Berserk: Golden Age Arc III - The Advent

Varagauzer Sep 10, 2013

7

This is a review for the first 3 Berserk Golden Age Arc movies These movies were made in an attempt to cover the chapters in the manga, my guess is that every year they will realase one of these movies. Story The pace is very fast in just 3 movies they managed to cover up to the point where the original TV series left off. Berserk has a very interestong story with a lot of morals behind it such as ambition( the best example is Griffth), betrayal, friendship etc. As I said the story moves very fast in one scene you see Guts injured and in the next scene you see him fighting which signals that a few months have past. This didn't bother me at all you have to keep paying attention and the story is really good to keep you watching it. The problem I think is in the 3rd movie, where the monsters and the huge supernatural events take place as well as where Griffith becomes something like a god, it just feels like a completely different anime you're watching.  Animation I'll be honest here the animation was shit, just pure shit. In one scene the characters looked like anime, then in the next everything became poorly animated CG images. It felt at times like I was watching a video game and an anime mix up into one. Fight scenes were mostly CG animated, it really didn't look good at all. It does manage to keep its violent nature though, it's really bloody and there are a lot of sex scenes, the good thing is that the sex scenes are not abused, it 2 characters have sex it is relevant to the plot eg. when Griffith slept with Charollte(the princess) that was a huge turning point for the anime. That artwork was generally decent, but I was expecting it to be better,  they really nailed it with Griffith's feminine look though that was well done, Guts does not look as masculine as he should look. But the huge problem overall here was the overused CG images Sound The voice acting english and Japanese was very well done soundtracks were kind of catchy also. Characters Naturally Berserk has very deep characters, from the manga and the TV series. In these movies they got a bit shallow and this has mainly to do with the extremely fast pacing of the movie, they didnt give us enough time to understand at first and when they do undergo some kind of development its unclear why is that relevant to the character.  Overall I'll say it now the TV series is slightly better these movies and the manga is better than all. But don't get me wrong, these 3 movies were very enjoyable. I beleive that the Berserk manga is still going on, so its problay safe to say that we havent seen the last of Berserk animation yet, in a few interviews I read, some adapatation of the Berserk saga is underway I will be happy if that happens because overall I do love Berserk. 

JadedDragos Feb 4, 2018

10

Part Three..... The aftermath! After part two you would think that it couldnt get any worse....... dead wrong (to a lot of them!) Not going to reveal anything in this review about part three other then action, action, blood, and more blood.....oh and demons.....lots... Once again everything is top notch in this anime movie. It ends in a blast and now I can safely watch the rest of the series knowing what happened and the full history between the main characters. So again, looking for an anime movie that wont disappoint? Then start at part one and do'nt stop!!

ParaParaJMo Mar 13, 2014

8

Continuing from where the last movie leaves off, Guts leaves the Band of the Hawk and Griffith is captured. It is now a year later and Guts has returned to save Griffith who is now only beyond a mere shell of his former glory self. Anyway, I say this has been the best movie of the trilogy so far. In context to story, the beginning is very rushed and some scenes are taken out from the original manga and some are properly rearranged. But it doesn't really hurt the flow for the story in relation to the movie. It works in its own way, but I will admit as a manga purist, idealistically, I wish it followed the manga 100% to a t, but that's just me. This movie is now 2 hours so it allows more content, though I wish all the movies were 2 hours. The controversial CG in my humble opinion, has improved but still has its problems. I say the frame rate is more even and the frame size in proportion to the characters and foreground appropriately accommodates it. It still comes across as "gamey," but it is an improvement, but by no means perfect. The action is very violent and lives up to its bad ass title. There will be plenty of blood and gore. Even though Guts is the main character and a bad ass, I will admit when this guy fights, he scares me and this movie does a good job of making me scared of the main character. There's nothing to fear, but fear itself, but fear fears Guts. On a list of top anime bad asses, Guts has to be on that list no doubt. I say what defines the art and animation is how it sets the atmosphere and brings you into the emotions. You feel Griffith's fragility. Even though you don't see him unmasked, the detail to the art on whatever you see of his face is enough to give you an idea of what he would look like if unmasked. You see the hesitation of Guts on whether or not he should leave the Hawks again. You feel Casca's frustrations. I feel that the raw emotions bring a sense of substance in conjunction to its R-15+ (the equivalent to an NC-17 in America) rating. The voice acting, as I have admitted in previous reviews, has been an issue for me. I will admit that Guts' new actor has shown improvement and shown instances that he can capture the character. But I will openly admit as a purist and fanboy that Nobutoshi Canna is still Guts to me while Michael Bell will always be his English voice to me. The guy who plays Jedau does an ok imitation of the character's original voice actor, Ishida Akira. Maybe for people not familiar with the previous anime series and the games will not find this to be an issue and may like the voice actors.Like the second movie, the soundtrack is more acoustics and orchestrated. My thoughts on that carry onto this movie as well. It suits the time period very well and knows how to suit the atmosphere. The orchestra in the ending credits was very impressive. Susumu Hirakawa still does the opening theme and is my favorite part of the soundtrack. Still, like the newer voice cast, fans new to Berserk who had not seen the previous anime series or played the games will probably not think of this as an issue. The closest thing to a spoiler I can give is that after the ending credits, there is a post credits scene which isn't much for some people, but after that is over, there is a message in clear English that says "This is only the beginning" meaning we will get new Berserk movies. I say its only natural with the easter eggs in previous movies, this series deserves its shot where it really shines. For those not familiar with the Berserk manga, this new trilogy is a mere fraction of what Berserk has to offer. So I hope we hear more news soon if a new Berserk movie will come out this year or not. After that, we get a bonus music video!!! So fans will most likely enjoy this