So I have now finished reading all the available chapters of Berserk. SPOILERS ABOUND.

[Samtemdo8]

Its been quite a journey that began with me watching the 1997 Anime to now finishing the whole thing.

And now I fully understand why this is an iconic masterpiece of a Manga. And why perfect adaptions are so few.

So here I am already at the finish, and now waiting with all of you the next chapter that comes once every year or two.

So random thoughts.

Favorite thing of this series so far, Gut's inner turmoil with, "The Beast of Darkness"

And I truly think this is the real main antagonist of this entire series, not Griffith and his betrayal, sacrifice, and rape of the Hawks.
It is Guts himself, the inner black rage and malice that he developed since that event. Guts too was going on the same path of becoming a Griffith himself. Also think the Berserker Armor is sick.

Other things, how this series completely changes the Status Quo at various points of the story. I mean we literally went from Medieval Game of Thrones Dark Fantasy to fucking Narnia by the late/current parts of the chapter.

Goddamn this Manga was so fucking good, I knew I made the right choice in putting this one on my list.

So anyway, on to the next thing I'm gonna be invested in later, Fist of the North Star, but for now let me just wallow in the glow of my appreciation of this series and anyone who is a fan.

 

[fOx]

Huh, not much activity in this thread, sadly.

Berserk is one of my favorite stories of all time. It has the perfect mixture of weird post modern storytelling, and classical tragedy. It reminds me of greek and Shakespearean tragedy in particular.

That said, it's best if you give up on this story ever finishing. Just enjoy what you have. Maybe buy those fancy hard back copies that just came out.

 

[Casual Shinji]

Oh dear, I'd say the beast of darkness stuff is when things slowly started heading south for me with this series, and the Berserker armor was the big exclaimation point. Things snuck into the series around that point that just made me go 'oh no, oh god, oh why', like the aforementioned deus ex armor, Farnese turning into a boring side character, and suddenly both her and Shierke getting the hots for Guts.

But yeah, before that the series was pretty fucking amazing, minus Caska just being the love interested/resident rape magnet.

 

[Chimpzy]

Oh dear, I'd say the beast of darkness stuff is when things slowly started heading south for me with this series, and the Berserker armor was the big exclaimation point. Things snuck into the series around that point that just made me go 'oh no, oh god, oh why', like the aforementioned deus ex armor, Farnese turning into a boring side character, and suddenly both her and Shierke getting the hots for Guts.

But yeah, before that the series was pretty fucking amazing, minus Caska just being the love interested/resident rape magnet.

And then they got on a boat ... for like 10 years.

 

[Casual Shinji]

And then they got on a boat ... for like 10 years.

Luckily by then my investment was already at a low.

 

[Chimpzy]

Luckily by then my investment was already at a low.

Yeah, I still check it out whenever a new chapter is out, but mostly just for the artwork, which is still top tier.

 

[Samtemdo8]

Oh dear, I'd say the beast of darkness stuff is when things slowly started heading south for me with this series, and the Berserker armor was the big exclaimation point. Things snuck into the series around that point that just made me go 'oh no, oh god, oh why', like the aforementioned deus ex armor, Farnese turning into a boring side character, and suddenly both her and Shierke getting the hots for Guts.

But yeah, before that the series was pretty fucking amazing, minus Caska just being the love interested/resident rape magnet.

Huh, did not think this thread would get posted after WEEKS.....which is funny because its just like the Manga hiatus.

So Casca being a Love interest to Guts was bad? And what was your beef with the Beast of Darkness?

 

[Casual Shinji]

So Casca being a Love interest to Guts was bad?

The love interest being her only purpose is what's bad. She has no agency of her own, everything about her revolves around either Griffith or Guts. And she's not a bad character necessarily, but for as prominent a character as she is there is very little to her other than how she serves Guts' or Griffith's character.

And what was your beef with the Beast of Darkness?

It's blatant. It's supposed to be this disturbing representation of Guts' warped psyche, when previously the story handled this by just showing Guts being Guts and dealing with what he has to deal with, and allowing the reader to naturally draw their conclusion from it. Seriously, all that's necessary was to show one of Guts' typical, grim smirks to know what's up. Making it a demon hound thing feels completely pointless, and like the story is just hammering it home, like it's afraid the audience isn't getting it.

 

[Samtemdo8]

The love interest being her only purpose is what's bad. She has no agency of her own, everything about her revolves around either Griffith or Guts. And she's not a bad character necessarily, but for as prominent a character as she is there is very little to her other than how she serves Guts' or Griffith's character.

It's blatant. It's supposed to be this disturbing representation of Guts' warped psyche, when previously the story handled this by just showing Guts being Guts and dealing with what he has to deal with, and allowing the reader to naturally draw their conclusion from it. Seriously, all that's necessary was to show one of Guts' typical, grim smirks to know what's up. Making it a demon hound thing feels completely pointless, and like the story is just hammering it home, like it's afraid the audience isn't getting it.

I recall his time as the Black Swordsmen, where he takes sadistic glee in hunting and killing Demons, especially since he was at his most "Borderline Villain" moments in The Lost Children Arc.

I noticed the faces he makes when he goes on a bloodlusted rage, and he looked like a demon beast himself.

https://i.pinimg.com/originals/b7/86/eb/b786eb8483e958e6b62d98bfe3a521ef.jpg

But if I have to tin foil hat, especially with the fact that he's been constantly haunted by spirits and influenced by the Supernatural. I feel like it kinda makes sense that all of Gut's vengeance filled rage and bloodlust and sadism against Apostles and Griffith with eventually manifest into something like the Beast of Darkness.

And it has been put to stellar use for his character development because:

Remember the time he attempted to force himself on Casca, and in his mind it was the Beast, brutally eating and violating Casca in the form of the Beast, and when Guts snapped out of it, he left a bite mark on Casca's breast and this devastated him. This was the turning point in Gut's character from realizing if he continues his path as this Black Swordsmen, he will soon be succumb to his inner malice, as represented by the beast. And this was the moment where he finally accepted help and companionship with other people because Guts is afraid of himself at this point, he needs people around to stop him from not only doing that to Casca, but also stopping him from doing the horrible stuff he did as the Black Swordsmen. Especially the things he did in Lost Children.