There’s nothing inherently wrong with the idea that is the re-make. Technologies change, aesthetics evolve, old fans age and young minds emerge which are fresh for the molding. A good re-make can actually pay homage to the old whilst enticing potential audiences with something new. Now, I’m having a hard time coming up with such a remake off the top of my head, but I’m sure they exist, okay?

All the preambling aside… I thought I would mind the Berserk remakes more than I actually did. Other than Griffith’s lip gloss fetish and the mysterious 50 Shades of Light-Skinned they pulled on Casca it wasn’t all that bad.

I knew what was coming, but still it was a nice little trip down memory lane.

Aesthetics (8/10)

It’d be pretty difficult to argue that imaging and motion software for animation hasn’t gotten more precise over the years. I know we all have our preferences, and there’s a lot to be said about the style and aesthetics of 80s and 90s (some folks would even include 70s) anime.

Personally, I tend to be all about the newest looks. (I still cannot bring myself to like the look of Neon Genesis Evangelion, for example. Sorry, not sorry). So on that score alone The Golden Age Arc was nice to look at. Barring the Casca and Griffith’s lips scenario, there was definite visual improvement.

Storyline (10/10)

It’s Berserk, at the end of the day. If you liked grimdark before Stark heads started rolling all over Westeros, then Berserk is probably right up your alley.

Berserk’s motto would likely be: there are no happy endings only stories whose tragedies haven’t yet come to fruition.

There’s not much that I can say which wouldn’t be spoilerific, so let me just say that the storytelling really doesn’t give you much room to be disappointed. All that being said though…

But why? (4/10)

These movies didn’t need to happen.

The fact they didn’t veer wildly off the tracks and that they may or may not be an aesthetic improvement on the originals and may or may not offer equally compelling character depth is besides the point. To each their merry, geeky own, after all. The point is that if I’m ever to recommend Berserk to anyone I would quite emphatically insist that they ensure they’re watching the earlier series and not the new movies.

It’s because there’s something about the gritty soul of the story that the new movies missed with all their lush colours and lip gloss. I can’t quite put my finger on it (and of course this is totally subjective) but what I watched didn’t really feel like Berserk until some way into the final movie.

Overall (7.3/10)

At the end of the day I finished all three films and they’re not the worst thing to happen to either anime (I’d wager Attack On Titan’s live action version is going to snatch that crown) or to your life. Can you live without them? Yes. If you’re bored should you watch them? Sure, it’s better than watching Jupiter Ascending.

Mood Rating: If you’ve ever wondered what it’s like to watch something that’s epic but still leaves you feeling a little underwhelmed then these movies will do it for you.