Review of Berserk: The Golden Age Arc III - The Advent (2013) by Colton T — 11 Dec 2015

Berserk is a manga that I feel is a remarkable achievement in pen and ink art, as well as a masterful storytelling. Yes it's a dark and depressing series, but overall the characters are so compelling that you root for them the whole time, even though the setting and story is downright hell.

Like many manga, eventually animation companies get a hold of the rights to make an anime or anime movie out of them. Berserk was no exception, and many fans, (myself included), were hoping that the series would be a faithful retelling of Kentaro Miura's epic.

While the anime series itself wasn't bad per se, it definitely toned down the violence and horrific scenes that all play a part in telling the story, and a lot of sub-plots that are crucially important to the saga were inexplicably left out. So thus while it was good, and left many fans unsatisfied.

That is until we heard that Studio 4°C got a hold of the rights from Miura to do a film series based on his work, and that they intend to remain almost perfectly faithful to the manga.

And they did, oh they did. Like I've told many a person interest in the series, it is a story that is definitely NOT for children, and not for anyone with a weak stomach. The manga is one of the most violent and horrifying things I've ever read, and the story is bleak and dark. And this film stays true to that.

It is without a doubt the most violent thing you ever see in a film, so much so that the American version was censored to allow it to air in theaters, and even audiences were shocked.

Shocking as it may be, that isn't the whole point of the story, each thing that happens in the film contains subtle hints of foreshadowing, and the manga and film want to let us know how truly far the antagonist has fell from grace, and how feelings of despair and pride can plague a person's psyche so much that they are willing to commit heinous acts just to save face.

And that's the charm of the story, and it's full of action, emotion, and expert level animation, even if it is CGI.

I've complained before how overuse of CGI in films these days will make them age horribly. However, that complaint is only reserved for live-action films, as realistic art styles applied to CGI don't age well, because CGI is always improving.

However, for animation, CGI ages very nicely, and this is a rather talented use of CGI animation, as it manages to have smooth animation throughout.

It isn't entirely CGI, as there's hand drawn animation in this as well, which always improves the final score in an anime movie or series in my book. Manga and anime demands a certain level of skill, and thankfully the animation is horrific, artistic, and imaginative.

Overall, this film gets a 9/10, with a score moving to 9.5 whenever Studio 4°C decides to continue the saga. Keep this film away from kids, and people with weak stomachs.