THE LOVE, LOSS, AND FINALITY A REVIEW: To be Berserk - Out of control with anger or excitement. It’s difficult to imagine that something with a title like this could detail some of the realistically grief-stricken characters learning to trust each other in a world striving against such an outcome. It’s even harder to imagine that a group referred to as Berserk fans would be united together in mourning the author for what most of them consider to be one of the greatest stories written. Berserk is written by Kentaro Miura, a manga artist who is famed for his long time work in the manga industry, with Berserk first premiering in 1988, and continuing through to still receiving updates in 2021. Manga being a form of graphic novel created in Japan that follows a typical art style. Berserk details Guts, and his journey through a world of medieval barbarism slowly collapsing as elements of dark fantasy begin to invade, brought to life through the marvelous art of Kentaro Miura. Miura used every aspect of his medium to his advantage, and as a result, his story became greatly popularised, even in western culture, far from his birth country of Japan. While I’m only talking about the manga, it is worth mentioning that prior to wider internet usage, Berserk spread through dubbed versions of the 1998 anime made available in western countries. From there, it established a foothold in the minds of many a future creator, and is now considered one of the most influential works in Dark Fiction, described as being comparable to Blade Runner in terms of the legacy it created through pure inspiration. Miura’s works would influence artists both in Japan and overseas, with series like Attack on Titan, Dark Souls, Final Fantasy, Demon Slayer, God of War, and Fullmetal Alchemist all giving some credit to Berserk. Berserk involves graphic depictions of violence, torture, and sexual assault, and is inaccessible to some as a result, and that is completely fine if
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you don’t want to read about those subjects. Not to mention, that as a discussion of the whole series, it will contain spoilers, and that if you are okay with the content contained in Berserk, I still highly recommend reading it, even in it’s unfinished form.
WHAT IT’S ALL ABOUT: THE RETROSPECTIVE OF BERSERK... THE CHARACTERS OF BERSERK: The characters of Berserk are the key to its emotional story. The way they experience the world and the people around them is where so much emotion is derived from, and where Miura centres the readers for the story he wants to tell. Guts is our protagonist, a man that we first see in a state of untameable rage, lashing out at everyone around him, and often speaking few words, choosing instead to speak with the iconic sword he wields, a 5 foot tall monstrosity described as resembling a hunk of iron more than it does a sword. The early story is meant to imbue Guts with this near demonlike strength, paired with the inability to care for anything in the world that isn’t whatever target he next aims to crush under his boot. But, being set up are the pieces to what made him like this, and suddenly we go back from Guts’ rampage through the kingdom of Midland all the way back to his birth, born an orphan under a hanging tree, already alone in the world. We follow his childhood, becoming a mercenary from as young as he could fight, and raised by a surrogate father and military leader Gambino. In his late childhood, and if you ignored the content warnings above, this is the final warning, Guts is sexually assaulted by another mercenary, who paid Guts’ father to commit the atrocity. Guts reacts by killing him and Gambino, and fleeing, and the event has immeasurable repercussions on his life. Guts is withdrawn from any contact with humans, afraid of being around other mercenaries because they remind him of the father he wrongfully trusted and killed, and only learns to possibly trust other people thanks to Griffith. Griffith is the leader of a new mercenary group known as the Band of the Hawk, and around the same age as Guts. His hair is long, curly, and white, in stark contrast to Guts’ short-cut spiky jet-black hair, and his frame is smaller and far more traditionally feminine. This ties into themes of subversion Pictured on both sides of the page is the character Griffith, changing between dark and the light.
