Review by Comix
Berserk can really be described in one word, and maybe a lot of swear words: Fucking-BRUTAL-fuck-shit-up-wow! With the flowing, epic styling of a good dark fantasy series, this comic is a seriously crazy masterpiece sure to leave fans of both horror and comics on the edge of their seats. I’ve been covering a pretty fair amount of fantasy/horror crossovers lately, but this one is the cherry on the cake. It’s got your classic fantasy fare: a huge lead male, a strong but dainty lead female, magic, wizards, demons; you know, the usual, but this one ups the ante with a full-blown symphony of blood and guts that would make Clive Barker jealous. Arms ripped from bodies, heads crushed between a demon’s palms, and the skinning! My God, everyone gets their skin ripped off, like, all the time! It’s like Pinhead’s wet dream over there.
The story centers around the appropriately named Guts, a beast of a man with one eye and one huge-ass sword who travels the land beating up demons and saving dames. Though the better known story (the one that got turned into an anime) doesn’t start until volume four, the first three volumes introduce Guts and his strange quest for a group called The God Hand. As he battles his way through a literal shit-ton of monsters and men, he eventually makes his way to a dark magician called The Count. After Guts hands him his ass on a platter, The Count, in his dying throes, activates an egg-shaped necklace called the Behelit, a demonic charm that opens gates to Hell. Suddenly, Guts finds himself in a demon’s den, fighting for his life and something yet to be revealed, something that haunts the entire series.
Okay, I’m sure at this point, you’re like “WTF, Comix? You just gave away most of the story!” Well, I tell you sir, I have not. Like I said, the comic really kicks in at volume four, where we are introduced to two more main characters who fought along side Guts in his youth: a war leader named Griffith and a young lady named Casca. In those volumes (a whopping eleven manga books), Guts is just a young, traveling warrior who suddenly comes upon an army led by Griffith and is sucked into one hell of holy war that, well, ends really badly for everyone. Essentially, it is here that we see Guts’s true nature revealed and the true story begins to unfold; a story of love, monsters, and loyalty. The first three volumes are like a huge prelude to the main story, and the volumes after the Griffith/Casca story arc goes right back to where we left Guts after his brave escape from Hell in the first three volumes. Whew, you got all that? Good, there will be a test a later.
Alright, I admit, the story is pretty hard to describe, but like any good fantasy epic, if I could accurately describe it, it wouldn’t be a fantasy epic. You really need to read the comic to see what I’m talking about; there’s a lot of stuff that leads to other stuff that I can’t describe without giving things away and blah blah blah. The comic is pretty easy to follow, it’s just hard to tell you about it. But what I can tell you is that Berserk is totally, completely, insanely, awesome. Just like its namesake, the comic goes into places that are, well, completely berserk, and with 36 translated volumes (for now) it has plenty of room to get seriously messed up. Each volume brings another addition to an ever growing mythos of an alternate Medieval universe overrun with greedy warlords, demonic entities, and violence, violence, violence! As we follow Guts on his mission to over throw an alt-world Vatican that has take over all of civilization, we are treated to a plethora of unique creatures and disturbing visions of a Hell both in life and death. It’s a brain-scorching ride not for the faint of heart.
Berserk, like many huge Japanese comics, has also become a merchandising bonanza! Anything you can want has been made: toys, video games, wall scrolls, music albums, trading card games, lighters, key rings, what have you. But of course, the most successful and profiting endeavour of the line has been the animated series. Though Berserk the anime only addresses the ‘young warrior Guts’ volumes of the series, it does a pretty fair re-visioning of the comic. Despite leaving some of the more brutal violence scenes in the manga, the anime still prompts a very juicy Adults Only tag that fans have come to eat up. Each of the episodes were personally approved by the creator, Kentaro Miura, who by the way, is also pretty awesome himself. Though it’s his first continuous comic series, the amount of detail and thought that he put into it hints at a mind that is as dark as it is brilliant. His eye for detail is like no other, with his art filling up every bit of page that physics allow it. An example of his vision and versatility can be seen in his other, single volume works, such as the simply titled comic Japan, a scathing critique of modern Japan. In the comic, Japan’s modern attitudes are paralleled with that of Carthage, a Roman city that fell due to the citizens lack of unity and pride. A bit on the 1984 side, sure, but it was a great read none-the-less and proves that Miura is just as comfortable writing politics as he is demons.
Well, if you are ready to set yourself off the journey of epic proportions known as Berserk, the entire 36 translated volume set is available through Dark Horse comics, with a new volume coming out about twice a year. As far as I know, the comic is still serialized twice a month in a Japanese comic magazine called “Young Animal” and the volumes come out every ten to eleven printed installations. It’s pretty much like graphic novels collecting single issues. If you read Japanese, you can always start an international subscription and get the comics first hand or, if you already live in Japan, you can just run right down to the magazine/book store or train/bus station or grocery store/7-11 and grab one. Really, comics are like toilet paper over there, they are so lucky. Also, if you want to watch the TV series, the entire collection is available for purchase, translated by Anime Works, and a second collection titled Berserk: The Golden Age Arc-The Egg of the King, released through Viz Media, is now available for pre-order. Either way, watch it, read it, play the card game, I don’t care, just make sure you pick this crazy shit up. It will be your demonic Game of Thrones, an addiction you will never kick.