[2022] Berserk: The Golden Age MEMORIAL EDITION

That scene was skipped in the movie, as was Guts and Casca's aftermath of the battle moment from the top of the castle.

It's a pity to hear that they skipped them in the Memorial Edition as well.
 
If my memory doesn't fail me, Guts just kills him by cutting him and the horse in two, but instead by using his own sword which never broke in the first place.
 
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Sorry, could you remind me how Guts survives Boskone then? I’ve only seen movie 2 once, 10 years ago.
It's really bad: a flag-topped spear falls from one of the soldiers nearby, Guts grabs it and throws it at Boskone as a distraction, sidesteps and cuts through him and his horse. His sword never breaks, and they have a really awkward shot of him slamming the sword down and there's clearly nothing in front of him, then it cuts to headless Boskone & horse.
 

Aazealh

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The movie trilogy really just cuts out everything that made these sequences interesting and memorable in the first place huh.

It's the same for every scene in the story (the ball, to be featured next, is particularly egregious). And even the stuff they kept was usually lessened in one way or another. Qualitatively, these movies were a huge missed opportunity.

EDIT: Now that I think of it, newer members may enjoy reading my old review of the second movie.
 
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Not a ton of updates here other than some better face models. Boscogn still gets beaten based on a Band of the Hawk flag thrown at him. A hamfisted symbolism that seems more motivated by removing the question of Zodd's presence. Not surprising that this wasn't updated as it would have required all subsequent shots to have a new sword.
 
Not a ton of updates here other than some better face models. Boscogn still gets beaten based on a Band of the Hawk flag thrown at him. A hamfisted symbolism that seems more motivated by removing the question of Zodd's presence. Not surprising that this wasn't updated as it would have required all subsequent shots to have a new sword.
They could have just included a shot of Zodd in CGI just observing from the cliff, and just leave everything else the same, they could at least include his lines because that's what I loved about it, it's this big victory but Zodd adds this ominous air to it
 
BTW, an easy missed opportunity for improvement was when Adon breaks free and Casca challenges him. She clearly holds out her loaded crossbow and turns it upside down as if to disarm it, but we see no bolt fall. It seems like an animation miss the first time that was never picked up.
 
Here's a compilation of changes (retouched faces, mainly) from episode 6:

One bigger change is that they changed Gennon's servants' hair from longer to shorter hair.
Movie:

Memorial Edition:

I recall in the manga that there was one servant boy with short hair--so I think they tried to make it more accurate to the source material. But it failed because in the previous episode, and later in this same episode, the servants' all had long hair haha. Interesting change.
 
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Aazealh

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Staff member
I recall in the manga that there was one servant boy with short hair--so I think they tried to make it more accurate to the source material. But it failed because in the previous episode, and later in this same episode, the servants' all had long hair haha. Interesting change.

I don't mean to bust your balls but they missed the point of the original scene to begin with, and shortening a character's hair doesn't fix it (plus it's not even the right haircut). The boy that's serving Gennon his wine is implied to be a sex slave and you can tell by the look on his face that he's not enjoying his station very much. Boskone also remarks on the situation, having deduced Gennon's reasons for trying to interfere with the battle.

The movies completely modified the scene to show Gennon instead having a harem of frolicking, adult men (Griffith clones to boot) surrounding him. They're loyal to him (die fighting in the battle) and they're all having fun in their open air hot pool, as if such an installation were possible in a fortress like Doldrey. It changes the atmosphere from sordid and oppressive to light-hearted and even almost comical, given how they gave Gennon exaggerated "effeminate" maneurisms.
 
As suspected from earlier interviews, they will include the tavern conversation with Guts and Judeau before the snowy hill confrontation with Griffith, in this article there's a first screenshot of it. It's unclear if they chose to remove Korcus or if he will join in later. Btw, unlike the Bonfire of Dreams scene, here the CG models look horrible.
https://www.animatetimes.com/news/details.php?id=1667896673&utm_source=twitter&utm_medium=social

I'm not sure if it's odd or not, but the article also mentions the addition of "new episodes", beside new scenes and music. Phrased like that it could seem like they've got in store whole episodes worth of new content, but I sincerely doubt it's the case.
 
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Here's hoping they keep the whole sequence. From Casca seeing Guts leave, to Judeau asking him for a farewell drink, to Judeau walking him and asking about taking Casca. They have leeway based on what's already animated. I feel like the tavern scene though mostly works because of Corkus being a strong voice of desent.

It's a great sequence because Guts is called out on what he's being ungrateful for, what he's about to do, and that it's not even about himself, but comparing himself to Griffith. Fingers crossed they keep it close to faithful.
 

Aazealh

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I'm not sure if it's odd or not, but the article also mentions the addition of "new episodes", beside new scenes and music. Phrased like that it could seem like they've got in store whole episodes worth of new content, but I sincerely doubt it's the case.

It just means "moment" or "sequence" in this context. They're not talking about episodes of the TV series.

It's a great sequence because Guts is called out on what he's being ungrateful for, what he's about to do, and that it's not even about himself, but comparing himself to Griffith. Fingers crossed they keep it close to faithful.

That's not really how it goes down. Corkus resents him for wanting to attain something for himself, essentially for having any ambition at all besides being satisfied with his position. It's petty and unwarranted, the product of his own crushed ambitions from the past. Still a great scene nevertheless, and I agree that his presence is a key part of it. Would be a shame to not have him there, especially since the director said he was his favorite character. That preview doesn't look promising though...
 

Walter

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Still a great scene nevertheless, and I agree that his presence is a key part of it. Would be a shame to not have him there, especially since the director said he was his favorite character. That preview doesn't look promising though...
There's a part of the scene with Guts and Judo after Corkus leaves. It could still be faithful.
 

Dar_Klink

Last Guardian when? - CyberKlink 20XX before dying
As suspected from earlier interviews, they will include the tavern conversation with Guts and Judeau before the snowy hill confrontation with Griffith, in this article there's a first screenshot of it. It's unclear if they chose to remove Korcus or if he will join in later. Btw, unlike the Bonfire of Dreams scene, here the CG models look horrible.
https://www.animatetimes.com/news/details.php?id=1667896673&utm_source=twitter&utm_medium=social

I'm not sure if it's odd or not, but the article also mentions the addition of "new episodes", beside new scenes and music. Phrased like that it could seem like they've got in store whole episodes worth of new content, but I sincerely doubt it's the case.
If Corkus is still there he better fucking have his feet up by the cheese
 
They should be wearing their winter clothing in this scene, but they seem to only have one CGI outfit for Judeau lol, that's what makes me doubt it will be completely faithful because they would need to have a cut and they can't walk outside in the snow like that unless they do a small cut after they've put on their clothes but I doubt it because in the confrontation with Griffith Judeau is wearing his original winter clothes which isn't just a jacket but a whole new outfit. in the manga it's a seemles transition from this scene to the confrontation with Griffith so in this anime I think it will cut before Judeau and Guts walk outside and Judeau talks about Casca to Guts.
 

residentgrigo

Excitement and Enjoyment!
The bar conversation with Judeau starting at min 10:08 is new to the films. It lasts till 20:08 so exactly 10 minutes are new but 2 minutes of it has to be stock footage. It's all cheaply animated (no budget for winter cloth models could be found), badly directed and has tons of stock footage but is the longest of 3 new scenes so far. The Bonfire had more new footage made for it of course. Korcus is also missing so the character conflict is removed this time. Lame. The end result is so cheap and missing context that no new info is brought to the screen. A memorable scene in the manga/97 anime has now been reduced to exposition. Exactly what I feared the ME would be finally comes true.

The CG was touched up in most scenes so far but still sucks. Film 3 always had better CG so new improvements might lead to a solid look from episode 9.
 

Aazealh

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Episode 7 went exactly as I had anticipated: the full ball scene (bleh), 10 minutes of new content for the tavern scene, and it ends at the beginning of the duel. There's almost no notable change in the old content save for the usual few imperceptible tweaks. They did fix Judo's face in one scene during the ball that's somewhat noticeable.

The new content starts at 10:00 and ends at 20:00, it's 10 minutes total on the dot. Corkus isn't in the scene, like I feared. It's just Guts and Judo. The scene is hobbled because of that, obviously, but they've kept the rest of the dialogue mostly faithful to the manga. However it should be noted that Judo never exits the tavern, they have the entirety of their talk there, including the part about Guts taking Casca with him. Then Guts just leaves him there.

Visually, the close-ups are clean, the wider shots not so much. And the animation is very basic in some scenes. They reuse a lot of content: the Gambino flashback material is replayed in slow-motion, then we have stuff with Griffith, scenes of Julius and Adonis' deaths, a part of Casca's flashback... In addition, they use tricks to save up on animation, like focusing on a still-frame candle or a tankard of wine. And they also reuse the still shot of the tavern when we exit the scene.

They've weirdly placed the part where Guts walks out of the city after the credits. It's a trick to avoid making it feel nonsensical that Judo's already up the hill when Guts gets there and they're all waiting for him. It still feels clunky though, and as a result the episode ends abruptly mid-scene as Guts tells Griffith "sorry", indicating he does mean to leave. It cuts right before Rickert's immediate reply. Not great.

While it's an improvement over not being there, overall the added tavern scene doesn't help the whole make much more sense than it did in the movie. It still feels like a rather poor adaptation of the original material.

Episode 8 will conclude the second movie next week. There's about 20 minutes of content remaining so it should be a straightforward affair. They'll probably replay part of this episode's post-credit scene before the opening to get to a 24 minutes run time.

Like I mentioned some weeks ago, the third movie could be split into 4 episodes, but that would require cutting content somewhat aggressively in certain parts. They may have instead opted to create another new scene of approximately 10 minutes in order to make it into 5 episodes. That would bring the total number of episodes to 13. It would also have the website countdown end right after Griffith sacrifices his comrades, which makes sense.

If that's what they did, I see two ways they could have gone about it. The first is to add new content to episode 10. That'd be during Griffith's rescue. Whether it's a proper fight scene for the main squad or the sequence where Rickert's group gets massacred (or both), there's a lot of room for easily splicing in new scenes. The other option is to better show Guts becoming the Black Swordsman at the end, instead of squeezing it in a post credit scene that lasts a minute and a half.
 
I just watched it. I didn't see much new in the ballroom promotion sequence. I had forgotten how long the dancing portion of it goes on in the movies. And without the poison plot, there is no tension. They transition to the tavern scene before Guts leaves, and it's a lot of scenes combined all in the same location, but without Corkus. There is no lead-up to the scene either, so it's unclear if this is supposed to be right before Guts leaves, or a random bar night for Guts and Judeau. Guts certainly isn't dressed for a journey.

There is nice 2D animation present here, but the dialogue feels overly long, and without a jerk like Corkus the scene (again) lacks tension. It's as if the director realizes how boring this scene becomes because he starts focusing the camera on random things in the room. It's nice that Judeau gets some real characterization, and there's some nice animation, but without breaking up the dialogue between locations and without the unfriendly tone of Corkus, the whole scene gets repetitive and dull. It also relies heavily on flashbacks to previous scenes, with at least one new shot of young Guts. I was a little surprised that the scene didn't end with the snowy duel. They also make the odd decision to run the credits before an additional scene of Guts leaving the city and encountering the Hawks. I almost missed the whole scene.

Overall this scene is an improvement over not having anything to set up Guts's farewell. I can't believe these character moments were omitted. That said, the '97 anime handles this better in every way.
 

Aazealh

Administrator
Staff member
There is no lead-up to the scene either, so it's unclear if this is supposed to be right before Guts leaves, or a random bar night for Guts and Judeau. Guts certainly isn't dressed for a journey.

Good point, I didn't think to mention it but it's disconnected both from what comes before and after. Not a subtle insertion at all, just a scene that was shoved in-between two others.
 

Aazealh

Administrator
Staff member
Is it just only me? Or has anyone seen that post in twitter the past week where Guts War of declaration seems to be the new scene that will be added for the Last Movie

I haven't seen it (can't say that I go looking for this stuff), but that'd be one way to get the last episode's run time to where it needs to be. It would also be easy to animate (with Guts staying mostly static), which is probably their main concern.
 
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