Berserk: The Golden Age Arc II – The Battle for Doldrey (2012) Review

Berserk is often praised as one of the greatest manga of all time. On My Anime List, it holds the top rating with a score of 9.47 out of 10 and is considered a cornerstone of the manga community. While the 1997 anime adaptation is widely regarded as a classic, this review is focused on the second film in the Golden Age Arc series—a film that, unfortunately, feels underdeveloped and lacking in polish.

Set immediately after the events of the first film, Berserk: The Golden Age Arc II – The Battle for Doldrey follows Guts, who, after losing a fight to Griffith, is forced to join the Band of the Falcon, a renowned mercenary group. Guts has been with the group for three years, but he longs to be seen as Griffith’s equal. However, the tide of battle is shifting, and the century-long war could finally end if the seemingly impenetrable Fortress of Doldrey falls.

I think the film’s—and likely the trilogy’s—biggest flaw is how compressed it feels. The trilogy condenses 11 volumes of the manga into just four hours and forty-eight minutes. In contrast, the original anime was ten hours long, adapting the same story arc. With the runtime cut in half, you can feel the loss. Only Guts, Casca, and Griffith receive any real character development, but even they feel underdeveloped, lacking depth and complexity.

For the entire 98 minutes, I was honestly just bored. The story fails to engage on a deeper level. It comes across as a Japanese take on medieval fantasy, but this adaptation reduces it to an ultraviolent fantasy with little substance.

I only wish the violence felt satisfying or horrific, but it ultimately falls flat. This disconnect is largely due to the animation. The film blends traditional 2D animation for dialogue scenes with 3D CGI for action sequences, and the two styles clash rather than complement each other. The jarring transition between styles is distracting and hard to ignore. I’m not against 3D CGI animation—in fact, I loved Blue Giant, which used 3D CGI in a similar way. However, Blue Giant utilized it to transport viewers to the imaginative worlds created by music, whereas Berserk fails to do so, resulting in action that feels chaotic and lacks substance.

This is why I find the film underbaked and unpolished. There are traces of a fascinating fantasy world, with characters and a dark, textured story just waiting to be fully realized. This is especially evident with Guts and Casca. Watching them clash, gradually develop mutual respect, and perhaps even deeper feelings is genuinely engaging. Additionally, the story of Guts and Griffith—two men whose lack of communication has devastating consequences—has real potential.

However, these storylines lack depth and feel paper-thin. Griffith’s slow descent into darkness seems to come out of nowhere and is depicted in a bizarre, almost delirious scene.

I didn’t hate watching Berserk: The Golden Age Arc II – The Battle for Doldrey; I just found it incredibly frustrating because there’s potential for greatness here. The film makes me want to check out the ’97 anime, and the ending—teasing a third film that could venture into stranger, more intriguing territory—piqued my interest. I’m just not sure if I care enough to keep watching.

★★1/2

Available to stream on Crunchyroll as part of Berserk: The Golden Age Arc – Memorial Edition / Marc Diraison, Kevin T Collins, Carrie Keranen, Christopher Corey Smith, Steve Kramer / Dir: Toshiyuki Kubooka / 15