Berserk

So I tried rereading the comic from start to end.

Where there once was shock, horror, and fright, now there is only sorrow. In particular, Guts used to impress and frighten me, especially when acting as The Berserker or doing something dastardly. Now all I feel is horrible amounts of pity. I just want to give the poor guy a hug and tell him it'll be okay.

But it won't.

I think Guts is fine now. He has family and companions and fighting monsters is routine. I would say he is quite happy even. Sure whole this Casca issue will probably not go away even if she got healed, but believe now he is not alone he can handle even that.

edited 30th Jul '17 12:15:43 PM by Tenzen12

Can I get the full story through the anime (or at least the full story up to that "Eclipse" thing that seems to be a sort of cutoff point from what I get)? It seems to be a mess with all the versions, the films and the new CG series…

I guess the manga is the best way to go, but there are 30-something volumes to buy and I dread the quality of old scanlations…

edited 20th Aug '17 1:08:41 PM by Lyendith

I'd suggest watching the 1997 anime if possible (it can be a little hard to find nowadays). It will get you up to the Eclipse and give you a good idea whether you want to continue the story by reading the manga. The animation is older and obviously done on a tight budget, but they did a lot with what they had.

The Golden Age Arc movies tell the same story as the 97 anime but not quite as well due to time constraints. They're more likely to be readily available for purchase / streaming though. Their animation is more modern, but not really any better than the 97 version, just bad in different ways.

The 2016/2017 anime is garbage, don't bother with it.

If you want to experience the whole story, you will need to make the jump to the manga sooner or later. The official English Dark Horse release is well worth supporting, but I have no idea what your options are in France.

edited 20th Aug '17 5:07:40 PM by HighCrate

The 1997 anime and the movies cut off at the Eclipse. Those two are the only adaptations you should consider bothering with. The 2016/2017 anime is indeed extremely bad and not worth your time.

You'll basically have to read the manga to get the full story, and yes the old scanlations are kinda bad and you should avoid them if possible.

edited 20th Aug '17 1:26:33 PM by Draghinazzo

Okay, thanks. The work's page mentions that there's a couple of volumes of introduction before the big Golden Age arc starts. Are those included in the anime?

The manga is published in France and up-to-date I think… I have no idea about the quality though (I'm not a big fan of Glénat usually).

The 1997 anime has a little bit of it but I don't think it covers everything.

Yeah, the first few volumes of the manga do some world-building before beginning the massive multi-volume flashback that is the Golden Age arc (the portion of the story that was adapted into both the 97 anime and the Golden Age movie trilogy).

I'd recommend going back and reading those volumes if you ultimately wind up switching over to the manga, but they're not required reading to enjoy either of the anime.

Honestly, whatever you do, I'd read the manga from the beginning at some point because both adaptations leave a lot out, even the 1997 adaptation which does a better job of telling the story leaves out important stuff that will leave you confused if you just start reading from where the anime left off.

Yeah, I figured it'd be the case… I just hope I can find the early volumes.

Just watching episode 1 as a warm-up. Of all the things I expected to see, an Arm Cannon was not among them. Rather conventional episode (if you except that Guts is having a tad too much fun pinning that demon down with arrows). Corrupt guards bullying an innocent girl and slayed by the mysterious wanderer, evil lord burning villages, blah blah blah. The end is a bit more interesting though.

Still, it's definitely a 90's anime with all the bright-red blood and the... asperity in the colors. It's got a great atmosphere.

edited 21st Aug '17 5:04:18 AM by Lyendith

Yeah, the first episode is really just there as a giant foreshadow to let you know that things are going to get really supernatural and really, really, bad by the end.

The story proper begins in the second episode.

edited 20th Aug '17 9:23:50 PM by HighCrate

Heh, we just had an Eclipse up here in the Northwest, and thankfully no portal to hell opened up.

...that you know of.

Sunnydale?

...Michigan?

Huh, I could find the volumes rather easily actually. Not sure why the anime skipped so much of the first three volumes, at some parts seemed pretty important (like the function of the Beherit or Griffith being a… god… demon… thing).

I really love Puck, as he(?) brings some much welcome levity to the story, even if it seems almost jarring at times. The whole part with Theresia was pretty touching too. Guts… is an asshole, but a broken asshole it seems. Can't seem to appreciate him though.

And then the Golden Age starts… with Guts being born from the hung corpse of his mother, being taught nothing except how to kill, being raped at 9, and killing his adoptive father at 11. Yikes. I don't wanna know what a Dark Age looks like in their world.

edited 25th Aug '17 9:47:02 AM by Lyendith

They live in a perpetual dark age.

Guts is actually pretty unique in the sense that usually with that type of tragic backstory character you only see like a few flashbacks at most but as you'll see his backstory is pretty well-fleshed out and it turns him into a pretty great character.

He bacially takes the best aspects of Akira Fudo and Kenshiro and puts them in a blender.

Just finished volume 8, when Guts leaves the Falcon's Troop. Okay, now I see why this is called the "Golden Age Arc".

I wouldn't call this arc "happy" by any means… but it eased my worries that Berserk would be one of those gratuitously dark and cruel series. Despite all the bloodbaths, there's actually a surprising amount of warmth and humanity in the situations and characters. Guts is even a bit of a dork, which makes him far more likeable than… what he'd become.

For a moment I was afraid Casca would suffer from the Faux Action Girl syndrome, but thankfully the "periods incident" doesn't last. Even Guts' sexist remarks are played more as a provocation to motivate her. I certainly didn't expect to see a comical villain in this series, but the macho guy she beats up (while poisoned!) was certainly entertaining.

Then there's Griffith… Oh boy. Here's a seriously great… protagonist? antagonist? It's actually pretty unusual how he straddles the line between the two in this flashback. You know he's bad news frow how he appeared in volume 3, but you can't help but root for him in a way. He's just such a smooth bastard. And yet the feelings he shares do seem genuine. That's also why the most intense battle of the series so far is that one, bloodless exchange between him and Guts. That scene gave me chills.

My only complaint would be the assassination of Julius… Not only does it seem stupid to let Guts use his humongous and very recognizable cleaver to do the deed (and it mystifies me that no one made the connection among the surviving witnesses), but killing an innocent child in the process only seems to bother Guts for about 10 minutes, after which he's all fine and dandy. Outside of that one part, it's all a great arc so far.

Also… there's a villain named Ganon. Really, Miura?

He's not fine, he breaks up with Griffith over it. It's a huge deal.

Berserk: The Golden Age Arc actually fixes that issue with the sword by having Guts assassinate Julius using a nondescript longsword.

edited 29th Aug '17 10:02:47 PM by TheBigBopper

Thinking back on it, you do have a point. But the main reason he invokes is that he no longer wants to live in Griffith's shadow, to be his "equal". I guess that includes "not having to murder children under his orders" too, but that trauma remains implicit…

Proceeding a bit. I would have liked to actually be shown how Casca led the troop out of the trap rather than have the thing recounte by Judo, but it's still nice. It's followed by a surprisingly tasteful sex scene… It's a bit of a recurring theme in this series actually. Heroes make love; villains have sex − preferably orgies or harem sex, and preferably lethal. And is there a single king in their world who doesn't want to violate teenage boys or girls? It's kinda refreshing to have a non-hentai series that doesn't shy away from showing naked bodies in their entirety, and quite beautifully so (or… not so beautifully for a certain someone).

I really like Charlotte and really pity her at the same time… However much she wants to be with Griffith, there's little chance of that happening now. Speaking of Griffith… ouch… that's not a very good shape for a leader to be in… And thank you for the mask. At first when they took it off, I was like "huh, what does his face look like, now?"… then the page after I was like "…Yeah, no, I don't wanna see actually."

The Quirky Mini Boss Squad was a bit dispensable, but eh, they were kinda cool in their own way. And it gave Judo a chance to shine.

edited 30th Aug '17 6:26:57 PM by Lyendith

Yeah, I don't suppose that he spent a long time afterwards brooding about his accidental killing of Adonis, although Adonis is among the faces illustrated during his speech to Casca about sparks from a sword tip, which shows that at least he kept him in his memory. He might have rationalized that since he attacked before he saw who it was, and that his original intention was to complete his mission from Griffith without being caught, it wouldn't do any good to keep beating himself up over it. It sure tore up his conscience on the night he did it, though, and the fact that he had just gotten innocent blood on his hands and wanted reassurance from Griffith made the blow of overhearing Griffith say that his followers aren't friends that much harder to take. It made him realize that Griffith was using him to do his dirty work while in a sense taking him for granted, and besides that he realized that he wasn't satisfied just letting someone else determine the purpose for which he wields his sword. So it would be inaccurate to say that his regret over killing Adonis was the reason he left the Band of the Hawk, but it was part of the realization that started him down that path.

edited 30th Aug '17 10:47:27 PM by TheBigBopper

Yeah, makes it all the more striking when Griffith realizes that he had become the one dependent on Guts instead of the other way round…

Volume 12. So this is it, huh. I honestly didn't expect the Occultation to happen so… early? The way things were going, I thought it would take at least a couple more volumes for Griffith to get back the Beherit and make up his mind about the whole sacrifice thing. That it would be something he had planned… But in the end he pretty much just stumbles upon the God Hand and takes the "chance" he's offered. It kinda makes things even more tragic actually: having his body completely broken makes him (and the whole Troop) realize that all those sacrifices were for naught. So in these cases, either you call it quits, or go all the way through. (Not sure how he can pronounce the required words without his tongue, though >.<) It'll be a painful punch if Casca, Judo and Pippin all die… But Miura won't go that far… right…?

Oh hi, Puck. o/

I read that in Tommy Wiseau's voice.