Berserk has changed over the years and evolved from being a dark fantasy series to being a high fantasy series. Whether that change was for the better or worse depends on one's preferences. In my case, it's a mixed bag. I still like this manga a lot, even after so many years of more or less actively reading it (long hiatuses were, are, and will be tough, lol), but I think the whole transition was done in a mediocre, underwhelming way. It felt underwhelming, especially if we remember how challenging Golden Age Arc was to be written well, mostly because we knew how, more or less, Griffith and Guts' friendship would end, thanks to Black Swordsmith Arc. Miura-sensei, despite not being an experienced mangaka back then, succeeded in making a satisfying arc presenting extremely high quality; so, in other words, he did something that many way more experienced writers and illustrators would've failed at.
The turning point in this whole process was Millenium Falcon Arc. It was both a crucial moment in the story where the whole tonal change took place, but also, for me at least, a mixed bag of emotions. Its first part, The Holy Evil War Chapter, is the least favorite piece of Berserk manga for me. Most of its chapters felt sluggish, the change of tone felt too quick and drastic, and Schierke as a newly introduced character was kind of dull and unlikeable. However, the second part of said arc, Falconia Chapter, was something I consider to this day one of the peaks of Berserk's storytelling. In other words, it's one of my totally favorite parts of the manga, losing only to Golden Age arc.
As for Fantasia Arc, I've been enjoying it, even during that infamous "boat arc period.". Perhaps it's because the high fantasy change had been finalized, so the story began to move more smoothly. I don't know, to be honest. I always liked Fantasia Arc's atmosphere. It proves that The Holy Evil War Chapter might not have been bad per se, but rather it could've been more polished in terms of writing (because as for the art, it kept on becoming better and better with each "checkpoint" of the story).
Alas, we can't forget that first part of Millenium Falcon Arc, so at the end of a day, I will say: Berserk has changed over the years and it has evolved, however, the whole process, even if it seems to have ended up well during Elf Island Chapter (once Guts and friends landed on it), still had a pretty rough start. I don't blame people who might've started seeing Berserk in a way worse way than they had seen it before it, or even who dropped the series, thinking that it would only go drastically downhill after that moment. |