A Timeless and Peerless Masterpiece - The Greatest Manga of All Time
The first part of this review, “Why should you read Berserk?”, is spoiler free. I might comment on more concrete elements of the story in the character section and the ending section, so it may contain relevant information that could spoil people that haven’t read up to the last chapter (363).
It is probably safe to say that if there is one work that objectively deserves the title of Greatest Manga of All Time it is Kentaro Miura’s Berserk. It is the highest rated animanga almost everywhere, including AL and MAL, and it is the favorite piece of fiction of tons of people. It is a story that changes the lives of its readers, and a masterpiece that has had a huge impact in the culture of its era and beyond. Its influence is immeasurable. In this review, I’ll try to go through some of the main elements of Berserk as a whole, including its themes, philosophy, influence, art and characters. I’m writing this review on the day of Miura’s passing announcement, and it’s impossible to leave that out, so I’m also including some thoughts on its ending/future. I’m making this review as a way to settle my own thoughts on the series that I sadly consider completed with Miura’s death. I want this review's quality to be as high as possible, so if you catch any typos/anything that could be improved, feel free to dm me on Discord.
Why should you read Berserk?
Themes: Berserk addresses countless themes sublimely. One of them is overcoming trauma. Berserk delivers a message of pushing forward and overcoming adversity with such mastery that readers can deeply relate to the characters even when they are in a completely different era and context - medieval dark fantasy. There are innumerable testimonies of people that say Berserk helped them push ahead in difficult times, and even overcome depression. Even if it is usually portrayed as a dark, revenge-focused and gore-heavy manga, Miura does an amazing job at creating human characters that are compelling to the reader and that move towards light. Berserk also revolves a lot around philosophy and religion, but I chose to separate that into a different point.
Philosophy: Berserk is a deeply philosophical manga. As someone that really enjoys philosophy literature, this is one of the reasons it is my favorite fiction work. An important part of the philosophical themes in Berserk is addressed through parallels between Guts and Griffith. In the first place, there’s the immense esthetic appeal that produces a huge contrast between both characters. This evolves deeply into topics that revolve around fate, such as Determinism, Existentialism, and Nihilism. From here, the strong message regarding fate also has a huge relation to religion, which is also developed throughout the story. It leads thought onto subjects regarding morals, such as Ethical Relativism, Ethical Absolutism, and ambiguity. Lastly, there’s what is probably one of the most attractive philosophical concepts for a lot of readers, being treated frequently in literature and manga specifically: a powerful incarnation of the Hedgehog Dilemma in Guts that is beautifully developed as the story progresses.
Influence: Berserk has been one of if not the most influential manga in history. It has had a huge impact both inside and outside the manga industry. Countless mangakas have praised Miura’s work and taken inspiration from it. Outside the animanga world, Berserk has defined and characterized the dark fantasy and modern fantasy genres in literature and media overall. Some examples are the recently booming anime and manga Attack on Titan, or the (literally) entire Souls videogame series. Hell, it has even been referenced in the mainstream giant Marvel’s Avengers series, specifically in the Endgame movie. I could go on and on here, but I think this is enough to convince anyone about starting Berserk.
Art: Miura’s art is almost unmatched in the entire manga industry and deserves praise even from a global artistic view. I’m going to leave a few of my favorite (spoiler free) panels here.
Why shouldn't someone read Berserk?
The only (yes, THE ONLY) reason someone shouldn’t read Berserk is if they have an EXTREME hate for gore. I have to admit I felt kind of pushed back when starting Berserk because of the explicitness and gore, but once you get used to it it becomes a positive element that helps the series develop some extremely interesting themes.
Characters
This section may have spoilers for people that aren’t caught up with the manga. I won’t develop that much into each character since that would make this review longer than the Bible, but I hope what I choose to express satisfies the readers.
Guts: The greatest protagonist in animanga. I don't think it's necessary for me to explain how influential Guts' character is in the media. He goes through the most incredible, astonishing, and at the same time subtle development any character could go through. The uniqueness of his story is gracefully balanced by Miura with an unexpectedly relatable evolution and psychological development. The strength of the character itself, the way it embodies the amazing themes contained in Berserk, the sublime changes he experiences that are expressed subtly by both the magnificent script and the peerless artwork make him not only one character of a kind, but one deserving of the title of one of the kings in all literature. Guts personifies the eternal struggle of humankind against Determinism, the search for purpose that everyone goes through at some point and that ends up creating this profound relatability. As he grows up in Golden Age we see a kid that gets to know hell way too early in his childhood, and that ends up evolving into a loving person that has developed a deep bond with the companions that helped him overcome his traumatic past. When he finally reaches the point of psychological recovery in which he finds a purpose in caring about the people around him, humankind's greatest enemy, Causality/Determinism, strikes with all its might: the Eclipse. Anguish, desperation, anger, loss, devastation; The Eclipse is the incarnation of all these concepts in a reality that directly affects Guts and his companions. All because they were bound by a thin thread called fate. The thread that Guts thought meant his first connection to people that loved him, the first affection he felt in his entire life, ended up overtaken by the indescriptible force of destiny, destroying everything he ever worked and cared for. From here we see the growth of a man that has gone through hell twice and come back, that rose from the bottom to the top only to fall down again because of this nonsense that he heard was called Causality. When Guts is in the bottom, in the depths of darkness, it is very hard to see light, and he seeks purpose through the road of revenge. As the story progresses and, again, seemingly because of Causality, he meets new companions that slowly but steadily pull him out of the darkness he is immersed in, showing him a glimpse of brightness that he chooses to not let go of. That is the story of the best character ever written in manga.
Griffith: The greatest antagonist in animanga. Can there be a better antagonist than one that perfectly represents the greatest enemy of humankind? The answer I personally arrived at is no. That antagonist is Griffith. He is presented as this character that has always followed his dreams, suffering and sacrificing whatever he needed to if not doing it meant letting go of his goals. Across the first half of Golden Age we see a Griffith that has this profound confidence in the mysterious force that seems to trouble everyone else. His rise is matched by the rise of the Band of the Hawk and, consequently, the growth and recovery of a young Guts. The natural progression of events leads to the tension between characters and structures reaching a climax, and everyone goes their separate ways. We could say Guts follows a path of growth while Griffith takes a road of despair. Here is when the inclination of destiny seems to manifest itself in its most powerful way. After touching rock bottom, Griffith is chosen to rise to the utmost top of existence: he becomes the literal incarnation of evil and achieves the power to control fate. This is the creation of the personification of humanity’s greatest enemy: destiny. It is at this point where one of the main themes of Berserk is introduced into the debate: the moral and ethical discussion that goes back and forth from absolutism to relativism trying to reach a consensus on a moral judgement on Griffith’s actions. We’ve all heard it: “Griffith did nothing wrong”. I’m sorry I’m not bringing a final opinion or consensus to this matter, but I’m afraid arriving at such is an impossible task. If analyzed from a moral absolutism or even ambiguity it is clear that what Griffith did was wrong, but when coming from a specific nihilist relative ethic viewpoint such a clear negativity vanishes and turns into a solid positive answer. The truth is, the moral debate around the topic is only a manifestation of its immense depth and the sublimity of how Miura addresses the deepest concepts lying right beside the roots of human nature. The relation between what Guts and Griffith are and represent is one of the most solidly built pillars that philosophical literature has to offer when diving deep into the analysis of human nature and essence. That is the role of the greatest antagonist ever written in manga.
Casca: Quite the controversial character because of obvious reasons. In my opinion she clearly undergoes two different phases that should be analyzed separately. In first place, we have the Golden Age Casca. Here, she is a very interesting character that strongly represents one of Berserk’s main themes, the overcoming of adversity. As she grows up in the Band of the Hawk she has to work through countless difficulties that make her mature as a person and understand and get to the top of the crude world of women in the Middle Age and in Berserk. In second place we have the post-Eclipse Casca. The trauma she goes through in the climax of the Golden Age arc leaves her in a near-animal state. From here on until Elfhelm, she doesn’t matter as a character but is extremely important as a plot device. She represents the common ground between Guts and Griffith, the convergence point between the mighty Determinism of the Godhand and their fate, and the eternal Existentialism of Guts and their struggle. She represents one of the options in the vital decision Guts makes: the first is represented by Griffith, the road of endless and impossible revenge, filled with anger and despair; and the second represented by Casca, the road of reconciliation, filled with hope and affection. In the end, with the unfortunate and unexpected course of events led by Miura’s death, I consider her of major importance because of the partial ending that Berserk deserves and that is represented in the peace and reconciliation of the final state of Miura’s work.
Schierke: In my opinion the most underrated character in the series, and my favorite supporting character in all animanga. I could write an entire essay about her. I think she provides a symbolical value of a magnitude very rarely seen in manga. She is introduced right after Conviction Arc ends, when the main party is getting built up. Her development as a character directly represents the relationship between Guts and the rest of the group. In the beginning, this relationship is rather uncertain, doubtful, full of hesitation and not yet confident or settled. Schierke is introduced as a shy girl, hesitating about interacting with the human world. As the story progresses and the party goes through different adventures together, Schierke also experiences some important development. As she dives deeper and gets to know the society she realizes the incredible amounts of pain people out there suffer. This is the beginning of her graceful development. She starts caring more about the people around her, and specially starts to empathize more with Guts. Notice something familiar here? Yeah, her development is paired with Guts’ Hedgehog Dilemma weakening. As Guts starts opening up to his not-so-new companions, Schierke grows as a character to fulfill a welcoming role, and support Guts in a both psychological and physical way. Miura makes this bond more evident when Schierke jumps into the astral plane to help Guts fight and call him back from the darkness, loneliness and rage of the Berserker Armor. It is magnificently portrayed by Miura as a physical interaction, inside a psychological/non-material plane, where both bonds that form the concept of Schierke’s character are present. From here on, Schierke definitively takes on the role of symbolizing the group’s support towards Guts, becoming a key piece in his own development as one of the best characters in the entirety of literature.
While the most relevant themes of the story mainly revolve around Guts and Griffith, Berserk wouldn’t be the masterpiece it is without the supporting characters that define the plot development and provide the most meaningful reflections about the most meaningful topics. There is not one character in Berserk that doesn’t fulfill an important role for the series unveiling (yes, I’m looking at you, Puck haters). For me, Guts and Griffith can easily take up the best written and second best written characters ever (equaled only by Umino’s Rei and Hina). Overall, Berserk’s cast is one of the best I’ve had the pleasure to get to know in all literature.
Berserk is peerless.
About The Ending - Thank You Miura
Miura’s death is what gave me the last push to write this review. Berserk is his masterpiece. I’d be more than happy to read any works following up the latest chapters made by Miura, coming from his assistants or close friends that worked with him throughout his journey like Umino Chica or Mori Kouji. This said, it won’t be the same thing. Even though it’s obvious the final state of Miura’s works is nowhere near the ending he nor anyone expected, I think we can and should take it as it is. Casca was brought back, Griffith achieved his dream, and Guts found a peace that he had never experienced before in the series, not fighting, not screaming, not in pain. In the last few chapters, we saw a calm Guts that could finally rest after his immeasurable, permanent struggle; Most importantly, we saw a Guts that had reached the end of a journey.
Chapter 363
Of course it wasn’t intended, but some of the pages in the final chapters are very poetic following Miura’s passing.
Chapter 360
As Guts finishes his journey, we sadly face that Miura also has reached a similar place. We have to recognize that, even though Miura passed after getting a somewhat reasonable and satisfying ending for his masterpiece, some of his last moments must have tragically been full of anguish and uneasiness related to leaving it unfinished. “The end of your journey. It is not always a happy thing”. I think we can take this poetry, and understand Berserk as at least a partially finished work.
I personally think most of us viewed Miura as a genius, a superhuman, and the idea of death can seem to kind of escape such a superior being. Because of this, his death was extremely shocking for me, as I think it was for a lot of people. I still can't quite accept the reality.
I’d like to remember master Oda’s words from Chopper’s arc in volume 16: “When does a man die? When he is hit by a bullet? No! When he suffers a disease? No! When he ate a soup made out of a poisonous mushroom? No! A man dies when he is forgotten!”. There's also Schierke's and Guts' final dialogs from chapter 363: “Here we are… A sorcerer's paradise. We’ve reached the end of our journey. A place in the sun, where I am accepted for who I am” (Schierke); “Thanks for the warning but I don’t die easy (...) Forget about determining in the end or whatever. On this lazy island there’s nothing to do but nap and swing this thing around” (Guts).
George Morikawa, the author of Hajime no Ippo, had the opportunity to work with Miura and wrote a message when his death was announced. He shared his experience and praised Miura for his genius. These were the last words of the message: “I’m truly proud to have known him. Kentaro, I’m sorry for sharing all of this on my own. Someday, I’ll come over and read the final chapter”. Man, how would I like this to come true.
After all, maybe Miura was indeed immortal and superhuman. He is going to be forever remembered as the genius who built what is, to me and many others, the best manga and the best piece of fiction ever made.