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In medieval times a man lives or dies by the sword. Our story
opens with the arrival of The Black Swordsman who rescues
a bar girl from the castle guards, soon the inn is reduced
to blood gore and violence. He is Guts, a man born of his
dead mother womb and taught to fight for everything he joins
the ranks of the Band of the Hawk, but their success will
lead him to a dark place in his soul…
Berserk
is an anime adaptation of Kentaro Miura's original manga.
The twenty-five episode show was originally made in 1997.
The show tells the story of Guts, an orphaned mercenary warrior,
who serves under his friend Griffith in the Band of the Hawk.
The
disc contains the first five episodes of the show. Although
the show has been toned down from the manga it still remains
a particularly violent piece. For such a popular show the
animation is, sadly, often very basic, with too many static
shots or shots with minimal movement, though this is counterbalanced
by the inventive fight sequences.
The
shows main strength resides in its excellent script, with
its emphasis on plot and characterisation. As you get introduced
to each of them, the characters are fleshed out with a back
story and during the show's run they progress and develop
giving the audience a visceral connection, by the end of the
season you really do get to care about what happens to them.
What starts out as the story of a young man's idealism and
hope is soon crushed under the reality of the Land of Midland.
Although
Griffith professes to be an honourable man he is not above
using murder and rape to progress his objective in Midland's
war with Chuder. The effect this has on the young Guts is
nothing short of catastrophic and he becomes a man who must
battle demons - both internally and externally.
Whilst
the story is well told there will be some who will find the
level of violence distasteful, there will be even more who
will object to the shows apparent misogyny. To say that women
are mostly treated badly in the anime is an understatement.
Even within a few minutes of the opening episode a bar girl
is humiliated, in a pseudo sexual scene, by being made to
lick spilt wine from a table, a scene that is more reminiscent
of a hentai rather than this more mainstream offering. And,
while we are discussing imagery on the show, the size of Guts
sword is enough to give any good Freudian nightmares and enough
material for a dissertation.
Morality
aside, the show does push boundaries, whether you're comfortable
about where and to what extent they are pushed is a personal
choice. Because of this mix the show is one that you're either
going to love to hate - or hate to love.
As
well as the first five episodes you get a bunch of extras
in the form of production sketches, an art gallery, a textless
opening, and a trailer. Lastly there are about a dozen little
scenes that have been redubbed to be amusing and collected
under the heading of outtakes. Audio is stereo English or
Japanese with subtitles.
So,
not one for everybody's tastes and defiantly not one to show
the kiddies. What the show lacks in its artwork it more than
makes up with its narrative. Just remember this is not going
to be a comfortable ride.
Charles
Packer
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£14.99
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£14.99
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£15.99
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£13.47
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All prices correct at time of going to press.
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