Wednesday 21 October 2015

Berserk: The Golden Age Arc

Because you can't say "Griffith" enough times.

For anyone new to Berserk, it's a medieval tale with a ton of gore, violence and sprinklings of sex. This magnificently animated reboot, composed of three movies, follows the story of Guts joining the Band of the Hawk up to the Eclipse event, much like the previous series did. On the plus side, this one probably follows the manga better which leaves the door open to continue the rest of the story. On the downside, a lot of events are very much compressed and characters less developed (apart from the main ones) so we don't get to see much of Griffith's strategies and a few other bits.

 
Nice to see the gang back together.

You also might feel that this is a "gay" anime based on how Griffith and Guts interact sometimes (possibly all the time), but at least you now miss out on the scene where they play at the well fully naked. Sounds dirty huh? Music wise there are decent tunes to be had here but more than once does it seem to be mismatched to the scene that is taking place. I can't help but miss the old tunes like "High Forces" though. Also while all parts have nudity and gore there is way more sex (parts 2 and 3) than I remember. Or maybe the sex scenes are longer?

They also have a flash back for each character in each part and the first one is really disjointed, with probably only actual fans of the series able to work out what's going on. While those improve per movie, the last one gets a lot more tripping balls than it should - focusing on kaleidoscope colors for way too long or having unnecessary talking parts. Some serious ball tripping happening there, and not even the Skull Knight can save it. Indeed, he just brings more questions than answers.

All up I give it three behelits out of five. Is it better than the first series? Probably around the same. Would I watch it again? Possibly the first two parts sure. The last part just goes on... and on... and on...

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