# Berserk: The Golden Age Arc I – The Egg of the King (ベルセルク 黄金時代篇I 覇王の卵)
**Berserk: The Golden Age Arc I – The Egg of the King** (ベルセルク 黄金時代篇I 覇王の卵, *Beruseruku Ōgon Jidai-hen I: Haō no Tamago*) is a 2012 Japanese animated dark fantasy film, the first part of a theatrical trilogy adapting the [Golden Age](https://www.edgepedia.org/golden-age) arc of [Kentaro Miura](https://www.edgepedia.org/kentaro-miura)'s manga *Berserk*. Directed by Toshiyuki Kubooka and produced by [Studio 4°C](https://www.edgepedia.org/studio-4-c), it was released in Japanese theaters on 4 February 2012, distributed by Warner Bros. Pictures Japan.[1](https://eiga.com/movie/55959/) • [2](https://www.cinematoday.jp/movie/T0010464)
| Key fact | Detail |
|---|---|
| Japanese release | 4 February 2012, distributed by Warner Bros. Pictures Japan[1](https://eiga.com/movie/55959/) |
| Runtime | 80 minutes per eiga.com and JFDB; Studio 4°C lists 82 minutes[1](https://eiga.com/movie/55959/) • [3](https://jfdb.jp/title/3203) • [4](https://www.studio4c.co.jp/works/en/pages/33.html) |
| Director / screenplay | Toshiyuki Kubooka; screenplay by Ichiro Okouchi[1](https://eiga.com/movie/55959/) |
| Studio | Studio 4°C, known for *[Tekkonkinkreet](https://www.edgepedia.org/tekkonkinkreet-2006-film)* and *Mind Game*[1](https://eiga.com/movie/55959/) |
| Main cast | Guts: Hiroaki Iwanaga; Griffith: Takahiro Sakurai; Casca: Toa Yukinari[1](https://eiga.com/movie/55959/) |
| Music | Score by Shirō Sagisu; theme song by Susumu Hirasawa; ending theme by AI[1](https://eiga.com/movie/55959/) |
| Source | The Golden Age arc of *Berserk*, serialized in Young Animal since 1989[2](https://www.cinematoday.jp/movie/T0010464) |
## Spoilers
### Story
The film opens the Golden Age arc, the most popular portion of the manga, in a war-torn fictional medieval world. The lone swordsman [Guts](https://www.edgepedia.org/guts-berserk), who wields a huge longsword taller than himself, fights as a mercenary across lands torn by the Hundred Years War. Griffith, leader of the mercenary band called the Band of the Hawk, takes notice of him, defeats him in a duel, and brings him into the band. Through successive battles Guts and Griffith form a close bond, while the band's only female swordswoman, Casca, repeatedly clashes with Guts. [The Band](https://www.edgepedia.org/the-band) of the Hawk is eventually taken into the regular army of Midland, a first step toward the peak on which Griffith has set his sights, and Guts begins to adopt Griffith's dream as his own.[1](https://eiga.com/movie/55959/) • [5](https://rialto-e.co.jp/en/works/detail/?title=berserk_movie) • [6](https://www.allcinema.net/cinema/340341)
Unlike the 1997 television adaptation, which opened with the Black Swordsman storyline before flashing back, the film begins the story linearly with Guts joining the Band of the Hawk, a choice made to ease in viewers new to the manga and to suit a film format.[7](https://www.capsulecomputers.com.au/2013/01/berserk-the-golden-age-arc-1-the-egg-of-the-king-review/)
## Production
**Studio and staff.** [Animation](https://www.edgepedia.org/animation) production was by Studio 4°C, with character design and chief animation direction by Naoyuki Onda, art direction by Yusuke Takeda and others, world-view supervision by Kenichi Iwao, and Western swordsmanship instruction by Jay Noise.[1](https://eiga.com/movie/55959/) Kubooka said he was convinced from the start that making *Berserk* would be like making *The Lord of the Rings*, and the central production question was how far the characters could be drawn in CG.[8](https://cgworld.jp/feature/making/berserk01.html)
**The 2D/CG hybrid.** A pilot film was made in 2008 to test a hybrid of hand-drawn and CG animation. The main obstacle was facial expression in 3DCG characters, so the production drew faces by hand and composited them onto CG bodies; for some cuts, arms and cloaks were also drawn by hand. CG character motion was animated on twos or threes, like hand-drawn animation, rather than on every frame, to avoid overly smooth movement.[8](https://cgworld.jp/feature/making/berserk01.html) Across the full trilogy this method produced 288 minutes and 4,036 cuts, a volume the studio describes as unprecedented for animated films.[4](https://www.studio4c.co.jp/works/en/pages/33.html)
## Release and reception
The film screened in the out-of-competition feature section of the 2012 Annecy International Animation Film Festival in France, marking the franchise's overseas festival presence.[3](https://jfdb.jp/title/3203) • [1](https://eiga.com/movie/55959/) It also received the Silver Level award at the 2012 Oregon International Film Awards and screened at the St. Louis International Film Festival and the Philadelphia Film & Animation Festival.[5](https://rialto-e.co.jp/en/works/detail/?title=berserk_movie) Viz Media released it on Blu-ray and DVD in North America on 27 November 2012.[7](https://www.capsulecomputers.com.au/2013/01/berserk-the-golden-age-arc-1-the-egg-of-the-king-review/) • [9](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cbdGGr70_44)
Critical response was divided. Richard Eisenbeis, reviewing for Kotaku, judged the plot a faithful but abridged retelling identical to the 1997 series in most scenes, criticized the mix of 2D dialogue scenes with cel-shaded 3D action as jarring, and found the pacing weak, with the action climax arriving about 30 minutes before the film ends.[10](https://kotaku.com/berserk-the-egg-of-the-king-is-an-ugly-inferior-rehas-5920418) A Capsule Computers review called it not an outstanding adaptation but a step in the right direction.[7](https://www.capsulecomputers.com.au/2013/01/berserk-the-golden-age-arc-1-the-egg-of-the-king-review/) A retrospective review noted the compression: the film omits, for instance, the circumstances of Guts' birth and childhood and the scheming character Foss.[11](https://viktor.eikman.se/review/berserk-1989/)
## Place in the series
The film is the first of three theatrical parts covering the Golden Age arc. *The Golden Age Arc II – The Battle for Doldrey* followed in June 2012 and *The Golden Age Arc III – The Advent* on 1 February 2013; the trilogy was planned and produced with partner companies and released from 2012 to 2013.[12](https://aniorder.com/series/berserk/?order=chronological) • [13](https://www.tsuburaya-fields.co.jp/ir/j/files/press/2014/press_20141028ae.pdf) In 2022 the trilogy was recut for television as *Berserk: The Golden Age Arc – Memorial Edition*, a 13-episode series telling the same story, so watching one version or the other is sufficient.[12](https://aniorder.com/series/berserk/?order=chronological) • [14](https://guides.justwatch.com/us/berserk-movies-tv-shows-in-order) The 1997 television series *Sword-Wind Chronicle Berserk* covers the same arc in 25 episodes and ends mid-Eclipse, so the film trilogy and the 1997 series are alternative adaptations rather than continuations of each other.[12](https://aniorder.com/series/berserk/?order=chronological)
## References
1. [ベルセルク 黄金時代篇I 覇王の卵 : 作品情報, 映画.com](https://eiga.com/movie/55959/)
2. [ベルセルク 黄金時代篇Ｉ 覇王の卵 (2011), シネマトゥデイ](https://www.cinematoday.jp/movie/T0010464)
3. [JFDB – ベルセルク 黄金時代篇Ⅰ 覇王の卵](https://jfdb.jp/title/3203)
4. [STUDIO4℃ WORKS | Berserk: The Golden Age Arc](https://www.studio4c.co.jp/works/en/pages/33.html)
5. [BERSERK THE GOLDEN AGE ARC | WORKS, Rialto Entertainment](https://rialto-e.co.jp/en/works/detail/?title=berserk_movie)
6. [ベルセルク 黄金時代篇 Ｉ 覇王の卵 (2011), allcinema](https://www.allcinema.net/cinema/340341)
7. [Berserk: The Golden Age Arc 1: The Egg of the King Review, Capsule Computers](https://www.capsulecomputers.com.au/2013/01/berserk-the-golden-age-arc-1-the-egg-of-the-king-review/)
8. [劇場アニメーション長編『ベルセルク 黄金時代篇Ⅰ 覇王の卵』, CGWORLD.jp](https://cgworld.jp/feature/making/berserk01.html)
9. [BERSERK | The Golden Age Arc I: The Egg of The King Trailer, Warner Bros. Entertainment](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cbdGGr70_44)
10. [Berserk: The Egg of the King Is an Ugly, Inferior Rehash, Kotaku](https://kotaku.com/berserk-the-egg-of-the-king-is-an-ugly-inferior-rehas-5920418)
11. [Reviews of Berserk (1989) and related work, VE](https://viktor.eikman.se/review/berserk-1989/)
12. [ベルセルクの時系列順, アニオーダー](https://aniorder.com/series/berserk/?order=chronological)
13. [Progress of IP Initiatives, Fields Corporation](https://www.tsuburaya-fields.co.jp/ir/j/files/press/2014/press_20141028ae.pdf)
14. [All 'Berserk' Movies And TV Shows In Order, JustWatch](https://guides.justwatch.com/us/berserk-movies-tv-shows-in-order)
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*Topic: Encyclopedia › Arts and culture › Screen and stage › Film and television › Films and standalone screen works › Films by genre, form, and subject › Animated and short films › Japanese anime features › Released 1999 to 2013*
*Initially written Oct 3, 2026 · Reviewed: Oct 3, 2026; Oct 25, 2026 · Edited: Oct 15, 2026; Oct 25, 2026; Nov 1, 2026 · Last review: Oct 25, 2026*
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License: Edgepedia Community License 1.0, https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license