Totalmente God, tremenda obra maestra, 10/10, una carta de amor al manga
If you had came across the manga community and the anime world in general, you probably had heard about Berserk. Berserk like jojo is pretty much everywhere, there are uncountable references to it in many other series, from the infame Black Swordsman name of Kirito to the astonishing Dark Souls, which is a Berserk reference itself, it's not a secret at this point that Berserk has influenced the narrative of fantasy stories in the medium, and I have no doubts on why is it.
(** little spoilers **)
The journey of Guts, the Black Swordsman is
...
a journey full of emotions and reflection, combining elements of a medieval fantasy world with a nightmarish hell of demons, leading this world to be as reality itself, and literally there's a full arc based in a realistic medieval setting. Berserk changes through the arcs, the first one that is the Blackswordsman arc, (and continues after the Golden Age) might feel a little outdated and rough, rough in a sense that it goes a little slow, plus, the artstyle is pretty outdated and is not from the most recent chapters, so it is really astonishing reading all and looking back to the first chapters. It presents us Guts as a character and the world that surrounds him, it's practically a basic introduction that works and do it's job putting us in context and present the basics of the story and the characters. After passing Golden Age, which is considered the best arc of all berserk, I include myself in, you will be hypnothized, at this point you can't stop reading Berserk and wanting more of it. I'm surprised by the fact that Miura improvised this entire arc, it's beatiful narrative with beatiful ilustration and goddam characters, you will get fascinated and fall in love with them, though the principals being Guts, Griffith and Casca are the ones with more development, you'll still love the other ones too, minor characters also are pretty charismatic and endearing, well.... yeah, also as an advertismente, prepare yourself for some little subarcs and the finish of the same. After Golden Age, comes the next arc which is conviction arc, also known as lost children arc which is part of the conviction arc, the second best arc of berserk. From this point, is where people start to consider like berserk should have ended there, or that the next arc are not worthy, I kinda understand that feeling, Golden Age was an absolute beast and a great arc, but I disagree that Berserk lose its magic because of being less dark, the story after conviction arc starts to be less like a dark and depressing story and more like an epic adventure, an epic odissey of our hero, but in this case, I consider it to be not only apropiate for Guts as character, he can't stay the way he is, he is constatly changing, but it also feels natural. I believe that the world start to feel less dark because of the upcoming fantasia arc, but I disagree that it isn't dark anymore, this I think is just an ilusion since our main focus is Guts which is now in a sort of paradise where everything is peace and innocence, and Griffith is like in a same situation, but the world is still dark, we got disturbing and terrifying characters as ganishka during the milenium falcon arc, and apostoles are still evils and grotesce creatirues which at the moment have to behave, and not forgeting the fact that now humans are in the most vulnerable situation with fantastic creatures surrounding them, humans that are not on falconia or in a safe place might be leading troubles with creatures such as dragons, hydras, mermaids (idk they might be some evil mermaids as in the Europe horror anthologies). also since we follow Guts and sort Griffith, the perspective of torture is a less one after the conviction arc, it feels more chill, but that isn't neccessarily bad. Characters are no exception, Gut's party has interesting members which during the course of the story they change and grow as persons, as diferent of Griffith's party which..... yeah Sonia, though there are interesing apostoles.
Although, the only issues I got with Berserk are 2 things, or 3, Miura seems like in some points started to put random things on the story or transforms certain characters to be now less important and more like a filler, you will see what I'm referring when you get to falcon milenium arc and the arcs after it. The other thing is the boat arc, it's fine, is entertaining, I won't lie that I felt emotioned and dope, but it's more like a chapter of showing how badass the berserk armour is, for another time, and I believe more like a point to point for miura to think the story, is not bad, but the fans that have been following the series think that this arc is annoying, as for me, I didn't experience that, but I can find why it is like that, still, a good chapter but that works more like a filler. I don't consider that berserk was downgrading, just changing.
The art is simply beautiful, and constantly changing, it went from an 80s old fashioned style to one more unique and modern one full of details and expresion, Miura's art is pretty expressive, shows emotions by the images, and uses them for express one characters emotions and sometimes what they might be thinking without using words, some of them might even be awesome for a wallpaper of a big poster decoration. Though, I found some little, but pretty little mistakes in the art, it's not that distracting, just that when you discover them you won't stop seeing them (an example is Gut's left arm in the eclipse, in a panel after Gaston's death, which if you have read the story you should know that the thing with his arm happened after that XD)
As all things, Berserk is not perfect, but it is a worth read, and a great indagation, Berserk story is one that could even pierce you in a personal way, no doubt why it has been an inspiration for artists and developers, the concept of the strugguler and the constant fight is something motivational
Overall, Berserk is an exceptional story, sad though I wouldn't recommend it for very sensitive people, the story is full of many.... "colorful moments", still, a worth reading
Characters - I'll have given them a solid 10 if not for pretty little issues
Story - 10, outstanding, for the moment.....
Enjoyment - I pretty much enjoyed it, if not I'm not a Berserk fan
Art - 10
Overall - I believe that Berserk could be a solid 9.8 up to 10
(** little note with spoiler**)
I just wish that Berserk has some sort of news, it has been 3 month since Miura-sensei author (RIP), and his assistants are strugguling if continue the story or leave it as it is right now. If its the second option, I think that as how berserk is, is fine, there are still mysteries without resolutions and it yet feels incomplete the story, but at the same time, it feels self conclusive, both of our protabgonists have what they want, and Miura said that he wanted a happy ending for Guts, but as it is right now it's ok. if there's a chance it's assistants continue the story, what I just hope is that they do as how Miura put all his life and passion to it as he did. Rest in peace Miura-sensei, the struggle was worth it.
Aug 3, 2021
Totalmente God, tremenda obra maestra, 10/10, una carta de amor al manga
If you had came across the manga community and the anime world in general, you probably had heard about Berserk. Berserk like jojo is pretty much everywhere, there are uncountable references to it in many other series, from the infame Black Swordsman name of Kirito to the astonishing Dark Souls, which is a Berserk reference itself, it's not a secret at this point that Berserk has influenced the narrative of fantasy stories in the medium, and I have no doubts on why is it. (** little spoilers **) The journey of Guts, the Black Swordsman is ... |
