MovieChat Forums > Berserk: Ougon Jidai-hen I - Haou no Tamago (2012) Discussion > TV-series vs Movie

TV-series vs Movie

posted 12 years ago by seriouslyscurvy
15 replies | jump to latest

How good do you think the movie is in comparison to the tv-series?

For myself, it seems like they removed and compressed a lot of the character development in favour of action scenes. I understand that some things will inevitably have to be cut when you're making a 1 hour movie out of an long running series like Berserk, but it felt like they were focusing on all the wrong things. You can easily truncate most of the battle scenes without losing too much but it's not the same with important dialogue.

The voice acting was also weaker in the movie in my opinion - with Caska as the most notable one.

I'm not a huge fan of the CG animation either. It felt choppy and a lot of the time the characters were right in the middle of the uncanny valley.

The rest of it was fine but nothing spectacular unfortunately.

[–] argon0 12 years ago

I agree on the fact that they cut out all the wrong things.
I really don't get why they made the movie so short, they dregraded it from a strong story caried by character developmement to a superficial action movie.

The movie wasn't horrible. It was decent, but nothing more than that. The tv-series was so much better despite the fact that it also cut out some stuff from the manga which I would have liked to see.

[–] jeremym1978 12 years ago

I did enjoy it, and yes the cuts are noticable. But they are going to animate the whole series, not just the first arc. Trust me I wish that they had infinite money, time and manpower to make a 1 hour or so movie out of almost every volume of manga, but for what they are trying to do with whatever resources they have, I like it.

[–] 5h4d0w 12 years ago

Well... why not?
There are many TV shows that last 45 minutes per episode.
If you assume 12 episodes per season, it would take just three seasons.
That's how long shows that aren't particularly successful run...

Of course... that is largely by western and live action standards.
Still... considering Berserk's reputation (I think it is the highest rated Anime TV show, is it not?), it shouldn't have been THAT hard of a sell. In fact, it shouldn't have been that hard of a sell to just continue the old TV show.
But then again... I am aware that critical acclaim (and by that, I mean people's opinion on it on average, like on IMDB - not actual critics) doesn't matter and sales are everything.

[–] ThePPrestige 12 years ago

I'm just happy we are getting SOMETHING, these movies may not be completely loyal to the manga or ever the anime series, but they are still good.

Also consider, the producers probably have limited resources and are doing the best they can with what they have. Hopefully once they get fan feedback they will take steps to improve the future movies overall, in any case I'm glad they are doing this.

Also consider... After Eclipse, things start to get really weird, a bunch of new characters are added and it becomes a borderline Harem, there is also a lot of useless filler that doesn't seem to advance the plot AT all. So the editing might actually be a good thing in the later post-Eclipse movies.

As for Tv-Series vs Movie, it is too early to pass judgement, though some of the good for both:

Tv Series

Great character development
Awesome soundtrack
Good humor

Movie

Fast pacing
Great animation
*******

Overall, I'd say I still like the series better because it takes the time to show some of the more subtle and in my opinion, essential character growth, the series also did better with the Zodd encounter, which gives me chills every time I see it, the movie Zodd scene was good too, but it felt like it was neddlessly cut.

Anyways, Berserk in any form is awesome, manga, anime series or movie. Can't wait to see the next movie subbed, which by my calculations will be around October.

[–] OrderedChaos 11 years ago

This is part one, there are another two movies being released this year.

http://www.animenewsnetwork.co.uk/encyclopedia/anime.php?id=13799

Thought you might be interested ;)

[–] emsane16 12 years ago

Guys check this out! This is the proof on how powerful the old tv series is.

As an aspiring filmmaker and a lover of Berserk i was so disappointed with the 2012 Berserk the Egg Of The King movie that i took the 1997 TV series and edited into a 2 hours and 35 minute movie (2012 movie is only 80 minutes). The egg of the king movie has no heart and no soul with no character development. This is how the movie should have been...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A-B8BiZ4JP0

[–] EvangelionManFromTheOtherSide 12 years ago

I don't think it's really fair to compare an entire TV-series with one film of a planned film series. That said, I think both the series and the film have their strength and weaknesses.

The problem with this film is that they cut away the entire Black Swordsman arc from the story. Now, I know the intent was to create a faithful adaptation of Miura's manga with an accessible narrative, but removing the arc loses the dark fantasy atmosphere of the original story, which is what makes the manga so interesting. Unlike you, however, I had no problem with the way the entire story was compressed. In fact, this one, the next film and the third film seem enough to end the entire Golden Age arc. The reason why I'm not too crazy about the series is that it lacks much of the supernatural aspects of Miura's manga. This first film had very little of the dark fantasy element, but if it only takes three films to end the Golden Age arc, then I think I'm content with it because we might finally be able to get a full adaptation of Miura's manga, and not end on a half-a$$ed coda like the series. Though, the shortness was also another problem for me; the first film was only 80 minutes long, and I can imagine the disappointment of the people who PAID MONEY to see an epic so short. As I've said above, they should've incorporated the Black Swordsman arc... a faithful of the manga, that is, unlike the first episode of the series.

As for the voice-acting, I was fine with everyone EXCEPT Griffith. The voice-acting itself was fine, but Sakurai was totally not the right choice for the character, imo. Even though, the voice-actor for Guts isn't really a professional, I was actually fine with it.

Agree on the CGI animation part. Just too much.

Drugs; they're a bit dangerous.

[–] jointerceptor 11 years ago

For a person who never watched the TV show, both movies were awesome. There are probably the same amount of people who never watched the TV show or read the manga to the amount of people who did both, so i think most of the people who know nothing about the anime prior to watching the movie are going to really like it, and the other two movies.

[–] axes_150 11 years ago

but without the character develop. the relationship between Guts & the Hawk feels very gay... in movie persection.

[–] insortediaboli 11 years ago

Is this continuation of where the anime ended or its a remake?

[–] Mooseboy018 11 years ago

It's a remake. The third movie ends a little bit after where the anime ended. And they're going to continue with the rest of the story. They haven't said if it will be done in more movies, a tv series, or OVAs though.

[–] alucardvenom 9 years ago

TV series was far better in my opinion. Sure, animation is bit old, but it still holds up well... but they had lot more time to develop characters since they had more screen time.

Except for Guts\Griffith\Casca, there was very little screen time for other characters. Remember Judeau? He's barely seen here and he was one of the best characters in TV outside of the three. Pippin had like two scenes.

However, the whole "rebirth" scene was slightly better in movie, since it was the main focus of the last movie, while it was crammed into 20 min of TV, while here it last for about 50 mins.

Overall, movies are not terrible, they are pretty good introduction to Berserk, then if you like it, you can check out TV series as "extended" universe.

[–] waneagony 11 years ago

As a big fan of the manga and animeseries I must say I like the first movie, but I do agree with most others about it skipping to much of the character development/dialogue drive (and a lot in Berserk is thanks to its magnificense with character development and dialogue drive.
Had I not known the details behind the skipped parts, it (Berserk) just wouldn't have been as good as Berserk truly is. I hope that new fans/viewers do not get let down but this ...

That being said, I just can't complain when they give us a new chance seeing the Berserk saga animated once again. I just hope they have a budget to not make as big leaps in the rest of the story as they did in the Golden Age Arc (I hope this is made the way it is because there already is the old series that cover this part).

About the CG: not a big fan of it in general, but I did get used to it in the movie after a couple of minutes, so no problem there for my part.

Voice acting: can't say I had a problem what so ever with that either.

Looking forward in bying and seeing part II of tGAA in short. But first I have a visit to Japan for two weeks to take care of :)

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[–] Symarip 10 years ago

I've only seen the movie a couple of days ago, and the first three episodes of Berserk just now, but so far I prefer the movie. The art direction, animations and action sequences especially seem to be better. The CGI does bother me a bit, but without it they couldn't have done those scenes like the intro (not with their budget anyway).

I don't get what you mean with weaker voice-acting though? Are you talking about the dubs? Because the Japanese voice-acting seems fine.

If you've heard of it, it's already too mainstream for me.

[–] itMFtis 10 years ago

I like the original show for the story, and the new movies for the visual appeal and faster pace. The original show looks like absolute crap with today's standards.