Berserk: Ougon jidai-hen II - Dorudorei koryaku

The story arc is slowly but surely making it's way towards the point of no return. The follow up to Spring's Berserk anime remake was a pleasure to watch. The excitement flows from scene to scene without growing tiresome, and our favourite characters are shown in a new light as their relationships change and take new forms.

I was expecting the story to continue further than it did, but this certainly isn't a bad point. In fact it allowed for greater character depth and emotional attachment for the viewer, and of course pure excitement in waiting for part 3.

The more 'erotic' side of Berserk that the manga fans will be aware of makes it's appearance in part 2. But it never feels out of place and is played out alongside a great musical score that never allows it to feel like a cheesy anime porn scene.

All in all a fantastic film. Fans of Berserk will be frothing at the mouth and your average anime/medieval film fan will also leave the cinema with a delightful grin on their face.

The development of events is very impressive in every sense of the word in this segment

The second part of "Berserk: The Golden Age Arc", "The Battle for Doldrey", picks up where the first left and continues with the business: fights, war and blood. And "The Battle for Doldrey" delivers, because it makes for a really engaging one hour and a half where, even if almost all the running time is dedicated to blood and guts, it has spare time to develop the characters and make them relatable.

A story depends on many things. Here you won't have to care about plot. "The Battle for Doldrey" goes for 100% action and does a great job at it. The action scenes are great, with an amazing direction and the animation very dark and gritty, down to earth. It is thrilling. And even if the action does not stop, it has more than enough moments in which the viewer gets to know more about the characters and their motivations. Even the voices match perfectly with the characters.

And there is a third part to end this very interesting story.

Berserk one of best genera in dark fantasy at ancient times. Now taking place after events of part 1. This time the actions, fights, battles are bloody, Gruesome, and shockingly gory. Fiercely it creates edgy experience. Suspense, twist and turns properly executed. But story was lazy simple and straight lower runtime removes some impactful, heartfelt dynamics. Also visual was too blunt & flat to see 2D/3D effects could have been well polished & detailed. Consider ing on 2010-13 made significance in making many popular franchise. Some elements felt boring & slow paced. Which puts lightness on details. However, love between Griffith & princess was beautiful. But, scene was brief & vague to see clearly. It could've been longer and more intense.

Ending shifts its way to go right in full speed. Bit of Advice don't try watching 3rd part if you can't handle this.

Just like Arc 1, the writing is straightforward. The writing leaves no room for awe or interpretation, and basically tells you straight, which is a shame. for example, Griffith says in the 1997 series "war stories, Barbarous as they are, would only Bore ladies such as yourselves." And in this movie he says: "tales of battle are barbaric, and you are so refined I am sure they would only bore you." The tone changes significantly from the series and the movies, and the 1997 series is just superior with its' writing. However, other than this, it fixes many problems of the 1st film and puts a Lot of weight on the important parts, cuts out some of the "filler" from the series, and covers them with class and refinement. You should read my first-Arc review for more specifics, but the scenes don't feel rushed nor breezed over. It slows down and lets things sit, and brings out lighter sides of characters such as Casca while dancing rather than always being harsh and stern, rarely seen in the series. The battles are also Excellent, and even though it skips the arrow-in-the-hand scene from the series, the cinematography is Fantastic. Again, only the lazy writing, probably a problem with translations and scripting from Japan (original version), is noticeable; however, the writing is never Bad to be sure. This film is Precisely how the 2016 anime Should have been. Why they switched to the abhorrent 3D in the 2016 series I am not sure, considering how Arc II is so professional and looks great; This animation style, in this movie, is top-notch, and if they kept things like this I'd say this is the Best of 2D/3D mixing up to now. Detailed, beautiful, and captures what 2D animation has always Strived for: recognized Art (research the history of Akira and why that failed if you don't know what I mean saying this). I will also add the movies cut out many flourishes, such as seeing the broken blade, the arrow in the hand, and most-importantly cuts most of the 3rd-string characters like Judeau and Pippin and makes them totally benched. Especially Judeau and Corkus, which had some of the Best lines in the series, and in perfect contrast to the main characters to give them that opposition, questioning their motives. It's unfortunate that these great characters were sidelined.