Inferno

Inferno
Japanese Title	インフェルノ
Romanized Title	Inferuno
English Title	Inferno
Artist(s)	9mm Parabellum Bullet
Released	July 20, 2016
Length	1:30 (TV) 1:34 (Full)
Label	NBCUniversal Entertainment Japan

Inferno (インフェルノ, Inferuno^?) is the first opening theme for the Berserk 2016 anime and is performed by 9mm Parabellum Bullet. The single was released on July 20th, 2016.

Description

The opening begins with Puck glancing behind him toward the camera, before flying upward over a panning shot of a grinning Isidro, Farnese, Serpico, Casca, and Guts, who is wielding the Dragon Slayer over his shoulder. Still panning upward, the shot transitions to a red tinged ensemble of the Band of the Falcon, including Pippin, Guts, Judeau, Casca, Rickert, Corkus, Gaston and Griffith, all clad in armor as fire consumes the image from underneath, like a page burning to cinders. In the next shot, Guts rapidly swings a flaming Dragon Slayer, attacking an unseen enemy, then walks with the sword resting over his right shoulder; the title appears over a close-up of Guts' face, disappearing as the Dragon Slayer moves out of view.

Guts sits alone beside a river, knee deep in the water; he suddenly lurches forward, his mouth coming to his face as he sheds tears, which fall onto the water's surface and distort his reflection. A series of Golden Age flashback scenes then commence, beginning with a much brighter close up shot of the galloping hooves of Griffith's horse; Griffith can then be seen commanding the Band of the Falcon, Guts and Casca behind him. Guts descends a set of stairs with his back turned to Casca, the two having watched Griffith converse with Princess Charlotte. Next, Guts holds a feverish Casca, framed by the edges of a small cave. This shot transitions to a close-up of Guts' and Casca's faces, separated by the slightly chipped blade of Guts' sword.

Guts screams, holding up the Dragon Slayer in front of an eclipsed purple sun. The shot then fades to a profile of Griffith, held up at the arms and impaled with bolts as he is tortured under the orders of the king of Midland. A fast sequence follows depicting Griffith turning and running in the cobblestone streets of his youth, a crippled Griffith being thrown forward during the Eclipse, Griffith holding the corpse of a deceased ten year old Falcon during Ubik's manipulation of him, a shocked young Guts, and finally the activated Crimson Beherit shedding tears of blood over a pitch black background. Guts falls through the darkness, reaching out to Griffith. Blood then falls onto Casca's face, eventually covering and flowing down the entire screen. Subsequently, apostles burst through the layer of blood, making way for an action sequence in which Guts battles one such creature; he screams in rage and severs the apostle's largest horn using a short knife.

Griffith is then seen glowing a bright white as he transforms into Femto, the lives of the Band of the Falcon members he sacrificed flowing into him around the image of Judeau falling to the ground dead beside Casca. Guts continues to fight against an apostle, and the scene transitions to a panning still shot of Femto raping Casca, tears visible in her eyes. Guts amputates his forearm to escape an apostle's jaws to save Casca, but is quickly forced to the ground while leaping toward Femto.

The imagery of the Eclipse cuts to a full body shot of Guts as the Black Swordsman, surrounded by fire. He swings the Dragon Slayer, a shot of a regressed Casca pulling away from Guts in fear at Godot's mine is briefly shown, then Guts swings wide again, alternating back to another flashback, this time depicting Guts' camaraderie and friendship with Griffith on the battlefield before the swordsman's departure from the Band of the Falcon. In the last seconds of the opening, a quick series of images flash by, showing Griffith's reaction to losing his duel against Guts for the swordsman's freedom. The opening ends with the key cast shown at the beginning of the opening, now including Femto, overlaid on top of Guts' cape.

Track list

1. インフェルノ
2. Live Track From “カオスの百年TOUR 2015” 15.10.24 At Zepp Tokyo

Lyrics

Japanese kanji	Japanese rōmaji	English translation
命を燃やし尽くせ Inochi o moyashitsukuse I'll burn this life until it goes out, 終わらない夜の狭間で Owaranai yoru no hazama de At the threshold of this unending night! 一瞬先は暗闇が Isshun saki wa kurayami ga Within a single instant, darkness is there, 口を開けて蠢いてる Kuchi o akete ugomeiteru Mouth open... squirming wildly. 悪夢に染まる現実 Akumu ni somaru genjitsu This reality is stained by nightmare, 誰も抜けられない月の下で Daremo nukerarenai tsuki no shita de And no one can escape from beneath that moon. 決して折れない剣を取れ Kesshite orenai ken o tore I'll take an unbreakable sword in hand, 俺が俺でいるために Ore ga ore de iru tame ni So I can remain who I am! あぁ、もう何も失わないように Aa, mou nanimo ushinawanai you ni Ahh... so that I won't lose anything else! この血を流し尽くせ Kono chi o nagashitsukuse Let this blood flow free, 傷跡を切り裂いて Kizuato o kirisaite Slicing wide my wounds! 運命を食い破れ Unmei o kuiyabure Biting a hole through fate, 幾らでも悪足掻け！ Ikurademo waruagake! I'll keep up this hopeless struggle! 終わりのない夜を越えて Owari no nai yoru o koete Crossing beyond that unending night, 命を燃やし尽くせ Inochi o moyashitsukuse I'll burn this life until it goes out!

Gallery

9mm Parabellum Bullet - インフェルノ

Live Performance

Notes

• The opening credits can be seen as an abridged recap of the Golden Age Arc which has been adopted in both the first anime and the Golden Age Arc trilogy.

• During the initial run of the 2016 anime, Casca's skin color was recolored to be noticeably darker in the opening, starting from episode 11. On the Blu-Ray release, the recolored version was included in all episodes.
  • Additionally, Casca's nudity toward the end of the opening was uncensored on the Blu-Ray release.

External Links

• Berserk anime official site: opening theme information.
• 9mm Parabellum Bullet official site: opening theme information.