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SUMMARY

The land of Midland is in chaos.  The King, Griffith, rules from the shadows while allowing his demonic minions to torment and exploit the land’s inhabitants.  Ruffians and bandits are rampant, and the people live in fear as the violence and pain is never-ending. 

In one of the small towns of Midland, a Black Swordsman arrives, and he easily defeats the town’s snake-like lord who was preying upon its people.  The Swordsman says few words, but he makes his purpose know.  He is looking for Griffith, the King, and is planning to bring an end to his reign of darkness.

Flashing back to years before, we are introduced to a young, reckless swordsman by the name of Guts.  He displays amazing skill as a swordsman.  Refusing offers to join the army, he instead prefers to work as a wondering mercenary.  It is at this time that he meets a very young, yet ambitious, man known as Griffith – leader of a rising band of mercenaries known as the Band of the Hawk.  Griffith, seeing the potential of this young swordsman, decides that he wants Guts to join his band.  Only after Griffith defeats him in a duel does Guts agree to join them. Although reluctant at first, overtime, Guts begins to recognize and respect Griffith for his ambition and intelligence, and the two, in a way, become friends…. But it isn’t long before dark forces begin to surround Griffith and his ambitions…

This series follows Guts’ adventures with the Band of the Hawk and chronicles Griffith’s rise to power amidst various conspiracies and corruption.  How is it that Griffith, a man who in the beginning seems to be a rising savior of Midland, comes to be the horrible ruler who plunges the country into darkness?  And how does Guts become the Black Swordsman, enemy of Griffith, and perhaps the only one who can end his evil reign?  What is the significance of the behelit, the “good luck” charm that Griffith wears as an amulet?  You’ll find out by following this series as this medieval action/drama unfolds….

DVD VISION TEST

VIDEO: The picture is sharp and clear.  No digital fragments are apparent.  The colors are vibrant, and there is no “bleeding” of the strong reds.  Blacks are solid.

AUDIO: The Dolby Digital Stereo supports the awesome soundtrack for this series well.  While an option for 5.1 audio might have been nice, there are no complaints about the stereo sound here.  

EDITS: Clean open and close animation have been used, with the Japanese logo being replaced by the English logo.  Episode titles have been changed as well.  

EXTRAS: An excellent, though sparse Art Gallery, Detailed Production Sketches, some hilarious Outtakes Trailers – Kenshin, Apocalypse Zero, Devadasy, and Mezzoforte, creative menu design (compliments the dark, eerily foreboding elements of the series)

WIDESCREEN REVIEW

ACTING: The voice casting for both the Japanese and English versions are great, particularly in the lead characters (Guts, Griffith, and Caska).  Both Nobotoshi Hayashi and Mark Diraison do great jobs portraying the tough, stubborn Guts.  Toshiyuki Morikawa and Kevin Collins are excellent as the cool, calculating, and charismatic Griffith (note:  be sure to listen to Kevin Collins’ rousing rendition of the Bodyguard theme in the Outtakes… great stuff ;)

FINAL SPIN

Put simply, Berserk is an excellent epic series.  If you like great stories with medieval fantasy themes, you will not be disappointed with this one.  The first volume in the series starts out strong, almost immediately giving the audience a taste of the violence and drama to come. Set in Midland (a fictional country with a setting that closely resembles medieval Europe), the pieces of this epic story slowly come together in each episode.  What makes the story interesting is that the audience is shown in the first episode the horrible state of affairs that the kingdom of Midland arrives to after Griffith becomes king.  Then we are taken to an earlier time, before he came to power, and are allowed to witness the sequence of events that led to this horror.  We get to witness how Griffith and his Band of the Hawk showed such promise for helping stabilize the war-torn country of Midland.  Yet, as the audience watches the sequence of events unfold as Griffith rises to power, we are left with a constant sense of foreboding, knowing that Griffith, as king, will instead end up being the doom of the country. 

The main themes explored in this series center around fate, and whether or not a man (or woman) can actually have any control over their own destiny; their own life and death.  At the beginning of each episode, the voice of the Void (the narrator) reminds us of this (see the quote referenced above).  This question of fate is particularly evident between the two characters Guts and Griffith.  Griffith, perhaps the best example, is a charismatic man who aspires to rise from a common mercenary to eventually rule his own kingdom (or perhaps, even rule the world). Guts, on the other hand, is struggling with his own origins (allegedly “born from a corpse” - a sign of a bad omen), to his troubled past (accidentally killing his psychotic father figure), and his amazing will to survive despite it all.  Constantly fighting for his life, yet never understanding for what purpose. 

To accompany this epic story, is an excellent epic soundtrack to match.  Utilizing sounds like harps, flutes, and even what could be bagpipes, (as well as some rather Celtic sounding music) the score compliments the medieval feel of the story very well.  My compliments to music choices of  Susumu Hirasawa. My only complaint about the music is that the opening theme seemed a little out-of-place to me.  While I didn’t think the song was that bad on it’s own, but it seemed a little too “upbeat” for the feel of the series.  I also didn’t understand how the lyrics related to the story either.  But then again, maybe it’s just me.  While I kind of like the opening theme, I don’t think it’s really appropriate for the series.  Aside from that, the score is superb.  I must have had the song “Forces” stuck in my head every time I watch Berserk.

As for the animation, in a lot of parts it is amazingly detailed considering it is a TV series.  However, as in most TV animations, there are some parts where the “short-cuts” in the animation are obvious (i.e. a lot of “stills” used, some re-used footage for flashbacks, etc), and sometimes the characters seem to look a little awkward, but even these minor issues don’t detract from the story.

I must say, that some viewers may be a little distracted by Guts’ HUGE sword.  At some parts it’s almost comical how big his sword is, but you have to admit, it is pretty entertaining to watch him fight people with that huge hunk ‘o steel.  One funny thing you may notice is that there is rarely a single scene where Guts is not with his sword.  I won’t even get into the phallic symbol debate here….

Needless to say, this is not a series for kids.  The fight scenes tend to be very bloody and very violent, and some of the characters also use some “adult” language.  Some may also find the “occult themes,” such as the use of demons and other such implications of the supernatural to be objectionable.  Because of this, I recommend that parents follow the “16 and up” (basically this equates to an “R” rating) label on these DVDs before purchasing or allowing younger children to watch this.

Overall, Berserk is an excellent series, and another one that I feel is more “easily accessible” to newcomers to anime.  If you like films like Conan, or if you like watching violent, epic, medieval battles a la Lord of the Rings – you shouldn’t be disappointed by Berserk.  In fact, this is one to keep watching.  If you’ve already bought the first volume, or your thinking of it, you might as well get the rest of the series now, because once you see the first one, you’re going to be hooked.

Some Interesting Facts:  If you’re thinking of adding this series to your collection, be sure to look out for the Volume 1 edition that comes with a special collectors box (designed to hold all of the volumes).  Or, if you don’t mind waiting, be on the lookout for the “Berserk Premium Collectors Set” containing the set of all 6 volumes, scheduled to be released in November 2003.

Do you think you recognize some of the voices?  Toshiyuki Morikawa (Japanese Voice actor for Griffith) also was the voice of the evil Naraku in the InuYasha TV series and movies as well as multitudes of other roles.  Yuuko Miyamura, the Japanese voice actress for Caska, is also well know for her role as Asuka Langley Soryu in Neon Genesis Evangelion (check out www.imdb.com for more of these and the other actors impressive credits).  By the way, Susumu Hirasawa, the one responsible for the awesome music in Berserk is also the creative force behind the music for the soon to be released in the US, Millennium Actress.  If the music in MA is anything like the beautiful music in Berserk, it’s sure to be a treat.  

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