Berserk Golden Age Arc III: Descent [Review]

How would you rate this movie?

  • *****

    Votes: 18 12.4%
  • ****

    Votes: 32 22.1%
  • ***

    Votes: 29 20.0%
  • **

    Votes: 32 22.1%
  • *

    Votes: 34 23.4%

  • Total voters
    145
Walter said:
  • Carcus' death shown on-screen, finally confirming that he didn't just run off and marry that xenomorph apostle. Case closed, you guys!

Had that really been a topic of discussion? I always thought this http://cdn.mangaeden.com/mangasimg/d2/d2418b77b40901c4734f80e1d975338aa0869ee9064a12c51f940960.jpg cleared up his fate pretty well.
 

Walter

Administrator
Staff member
Lunchbox5000 said:
Had that really been a topic of discussion? I always thought this http://cdn.mangaeden.com/mangasimg/d2/d2418b77b40901c4734f80e1d975338aa0869ee9064a12c51f940960.jpg cleared up his fate pretty well.
Smell the thick odor of sarcasm wafting from the sentence...
 
Lunchbox I think you have problems with sarcasm. I mean it's not the first time.
Regarding movie I don't plan to watch it, by the reviews it seems pretty terrible (that Griffith grinning look *puke*) and since I didn't watch the second movie , so even more I think it would be a waste of time. Would rate it probably 1-2 but it seems wrong without watching it first so I'll withhold. It's interesting to me to see how my outlook on the movies changed from the first when they were announced and now. (From blind appreciation to not caring)

P.S. Still looking forward to the podcast though. "Movie" podcast always delivers ! :ganishka: (My post structure is so damn terrible, sorry :judo:)
 

Deci

Avatar by supereva01 @ DA
Heisenberg said:
What Darkhorse calls the dragon guy, I don't use the Japanese names, not familiar with em all and can't keep track.

It wasn't the spelling I was just hoping that was a typo and you meant Skullknight or maybe shit, even Puck. I know I shouldn't be surprised after Farnese and Serpico's cameo at the ball, but Grunbeld and Rickert? LOL

Sorry not trying to derail, I should have my copy in the mail today or Saturday I think.
 
Deci said:
It wasn't the spelling I was just hoping that was a typo and you meant Skullknight or maybe shit, even Puck. I know I shouldn't be surprised after Farnese and Serpico's cameo at the ball, but Grunbeld and Rickert? LOL
I'm talking about the manga, whenevr Zodd and the Skull Knight fight they square off, then exchange a few blows, and then the next we see of it is either Rockert or Grunbeld commenting on the battle. Rickert outside the Eclipse and Grunbeld when the apostles are attacking Flora's place.
 

NightCrawler

Aeons gone, vast, mad and deathless
Walter said:
  • And the most egregious failure of the movie: Guts *surprises* Femto? Really? Femto has to use his power to subvert Guts' effort? Utterly absurd fan service.

That scene is by far the most infuriating thing these movies could do (i haven't seen them, and i'm sure there are others equally bad, but that one stands out for me). That's just so fucking ridiculous it makes my blood boil. Seriously. That's not even fan service, it's fan fiction.

Aazealh said:
Those movies lessen the series by sullying its name, story, characters, themes.

What is more nauseating is having the so called fan base supporting these bastardizations, paying to see them, talking about them, instead of what should be the appropriate and praise worthy thing to do: to boycott this offensive mediocrity. Instead, you all go like some sex crazed teens over anything Berserk related, having no sense of dignity at all.
Please have some fucking taste goddamn it.
 
NightCrawler said:
What is more nauseating is having the so called fan base supporting these bastardizations, paying to see them, talking about them, instead of what should be the appropriate and praise worthy thing to do: to boycott this offensive mediocrity. Instead, you all go like some sex crazed teens over anything Berserk related, having no sense of dignity at all.
Please have some fucking taste goddamn it.
Quality is subjective. If somebody likes the series, there;s nothing wrong with supporting it. Nothing about these movies diminishes Berserk in any way.
 
Alright, I just seen the movie and I have to say that this poll should have a zero star rating because that's the only rating I would give this thing. I feel like giving it one star is being too generous. Honestly, Studio 4c can't do a single damn scene justice throughout this whole thing. I feel so bad for the fans who watched this.. myself included and even more, Mr. Miura. It's honestly so bad that I bet even the guy who does the blurbs on the back of the DH volumes wouldn't find it entertaining. You know, the guy who likes to see bulls getting medieval on the dishes.

The things I liked..
  • The backgrounds
  • The sound effects
  • Skull Knight's voice
  • God Hand voices
  • Child Griffith
__

The things I didn't like..
  • Everything else.
Everything was just.. bad, like.. really bad. I have no idea why they felt the need to foreshadow the Beherit in the water. The sex scene between Guts and Casca was laughable and just sad. I felt no emotion at all in that scene. Skull Knight was badass during the scene where he meets Guts, too bad the scene was completely out of place with the fact that there was a tranquilized Casca ten feet away. I'm glad they included Charlotte telling the tale of Gaiseric and showing the skeletons down below. But why the unneeded glow to Gaiseric's eyes? I mean c'mon.. Skull Knight's appearance was literally forty five seconds before that, I'm sure the audience could've pieced it together. Any compassion I could've felt during the scene where Guts and crew find Griffith was lost because of the terrible OST.

I'm not even gonna comment on their escape. Why are they in the woods? Was Griffith dry humping Casca? Griffith's carriage run was fine but the dream of him and Casca is definitely missed. I also thought the scene of when he comes back to reality in the lake was fine and I felt for Griffith. But I just had to laugh when he saw his bone sticking out of his arm because he's just like "oh well" that scene made me laugh in the manga as well for some reason. I have to say that the only sound effect I didn't like in this movie was the Beherit. It sounded dumb and the way it took shape was in no way like the manga, what a disappointment.

Now the Eclipse.. just wow. I could handle it being blue but the way they introduced the God Hand could've been so much better. Why didn't Void bleed out of the Eclipse and why is his brain so small? The budget couldn't handle making Void's brain a few inches bigger? And did Slan's bush have force push powers? Griffith's final look to Guts was terrible yet hilarious, it was just a big fuck you, I'm awesome look. Why change something so simple? The scene where it shows Griffith inside the hand all veiny with wings was cool but then it dove into his psyche and I had no clue what the hell was going on, completely pointless. The CGI for most of the apostles made them look like gummy bears. Hmmm actually, I'd buy me some gummy bear apostle candy. And what the fuck killed Judeau? Was that a Final Fantasy creature? Speaking of Final Fantasy.. half the OST sounded straight out of one of their titles. The cut to Rickert was so abrupt that I thought it was an ad during the movie.

Ugh.. the rape scene.. it honestly was no where near as saddening as the manga. Though when Guts cut off his arm, it looked and sounded like it really hurt. And what the fuck was up with Guts just standing there while Femto was jiggling both tits for like a whole minute? The scene with Femto force pushing Guts single handily ruined the whole eclipise. In my opinion, they made it look like Casca wasn't that distraught over the fact that Femto's penis was being plunged inside her. Maybe I was watching the R-15 version? And I always thought Femto's thrusting would be more intense and forceful, not fuckin classy golf claps. Skull Knight's entrance and rescue into the Eclipse wasn't nearly as impressive as it was in the manga. Just everything about the Eclipse just wasn't impressive. I mean hell, even the way Femto lands in front of Guts is sweeter looking in the manga. And did anyone else feel like the Star Wars soundtrack was playing in the background during the entire Eclipse? Or was it just me?

After the Eclipse wasn't that well adapted either. The scene with mentally regressed Casca in the water was okay but afterwards I didn't really like the scene of Guts running, it looked just.. stupid in my opinion. The evil spirits didn't look THAT evil to me at all, they looked huggable. And why couldn't they have the image of Femto hovering over Guts while he was laying in the grass? That was one of my favorite panels in the entire series and it could've been done really quick.. but nope. The scene of Guts suiting up as the black swordsman was fine I guess, but no Godot? ugh..

The music video at the very end would've been nice. If only the movies were you know.. like.. good. Instead it was more like "Look at our fuck up, summarized with J-pop." And did you see how it was a lone wolf and the falcon was flying above? DEEP Studio 4c. I hope Mr. Miura personally walked into their studios and told them to just "Please stop." I am so sorry Mr. Miura, your work is phenomenal and my favorite of all time and it deserves so much better.
 

Aazealh

Administrator
Staff member
Heisenberg said:
Nothing about these movies diminishes Berserk in any way.

I beg to differ. They undermine Berserk's reputation as a franchise and just don't do its name justice at all, they rather tarnish it, which is a purely negative outcome. They are a travesty, and the people who think them good should be ashamed of calling themselves Berserk fans.
 
NightCrawler said:
What is more nauseating is having the so called fan base supporting these bastardizations, paying to see them, talking about them, instead of what should be the appropriate and praise worthy thing to do: to boycott this offensive mediocrity. Instead, you all go like some sex crazed teens over anything Berserk related, having no sense of dignity at all.
Please have some fucking taste goddamn it.
Aazealh said:
The people who think them good should be ashamed of calling themselves Berserk fans.


::)
 
Aazealh said:
I beg to differ. They undermine Berserk's reputation as a franchise and just don't do its name justice at all, they rather tarnish it, which is a purely negative outcome.
Except most of the people who don't like them only feel that way because they are already familiar with the superior source material. The people who have never heard of Berserk and are introduced to the series through the movies think they're great, and then they move on to the manga and love it even more. I have never, ever met anybody who saw one of these movies, without already knowing what Berserk was, and reacted to it like it was some terrible piece of shit.

Actually I take that back, I do know one. But that's because she is an uptight prude who is offended by the gratuitous gore and nudity, and reading one page of the manga would probably make her poke her own eyes out.

The people who think them good should be ashamed of calling themselves Berserk fans.
I think they're good and I've been a Berserk fan for a long time. Miura could show up on my doorstep tomorrow, smack me in the face and tell me I should be ashamed of liking those movies, and that wouldn't make a difference to me, because I've been supporting him and the series for over 13 years now, and nobody is going to call me a bad Berserk fan.
 
Actually I know a critic who rated the first movie 4/10 and he hasn't read the manga.
The problem isn't non-existent if they don't think it's terrible, but they might not find it good enough to check the original material (especially because of the moronic fanboys who tell them the adaptation is faithful and put down everyone who criticizes the way the movies were adapted) because this trilogy might just seem not as good or interesting to them and due to ignorance and misleading think the manga might not be that much better.
 

Aazealh

Administrator
Staff member
JoeZeon said:

You can roll your eyes, that won't ward off my utter contempt.

Heisenberg said:
Except most of the people who don't like them only feel that way because they are already familiar with the superior source material.

Sorry but I haven't read any rave reviews from acclaimed movie critics, nor have I heard of the many prestigious awards these movies have received. In fact, without their overwhelming commercial success, I'd be tempted to say they're a bust.

Heisenberg said:
The people who have never heard of Berserk and are introduced to the series through the movies think they're great

Says who? Because I'm not seeing this "fact" you're enunciating here being translated into sales.

And in any case, it wouldn't matter if you could find a million people and have them say these movies are good. They're not. There's a limit to the subjectivity of taste, and these movies are way beyond it. They're terrible, period.

Heisenberg said:
I think they're good and I've been a Berserk fan for a long time.

Well you should be ashamed of yourself.

Heisenberg said:
nobody is going to call me a bad Berserk fan.

I am doing just that.
 
And again ..this movie was a bit better than previous but still was raped by all the before mentioned things. I gave it ** ,thats like 4/10 I guess. Visually it was impressive and in action it looked good,especially Eclipse,I don't know which preset I set for video when I watched it ,but it looked like movie was going at 60fps and that was kinda cool :D ,as a Slans fan, seeing her in glorious 1080p was frickin sweet :slan: ... I am just not sure about future of these adaptations ,if they keep up with these changes and cuts ,just ,please stop ...
 
Walter said:
If you only watched the first 10 minutes of the movie, rating it isn't very appropriate.
Don't worry, I realised and removed my vote. Later I watched the whole thing, and I was right, 3 stars was too generous.
This movie was a fucking mess, worst possible pacing and cutting ever... Most of the time I wasn't even paying attention, just thinking about how I could've fix this movie, and shouting "What??" "How??" "Why??" and "No" repeatedly :troll:
I gave 2 stars at the end, only because Griffith's scene in the water before the Eclipse was very well done.
 

Walter

Administrator
Staff member
Sprinter24 said:
So how would you guys compare overall these three movies and the 97' anime adaptation of the Golden Age?
It's not a completely fair comparison because of the run time difference. The TV series clocks in at just over 550 minutes (~22 minutes x 25 episodes), whereas the movies added together are just shy of 330 minutes. So obviously the TV series had more time to develop characters, keep key scenes intact, etc. And the TV episode format lends itself more to Berserk's structure, rather than a 3-part feature film series.

That being said... it's no contest. I found the 97 series far easier to watch than the movies. It stays true to the atmosphere of the manga, doesn't go out of its way to exaggerate things, and it's just more of a complete experience. The only real benefit of the movies is that they have a cinematic flair to them. In my opinion though, too often that cinematic quality played against the scenes.
 
I know I shouldn't be saying this as a Berserk fan, but after the failure to reprise a decent anime adaption I am glad this Berserk OVA series is behind us. I'm sure the 3rd movie is the most intriguing but the trilogy ended up falling pretty short. Its not like there is going to be a 3rd Berserk anime adaption in another ten years. This was our last shot. There might be more OVA's extending beyond the new trilogy but its just depressing that this new series feels tainted and polluted with flaws.
 
Sprinter24 said:
So how would you guys compare overall these three movies and the 97' anime adaptation of the Golden Age?

It's not that difficult to decide, easily the show stands above these three films altogether. Although some important parts of the story were left out specifically The Skullknight, Wyald, Puck etc. Character development, a memorable and wonderful score and just the pacing seemed to work so well than cramming what we already saw into a trilogy of hour long films which distant and alienate your targeted fanbase.

Its just a disappointment beyond what you could expect when something so large on a grand scope like Berserk is chopped up, polished and made significantly weaker by a committee who only want to just make money rather than tell a story that has weight and impact.
 

KazigluBey

Misanthrōpos
I dread watching this as I've caught up with the first two and they are complete garbage. Even for those who aren't die hard Berserk fans, these movies are just horribly put together. The characters are flat, the emotions are flat, the animation looks like it could have easily been done when the original 25 episode series came out. Others have perfectly ripped these films to shreds already so I won't draw this out. They should pull the plug on this whole series. If the people creating these movies don't understand storytelling they have no business adapting someone's labor of love and butchering it. The actual storytelling itself makes the original anime series storytelling seem amazing in comparison, regardless of what that one left out.
 
Aazealh said:
Sorry but I haven't read any rave reviews from acclaimed movie critics, nor have I heard of the many prestigious awards these movies have received. In fact, without their overwhelming commercial success, I'd be tempted to say they're a bust.
I never claimed that did I? I said nobody is comparing them to utter shit like a lot of people here do.

They may not receive rave reviews, but they are still ranked more favorably damn near everywhere else on the net. MAL has it ranked around 8/10, they both have 4-5 stars on Amazon, ANN generally gives them good reviews.

And in any case, it wouldn't matter if you could find a million people and have them say these movies are good. They're not. There's a limit to the subjectivity of taste, and these movies are way beyond it. They're terrible, period.
So a million people could say they're good, but they're really still bad because you say so?

I am doing just that.
Well that's a little uncalled for don't you think? I could just as easily call you a snob. And why should I respect your opinion on that? I've been following the series long enough that I have the first volume of the 90s anime on VHS. I still remember when it was a bitch to find manga chapters online. I'm not going to accept any random person on the internet talking down to me, because they think they're a better fan because I liked these movies.
 
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