Berserk Movie I - February

[Metatron]

I see these boards are not very active... But, will there be a place to discuss it? Is this the right one? Does anyone around this parts have any interest in it?

VIDEO-CLick to Watch!:

Anybody living in Japan?

[TheVileOne]

Fixed it for you:

VIDEO-CLick to Watch!:

I love Berserk. Took a long time but we are finally getting some new animation. I hope they know what they are doing with this movie format though. The thing is Berserk is super long and the manga is still moving at a snail's pace. I think they should've waited until the story reached a better turning point or was about finished before they started doing this.

Oh well, hope this works out. I want to keep getting new Berserk anime.

[BillPardy]

Some of the animation in this looks great, some of it looks kind of bad. Hope its just not done.

[Metatron]

Thanks TheVileOne.

I think we should all be very sincere with ourselves and accept these are movie adaptations. They won't be exactly like the manga. No movie EVER is exactly like it's source. As with any animation in the genre, the movies work more to compliment the original source. We have the manga, and a cool animated summary of the whole thing.

These movies might improve visually with time. They don't have the highest of budgets, and Berserk is quite long. We can't be so demanding. There are more important stuff to spend money on than a full on hand-drawn animated Berserk series covering the entirety of the manga. People shouldn't forget that.

[hippie_hunter]

Originally Posted by TheVileOne

Fixed it for you:

VIDEO-CLick to Watch!:

I love Berserk. Took a long time but we are finally getting some new animation. I hope they know what they are doing with this movie format though. The thing is Berserk is super long and the manga is still moving at a snail's pace. I think they should've waited until the story reached a better turning point or was about finished before they started doing this.

Oh well, hope this works out. I want to keep getting new Berserk anime.

Warner Bros plans on adapting the entire manga in film format. Think of it as like a television show where instead of getting a half hour episode you're getting a 90 minute episode and instead of being released every week, it gets released every couple of months.

Two more films based on the Golden Age arc of the manga are planned for a 2012 release.

[The Game]

Originally Posted by hippie_hunter

Warner Bros plans on adapting the entire manga in film format. Think of it as like a television show where instead of getting a half hour episode you're getting a 90 minute episode and instead of being released every week, it gets released every couple of months.

Two more films based on the Golden Age arc of the manga are planned for a 2012 release.

I can't wait

[TheVileOne]

Originally Posted by hippie_hunter

Warner Bros plans on adapting the entire manga in film format. Think of it as like a television show where instead of getting a half hour episode you're getting a 90 minute episode and instead of being released every week, it gets released every couple of months.

Two more films based on the Golden Age arc of the manga are planned for a 2012 release.

Hippie Hunter. I hope you are right and WB is in this for the long haul. I also hope WB's involvement helps this get a US license quicker. WB previously released Appleseed Ex Machina here in the states, and I think they did a good job of handling it.

I hope this is basically the definitive animated version of Berserk. I'm so excited that we will finally see Skull Knight animated (not counting the videogame). The main problem is that the manga is ridiculously long. Even now I feel the length of the storyline drags and it fails to really get to the point. The story has been stuck for many years IMHO. I think it's been basically like five years or so I've waited for Guts and his group to finally ****ing get to the elf homeworld.

So with that in mind, I don't mind if they skim over a lot. Though the Band of The Hawk era really is the easiest and most compact part of the story to get through.

However, I am curious about WB's involvement. Is this WB Intl or WB Japan? Did Time Warner pick this up because of it's audience in the US and are deciding to finance it?

I know for example, Universal seems to have picked up the remains of Geneon who last year seemed to still be co-producing and making new anime.

[Frank]

The release doesn't seem to be very wide. It's out here but it's not playing at any theaters I usually go to.

[TheVileOne]

To give everyone a better idea of what the plan is:

Viz media has the US license for the three new Berserk anime movies. Basically there will be three movies based on the Golden Age of the Band of The Hawk, so covering the first, what was it 12 or so?, volumes of the manga when young Guts joined Griffith and the Band of the Hawk. I imagine the movies will also incorporate a lot of details that were in the manga but never were a part of the original anime like the Skull Knight who we already saw in the previews some time ago.

So the Golden Age will be a trilogy of movies covering the Hawk era. Hopefully these movies do well so they can re-adapt the Black Swordsman and Berserk armor era. I think they should skip over some stuff though just for the sake of time.

The problem is the manga's been moving at a snail's pace in recent years.

[Mr. Wooden Alligator]

Black Swordsman is the manga plot up to the flashback to the Band of the Hawk, right? Where we first meet the Godhand without knowing the extent of Guts's history with them and all.

[TheVileOne]

Right they did have some stories with Guts before going into the Hawk era. These movies though look like they are starting from the beginning of the Hawk era. So they are going essentially from the "beginning" and not Guts as the Black Swordsman tearing up demons before going into a flashback of the Golden Age Hawk era.

Also first 10 minutes of the movie were released online as a special preview. Enjoy:

VIDEO-CLick to Watch!:

[Lord]

Been wanting to get into Berserk for a while, are these films a good way to get into it or did they cut too much content from the manga?

[Tequilla]

Originally Posted by Lord

Been wanting to get into Berserk for a while, are these films a good way to get into it or did they cut too much content from the manga?

They are almost an insult to the original work. I kinda enjoy them because i always like to see something i like adapted , but its really really lackluster. These movies are sort of a very very fast reading , and jumping a bunch of sections at the same time

The tv series is actually better (heck , the music itself is worth it)

I would say without any doubt , read the manga. If there's a series that's worth a shot is Berserk.

[Lord]

Originally Posted by Tequilla

They are almost an insult to the original work. I kinda enjoy them because i always like to see something i like adapted , but its really really lackluster. These movies are sort of a very very fast reading , and jumping a bunch of sections at the same time

The tv series is actually better (heck , the music itself is worth it)

I would say without any doubt , read the manga. If there's a series that's worth a shot is Berserk.

,seems like i can't take the shorter road

Heard the manga's high point is the arc that is being adapted into the movies and that the later arcs never reached that quality again. Is the plot and world building that good?

[Tequilla]

Originally Posted by Lord

,seems like i can't take the shorter road

Heard the manga's high point is the arc that is being adapted into the movies and that the later arcs never reached that quality again. Is the plot and world building that good?

I think that has to do with some sort of familiarity people have with that arc , and how the series takes a huge turn after it. And i think that sentiment is accentuated by the tv series. Manga is a little different , the beginning (first 3 volumes) is typical action adventure fantasy , it reads like a motion picture , and only then we start with that particular arc which puts a lot of things in perspective.

Another big problem people have is that arc is a flashback , so its closed. We've been on a journey for some while , and the author just takes a huge amount of time to release episodes. I cant criticize it. The art is magnificent. The level of detail is astounding. It takes a lot of time. But it kinda erodes that sentiment of anticipation and awe when you get a 20 page episode after months and months of hiatus. I've re-read Berserk a bunch of times , and the later arcs to me are as good as the first ones. Simply its still incomplete.

I would have loved that my first exposure to Berserk was the manga , but i got to know it by watching the tv series which blew my mind and helped me discover a fantastic series.

So if you have the time i would recommend you to start with the manga. But i saw the tv series (which is faithful to the material outside of the first and last episodes) and it didnt ruin anything to me. The movies , i actually showed the first one to a friend of mine and he was very interested , so much i ended up borrowing him my books. It's very short , so maybe a little intro to see if you enjoy the setting. But i certainly would never recommend anyone to watch for the first time Berserk watching the movies , because they castrate that arc of its core....the web of relationships between characters that's masterfully created. Both movies are events after events after events. And they're not even particularly well animated (quite the contrary)

I think its that good. I would recommend it blindly to anyone. And if you enjoy dark fantasy (let me underline the dark) and medieval settings , then i don't see how you can't enjoy it.

[DarkKnight]

So are these three new Berserk "Movies" actually new? I wateched the trailers and they just look like updated, enhanced, and big time condenced version of the anime series of Berserk that came out years ago.

Does this end the same way the last anime series ended or do we actually get to see more?

Thanks in advance

Super Curious as I'm a huge Berserk Fan.

[Tequilla]

Originally Posted by DarkKnight

So are these three new Berserk "Movies" actually new? I wateched the trailers and they just look like updated, enhanced, and big time condenced version of the anime series of Berserk that came out years ago.

Does this end the same way the last anime series ended or do we actually get to see more?

Thanks in advance

Super Curious as I'm a huge Berserk Fan.

They are , more or less , a condensed version of the arc also presented in tv series. I would certainly not call it an enhanced version. But the third movie ends a few manga episodes further than the tv show (wont stop at the cliffhanger) . The producers have also stated they want to adapt other arcs of the manga.