As part of a larger celebration of the Berserk franchise, the Golden Age Arc film trilogy is airing on Japanese TV for the first time with a special recut version called the "Memorial Edition."
This announcement was made on the Japanese entertainment site Comic Natalie. According to site translations from Crunchyroll, the "Memorial Edition" will air sometime later this year. Details about how the films will be recut have not yet been revealed. However, a new poster and promotional video were released to promote the upcoming "Memorial Edition." The video was posted on Aniplex's official YouTube channel.
First serialized in 1989, Berserk has made a substantial impact on the world of anime and manga. With over 50 million copies in circulation worldwide, it is one of the best-selling manga ever made. It stood out among other fantasy manga for its unique use of a European-style medieval setting and its masterful artwork. Berserk also became well-known for its unflinching use of explicit violence, which critics have lauded as an effective element of its action-packed and often tragic story.
The recut of the Golden Age Arc trilogy is part of a larger effort to commemorate the legacy of Berserk and its creator, Kentaro Miura, who passed away in May of last year due to a sudden aortic dissection. The final chapter that Miura worked on himself was released in Japan on Sept. 10, but earlier this month Hakusensha, the publisher of the manga, announced that it plans to continue production on Berserk, despite the author's passing.
Berserk will continue to be written by Miura's friend and fellow manga author Kouji Mori (Holyland, Jisatsutou) and drawn by staff members from Studio Gaga, the manga studio that Miura established. As of now, six new chapters are planned for the current "Fantasia Arc/Elf Island" story arc, after which the story will continue with an entirely new arc, the details of which are not yet known. The next part of Guts' story, Chapter 365, is currently planned for release on June 24 in Hakusensha's Young Animal magazine.
Berserk is released in English by Dark Horse comics. Volume 41, the final one which Miura completed before his death, is scheduled to be released in North America this November. The regular versions of all three films in the Berserk: Golden Age Arc are available to stream on Netflix.
Source: YouTube, Comic Natalie, Crunchyroll