Berserk: Movie 1 - The Egg Of The King [DVD]

It's been fifteen years since the old anime's original run, so has this film adaptation (the first of three retelling the Golden Age arc) been worth the wait or- with the author, Kentarou Miura, on hiatus from the manga- has it just deprived hardcore fans of a new release?The answer's a bit of both, to be honest. The rough and smooth seem to go hand in hand. First off, the film loyally follows its source material, keeping all the main characters' traits in tact. The makeup of these three- Guts, Griffith and Caska- is excellent and will satisfy the old guard as well as impress newcomers. HOWEVER, the second tier characters such as Judeau, Pippin, Corkus and Rickert barely even feature in this first installment, which is the price the movie pays for being a paltry 77 minutes long!Nowhere is this idea of the rough and smooth co-existing more true than in the animation. The film's come in for heavy criticism becuase of its CGI, and to be fair it does look choppy. Imagine playing a cel shaded video game and watching one of its not-quite-as-good cutscenes. THAT'S what it can be like at points throughout the film. HOWEVER, the 2D animation acts as a bit of a silver lining. It's beautifully done, and shows what might have been had The Egg Of The King had a bigger budget behind it.But the big positives are the ones that people famliar with the franchise will have viewed as bare minimums. The story, despite pacing problems here, is a dark fantasy of near-perfect quality- of the ilk of things like Lord Of The Rings and Game Of Thrones. The Byronic hero is comparable to Homer's Odysseus, while the androgynous Griffith is equallly well developed. Oh, and the battles scenes: they're as spectacular as you could hope for- just the right amount of gore!I guess I, like many, expected a lot. Maybe a lot more than what's offered here. But there's no doubt the film has inherited good genes from its derivitive manga and its anime adaptation in 1997. It comes from great stock, which is probably why I enjoyed it rather than endured it, despite its obvious flaws. None of these, HOWEVER, should dissaude newcomers and enthusiasts from watching it. Berserk is a criminally underrated story, and with the next two parts delving deeper into Guts' and Griffith's dark and complex world, I'm hopeful (thought probably less expectant) that they will hit the heady heights that this first films falls just short of.Aspect Ratio: 16x9Audio: 5.1Languages: English, JapaneseSubtitles: English

Maybe I'm a particular type of viewer. My first anime movie was 1994's SF II and it blew my mind. Ninja Scroll was pretty great too, so was DBZ, and even old classics like Vampire Hunter D. But then I saw other Anime movies and tv series like GITS, Evangelion, Bleach, etc and to tell you the truth I felt major disappointed, almost to the point of getting depression. Just awful, pretentious style-over-substance, deep-but-boring, etc. I'd stop watching anime almost completely aside from an occasional quick peek. Don't get me wrong - I know often there is a huge amount of effort put into things like drawing, music, animation, script, etc. but where it almost always seems to fail is the sum of all parts itself. It will be good in one department but crap at others.When I saw Berserk Egg of the King I almost immediately could tell this would be something different. It just felt very solid and well put together. The 2nd film was in some ways even better whereas the 3rd I found too dark and disappointing (curse of threequel?).If you don't mind the occasional gory violence, go check Egg of the King out.

If you're a fan of the Beserk manga, watch this film.If you've never heard of or read the Beserk manga, watch this film.If you think you might be a fan of hyper-stylized violence in a medieval fantasy setting, watch this film.Just watch the damn film.The only thing I feel that lets this title down is that some of it is a very weird looking CG. It stands out and is very noticeable.There is less of it in the second movie and almost none in the third.I also found it to be a little short, but again, the movies get longer each time so it;s not so much of a problem.The red Blu Ray case looks great and makes it easily found from within a large collection.

The film is good but has a few flaws i.e the cgi is quite choppy , but i love berserk so i dont care.the hardback book special edition version is nice, the box art is good and the art book is a nice touch, but i dont understand why there were no special features on the bluray, the special edition also contains the dvd version of the movie, and some of the sub's on the dvd differ to the bluray version very slightly.cant wait for part 2 and 3

As you all might of figured, I'm keen towards the action scene then anything else. This anime is good, the action scenes are okay, it's worth a watch.

This collectors edition consists of both the Blu ray and DVD. Both worked brilliantly and they are neatly placed on each side of the case. The case is formed as a book and the booklet is attached in the middle of case between the Blu ray and DVD.I have the original series, but it is nice to have the movies as well as they are more of a compilation and watching it in Blu ray quality is awesome!

Awesome movie! Great characters and a good story. Definitely recommended if you like some gore with your anime.

love it

I like this movies so much who mix action and reflexion about the meaning of life and loyalty or friendshipj'aime ce film qui mélange action et reflexion sur le sens de la vie et et la loyauté ou l'amitié

Which I didn't think they could do. GOOD JOB.Having read all 37 current volumes of Berserk written over more than 2 decades - I don't think they will ever actually be able to animate the whole series of what is undisputedly one of the greatest epic sagas of all time ever written in history - it's still far from being finished. It's just too... hardcore. I seriously hope Kentaro Miura finishes it before he dies (and I do!) as it seems barely half done, so they can reproduce it all uncensored in motion picture someday.The last attempt top animate Berserk over a decade ago wasn't that great, and it ended when the budget ran out at the stupidest possible time.This retry is... impressive. It puts a new perspective on the story, some lines are slightly altered or translated differently in a way that doesn't ruin it. They're somehow able to trim out a lot without losing much actual story. This is good because more people should know about this story because it needs to be etched into the greatest literature in human history for centuries.I disagree with a previous reviewer and think the Conviction Arc and the Holy Demon War arc are much better than the Golden Age arc, but I doubt they'll get that far.BUY IT. Support it as much as possible so they can get as much of the story done as they can before they run out of budget.

I'm going to start this review with a bit of backstory. This may be a long read but this is Berserk so I'm going to take my time and get this right.The original Berserk anime is infamous for its massive cliffhanger ending. I was never into manga until I watched Berserk, then I simply HAD to read the manga, because I literally could not live with not knowing what happened next. The fact that Berserk is one of the most well drawn and well written (if poorly updated) manga series ever made.For years the fans clamored for season 2, even after it became clear that it wasn't going to happen there were still some hold outs, but eventually even they died out as well. Then the past few years we have started to see a lot of old uncompleted anime series get reboots. Some like Ultimate Hellsing were just what the fans were waiting for, others like Inuyasha: Final Act were rushed and kind of disappointing. But if any anime deserved a reboot, it was Berserk. And now here it is, the long rumored Berserk reboot that we have waited for all this time.Now I'm going to review the actual series itself of Berserk (be patient the movie review is coming).I don't really look at Berserk like a manga, to me it's more like a great work of art, and it reads more like a classic novel that will survive the ages. It's also easily one of the best drawn series I've ever read. The detail Miura puts into his work is spectacular, and his stories are breathtaking. As we follow Guts on his journey we see him go from an aimless wanderer, to a soldier and a friend struggling to find his place in the world, to a revenge driven sociopath fighting his fate as he travels down his dark road, to a man doing his best to heal from the wounds inflicted upon his mind, body, and soul by the dark hand of fate.His journey constantly exposes us to the very best and the very worst of humanity. We see the darkest and most depraved things imaginable happen in these pages, which only makes it all the more heroic when we see the characters we've come to love climb out from the darkness and hold on to their humanity against all odds. Berserk can make you cry one moment and laugh another, look on in horror at a characters depravity then cheer another's heroism.There are really only two negative things I can say about this series. The first is that the updates are very irregular, Kentaro Miura will take very long breaks, and they kind of happen pretty often too. But what can I say; quality takes time, when you take a look at some of the artwork I can see why each page could take an entire day to create.The only other thing isn't really a complaint since I don't have a problem with it, but as a warning to others the series is very dark. There are extremely brutal death scenes, with a lot of gore. There is also a lot of nudity, including some very graphic rape scenes. This series is NOT for the faint of heart, and certainly not for children.Ok on to reviewing this actual movie, Im going to break it down into pros and cons.Pros:- Great quality. The animation is absolutely superb, and the battle scenes were stunning. In particular I want to praise the Guts vs Griffith fight as well as Zodd's transformation. In fact I actually want to praise Zodd's entire scene. The big battle scenes were also warrant mention (although I think I already did that).- Excellent sound track, I loved the music in this movie. I didn't think it would be possible to top the soundtrack for the old anime, but this at least matched it.- Good cast. I used to watch nothing but dubs, but after my girlfriend forced a few subtitled anime on me I've grown a great appreciation for Japanese voice actors and this movie has some great ones. Their also recasting the original VAs for the English dub, which I've always felt was one of the really good English dubs out there. So whether you're watching it subbed or dubbed you should be happy.- The story is very compelling and manages to hold on to the feelings and themes of friendship and loyalty that are present in the original anime and the Golden Age manga arc.- Most importantly to me, it wasn't rushed. Inuyasha: Final Act was clearly rushed, and was a big disappointment to the fans. Covering over two hundred manga chapters in 26 episodes is a disgrace, no matter how pretty the animation is. And I'm happy to say that Berserk did not make that mistake. There were a few scenes that were cut, but nothing important was lost. The most important scenes are still there and are handled well.- This won't break your bank. Most anime is pretty expensive, but fifteen dollars (seventeen blu ray) is pretty good, especially for a movie that clearly had a very high animation budget.Cons:- While it wasn't rushed there are a few scenes that were left out. Most notably Guts' childhood is just covered in a series of flashbacks that don't explain much. While this didn't bug me, there might be a bit lost for those who haven't read the manga or seen the original anime.- This is my main gripe, and the only thing that made me consider giving this less than a perfect five star rating. There are a few times during the CGI battle scenes where some of the characters faces get this kind of cheesy PlayStation 2 graphics look. It happens a few times during the opening castle siege, and once or twice during Guts' fight with Casca (that was what really bugged me because it was such an important scene). It didn't happen so often that it ruined the movie though, and the fans have been vocal enough about it that I'm sure it will be cleaned up for future movies.So all in all this is a quality product. A great movie for old Berserk fans or newer people just coming to the series. I own the original Box of War anime set, as well as the remastered version, and every volume of the manga. I'll be proud come November to add this to my collection.

...und das ist es, was meiner Meinung nach, zählt, auch wenn Kleinigkeiten nicht perfekt sind.Als langjähriger und eingefleischter Berserk-Fan wurde ich, trotz vorherschender Befürchtungen, nicht enttäuscht.Zur Handlung: Ich finde die Umsetzung der Handlung sehr gelungen und dicht am Manga. Es ist natürlich etwas gekürzt (und ich rede jetzt nicht davon das Band 1-3 'fehlen', denn es war vorab klar, dass zunächst nur die Arc 'Das goldene Zeitalter' behandelt wird), was aber normal bei Filmumsetzungen ist, auf Grund der relativen Laufzeit Beschränkungen des Mediums. Ich muss zugeben, der Film ist mit ca. 70 min arg kurz, und es hätten einige Szenen noch ausgefleischt werden können (warum sie es nicht gemacht haben und einen Standard-90min abgeliefert haben, ist mir schleierhaft), doch die wichtigsten Handlungselemente sind alle vorhanden. Die Momente, die gekürzt sind mögen vielleicht auf den ersten Blick vermisst werden, aber wenn man genauer darüber nachdenkt, sind die entfallenen Stellen nur zusätzliche Charakter-Erläuternde Momente, die Eigenschaften/Emotionen der Figuren aufzeigen, die bereits an anderer Stelle vermittelt wurden. Und auch trotz der Kürzungen präsentieren sich alle Charaktere als die Figuren, die man auch aus dem Manga kennt. Klar hätte ich noch gerne die ein oder andere Stelle als Film gesehen, aber auch ich muss zugeben, dass ihr fehlen der Handlung keinen Abbruch tut.Animationen: Ja... Die gezeichneten Teile sind erste Klasse, die 3D-CGI sieht leider sehr nach den PS2/PC-Spiel Umsetzungen von Animes aus. Die 3D-CGI kommt aber fast nur wärend der Kampfszenen zum Einsatz, was sich noch verschmerzen lassen sollte. Und den Trailern des 2. und 3. Teils nach zu urteilen, haben die Macher den Einsatz davon in den folgenden Teilen etwas reduziert.Musik: Allgemein recht stimmungsvoll und passend. Der Titelsong reicht nicht an 'Forces' heran, aber ist trotzdem gut, und wenn ich mich nicht ganz irre, auch wieder von Susumu Hirasawa.Synchronisation: Ich hatte buchstäblich Angst vor der Synchro, da ich sehr pingelig in diesem Aspekt bin, nahezu alles im O-Ton bevorzuge und sich mir bei 90% aller Synchros vor Grauen die Fußnägel aufrollen. Ich hatte auch schon überlegt, den Film nur auf Japanisch mit Untertiteln zu gucken, aber ich habe es dann doch gewagt und ich wurde positiv überrascht. Griffith Stimme ist Spot-On, und die anderen Stimmen passen auch sehr gut zu den jeweiligen Charakteren. Für Guts wurde zwar ein Sprecher mit einer etwas zu hohen Stimme gewählt, es geht aber noch. (Sollte allerdings tatsächlich Post-Sonnenfinsternis Stoff verfilmt werden, hoffe ich doch sehr, dass ein Wechsel des Sprechers in Betracht gezogen wird.) Die Sprecher machen ihren Job im Allgemeinen auch recht gut, allerdings scheinen die meisten ein Problem damit zu haben, Griffith Namen auszusprechen. Der klingt bei jedem anders, was ich aber mehr als amüsant statt störend empfinde. Es ist ja auch kein allzu leichter Name. Die Dialog Übersetzung ist auch gelungen, und ich hatte keinen Moment wo ich mir dachte 'Hä? Der sagt aber auf japanisch oder englisch was anderes' und nur ein oder zwei Momente wo der Dialog von den Formulierungen her etwas holprig klang.Extras und Box: Top! Die 3 beigelegten, sehr umfangreichen, Booklets, der Anhänger und die Box sind allesamt qualitativ hochwertig. Leider keine Extras auf der Blu-Ray Disc selber, außer ein paar Trailern.Fazit: Etwas kann immer besser sein, klar, aber was ist schon perfekt? Berserk-Fans (und alle, die es noch werden wollen), die über die mäßigen 3D-Animationen hinweg sehen können, und verstehen, dass nicht jede Seite aus dem Manga 1:1 in einem Film dargestellt werden kann, kommen definitiv auf ihre kosten. Ein gelungener Auftakt für die Filmreihe, der Lust auf mehr macht. (Und der 2. und 3. Teil haben dann auch schon Laufzeiten >100min.)

いたるところでドラマが薄いとかありますが、大人の事情で尺は決まっているのに、主人公の仲間とのふれあいとか生い立ちとかやっていたら、どこが削られるかというとストーリー性のないアクションシーンになるでしょうし、そうなると見せ場のない会話シーンばかりの作品になるはずです。そんな作品が観たいんですかね？ここで尺をのばせばいいというのは社会人の発想ではありません。あたえられた条件のなかで、アクション映画として見せ場の連続で最後まで飽きさせない構成にしたのは間違っていないと思います。あと、たしかにCGは安っぽいですが、これのおかげで物量的に作画では困難な群集戦闘シーンを、これまでみたことがないようなカメラワークで迫力の戦争シーン表現しております。背景美術は見とれるほど綺麗で、テレビ版の色を重ねない手抜き背景とは雲泥の差があります。テレビ版ではサントラの曲数が少なく無音のシーンが基本でしたが、今回は音楽監督した方が、作品世界を理解してからは曲があふれてくるみたいなことをパンフレットでコメントしている通り、コーラスを交えた迫力の多数の音楽がいたるシーンを盛り上げています。1つのアクション映画として最高の出来だと個人的に思っているのに、それほど評価されていないのがもどかしいです。まだ観ていない人には今回のBDで視聴してもらって２部３部の劇場公開をヒットさせてほしい。。