戦乱で荒廃した架空の中世の世界を舞台に、屈強な剣士ガッツの活躍を描く三浦建太郎の同名人気コミックを映画化。原作の中でも人気の「黄金時代」を3部作で描く第1部で、アニメーション制作を「鉄コン筋クリート」「マインド・ゲーム」のスタジオ4℃が担当する。孤独な剣士ガッツは、身の丈を超える巨大な長剣を自在に操り、傭兵として各地を渡り歩いていた。傭兵集団「鷹の団」のグリフィスはそんなガッツに目をつけ、決闘でガッツを制して鷹の団に引き入れる。幾多の激戦を潜り抜けるうちに、ガッツとグリフィスは固い絆で結ばれていくが……。
Guts, an immensely strong sword-for-hire, has little direction in his life, simply fighting one battle after the next. However, this all changes suddenly when he meets and is bested by Griffith, a beautiful and charismatic young man who leads the Band of the Hawk mercenary army. After Guts joins the Band and the relationship between the two men begins to blossom, Casca, the tough, lone swordswoman in the Band of the Hawk, struggles to accept Guts and the influence he has on the world around her. While the two men begin to fight together, Griffith continues to rise to power, all seemingly in order to reach his mysterious, prophesied goals. What lengths will Guts and Griffith go to in order to reach these goals, and where will fate take the two men?
