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REVIEW: Berserk: The Golden Age Arc I Blu-Ray




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The American Average



Joined: 17 Sep 2010
Posts: 644
Location: Jehuty
PostPosted: Tue Dec 11, 2012 1:01 am Reply with quote
no bloopers? Sad
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dtm42



Joined: 05 Feb 2008
Posts: 14084
Location: currently stalking my waifu
PostPosted: Tue Dec 11, 2012 1:05 am Reply with quote
"Berserkology" is not a thing, but if it was I would have totally studied that at university, LOL.
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walw6pK4Alo



Joined: 12 Mar 2008
Posts: 9322
PostPosted: Tue Dec 11, 2012 1:11 am Reply with quote
For the first movie, you're still better off with the episodes the TV series covers. Better characterization and reason for caring about Guts and the Hawks aside, it also has Hirasawa's full soundtrack. If you're going cold into Berserk with only the films, you're going to be missing far too much that the manga and series don't skimp on. And in the case of the series, much more Adon. It's watchable, but it's no replacement for what's already available.
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DRWii



Joined: 16 May 2007
Posts: 636
PostPosted: Tue Dec 11, 2012 1:29 am Reply with quote
As someone completely new to "Berserk" when I saw this a few months ago, I liked it. Didn't love it, but I didn't love the TV series when I watched it either. I liked the extra character moments in the series, but I'm not sure they really enhanced the experience that much for me (although the runtime on the first movie is so short I don't know why they didn't bother finding a way to keep that stuff in).
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walw6pK4Alo



Joined: 12 Mar 2008
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PostPosted: Tue Dec 11, 2012 1:57 am Reply with quote
Even the TV series is still an introduction to the manga. And because it's fully analog and now available on BD, it'll remain timeless unlike the already outdated films.
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Keiichi-chan



Joined: 22 Oct 2008
Posts: 143
PostPosted: Tue Dec 11, 2012 4:52 am Reply with quote
although the anime was better, calling it 'flawless' feels like total hyperbole.

the cg animation for the movie does feel out of place in the setting, but the tv animation looks like trash compared to the detail and fluidity of the manga artwork. so far, no one's done miura's manga complete justice in the art department, but the rest of the package is solid.

i do wish we got more music in the first movie, though. the bgms felt like they were used insanely sparingly, whereas they were pleasantly overused in the tv series.
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configspace



Joined: 16 Aug 2008
Posts: 3717
PostPosted: Tue Dec 11, 2012 6:33 am Reply with quote
I agree with Carl on the animation. The whole thing just doesn't look quite right. I do think everything is more detailed than the TV anime but the movement and design is off. I have a lot to say on why, but I won't get into that here.

Quote:
It can be hard to notice the transitions from one to the other, with characters moving into three dimensions mostly for ferociously-edited action and back into two dimensions when shades of emotion are called for.

Turns out they never really left the 3DCG world. See: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GJo9HtK10oM&t=17m57s
All the characters are modeled and animated in 3D. Then 2D animation is composited over for the faces, and bits of whereever else it they think it's needed, as a sort of pseudo-rotoscoping.
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Chrno2



Joined: 28 May 2004
Posts: 6171
Location: USA
PostPosted: Tue Dec 11, 2012 1:00 pm Reply with quote
Well, I saw the movie this year at NYCC and I thought it was ok, but again I'm not a fan when they use CG and it starts looking obvious. But if you're a fan of the series it's a nice piece to your collection. Though to me, it just feels like it could have been more since the
TV, how different it was from the actual source gave you more. It just felt like a rushed beauty.

Yeah, we had to watch our screening on the wall because the projector wasn't big enough and the room was too crowded. Damn NYCC sometimes the anime panels get no "respect".
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Greed1914



Joined: 28 Oct 2007
Posts: 4410
PostPosted: Tue Dec 11, 2012 3:23 pm Reply with quote
Overall, I'd say I agree with pretty much all of the review. There were certainly times where I though, "They're covering that already?" But then the necessary context would be worked in somehow so the major points weren't lost. The CG wasn't as bad as I was expecting, but it still stands out. I can see where it might have seemed like a good idea in order to convey the scale of the battles, but ultimately I don't think it was necessary. A few hand draw shots would suffice, especially since the focus is generally more on the individual characters, anyway. It's not a deal breaker, but it is still a problem. Also, I was very surprised that most of the original dub cast was back. I was expecting a different cast since it was license by a different company and the original seems to be regarded as competent but not overly exceptional, so when everyone sounded like I remembered, it certainly boosted my opinion. While I do expect certain characterization will be covered in the next two movies, I still think I would show somebody the TV series if I were to introduce them to Berserk. As Carl noted, characters like Judeau and Pippin are barely used in the movie, and without that, it'll take a lot of punch out of what is coming. Maybe more time is coming to them, but the brisk pace of the first movie makes me doubt that.
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GVman



Joined: 14 Jul 2010
Posts: 729
PostPosted: Tue Dec 11, 2012 5:45 pm Reply with quote
Keiichi-chan wrote:
although the anime was better, calling it 'flawless' feels like total hyperbole.

the cg animation for the movie does feel out of place in the setting, but the tv animation looks like trash compared to the detail and fluidity of the manga artwork. so far, no one's done miura's manga complete justice in the art department, but the rest of the package is solid.


Not to mention the slow, ponderous pace the anime moves at compared to the manga. It's a great introduction to Berserk, but it's terribly dull to sit through if you've already read the manga.
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By_the_Jelly_Beans?



Joined: 12 Dec 2012
Posts: 39
PostPosted: Wed Dec 12, 2012 2:20 pm Reply with quote
I'll start by saying that I watched the Berserk anime first. Because of how that ended I started reading the Manga.

I didn't watch this on Blu-ray but just plain old DVD. It didn't live up to my expectations. The computer graphics made it look off, didn't have the refinement of Burst Angel where it was done well enough that it wasn't always obvious.

It also felt rushed, the story that is, jumping ahead by leaps and bounds. Combining some scenes and leaving out so much. I'm a fan of the series so I'll keep watching the movies and hope they will go beyond this story arche.

What I wanted was something that combined the look and feel of the anime, (I thought it was done great) with the sheer awesomeness of the manga. I felt like I got a movie that was based on the anime, shortened to fit a couple of movies. (I'm thinking Clannad movie rather than Clannad series.)
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williamflipper



Joined: 16 Jun 2010
Posts: 32
Location: London UK, Trieste Italy
PostPosted: Wed Dec 12, 2012 5:52 pm Reply with quote
I had big hope . It still a must buy for me anyway.
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Ulinox



Joined: 22 Aug 2009
Posts: 687
PostPosted: Wed Dec 26, 2012 5:48 am Reply with quote
This should get a F for animation.
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