Kentaro Miura and his successors at Studio Gaga including Kouji Mori have secured an incredible legacy for manga’s greatest dark fantasy series of all time, Berserk. Despite strong lifetime sales, with 70 million copies in circulation, a multimedia franchise so influential its presence is felt in some of the most beloved prestige gaming and anime franchises of the modern day, Berserk’s never quite nailed down its anime footprint, though. This is despite a nostalgic and well-crafted first outing largely covering the Golden Age Arc and shades of the Black Swordsman Arc. But looking upon Berserk’s anime of the past, one is often left with greater frustration over what’s not been covered.
Between the full Black Swordsman Arc not being covered, to understandable elements of the Golden Age being censored, to the insulting brevity of the 2016 adaptation of later stories, Berserk’s official anime projects have left plenty to be desired. The Fantasia Arc has been relatively untouched, but even just a more expansive look at some of Guts’ earliest moments put to the page have never been shown to anime-only audiences craving more storylines. Thankfully, thanks to a concerted effort by the fans at Studio ARCHE, Berserk’s old 1997 glory days are being relived with Berserk: The Dark Age, with two episodes of increasing quality under its belt, and a third on the way.
Berserk’s Spiritual Sequel To The Original Anime Is A Solid Effort While Feeling Unique
As with any fan anime production, it’s fair to approach Berserk: The Dark Age with an open mind. It largely aims to recapture multiple pivotal manga panels and the earliest stories of the Black Swordsman Arc leading into the Golden Age Arc not properly captured by any other anime. This effort has been notably conveyed by previous fan projects like the animated manga from years back, as well as Studio Eclypse’s failed yet undeniably ambitious attempt. But ARCHE’s project prioritizes telling the story rather than making money off the adaptation, taking liberties where they choose.
The result is striking, recapturing the old OLM feel of 1997, even recreating the era with an entirely different opening title sequence. But significant tweaks are made without altering the flow too harshly; episodes 1 and 2 technically swap the order of chapters they adapt, instead bringing in the Snake Lord in episode 2. The right amount of gravitas is given to when Guts uses his massive Dragon Slayer to cleave his opponents in two, including aggressive use of slow-motion, so viewers are treated to a visceral vortex of guts and gore in the process. But that’s not all among the artistic liberties and outright easter eggs the series takes.
Berserk: The Dark Age feels authentic both as a fan production and as a Berserk adaptation by primarily still telling the same story, but not staying staunchly dedicated to a frame-by-frame remake such as the scenes already adapted by the 1997 original. Each of the episodes so far are several minutes longer than the average anime installment, allowing each moment to breathe and allowing creativity to flow more strongly into each shot.
Moments like the Akira bike slide get a bizarre homage thanks to a nameless soldier atop his drifting horse. Guts’ Repeater Crossbow is treated to a POV shot as he takes aim, methodically angling the camera to bring the viewers directly into the action, as he fires endless bolts into the Snake Lord. Puck is given the right amount of screen time for viewers to quickly grow endeared, even if his voice actor was confirmed by the studio to be recast. But along with bold and admittedly just fun sequences to watch that add to the Berserk anime experience while feeling authentic, there are optimistic signs of its resilience just in how it’s moving forward.
Berserk: The Dark Age Is Teasing Episode 3 Amid The Manga’s Return
In addition to the three-chapter consecutive release in which the manga finally brought Guts out of his pit of despair and chipped away at Griffith’s invincibility, Berserk: The Dark Age is showing eagerness to continue as well. The anime’s social media handles have already teased episode 3. ARCHE’s Instagram hosts its most recent teaser, while its community notes specifically how the anime is directly setting up the “Guardians of Desire” multi-parter which, as anybody who has read the manga will know, is the first depiction of a confrontation between Guts and Griffith in his “Femto” persona alongside the God Hand.
This will naturally be a more ambitious build-up, though. Whereas previous episodes were largely one chapter apiece, what comes next is the bulkiest portion of the story to date. It includes the latest Apostle for Guts to face, the Count, as well as Theresia, who stands to be utterly orphaned by Guts following his fight with his horrific next foe. But by incorporating the Behelit, incorporating the God Hand directly, and seeing directly just what the Apostles sacrifice to gain power in the world of Berserk, this next story is the main setup for the Golden Age to follow. It’ll be up to ARCHE, provided it finishes this next meaty portion of the Black Swordsman Arc, to decide where to go next.
That’s what makes the latest developments in the Berserk manga so interesting. Much like in the upcoming episodes of Berserk: The Dark Age, this is the first many have seen of the God Hand in a while, and the tone is sharply different for longtime readers as the God Hand sees what Griffith has chosen to do with the new life they’ve granted him. The prospect of revisiting their sinister debut, and just how far Guts has come from his boiling, blinding rage from the Black Swordsman to Fantasia Arcs, makes Berserk: The Dark Age a thrilling and creative outlet for a decades-long story to be told in a way it’s never been seen before, and at the perfect time, no less.
- Release Date
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1997 – 1998-00-00
- Network
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Nippon TV
- Directors
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Naohito Takahashi, Mihiro Yamaguchi, Koji Yoshikawa, Yukio Okazaki, Kazuya Tsurumaki, Masakazu Amiya
- Writers
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Shinzo Fujita, Shikichi Ohashi, Atsuhiro Tomioka, Shouji Yonemura
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Nobutoshi Canna
Guts (voice)
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Toshiyuki Morikawa
Griffith (voice)