Berserk Golden Age Arc I: Egg of the Supreme Ruler [Review]

[SuperVegetto]

I don't agree, if I were to write a story I wouldn't want anyone to butcher it. I think Miura wouldn't want it either as I red somewhere that he really did a lot of changes in the old anime so obviously he cares about his work more than about $$. Well of course that's only my opinion.

P.S. I didn't watch the movie and I'll probably enjoy it, just didn't want to agree with your point about fillers.Also I'll keep my hands from the podcast until I watch the movie as I fear it may influence my joy watching the movie

Ohhh yeah! I take back what I said then, Miura shouldn't have the same feeling as me then. I disagree about the butchering the story though, only the manga is canon.

And yeah keep your hands of the podcast, it will certainly affect your joy watching the movie, only if I knew lol....

 

[Walter]

The positive aspect is, from a financial point of view, his life work is gaining more coverage and will produce new fans to take an interest in the manga.

You sound pretty certain that those who watch the movie will become fans of the series. I'm not so certain about that.

And yeah keep your hands of the podcast, it will certainly affect your joy watching the movie, only if I knew lol....

Are you seriously complaining that a 1-hour podcast discussion about the movie spoiled your experience of watching the movie? Didn't you think about that before listening?

 

[Aazealh]

How do you know that he didn't actually enjoy it? Nobody's opinion is fact

That review is full of shit and that's a fact. No one cares whether the reviewer enjoyed himself or not, what's sure is that he's either a liar or an idiot.

"should find a receptive audience from fans of the series and newcomers alike. [...] "The relationship between these three is treated with subtlety and respect, especially the dynamic between Guts and Griffith, which captivatingly fluctuates between rivalry, friendship, and romance. [...] the film is very faithful to Miura's manga [...] This concise and well-adapted story results in an exciting, intense action tale full of intriguing characters and drama. [...] a very well-paced film"

What hellrasinbrasin said about it is right on the money.

Miura has been writhing and drawing Berserk for along time so I don't know if getting an anime made for your manga is a great thing or just the most normal thing in the world, of course if you have good funding things get a lot easier.

What we do know from what the studio claimed is that he refused a lot of projects over the years because he didn't think they could do the story justice. And we also know that this movie doesn't do the story justice. So...

The positive aspect is, from a financial point of view, his life work is gaining more coverage and will produce new fans to take an interest in the manga.

I'm not so sure it'll be gaining too many new fans, actually. I certainly hope so, but so far it doesn't look like it's the case (and I sure as hell can't blame the people who didn't become fans).

I disagree about the butchering the story though, only the manga is canon.

They butchered the story precisely because they didn't respect the manga at all.

And yeah keep your hands of the podcast, it will certainly affect your joy watching the movie, only if I knew lol....

You're affecting my joy of browsing this forum.

 

[Irvine]

You sound pretty certain that those who watch the movie will become fans of the series. I'm not so certain about that.

It's possible. I watched a bad Berserk parody on youtube (Berserk abridged) and I became a fan because after watching the videos I was very interested what the actual manga is like.

 

[Aazealh]

It's possible. I watched a bad Berserk parody on youtube (Berserk abridged) and I became a fan because after watching the videos I was very interested what the actual manga is like.

The thing is though that for one person like you there's probably 20 other who wouldn't bother in the same case. Not to mention that an open parody can make you curious because you know the original is different (not as bad), whereas the movie is portrayed as a faithful adaptation and takes itself very seriously. It might still get people curious, but I think that's a far bigger step for someone to take. And all that aside, the movie doesn't seem to have drawn a large audience, so once you remove those who were already fans, the potential newcomers aren't swarming.

 

[SuperVegetto]

You sound pretty certain that those who watch the movie will become fans of the series. I'm not so certain about that.
Are you seriously complaining that a 1-hour podcast discussion about the movie spoiled your experience of watching the movie? Didn't you think about that before listening?

You two admins are taking that podcast affecting the joy thing too close to your heart. Since you have this forum from like 10 years or what, that means you've been Berserk fans for that long and know Berserk the best, so hearing from you that the movie was terrible does affect the joy because it's extremely likely that since you said so it is bad. I'm not complaining about the podcast, but I had high expectations ( not really that high but still ) and hearing from 2 or 3 Berserk specialists that the movie was bad lowers almost all of my enthusiast and makes me feel sad about Berserk, nothing more

 

[Aazealh]

You two admins are taking that podcast affecting the joy thing too close to your heart.

Nah, I just zinged you because I know it'll make the other members laugh; I have no personal feelings about it. I even hesitated to leave it in because I thought it was a bit mean. But it's so good to be bad.

 

[SuperVegetto]

Nah, I just zinged you because I know it'll make the other members laugh; I have no personal feelings about it. I even hesitated to leave it in because I thought it was a bit mean. But it's so good to be bad.

Oh ok, didn't even think so at all lol

 

[JezzaX]

You sound pretty certain that those who watch the movie will become fans of the series. I'm not so certain about that.

I guess you could replace the "will" in my comment with "could". There's every possibility that an animated film/advert/digest for the series could produce a new wave of fans interested in knowing more about the story. A lot of the mangas I have read have usually had my interest sparked by one or two episodes of the animated series of the same source material, even more so when I find out that the anime has cut out a big chunk of the original material. Berserk is a prime example of this with me and I'm fairly sure that a fair few of the members here started out watching the 97 anime before reading the manga.

Regardless of the mixed views here (regretfully my copy is STILL stuck in customs, so I can't comment), not every person who sees the film will dislike it and even if they do dislike it, it's not going to change the opinions of those who are already fans of the manga and result in losing their dedication to the series. So, while the amount of new fans generated by these films may be minimal, it's still likely that it can create new interest.

 

[seppuku]

I know in the United States its very common for comics to get multiple adaptations and for audiences to assume that the quality of the film is far more dependent on the script writers and directors than the original source material. Does Japan have a similar trend?

 

[Bekul]

Speaking only for myself, a poor movie does nothing to enamour me of the source material. There's enough bad, and little enough good, that coming into this as new to Berserk, and only knowing this movie, I, not knowing any better, wouldn't waste my time finding out more about it.

 

[Aazealh]

Speaking only for myself, a poor movie does nothing to enamour me of the source material. There's enough bad, and little enough good, that coming into this as new to Berserk, and only knowing this movie, I, not knowing any better, wouldn't waste my time finding out more about it.

Ditto.

 

[jackalj]

I have not seen the movie for myself but is it bad in general or is it bad for a fan of the series?

Just like the TV-series fans didn't like it. But still it drew some people to the manga, so it wasn't that bad for a general audience.
Is this the same for the movie? And is that why the review from ANN was positive about the film?

Sure the movie was a big fail for the fans, I listened to the podcast. But is it for people who never heard of Berserk before?

 

[Aazealh]

Sure the movie was a big fail for the fans, I listened to the podcast. But is it for people who never heard of Berserk before?

Well if you listened to the podcast you should remember that we addressed that question. We feel it is bad as a movie in general and not just as an adaptation of the manga, and we think it is a terrible introduction to Berserk for newcomers.

 

[Henry Spencer]

And as much as some people on here do not like the 97 anime, at least that brought in new fans. It generated interest. Got people wanting to know what happened next. By the sounds of things, this is the polar opposite. Sullying the Berserk related material. I liked the 97 anime, I liked the games, shame this one may just piss me off.

And were the box office numbers in Japan bad, good or average? Anybody know?

 

[frankencowx]

Speaking only for myself, a poor movie does nothing to enamour me of the source material. There's enough bad, and little enough good, that coming into this as new to Berserk, and only knowing this movie, I, not knowing any better, wouldn't waste my time finding out more about it.

Agreed wholeheartedly. I don't see how it will bring it new fans who know nothing about it. It's terribly disjointed.

 

[CCS]

Lots of conflicting emotions about the film. On the one hand, great to see the story in actual motion, unlike in the original show. However this was definitely an adaption, not just a remediation to animation. Lots of stuff in different places, which I'm okay with, but the pacing was a little weird in parts and some of the CGI made action sequences really awkward. Overall I think it'll be a nice introduction and hook for people to get into Berserk and a nice visit to an earlier arc for people who are well acquainted with the story, but it's nowhere near the "faithful" adaption that a lot of people were hoping it would be. I found it interesting though, I'll say that much. And I'll be buying it on DVD when it comes out in the States.

 

[IncantatioN]

How did you watch it, CCS?

 

[JoeZeon]

My review of the movie is short and sweet. Not as good as I was hoping, but not as bad as some are saying. The pacing and cutting of important scenes and characters is what hurt the movie the most for me. Even so, I'm still super pumped for the next movie!!! The faster we get post-eclipse animated the better!

 

[SuperVegetto]

And as much as some people on here do not like the 97 anime, at least that brought in new fans. It generated interest. Got people wanting to know what happened next. By the sounds of things, this is the polar opposite. Sullying the Berserk related material. I liked the 97 anime, I liked the games, shame this one may just piss me off.

And were the box office numbers in Japan bad, good or average? Anybody know?

1.3 million is the last result in box office we know. Don't know how good it is but they were celebrating the success

 

[JezzaX]

Right, I've finally had a chance to watch the film and may re-watch it again soon to give a clearer opinion as I was pretty tired when taking it all in. But for now these are my thoughts.

Story
My initial impression of the film since we saw the exclusive 10 minutes put up on-line, was that the pacing to the film would be fairly decent and that the tension and character building for each scene would be well executed. Well, I was wrong. The first 10 minutes we saw were probably some of the best parts the film has to offer and the initial part of that isn't even taken from the manga.

Throughout the film I felt really rushed to make it from one scene to the next, I think the best word used among these pages to describe it so far is "disjointed", it just felt like the story couldn't wait to get to the end and they wanted to fit everything into the time frame given. The character development for most of the second tier characters is minimal to non-existent, the rest of the falcons get very little screen time, with Judo probably having the most lines when Guts wakes up after his battle with Griffith. Speaking of non-existent, the removal of Foss has got me a little concerned for how they're going to handle some of the scenes in the next film, I do wonder how they would introduce him, if at all.

The film above all could have done with an extra hour to develop the characters at the very least and include some necessary exclusions from Guts childhood and interactions between Guts and Griffith. The fact they wanted to make the entire golden age arc one film doesn't even bear thinking about after seeing this.


Visuals
Whilst I think the execution of the plot and the modifications made to suit Studio 4c's supposed vision is above all poor, the film does have some saving graces.

The animation, whilst a bit cumbersome in some places with the merging of hand drawn and CG animation, and the faces of the main characters have moments of looking out of proportion, it can also have moments of looking really nice in HD. The flow of the battle scenes in particular look very swift on my television when switching on the intelligent frame creation. I also picked up on some nice little details that I didn't see in the original preview. Pausing the frames in some cases you can see a good variety of different facial expressions, especially when Guts slams his sword through Bazuso's head, looking at the faces in the background there are some nice touches. The battles themselves (although not exactly true to the manga) has some nice choreography work, this is something I look forward to seeing more of in the next film.

All these little touches and details though are something Studio 4C seem to thrive upon, it seems more consideration has gone into making this a visual piece and little focus has gone into making the production seem complete and faithful. I hope they buck this trend.

Sound
Having listened to the soundtrack several times, I was very much prepared to hear a lot of this throughout the film. Whilst this is no Hirasawa (who thankfully got the title song at least) I actually quite enjoyed it, the use of Des Liens Solides was probably my most favourite, being that it's the one song I keep listening to from the OST. Sometimes though, as others have mentioned, the score doesn't seem to quite fit in with the scene it's trying to represent and has trouble setting the right tone.

The voices overall seem to work quite nicely, this is the area where I don't believe I have any complaints. Zodd has the most impressive voice out of the cast, although he gets such little screen time it's quite upsetting.

In summary
I really was hoping to like this new animated version of Berserk, I had put myself into a position where I would deny any possibility that it would be such a poor representation of the series and I now feel really upset it didn't deliver. Will it put me off watching the subsequent films? No. But I still feel there's more to be done and can only hope the following movies get much better treatment.

 

[Dragonfly]

I saw the movie twice yesterday with an hour break in between. The movie was FREAKING AMAZING!! I would give it 9 out of 10!
Here my opinion/review about it:

Art:
I really loved the art in the movie overall. Nice character design, real smooth animation and the backgrounds were simply breath taking (to think that most of them were hand drawn) also the color tone is nice for the Golden Arc Age and fits it. CGI was not really all that bad as I was expecting but it had its awkward moments. Throughout the movie you get to forget the CGI and just focus on other things.

Soundtrack:
I was really anxious to know how the soundtrack will represent Berserk with Hirasawa not making the score but it was really nice and served it's purpose.

Directing:
The directing and screenplay were really good and you can tell that they stopped considerably on the structure of most of the scenes to show them in a new adaptation which paid off in the end.
Also, the swordplay was well thought of. You can feel how serious they were about it and how each one handles his sword. That helped most of the battle/action scenes to be quiet entertaining.

Voice Acting:
The voice acting was OK I liked Griffith's and Judeau's, the others were decent but I was not very found of the new Guts. I liked the old one more. I can't give my feedback on the dialogues right now cuz it was raw but I felt it was decent.

Story:
Now the story was the downer for me. I felt the flow was rushed. There were some missing parts and some were shortened. But considering the time given, they pretty much included most of the important parts/events. The other Band of the Hawks members were merely give their share for character building. The focus was mostly on Guts' and Griffith's relation. I didn't feel Zodd's part was short as many people say. I felt it was given its rightful time considering the other parts and the length of the movie. It is sad to see some parts taken out like the bath scene and the first battle after Guts joined the Hawks or Guts' childhood. Some of these were replaced but it would have been better if they were there.
Not having Foss in the movie made me a bit uneasy.. I don't know how they will replace his parts later on in the second movie.


I consider this adaptation as a plus for me as a Berserk fan. I know and agree that it is not as "faithful" as they claim it to be and I know that it's not as accurate as the manga and I also don't think it is a good way to introduce Berserk to someone. I see it as a new Berserk experience, a new way to enjoy the Golden Arc Age and an addition to my Berserk collection. When I look for a fresh Berserk material I go to the manga which is to this day since 1999 my most precious thing ever.

Overall I love this adaptation and am happy about the outcome. I will definitely watch it again today after I get out of work

 

[Bekul]

I saw the movie twice yesterday with an hour break in between. The movie was FREAKING AMAZING!! I would give it 9 out of 10!
Here my opinion/review about it:

Art:
CGI was not really all that bad as I was expecting but it had its awkward moments.

Voice Acting:
The voice acting was OK I liked Griffith's and Judeau's, the others were decent but I was not very found of the new Guts. I liked the old one more. I can't give my feedback on the dialogues right now cuz it was raw but I felt it was decent.

Story:
Now the story was the downer for me. I felt the flow was rushed. There were some missing parts and some were shortened. Not having Foss in the movie made me a bit uneasy.. I don't know how they will replace his parts later on in the second movie.

Sorry for the edit there, but, uh... one of these things is not like the other...

So the CGI was awkward, the voice acting was mediocre at best, and the story sucked, but you give it a 9/10? Just... how can you justify that?

 

[Walter]

The movie was FREAKING AMAZING!! I would give it 9 out of 10!

Art:
CGI was not really all that bad as I was expecting but it had its awkward moments.

Soundtrack:
...it was really nice and served it's purpose.

Voice Acting:
I was not very found of the new Guts. I liked the old one more.

Story:
Now the story was the downer for me. I felt the flow was rushed. There were some missing parts and some were shortened. ... It is sad to see some parts taken out like the bath scene and the first battle after Guts joined the Hawks or Guts' childhood. Some of these were replaced but it would have been better if they were there. Not having Foss in the movie made me a bit uneasy.. I don't know how they will replace his parts later on in the second movie.

I know and agree that it is not as "faithful" as they claim it to be and I know that it's not as accurate as the manga and I also don't think it is a good way to introduce Berserk to someone.

A 9/10 doesn't sound like a very honest score given these details in your review. Sounds more like you'd like to give it a 9, despite the flaws.

 

[Joe Chip]

A 9/10 doesn't sound like a very honest score given these details in your review. Sounds more like you'd like to give it a 9, despite the flaws.

If you were to rate it, how much would you give to the the movie Walter?