Berserk Movie 01: Egg of the High King

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Guts is a mercenary; a man who aimlessly wanders from battle to battle, earning where he can. After slaying the great General Bazuso, he gains the attention of Griffith and the Band of Hawk.

This is the newest remake of the golden classic Berserk lovingly retold in all its bloody glory. In my eyes it is vastly superior to the old series in every possible way from the narrative to the animation, the music to the voice acting. If this is your first foray in the world of Berserk, then you’re in for a treat. No prior knowledge of the series needed. Just sit back and enjoy the bloody, brutal romp.

After defeating Bazuso and turning down the offer to be a knight, Guts is attacked by the Band of Hawk. Being the hench, Buster-sword wielding badass that he is, he managed to hold his own until Griffith intervenes and strikes him down with a single blow. Ouch, that’s gonna hurt. Griffith is the leader of the Band of merry men, you see, and he wants Guts to join his crew. Being Griffith he, of course, pulls it off by beating Guts in a duel. Though Guts doesn’t seem too happy, he fits in fine and so begins that start of something beautiful(ly horrific).

This first movie is really the set up for what is to come. Although it is delightfully action packed in its own right, most of the things that appear here (the bickering nobles, the weird pendant around Griffith’s neck, Charlotte’s infatuation) won’t come into play until later. Still, the first movie satisfies my need to see animated blood and large-scale, if slightly clunky-looking, battling armies. In fact, if I have a complaint it’s that the 3D animation doesn’t always blend well with the 2D backgrounds.

However, Berserk’s strengths are many. The political battlefield and the actual battlefield both work well in showing Griffith’s ambition and the brutal realities of war. The characters, those which Berserk bothers to flesh out, are delightful to watch. I don’t think that many will be disappointed with Berserk: Egg of the High King.