Product Details

• Actors: Nobutoshi Kanna, Toshiyuki Morikawa, Yûko Miyamura, Masuo Amada, Toby Antony
• Directors: Naohito Takahashi
• Writers: Kentaro Miura
• Producers: Toshiaki Okuno, Toshio Nakatani
• Format: Animated, Color, DVD, NTSC
• Language: English (Dolby Digital 2.0), Japanese (Dolby Digital 2.0)
• Subtitles: English
• Region: Region 1 (U.S. and Canada only. Read more about DVD formats.)
  
• Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1
• Number of discs: 1
• Rating: Unrated
• Studio: Anime Works
• DVD Release Date: May 28, 2002
• Run Time: 125 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (56 customer reviews)
• ASIN: B0000639EP
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #101,755 in Movies & TV (See Bestsellers in Movies & TV)
• For more information about "Berserk - War Cry (Episodes 1-5)" visit the Internet Movie Database (IMDb)

• This is item 1 in The Berserk DVDs Series.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

This violent sword-and-sorcery adventure suggests a darker version of Record of Lodoss War. Guts (originally "Gatsu") is a brooding warrior, haunted by demons, who fights with an enormous two-handed sword. When he's defeated in hand-to-hand combat by the elegant Griffith, Guts joins the Band of the Hawk. They're supposed to be mercenaries, but Griffith's loyal corps behaves like a crack regiment in the century-long war between Midland and Chuder. Although he takes unnecessary personal risks for reasons rooted in past traumas, Guts quickly rises to a position of command. This vision of early medieval warfare is grittier and less sanitized than standard anime adventures. Fans of Kento Miura's original manga praise its depth of characterization, which isn't really apparent in these first five episodes. But its grim earthiness sets Berserk apart from run-of-the-mill chivalric tales. Rated 16 Up: Violence, nudity, sexual situations, profanity, grotesque imagery. --Charles Solomon

Product Description

Studio: Media Blasters Inc. Release Date: 05/28/2002 Run time: 125 minutes

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

13 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A man wields his sword in order to depart life with a smile., December 13, 2002

By	Marc Ruby™ "The Noh Hare™" (Warren, MI USA) - See all my reviews (TOP 50 REVIEWER)

Kento Miura's original Manga 'Young Animal' is the basis of this series, an uncomfortable, gritty story of medieval warfare and magic, which rarely holds its punches. In keeping with the manga, which is still ongoing, this series plays hardball with the viewer's sensibilities continually confronting us with a very realistic view of the horrors of warfare even as it spins out its noir fantasy.

As many Anime series do, the first episode, 'the Black Swordsman,' is really from the middle of the story. Our first view of Guts, a hair-trigger killer with a sword the size of a sidewinder missile, is as he enters a town terrorized by a demonic overlord who feeds on human terror and misery. The town's garrison is compose of criminals who think nothing of torturing children, but the Black Swordsman steps in - to late to save the town, but in time to challenge the author of all the misery.

In the next four episodes, the story returns to its beginning, and we meet the young Guts and see him starting out as a foundling tagalong to a mercenary band. His childhood is every bit as grim as one might imagine, as he is force to kill his leader and then flees from on battle to the next. Finally, he comes against the Band of the Hawk and its leader Griffith, and for the first time in years is overmastered by a swordsman. Griffith sees the real value and strength hidden in the young warrior and is determined to add Guts to his troop rather than kill him.

Griffith's effeminate appearance hides a tough warrior and a proven battle master. When he finally penetrates through the layers of emotional protectiveness that Guts hides behind a strong and mutually agreeable relationship develops. Guts has troubles adjusting to this new, and disciplined, military unit, but he gradually earns the admiration of almost all of them, including the thorny Caska, a woman who is fiercely loyal to Griffith and his belief in destiny.

For all its violence, 'Berserk' strikes many sympathetic chords. It isn't mindless violence, there is an underlying plot, and the production values and artwork are excellent. Dialogue displays an unexpected complexity that signals almost from the beginning that this series is something special. Keep in mind that it deals with some controversial issues, and is aimed at a mature audience.

13 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An excellent anime series, but not for kids., December 8, 2002

By	dark54555 "dark54555" (Dallas, TX United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Berserk - War Cry (Volume #1 with Episodes 1-5 and Collectors Case) (DVD)

I can best compare this series to Record of Lodoss War, but with much more violence and adult themes than Lodoss War had. This series is definately not for children. The story is of a mercenary named Guts and set in a world similar to Lodoss War, but with fewer fantastic creatures and different odd races (most all of the characters are human, with a few exceptions). Do not expect to see a bunch of elves and dwarves and dragons, the non-human characters are few and far between through the first 5 episodes.

One hilarious bonus feature on all of the Berserk DVDs is the Outtakes. Basically, it is a series of line reading errors placed over the same scene in the original anime scenes. Watch them after viewing all of the episodes on the DVD so that you understand the context, but they are truly hilarious. It's very different than those "outtakes" on other animated DVDs, which are actual added scenes.

This is an excelent series; any anime fan should buy it.

46 of 58 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Entertaining, but..., May 5, 2002

By A Customer

This review is from: Berserk - War Cry (Volume #1 with Episodes 1-5 and Collectors Case) (DVD)

Someone may find the subject matters in Berserk difficult (child abuse, rape, insanity, homosexuality, just to name a few), and someone may find that creater of the series has little to no affection toward the character; however, that does make Berserk one of the most mature fantasy series on the market.

Inevitably, there are some typical fantasy cliches in this series, yet those cliches are actually Western fantasy story cliches instead of those hyper anime kiddy fantasy show cliches (slayer series came to mind). There are absolutely no annoying magical creature in the show (not in the TV series anyway...) and important character(s) do die in the series. The animation of the show is nothing to write about, and there are quite a few still frames due to budgeting constraint. Nonetheless, it does get the job done and convey the story to its audiences.

Finally, the most important note of all... THE MANGA SERIES THAT THE SHOW BASED OFF OF IS NOT OVER YET. Since they did not animate the series past volumn 13 (there are 22 volumns so far) the end of the animated series is a giant cliffhanger. There are talks of making a new series (or actually, finishing making it), but there is nothing concrete about that rumor.

Not having a resolution is a horrible thing, because you do want to know what is going to happen to Gatts, Caska, and how big Gatts' sword will get eventually. But you wouldn't regret getting to know them.