bear cove

I’ve read up to volume 6 of Berserk. I’ve managed to avoid all spoilers of this manga, knowing I’d want to read it someday. I haven’t recorded any specific thoughts down since then, so I’ll do my best to summarize up to where I’m at in the series.

It has a lot of dark, gruesome themes with many gorgeous double panel illustrations and more fantasy elements than I was expecting. Going into this, all I knew was that it was about a guy with a big ass sword. The arc I’ve just entered is the “Golden Age”, where I’m being introduced to what I assume are new main characters. Everything up to this point has been a look into how Guts’ childhood and youth was, along with a small arc where he fights a particularly phallic monster.

Guts

From the moment he was born, he only knew death and war. As anyone might have imagined, that’s not exactly a great way to grow up. On top of having absolutely no real parental figure in his life, he also grew up with no peers. This boy was not only utterly alone, but also thought to believe all his misfortunes were entirely his fault. Everyone around him encouraged violence and the only father figure he had betrayed him.

I’d say “betrayal” is putting it lightly, but I’m not sure there’s a word to describe selling off your young son to be raped. I don’t exactly remember the age he was at, but him being a child, in my opinion, makes this an even more significant event in his life that will shape how he sees and interacts with the world forever.

I’d expect someone with this kind of upbringing would have no sense of humanity left, but there are still traces of it when he comes across innocent people. I don’t know much about the “Band of the Hawk” he’s just joined yet, but I assume this is where he learns things that aren’t just fighting and death.

I’m also going to assume this arc is going to be where Griffith will betray him and he decides life is just going to be fighting and death.

Griffith

A very pretty man that I haven’t seen much background of yet. I don’t know who he was before the Band of the Hawk or how he became its leader, but I can clearly see his ambition and the will to get what he wants. I don’t know a lot of the why yet, but from what I’ve learned so far that ambition will lead to him becoming a monster. Interesting to see his very loyal following, considering he hasn’t actually shown much care in return for them. Everyone around him seem like tools to get what he wants.

Last thoughts

The art in this manga is the best I’ve encountered so far across all the manga I’ve read. It’s not just about how skillfully it’s drawn, but the expressiveness of contrast that’s particularly impressive to me. The story is what keeps me drawn in – themes of how trauma drives you forward, freezes you where you are, and consistently pulls you back to your past. You see monsters in everyone and everything, and nightmares are memories. While this manga is heavy in its (very cool) fantasy themes, I’ve also been appreciating how seriously it takes the mind of a broken man.