| Creator | Miura Kentarou, Studio Gaga |
Released | 1989- |
|---|---|---|---|
| Medium | Manga | Misc. | N/A |
via anilist:
His name is Guts, the Black Swordsman, a feared warrior spoken of only in whispers. Bearer of a gigantic sword, an iron hand, and the scars of countless battles and tortures, his flesh is also indelibly marked with The Brand, an unholy symbol that draws the forces of darkness to him and dooms him as their sacrifice. But Guts won't take his fate lying down; he'll cut a crimson swath of carnage through the ranks of the damned—and anyone else foolish enough to oppose him! Accompanied by Puck the Elf, more an annoyance than a companion, Guts relentlessly follows a dark, bloodstained path that leads only to death...or vengeance.
[☆ Posted: Nov. 14, 2022.]
i don't think i've ever felt more misled in my life than i have in seeing people claim that the only good part of berserk is the golden age arc. like, the golden age arc slaps, but everything after that also slaps. the golden age sets up a catastrophic tragedy resulting in how guts bonds with the band of the hawk before abruptly leaving because he feels uncertain of his place among them, leaving griffith to spiral. the conviction, millennium falcon, and fantasia arcs (and the black swordsman arc if we are going chronologically, but that's a funky arc in how you can see that miura hadn't quite puzzled everything out yet) showcase the fallout and rebuilding that takes place afterwards. having read all of berserk, i have no idea how one can feel satisfied taking only that thin slice of what berserk is.
guts, griffith, and casca are the core of berserk's story, but i can't imagine berserk now without farnese, serpico, or schierke. i love them! and as correctly applauded as miura's artistic growth was over his years drawing berserk, his writing is no less impressive. if anyone reading this has ever been on the fence about committing to The Full Berserk, i swear it is worth it. miura was an immensely talented man whose passion radiates from every page he inked. he loved these characters and the story he was telling. i really can't push hard enough against the idea that only a single arc of berserk is "the only good part."
it would feel remiss to not append any sort of content warning to my glowing praise in the potential case of just...well, i don't want to be the reason anyone wanders into berserk unprepared! it deals heavily with themes of violence and sexual assault. opinions will always be divided on the subject of how sensitively sexual assault is treated in media; berserk largely handles itself well, in my opinion. while it can reach a point of being nauseatingly frequent and too much (the conviction arc did hit this point for me despite how much i did enjoy it), the sense of impact on victims is never lost in miura's writing. that guts struggles as a victim of csa does a lot to help berserk feel less...ohhh, i'm a dark, gritty fantasy, so of course women are going to be getting raped! there's always gravity to it, and the trauma of sexual assault is examined in depth.
there's more than a fair share of criticisms of berserk to be made in how it approaches sexual assault, but i really admire how much empathy miura extends in his narrative to victims. casca's restoration late in the fantasia arc is devastating and wonderful, and no one is obligated to agree with me, but the sheer care and time taken in how casca has processed, felt, and continues to cope with her trauma shows just...a lot of thought from miura. i know he commented in interviews about likely having overdone the amount of sexual assault in berserk at points when he was younger, and i would agree with him on that. but he matures his narrative with such grace and empathy without backtracking or forgetting things because they would be difficult to write. there's more than fair criticism to be made of the decades-old choice for casca to spend the bulk of berserk regressed mentally due to her severe trauma, but miura never writes her without emotional agency or thoughtfulness in it. i love that farnese and schierke support casca in piecing herself back together, and uuuggghghghgh. i love casca. i love guts. i love them together, and they break my heart!
there is just so much i love about berserk. it's rich in every sense of the word. it's really as excellent as its reputation claims it to be.
Do I like it? i love berserk so much, and i cry about it every day.
Do I rec it? so long as you feel up to its darker content, absolutely. berserk is fantastic.