alisa23 - 2016-03-20 21:58:17

Critic’s Log - Earthdate: May 1, 2014. Review #85: Berserk: The Golden Age Arc II: The Battle for Doldrey

The second part of a trilogy is often the most important piece of any trilogy. Man, does a lot happen in this one. That being Berserk: The Golden Age Arc II - The Battle for Doldrey

The Band of the Hawk participates in the Midland war campaign. During the campaign on the bloody battlefield, they conquer and win decisive victories that lead them to Doldrey, an old fortress that will decide the outcome of the war. Amid all this carnage and brutality, Griffith’s words still resonate in Guts´ mind and and he contimplates what he should  do once this conflict is over.

To be technical, this second part of Berserk’s Golden Age movie trilogy is a Studio 4°C production and the previous film suffered with inconsistent use of CG animation that looked awful with the 2D animation that looked really good. This time, the CG animation is still there but not as heavily used. There are some CG moments here and there and I am starting to see why the CG animation is being used in these movies. It is often used during the army battle sequences. This is to save money with the animation budget, however with a series like Berserk, it would have been nice if another studio (especially one that has gotten well-recognized) could handle it instead, but I digress. This is a very difficult manga to adapt into an anime, and the animation is starting to show improvement but it isn’t perfect.

The music by Shiro Sagisu continues to compliment the soundtrack extremely well and I have no further comment for this particular review, but I could have something more to offer when I go over the third Berserk movie.

As for the Japanese cast, I don’t have much to say since the quality of voice acting is the same as the first movie. As with the English dub, it’s doing great so far in these movies. It continues to impress me.

Now that I’ve seen this second part, I can point out that this is where the characters really shine in this film as well as the third movie (which I will review next) Guts is becoming more three-dimensional in this one, Casca is becoming very likeable, and Griffith really is interesting in this movie too. The rest of the Band of the Hawk are just as watchable but they support the main three leads pretty well for the most part.

In the previous movie, the length of the first movie was pretty short. This time, it’s around 1 hour and 30 minutes. The story’s pacing is a little better this time around but there are some moments from the original anime and even in the manga that I was a little disappointed that were left out. Casca’s backstory is reduced just like Guts, and the Queen of Midland’s role was severely reduced. Not to mention, a character known as Minister Foss has no part in these movies. Hell, Griffith’s apparent assassination attempt by poison was not put into this movie during a specific moment in the story. It is a little spoilerish, but I’m only comparing what was in before and was excluded in the movie. If this is to save time, I understand. at the same time. It would have been nice to see those moments portrayed in the movies. If there is something the original anime did not display, it is a sex scene. This is technically a spoiler, but hear me out. In the original anime, The sex scenes were toned down. This movie does not hold back displaying a sex scene. This is an upgrade compared to the original anime. I should point out that I don’t buy into the “Sex sells” message whatsoever. The sex scenes in the manga actually serve the story, they aren’t necessarily in there for fanservice even though Berserk is known for its violence in the anime community. As a whole for this entire second movie, The effort put into this second part does pay off to some extent, only time can tell when the third and final part of the Golden Age Arc movies comes in. Which I will tell in my next review. But in all honesty, I don’t wanna go.

Berserk: The Golden Age Arc II - The Battle for Doldrey is available by Viz Media, the original manga by Kentaro Miura is available by Dark Horse.

With all that said, the Second Berserk movie has honest effort in improvement with its animation, it may not be perfect, but the story’s pacing isn’t as rushed as before and it is a very important piece in the trilogy which will lead to the third and final part of the Golden Age movies. The story is far more interesting and intense, the characters shine, and the music compliments it all. This movie does not fully redeem the first one, but I’m glad I stuck through and passed the first part just to get to the second part that doesn’t look too bad. It’s not perfect, but most of it turned out fine.

I give Berserk: The Golden Age Arc II: The Battle for Doldrey a 9 out of 10, it is EXCELLENT!

tfahey - 2013-11-10 22:04:08

If I enjoyed the first movie I certainly loved the second. The best part of this movie series.

gutkowski.kristopher - 2013-07-27 13:52:56

After the disappointment that was Haou no Tamago, it took a long time for me to pluck up the courage to watch Doldrey Kouryaku. Once bitten, twice shy as the saying goes. That’s not to say that Haou no Tamago was a terrible film, just that the decisions made over what to include in the story and what to leave out left the pacing of the film all over the place: Extra detail was added into what are ultimately trivial events, while key events to the story and character development were complete omitted. This, however, is not a review of Haou no Tamago, so the question posed is, does Doldrey Kouryaku do a better job of bringing the story of Berserk to the big screen?

Thankfully the answer is a clear and resounding, yes!

Unlike its predecessor, Doldrey Kouryaku makes, for the most part, perfect decisions on what elements of the story to focus on, and what can be left out. Entire sub plots and characters are cut from the manga and anime for Doldrey Kouryaku which may cause alarm for fans of Berserk who have not yet watched it, but worry not! The decisions have streamlined a very complex plot into a slick, polished, and visceral ride which grabs you from the intro and doesn’t give you pause for breath for the first forty minutes. The key scenes from the anime and manga are all present which the fat trimmed perfectly, resulting in a true treat which carries the central story without being distracted, no mean feat for a plot as convoluted as Berserks’. The film does slightly lose its way for 20 or so minutes when the focus switches away from the action to the political intrigue with, for example, little snippets of an assassination sub plot being bizarrely left in, even though the central characters have been cut and it never actually happens. This is fortunately only a temporary niggle with the film which soon once again hits its stride for a wonderfully told final act which builds up the anticipation for Kourin masterfully.

In summary, Doldrey Kouryaku is a huge improvement over Haou no Tamago when it comes to telling the story of Berserk, if you’ve been put off watching it after seeing the hit and miss affair that was the first film then don’t be! The only slight hit that could be given to the choices made over what to include is, if you’re not familiar with the story behind Berserk, one of the aspects that is focused on during the actual siege of Doldery - avoiding spoilers - can be slightly confusing, as the back story behind it is not explained.

It is fair to say that the art style in Haou no Tamago raised a few eyebrows due to its dramatic departure from the original anime series. It is of course to be expected that a nearly 20 year gap between the two would of course have implications, and to give credit where it’s due, they did a far better job updating the series compared to, for example, the frankly terrible Ghost in the Shell 2.0. While the original Berserk was one of the finest animated series of its day, it would be unrealistic to expect either Haou no Tamago or Doldrey Kouryaku to carry the same aesthetic all these years later. While Haou no Tamago did in places look very good, it was very temperamental with some parts which looked decidedly under par compared to the rest of the film. Thankfully Doldrey Kouryaku again raises the bar on its predecessor with the art being almost uniformly excellent. The battle scenes in particular are a highlight, probably time to point out this is a very violent film, and even when the film switches to the peaceful sections, the animation is wonderful even by today’s high standards. If one was to be hypercritical there are small sections where the facial animation of Griffith does look a little strange, but these are so few and far between that it barely merits mention.

The sound design has always been a strength of Berserk, right from the original series with songs such as “Guts” and Doldrey Kouryaku does not let the legacy of Berserk down. The film simply sounds wonderful from start to finish with the music keeping pace and accentuating the visuals without fault from start to finish. Really you’d expect nothing less from Berserk! I have only seen the subbed version of Doldrey Kouryaku, so while I cannot pass comment on the quality of the dub it does bare worth noting that the original cast from the series have reprised most of the key roles, and the original dub was excellent. The Japanese cast do a brilliant job voicing the main cast, the intonation always comes across as a perfect match with the action on screen, and the slightly more comedic characters, such as Adon Coborlwitz are hammed up to perfection.

In conclusion, Doldrey Kouryaku is a huge improvement over Haou no Tamago. The characters and story are the same engaging ones that have always been part of the Berserk universe, and this time the film does a far better job of bringing that to the big screen. If you were put off watching Doldrey Kouryaku after seeing Haou no Tamago, the rest assured it is a massive step up. If you’ve an interest in Berserk having either read the manga or seen the original series then it is a brilliant update on the story. If you’ve never seen or read Berserk then this remains one of the greatest stories ever told in manga and you owe it to yourself to check it out. You’ll need to either sit through Haou no Tamago, or perhaps just pick up the original series, to know what’s going on though!