Monday 13 August 2018

The Excellent Use Of Score In Berserk (1997)




The use of sound in anime is something that is not often touched upon in many anime reviews or analysis videos. Whether we are talking about the foley used to make the world sound believable, certain noise elements that are often used as cues to indicate that something important has happened in the context of the story or the character's development, or the music that helps set the tone and aesthetic of a show all these elements are extremely important in bringing what would otherwise be just plain moving pictures to life.

The most neglected aspect of sound in anime is often the use of audio cues. While your typical audio cues generally revolve around the use of sounds like the hand of a clock ticking, a sudden static distortion in a character's voice when they speak, or the sound of crickets in the fields at night, there are often times where the score serves as an audio cue as well, though it's rarely done throughout the entirety of a series or even something with a shorter run time like a movie.

And a prime example of a series that uses this kind of sound cue to it's full advantage and potential is none other than the 1997 anime adaptation of Kentaro Miura's dark fantasy manga, Berserk.
The score for Berserk was written and composed by experimental/new age/psychedelic musician, Susumu Hirasawa, who is also known for his work on the movies Paprika, Millennium Actress, and tv series Paranoia Agent which were all directed by the late Satoshi Kon. If you've seen any of Satoshi Kon's projects, heard the soundtracks, and have never seen the 1997 Berserk adaptation, you might be thinking that Hirasawa's music sounds like a rather odd choice for a dark fantasy series, but, this is why it works.
Hirasawa's style is something that can easily be associated with artists such as Vangelis or Enya, who both use a lot of electronic elements to their music which retains a traditional or classical feel in it's songwriting while still sounding modern and contemporary. So, while his work in Kon's projects might be a lot closer to his usual music, it is when he is composes music for the Berserk franchise that the man really flexes his darker and more atmospheric side.
This side of his music works extremely well in Berserk since, despite it's very limited animation, the visuals already provide an extremely strong archaic aesthetic. This can be clearly seen in the beautiful background art that is worthy of Tolkien's approval and the very pulpy Conan The Barbarian styled colour palette. And Hirasawa's music really adds a very surreal element to this world, especially when it occurs as a sound cue in the series most important and beautifully shot moments.

Let's start off with the most well known and popular track from the score which is Gatts Theme. Most of the time, this track is used to indicate important developments in Gatts' personality or his overall journey. There are two great scenes in this show that really showcase this. The first scene is when Gatts challenges Griffith to a duel when they first meet and the time Griffith challenges Gatts to the same duel again when Gatts decides to leave the Band Of The Hawk.

Before his encounter with Griffith and the Band Of The Hawk, Gatts lived an extremely harsh life. After being born from his mother's corpse, Gatts was raised by a band of mercenaries led by a man named Gambino. Gatts was treated rather harshly and was even abused. After an incident which left Gambino crippled and unable to fight, Gambino tried to murder Gatts and blamed him for the death of his lover who adopted Gatts as her son. Gatts accidentally kills Gambino in self-defense and is forced to flee. After several years of fighting for himself and drifting between mercenary groups, Gatts finally encounters Griffith and his band of mercenaries. Now, it is important to keep Gatts past in your mind as this scene plays out. For I'm sure you can figure out by now that for basically his entire life up until this very moment, Gatts has never really felt as though he has belonged anywhere and that nobody but himself cared about his existence. However, it is the moment that Griffith utters these words, that Hirasawa's score perfectly conveys Gatts feelings.

As you can see, Gatts clearly feels something akin to happiness and possibly even a sense of worthiness, but, it is also followed with conflicting emotions as a result of the trauma he experienced as a child and his distrust of people in general. The music not only adds to the serene beauty of the scenery, but, it gives the moment an emotional weight that subconsciously not only indicates a development in Gatts' character, but, allows you to put yourself in Gatts' shoes and experience everything he is feeling in that moment as the two men get ready to cross swords in a duel that will decide their fates.
And, as we follow all the ups and downs of Gatts' time with the Band Of The Hawk, the bonds that he manages to form, and how he has managed to open up a lot more to those he cares about, we eventually get to the scene that triggers the events that lead to the much darker portion of the story, and that is when Gatts decides to leave Griffith and the Hawks to find his own path. Gatts need to take this journey is indicated several episodes earlier when Gatts returns from assassinating one of Griffith's political enemies and when he goes to report that the deed is done, he overhears Griffith's conversation with Princess Charlotte where Griffith tells Charlotte what he needs to see in a man that will truly make him his friend and his equal.

The scene where the two men commence the duel begins with a silent and tense build up with nothing but dialogue and foley being used to convey the atmosphere and the current relationship between the two men. We have many beautiful shots that symbolize the beginning of Gatts new journey ahead of him and the beginning of a new arc for the Hawks albeit a dark one. Then after the duel is finished, the song plays again.

As you can see, the scene carries an even bigger emotional weight now. Gatts Theme is already a very beautiful yet melancholic song that is meant to evoke a variety of conflicting emotions such as sadness and joy, calm and chaos all into one haunting melody. And, as Gatts walks away without so much as saying good bye, without even looking back when Casca cries out after him, we can feel the sadness, confusion, and pain from Casca, the shock and disbelief from the other members of the Hawks and the disbelief and defeat from Griffith. At the same time, while we are sad that Gatts has left, subconsciously, we feel kind of glad for him that he wants to take this new journey to find out why he continues to fight and what his own goals and ambitions are in life so that when he returns, he can hopefully be on equal footing with Griffith and proven himself worthy to be called his friend even though we the audience know this doesn't happen.
There are plenty of other great examples as well like the use of the tracks Earth which is generally used when it involves the overall progression of the Hawks or Behilit which is often used during scenes that contain more intense dialogue or build tension before or during important action scenes. But, if I went into every single one of these, then, knowing the limited attention span of the internet, nobody would watch my videos.

In the end, Berserk is one of those series that is often looked to by many directors who are known for using music as a sound cue to indicate important elements in the story whether it's in terms of the plot or the characters themselves. Also, the music serves as an example to any new and upcoming composers just how important a piece of music is when conveying the emotion and atmosphere in a scene and in helping to leave a long lasting impression on everyone who sees it. And while not every single show uses music in this way and not every single genre of show needs to, it is definitely something that needs to be payed closer attention. Because, regardless of whether an anime is an adaptation of existing source material or is an entirely original project, it is, at the end of the day, an audiovisual medium of art which requires every element to work together to bring about the best experience for us viewers.

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