Berserk: The Golden Age Arc


Berserk: The Golden Age Arc is a series of films, an effort to adapt the Golden Age Arc of Kentaro Miura's Berserk manga series. The project was first announced as a new anime project in September 2010 on a wraparound jacket band on volume 35 of the Berserk manga. The first two films, Berserk: The Golden Age Arc I - The Egg of the King and Berserk: The Golden Age Arc II - The Battle for Doldrey, were released in Japan in February and June 2012, with the third film, Berserk: The Golden Age Arc III - The Advent, released in February 2013. The third film also marks the first time new footage based on the manga has been animated beyond the storyline of the Berserk TV series from 1997. Viz Media has licensed all three films for a home video release. The Golden Age Arc is also available for streaming on Netflix.
The Japanese voice cast features Hiroaki Iwanaga as Guts, Takahiro Sakurai as Griffith, and Toa Yukinari as Casca. The English voice cast features Marc Diraison as Guts, Kevin T. Collins as Griffith, and Carrie Keranen as Casca, all reprising their roles from the original anime.

Films

''The Egg of the King''

Berserk: Golden Age Arc I - The Egg of the King was released on February 4, 2012 in Japan.
Guts, a mercenary, attracts the attention of the Band of the Hawk and is forced into joining the group after being defeated by its leader Griffith twice. Once the Hawks defeated the kingdom of Tudor's Black Ram Iron Lance Cavalry, they are recruited by Midland for its war against its rival kingdom, the Tudor Empire. During one siege, Guts and Griffith encounter the demon Nosferatu Zodd, who notices the Behelit around Griffith's neck and warns Guts that Griffith will be his doom. In time, Griffith's gradual rise in status is ill-received by the noblemen, and a failed assassination attempt by the king's brother Julius results in his murder by Guts, who was also forced to kill the noble's son Adonis to leave no witnesses. Guts, emotionally scarred by what he has done, would later hear Griffith discussing his idea of friendship with the Midland Princess Charlotte and is further unsettled to find he and the other Hawks are a means to their leader's end.

''The Battle for Doldrey''

Berserk: Golden Age Arc II - The Battle for Doldrey was released on June 23, 2012 in Japan.
For three years, Guts believed his mission was to pursue Griffith's dream together with him. But after coming to understand Griffith's outlook as well as fighting 100 men, Guts realises that he would need to leave the Band of the Hawk to be considered Griffith's equal and truly be called his friend. After forming a bond with Casca while they are separated from the others, Guts and the Hawks take part in a bloody battle to capture the impenetrable Fortress of Doldrey from the Tudor Empire's army of 30,000 strong defenders. A month after capturing the fortress and winning the war, Guts parts ways with Griffith after defeating him in a duel. Griffith does not take his former ally's departure well, and in a lapse of judgment he is caught sleeping with the king's daughter, Charlotte. Charged with treason for his actions, Griffith is imprisoned in the Tower of Rebirth while the members of the Band of the Hawk are branded criminals.

''The Advent''

Berserk: Golden Age Arc III - The Advent was released on February 1, 2013 in Japan.
It has now been a year after Guts' duel with Griffith and his departure from the Band of the Hawk. Upon learning the Hawks have been labeled outlaws in Midland, Guts returns to aid them in freeing Griffith from the Tower of Rebirth. However, they find out that Griffith is a broken man-barely alive and rendered a mute cripple after months of physical and mental torture. When Griffith is reunited with his Behelit while attempting suicide upon realizing what he has been reduced to, a solar eclipse occurs that draws him, Guts, Casca and their comrades into another dimension where they encounter the archdemons known as the God Hand. Told that his tribulations have been leading to this moment, Griffith accepts becoming the final member of the God Hand to achieve his dream while knowing his transition requires his allies being offered as branded sacrifices. In this hopeless battle with the God Hand's monstrous horde of Apostles - former humans like Nosferatu Zodd - Guts's attempt to rescue Griffith fails as with Guts and Casca remaining as Griffith is reborn as Femto. Guts and Casca are spirited back to their world by the mysterious Skull Knight, but not without repercussions: Casca loses her sanity from the nightmarish ordeal she endured of watching her comrades' slaughter and then raped by Femto; and Guts losing his left forearm and right eye in his attempt to force their former leader off her. After leaving Casca under Rickert's care, learning his brand will subject him to nightly attacks by various fell creatures that will seek his life, Guts embarks on his journey to hunt down the Apostles and the God Hand so he can kill Griffith.

Voice cast

Music

The soundtracks for the film series are composed and arranged by Shirō Sagisu, with the theme song composed and arranged by Susumu Hirasawa. The insert song of all films, "Aria", is performed by Hirasawa, a live performance is included on the home video releases of the second film, another live version is on the Nomonos and Imium DVD; the ending theme of the first film, "Utsukushii Mono", is performed by the R&B singer AI and composed by Rykeyz and Redd Styiez; lastly, the ending theme of the third film, "Breakthrough", is performed by Kaname Kawabata of CHEMISTRY, written by Kawabata, Hidenori Tanaka and UTA, and arranged by Sagisu, Miho Hazama and CHOKKAKU. A special TV program, narrated by Akio Ōtsuka, that summarized the events of the first two movies, used the Hirasawa song "Horde of Thistledown" as its ending theme.

Home media

Berserk: The Golden Age Arc I - The Egg of the King
Berserk: The Golden Age Arc II - The Battle for Doldrey
Berserk: The Golden Age Arc III - The Advent
In Japan, Berserk: The Golden Age Arc 1 - The Egg of the King brought in $594,707 with a gross of $1,348,352, and the last film in the trilogy brought in less, with an opening weekend of $280,248 and grossing $399,445.
Kotaku's Richard Eisenbeis panned the first two installments of the trilogy, but describing the third installment, Berserk: Golden Age Arc III: Descent, as supreme and delivering an experience surpassing the original manga both in emotional turmoil and brutal violence.