Here’s my take after reading 352 chapters of the phenomenon known as Berserk Kentarou Miura.
Nowadays, when we look at the different media of Anime, Manga, movies, Gaming, etc. we can say that it has come a long way to this point. A lot of innovations have been made, but some more recycled ideas and concepts are reused over and over again.
When I ask most people around me what they think of when I say a man wielding a gigantic sword they quickly refer to Cloud from Final Fantasy VII, the monster hunter’s greatsword, Kisame’s Samehada from Naruto, etc. However, most of them are not familiar with the origin of who started it all and made it popular: Guts!
Most innovations in terms of storytelling and character development had been done first by Berserk, if not, Berserk created the most memorable and most amazing plot twist of all with Guts and Griffith which I will not spoil here. They are two of the most well-developed and fleshed-out characters that you would see and read out there.
Speaking of the characters, I would also mention that in every story, the supporting cast is vital to lift the main characters to their zenith, and Berserk does not lack in this part from the likes of Casca, Farnese, Serpico, Zodd, Schierke, and the Skull Knight.
Every arc of Berserk can stand out on its own as they are masterfully written and no page serves as a filler; every panel of every page of every chapter of every volume is a great read. It is action-packed to the very essence of the word “Action”.
The art of Berserk is like fine wine, it just gets better with age especially now that it is serialized monthly. Kentarou Miura produces some of the greatest manga panels in all manga and it just grows more with age.
If there is one downside to Berserk for most readers it is the fact that Kentarou Miura has a sickness called the Togashi Syndrome which is the sickness of taking frequent hiatus. Although this is a great thing for me since it keeps the quality of the manga which is worth the wait in the end.
All in all, if you want a great action manga full of blood, gore, and pure unadulterated battles I would suggest you give Berserk a read.
I’m giving Berserk 10 perfect Schierke Spells out of 10.
