You follow Guts through waves of despair and hardships offset only by the flickering fires of friendship and trust. Certainly not a very revolutionary character at first glance, but even though he may start off as such, his character quickly expands, and ends up as one of the most believable and human characters I have ever witnessed.Īs the story unwinds, you follow Guts through his past, allowing you to experience his personality change during his constant battle against fate. The very first character you will meet in Berserk is Guts, the 'Black Swordsman' with a dark past and a score to settle with his demonic enemies.
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In my own experience I have seen very, very few other manga series that can even approach Berserk's later volumes on an artistic level and, unfortunately, I highly doubt that I will ever be able to find its peer. By the time the reader makes it into volumes 20 and beyond Miura has made it very clear that he means for Berserk to be truly regarded as a work of art just as much as it is a masterfully epic piece of storytelling. The character designs become more crisp and facial expressions sometimes are so vivid that one look at a character's face is often enough to tell the reader exactly what the character is thinking. The simple shading from the early volumes is eventually replaced by a hand shading technique which gives the series a more gritty and surreal overall feeling.
As we learn more and more about the characters and the world in which they live, the characters themselves and their environments become more and more visually detailed. Then as the series progresses the reader gets to watch the artwork literally evolve. However, these minor quality issues were most likely due to the time constraints that were in place at the time and not entirely the fault of the artist. Also, sometimes the character faces will look just a bit 'off' and it can be a little distracting. One of the few negative aspects of the early volumes can be identified as the simple shading techniques that Miura used. However, where Miura really shows off his latent artistic talents early on is through his ability to create crisp, clear, and highly fluid fight scenes.
Those initial volumes feature many very unique character designs (especially the apostles) and also sport a relatively high focus on detail. The artwork in the first few volumes of Berserk won't do much to impress many of today's manga readers, but at the time when the series was first serialized (1992) it was certainly well above average. But even still, it's pretty much impossible not to enjoy the ongoing story that is Berserk.
In fact, at times it can even make some of the chapters feel a bit shounen-esk. I feel that the magic the group 'acquires' in volume 24 is somewhat exaggerated and does not suit the dark atmosphere of the story. The only problem with the story, in my humble opinion, is the introduction of magic in the manga. One of the side stories that I found most intriguing was Farnese and Serpico's as it was so beautifully orchestrated as part of the manga as a whole. Each of these side-stories is not only unique and extremely well developed, but also very deep and revealing as it shows the reader why these character are the way they are. In fact, nearly all of the major supporting cast members receive a considerable amount of page space for their own stories to be fleshed out. These conflicting thoughts and emotions just go to show how invested the reader becomes with the characters.Īnother good thing about the Berserk story is that the protagonist (Guts) is not always the focal character in every chapter. You'll be confronted with conflicting emotions and think things like 'I really want to see Guts put Griffith in the ground' and at the same time 'Griffith is just so damn cool'. The reader has established a deep connection with Guts, Casca, and Griffith and that only grows more as the story continues. Then the rhythm of the manga has changed completely.
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It defies generalization and is just damn good storytelling.Īfter the Gold Age arc wraps up the story come back full circle to where it left us at the end of volume 3. It is chock-full of action, drama, character development, twists and turns, and just a dash of romance. However, after the reader begins the Golden Age arc it is nearly impossible to not be pulled in and become addicted to the series. The first three volumes may discourage some of the readers because it's starts off kind of slow and the initial artwork is not quite up to today's standards.
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