"In this world, is the destiny of mankind controlled by some transcendental entity or law...? Is it like the hand of God hovering above? At least it is true that man has no control, even over his own will."
It proceeds then to demonstrate this statement in a form of a tragedy, in the classical sense of the term.
It talks about the consequences characters bring upon themselves by their actions, and whether or not they were free to do otherwise. Spoilers.
Griffith personnifies the very idea of determinism. He believes he has some place destined for him, the "dream" he talks about. Everything seems to come naturally to him, he's a stranger to the notion of effort. He has this calm confidence of a man knowing he will succeed no matter what, he's won the battle without fighting it, because it's his fate afterall.
Guts couldn't care less about fate. "You should be dead", that's what the entire world around him tells him, and he defies it since his birth. "The Struggler", putting his whole soul into every fight in order to survive.
He is the anthithesis of Griffith, that's why he is a mystery to him. "If I'm really bound by fate, how can this man be so free ?" You almost hear him ask. Guts' existence is a threat to his dream, that Casca understands well. He makes Griffith irrational, emotional, doubting about his destiny ("Do you think I'm a terrible person ?").
To oppose this notion, Griffith decides to make Guts his. By taking him as a part of his army, he believes he can control this unpredictable force of nature.
However Guts leaves, and for one day Griffith's fate is defeated by free will. Or so it seems.
The ending shows us otherwise. "The laws of causality" can't be avoided and the events unfold, predictible as the Eclipse.
Griffith's real nature is revealed to him, the one of a butcher who will rise to power, an ideal Nietzschean hero and he does nothing but to accept it by his words. He just couldn't do otherwise.
Is it to say that Griffith did nothing wrong ?
Comes the catharsis of the tragedy, in the form of the final scene. It shows the true face of Nietzschean heroes, which are nothing more than monsters that have lost all trace of humanity, and like in history it takes a traumatic event to fully understand it.
Even if free will is no more, this surely can't be the answer.
Berserk's answer is existentialism.
When troubled by Griffith's words by talking about the need to have a dream in life, Guts leaves in search for meaning. So he asks Godot about why he beacame a blacksmith. The old man aswers : "I didn't choose this. This is who I am". "But," he adds "there is still one thing I like about it : the sparks. I like seeing sparks. Breathtaking life, bursting before my eyes for just a moment... my life."
This is the message Miura delivers, that even without having a choice in your life, what's important is that you should experience it, feel it.
That's what Guts is all about. Though if it seems dark, cruel and hopeless and everything leagues against you, this is the only life you will ever get, so take it while you can.
The beauty is that it happens.
Also, the music was great, the animation a bit lazy at times and you should check out the outtakes of the english dub.
