Berserk: The Golden Age Arc - Memorial Edition

Alternate Titles

ベルセルク 黄金時代篇 MEMORIAL EDITION
Berserk: Ougon Jidai-hen MEMORIAL EDITION

Synopsis

He believes only in his sword. With no friends, no family, and no home to return to, Guts is a lone swordsman and a traveling mercenary in a land ravaged by the Hundred-Year War. Weilding a sword that is longer than he is tall, he easily defeats his enemies, no matter how powerful.

During his travels, he picks up the attention of Griffith, the leader of a mercenary group called the Band of the Falcon who has handsome looks and big ambitions. After beating him in a duel, Griffith brings Guts into the group with his eyes firmly set on realizing his dreams. Through numerous fierce battles together, their friendship and trust grow, creating an especially strong bond.

Eventually, the Band of the Falcon rises to become the regular army of the Kingdom of Midland, but this is only the first step in Griffith’s goal of reaching the top. Guts, on the other hand, is won over by Griffith’s dream and begins questioning his life of just wielding a sword. But what he doesn’t know is the terrible fate that their limitless dreams have bestowed upon them…

Background

Berserk started as a manga series written and illustrated by Kentaro Miura which began serialization in Hakusensha's now-defunct Monthly Animal House magazine in 1989 and was transferred to Young Animal magazine in 1992. It has been published in 41 collected tankobon volumes as of December 2021 under the Young Animal Comics imprint. It is also published in English by Dark Horse Comics, who will publish the 41st volume in November 2022. Though Miura passed away in May 2021, the series lives on under the supervision of his childhood friend and fellow manga artist, Kouji Mori. In 2002, the series won the 6th Osamu Tezuka Cultural Prize for Manga Excellence, and it surpassed 50 million copies in print in May 2021, making it one of the best-selling manga series of all time.

The series has gone on to be adapted into a range of different media, including two TV anime adaptations, a series of feature-length animated films that adapted the manga’s Golden Age arc, several video games including Sword of the Berserk: Guts' Rage released on the SEGA Dreamcast in 1999 and Berserk and the Band of the Hawk released on the PlayStation 4 in 2016, and a spin-off novel series titled Berserk: The Flame Dragon Knight written by Makoto Fukami with illustrations by Miura.

Berserk: The Golden Age Arc - Memorial Edition is an upcoming TV anime adaptation of the Berserk: The Golden Age Arc film trilogy. It is being produced by Studio 4°C and features Yuta Sano as director, with Ichiro Okouchi writing the script, Naoyuki Onda as character designer and chief animation director, Satoshi Iwataki as animation director, Shiro Sagisu as music composer. The anime’s opening theme song is “Ash Body” by Susumu Hirasawa, and the ending theme song is “Wish” by Mika Nakashima. The anime will premiere in Japan on Oct. 1, 2022 on Tokyo MX, Tochigi TV, Gunma TV, and BS11. It will be streamed overseas through Crunchyroll.

Characters

Guts (Voiced by: Hiroaki Iwanaga)
Guts is a swordsman known as the "Black Swordsman" who wields an uncommonly large sword. After killing his adoptive father, he was expelled from the mercenary group where he spent his childhood and now lives alone on the battlefield, trusting only in his swordsmanship. After meeting Griffith, he joins the Band of the Falcon and goes on to become the leader of the group’s raiders.

Griffith (Voiced by: Takahiro Sakurai)
Griffith is the leader of the Band of the Falcon who has a noble spirit and big dreams. His charisma captivates others, but he also has a cruel side. He first sees Guts on the battlefield and asks him to join the group.

Casca (Voiced by: Toa Yukinari)
Casca is a unit commander and the only female member of the Band of the Falcon. As a child, she was attacked by a nobleman but was saved by Griffith, and volunteered to join the group. She is enamored with Griffith and throws herself into battle as his sword.

Judo (Voiced by: Yuki Kaji)
Judo is a unit commander of the Band of the Falcon. He is also the group’s chief strategist, and his insightful and caring nature makes him very attentive to the other members. He is good at everything he does, but he has a complex over feeling like he’s not the best.

Rickert (Voiced by: Minako Kotobuki)
Rickert is a young mercenary. He has a friendly and pure personality, and although his fighting abilities are slim, he is highly conscious of his role as a mercenary. On the battlefield, he prefers a crossbow over a sword.

Pippin (Voiced by: Takahiro Fujiwara)
Pippin is a unit commander of the Band of the Falcon. He wields a mace with his strong arms. He is as big as a mountain and is usually taciturn, but he has a warm aura that relaxes others.

Carcus (Voiced by: Yoshirou Matsumoto)
Carcass is a unit commander of the Band of the Falcon. He does not readily acknowledge Guts because he lost his own men when he first got involved with him.

Gaston (Voiced by: Kazuki Yao)
Gaston is the second in command of the Band of the Falcon’s raiders. He respects and admires Guts, the leader of the raiders.

Bazuso (Voiced by: Kendo Kobayashi)

Music

Opening Theme Song: “Ash Body” by Susumu Hirasawa
Ending Theme Song: “Wish” by Mika Nakashima

• Anime Site (Japanese)
• Portal Site (Japanese)
• Twitter (Japanese)

• Original Creator: Kentaro Miura
• Director: Toshiyuki Kubooka (theatrical release), Yuta Sano (memorial edition)
• Script: Ichiro Okouchi
• Character Design/Chief Animation Director: Naoyuki Onda
• Animation Director: Satoshi Iwataki
• Art Director: Hideki Nakamura, Marefumi Niibayashi, Yusuke Takeda
• In-Between Check: Mutsuko Kajigaya, Yukari Kaku
• Color Design: Kumiko Naruke
• CG Director: Akiko Saito, Chiaki Imanaka, Takayuki Kusaki, Yusuke Hirota
• Editing: Kengo Shigemura
• Sound Design: Koji Kasamatsu
• Music: Shiro Sagisu
• Animation Production: Studio 4°C