SUMMARY
This volume picks up right where volume 1 left off.
Griffith and his Band of the Hawk had recently earned the favor of the
King of Midland through their military successes.
Here, the King decides to appoint Griffith to the Knighthood.
As a Knight, Griffith has officially started his path into
acceptance at the royal court, much to the chagrin of some of the other
nobles.
As things seem to be going well for the Hawks, it is
at this time that they must face one of their greatest challenges yet.
The Hawks, during a castle raid ordered by the King, must face an
“immortal soldier” by the name of Nosferatu Zodd.
A warrior who has had documented appearances in various
battlefields over the last hundred years, Zodd himself has killed
hundreds, or perhaps thousands of soldiers.
Sadly, a large number of the Hawk soldiers are unable to escape
being murdered by this monster. This demon proves to the toughest enemy
Griffith and Guts have yet encountered.
As if Zodd wasn’t bad enough, forces within the
royal court that disapprove of the King’s favor to Griffith and the
Hawks, begin to plot schemes to thwart their rise in status.
Particularly, the King’s own brother
(and next in line to the throne) the Duke Yurius, plots and
assassination attempt against Griffith.
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 reds.
And the blacks, for the most part, 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: Includes more great artwork in the Art Gallery, detailed
Production Sketches (mostly secondary characters), some hilarious Outtakes
(even more hilarious than the last one – including references from
American Pie and Princess Bride), a Textless Opening and trailers for more
AnimeWorks/MediaBlasters titles (Knight Hunters, Puppet Princess, Kurgane,
and Gundress). While these
“extra” features are pretty standard, the Outtakes are definitely
worth checking out.
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
Like the first volume, volume two proves to be
another great installment in the Berserk series.
The battle with Zodd yields more foreshadowing of things to come,
when Zodd foretells to Guts that his friendship with Griffith will
eventually lead to his death. Zodd
also hints to the hidden power of the behelit (a.k.a. “the Egg of the
King”, the “Crimson Behelit of the God Hand”) that Griffith
possesses and aludes to a “scheme” planned for it’s wearer.
Is this demon truly giving prophecy to Guts’ fate, or is he
merely toying with what little fear Guts may have?
The story also gets more interesting as forces begin to conspire
against Griffith’s rise in the court.
This would be king certainly will have his work cut out for him.
As far as quality is concerned, this disk doesn’t
disappoint. Once again,
MediaBlasters/AnimeWorks has done a great job in regards to picture and
audio quality as well as packaging design.
The voice acting is good (even for the English dub) and the epic
musical score continues to be wonderful.
… and this is only the beginning. The story continues to become more intriguing in the next
volumes. Be sure to watch it!
Some
Interesting Facts: Hungry for more
Berserk? Be sure to
check out the Berserk manga (graphic novel) due out in October 2003 from
Dark Horse Comics. The manga
contains a lot of scenes that were excluded in the TV series, including
some extra battles. This will
definitely be worth checking out for anyone who likes the series.
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