot change direction like a plastic toy sword. When he swings the sword and abruptly stops it without slowing it down, that ruins the realism completely. I don't think I explained why the Guts vs Bazuso fight was so badly choreographed. Okay, let's do it. Firstly there is the issue that Guts was only bashing his sword against Bazuso's axe handle for 95% of the fight. Why is this bad? Imagine someone is doing a downward vertical slash at you. That Bazuso, who is supposed to have slain 30 men, does not know how to parry but only how to block, I find incredibly unrealistic and insulting. I also find it highly idiotic that Guts would do the exact same attack 20 or 30 times in a row, attacking the same place with the same swing every time. His actions resemble a blacksmith hammering a sword rather than that of a skilled swordsman. --------====Lengthy exposition on the physical and mechanical properties of Guts' sword and of plate armor begins====-------- Let's also leave aside the fact that Bazuso's axe must have been made of glass to shatter so easily, and that Guts bones must have been made of steel to withstand the enormous forces from accelerating what can only be called a slab of iron on a stick which must have weighed a ton. Don't believe me? Let's do the calculations on the mass of Guts' "sword". Assumptions: Density: 8 grams per cubic centimeter (steel). Length: 120-150 centimeters (the blade goes up to Guts' chest level) Thickness: 2 centimeters at thickest 1/3 of the blade, which means an average thickness of 1 centimeter for the other 2/3 of the blade, so the average thickness is 2*1/3 + 1*2/3 = 4/3 centimeters. (the blade is about 1/5 the thickness of Guts' arm at the elbow which we'll assume to be 10cm) Width: 12-15 centimeters (the blade is as wide as the length of Guts' hand with fingers folded in) Minimum mass = 8 * 120 * (4/3) * 12 = 15360 grams = 15.36 kg Maximum mass = 8 * 150 * (4/3) * 15 = 24000 grams = 24 kg Swinging a sword that weighs between 15 to 24 kilograms is no mean feat. For comparison a heavy duty sledgehammer only weighs 5-10 kg. The main reason the sword is so heavy is because of the thickness. Quote from wikipedia: "Frisian hero Pier Gerlofs Donia is reputed to have wielded a Zweihänder with such skill, strength and efficiency that he managed to behead multiple people with it in a single blow. The Zweihänder ascribed to him is, as of 2008, on display in the Frisian museum. It has a length of 213 cm (84 in) and a weight of about 6.6 kg". So in fact Guts sword is remarkable not for its length but for its thickness. Anyone who thinks 20kg is easy to handle should try swinging around a 20kg olympic bar. It's impossible to swing around an object like that with any degree of control. "B-b-but muh deadlifts!" you exclaim. Lrn2 leverage retard. It's easy to pick up a steel bar when you're holding two ends of it between your hands so that there is no turning moment and the center of mass is directly touching your line of gravity. You might find that medieval two-handed swords weighed a maximum of 6kg and on average weighed 3.5kg. There is a good reason for this - the center of gravity of a sword like Guts would have been 10 inches from the hilt and would have felt like wielding 2 sledgehammers on each hand. Let's also not forget that medieval plate armor was designed to be impossible to cut with a sword and that people usually wore chainmail underneath plate armor which a sword also would not have been able to go through. In fact Miura showed that he understood this fact himself in Berserk chapter 330 by having Gambino mention that the armor worn by aristocrats was "impossible to penetrate" and the only way to defeat it is to force the enemy down. This is not technically true. A rigid sword can penetrate plate armor if used to stab rather than cut. Here's a relevant quote from wikipedia: "As armour improved, so did the methods of attacking the armour. It was quickly realized that cutting weapons were losing their effectiveness, so crushing weapons such as maces and axes were utilized. But thrusting weapons that could split the rings of mail, or find the joints and crevices of plate armour, were also employed. Long tapered swords could also be used as a lance once the lance was splintered. Thus was the estoc developed. The French word estoc translates to thrust." Simply put, a sword being used to cut does not have the sectional density as the same sword used to stab. Relevant quotes: "For illustration, a needle can penetrate a target medium with less force than a coin of the same mass. Similarly edge geometry comes into play- a steep angle at the cutting edge means that the sword has to displace material faster which 'bleeds off' energy more quickly as well- so a sword with 'bad' edge geometry will cut less well than a sword with 'good' edge geometry even if all other factors are equal." The problem with Guts' sword is that the edge angle is too steep to cut effectively. The point of having a sword is to cut, making a sword really thick and heavy defeats the point. -----------====End of exposition====--------- But I digress. Let's move on to the next scene. Guts is fighting the man on horseback. The man on horseback attacks Guts. Guts deflects the sword and cuts the man by bring the sword over his head and then swinging from right to left. The action is hard to follow because it's too fast. The sword is depicted as bending severely under due to having to change direction from downwards to horizontal. Guts both stops the sword from swinging downwards and starts the sword swinging from right to left in what is essentially one frame of animation. That makes the action difficult to follow. But to say that it's badly choreographed would be stretching it. The idea of deflecting the horseman's sword is a good one, even if poorly executed. The main problem is that by the time Guts has deflected the horseman's sword, the horseman would have already passed Guts. The director apparently does not understand momentum. In the next scene the horseman with the spear throws it instead of stabs Guts with it for some reason. Guts moves to the side to block it and cuts the maceman's arm off. The arm should have continued to move forward due to momentum but it somehow stops in midair. It's concerns like these that spoil the realism. These should not even be concerns in a realistic series like Golden Age Berserk which was based, on the whole, in the medieval era. Physics should be the same. A horseman's arm should continue moving forward after being cut off. This is a fact of physics. Again, not saying the choreography is all bad. It's much better than the choreography in the 1997 series, which was composed almost entirely of stills. Probably the choreographic highlight of the movie was the fight after the assassination scene. Surrounded by soldiers, movie Guts always happened to be fighting them one at a time when the soldier behind Guts could have easily attacked Guts whilst Guts was fighting another soldier. You could actually see in the movie that one of the soldiers had raised his sword and was about to strike Guts when Guts was fighting another soldier, then somehow the soldier who raised his sword put it down to wait for Guts to kill another soldier before finally making up his mind to attack Guts. In the 1997 series, the anime avoided this problem by having Guts running from one side and the soldiers on the other side so that Guts avoided having to fight with enemies both in front and behind of him. Again, a small difference but it's the little things which add up. Also, when Guts jumped off the bridge, arrows were coming down from above his head at an angle which suggested that people from ANOTHER tower was firing at him from behind him, when the only crossbowmen shown thus far were on the same bridge as he was and therefore could not have possible fired from that angle. Again, extremely unrealistic and not present in the 1997 anime. Conclusion: For a manga known by its great artwork, this anime adaptation was an extreme letdown. As I mentioned the 3DCG was undetailed as fuck and absolutely not movie quality, not even TV or video game quality. Because of the terrible art the was action unclear and difficult to follow. The soulless 3DCG created dumb flat-faced characters who looked retards and were incapable of expressing emotion. The choreography was probably better than the 1997 series but ruined by the inexpressive featureless art, by unnecessary movements, random wobbling, excessive nodding and spastic movements, and just plain bad directing in the form of poor choice of camera angles.