Berserk: The Golden Age 500https://i.ur.com/UsGFF1K.png I will try my best to keep spoilers at a minimum for this review. Nonetheless if at all possible I personally recommend jumping into Berserk while knowing as little as possible. Hence if you still know very little about Berserk overall I probably recommend not even reading this review and to just dive in. Again theres really no indepth spoilers but I do talk about a lot of things I really love about Berserk 97 and Berserk in general which could very easily spoil the sort of nature of what this series is. So again if you do still know nothing about Berserk whatsoever just dive in and give it a try. If you have a fondness for dark and gory action series that is. 440https://i.ur.com/ejzoSi0.png Whether thats the 97 TV series the only TV anime that Berserk ever got mind you the 2012 Golden Age movieshttps://anilist.co/anime/10218/BerserkTheGoldenAgeArcITheEggoftheKing/ the relatively recent Berserk Musouhttps://store.steampowered.com/app/502280/BERSERKandtheBandoftheHawk/ game from Koei Tecmo or hell just the straight up undiluted original mangahttps://anilist.co/manga/30002/Berserk/ by Kentaro Miurahttps://anilist.co/staff/96868/KentaroMiura. Personally I jumped straight into the manga because a friend had been recommending it to me for years and years. But literally all I knew was that the main guy had a giant sword and it was apparently quote super fucked up. 440https://i.ur.com/mVahNpZ.png The VERY first scene of the entire manga. With no explanation or context of course. And of course when I finally gave the manga a shot in very late 2015 I ended up catching up to the current chapters in a matter of days. And then after a brief recovery period I proceeded to give the anime a try confident that since I had already read the manga the effects would have been diminished... on the second go... 440https://i.ur.com/EJ7n9Un.gif They werent. ...And thus Berserk was my true yet incredibly rough start in anime and manga. By rough I mean theres clearly a reason I dont see many other people who say oh yeah I started right out of the gate with fucking Berserk. 440https://i.ur.com/5b5T4z0.png The Best Anime And Sole TV Adaptation of Berserk 440https://i.ur.com/USl2MEv.png I think it goes without saying that Berserk 97 is even far more appreciated than ever before due to the last couple of years. The Golden Age films in 2012 by Studio 4C was the first Berserk adaptation since the Japan only PS2 game in 2004https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Berserk:MillenniumFalconHenSeimaSenkinoShC58D. I to this day would still argue that the Golden Age movies are just fine. Specifically the third one.https://anilist.co/anime/12115/BerserkTheGoldenAgeArcIIITheAdvent/ The third one is by far the best. https://i.ur.com/ViXdumH.gif 440https://i.ur.com/kL7mtkl.png 440https://i.ur.com/uBn3z0f.png Sure they cut out a whole bunch more than the original anime did due to the much shorter length in comparison... Sure the CG leaves quite a bit to be desired... And sure it isnt new. It covers only a couple new bits that the 97 anime didnt. Meanwhile cutting a bunch of other stuff the 97 anime did. We dont see much of any of the arc that is to follow chronologically. Weirdly enough on the other hand the 97 anime actually gives us a sneak peek at least of that part of Guts life. 440https://i.ur.com/1xPelpC.png The First Episode 440https://i.ur.com/GM23H3E.png This is a very worthy thing to discuss while reviewing Berserk 97. As Ive seen more than a few others to suggest if you watch Berserk 97 to skip the first episode entirely or watch it only after the other 24 episodes. While I can understand the idea I am staunchly upon the side of watching the first episode and watching it first. Like I really really really love the first episode. 440https://i.ur.com/84boGyV.png And Im not saying that solely because none of the Black Swordsman arc has ever been animated beyond this single episode. I really view the first episode as just a wonderful way to set up the rest of the anime. 440https://i.ur.com/KJ1zhDd.png Apart... from a single line that really makes no sense in the grand scheme of things and just feels like something they just threw in there because they had no idea of where the manga was gonna go at the time. We just start out with this gloomy looking character who very quickly proves that if you cross him youre probably going to end up having a heap of raw iron slamming through your midsection. 440https://i.ur.com/m2SbG7U.png Hes on a journey but we of course at the time have no idea what the purpose of said journey is. But we continue to be fed more hints as were shown him suffering from strange and creepy visions of strange beings and hes being haunted by spirits that claim that this mans flesh is theirs. 440https://i.ur.com/lE75BKl.png His blood his flesh his bones his agony his sadness his fear. Everything. 440https://i.ur.com/l3w2Zuq.png But while this is happening when Guts is just trying to take a fucking nap after walking and killing all day we are also introduced to very odd and very evil looking Baron. 440https://i.ur.com/JkjtA4c.png Who if Im speaking honestly here is a very underrated character as far as the whole of Berserk goes. Sure when you get down to it hes really just a cannibalistic evil Baron who also happens to be a Snake Apostle. But I fucking love that very first battle of Guts against the Snake Baron. 440https://i.ur.com/knYNrTf.png 440https://i.ur.com/NQ7GNwk.png 440https://i.ur.com/0wwbVEF.png Guts isnt a hero. Guts isnt even particularly a good person. Before this journey we join him in the middle of hes gone through no short amount of hell to transform into this walking whirlwind of hatred and pure viscera. 440https://i.ur.com/xAlAPnx.png 440https://i.ur.com/2ktRbgC.png Hes the walking tatters of a human being who is now living a life of throwing himself into one hellish battle against monsters after the other and he cant even get a goddamned nights rest because the nightmares and the spirits will haunt him the moment he shuts his one remaining good eye. 440https://i.ur.com/Bk9s5bv.png This is why the first episode of Berserk 97 and the Black Swordsman arc of the original manga worked so much for me. Because I was absolutely riveted and excited to see what fucking happened to result in the creation of a person just so irreparably fucked up. 440https://i.ur.com/BBC19P0.png Disclaimer this is actually from Lost Children but chronologically its still Black Swordsman Guts. Miuras art has just improved 100 since the last time he drew him. Ah... the first episode... it was effectively dark grim and I genuinely loved the battle scene. The voices of the spirits haunting Guts were appropriately demonic mocking and scary... and Guts screams were pained and full of fear... Oh how I wish I could enter a portal to the parallel universe where Pokmon failed so Oriental Light and Magichttps://anilist.co/studio/28/OrientalLightandMagic instead went on with making the fabled and nonexistent Berserk season 2. https://i.ur.com/FkibCel.png The Golden Age 440https://i.ur.com/lu4I8WW.png 440https://i.ur.com/97jvGHd.png How many times have I gone through the Golden Age now? The manga the anime the 2012 movies the anime again with a friend... 440https://i.ur.com/hYw0QoI.png ...the manga again the manga a third time physical reread and the Berserk Musou game though it primarily uses scenes from the movies for the Golden Age section. 440https://i.ur.com/Du8bA7f.png Thats at least seven times. I think the Golden Age is probably one of the more common favorite arcs among Berserk fans. Personally its not my favorite... actually while Im thinking about it: However no matter what way you slice it the Golden Age is really where Berserk starts. https://i.ur.com/rSqrAAA.jpg And I have no doubts that if Miura was given the opportunity to just instantly and effortlessly redo Berserk he would probably make that so since he now obviously knows where he was gonna take the story. But of course if you remove the Black Swordsman arc where he was still just feeling around would it even still be Berserk? 440https://i.ur.com/Fv8IO5T.png Ive genuinely over the years read multiple people making the argument to outright skip to like the end of volume 3 of the manga. Again I kind of get the reasoning as far as the first episode of Berserk 97 goes but come on. Please read the manga in order... Hence my whole prior diatribe on the idea of skipping the first episode. Its important to have that... peek into the things that are gonna come into Guts life down the road. 440https://i.ur.com/Zsj1uvd.png 440https://i.ur.com/8nNB0zE.png 440https://i.ur.com/J9vBIF7.png And mind you that very first peek the anime offers you is a whole lot less extensive than the mangas. Really still leaves you wondering how in the hell episode 1 is gonna relate to the rest. Because the Golden Age is just more or less on the surface medieval action. https://i.ur.com/ED8KgRQ.jpg Its still the world of Berserk though so its still dark and bloody and gritty but youre still really wondering where and when the giant snake monsters are going to come back into play. I know I went all in on talking about the first episode but... I actually dont want to talk too much about the Golden Age itself. And I know what the header at the top of this review says. It didnt say The Black Swordsman it said The Golden Age. https://i.ur.com/OmTqRC6.jpg But after experiencing the Golden Age as many times as I have still nowhere near as many times as the Berserk fans from before I joined the ranks I reckon I now see Golden Age as the heart of Berserk. Because again thats really where it all began. Thats where this saga thats been running for over thirty years begun. https://i.ur.com/AnSwcNM.jpg The Soundtrack Before we wrap up here you probably already saw this coming as its not at all the first time Ive said it but: Susumu Hirasawahttps://anilist.co/staff/100750/SusumuHirasawa is a musical god. https://i.ur.com/0GWvtXI.jpg Nine tracks. Eleven if you count Tell Me Why by Penpals and Waiting So Long by Silverfins. Tell Me Why even the people who describe this as terrible still fucking remember it. I unironically fuckin love it. Waiting So Long GRIFFITHS FACE. But only nine by Susumu Hirasawa himself. Behelit fucking haunting and probably one of my secondary favorites Ghosts literally only used in the first episode and it hurts Ball obviously the weakest but its fine for what its for Guts its been twenty two years and Guts still has no better theme. Hai Yo? Nah. Murder the absolute fucking stuff of nightmares Fear appropriately named and makes the entrance of certain characters all the more terrifying Monster again appropriately named. Zodd the Immortal Earth one of the less dark or ominous tracks still very very good Forces HAI YAI FORCES HAI YAI FORCES And none of them ever got old. Which is fucking amazing because I remember hearing Gattsu Guts and like Behelit SO MANY TIMES. And my absolute favorite one which is appropriately titled Murder is probably one of the darkest things Ive ever heard off of any soundtrack of anything. It is... the section of the series it goes to incarnate. Its just absolute madness and despair and oh christ. Thats not even to put down whats probably the favorite of the majority of fans. https://i.ur.com/zUN3gZl.png And apart from the ending previews that plays at the end of episodes I only remember Forces playing a couple of episodes. And yet even though I said Murders my favorite Forces is still probably the one Ive listened to the most what with the various remixes and like also the original songhttps://www..com/watch?v=qAMfhwv3gU that he turned into Forces with his goddamned sorcery... If Susumu Hirasawa is not a 100 confirmed musical god then he is at the very least an ageless music sorcerer and I hope he makes music forever. https://www..com/watch?v=et5qY46rQ Conclusion Berserk 1997 is a 8.5 out of 10 or 85 out 100. And I dont think theres a lot of room to argue against it being the best anime adaptation of the manga that currently exists at the time of this review. 440https://i.ur.com/OfHWoXS.png 440https://i.ur.com/aoNxbS4.png The Golden Age movies have their charm for sure but 1997 still presents a more complete version of the Golden Age. Sure the movies expand a little bit past the infamous ending of 1997 but I personally love that ending a whole lot more. 440https://i.ur.com/1WLcN0q.png To very briefly and loosely go a bit more specific on things that get cut out: Anyways yeah. I still love Berserk 1997 to death and still view it as one of the best Berserk adaptations. I mean its not perfect of course but it could certainly be worse. Still... Im really wondering when were going to get a new proper TV anime... its been twenty two years already... https://i.ur.com/IphrWO7.png