Berserk: The Golden Age Arc II - The Battle for Doldrey

I really liked the animation style of the OG berserk series but the 3d animation style on this movie especially on action sequences made me feel abit uneasy. Not a fan of the animation approach but i do enjoy the gores, and it was far more gruesome than it was on the series. Totally not for younger audiences. Tremendous improvement in the sounding department - Great scores and good intro song that was very reminiscene of the series.

Apart from the quality improvement and changes in style as well designs, nothing much of differences in the storyline (similar to the series, just few changes in the flow/pace). They even get rid of few important back stories that are supposed to be crucial for the whole franchise especially on guts, casca and griffith characters' development. Liking the feature changes on nosferatu and other demons.

Recommended.

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.

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

Took me longer to watch the whole thing than expected. Kept stopping after about :40 to do something else.

"Was it interesting?" I was expecting a darker story. The character motivations felt a little hollow.

1.5 out of 3 "Was it memorable?" The worst flaw is the movie trying too hard to be pretty. The attempted mesh between different animation styles was so distracting that it almost ruined some of the action scenes. Luckily there were enough action scenes to make up for this.

1.5 out of 3 "Was it entertaining?" It just felt long and badly paced, like 3 or 4 episodes spliced together. It progressed the story just enough to be adequate.

1.5 out of 3 Starting with 1 (because), 1 + 1.5 + 1.5 + 1.5 = 5.5 I'm rounding down to 5 because I feel that a :40 special with more traditional animation would have been find. They tried too hard.