Berserk, Vol. 2: Immortal Soldier (1997)
Review by Doc Ezra
Film:
DVD:

Original story by Kentaro Miura
Directed by Naohito Takahashi
Character Design by Yoshihiko Umakoshi
Translation by Yumiko Tamura
English Version Directed by Michael Sinterniklaas

Features:

• Outtakes
  
• Production sketches
  
• Textless opening
  
• Art gallery
  

Rating: 16+

Anamorphic: N/A

My advice: Own it.

Three years have passed since the enigmatic young warrior Guts joined the mercenary company known as the Band of the Hawk. His friendship with the band’s leader, Griffith, has grown strong, and the band itself is growing in power and influence. Due to the skill of Griffith and the unbelievable strength of Guts, the group has met with unheard of success in their campaigns, which is beginning to make them unpopular with the lazy nobility.

This installment in the Berserk series opens with the Band of the Hawk squaring off with Zodd the Immortal, a demonic warrior of unparalleled might. After suffering grievous injuries in that battle, Griffith and Guts are taken to the palace, where the king’s personal physicians and healers attend to them. After their recovery (and a further loss of popularity in the eyes of the nobility), the Band of the Hawk is again called upon to put down a rebellious nobleman.

The group’s successful handling of this new uprising leads the king to the decision to elevate the common-born Griffith to the status of count, despite the cries of outrage from the various dukes and barons. And once the princess exhibits a certain interest in Griffith, one of the nobles makes an attempt on Griffith’s life. It is only through the mysterious intervention of Griffith’s unusual amulet that his life is spared. Guts begins to see the scale of his friend’s ambition, and is sent on a mission of murder to remove the adversarial noble that attempted to assassinate his friend and leader.

Berserk continues to be an excellent series in this second set of episodes. While the first disc concentrated on building the characters and establishing relationships, the episodes on this disc revolve more around the world they live in, with all its political intrigue and class conflict. Because of this shift in focus, Griffith is much more central to these stories than Guts himself, perhaps because the show’s titular berserker doesn’t really do subtlety or politics particularly well.

The animation is top-notch, and the use of still-frame sketches in moments of dramatic tension is quite effective. The sound, theme song excepted, is also good. Both voice casts, English and Japanese, carry the dialogue off very well. The aforementioned theme song is a bit too 1980s power chord rock ballad to really fit in a straight fantasy series. The design of the show is interesting and distinctive, with a very low-fantasy approach that makes the individual mortals and the politics of the world more important than whose got the most powerful wizard on their side (no wizards to be seen, actually). This minimalist fantasy approach serves to distinguish Berserk from other fantasy shows like El Hazard or Record of the Lodoss War.

The DVD has four episodes, along with outtakes and various production materials. The extras are nice additions, and the outtakes are particularly amusing. For fans of the genre, or just quality anime in general, this show is a great addition to the collection. After digesting the first volume, pick this one up as well.