Badassery at its best. I saw the first 2 movies of the new berserk movie series that started coming in 2012 and they are bloody brilliant!! (pun intended) :D
The third movie is out too, but it'll take time for the blu-ray and sub to come out. I had heard praise for the old 25 episode series that came out in '97-'98, and downloaded it a long time back, but with so many to-watch anime piling up, I never actually got around to watching it. I had no clue that Berserk movies had come out recently till one of my friends told me. And boy, I'm glad he did!
Berserk is bloody epic stuff! I really loved the bad-assery and the serious undertone of the whole anime. The main character, Guts, is one of the most bad-ass guys I've seen till now- he finishes off 100 guys with just that giant sword of his and that hunk of a body! "Hell yeah, bitches, come at me!"
As far as the story goes, it's been a really long time since I've seen an anime which has a serious and engaging plot. With the recent surge of ecchi and comedy anime, it's hard to find serious anime which leave their mark, nowadays. Of course, the source material for these too is the manga, so I still stick to the point that no original bad ass epic anime has come out in recent years, and that the anime industry needs to come up with one soon. The art style and music too felt perfectly in sync with the tone of the anime in general. I have more to say on that, but I'll come to it later.
Berserk is by no means a new franchise - both the manga and the 25 episode anime series have a huge fan base, with the former considered better by most people, reasons being that first of all, the anime adaptation is just a tiny portion of the manga plot, and secondly, some scenes have been deleted from the anime, not to mention that it has an obviously incomplete ending. I have neither read the manga nor seen the 25 episode series, so I will refrain from commenting any further on this. I'll just mention that the manga started way back in 1989 and it's still going on with 333 chapters out till date. So, once again, I won't make any comparisons between the old anime series and the recent movies right now and will just ramble about the recent re-adaptations, which are a part of a planned "3 movies for each arc of the manga" series. These two are part of the "Golden Age" arc of the manga.
The anime gives an epic historic feel right from the start - kingdoms, kings, armies, battalions, mercenaries, some really interesting and unique characters, a whole lot of wars and fighting and a hint of supernatural. The detail given to the battle scenes was a joy to behold - the swordplay, the violence and the perfectly apt and beautiful backgrounds. And yes, there is a lot of blood and violence but it wouldn't be "Berserk" otherwise, would it? Also, you don't see just flashes of light during swordplay, but solid action showing every single movement (yes, I'm referring to Sword Art Online- I found the action scenes very disappointing as compared to the really well written scenes in the light novel. Though Ruroini Kenshin also uses flashes of light, they still managed to make it epic, so no complaints there). The scenes were a little choppy at times, but very very rarely - not an issue as far as I'm concerned. Apart from this, the art style is quite fluid and works well for the anime. For me, the second movie seemed better pulled off than the first one - I can't place a finger on why exactly, but if I had to say something, it would be because there's a bit more character development in the second movie. And this is where the cons start - the character development. Without giving any spoilers, I would say that the characters themselves are very unique and interesting - especially Griffith and Guts. Griffith is this mysterious graceful bloke who seems to have a dark past or at least a few secrets up his sleeve- he somehow reminded me of an elf in the beginning :p and you just can't decide whether he's a good guy or a bad guy- all you have is a sense of foreboding. Guts is your uber kick ass character, the "care for nothing", "no nonsense tolerating" yet surprisingly deep and calm guy. Both of them make you curious to know their pasts, but unfortunately, we don't get this. Obviously, it's a difficult task to compress when making a movie adaptation and it is expected that some parts/scenes will be deleted in favor of others. It seems that here, they missed out a lot on the character development. There is close to no explanation given as to why or how that particular character is as he/she is. A lot is left to be desired with respect to the interactions between various characters and their relationships as well. Just as an example, they could have elaborated more on Guts' thoughts about Griffith and in general too. The development might be better in the third movie, but I doubt so - there is so much plot that has to be fit that I don't think there will be much space for character development. It would have been better if they had made 4 movies for each arc, but that's just wishful thinking now.
A major plus point is that everything seems very real- the story, the characters, the setting, and to top them all, the action. Another aspect which I liked was the subtle psychological effects used during battle - the terror and befuddlement of the soldiers, the ploys used by the "Band of the Hawks" etc. The music was absolutely perfect - Hirakawa Susume, who composed the music for the older anime series too, has done a brilliant job - the battle music as well as the subtle music sequences. I especially loved the violin during the erotic scene in the second movie (yes, there is one and it's quite good :D ).
So finally, the conclusion? People who haven't seen or read Berserk at all, like myself, will love it and will most probably feel inspired to read the manga and also watch the older anime series- at least I am. And for the others, I can't say because I wouldn't know :p My opinions about the movie series might change after reading the manga/watching the older series, but for now, this stays. Cheerio! :D
The third movie is out too, but it'll take time for the blu-ray and sub to come out. I had heard praise for the old 25 episode series that came out in '97-'98, and downloaded it a long time back, but with so many to-watch anime piling up, I never actually got around to watching it. I had no clue that Berserk movies had come out recently till one of my friends told me. And boy, I'm glad he did!
Berserk is bloody epic stuff! I really loved the bad-assery and the serious undertone of the whole anime. The main character, Guts, is one of the most bad-ass guys I've seen till now- he finishes off 100 guys with just that giant sword of his and that hunk of a body! "Hell yeah, bitches, come at me!"
As far as the story goes, it's been a really long time since I've seen an anime which has a serious and engaging plot. With the recent surge of ecchi and comedy anime, it's hard to find serious anime which leave their mark, nowadays. Of course, the source material for these too is the manga, so I still stick to the point that no original bad ass epic anime has come out in recent years, and that the anime industry needs to come up with one soon. The art style and music too felt perfectly in sync with the tone of the anime in general. I have more to say on that, but I'll come to it later.
Berserk is by no means a new franchise - both the manga and the 25 episode anime series have a huge fan base, with the former considered better by most people, reasons being that first of all, the anime adaptation is just a tiny portion of the manga plot, and secondly, some scenes have been deleted from the anime, not to mention that it has an obviously incomplete ending. I have neither read the manga nor seen the 25 episode series, so I will refrain from commenting any further on this. I'll just mention that the manga started way back in 1989 and it's still going on with 333 chapters out till date. So, once again, I won't make any comparisons between the old anime series and the recent movies right now and will just ramble about the recent re-adaptations, which are a part of a planned "3 movies for each arc of the manga" series. These two are part of the "Golden Age" arc of the manga.
The anime gives an epic historic feel right from the start - kingdoms, kings, armies, battalions, mercenaries, some really interesting and unique characters, a whole lot of wars and fighting and a hint of supernatural. The detail given to the battle scenes was a joy to behold - the swordplay, the violence and the perfectly apt and beautiful backgrounds. And yes, there is a lot of blood and violence but it wouldn't be "Berserk" otherwise, would it? Also, you don't see just flashes of light during swordplay, but solid action showing every single movement (yes, I'm referring to Sword Art Online- I found the action scenes very disappointing as compared to the really well written scenes in the light novel. Though Ruroini Kenshin also uses flashes of light, they still managed to make it epic, so no complaints there). The scenes were a little choppy at times, but very very rarely - not an issue as far as I'm concerned. Apart from this, the art style is quite fluid and works well for the anime. For me, the second movie seemed better pulled off than the first one - I can't place a finger on why exactly, but if I had to say something, it would be because there's a bit more character development in the second movie. And this is where the cons start - the character development. Without giving any spoilers, I would say that the characters themselves are very unique and interesting - especially Griffith and Guts. Griffith is this mysterious graceful bloke who seems to have a dark past or at least a few secrets up his sleeve- he somehow reminded me of an elf in the beginning :p and you just can't decide whether he's a good guy or a bad guy- all you have is a sense of foreboding. Guts is your uber kick ass character, the "care for nothing", "no nonsense tolerating" yet surprisingly deep and calm guy. Both of them make you curious to know their pasts, but unfortunately, we don't get this. Obviously, it's a difficult task to compress when making a movie adaptation and it is expected that some parts/scenes will be deleted in favor of others. It seems that here, they missed out a lot on the character development. There is close to no explanation given as to why or how that particular character is as he/she is. A lot is left to be desired with respect to the interactions between various characters and their relationships as well. Just as an example, they could have elaborated more on Guts' thoughts about Griffith and in general too. The development might be better in the third movie, but I doubt so - there is so much plot that has to be fit that I don't think there will be much space for character development. It would have been better if they had made 4 movies for each arc, but that's just wishful thinking now.
A major plus point is that everything seems very real- the story, the characters, the setting, and to top them all, the action. Another aspect which I liked was the subtle psychological effects used during battle - the terror and befuddlement of the soldiers, the ploys used by the "Band of the Hawks" etc. The music was absolutely perfect - Hirakawa Susume, who composed the music for the older anime series too, has done a brilliant job - the battle music as well as the subtle music sequences. I especially loved the violin during the erotic scene in the second movie (yes, there is one and it's quite good :D ).
So finally, the conclusion? People who haven't seen or read Berserk at all, like myself, will love it and will most probably feel inspired to read the manga and also watch the older anime series- at least I am. And for the others, I can't say because I wouldn't know :p My opinions about the movie series might change after reading the manga/watching the older series, but for now, this stays. Cheerio! :D
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