[2022] Berserk: The Golden Age MEMORIAL EDITION

Aazealh

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Overall I feel like they're not really investing much in this operation, and that they're going to invest as little as possible instead of trying to fix mistakes.
Now I'm really pushing the brakes on the little excitement I had for this.

They're just adapting the movies for TV. That's what they said from the beginning. :shrug:
Honestly they're putting in more effort than I expected them to (definitely not "as little as possible"), but it was always clear they weren't going to overhaul the whole thing.
 
I got baited by the announcement of Bonfire of Dreams (and potentially more) getting included, having a new director, new music from both Hirasawa and Sagisu and that new cuts would be supervised by Naoyuki Onda. Who would have thought that with those big words and expectations they'd do so little? I didn't expect them to overhaul it completely such as including Wyald or the entitety of Guts' childhood, but I did expect them to not rely on CGI for the new scenes and that we'd get a consistent amount of new BGM by Shiro Sagisu. As of now it's not prospecting to be what it initially looked to be.
 

Walter

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The Bonfire of Dreams should never have been cut. No excuses. It's an absolutely crucial scene for these characters. A 10-year later make-good with CG does absolutely nothing for me, personally. But hey, it's nice that they're adding it.
 
Honestly, as someone who enjoys the films for what they are, I'm still excited for this. Sure, I would've liked a reduction in CGI and more content added (which there could still be), but I already see a shot or two from the original films that look a little touched up.
CGI for Bonfire of Dreams isn't ideal, but at least it more resemble movie 3's animation than movie 1's. Honestly, I'm just excited to see another presentation of it. I've already got the perfect Bonfire of Dreams sitting in my volume on the bookshelf, so I'm content.
 
I don't think it's an error, the order in which cuts are presented in trailers isn't meant to be chronological. Unless they do something like this in the actual episode, it's not a mistake.
 
They're not really noticeable, but zooming in you can see some light grey-ish lines and I guess those are supposed to be the wound marks in the CG model. They're more visible in the ED single cover.

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(Sigh, this 2D drawing looks just so much better than what we'll eventually get in the episode)
 

Aazealh

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Staff member
They're not really noticeable, but zooming in you can see some light grey-ish lines and I guess those are supposed to be the wound marks in the CG model. They're more visible in the ED single cover.

Ah, I was checking on my phone, I guess they're just so faint they're barely visible yeah. Hopefully that'll look fine on TV. Or not, I mean I don't really plan on watching this anyway. :shrug:

(Sigh, this 2D drawing looks just so much better than what we'll eventually get in the episode)

I can't get past his weird posture and protruding Adam's apple.
 
I can't get past his weird posture and protruding Adam's apple.
It looks natural to me.
It's still better than the hunchback pose Guts does while walking with the sword on his back seen in the PV, and at least it's a good looking illustration with nice colors instead of soulless CG models with apathetic coloring. I wish modern anime would be more like 90s anime in that regard.
 
The trailer also includes a shot of Judeau from right before this scene, so it appears we'll have him giving Casca elf dust. Ideally, this means we'll also have the scene when Guts is carried in and stitched up but told that the Hawks should leave him behind (I doubt it though).

Hopefully, there are a few more additions throughout the new version. Guts early interactions with the Hawks and Griffith were totally cut in the original. I doubt we'll get Foss and the Queen. Probably no Bakiraka as they'd have to scrap the escape in the original. Wyald would be amazing, though I'm not holding my breath.

I also hope this scene doesn't have stupid music under it.
 
One hint for a potential new scene is in the second key visual: https://berserk-me.com/assets/img/top/kv_main_sp02.jpg

The pose Guts has is the same he has when he meets Casca at the Doldrey castle in the aftermath of the battle (he was holding Zodd's sword instead of his own, I guess they changed it for the visual). I think that if they do that little Zodd scene and the scene with Casca, it would be great. I still have to understand how it was decided that cutting them was a good idea...

I also hope this scene doesn't have stupid music under it.
I'm also worried about it, but it's hard to speculate about this. I would hope for either a new Hirasawa song, or for a very sweet and melodic orchestral track by Sagisu, or at best even using "Guts" from the 1997 anime, that would be magical!
 
They included a short preview of Susumu Hirasawa's new song "The Expedition" in a new trailer (shown at the Aniplex Online Festival event today)!
See below (timestamp 1:03).

Sounds wonderful. Can't wait to hear the full version :ubik:
It sounds really interesting and emotional. Any new Berserk song from Susumu is big news!
 
An interesting interview with the director of the new series who was tasked to add scenes and pace it as a TV series from a movie (no easy task). Breaking this into a series had been proposed a few years after its release but was declined initially. He later warmed to the idea, but technology compatibility was becoming an obstacle and it was the last chance to attempt it. Sounds like they are also adding more Character development with the Hawks. How much is anyone's guess.
Interview
 
The memorial edition received its own MyAnineList entry:
 

Aazealh

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Staff member
An interesting interview with the director of the new series who was tasked to add scenes and pace it as a TV series from a movie (no easy task). Breaking this into a series had been proposed a few years after its release but was declined initially. He later warmed to the idea, but technology compatibility was becoming an obstacle and it was the last chance to attempt it.

Two people are being interviewed: the CEO of Studio 4°C (only described as a "producer" in the article) and the TV series director. It's Eiko Tanaka (Studio 4°C boss) who talks about this stuff. Anyway, this reads like what you'd expect from a promotional interview. That said, I think the fact the director describes the Golden Age arc as a "coming-of-age story" is a good reminder of how deeply the film trilogy crew misunderstood and misrepresented the original work.

It's interesting to know they were already planning to do this recut edition before Miura passed away, though.
 
A countdown has launched on the website. It'll end in 70 days.
That's interesting... To be honest, I was wondering if they were actually going to continue this project after I read they've been planning on this broadcast cut of the movie trilogy since before Miura's passing. (Meaning it wasn't planned to be just a "memorial edition" from the start).

Now... does this confirm this countdown is for sure a sequel or something similar? I'm not holding my breath personally. But I wouldn't be suprised if it is.

I've never liked their adaptation of Berserk anyway, so if they are making another one, I couldn't care less. Though I am excited for some more Hirasawa tracks :daiba:
 

A countdown has launched on the website. It'll end in 70 days.
Assuming this is a new anime or movies or something, what else is left to adapt at this stage?

I guess there is still 100ish episodes to adapt, but eh. Not like there is much left to look forward to anyway :sad:
 
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