Berserk (manga)

Guts, a baby found beneath his dead hanging mother, is adopted by the mercenary Gambino. Raised as a mercenary, Guts eventually kills Gambino and flees as his adoptive father becomes cruel. Guts earns a fearsome reputation, catching the attention of Griffith, the angelically charismatic leader of the mercenary group, "Band of the Hawk" (鷹の団, Taka no Dan). Griffith forces Guts into joining the group upon defeating him in battle. Guts quickly rises through the ranks of the band, eventually becoming Griffith's best warrior. During this time, Guts learns of Griffith's mysterious pendant, the Crimson Behelit, along with Griffith's dream to rule a kingdom of his own. When the Hawks encounter a monstrous immortal being known as Nosferatu Zodd, it adds further mystery to the Behelit as Zodd spares Guts and Griffith upon seeing it, warning the former of his impending death should he be a true friend of Griffith's. Eventually, they are hired by the kingdom of Midland and help to win the Hundred Year War against the Tudor empire, being ordained knights by the king of Midland. Meanwhile, Guts gradually develops a romantic relationship with Griffith's unit commander, Casca, the Hawks' only female member. After having overheard Griffith say that he can only consider someone a true friend if they have their own dream, Guts leaves the Hawks after defeating Griffith in single combat. Shaken by Guts' departure, Griffith ruins his fortunes when found seducing the king's daughter, Charlotte. He is imprisoned and tortured, while the Hawks are marked for death. Guts spends his next year training to become a better swordsman, but is warned by a mysterious, seemingly demonic being he calls "the Skull Knight", that his actions have set forth "the Eclipse". He temporarily returns to the Hawks and helps the outlawed remnants of the Hawks rescue Griffith, only to find him horribly mutilated and rendered a mute shadow of his former self.

Through preordained events, the despairing Griffith unknowingly activates his Behelit during a solar eclipse. This transports the Hawks to another plane where they encounter archdemons collectively known as the "God Hand" in a ceremony known as the Eclipse. Urged onward by the eldritch beings to become one of them to fulfill his dream, Griffith sacrifices his soldiers to the God Hand's "apostles"—humans like Zodd who have become powerful demons by sacrificing their loved ones and humanity for power—each of the Hawks are "branded" with a symbol on their body identifying them as sacrifices. Almost all of the Band of the Hawk except Guts and Casca are slaughtered by the demons. Griffith finally emerges reborn as the God Hand's fifth and final member, "Femto". Griffith's first act upon his ascension is to rape Casca in front of Guts. Guts loses his right eye and cuts off his own left forearm to escape captivity in an attempt to save Casca before losing consciousness. Guts and Casca are saved from death and brought back into the physical world through the intervention of the Skull Knight. However, Casca is rendered insane from her horrific experiences. Guts learns that the "Brands of Sacrifice" that he and Casca now bear leave him open to be preyed upon by evil supernatural creatures on a nightly basis. Casca is left in the care of the blacksmith Godo and Rickert, the only Band of the Hawk member who escaped sacrifice because he was not present at the Behelit's activation. With a new sword known as Dragonslayer and a prosthetic left arm that contains a hidden cannon, Guts begins hunting down apostles in search of revenge against Griffith. During this time, Guts begins seeing an ethereal deformed infant that appears before him, what was his and Casca's unborn child tainted by Femto's rape.

Two years later, Guts is joined by an elf named Puck and a young thief named Isidro. Casca eventually runs away from Rickert, sending Guts on a mad hunt to find her. Guts is later reunited with Casca as she is about to be burned as a witch in the city of St. Albion. There, along with Puck and Isidro, they encounter Farnese and Serpico of the Holy See Church's Holy Iron Chain Knights. Guts endures a nightmarish ordeal that ends in Griffith being incarnated into a new physical form being restored through a misshapen apostle whose dream was to "hatch" a new world. This apostle also ingested the deformed infant after stumbling upon its weakened and dying body moments before the Incarnation ceremony, resulting in Griffith's new body bearing some sort of influence of the infant. Puck suggests that Casca's mind might be restored if they take her to the Elven realm of Elfhel. Guts heads there for sanctuary with the help of his new companions. They are soon joined by the witch Schierke who teaches Farnese magic and negates the effects of the brand on Guts and Casca. Griffith creates a second Band of the Hawk, with Zodd and other demonic apostles among its ranks to battle the invading Kushan army. The war between Griffith and the Kushan emperor, Ganishka, a rogue apostle, climaxes with the emperor's destruction and the overlapping of the mortal realm and the supernatural astral realm.

Now unopposed, Griffith finally obtains his own kingdom by establishing his rule over Midland with the endorsement of the Pope and Princess Charlotte, creating the city of Falconia to provide the Midlanders with refuge from the ever-increasing attacks of mythical beasts, unaware that their new ruler is actually one of them. At the same time, Guts and his party take a ship toward Elfhelm. Following a dramatic battle with the Sea God, Guts's party reaches Elfhelm, on the island of Skellig. The elf ruler, Danann, helps Farnese and Schierke travel into Casca's mind and restore her to her former self. However, despite recovering her memories, Casca still has not overcome the trauma from the events of the eclipse completely, usually collapsing when she sees Guts or remembers her fallen comrades. At the same time, Farnese and Schierke begin training with the other apprentice witches and wizards living on Skellig, during which Farnese expresses an interest in the power to heal human souls, specifically Casca. At the same time, Guts encounters the Skull Knight once again who tells him that his journey is at an end. Meanwhile, Griffith is shown leading his new armies of both humans and "war demons" against an army of giants that have emerged due to the effects of Griffith's and Ganishka's war. Griffith's army scores a swift victory with Griffith delivering the final blow against the giant leader in the climax of the battle. Following this, Griffith participates in a council with the other nobles of Falconia before departing that evening for currently unknown reasons.

In 1988, while working with Buronson on a manga titled Orō (王狼, lit. "King of Wolves"),[5] Miura published a prototype of Berserk in Hakusensha's Gekkan ComiComi.[6][7] This 48-page prototype placed 2nd at the 7th ComiComi's Manga-School prize.[8] The serialization of Berserk began in Hakusensha's Monthly Animal House in 1989.[6][9]

In an interview with Yukari Fujimoto, Miura mentioned manga artists Yoshikazu Yasuhiko and Fujihiko Hosono as early influences to his art style, as well series like Violence Jack by Go Nagai and Guin Saga by Kaoru Kurimoto for the story and atmosphere of Berserk. Fist of the North Star by Buronson and Tetsuo Hara influenced Miura to develop his art style. Ranpo by Masatoshi Uchizaki served him as a reference for his backgrounds. Pygmalio by Shinji Wada and The Snow Queen (Guin Saga spin-off) inspired Guts' sword size by mixing the characters' swords of both series.[10] Miura has also commented about the influence of shōjo manga on Berserk. Particularly, he has mentioned that the anime adaptations of The Rose of Versailles and Aim for the Ace!, both directed by Osamu Dezaki, inspired him to read The Rose of Versailles manga, and the work of Keiko Takemiya as well.[11]

Berserk is known for its frequent and often extended hiatuses,[12] which date back to late 2006.[13] After a 10-month hiatus from September 2014, the manga came back in July 2015,[14] and until December 2015, it was published monthly before returning to an irregular schedule.[15] It was published monthly from June to September 2016, before entering another hiatus.[16][17] The manga resumed from March to June 2017,[18][19] then it was published on a monthly basis from December 2017 to May 2018.[20][21] Four months after, another chapter was published in August 2018, before entering an 8-month hiatus.[22][23] Two chapters were published in April[24][25] and August 2019.[26][27] Three chapters were published in April,[28] July[29] and October 2020.[30]

Berserk explores a wide range of themes and topics. Free will and destiny are discussed within the series.[31][32][33] Human resilience is a recurring theme, with many characters coming from horrible backgrounds, constantly struggling against an unjust world.[33][34] Guts struggles with destiny itself, and is constantly resisting the pull of predetermination.[31] Griffith also embodies this idea of resilience, by chasing his dream of ruling his own kingdom, despite his lowborn origins, as well the free will, by his own decision to sacrifice the Band of the Hawk in order to achieve his dream.[33]

The series also explores human nature and morality, as characters struggle between becoming good human beings or falling into madness and evil.[35][34] Guts, at the beginning of the story, is presented as an antihero who does not care about killing, and is indifferent to people who aid him. Guts does not act in accordance with definitions of right and wrong, he operates within a gray area, and does not attempt to be heroic or protect the innocent.[36][37] However, as the story progresses, it is shown that he is in fact a person who is deeply conflicted internally.[38][39] His tragic and traumatic past, unfolded in the "Golden Age arc", proves that Guts is a much more complex character.[40][36][34] Anne Lauenroth of Anime News Network, wrote that Griffith is "not evil at all", but "arrogant and brutally realistic about human nature". The suppression of his own human nature would initiate his demise as the Hawk and the rise of Femto.[33]

Friendship, comradery and human relations are other explored themes.[31][11] As a child, Guts tried to build some level of friendship with his mercenary group,[41] but due to his traumatic experience with them, he lost trust in people.[42][43][44] Through the time he was with Griffith and the rest of the Band of the Hawk, Guts formed bonds, friendships, animosities, and co-dependencies, maturing as well as individual.[34][33][45][32] Miura has stated he based the Band of the Hawk on his own high school friend relationship experience.[11][46] Jacob Chapman of Anime News Network, wrote that through their friendship, Gut's ambitions were elevated and Griffith's were lowered, allowing both of them to consider a new future for the first time, one where they fight side-by-side as equals and die on the battlefield, but they reject this future out of their own personal fears, as Guts did not think he was "good enough" for a happy future and Griffith was terrified of his lofty dream crumbling into something more mundane.[47] Miura has also stated that the story of fight between Guts and Griffith speaks about their change after having built their personalities.[11]

The Golden Age arc has been compared to a Greek tragedy.[48][49] According to Lauenroth, Griffith's hamartia lies in how he compartmentalizes his feelings of guilt and shame that would get in the way of his dream, and how he deals to repress them. His inner dialogue in his second duel with Guts; "If I can't have him, I don't care", marks the Golden Age arc peripeteia.[33] When Guts comes running to rescue him, Griffith reaches his moment of anagnorisis, with his thought: "You're the only one... who made me forget my dream", initiating thus the Eclipse.[33]

Betrayal and revenge are major themes in the series. Guts suffered his first betrayal when Gambino sold Guts' body to another soldier for a few coins. He would eventually take revenge against the soldier, killing him on the battlefield and he later would kill Gambino as well.[34][42] Guts is in a quest for revenge after his comrades were betrayed by Griffith and sacrificed by the God Hand.[34] This desire for vengeance has been his main reason of survival.[50][37]

Religion has been also touched in the series, mainly through the characters of Mozgus and Farnese. Miura has stated that he created Mozgus based on the concept of rigid personality to create a fanatic religious character with no flexibility.[46] Farnese is presented as the figurehead of the Holy Iron Chain Knights, inquisitors tasked with burning heretics and witches at the stake.[51] After her encounter with Guts, she finds it increasingly difficult to resolve her faith with the atrocities she has become party to, as Guts, inversely, takes action against something he disagrees with. Guts denounces the very idea of prayer, claiming that the act of clasping hands only prevents people from realizing what they desire through their own means. After the battle between Guts and Mozgus, Farnese rejects her faith, as she realizes how blind she obeyed the rigidity of her beliefs.[52]

As of July 2015, the manga had over 27 million copies in print in Japan and 8 million overseas.[83] As of January 2016, the manga had over 40 million copies in circulation.[84] In 2016, Berserk ranked 38th on the 17th "Book of the Year" list by Da Vinci magazine.[85] Berserk volumes have topped Japanese manga charts, with volume 40 debuting as the best selling manga for the week of its release.[86] In September 2018, it was reported that Berserk is publisher Dark Horse Comics' best-selling product of all time with over 2 million copies sold in North America.[60][87]

The 1988 prototype chapter placed 2nd at the 7th ComiComi's Manga-School prize. Berserk won the Tezuka Osamu Award for Excellence at the 6th installment of Tezuka Osamu Cultural Prize in 2002.[8]

On TV Asahi's Manga Sōsenkyo 2021 poll, in which 150.000 people voted for their top 100 manga series, Berserk ranked 91st.[88]

Berserk has inspired a number of video games, notably the Dynasty Warriors series and the Souls series.[89]

Finnish heavy metal band Battle Beast have written songs about Berserk, including several on their 2013 self-titled album.[90] When guitarist Anton Kabanen left Battle Beast in 2015, he formed Beast in Black and continues to write songs about the series.[91] The deathcore band Brand of Sacrifice released the album God Hand in 2019. Both the band and album are hugely inspired by Berserk.[92]

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Wikiquote has quotations related to: Berserk (anime)

• Berserk official website at Young Animal (in Japanese)
• Digital Manga Publishing page for Berserk
• Art of War - Official Berserk merchandise
• Berserk (manga) at Anime News Network's encyclopedia