With the Fall 2022 anime season comes Berserk: The Golden Age Arc – Memorial Edition, a summary version of the story arc of the same name in Berserk. Fans who adore the source manga will be scrutinizing this anime carefully and the anime will need to check some boxes before it can get the fan community’s approval.
This part of the manga has been adapted several times, including the 1997 anime and 2012 films, with the “new” anime being a TV edit of said films. The Golden Age Arc is a beloved segment of the manga for its character development and world-building. There’s almost too much here to keep track of but some moments are too iconic to leave out.
10 Guts’ Origin Story Explains A Lot Of His Motivations And Behavior
Guts, also known as the “Black Swordsman” and Berserk‘s protagonist, starts the story as a mysterious figure who seems more like a force of nature than a man. The Golden Age gives the audience the context for much of what makes Guts who he is, literally starting from his infancy and watching him grow into a formidable mercenary.
Long-time fans never get tired of seeing young Guts’ tragic tale and how it made him into the infamous manslayer, if only because of where he is now and how far he’s come. Guts’ story is about how a person’s past shouldn’t shape their future, an encouraging message in a bleak package.
9 Nosferatu Zodd’s Debut Signifies The Manga’s Transformation Into A Dark Fantasy
The Berserk fanbase is somewhat divided on where new readers should begin the series, with most saying to start with Golden Age since it sets up the story’s major players and setting. No other scene better exemplifies this concept than the initial appearance of Zodd the Immortal.
When the Band of the Hawk first encounters Zodd, his supernatural combat abilities hint at a much bigger picture lingering in the series’ background. Not only does the Zodd fight serve as a part of Berserk‘s growing world but it’s also a terrific battle that introduces characters and their abilities and sparks the rivalry between Guts and the ancient warrior.
8 Griffith’s Motive Needs To Be Understandable
Anime fans, even those who haven’t seen or read Berserk, knows about Griffith and the idea that “Griffith did nothing wrong,” in spite of the horrors he perpetrated at the end of the Golden Age arc. To understand this idea, the new anime needs to show some events from the manga that explore Griffith’s exploits from before the arc.
While his backstory is sketchy and not very detailed, it gives a good enough picture of why someone like Griffith put himself through the trials placed before him. Griffith doesn’t need to be liked, and he certainly won’t be remotely likable by the end. However, it’s important for audiences to understand his motives to appreciate him for the brilliant character he is.
7 Wyald And His Black Dogs Are Savage But Significant
The world Kentaro Miura created can be mercilessly brutal, and no character better epitomizes this than Wyald. His savage atrocities are so disturbing that every adaptation omits him and his squad of murderous knights. The lone exception is the Berserk and the Band of the Hawk video game, where he’s a playable character. However, his Wyald’s violence serves a purpose in the greater story.
On top of serving as the final hurdle of the Griffith rescue mission, Wyald threatening Griffith heralds the return of Zodd and leads to the first mention of the Eclipse. There’s more to this miniature arc than just a few fights and it’s a mistake to pretend like it doesn’t serve a purpose.
6 Guts Against The One Hundred Knights Is A Timeless Fight
Guts is famous for popularizing giant greatswords in anime, expertly wielding it against giant monsters and swarms of enemy soldiers alike. After getting separated from a battle, Guts and fellow mercenary Casca ride into a one-hundred-man-strong ambush, only for the goons to fall one after another like wheat before a scythe.
While the narrative isn’t impacted too much by this event, it’s simply an astonishing spectacle to behold. A single man taking down an army with a weapon larger than his own body actually feels plausible here. This event also earned Guts the epic moniker the “Hundred Man Slayer,” which sticks with him throughout the story.
5 The Ball Shows The Band Of The Hawk At Their Highest
When the war with Tudor ends, the Band of the Hawk are ennobled by the king and renamed the White Phoenix Knights for their courage and accomplishment. Shortly after this, the king holds a grand ball in their honor. What makes this event significant is that it shows a potential “good ending” for Guts and his newfound friends; it shows the audience what could have been, which makes what happens afterward hurt that much more.
It’s around this part of the story where the gap between Guts and Griffith begins to widen when the former overhears the latter’s views on dreams and friends. Unfortunately, the banquet is the beginning of the end.
4 Guts Leaves His Friends To Find His Dream
Shortly after Guts hears what Griffith looks for in a friend, it lights a fire in him to become someone worthy of being his leader’s equal. Guts challenges Griffith to a duel, and Griffith insists that if Guts loses, he’ll leave the mercenary group to find and pursue a dream of his own.
This is a short but pivotal fight that directly mirrors the events that led Guts to join the Band of the Hawk in the first place, when Guts lost his duel with Griffith and was recruited. The result is different the second time around, and Guts’ departure has a weight to it that will weigh down the rest of the series.
3 Skull Knight Debuts To Give Guts An Omen
Skull Knight is a mysterious figure in the Berserk universe, with many questions concerning him still unanswered, even in the manga. He first appears in the Golden Age arc shortly after Guts leaves the Band of the Hawk. As the one who warns Guts about his dark future, the Skull Knight is indispensible.
In the film trilogy, Skull Knight appears at the wrong time. This dilutes his message to Guts and turns what should be a monumentally important moment into a cool skeleton man with a cryptic message. Hopefully, Memorial Edition will give the Skull Knight the treatment he deserves.
2 Kushan Needs An Earlier Introduction
The world beyond Midland and Tudor is implied to be vast and sprawling, confirmed in Golden Age with the arrival of a character named Silat. He first appears as a tournament combatant against Guts early in the Golden Age, introducing himself as a man from the Kushan Empire. The Kushans become an important presence in later arcs, and Silat himself appears to stop the Hawk from rescuing Griffith.
The film trilogy removes the first fight with Silat, giving his reappearance near the end of the arc less impact and making the reveal of the Kushan Empire’s existence too sudden. Manga readers will appreciate it if their first fight is included in the anime.
1 The Eclipse Is Berserk’s Crux
There are few events in anime history more iconic and well-known than Berserk‘s Eclipse. This is the moment where everything and everyone was snatched away from both Guts and the audience. The Eclipse is so well-known that some people start Berserk solely to observe the chaos that unfolds in this moment.
Without spoiling too much of what happens, manga fans and anime watchers alike will enjoy the moment that changed the series forever, for better or worse. At that moment, they will ask themselves again, “did Griffith do anything wrong?”