OK.
I'm just going to rant about why this is one of the best manga ever made.
From my experience, of everyone who has ever read Berserk, about 50% just read the golden age and liked it because goldan age is the feel good part of the manga where Guts and Griffith are OP and wipe the floor with almost everyone they meet.
20% are off-put by the initial gore (which, to be fair, is somewhat over the top in the first couple of volumes. This is not to say that it isn't necessary, which it is and I will explain why later, but still it kinda makes sense that someone would stop in chapter 2)
20% read the whole thing, understand what the symbolism, motifs, and themes actually mean and do
10% read it with the expectation that it will be really good or bad, and either way they let that get in the way of understanding the story
As for me, I am in the second to last group, who read it (4 times in my case) and still finds new insights into what makes berserk work. ANYWAY
I won't be going into a lot of detail about what actually happens, but I will try to explain what makes it the best manga of all time.
What really makes berserk what it is are the characters. The art is beautiful (objectively) and the story is visceral, but those don't really set Berserk apart. Plenty of other manga have that claim to fame. No manga, however, has included such incredibly human protagonists and antagonists. So that's what I will explain. Like what makes them so good.
Guts
Guts is my second favorite character in the series. Initially, before the golden age arc, he is a man with a weirdly strong determination to kill demons. From the perspective of someone who didn't look any deeper then that, that would be the entirety of Guts character. However, even from the beginning, Berserk alludes to the fact that he is something more. I mean, even though, on the surface, he seems cold and distant, he cares about the people he meets. At least, he cares enough to save Puck, and later, is visibly upset when the girl and her father die because of the demons chasing him. There is a scene when Puck, who can feel his emotions, remarks on Guts deep hatred, despair, rage, and pain. Right before the golden age, we find guts true enemy, how immensely powerful he is, and the environment that made guts who he is.
That brings us to the golden age. Guts, from a very young age, was abused, neglected, beaten, and raped, and thus had an outlook on the world that is very different from the 21st century, 1st world people reading the manga. Ima go on a tangent for a second and say that this is where a lot of people get mixed feelings about guts, because they feel that he is an evil, immoral human due to the things that he did. But it really is hard to make judgements about him because NO ONE who has ever read berserk has gone through what he has. The ?but he?s immoral? argument is stupid because one would be basing that off of their own life, which is many times easier then his. The point is that he is not a psychopath from birth, but was molded by his experiences. He becomes darwinistic, thinking that the strong live while the weak die, and to some degree he is right, given that he is a mercenary. This thinking gets shifted when he meets Griffith and Casca. Instead of the kill or be killed situation that he has had to deal with his entire life, has met with friendship and camaraderie (although that wouldn't happen for a while with Casca). He opens up to people and understands the value of human companionship. At this point, we see human nature in full. Before, he was only shown cruelty, and was cruel as a result. But he grew trust towards his comrades, and grew as a person as a result. Ironically, as a result of giving up his darwinistic worldview, he emotionally and psychologically evolves.
THEN we get to the eclipse, where everything comes crashing down. His lover gets raped, his friends die, and one of the only person that he ever loved and respected betrays him. Afterwards, his only outlet is revenge, killing anyone who had anything to do with the eclipse. Eventually, he regains trust and allows people back into his life, like Puck. He learns gratitude, and all the other qualities that left him in the eclipse.
Im not saying that Guts is right or wrong, bad or good. He certinantly acts like a villain, but has the motives of a hero. But he can't really fit any category, because he isn't a trope. He is just a human, who goes with what he's got, and makes do with what he can, and through all of it, stays true to his goals. In all of manga, anime, and literature in general, I have never found a more compelling character then guts (with the possible exception of Griffith).
Casca
CASCA has equal character value to guts or griffith, but undervalued by the Berserk community and seen as a victim. However, she is the counterpart to Guts and represents a very different moral outlook. Growing up under harsh conditions, almost as bad as guts, she also does not find value in camaraderie with her soldiers. Griffith, being the one who saved her, is the target of her affections. It's not like its actual love though. To casca, Griffith is the shining light (or hawk) of hope in her life filled with hardship. To be fair, she is a female soldier in a mercenary band in a wildly sexist society, so for her, hardship is exceptionally easy to come by. Thus, whatever Griffith thinks is her primary concern and nothing else holds any importance. However, Guts shows her that her artificial feelings for Griffith are far less powerful and meaningful. She stops caring only what he thinks, and while relying on other people, builds self confidence and emotional strength. She makes herself vulnerable, and in the scene right before the eclipse (yeah, the one that everyone writes off as fan service) she totally exposes herself to Guys. During the eclipse, she is totally betrayed, and while Guts uses revenge to vent his rage, the effect of the eclipse makes her mentally incapable to do anything as a coping mechanism. She, while human, is also undeniably one of the most tragic characters in manga.
GRIFFITH
MY FAVORITE CHARACTER
As it says in the title, Griffith is my favorite character. Not because he?s cool, or badass, or smart, but because he represents moral dilemmas that very few have a definitive answer to. He also grew up is a terrible environment (kinda a theme at this point) and wants full control over his life. He doesn't want to be subject to anything, even fate, and will do anything to avoid that. He sees fate as a cruel, depressing mechanism for the world, and wants to replace causality with something far more kind. His ambition is nothing more or less then that. However, with his goal of denying the supremacy of fate, he also sees a clear hierarchy of people. Why only he can challenge fate, while everyone else remains it?s slave. Until, that is, Guts arrives. Guts is, in many respects, Griffith?s equal. Griffith sees that, and treats him like a true friend. The deepest bond in the manga, by far, is between Guts and Griffith. They are the true meaning of brothers in arms, family where neither had any. More than anything else, both of them value their relationship. However, guts comes to understand that Griffith would only consider one a friend if they followed only their dream, their ambition, and thus seeks his own and abandons griffith in the hope that griffith would have more respect for him. When guts leaves, Griffith realizes he has very little power at all, spiraling into the events of the eclipse. THIS IS THE MOST IMPORTANT SCENE IN BERSERK. In it, Griffith has the opportunity to seize power, to end fate?s tyranny and save the world from chaos. If he did so, he could be a benevolent god, giving everyone the peaceful, safe, happy life that he never had. However, the cost was everyone he ever loved and knew, including Guts. While many would instantly see Griffith as evil for choosing the world over his friends, there is definitely another side to this argument. After the eclipse, Griffith truly is a savior to his people. He defeats monsters, kills slave traders and other determinants to society, and ends the invasion. But was it really worth it? Should the few be sacrificed to save the many? Is that right? That is the heart of Berserk. It is, in essence, a moral argument between guts and griffith, and neither side is right or wrong.
Summary: the characters and kinda everything about berserk is amazing. Some of the relizations I have come across in berserk have had a huge effect on my life and it has been the most personally influential thing i have ever read. HOWEVER. DO NOT GO INTO IT THINKING ITS THE BEST THING EVER. TAKE IT FOR WHAT IT IS CUZ OTHERWISE YOU WILL THINK IT'S SOMETHING THAT IT ISN'T.
Tips fedora and scratches neckbeard
Im right your wrong I win
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