New Berserk animation project confirmed

I don't think they'd have the guts to skip something big like the Slug Count's story, so I believe they'll just adapt the story chronologically. The Falcons being the key part of the first movie is understandable, but, like Walter said, if it came at the expense of the Black Swordsman arc (and the rest of the story) to get right to the Golden Age like the anime series, it would definitely be a disaster. I'm still an optimistic though.

The worst case scenario is we get to see (presumably high-budget) animated segments of many parts of the manga and ignore everything else.

About the studio, this promo image's Griffith looks a lot like that CM's Griffith. I think it's still 4°C.

thedigitalsin said:

Here's a ridiculously high res scan of the Newtype spread.

Measures at 5000x3410 pixels and 6.5MB, so give it a bit of time to load.

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Those faces look very very wrong!

From what I've seen in the past, anime art and promotional materials have never been very accurate, even for their own series. Casca and Carcus look really off in this one, but I hope that isn't so in the final product.

Hi. First post here, so, excuse me...

I'm optimistic. From everything I've read about this project, it feels like they won't skip anything. Things may not be in the right order, but even then I don't believe they would skip the first Arc. That would turn everything they said until this point into a huge lie. They must know it would be a terrible move.

About the animation and art, that poster alone doesn't mean much to me. As Rhombaad just wrote while I was typing this post - - God knows anime posters aren't a good indicative of the show's quality. And those CMs, they are not going to be in any of the movies, right? There are scenes there from later Arcs that won't be animated in years, so they're most likely only promo material. The inacuracies don't worry me, and even the art style can change a bit.

All I know is that I can barely wait for the first trailer. That will be such a defining moment, and an epic one at that! Though trailers also are masters of deceit, at least they won't lie in the visual department.


ps: btw, nice background.
ps2: I had to use a few of these icons in my first post. They're great.

Eluvei said:

I believe they'll just adapt the story chronologically.

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That would be a pretty stupid thing to do. And not a good start when you publicly declare you'll be very faithful to the original material.

Eluvei said:

The Falcons being the key part of the first movie is understandable

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Is it really? Focusing on Guts as the Black Swordsman with never-animated-before footage seems like a wiser choice to me.

Metatron said:

That would turn everything they said until this point into a huge lie. They must know it would be a terrible move.

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Let us pray that they do, my friend.

Aazealh said:

Is it really? Focusing on Guts as the Black Swordsman with never-animated-before footage seems like a wiser choice to me.

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The most famous part of Berserk is the Golden Age, so I presumed it would be safer for them to start there. The rest of the movies depends on the success of the first one, since they even mention considering video as an option to finish the adaptation. Don't you think starting at the Golden Age will attract more people to the theater? I know a lot of dudes that dropped the series because they were unsatisfied with the use of magic and the other fantasy elements that are absent in the Golden Age (anime fans, mostly). Well, Berserk still does sell a lot, so maybe I'm overestimating the amount of people that stopped reading.

Eluvei said:

The most famous part of Berserk is the Golden Age, so I presumed it would be safer for them to start there.

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Most famous says who? We can assume it's the most well-known part among a certain crowd because it was prominently featured in the TV series, but then that also makes it redundant if they make it the subject of the movie. It seems risky to me to assume that people would prefer to see the same stuff again. Not to mention that a single movie will definitely not be able to cover the entirety of the Golden Age arc in a satisfactory manner.

Eluvei said:

The rest of the movies depends on the success of the first one, since they even mention considering video as an option to finish the adaptation.

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That's not what they announced. They said they likely wouldn't adapt the whole series into movies, yeah, but because of the obvious reason: the format just isn't appropriate. It'd take dozens of movies to cover it (and they'd have to censor a lot of stuff). They never mentioned that anything depended on the success of the first movie, and have in fact announced right from the start that they would animate the entire story.

Eluvei said:

Don't you think starting at the Golden Age will attract more people to the theater?

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No, I don't. Like I said, the people who've only seen the TV series might be more interested in finding out about the rest of the story. I assume the readers of the manga would go see it either way, and I don't think it'd necessarily attract more of the people who've never been exposed to the series.

Eluvei said:

I know a lot of dudes that dropped the series because they were unsatisfied with the use of magic and the other fantasy elements that are absent in the Golden Age (anime fans, mostly).

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Are you saying they stopped reading right during the Black Swordsman arc? Because if so, there's probably no point in even trying to appeal to them. If that's not what you meant, then I don't see how it's relevant to what you're quoting from my post.

Eluvei said:

The most famous part of Berserk is the Golden Age, so I presumed it would be safer for them to start there.

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Safe? not really. If they start with the Golden age, it would mean no prior knowledge of the Black Swordsman arc. That would mean going into the eclipse, coming out, Guts goes out hunting.. and then what? shove the original intro in there? sounds interesting at first but a key part of the Black Swordsman arc is the reveal of how Guts is after the God Hand, and Griffith in particular. Puck's reaction and lines would lose a good portion of their impact and relevance if this is all shown right after the Eclipse. How would the arc jump from the Count to Rochine and the Holy Iron Chain Knights?

It would entail creating new transitions, and losing quite a lot of the build up of events. Which I think is essential.

I'm not ready to believe that the producers did research and somehow came to the conclusion that the fans and everyone else want to mix up the order of events. Clutterfucking the story won't help in the long run. It just complicates, till things crash and burn.

Would a movie that includes the Black Swordsman arc really be less of a success?

Ramen4ever said:

If they start with the Golden age, it would mean no prior knowledge of the Black Swordsman arc. That would mean going into the eclipse, coming out, Guts goes out hunting.. and then what? shove the original intro in there? sounds interesting at first but a key part of the Black Swordsman arc is the reveal of how Guts is after the God Hand, and Griffith in particular. Puck's reaction and lines would lose a good portion of their impact and relevance if this is all shown right after the Eclipse.

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You're also forgetting to mention that the Black Swordsman arc is referenced quite a bit during the Golden Age arc. They're meant to be experienced in a specific order, and changing that order would result in unnecessary problems. All the main players and concepts are introduced in the Black Swordsman arc, from the Dragon Slayer to the Brand, beherits, apostles, elves, the God Hand and even the Demon Child. Some are completely explained through the early story and taken for granted from then on, some are kept mysterious and only revealed later on. Messing with that subtle balance would not serve them in the long run.

I will put my bet on that it is gonna be Black Swordsman Arc if they are going to stay the truthful to the manga but I'm also wondering what parts would they censor if they will because its pretty hard for me to believe they aren't gonna censor anything but Hellsing didn't censor its OVAs and i hope they won't do it to Berserk either.

Aazealh said:

You're also forgetting to mention that the Black Swordsman arc is referenced quite a bit during the Golden Age arc. They're meant to be experienced in a specific order, and changing that order would result in unnecessary problems.

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I didn't forget. A good portion of my comment went on about how fucked the story would be if the order of events were changed.
I just didn't cover nearly as many bases as you did.

Let's just pray for a trailer in the near future. I NEED SOME ANSWERS!!!

Aazealh said:

We can assume it's the most well-known part among a certain crowd because it was prominently featured in the TV series, but then that also makes it redundant if they make it the subject of the movie. It seems risky to me to assume that people would prefer to see the same stuff again. Not to mention that a single movie will definitely not be able to cover the entirety of the Golden Age arc in a satisfactory manner.

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Yeah, what I said is pretty much based on making that assumption (sorry!), especially the part where I say some people don't like the fantasy elements. And by that I meant that they could stand demons, elves, the undead, but not so much focus on magic (as in having Schierke being a part of the group, the elements, etc) as it is now. That's what I hear from them anyway. I'm not trying to defend these people, I understand they often contradict themselves by stating that the series wasn't fantasy, I'm just saying I'd understand if the movie-makers chose to start the film series where everyone seems to enjoy.

I said it'd be a disaster if they cut anything from the Black Swordsman arc in my first post, I just wasn't caring about the order I'd see it as long as it was all there, I guess. But as you and Ramen 4ev0r stated, it pretty much ruins continuity; I hadn't really thought about that. You're both right.

Aazealh said:

That's not what they announced. They said they likely wouldn't adapt the whole series into movies, yeah, but because of the obvious reason: the format just isn't appropriate. It'd take dozens of movies to cover it (and they'd have to censor a lot of stuff). They never mentioned that anything depended on the success of the first movie, and have in fact announced right from the start that they would animate the entire story.

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I know that's not what they announced, but a video animation costs significantly less, so I'm sure they thought about that as well. They have to think about a good start, financially I mean.

Look, I'm sorry I even said anything, I'm clearly taking this adaptation pretty light-heartedly while you're all very preoccupied with the quality.

Eluvei said:

Look, I'm sorry I even said anything, I'm clearly taking this adaptation pretty light-heartedly while you're all very preoccupied with the quality.

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I won't even deny it. As it is right now, a lot can go wrong and in more ways than I can name. For me this isn't just another series. It's Berserk, and it's important to me. This is the second shot at Berserk. The first already screwed up. Do you know what happens when the remake screws up as well? It means that it's over. This isn't Hollywood were they crank out reboot after reboot or remake after remake. If they screw this up, it's here to stay for a long, long time. As Aazealh has pointed out a number of times, we'll still have the Manga. But I really would enjoy a proper animated version of Berserk as well.

Besides, now that we know it's being made, what else would we be preoccupied with if not the quality? right?

Eluvei said:

And by that I meant that they could stand demons, elves, the undead, but not so much focus on magic (as in having Schierke being a part of the group, the elements, etc) as it is now.

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Which is how I took it, but the problem is that it's got nothing to do with the current discussion. The Black Swordsman arc starts in volume 1 and ends in volume 3. As a reminder, Schierke first appears in volume 22. And on a side note, there's no ground to your assumption that because some people allegedly stopped reading the series around volume 24, they would favor the Golden Age arc over the Black Swordsman or Conviction arcs. I can tell you from experience that it often isn't the case.

Eluvei said:

I know that's not what they announced, but a video animation costs significantly less, so I'm sure they thought about that as well. They have to think about a good start, financially I mean.

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No doubt they want to make as much money as possible, but I feel that the way in which you worded your previous sentence misrepresented what had been announced. Never mind.

Eluvei said:

Look, I'm sorry I even said anything, I'm clearly taking this adaptation pretty light-heartedly while you're all very preoccupied with the quality.

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Awww, don't be like that. It's not so much a matter of taking it light-heartedly as it is a matter of what you said being perplexing to me. Personally I'd obviously prefer this project to be the best possible adaptation but I'm not expecting a miracle either.

Aazealh said:

Which is how I took it, but the problem is that it's got nothing to do with the current discussion. The Black Swordsman arc starts in volume 1 and ends in volume 3. As a reminder, Schierke first appears in volume 22. And on a side note, there's no ground to your assumption that because some people allegedly stopped reading the series around volume 24, they would favor the Golden Age arc over the Black Swordsman or Conviction arcs. I can tell you from experience that it often isn't the case.

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Yeah, I pretty much based everything on that assumption and elaborated some nonsense. I had basically placed people in two groups: those that loved the Golden Age and those that love everything so far.

Eluvei said:

Yeah, I pretty much based everything on that assumption and elaborated some nonsense. I had basically placed people in two groups: those that loved the Golden Age and those that love everything so far.

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I don't think what you were saying is so outrageous, just looking at the new promotional poster it's already the same Golden Age imagery associated with the previous anime. It could just be the beginning of promotion, a reminder, but by that token it's fair to say that's the most "public" image of Berserk to casual fans and general audiences, familiar to readers and non-readers alike.

I'd prefer they do the Black Swordsman arc because it's the proper beginning, is a good fit for a single film, and could even be promoted as the continuation of the original anime's story for those only familiar with that. It'd basically be perfect, meaning... yeah, they'll probably do some horribly condensed bastardization of Golden Age again. =)

Hello everyone... I'm sort of new here; I've been lurking on this site since 2005.

I, for one, am hoping that they cover the Black Swordsman arc in its entirety. The people working on these series of films have said that they are staying true to the source material and I believe them. Seeing as how most readers of the comic series aren't big fans of how the story was handled in the anime and that the series how now sold over 30 million books worldwide, I'm sure that people working on this project aren't going to try and please their original anime fanbase by omitting the first three volumes.

I actually believe that they will pull more fans into the series this way and I'm sure they feel the same way. When I first watched the anime I thought that it was amazing. Then I started reading the manga and the animated series lost it's appeal. I still think it's a great show. But after reading the manga, it made me upset at how the TV series was handled. Well, here's hoping that the new movies get the triple AAA treatment.

I feel the Black Swordsman arc in the first 3 volumes is the weakest part of the manga. Guts was kind of a one-dimensional jerk and Puck was whiny instead of funny or interesting and of course the art wasn't up to what we now expect of Berserk. If they were to adapt the first three volumes for the movie they'd have to do a good bit of redesigning and work on the story a bit (with Miura's permission) to make it fit more with the quality that comes with and after the Golden Age.

I think the most successful adaption would show events of the Black swordsman killing the first two apostles and then facing the Godhand for the first time in the first five minutes with a dramatic song playing in the background, and a bit of meaningful bits of dialogue that would hint at what Guts is currently dealing with. Then the meat of the movie would be The Golden Age. If you want an example of what I'm talking about check out the first five minutes of the first Gurren Lagann movie which shows events the audience doesn't fully understand until the middle of the second movie, but provides valuable foreshadowing and a powerful bit of introductory imagery. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RKUM-FZrBS0
They could work the "Man has no control, not even over his own will" into that intro too.

CCS said:

I feel the Black Swordsman arc in the first 3 volumes is the weakest part of the manga. Guts was kind of a one-dimensional jerk and Puck was whiny instead of funny or interesting

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Your analysis of the Black Swordsman arc is one-dimensional and whiny instead of funny or interesting. =)

Seriously though, Guts was obviously pained and conflicted in that arc, just as always, and Puck serves as the voice of the conscience he's rebelling against as well as our window into his feelings. It wasn't as one-dimensional as you feel.

CCS said:

and of course the art wasn't up to what we now expect of Berserk.

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That's irrelevant as they're going to adapt it to whatever style they settle on for the anime.

CCS said:

If they were to adapt the first three volumes for the movie they'd have to do a good bit of redesigning and work on the story a bit (with Miura's permission) to make it fit more with the quality that comes with and after the Golden Age.

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What are you talking about? I love Golden Age and all, but there's nothing wrong with the Black Swordsman arc; it's dark, action-packed and establishes the foundation of the entire series, in deeper ways than many care to notice. It's in no way unworthy of this, and is in fact better suited to this format than the Golden Age arc, which would be better served by a series of some kind. Anyway, from what you're saying, the Black Swordsman arc might also benefit the most from an adaptation, giving people a second look and possibly a new perspective on that material.

CCS said:

I think the most successful adaption would show events of the Black swordsman killing the first two apostles and then facing the Godhand for the first time in the first five minutes with a dramatic song playing in the background, and a bit of meaningful bits of dialogue that would hint at what Guts is currently dealing with. Then the meat of the movie would be The Golden Age.

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That's your idea of "the most successful adaptation?" And I thought I was cynical about this project, because frankly that sounds more like a worst case scenario to me. They'd basically have to compromise everything to do that, so it would do as much disservice to Golden Age as the Black Swordsman arc. If they're really intending to somehow cover the entire series, let's hope they aim higher than that.

CCS said:

If you want an example of what I'm talking about check out the first five minutes of the first Gurren Lagann movie which shows events the audience doesn't fully understand until the middle of the second movie, but provides valuable foreshadowing and a powerful bit of introductory imagery. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RKUM-FZrBS0

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Or, if you're proposing they faithfully cover the rest of the Golden Age arc anyway, why not just do the same for Black Swordsman in one shot? Especially since Golden Age has already been done.

CCS said:

They could work the "Man has no control, not even over his own will" into that intro too.

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Thank goodness, because that's important.

CCS said:

I feel the Black Swordsman arc in the first 3 volumes is the weakest part of the manga. Guts was kind of a one-dimensional jerk and Puck was whiny instead of funny or interesting and of course the art wasn't up to what we now expect of Berserk. If they were to adapt the first three volumes for the movie they'd have to do a good bit of redesigning and work on the story a bit (with Miura's permission) to make it fit more with the quality that comes with and after the Golden Age.

I think the most successful adaption would show events of the Black swordsman killing the first two apostles and then facing the Godhand for the first time in the first five minutes with a dramatic song playing in the background, and a bit of meaningful bits of dialogue that would hint at what Guts is currently dealing with. Then the meat of the movie would be The Golden Age. If you want an example of what I'm talking about check out the first five minutes of the first Gurren Lagann movie which shows events the audience doesn't fully understand until the middle of the second movie, but provides valuable foreshadowing and a powerful bit of introductory imagery. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RKUM-FZrBS0
They could work the "Man has no control, not even over his own will" into that intro too.

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I dunno, personally I'd rather them do the whole Black Swordsman arc, or just start off fresh at the beginning of the Golden Age. Those first volumes are some of my favorites, I think it would be a shame to miss out on some of the incredible character development that happens with Theresa and her father. Towards the end it shows a side of Guts you don't get to see very often. Guts was fueled by revenge - It's who his character was at the time. Ruthless. I miss the side of puck that you're lamenting. Now that we have so many other characters that come into play you don't see Guts and Puck interacting on any serious level. It's a time of development for Puck too, and without it I think people might miss out on what makes him so interesting.

CCS said:

Guts was kind of a one-dimensional jerk.

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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-0hjSaYCRnA

CCS said:

I think the most successful adaption would show events of the Black swordsman killing the first two apostles and then facing the Godhand for the first time in the first five minutes with a dramatic song playing in the background, and a bit of meaningful bits of dialogue that would hint at what Guts is currently dealing with. Then the meat of the movie would be The Golden Age.

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Really? You're serious about this, right?

Why bother with the Golden Age and later arcs at all then? Why not just show a few clips of Guts walking (to dramatic music) then kill some apostles (to dramatic music), throw in a 5 second flashback of the hawks being killed during the eclipse(to sadder dramatic music), switch back to Guts saying a few bits of meaningful dialogue while looking all angry at Femto then climax to: http://www.skullknight.net/griffdeath/ Guts and Casca can then start fucking(to dramatic music), because you know, Casca becoming sane again is just a detail that leads to hard sex anyway and we don't need details or the finer stuff. Then the screen can fade to the meat of the movie which could be a very long credits(to dramatic music) thanking CCS for saving the production from years of work.

Hell, I might just shoot this movie myself, with some action figures, a webcam, and a boombox.

I wonder when will we get more information about the movie. Mostly, what will it be: Golden Age or Black Swordsman arc (man, writing that as BS Arc as I was going to do is not a good idea ).

I really hope the poster is just a promo image like the CMs, and they just picked beloved characters that give that bit of nostalgia in order to draw attention. I like all of Berserk, but I've already seen a good portion of the Golden Age arc animated. Of course I want to see it done completely and right now, but I have no hurry. So I hope they don't rush and make the first movie about it.

I think what many fans of the manga are most eager to see are the later arcs (and the first one) animated (together with the full GA arc, but that's a given). I agree it's probably not the best move to start with the GA arc all over again. And indeed, the first arc would not fit well after the Golden Age arc. It would feel pointless.

I'm currently re-reading the manga in order to grasp some concepts I still strugle with - all the layers and how they work, and mostly the rules of interaction between the physical world and the astral world. I just read Schierke's and Flora's explanation at the tree house, but it feels incomplete (I guess it is). Anyway, I can't wait to see these parts animated, but it'll be a few years before that happens. :/

Also, I'm eager to hear anything about the soundtrack. I'm pretty sure Hirasawa will work on it, maybe not the whole soundtrack, but at least a couple of songs. He's done something in every Berserk related media outside the manga until now, I see no reason for that changing. And I don't think he would be busy enough in order to deny at least one composition.

Hahaha you guys overreacted way too much to what I said. It's not like my input will at all affect how the movie actually turns out, it was just an opinion.

Anyway yeah, I feel the first 3 volumes are pretty bad when compared to Berserk overall. Opinion. You can argue that I just don't get it but that's the way it is. The art was pretty weak as far as Berserk goes. When you get to later volumes the art gives a whole lot more depth to Gut's character. He's silent a lot so what he looks like by way of the art really matters. So in the early volumes Guts just seems like a really shallow "grim and dark" character (think Sasuke from Naruto). It wasn't until the Golden Age where I feel Miura hit his stride with really capturing expressions that reflected a more complicated state of mind. So I feel if they animated the first 3 volumes Gut's character design would have to be updated to be closer to what he looks like around volume 15 so it actually looks like he has something going on in his head. I'm sure the animators will do this. The character design of him done on that promo poster looks really good.

The Golden Age introduced all these interesting side characters and Guts had relationships to deal with and the reader got a much better sense of him as a character. It wasn't grim and dark all the time, which is good, because stories suffer if they have too much darkness. There were moments of punctuated graphic violence in the midst of interesting bits of character development, romance, and intrigue. That I think would appeal to audiences more than just a guy with a sword cutting up demons for 1.5 hours alongside a comic relief character. I think that would alienate a lot of people.

Also it might seem that I think volumes 14-22 were bad because of what I just said but I feel Miura's art had much more intensity to it at that point and was able to add depth the the characters. His writing was also better and each section with an apostle really contributed to the themes in the manga. Also at that point we the audience are already clear about Gut's motivations and knew him as a character, so it's fun to see him slice up demons for a while. Because we're MAD at those demons for what they did during the Eclipse.

Anyway that's my two cents. Don't take it personally.