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ベルセルク [Berserk] #1
Berserk Volume 1
Created by Kenturo Miura, Berserk is manga mayhem to the extreme - violent, horrifying, and mercilessly funny - and the wellspring for the internationally popular anime series. Not for the squeamish or the easily offended, Berserk asks for no quarter - and offers none!
His name is Guts, the Black Swordsman, a feared warrior spoken of only in whispers. Bearer of a gigantic sword, an iron hand, and the scars of countless battles and tortures, his flesh is also indelibly marked with The Brand, an unholy symbol that draws the forces of darkness to him and dooms him as their sacrifice. But Guts won't take his fate lying down; he'll cut a crimson swath of carnage through the ranks of the damned - and anyone else foolish enough to oppose him! Accompanied by Puck the Elf, more an annoyance than a companion, Guts relentlessly follows a dark, bloodstained path that leads only to death...or vengeance.
His name is Guts, the Black Swordsman, a feared warrior spoken of only in whispers. Bearer of a gigantic sword, an iron hand, and the scars of countless battles and tortures, his flesh is also indelibly marked with The Brand, an unholy symbol that draws the forces of darkness to him and dooms him as their sacrifice. But Guts won't take his fate lying down; he'll cut a crimson swath of carnage through the ranks of the damned - and anyone else foolish enough to oppose him! Accompanied by Puck the Elf, more an annoyance than a companion, Guts relentlessly follows a dark, bloodstained path that leads only to death...or vengeance.
224 pages, Kindle Edition
First published November 26, 1990
2503 people are currently reading
34678 people want to read
About the author
Kentaro Miura
373 books2,696 followersKentarou Miura (三浦建太郎) was born in Chiba City, Chiba Prefecture, Japan, in 1966. He is left-handed. In 1976, at the early age of 10, Miura made his first Manga, entitled "Miuranger", that was published for his classmates in a school publication; the manga ended up spanning 40 volumes. In 1977, Miura created his second manga called Ken e no michi (剣への道 The Way to the Sword), using Indian ink for the first time. When he was in middle school in 1979, Miura's drawing techniques improved greatly as he started using professional drawing techniques. His first dōjinshi was published, with the help of friends, in a magazine in 1982.
That same year, in 1982, Miura enrolled in an artistic curriculum in high school, where he and his classmates started publishing their works in school booklets, as well as having his first dōjinshi published in a fan-produced magazine. In 1985, Miura applied for the entrance examination of an art college in Nihon University. He submitted Futanabi for examination and was granted admission. This project was later nominated Best New Author work in Weekly Shōnen Magazine. Another Miura manga Noa was published in Weekly Shōnen Magazine the very same year. Due to a disagreement with one of the editors, the manga was stalled and eventually dropped altogether. This is approximately where Miura's career hit a slump.
In 1988, Miura bounced back with a 48-page manga known as Berserk Prototype, as an introduction to the current Berserk fantasy world. It went on to win Miura a prize from the Comi Manga School. In 1989, after receiving a doctorate degree, Kentarou started a project titled King of Wolves (王狼, ōrō?) based on a script by Buronson, writer of Hokuto no Ken. It was published in the monthly Japanese Animal House magazine in issues 5 and 7 of that year.
In 1990, a sequel is made to Ourou entitled Ourou Den (王狼伝 ōrō den, The Legend of the Wolf King) that was published as a prequel to the original in Young Animal Magazine. In the same year, the 10th issue of Animal House witnesses the first volume of the solo project Berserk was released with a relatively limited success. Miura again collaborated with Buronson on manga titled Japan, that was published in Young Animal House from the 1st issue to the 8th of 1992, and was later released as a stand-alone tankōbon. Miura's fame grew after Berserk was serialized in Young Animal in 1992 with the release of "The Golden Age" story arc and the huge success of his masterpiece made of him one of the most prominent contemporary mangakas. At this time Miura dedicates himself solely to be working on Berserk. He has indicated, however, that he intends to publish more manga in the future.
In 1997, Miura supervised the production of 25 anime episodes of Berserk that aired in the same year on NTV. Various art books and supplemental materials by Miura based on Berserk are also released. In 1999, Miura made minor contributions to the Dreamcast video game Sword of the Berserk: Guts' Rage. 2004 saw the release of yet another video game adaptation entitled Berserk Millennium Falcon Arc: Chapter of the Record of the Holy Demon War.
Since that time, the Berserk manga has spanned 34 tankōbon with no end in sight. The series has also spawned a whole host of merchandise, both official and fan-made, ranging from statues, action figures to key rings, video games, and a trading card game. In 2002, Kentarou Miura received the second place in the Osamu Tezuka Culture Award of Excellence for Berserk.[1]
Miura provided the design for the Vocaloid Kamui Gakupo, whose voice is taken from the Japanese singer and actor, Gackt.
Miura passed away on May 6, 2021 at 2:48 p.m. due to acute aortic dissection.
That same year, in 1982, Miura enrolled in an artistic curriculum in high school, where he and his classmates started publishing their works in school booklets, as well as having his first dōjinshi published in a fan-produced magazine. In 1985, Miura applied for the entrance examination of an art college in Nihon University. He submitted Futanabi for examination and was granted admission. This project was later nominated Best New Author work in Weekly Shōnen Magazine. Another Miura manga Noa was published in Weekly Shōnen Magazine the very same year. Due to a disagreement with one of the editors, the manga was stalled and eventually dropped altogether. This is approximately where Miura's career hit a slump.
In 1988, Miura bounced back with a 48-page manga known as Berserk Prototype, as an introduction to the current Berserk fantasy world. It went on to win Miura a prize from the Comi Manga School. In 1989, after receiving a doctorate degree, Kentarou started a project titled King of Wolves (王狼, ōrō?) based on a script by Buronson, writer of Hokuto no Ken. It was published in the monthly Japanese Animal House magazine in issues 5 and 7 of that year.
In 1990, a sequel is made to Ourou entitled Ourou Den (王狼伝 ōrō den, The Legend of the Wolf King) that was published as a prequel to the original in Young Animal Magazine. In the same year, the 10th issue of Animal House witnesses the first volume of the solo project Berserk was released with a relatively limited success. Miura again collaborated with Buronson on manga titled Japan, that was published in Young Animal House from the 1st issue to the 8th of 1992, and was later released as a stand-alone tankōbon. Miura's fame grew after Berserk was serialized in Young Animal in 1992 with the release of "The Golden Age" story arc and the huge success of his masterpiece made of him one of the most prominent contemporary mangakas. At this time Miura dedicates himself solely to be working on Berserk. He has indicated, however, that he intends to publish more manga in the future.
In 1997, Miura supervised the production of 25 anime episodes of Berserk that aired in the same year on NTV. Various art books and supplemental materials by Miura based on Berserk are also released. In 1999, Miura made minor contributions to the Dreamcast video game Sword of the Berserk: Guts' Rage. 2004 saw the release of yet another video game adaptation entitled Berserk Millennium Falcon Arc: Chapter of the Record of the Holy Demon War.
Since that time, the Berserk manga has spanned 34 tankōbon with no end in sight. The series has also spawned a whole host of merchandise, both official and fan-made, ranging from statues, action figures to key rings, video games, and a trading card game. In 2002, Kentarou Miura received the second place in the Osamu Tezuka Culture Award of Excellence for Berserk.[1]
Miura provided the design for the Vocaloid Kamui Gakupo, whose voice is taken from the Japanese singer and actor, Gackt.
Miura passed away on May 6, 2021 at 2:48 p.m. due to acute aortic dissection.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 3,311 reviews
July 2, 2023
Berserk: A Super-Dick Slaughterama the Whole Family Can Enjoy (Except Grandma and Grampa. And the Kids. And Probably the Significant Other. You Might Not Like it Either.)
[NOTE: This is really a review of the entire series. Reviewing every single volume sounds like one of those repetitive, mindless exercises used to break down the ego of a subject prior to brainwashing. Explicit and possibly offensive images and language follow, so don't scroll down if that sort of thing makes you feel twitchy and weird... particularly if you own a semi-auto crossbow.]
Berserk! If I had've discovered this shit when I was a teenager, I probably would've suffered a fatal wargasm. Dark Age mercenaries with massive fucking swords cutting their enemies into bloody quivering chunks on the field of battle! Sorcerers and demonic knights and characters who aren't all that interested in right and wrong! Huge, anatomically incorrect tits!... and the breasts look a bit off on the female characters too...
Oh yeah! Badly drawn manga-tits! Miura overdoes everything in the first couple volumes, and stylized anatomical distortions are all part of the manga package:
Guts:_____________A Tit-pixie stole my nipples.
_____________________I'm hideous.
_________________Can I borrow one of yours?
Casca: They're kind of attached.
___Maybe yours will grow back.
Alright, I've used up my monthly GR allotment of exclamation marks. Most series get better as they go on, but the truly epic length of Berserk, now over 37 volumes and counting, has yielded a huge leap in artistry. The quality of the art in the last three-quarters of the series is light years ahead of the relatively crude renderings of volume 1, and there's been a gradual refinement to Miura's storytelling that comes with maturity, greater complexity and restraint, letting the tension build, much sharper character development and pacing.
Look at that texturing. The choice between this level of beautiful intricacy and computer coloring ain't no choice at all:
That doesn't mean that volume 1 is terrible, by any means; it's just not on the same level as Miura's later work, which rapidly evolves to some of the most elaborate, jaw-droppingly gorgeous work in the medium. The European influence of artists like Francois Schuiten, Hermann and Moebius is evident from the beginning; but it's particularly clear in the beautifully rendered battlefield sequences of volumes 34 to 36, in which the Band of the Hawk's war against the god-like Emperor culminates with a stunning transformation, as Griffin's troops reveal their true demonic selves. The imaginative firepower is very impressive and visually distinctive, with Miura's clean outlines and controlled hatching making every page a work that could stand alone on it's visual merits.
Taking place in a peculiarly Japanese vision of Medieval Europe, Berserk is a relic of the Dungeons and Dragons-style fantasy boom of the 1980's. It always manages to make me nostalgic for something I never knew, in the same way the film Akira makes me nostalgic for 80's science fiction and cell animation. Berserk attracted a huge fan following immediately, and has since become an international multi-media hit, thanks to the anime and the Dark Horse translation of the manga.
The sex-and-violence factor has contributed to its popularity, as Guts, the Black Swordsman, goes 'berserk' and kills everything that breathes, bi-secting his enemies with an eight-inch wide, six-foot long broadsword that is obviously and ridiculously phallic. While swords can always have phallic associations, it seems like Miura has to be conscious of the exaggerated super-dick fantasy he's illustrating every time Guts splits another enemy in two. Then there's the weird, almost-gay rivalry/bromance between Guts and Griffin, the oddly effeminate demon-warlord with a platinum mullet... but that has nothing to do with the early volumes. Or, you know, anything.
The only thing more obviously phallic is a dick. Guts might as well be swinging around a six-foot long dildo:
Each volume of Berserk goes by ridiculously fast considering the amount of effort it represents, with the cinematic pacing that is so different from European and American comics. This means that the 'time-lapse' between the panels is much shorter, resulting in more work for the artist. A story that takes 48 pages to tell in a European comic album will take 200 pages as a manga 'tankobon'. In Vagabond, for example, over 120 pages are devoted to a duel; specifically, the seconds spent waiting for the other man to launch his attack. 120 pages detailing the silent, psychic battle that is waged between two indomitable wills. Fear and uncertainty are created or indicated by the slight shift of a sandal. That's not exactly typical, and as much as I like 'Vagabond', I have to admit, that shit got tedious; but it's also far from unprecedented or unique in the manga canon.
Miura adds a homage to Bosch in one of the more recent volumes; he's unquestionably one of the best manga artists alive, on par with Otomo, Satoshi Kon (RIP), and Taiyo Matsumoto. He wasn't this good in the early going, but he developed quickly:
Berserk eschews the brand of pretentious, 'overblown subtlety' (an oxymoron that somehow fits in this case) that can make some series feel like 200 pages of writer's block translated as an action sequence, but you still end up going through each volume pretty fast. I deliberately slow things down to enjoy the carefully crafted artwork, but unfortunately, manga does not encourage art scrutiny. I'd like to see Berserk and Blade of the Immortal collected in the larger-sized omnibus editions like 'Viz-Big', which collect three books together, use a better grade of paper, and provide a bigger page to show off the art. They're also far more economical.*
*P.S.: Thankfully, Dark Horse exceeded my hopes, publishing the entire series (
, et cetera, et cetera; they're up to releasing Volume 7 soon, which will include the regular tankobon volumes 19, 20, & 21) in a deluxe 7" x 10" hardcover omnibus format, with a better quality paper stock that allows Miura's intricate hatching & screen-tones to be properly appreciated. It's the nicest package I've seen for a manga series - with the possible exception of the Akira 35th Anniversary Box-Set - and it certainly merits such a publishing honor; it's one of the few series that might compel fans who already own all 40 of the tiny tankobon volumes to spend 50$ per volume - 700$ total - on the eventual 14 omnibus volumes collecting the exact same material. It sounds a little crazy when you frame it like that... but for me, getting a more fitting presentation of Kentaro Miura's artistry is well worth it.
[NOTE: This is really a review of the entire series. Reviewing every single volume sounds like one of those repetitive, mindless exercises used to break down the ego of a subject prior to brainwashing. Explicit and possibly offensive images and language follow, so don't scroll down if that sort of thing makes you feel twitchy and weird... particularly if you own a semi-auto crossbow.]
Berserk! If I had've discovered this shit when I was a teenager, I probably would've suffered a fatal wargasm. Dark Age mercenaries with massive fucking swords cutting their enemies into bloody quivering chunks on the field of battle! Sorcerers and demonic knights and characters who aren't all that interested in right and wrong! Huge, anatomically incorrect tits!... and the breasts look a bit off on the female characters too...
Oh yeah! Badly drawn manga-tits! Miura overdoes everything in the first couple volumes, and stylized anatomical distortions are all part of the manga package:
Guts:_____________A Tit-pixie stole my nipples.
_____________________I'm hideous.
_________________Can I borrow one of yours?
Casca: They're kind of attached.
___Maybe yours will grow back.
Alright, I've used up my monthly GR allotment of exclamation marks. Most series get better as they go on, but the truly epic length of Berserk, now over 37 volumes and counting, has yielded a huge leap in artistry. The quality of the art in the last three-quarters of the series is light years ahead of the relatively crude renderings of volume 1, and there's been a gradual refinement to Miura's storytelling that comes with maturity, greater complexity and restraint, letting the tension build, much sharper character development and pacing.
Look at that texturing. The choice between this level of beautiful intricacy and computer coloring ain't no choice at all:
That doesn't mean that volume 1 is terrible, by any means; it's just not on the same level as Miura's later work, which rapidly evolves to some of the most elaborate, jaw-droppingly gorgeous work in the medium. The European influence of artists like Francois Schuiten, Hermann and Moebius is evident from the beginning; but it's particularly clear in the beautifully rendered battlefield sequences of volumes 34 to 36, in which the Band of the Hawk's war against the god-like Emperor culminates with a stunning transformation, as Griffin's troops reveal their true demonic selves. The imaginative firepower is very impressive and visually distinctive, with Miura's clean outlines and controlled hatching making every page a work that could stand alone on it's visual merits.
Taking place in a peculiarly Japanese vision of Medieval Europe, Berserk is a relic of the Dungeons and Dragons-style fantasy boom of the 1980's. It always manages to make me nostalgic for something I never knew, in the same way the film Akira makes me nostalgic for 80's science fiction and cell animation. Berserk attracted a huge fan following immediately, and has since become an international multi-media hit, thanks to the anime and the Dark Horse translation of the manga.
The sex-and-violence factor has contributed to its popularity, as Guts, the Black Swordsman, goes 'berserk' and kills everything that breathes, bi-secting his enemies with an eight-inch wide, six-foot long broadsword that is obviously and ridiculously phallic. While swords can always have phallic associations, it seems like Miura has to be conscious of the exaggerated super-dick fantasy he's illustrating every time Guts splits another enemy in two. Then there's the weird, almost-gay rivalry/bromance between Guts and Griffin, the oddly effeminate demon-warlord with a platinum mullet... but that has nothing to do with the early volumes. Or, you know, anything.
The only thing more obviously phallic is a dick. Guts might as well be swinging around a six-foot long dildo:
Each volume of Berserk goes by ridiculously fast considering the amount of effort it represents, with the cinematic pacing that is so different from European and American comics. This means that the 'time-lapse' between the panels is much shorter, resulting in more work for the artist. A story that takes 48 pages to tell in a European comic album will take 200 pages as a manga 'tankobon'. In Vagabond, for example, over 120 pages are devoted to a duel; specifically, the seconds spent waiting for the other man to launch his attack. 120 pages detailing the silent, psychic battle that is waged between two indomitable wills. Fear and uncertainty are created or indicated by the slight shift of a sandal. That's not exactly typical, and as much as I like 'Vagabond', I have to admit, that shit got tedious; but it's also far from unprecedented or unique in the manga canon.
Miura adds a homage to Bosch in one of the more recent volumes; he's unquestionably one of the best manga artists alive, on par with Otomo, Satoshi Kon (RIP), and Taiyo Matsumoto. He wasn't this good in the early going, but he developed quickly:
Berserk eschews the brand of pretentious, 'overblown subtlety' (an oxymoron that somehow fits in this case) that can make some series feel like 200 pages of writer's block translated as an action sequence, but you still end up going through each volume pretty fast. I deliberately slow things down to enjoy the carefully crafted artwork, but unfortunately, manga does not encourage art scrutiny. I'd like to see Berserk and Blade of the Immortal collected in the larger-sized omnibus editions like 'Viz-Big', which collect three books together, use a better grade of paper, and provide a bigger page to show off the art. They're also far more economical.*
*P.S.: Thankfully, Dark Horse exceeded my hopes, publishing the entire series (
, et cetera, et cetera; they're up to releasing Volume 7 soon, which will include the regular tankobon volumes 19, 20, & 21) in a deluxe 7" x 10" hardcover omnibus format, with a better quality paper stock that allows Miura's intricate hatching & screen-tones to be properly appreciated. It's the nicest package I've seen for a manga series - with the possible exception of the Akira 35th Anniversary Box-Set - and it certainly merits such a publishing honor; it's one of the few series that might compel fans who already own all 40 of the tiny tankobon volumes to spend 50$ per volume - 700$ total - on the eventual 14 omnibus volumes collecting the exact same material. It sounds a little crazy when you frame it like that... but for me, getting a more fitting presentation of Kentaro Miura's artistry is well worth it.
July 11, 2008
This review will be my review of the whole series.
I think this is easily the best and most epic manga ever written. The drawing is grimy and it has this very old school 1980's feel even up to this day which i think gives it a little something extra. Pound for pound the most visually stunning and sometimes revolting thing I have ever read. Then there is the depth of the mythology. I think this manga has been running for something like 18 years and the story just gets deeper and deeper. I read all of the volumes available last summer and it was one of the most draining and simultaneously rewarding experieneces of my life. The philosophical battle between Guts and Griffith, freedom vs. tranquility. I have argued since with my friends about this over and over again, btu Griffith is absolutely representative of the anti-christ while Guts represents not a Godly and righteous hero, but a man acting for all humanity and freedom of choice, though he doesn't seem to care about anything but vengeance. I liked this manga so much I'm getting the Brand of the Sacrificed tattooed on my heart. Its gonna be epic. I hope everyone who loves comics will read this series at some point in there life and be as blown away as i was.
I think this is easily the best and most epic manga ever written. The drawing is grimy and it has this very old school 1980's feel even up to this day which i think gives it a little something extra. Pound for pound the most visually stunning and sometimes revolting thing I have ever read. Then there is the depth of the mythology. I think this manga has been running for something like 18 years and the story just gets deeper and deeper. I read all of the volumes available last summer and it was one of the most draining and simultaneously rewarding experieneces of my life. The philosophical battle between Guts and Griffith, freedom vs. tranquility. I have argued since with my friends about this over and over again, btu Griffith is absolutely representative of the anti-christ while Guts represents not a Godly and righteous hero, but a man acting for all humanity and freedom of choice, though he doesn't seem to care about anything but vengeance. I liked this manga so much I'm getting the Brand of the Sacrificed tattooed on my heart. Its gonna be epic. I hope everyone who loves comics will read this series at some point in there life and be as blown away as i was.
June 1, 2023
Amazing as expected.
There are once in a life time stories, and berserk is one of them the potential behind this simple manga, the suspense, the mystery of it all!
What is a behelit?
What is the gods hand?
Why demons are trying to kill guts?
How can you pencil pages scenes so disgusting yet so beautiful.
Using the inquisition was a very smart move.
I love it can't wait to read more.
There are once in a life time stories, and berserk is one of them the potential behind this simple manga, the suspense, the mystery of it all!
What is a behelit?
What is the gods hand?
Why demons are trying to kill guts?
How can you pencil pages scenes so disgusting yet so beautiful.
Using the inquisition was a very smart move.
I love it can't wait to read more.
October 4, 2021
It’s not that it’s bad, there just isn’t much plot/character development in this first book. I have the first five though so we’ll see where it goes!
June 12, 2024
ریویو کلی و جمعبندی کل مانگای برزرک
برزرک یه مانگای سینن به قلم کِنتارو میورا و استدیو گاگا هست که از سال ۱۹۸۹ تا همین الان داره منتشر میشه و جزو قلههای مدیوم مانگا محسوب میشه و رتبه یک سایت مایانیمهلیست رو داره.
داستان در مورد شخصیت گاتسه که از بچگی وسط میدون جنگ بزرگ شده و در ادامه با گروه شاهین آشنا میشه و بهشون ملحق میشه و اینجاست که دو شخصیت اصلی دیگه داستان یعنی گریفیث و کاسکا هم وارد داستان میشن و ادامه ماجراها رقم میخوره که گفتن ازش باعث اسپویل شدید میشه.
اما اگه بخوام در مورد اسم اثر بگم، کلمه Berserk به معنای دیوانه یا شوریده هست که اشاره به شخصیت اصلی داستان داره که در این مورد هر چقدر که جلوتر برید بیشتر در موردش میفهمید و این اسم رو درک میکنید.
برزرک رو میشه یک اثر ما بین پلاتمحوری و شخصیتمحوری دونست. یعنی اینطوریه که ما با گاتس همراه میشیم و خیلی جاها و چپترها داستان در مورد ماجراها و اتفاقاتی هست که برای گاتس میوفته و از طرف دیگه یه سری آرکها کاملا پلاتمحور هستن و روند داستان و اتفاقات سریع و پرحادثهست. با این حال اگه خواستید سراغ اثر برید برای هر دو آماده باشید چون مدام بین این دو فضا جابهجا میشه.
پیسینگ مانگا خیلی خوبه. حداقل برای من که آنگو نبودم واقعا خوب بود ولی درک میکنم که کسی که آنگو هست ممکنه اذیت بشه بهخصوص سر یه سری از بخشهای آرک فانتزیا. اینجا دیگه بستگی به خودتون داره که حوصله داشته باشید هر چند ماه یه چپتر بخونید و همراه با داستان برید جلو و تئوری بدید و منتظر باشید یا صبر کنید داستان تموم بشه و بعدش بخونید.
برزرک اثریه که در اون اکشن و مبارزه نقش زیادی داره و حقیقتش رو بخوام بهتون بگم کشیدن اکشن راحت نیست. اینکه بتونی اکشنی بکشی که هم حس مبارزه رو بده هم گیجکننده نباشه و در عین حال روون هم باشه سخته و کمتر مانگایی میتونه به چنین موفقیتی برسه و برزرک یکی از همونهاست.
در مورد شخصیتپردازیهای اثر:
دو تا کارکتر اصلی داستان یعنی گاتس و گریفیث رو میتونیم از بهترین شخصیتپردازیهای مدیوم مانگا و داستانهای گمانهزن درنظر بگیریم. گاتس بهشدت یادموندنی و عزیزه و سرنوشت تلخی داره و یه مسیر شخصیتپردازی محشر رو طی میکنه که شخصا خیلی این مسیر رو دوست دارم و میورا سنسی هم به خوبی این رشد و تحول رو توی مانگا نشون داده. اما گریفیث رو میشه یکی از بهترین شخصیتهای منفی یا ویلن مانگاها دونست. ویلنی که متفاوته و توی همون ۱۳ ولیوم اول چنان شخصیتپردازی قویای دریافت میکنه که هنوزم بعد از ۲۷ سال کسی نتونسته حتی نزدیکش بشه.
اما در مورد بقیه کارکترهای داستان:
برزرک تعداد زیادی شخصیت فرعی و چندتایی هم ویلن آرکهای کوچیکتر داره و حقیقتش رو بخوام بگم به غیر یکی دوتاشون اونقدرا به یادموندنی نیستن. یعنی خوبن و داستان رو به خوبی جلو میبرن ولی خاص نیستن. معمولین و اگه بخوایم با گاتس و گریفیث مقایسهشون کنیم، عملا هیچن. تقصیری هم به گردن خالق اثر نیست چون نمیشه همیشه همه کارکترها رو توی بالاترین سطح پردازش کرد ولی به هر حال چیزیه که راجعش باید توی معرفی اثر بگم.
در مورد آرکهای مانگا:
برزرک پنج تا آرک اصلی به اسمهای Black Swordsman, Golden Age, Conviction, Millennium Falcon, Fantasia داره که چند تاشون شامل سابآرکهایی هم میشه که اینجا مورد بحث نیست. آرک اول به عنوان مقدمه عالیه. آرکهای سوم و چهارم و پنجم هم خوبن و معمولا پایانهاشون بسیار درخشانه مخصوصا آرک شاهین هزاره اما گل سرسبد این مانگا، دومین آرک داستان، آرک درخشان گلدن ایجه. آرکی که به جرئت میتونم بگم یکی از کاملترین و بینقصترین آرکهایی هست که من توی آثار شرقی تجربه کردم. یه جورایی این آرک رو میشه کلاس درس نویسندگی برای داستانهای فانتزی دونست انقدر که همه چیزش تکمیل و فوقالعادهست. این آرک انقدر درخشانه که یه جورایی کل داستان بعد از خودش رو کاملا زیر سایه خودش میبره و مغز وقتی خودآگاه یا ناخودآگاه آرکهای بعدی رو با گلدن ایج مقایسه میکنه، همه چیز اون آرک جلوی گلدن ایج رنگ میبازه. شاید تنها چیز اثر که به حد گلدن ایج میرسه، آرت و طراحی اواخر آرک شاهین هزاره باشه که همین هم نمیشه با قاطعیت گفت و تایید کرد و میشه راجعش بحث کرد و بازم گلدن ایج رو بالاتر گذاشت.
اما در مورد آرت و طراحی:
آرت این مانگا عملا بهترین آرت و طراحیای هست که میتونید پیدا بکنید. کمتر مانگاکایی وجود داره که توی این زمینه بتونه در حد میورا سنسی باشه و شخصا بتونم به خودم اجازه بدم که با ایشون مقایسهش کنم. صحبت از آرت مانگا توی این فضای گودریدز شاید مناسب نباشه و اگه خواستید یکم از خوبیهایی آرت و طراحی این داستان بخونید پیشنهاد میکنم بیایید توی کانال شخصیم که آیدیش رو آخر ریویو میگذارم.
و خلاصه اگه بخوام بگم این مانگا، بهترین آرت داستانهای مصور رو داره. بدون هیچ بحثی. برای من قابل باور نیست کسی این مانگا رو بخونه و جدا از بحث سلیقه و طبق فکت و نقد بخواد مانگای دیگهای رو در جایگاه بهترین بگذاره.
حرف پشت داستان (این بخش ممکنه شامل اسپویلهای ریزی بشه)
برزرک در مورد موارد زیادی مثل محکوم بودن آدمها به جبر، جدال با سرنوشت، رویا و امید، فداکاری، محافظت و تغییر صحبت میکنه ولی شاید حرف اصلی داستان در مورد منجی باشه. منجیای که قراره بیاد و آدمها به سمت همون آرمانشهر پر از خوبی و زیبایی هدایت کنه ولی جریان به همین ختم نمیشه. میورا سنسی میاد و وجه دیگهای از منجی رو به ما نشون میده. منجی زیبا و سفیدپوش و با وقاری که هر کسی رو مقهور خودش میکنه اما در اصل یک شیطانه و روی کوهی از جنازه و آدم بیگناه این آرمانشهر موعود رو ساخته و برای هدفش دست به هر کاری میزنه و هر خط قرمزی رو زیر پا میگذاره و با این حال همچنان میشه شخصیتش رو درک کرد و همین خاصش میکنه. و سوال اصلی که برای من که موقع خوندن تلماسه هم پیش اومد اینه که یک منجی موعود میتونه هر کاری بخواد بکنه چون منجیه؟
در مورد انیمههای اقتباسی:
این مانگا چند تا اقتباس سینمایی و سریالی داره. هم قدیمی هم جدید و یه دونه هم قراره بزودی منتشر بشه با این حال پیشنهادم اینه که سراغ هیچکدوم نرید و فقط و فقط مانگا رو بخونید. تجربه خوندن مانگا به قدری عالی و کامله که اگه مانگا رو بخونید هیچ نیازی به انیمه حس نمیکنید. جدا از این موضوع، انیمهها یا نتونستن حس و حال اصلی مانگا رو دربیارن یا دچار سانسور و حذف شدن.
اینو باید اول معرفی میگفتم اما نشد. مانگای برزرک یه مانگای کاملا بزرگساله. پر از محتوای خشن و دارک و جنسیه. از قتل و سلاخی و نابود شدن آدمها بگیر تا سکس و تجاوز و این چیزا. من شخصا مخالف اینم که ملت با صرف وجود این چیزا مشکل دارن. بهنظرم بستگی داره توی چه داستانی باشه و هدف خالق از گذاشتن این عناصر وسط داستان چی باشه. یه وقتی هست خالق چیزی رو میخواد به ما برسونه از طریق این عناصر که عالیه. یه وقت هست وجود این چیزا بحث رئال بودن رو اثر رو تامین میکنه که اینم خوبه. و یه وقتی هم هست که فقط هست که باشه و هیچ هدفی نداره که این بده. برزرک به غیر یه تیکه از یکی از آرکهای اواسط داستان که توی دسته سوم قرار میگیره، توی هیچ جای داستان از این عناصر استفاده الکی نکرده و همیشه در خدمت داستان بوده.
خشونت این اثر بهشدت بالاست و توصیه میکنم اگه روحیه حساسی دارید سراغش نرید.
و البته باعث تاسفه که این مانگا فقط به خشونت و محتوای جنسی شناخته بشه و صرفا راجع این چیزهاش صحبت بشه. برزرک یکی از بهترین روایتها و شخصیتپردازیها رو داره و توی خیلی از زمینههای دیگه هم تو بالاترین سطحه.
مانگای برزرک از سال ۱۹۸۹ تا سال ۲۰۲۱ توسط نویسنده و خالق اصلی اثر یعنی میورا سنسی نوشته و کشیده میشد. اوایل به صورت ماهانه و منظم منتشر میشد و بعد چند سال تعداد بریکها زیاد شد و میورا سنسی هم مریض شد. این مریضی همراه ایشون بود و با توجه به آرت پرجزئیات و درجه یک برزرک نمیشد کار رو سریع کرد با این حال میورا سنسی ادامه داد. اما سال ۲۰۲۱ یه دفعه خبر اومد که ایشون فوت کردن. علت فوت پارگی رگ آئورت بوده. در واقع چپتر ۳۶۳ آخرین چپتری هست که مستقیما به دست میورا سنسی نوشته و کشیده شد. بعد از اون یه چپتر ناقص داشتیم که توسط استدیو گاگا(استدیویی که زیرنظر میورا سنسی کار میکرده و یه جورایی دستیار و همکارشون بوده) تکمیل و منتشر شد و بعد از اون یه مدت خبری از ادامه برزرک نبود که چند وقت بعدش خبر اومد کوئوجی موری، دوست میورا سنسی که خودش هم مانگاکا هست از پایان داستان اطلاع داشته و قرار شد طبق یادداشتهای میورا سنسی و با همکاری استدیو گاگا مانگا ادامه پیدا بکنه تا این اثر بزرگ به پایان خودش برسه.
برزرک خیلی اثر بزرگیه. توی همه لیستهای بهترینها همیشه حضور داشته. اکثرا به عنوان رتبه اول. تاثیری که روی آثار بعد از خودش گذاشته انکارناپذیره. چه مانگا چه ویدئوگیم و داستان و غیره. برزرک قطعا یکی از بهترین آثاری هست که میتونید توی مدیوم مانگا بخونید و شخصا خیلی خوشحالم که تونستم بالاخره بخونمش. حرف راجع اثر و قدردانی از میورا سنسی زیاده و جاش اینجا نیست و از حوصله ممکنه خارج بشه ولی ممنونم که این اثر رو نوشتن و چنین تجارب نابی رو در اختیار خیلیها گذاشتن.
ممنون از زهرا و رویا که از وسطای مانگا همراه و همخوان من بودن و ممنون از امیرعلی عزیز که باعث شد بالاخره امسال من این مانگا رو بخونم و توی تمام این مسیر باهام همراه بود. برای این چهل و دو ولیوم بیشتر از سه ساعت ویس شنید و ویس داد و جواب خیلی از سوالها و ابهاماتم رو داد.
همین دیگه. فکر نکنم چیز دیگهای باقی مونده باشه که بخوام راجع این اثر بگم. امیدوارم اونطور که لایقشه ازش نوشته باشم و باعث بشه شما هم اگه تا حالا نخوندید، برید سمت این اثر.
اینم آیدی کانالم اگه خواستید در مورد آرت و طراحی برزرک یکم بیشتر بخونید.
@Unforgiven_Man
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ریویوی ولیوم اول:
دو تا کتاب دیگه تو صف ریویو هستن ولی لعنت بهش. عجب شروع درخشانی داره این لعنتی.
شروع برزرک هم مثل بقیه سیننها، از وسط ماجراعه. دلیل این مدل شروع برای جذب بیشتر مخاطبه و اینطوریه که نویسنده به جای اینکه یه روند خطی رو پیش بگیره میاد و یه بخشی از داستان که جذابیت بیشتری داره رو انتخاب میکنه و داستانش رو از اونجا میگه. تاثیری که این مدل شروع داره اینه که هم داستان جذابتره و هم مخاطب درگیر میشه و از طرف دیگه کلی سوال واسش پیش میاد که اینجا چه خبره و بعد از اون نویسنده فلشبک میزنه و به نقطه شروع داستان(از لحاظ زمانی) برمیگردیم تا جواب سوالهامون رو بگیریم.
حالا جدا از اینا شروع برزرک واقعا استاندارده. معرفی شخصیت اصلی و فلسفه زندگیش رو داریم که سرگذشت همین کارکتر بزرگترین سوال برای منِ مخاطبه.
میورا سنسی دنیای کثافت و دارک داستانش رو به خوبی تو همین ۲۰۰ صفحه به ما نشون میده.
یه اکشن روون و بهشدت جذاب رو داریم که خوندنش رو راحت میکنه و قرار نیست برخلاف یه سری آثار یه ساعت تجزیه تحلیل کنیم ببینیم چه خبره(آره با خودتم جوجو😒)
و در آخر یه آرت و مصور بهشدت خوب رو داریم. جوری که باورش برای من خیلی سخته که یه نفر توی اولین ولیوم اثرش به چنین سطح مهارتی برسه و قراره بازم پیشرفت کنه. کاش میتونستم یه سری پنلهاش رو اینجا بگذارم و راجعش حرف بزنیم...
در کل که بسیار خوشمان آمده و به قول معروف قلاب انداخته شده و منم این وسط گرفتار شدم. آخرین باری که چنین حسی نسبت به یه مانگا داشتم مربوط به دو سال پیش و مانگای کینگدام بوده و امیدوارم برزرک هم همونقدر تجربه عمیق و خاطرهانگیزی بشه برام(البته بیشتر حس میکنم افسرده میشم ولی خب)
صرفا به این دلیل چهار میدم که ممکنه در آینده شگفتزدهتر بشم و میخوام پنج ستاره رو برای اون زمان کنار بگذارم وگرنه این ولیوم هر چیزی که برای یه شروع عالی نیازه رو داره.
پینوشت:
این ریویو احتمالا بین سی تا هفتاد روز دیگه ادیت میشه تا یه ریویو کلی و معرفی برای کل مانگا بنویسم --> Done
برزرک یه مانگای سینن به قلم کِنتارو میورا و استدیو گاگا هست که از سال ۱۹۸۹ تا همین الان داره منتشر میشه و جزو قلههای مدیوم مانگا محسوب میشه و رتبه یک سایت مایانیمهلیست رو داره.
داستان در مورد شخصیت گاتسه که از بچگی وسط میدون جنگ بزرگ شده و در ادامه با گروه شاهین آشنا میشه و بهشون ملحق میشه و اینجاست که دو شخصیت اصلی دیگه داستان یعنی گریفیث و کاسکا هم وارد داستان میشن و ادامه ماجراها رقم میخوره که گفتن ازش باعث اسپویل شدید میشه.
اما اگه بخوام در مورد اسم اثر بگم، کلمه Berserk به معنای دیوانه یا شوریده هست که اشاره به شخصیت اصلی داستان داره که در این مورد هر چقدر که جلوتر برید بیشتر در موردش میفهمید و این اسم رو درک میکنید.
برزرک رو میشه یک اثر ما بین پلاتمحوری و شخصیتمحوری دونست. یعنی اینطوریه که ما با گاتس همراه میشیم و خیلی جاها و چپترها داستان در مورد ماجراها و اتفاقاتی هست که برای گاتس میوفته و از طرف دیگه یه سری آرکها کاملا پلاتمحور هستن و روند داستان و اتفاقات سریع و پرحادثهست. با این حال اگه خواستید سراغ اثر برید برای هر دو آماده باشید چون مدام بین این دو فضا جابهجا میشه.
پیسینگ مانگا خیلی خوبه. حداقل برای من که آنگو نبودم واقعا خوب بود ولی درک میکنم که کسی که آنگو هست ممکنه اذیت بشه بهخصوص سر یه سری از بخشهای آرک فانتزیا. اینجا دیگه بستگی به خودتون داره که حوصله داشته باشید هر چند ماه یه چپتر بخونید و همراه با داستان برید جلو و تئوری بدید و منتظر باشید یا صبر کنید داستان تموم بشه و بعدش بخونید.
برزرک اثریه که در اون اکشن و مبارزه نقش زیادی داره و حقیقتش رو بخوام بهتون بگم کشیدن اکشن راحت نیست. اینکه بتونی اکشنی بکشی که هم حس مبارزه رو بده هم گیجکننده نباشه و در عین حال روون هم باشه سخته و کمتر مانگایی میتونه به چنین موفقیتی برسه و برزرک یکی از همونهاست.
در مورد شخصیتپردازیهای اثر:
دو تا کارکتر اصلی داستان یعنی گاتس و گریفیث رو میتونیم از بهترین شخصیتپردازیهای مدیوم مانگا و داستانهای گمانهزن درنظر بگیریم. گاتس بهشدت یادموندنی و عزیزه و سرنوشت تلخی داره و یه مسیر شخصیتپردازی محشر رو طی میکنه که شخصا خیلی این مسیر رو دوست دارم و میورا سنسی هم به خوبی این رشد و تحول رو توی مانگا نشون داده. اما گریفیث رو میشه یکی از بهترین شخصیتهای منفی یا ویلن مانگاها دونست. ویلنی که متفاوته و توی همون ۱۳ ولیوم اول چنان شخصیتپردازی قویای دریافت میکنه که هنوزم بعد از ۲۷ سال کسی نتونسته حتی نزدیکش بشه.
اما در مورد بقیه کارکترهای داستان:
برزرک تعداد زیادی شخصیت فرعی و چندتایی هم ویلن آرکهای کوچیکتر داره و حقیقتش رو بخوام بگم به غیر یکی دوتاشون اونقدرا به یادموندنی نیستن. یعنی خوبن و داستان رو به خوبی جلو میبرن ولی خاص نیستن. معمولین و اگه بخوایم با گاتس و گریفیث مقایسهشون کنیم، عملا هیچن. تقصیری هم به گردن خالق اثر نیست چون نمیشه همیشه همه کارکترها رو توی بالاترین سطح پردازش کرد ولی به هر حال چیزیه که راجعش باید توی معرفی اثر بگم.
در مورد آرکهای مانگا:
برزرک پنج تا آرک اصلی به اسمهای Black Swordsman, Golden Age, Conviction, Millennium Falcon, Fantasia داره که چند تاشون شامل سابآرکهایی هم میشه که اینجا مورد بحث نیست. آرک اول به عنوان مقدمه عالیه. آرکهای سوم و چهارم و پنجم هم خوبن و معمولا پایانهاشون بسیار درخشانه مخصوصا آرک شاهین هزاره اما گل سرسبد این مانگا، دومین آرک داستان، آرک درخشان گلدن ایجه. آرکی که به جرئت میتونم بگم یکی از کاملترین و بینقصترین آرکهایی هست که من توی آثار شرقی تجربه کردم. یه جورایی این آرک رو میشه کلاس درس نویسندگی برای داستانهای فانتزی دونست انقدر که همه چیزش تکمیل و فوقالعادهست. این آرک انقدر درخشانه که یه جورایی کل داستان بعد از خودش رو کاملا زیر سایه خودش میبره و مغز وقتی خودآگاه یا ناخودآگاه آرکهای بعدی رو با گلدن ایج مقایسه میکنه، همه چیز اون آرک جلوی گلدن ایج رنگ میبازه. شاید تنها چیز اثر که به حد گلدن ایج میرسه، آرت و طراحی اواخر آرک شاهین هزاره باشه که همین هم نمیشه با قاطعیت گفت و تایید کرد و میشه راجعش بحث کرد و بازم گلدن ایج رو بالاتر گذاشت.
اما در مورد آرت و طراحی:
آرت این مانگا عملا بهترین آرت و طراحیای هست که میتونید پیدا بکنید. کمتر مانگاکایی وجود داره که توی این زمینه بتونه در حد میورا سنسی باشه و شخصا بتونم به خودم اجازه بدم که با ایشون مقایسهش کنم. صحبت از آرت مانگا توی این فضای گودریدز شاید مناسب نباشه و اگه خواستید یکم از خوبیهایی آرت و طراحی این داستان بخونید پیشنهاد میکنم بیایید توی کانال شخصیم که آیدیش رو آخر ریویو میگذارم.
و خلاصه اگه بخوام بگم این مانگا، بهترین آرت داستانهای مصور رو داره. بدون هیچ بحثی. برای من قابل باور نیست کسی این مانگا رو بخونه و جدا از بحث سلیقه و طبق فکت و نقد بخواد مانگای دیگهای رو در جایگاه بهترین بگذاره.
حرف پشت داستان (این بخش ممکنه شامل اسپویلهای ریزی بشه)
برزرک در مورد موارد زیادی مثل محکوم بودن آدمها به جبر، جدال با سرنوشت، رویا و امید، فداکاری، محافظت و تغییر صحبت میکنه ولی شاید حرف اصلی داستان در مورد منجی باشه. منجیای که قراره بیاد و آدمها به سمت همون آرمانشهر پر از خوبی و زیبایی هدایت کنه ولی جریان به همین ختم نمیشه. میورا سنسی میاد و وجه دیگهای از منجی رو به ما نشون میده. منجی زیبا و سفیدپوش و با وقاری که هر کسی رو مقهور خودش میکنه اما در اصل یک شیطانه و روی کوهی از جنازه و آدم بیگناه این آرمانشهر موعود رو ساخته و برای هدفش دست به هر کاری میزنه و هر خط قرمزی رو زیر پا میگذاره و با این حال همچنان میشه شخصیتش رو درک کرد و همین خاصش میکنه. و سوال اصلی که برای من که موقع خوندن تلماسه هم پیش اومد اینه که یک منجی موعود میتونه هر کاری بخواد بکنه چون منجیه؟
در مورد انیمههای اقتباسی:
این مانگا چند تا اقتباس سینمایی و سریالی داره. هم قدیمی هم جدید و یه دونه هم قراره بزودی منتشر بشه با این حال پیشنهادم اینه که سراغ هیچکدوم نرید و فقط و فقط مانگا رو بخونید. تجربه خوندن مانگا به قدری عالی و کامله که اگه مانگا رو بخونید هیچ نیازی به انیمه حس نمیکنید. جدا از این موضوع، انیمهها یا نتونستن حس و حال اصلی مانگا رو دربیارن یا دچار سانسور و حذف شدن.
اینو باید اول معرفی میگفتم اما نشد. مانگای برزرک یه مانگای کاملا بزرگساله. پر از محتوای خشن و دارک و جنسیه. از قتل و سلاخی و نابود شدن آدمها بگیر تا سکس و تجاوز و این چیزا. من شخصا مخالف اینم که ملت با صرف وجود این چیزا مشکل دارن. بهنظرم بستگی داره توی چه داستانی باشه و هدف خالق از گذاشتن این عناصر وسط داستان چی باشه. یه وقتی هست خالق چیزی رو میخواد به ما برسونه از طریق این عناصر که عالیه. یه وقت هست وجود این چیزا بحث رئال بودن رو اثر رو تامین میکنه که اینم خوبه. و یه وقتی هم هست که فقط هست که باشه و هیچ هدفی نداره که این بده. برزرک به غیر یه تیکه از یکی از آرکهای اواسط داستان که توی دسته سوم قرار میگیره، توی هیچ جای داستان از این عناصر استفاده الکی نکرده و همیشه در خدمت داستان بوده.
خشونت این اثر بهشدت بالاست و توصیه میکنم اگه روحیه حساسی دارید سراغش نرید.
و البته باعث تاسفه که این مانگا فقط به خشونت و محتوای جنسی شناخته بشه و صرفا راجع این چیزهاش صحبت بشه. برزرک یکی از بهترین روایتها و شخصیتپردازیها رو داره و توی خیلی از زمینههای دیگه هم تو بالاترین سطحه.
مانگای برزرک از سال ۱۹۸۹ تا سال ۲۰۲۱ توسط نویسنده و خالق اصلی اثر یعنی میورا سنسی نوشته و کشیده میشد. اوایل به صورت ماهانه و منظم منتشر میشد و بعد چند سال تعداد بریکها زیاد شد و میورا سنسی هم مریض شد. این مریضی همراه ایشون بود و با توجه به آرت پرجزئیات و درجه یک برزرک نمیشد کار رو سریع کرد با این حال میورا سنسی ادامه داد. اما سال ۲۰۲۱ یه دفعه خبر اومد که ایشون فوت کردن. علت فوت پارگی رگ آئورت بوده. در واقع چپتر ۳۶۳ آخرین چپتری هست که مستقیما به دست میورا سنسی نوشته و کشیده شد. بعد از اون یه چپتر ناقص داشتیم که توسط استدیو گاگا(استدیویی که زیرنظر میورا سنسی کار میکرده و یه جورایی دستیار و همکارشون بوده) تکمیل و منتشر شد و بعد از اون یه مدت خبری از ادامه برزرک نبود که چند وقت بعدش خبر اومد کوئوجی موری، دوست میورا سنسی که خودش هم مانگاکا هست از پایان داستان اطلاع داشته و قرار شد طبق یادداشتهای میورا سنسی و با همکاری استدیو گاگا مانگا ادامه پیدا بکنه تا این اثر بزرگ به پایان خودش برسه.
برزرک خیلی اثر بزرگیه. توی همه لیستهای بهترینها همیشه حضور داشته. اکثرا به عنوان رتبه اول. تاثیری که روی آثار بعد از خودش گذاشته انکارناپذیره. چه مانگا چه ویدئوگیم و داستان و غیره. برزرک قطعا یکی از بهترین آثاری هست که میتونید توی مدیوم مانگا بخونید و شخصا خیلی خوشحالم که تونستم بالاخره بخونمش. حرف راجع اثر و قدردانی از میورا سنسی زیاده و جاش اینجا نیست و از حوصله ممکنه خارج بشه ولی ممنونم که این اثر رو نوشتن و چنین تجارب نابی رو در اختیار خیلیها گذاشتن.
ممنون از زهرا و رویا که از وسطای مانگا همراه و همخوان من بودن و ممنون از امیرعلی عزیز که باعث شد بالاخره امسال من این مانگا رو بخونم و توی تمام این مسیر باهام همراه بود. برای این چهل و دو ولیوم بیشتر از سه ساعت ویس شنید و ویس داد و جواب خیلی از سوالها و ابهاماتم رو داد.
همین دیگه. فکر نکنم چیز دیگهای باقی مونده باشه که بخوام راجع این اثر بگم. امیدوارم اونطور که لایقشه ازش نوشته باشم و باعث بشه شما هم اگه تا حالا نخوندید، برید سمت این اثر.
اینم آیدی کانالم اگه خواستید در مورد آرت و طراحی برزرک یکم بیشتر بخونید.
@Unforgiven_Man
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ریویوی ولیوم اول:
دو تا کتاب دیگه تو صف ریویو هستن ولی لعنت بهش. عجب شروع درخشانی داره این لعنتی.
شروع برزرک هم مثل بقیه سیننها، از وسط ماجراعه. دلیل این مدل شروع برای جذب بیشتر مخاطبه و اینطوریه که نویسنده به جای اینکه یه روند خطی رو پیش بگیره میاد و یه بخشی از داستان که جذابیت بیشتری داره رو انتخاب میکنه و داستانش رو از اونجا میگه. تاثیری که این مدل شروع داره اینه که هم داستان جذابتره و هم مخاطب درگیر میشه و از طرف دیگه کلی سوال واسش پیش میاد که اینجا چه خبره و بعد از اون نویسنده فلشبک میزنه و به نقطه شروع داستان(از لحاظ زمانی) برمیگردیم تا جواب سوالهامون رو بگیریم.
حالا جدا از اینا شروع برزرک واقعا استاندارده. معرفی شخصیت اصلی و فلسفه زندگیش رو داریم که سرگذشت همین کارکتر بزرگترین سوال برای منِ مخاطبه.
میورا سنسی دنیای کثافت و دارک داستانش رو به خوبی تو همین ۲۰۰ صفحه به ما نشون میده.
یه اکشن روون و بهشدت جذاب رو داریم که خوندنش رو راحت میکنه و قرار نیست برخلاف یه سری آثار یه ساعت تجزیه تحلیل کنیم ببینیم چه خبره(آره با خودتم جوجو😒)
و در آخر یه آرت و مصور بهشدت خوب رو داریم. جوری که باورش برای من خیلی سخته که یه نفر توی اولین ولیوم اثرش به چنین سطح مهارتی برسه و قراره بازم پیشرفت کنه. کاش میتونستم یه سری پنلهاش رو اینجا بگذارم و راجعش حرف بزنیم...
در کل که بسیار خوشمان آمده و به قول معروف قلاب انداخته شده و منم این وسط گرفتار شدم. آخرین باری که چنین حسی نسبت به یه مانگا داشتم مربوط به دو سال پیش و مانگای کینگدام بوده و امیدوارم برزرک هم همونقدر تجربه عمیق و خاطرهانگیزی بشه برام(البته بیشتر حس میکنم افسرده میشم ولی خب)
صرفا به این دلیل چهار میدم که ممکنه در آینده شگفتزدهتر بشم و میخوام پنج ستاره رو برای اون زمان کنار بگذارم وگرنه این ولیوم هر چیزی که برای یه شروع عالی نیازه رو داره.
پینوشت:
این ریویو احتمالا بین سی تا هفتاد روز دیگه ادیت میشه تا یه ریویو کلی و معرفی برای کل مانگا بنویسم --> Done
September 7, 2025
این ریویو برای کل ۴۱ جلد مجموعهی برزرکه.
برزرک اولین تجربهی من از خوندن مانگا بود و هم خیلی خوشحالم که با چنین اثر فوقالعادهای شروع کردم و هم ناراحتم چون به شدت انتظارمو بالا برده.
این مجموعه تمام چیزی که از یک مانگا شنیده بودم و تصور میکردم باید داشته باشه رو داشت. کنتارو میورا با دقت فوقالعاده و تخیلی تاریک، دنیایی خلق کرده که همزمان هم وحشتناکه و هم باشکوه.
داستان حول شخصیت گاتس میچرخه؛ جنگجویی تنها و خشن که تقدیری خونین و پر از خیانت و تراژدی داره. در کنارش شخصیتهایی مثل گریفیث و کاسکا شکل میگیرن که هر کدوم لایههای پیچیدهای از جاهطلبی، عشق، رنج و انسانیت رو به نمایش میزارن.
رابطهی پرتنش و فاجعهبار بین گاتس و گریفیت محور اصلی داستان برزرکه. گاتس با تلاش خستگیناپذیرش برای مراقبت و انتقام؛ و گریفیث با عطش بیپایانش برای جاهطلبی.
از نظر بصری هم که واقعا گفتن نداره. میورا شاهکار آفریده. طراحیهای دقیق و با جزئیات فراوون انقدری که برای دیدنش باید زوم کنی. خصوصا طراحی آرک Golden Age و صحنهی معروف Eclipse نمونههایی از هنرمندی و مهارت بینظیرشن.
یه نکتهای که توی طراحیش توجهمو جلب کرد و بینهایت برام لذتبخش بود، تفاوت و تناقضهای مربوط به طراحی کاراکتر گاتس و گریفیث بود.
گریفیث به عنوان نماد شر تو این داستان، به زیباترین و روشنترین شکل ممکن دیزاین شده. تو تمام صحنههایی که حضور داره فضا بسیار لطیف و روشنه. در مقابل، گاتس به عنوان نماد خیر، به خشنترین و تاریکترین شکل ممکن طراحی شده و تو تمام پنلها فضای اطرافش هم دارک و خشن و وحشتناکه.
این طراحی پارادوکسیکال با جایگاه این دو کاراکتر واقعا نبوغ میورا رو نشون میده و جزو زیباییهای این مانگاس.
برزرک اولین تجربهی من از خوندن مانگا بود و هم خیلی خوشحالم که با چنین اثر فوقالعادهای شروع کردم و هم ناراحتم چون به شدت انتظارمو بالا برده.
این مجموعه تمام چیزی که از یک مانگا شنیده بودم و تصور میکردم باید داشته باشه رو داشت. کنتارو میورا با دقت فوقالعاده و تخیلی تاریک، دنیایی خلق کرده که همزمان هم وحشتناکه و هم باشکوه.
داستان حول شخصیت گاتس میچرخه؛ جنگجویی تنها و خشن که تقدیری خونین و پر از خیانت و تراژدی داره. در کنارش شخصیتهایی مثل گریفیث و کاسکا شکل میگیرن که هر کدوم لایههای پیچیدهای از جاهطلبی، عشق، رنج و انسانیت رو به نمایش میزارن.
رابطهی پرتنش و فاجعهبار بین گاتس و گریفیت محور اصلی داستان برزرکه. گاتس با تلاش خستگیناپذیرش برای مراقبت و انتقام؛ و گریفیث با عطش بیپایانش برای جاهطلبی.
از نظر بصری هم که واقعا گفتن نداره. میورا شاهکار آفریده. طراحیهای دقیق و با جزئیات فراوون انقدری که برای دیدنش باید زوم کنی. خصوصا طراحی آرک Golden Age و صحنهی معروف Eclipse نمونههایی از هنرمندی و مهارت بینظیرشن.
یه نکتهای که توی طراحیش توجهمو جلب کرد و بینهایت برام لذتبخش بود، تفاوت و تناقضهای مربوط به طراحی کاراکتر گاتس و گریفیث بود.
گریفیث به عنوان نماد شر تو این داستان، به زیباترین و روشنترین شکل ممکن دیزاین شده. تو تمام صحنههایی که حضور داره فضا بسیار لطیف و روشنه. در مقابل، گاتس به عنوان نماد خیر، به خشنترین و تاریکترین شکل ممکن طراحی شده و تو تمام پنلها فضای اطرافش هم دارک و خشن و وحشتناکه.
این طراحی پارادوکسیکال با جایگاه این دو کاراکتر واقعا نبوغ میورا رو نشون میده و جزو زیباییهای این مانگاس.
May 2, 2021
This is not what I expected from a manga. This belongs to the subgenre 'seinen' which is geared for young adults/adults.
The story opened with a mysterious loner who arrived to a town and action immediately takes off. From the get-go the setting was medieval, dark, and graphic. The loner, who's named Guts, is on an unknown mission but from what I gather, it's to kill someone bad. There were elements of the supernatural, horror, and dark fantasy. The artwork and story didn't hold back and presented a dark story with graphic violence.
The artwork is really good. The details are great and captures the atmosphere of the story really well. I liked how Guts' journey is shadowy and vague; he is a cold and skilled swordsman with a dark past that obviously the author is foreshadowing. The story was fast-paced and I look forward to reading more volumes. I would suggest this to adult manga fans. Thanks!
The story opened with a mysterious loner who arrived to a town and action immediately takes off. From the get-go the setting was medieval, dark, and graphic. The loner, who's named Guts, is on an unknown mission but from what I gather, it's to kill someone bad. There were elements of the supernatural, horror, and dark fantasy. The artwork and story didn't hold back and presented a dark story with graphic violence.
The artwork is really good. The details are great and captures the atmosphere of the story really well. I liked how Guts' journey is shadowy and vague; he is a cold and skilled swordsman with a dark past that obviously the author is foreshadowing. The story was fast-paced and I look forward to reading more volumes. I would suggest this to adult manga fans. Thanks!
August 5, 2022
Hellraiser + Conan the Barbarian + Game of Thrones + Ash vs Evil Dead + Elric of Melnibone + Macbeth = Berserk.
Guts is a severely traumatized vagabond that wanders the world, throwing himself into one battle after another in hopes of finding a meaning in the tremendous suffering he's endured. His sword is his only trusted companion and he's consumed by a lust for vengeance. Griffith is a charismatic mercenary with dreams of ending a hundred year war in hopes of attaining his own kingdom. Little do his comrades and enemies know, he's not the flawless hero many believe him to be. When the paths of these two men clash, the entire world drastically evolves around the earth-shattering conflict between their indomitable wills.
A grimdark epic with compelling protagonists, stomach-churning horror, heartbreaking drama and a lovecraftian sense of metaphysical worldbuilding that's as fascinating as it is terrifying. Berserk has been my favorite manga, fantasy story and perhaps favorite story ever made for over a decade now and I was really sad to hear that the man behind the masterpiece passed away earlier this year.
Berserk is infamous for being the most gratuitously dark, brutal, shocking and depressing fantasy story ever written, but it is also rich with intense human emotion, philosophical depth, perseverance through unimaginable suffering and horrifyingly realistic depictions of psychological trauma. The series tackles the complex nature of morality vs. primal nature, fate and causality vs. free will, resilience against soulcrushing trauma that would cause most people to become broken or twisted. The definitions of good an evil are blurred beyond recognition, the heroes are just as flawed and capable of terrible deeds as the villains. The lead characters Guts and Griffith consistently challenge these themes and definitions through their shocking yet horrifyingly human actions.
This manga has inspired many famous works of art that are popular in today’s media such as the Dark Souls franchise, Final Fantasy, Attack on Titan, Evangelion, Castlevania, as well as countless fantasy novels, comics, manga, movies, tv shows, video games, musicians, artists, illustrators and so much more.
Miura inspired me as well and I regard him for being the person who taught me just how influential, meaningful and life changing art and literature can be when I first read his series over a decade ago. He changed the way I view entertainment and taught me how to appreciate the deeper meanings in everything I experience.
Berserk is to me what Harry Potter and Lord of the Rings is to millions of others.
Rest In Peace to a legendary man.
***
Above is my completely spoiler free review showing my appreciation for this series and its characters.
Below is a review of the entire series, broken down arc by arc. I originally wrote these individual reviews back during my first reading of the series, so keep that in mind. Each part contains mild spoilers, I would advise not looking any further than the arcs you’re currently reading or have already read.
***
The Black Swordsman Arc: Volumes 1-3
The first arc is only the tip of the iceberg of a very complex, dark and violent tragedy. If you find yourself to be not too impressed with the first volume, I highly recommend reading until at least volume 4 before deciding if this series is for you or not. The first three volumes serve as an interlude to help prepare you for the atrocities to come and may seem somewhat underwhelming in terms of plot, but believe me when I say the payoff is highly rewarding and memorable.
The Black Swordsman arc is awesome for fans returning to the series or rereading the series, but it often gives newcomers the wrong impression. It’s not that it’s bad, it’s just extremely different from the rest of the series and it’s set in the middle of the story rather than the beginning. This is done to set the dark tone of the series, bombarding you with shocking and upsetting content to make sure you know what you’re getting into before delving back to the beginning. For newcomers, this arc is a confusing yet exciting sword and sorcery tale of a vengeful barbarian warrior hunting demons in hopes of settling the score with his mortal enemy Griffith, and the evil lovecraftian beings that govern the world from the abyss known only as the Godhand. For returning readers, the Black Swordsman arc is much deeper than it seems, packed with genius foreshadowing, subtle character depth and truly impressive worldbuilding that will probably fly over the heads of newcomers.
Guts seems like a simplistic, edgy anti-hero at first glance, but he's so much more than that. Guts is one of the greatest characters the fantasy genre has to offer. Sigmund Freud could probably write a novel-length psychological analysis of this severely troubled and broken man. Guts is more complex than he leads people to believe as well. He's not a sociopathic antihero, he's a man that has no choice but to lie to himself to keep his emotions from crushing his spirit and getting innocent people involved with his deadly affairs. He's cruel and harsh for the greater good. It's the only way he can keep himself from going insane and continue to put up a good fight against terrifying creatures that are far stronger than he is. There's a bit of a joke in the Berserk community that says that no matter how bad your life might be, Guts will always have it worse. It's really not that hard to believe after you've read a bit of the series. His life was one big catastrophe literally from the moment he was born.
Not to mention his rival Griffith who is equally complex and incredibly rich with psychological depth, but there will be more on that as you delve further in. I would strongly recommend this series for hardcore fans of fantasy and horror, so long as you're prepared to be traumatized for life by the disgustingly harsh nature of its content.
This arc mainly serves to set up a lot of future plot points by introducing us to the Behilit, the God Hand, and the fact that even the demonic apostles are capable of emotions and having a family. Nothing is as it seems and no one is safe or innocent. It might not seem like it in the beginning, but the Black Swordsman arc is arguably one of the most important as it solidifies the themes of struggle, survival and wavering humanity that Guts deals with on a daily basis and sets up the flow of the rest of the story. It peels back the layers and reveals little by little how Guts grew up to be such a mentally broken and morally outraged character. It makes you sympathize with him and understand why he acts the way he does.
***
The Golden Age Arc: Volumes 4-13
The Golden Age Arc is where the story truly begins.
We return to the origins of Guts and learn about the series of battles, traumas and conflicts he gets himself wrapped in one after the other. We get introduced to a wonderfully intense group of mercenaries that go by the name of The Band of the Hawk. Among the Hawks are Casca the hot-headed female warrior, Judeau the smooth talking assassin, Corkus the drunken realist, Pippin the gentle giant, Rickert the blacksmith and of course, the infamous leader of men named Griffith.
Griffith is the most interesting of the motley crew as he is very complex and unpredictable. He has a playful side, a merciless side, a charismatic side and a childish yet vulnerable side. He can't be put into any single category. The gallant and elegant master of the sword has more layers than an onion. His brotherly rivalry with Guts is also a lovely and dementedly joyful sight to behold. This is the major turning point of the series and it only gets better and better from here.
After a life of grief and trauma, Guts reluctantly joins Griffith on his quest to attain his own kingdom while simultaneously struggling to come to terms with his own identity. We get to see a side of Guts we’ve never experienced up until this point. We see his vulnerability, his wounded soul, his ability to show affection to others, his role as a battle commander, and his blossoming relationships with Casca and Griffith; the two people who end up having the biggest impact on his entire life for very different reasons.
This is the arc that has the most in common with Game of Thrones, focusing on personal character dramas rather than constant brutal battles, action and lovecraftian horror being thrown at you left and right. While the battles and action sequences in Berserk are amazing, where it truly shines are its quiet moments of vulnerability where we get to see the most raw, heart-wrenching and introspective emotions of the severely damaged cast of protagonists.
Guts is an unstoppable badass, but he constantly suffers and contemplates his meaning in life. His sheer strength and relentless rage can’t hide the wounded little boy deep inside him. Casca is more fierce than most male soldiers on the battlefield and she has an attitude to match, so when we see her more feminine and loving side it makes her complex journey of self-realization all the more powerful. Griffith is a godlike war hero that millions of people worship, yet he has the deepest flaws, insecurities and inner darkness than any other character in the entire series. Most of all, they’re painfully human. These three represent the absolute best and absolute worst in all of us. That’s what makes them equally compelling, empathetic and utterly repulsive at times.
After an incredible display of war, romance, political drama, moral and philosophical musings, heartbreaking trauma, fascinating worldbuilding and chilling foreshadowing, the Golden Age arc ends on the single most shocking, depressing and mind blowing finale I’ve ever witnessed in a fantasy story. The Eclipse marks the major turning point in the story from Game of Thrones style medieval drama to the lovecraftian nightmare fest that we only get a small taste of in the Black Swordsman arc.
***
The Lost Children Arc: 14 - 16
Ah, the end of the Golden Age and the beginning of the Age of Darkness. This is where the horror elements of Berserk are dialed up to the absolute extreme. You thought the story was gruesome and horrifying before? You haven't seen anything yet. The Lost Children arc is not only arguably the most gruesome of them all, but it also completely wrecks your emotions as well. The relationship between Guts and Jill shows us that Guts is still in touch with his human side after the atrocities of the Black Swordsman arc may have convinced us otherwise. It solidifies his bond with his unlikely companion Puck, explores the lasting effects of trauma inflicted on him by the Eclipse and by Casca's heartbreaking condition and there's a rollercoaster of action, horror and small glimpses of hope in a sea of darkness. I've always loved how Jill and Puck brought Guts's humanity back to the surface after being stuck in such a devastating and harmful state for so long. This arc also humanizes the act of becoming an apostle which adds a layer of emotional depth to their depraved existence and makes the antagonists feel like more than simple fodder for Guts to slash through.
The Lost Children arc feels a bit underwhelming in a few areas compared to the shocking finale of the Golden Age arc, but the ending of this arc finishes with quite a few shockers of its own to bring back the hype and despair of the series. This arc is one of my favorites for a few reasons. It shows that apostles can be victims in their own right by exploring the sad life of Rosine who only sought to escape abuse and had to resort to inhumane methods to bring this about. This is made further relatable by contrasting her situation with that of Jill's as she's also severely abused by her father and wants nothing more than to escape from that life.
It also shows that Guts still has a human side. Despite how broken and full of hate and bloodlust he is, he still cares for Jill and throws himself in harm's way multiple times to protect her. Considering how tragic and terrifying Guts's childhood was, it's not too surprising that he would have a soft spot for kids that also happen to be suffering from abuse.
After the arc is done, we're thrown into another great arc which introduces us to the Holy Iron Chain Knights. Farnese and Serpico are fascinating characters, Azan is a cool guy and the shadiness of the group as a whole raises a lot of red flags. Guts and Puck also become much closer during this time which solidifies their companionship.
The Lost Children arc is often written off as a short filler mini-arc, but I think it serves its purpose more than well in just 3 volumes.
***
The Conviction Arc: 17 - 21
My favorite arc of Berserk in many ways.
The amount of story packed into these few volumes is incredible. Griffith is manipulating people's dreams from the beyond while a plague ravages the entire country. The people see this as a sign that the foretold messiah will soon come to save the world from darkness when really it's just Griffith leading them to believe that. After being visited by an omen in his dreams, Guts decides to return to Casca after not seeing her for two years because he's been going on a murderous rampage. After the tragic outcome of the Lost Children arc, Guts begins to accept that his quest for vengeance is futile, and that there are more important things in his life than violence.
This is where the arc gets really emotional. Figuratively speaking, Guts receives the harsh scolding and the much-needed therapy he's needed for a long time from Godo the blacksmith. Rickert, Erika and Puck are also there to knock some sense back into Guts's thick skull, giving him the mental and emotional support and guidance he desperately needed to get back on his feet after the tragedy of the eclipse. After regaining his compassion and conviction, Guts sets out to find the missing Caska, the woman who set the spark on his self-destructive quest in the first place to try and redeem his life from all the horrible things he’s been through and all the detestable things he’s done in the name of love.
We're then introduced to a horrifying priest that loves unreasonable torture, genocide and bashing people's brains out with a bible. The Holy Iron Chain Knights mean business and there's tragedy and death all over the world. Guts's path to redemption, the mad religion dedicated to a false messiah, the foreshadowing of Griffith's return, this arc is packed full of all kinds of heavy emotions.
On top of all the heart-wrenching emotions in this arc, it’s also by far the most terrifying. Religious tyranny, satanic orgy cults, cannibalism do to starvation, extreme torture methods using real historical tools such as the Judas Cradle, breaking wheels, rack torture, flaying and burning at the stake, etc. And that’s just a small taste.
We’re introduced to a group of prostitutes with strong character development. Luca is a saint and Nina is a sinner, yet Luca brings everyone together and loves them all unconditionally. Though she’s a prostitute, she has more love, kindness and motherly instinct in her than the entirety of the Holy Iron Chain Knights and their religious order which makes me respect her character a lot.
Overall an explosive arc that’s equally horrifying and beautiful. It has one of the most satisfying reunions and redemption plots of all time.
***
The Millennium Falcon Arc: Volumes 22-35
After the shocking ending of the previous arc, Griffith returns to the spotlight once more.
This is the most complex arc of the series as it's split into multiple perspectives which hasn’t really been done up until this point. Guts has reunited with his beloved Casca and her mind is still in shambles from the trauma she experienced during the Eclipse. With a new band of loyal companions at his side, Guts begins to learn how to trust, grow and love as he once did during his time in the Band of the Hawk while struggling to reconcile with his inner darkness and his hatred towards his former friend Griffith.
Schierke is a young witch that serves to explain the more magical, fantastical and metaphysical elements of the world of Berserk while aiding Guts’s crew in their journey to fight against the alarming uprising of demonic creatures overrunning the land.
The Kushan Empire has risen to power and is waging war with the unguarded kingdom of Midland. As if the deadly plague, religious crusades and rampant demon invasions weren’t enough, Emperor Ganishka of the Kushan Empire is making life an even greater hell for anyone that’s in his path of conquest.
Griffith is back in the human world, building an army of knights, demons, apostles and any other willing companions in his journey to 'save' the world from war to fulfill his dream of attaining his own kingdom no matter the sacrifices and immoral actions he must commit to make his dream a reality.
Not my favorite arc, but definitely the most chaotic, action-packed and lore heavy of them all. The fantasy, paranormal and existential elements of the story really ramp up in this arc and there’s all kinds of mindblowing chaos at work.
***
The Fantasia Arc: Volumes 36-41
It’s difficult to review this arc because it was left unfinished after the author’s untimely passing.
The Fantasia arc marked another major turning point of the series. If Lost Children and Conviction were the age of darkness, this was the beginning of the age of misguided light. Griffith changed the world in truly remarkable ways, both fascinating and terrible.
Guts and his crew set out to Elf Island to restore Casca’s memories before deciding how to settle the score with Griffith once and for all. The arc was tying up loose ends at a very nice pace, answering questions that many readers have been contemplating since the beginning of the series such as the identity of Skull Knight, the origins of the God Hand, Griffith's true motives, how Casca confronts her trauma, the purpose of the Berserker Armor, Guts finding the answer to his life’s purpose, the secret history and lore of the greater universe and much more.
Just as the arc was heading for a climactic buildup to the finale, it ends on a tearjerking cliffhanger that serves as the untimely ending of the series as a whole. It’s a shame that Miura’s masterpiece wasn’t able to be finished, but he’s created the most influential manga of all time that heavily impacted millions of readers and thousands of artists all over the world.
***
If you're looking for dark ambient music that's perfect for reading horror, thrillers, dark fantasy and other books like this one, then be sure to check out my YouTube Channel called Nightmarish Compositions: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCPPs...
Guts is a severely traumatized vagabond that wanders the world, throwing himself into one battle after another in hopes of finding a meaning in the tremendous suffering he's endured. His sword is his only trusted companion and he's consumed by a lust for vengeance. Griffith is a charismatic mercenary with dreams of ending a hundred year war in hopes of attaining his own kingdom. Little do his comrades and enemies know, he's not the flawless hero many believe him to be. When the paths of these two men clash, the entire world drastically evolves around the earth-shattering conflict between their indomitable wills.
A grimdark epic with compelling protagonists, stomach-churning horror, heartbreaking drama and a lovecraftian sense of metaphysical worldbuilding that's as fascinating as it is terrifying. Berserk has been my favorite manga, fantasy story and perhaps favorite story ever made for over a decade now and I was really sad to hear that the man behind the masterpiece passed away earlier this year.
Berserk is infamous for being the most gratuitously dark, brutal, shocking and depressing fantasy story ever written, but it is also rich with intense human emotion, philosophical depth, perseverance through unimaginable suffering and horrifyingly realistic depictions of psychological trauma. The series tackles the complex nature of morality vs. primal nature, fate and causality vs. free will, resilience against soulcrushing trauma that would cause most people to become broken or twisted. The definitions of good an evil are blurred beyond recognition, the heroes are just as flawed and capable of terrible deeds as the villains. The lead characters Guts and Griffith consistently challenge these themes and definitions through their shocking yet horrifyingly human actions.
This manga has inspired many famous works of art that are popular in today’s media such as the Dark Souls franchise, Final Fantasy, Attack on Titan, Evangelion, Castlevania, as well as countless fantasy novels, comics, manga, movies, tv shows, video games, musicians, artists, illustrators and so much more.
Miura inspired me as well and I regard him for being the person who taught me just how influential, meaningful and life changing art and literature can be when I first read his series over a decade ago. He changed the way I view entertainment and taught me how to appreciate the deeper meanings in everything I experience.
Berserk is to me what Harry Potter and Lord of the Rings is to millions of others.
Rest In Peace to a legendary man.
***
Above is my completely spoiler free review showing my appreciation for this series and its characters.
Below is a review of the entire series, broken down arc by arc. I originally wrote these individual reviews back during my first reading of the series, so keep that in mind. Each part contains mild spoilers, I would advise not looking any further than the arcs you’re currently reading or have already read.
***
The Black Swordsman Arc: Volumes 1-3
The first arc is only the tip of the iceberg of a very complex, dark and violent tragedy. If you find yourself to be not too impressed with the first volume, I highly recommend reading until at least volume 4 before deciding if this series is for you or not. The first three volumes serve as an interlude to help prepare you for the atrocities to come and may seem somewhat underwhelming in terms of plot, but believe me when I say the payoff is highly rewarding and memorable.
The Black Swordsman arc is awesome for fans returning to the series or rereading the series, but it often gives newcomers the wrong impression. It’s not that it’s bad, it’s just extremely different from the rest of the series and it’s set in the middle of the story rather than the beginning. This is done to set the dark tone of the series, bombarding you with shocking and upsetting content to make sure you know what you’re getting into before delving back to the beginning. For newcomers, this arc is a confusing yet exciting sword and sorcery tale of a vengeful barbarian warrior hunting demons in hopes of settling the score with his mortal enemy Griffith, and the evil lovecraftian beings that govern the world from the abyss known only as the Godhand. For returning readers, the Black Swordsman arc is much deeper than it seems, packed with genius foreshadowing, subtle character depth and truly impressive worldbuilding that will probably fly over the heads of newcomers.
Guts seems like a simplistic, edgy anti-hero at first glance, but he's so much more than that. Guts is one of the greatest characters the fantasy genre has to offer. Sigmund Freud could probably write a novel-length psychological analysis of this severely troubled and broken man. Guts is more complex than he leads people to believe as well. He's not a sociopathic antihero, he's a man that has no choice but to lie to himself to keep his emotions from crushing his spirit and getting innocent people involved with his deadly affairs. He's cruel and harsh for the greater good. It's the only way he can keep himself from going insane and continue to put up a good fight against terrifying creatures that are far stronger than he is. There's a bit of a joke in the Berserk community that says that no matter how bad your life might be, Guts will always have it worse. It's really not that hard to believe after you've read a bit of the series. His life was one big catastrophe literally from the moment he was born.
Not to mention his rival Griffith who is equally complex and incredibly rich with psychological depth, but there will be more on that as you delve further in. I would strongly recommend this series for hardcore fans of fantasy and horror, so long as you're prepared to be traumatized for life by the disgustingly harsh nature of its content.
This arc mainly serves to set up a lot of future plot points by introducing us to the Behilit, the God Hand, and the fact that even the demonic apostles are capable of emotions and having a family. Nothing is as it seems and no one is safe or innocent. It might not seem like it in the beginning, but the Black Swordsman arc is arguably one of the most important as it solidifies the themes of struggle, survival and wavering humanity that Guts deals with on a daily basis and sets up the flow of the rest of the story. It peels back the layers and reveals little by little how Guts grew up to be such a mentally broken and morally outraged character. It makes you sympathize with him and understand why he acts the way he does.
***
The Golden Age Arc: Volumes 4-13
The Golden Age Arc is where the story truly begins.
We return to the origins of Guts and learn about the series of battles, traumas and conflicts he gets himself wrapped in one after the other. We get introduced to a wonderfully intense group of mercenaries that go by the name of The Band of the Hawk. Among the Hawks are Casca the hot-headed female warrior, Judeau the smooth talking assassin, Corkus the drunken realist, Pippin the gentle giant, Rickert the blacksmith and of course, the infamous leader of men named Griffith.
Griffith is the most interesting of the motley crew as he is very complex and unpredictable. He has a playful side, a merciless side, a charismatic side and a childish yet vulnerable side. He can't be put into any single category. The gallant and elegant master of the sword has more layers than an onion. His brotherly rivalry with Guts is also a lovely and dementedly joyful sight to behold. This is the major turning point of the series and it only gets better and better from here.
After a life of grief and trauma, Guts reluctantly joins Griffith on his quest to attain his own kingdom while simultaneously struggling to come to terms with his own identity. We get to see a side of Guts we’ve never experienced up until this point. We see his vulnerability, his wounded soul, his ability to show affection to others, his role as a battle commander, and his blossoming relationships with Casca and Griffith; the two people who end up having the biggest impact on his entire life for very different reasons.
This is the arc that has the most in common with Game of Thrones, focusing on personal character dramas rather than constant brutal battles, action and lovecraftian horror being thrown at you left and right. While the battles and action sequences in Berserk are amazing, where it truly shines are its quiet moments of vulnerability where we get to see the most raw, heart-wrenching and introspective emotions of the severely damaged cast of protagonists.
Guts is an unstoppable badass, but he constantly suffers and contemplates his meaning in life. His sheer strength and relentless rage can’t hide the wounded little boy deep inside him. Casca is more fierce than most male soldiers on the battlefield and she has an attitude to match, so when we see her more feminine and loving side it makes her complex journey of self-realization all the more powerful. Griffith is a godlike war hero that millions of people worship, yet he has the deepest flaws, insecurities and inner darkness than any other character in the entire series. Most of all, they’re painfully human. These three represent the absolute best and absolute worst in all of us. That’s what makes them equally compelling, empathetic and utterly repulsive at times.
After an incredible display of war, romance, political drama, moral and philosophical musings, heartbreaking trauma, fascinating worldbuilding and chilling foreshadowing, the Golden Age arc ends on the single most shocking, depressing and mind blowing finale I’ve ever witnessed in a fantasy story. The Eclipse marks the major turning point in the story from Game of Thrones style medieval drama to the lovecraftian nightmare fest that we only get a small taste of in the Black Swordsman arc.
***
The Lost Children Arc: 14 - 16
Ah, the end of the Golden Age and the beginning of the Age of Darkness. This is where the horror elements of Berserk are dialed up to the absolute extreme. You thought the story was gruesome and horrifying before? You haven't seen anything yet. The Lost Children arc is not only arguably the most gruesome of them all, but it also completely wrecks your emotions as well. The relationship between Guts and Jill shows us that Guts is still in touch with his human side after the atrocities of the Black Swordsman arc may have convinced us otherwise. It solidifies his bond with his unlikely companion Puck, explores the lasting effects of trauma inflicted on him by the Eclipse and by Casca's heartbreaking condition and there's a rollercoaster of action, horror and small glimpses of hope in a sea of darkness. I've always loved how Jill and Puck brought Guts's humanity back to the surface after being stuck in such a devastating and harmful state for so long. This arc also humanizes the act of becoming an apostle which adds a layer of emotional depth to their depraved existence and makes the antagonists feel like more than simple fodder for Guts to slash through.
The Lost Children arc feels a bit underwhelming in a few areas compared to the shocking finale of the Golden Age arc, but the ending of this arc finishes with quite a few shockers of its own to bring back the hype and despair of the series. This arc is one of my favorites for a few reasons. It shows that apostles can be victims in their own right by exploring the sad life of Rosine who only sought to escape abuse and had to resort to inhumane methods to bring this about. This is made further relatable by contrasting her situation with that of Jill's as she's also severely abused by her father and wants nothing more than to escape from that life.
It also shows that Guts still has a human side. Despite how broken and full of hate and bloodlust he is, he still cares for Jill and throws himself in harm's way multiple times to protect her. Considering how tragic and terrifying Guts's childhood was, it's not too surprising that he would have a soft spot for kids that also happen to be suffering from abuse.
After the arc is done, we're thrown into another great arc which introduces us to the Holy Iron Chain Knights. Farnese and Serpico are fascinating characters, Azan is a cool guy and the shadiness of the group as a whole raises a lot of red flags. Guts and Puck also become much closer during this time which solidifies their companionship.
The Lost Children arc is often written off as a short filler mini-arc, but I think it serves its purpose more than well in just 3 volumes.
***
The Conviction Arc: 17 - 21
My favorite arc of Berserk in many ways.
The amount of story packed into these few volumes is incredible. Griffith is manipulating people's dreams from the beyond while a plague ravages the entire country. The people see this as a sign that the foretold messiah will soon come to save the world from darkness when really it's just Griffith leading them to believe that. After being visited by an omen in his dreams, Guts decides to return to Casca after not seeing her for two years because he's been going on a murderous rampage. After the tragic outcome of the Lost Children arc, Guts begins to accept that his quest for vengeance is futile, and that there are more important things in his life than violence.
This is where the arc gets really emotional. Figuratively speaking, Guts receives the harsh scolding and the much-needed therapy he's needed for a long time from Godo the blacksmith. Rickert, Erika and Puck are also there to knock some sense back into Guts's thick skull, giving him the mental and emotional support and guidance he desperately needed to get back on his feet after the tragedy of the eclipse. After regaining his compassion and conviction, Guts sets out to find the missing Caska, the woman who set the spark on his self-destructive quest in the first place to try and redeem his life from all the horrible things he’s been through and all the detestable things he’s done in the name of love.
We're then introduced to a horrifying priest that loves unreasonable torture, genocide and bashing people's brains out with a bible. The Holy Iron Chain Knights mean business and there's tragedy and death all over the world. Guts's path to redemption, the mad religion dedicated to a false messiah, the foreshadowing of Griffith's return, this arc is packed full of all kinds of heavy emotions.
On top of all the heart-wrenching emotions in this arc, it’s also by far the most terrifying. Religious tyranny, satanic orgy cults, cannibalism do to starvation, extreme torture methods using real historical tools such as the Judas Cradle, breaking wheels, rack torture, flaying and burning at the stake, etc. And that’s just a small taste.
We’re introduced to a group of prostitutes with strong character development. Luca is a saint and Nina is a sinner, yet Luca brings everyone together and loves them all unconditionally. Though she’s a prostitute, she has more love, kindness and motherly instinct in her than the entirety of the Holy Iron Chain Knights and their religious order which makes me respect her character a lot.
Overall an explosive arc that’s equally horrifying and beautiful. It has one of the most satisfying reunions and redemption plots of all time.
***
The Millennium Falcon Arc: Volumes 22-35
After the shocking ending of the previous arc, Griffith returns to the spotlight once more.
This is the most complex arc of the series as it's split into multiple perspectives which hasn’t really been done up until this point. Guts has reunited with his beloved Casca and her mind is still in shambles from the trauma she experienced during the Eclipse. With a new band of loyal companions at his side, Guts begins to learn how to trust, grow and love as he once did during his time in the Band of the Hawk while struggling to reconcile with his inner darkness and his hatred towards his former friend Griffith.
Schierke is a young witch that serves to explain the more magical, fantastical and metaphysical elements of the world of Berserk while aiding Guts’s crew in their journey to fight against the alarming uprising of demonic creatures overrunning the land.
The Kushan Empire has risen to power and is waging war with the unguarded kingdom of Midland. As if the deadly plague, religious crusades and rampant demon invasions weren’t enough, Emperor Ganishka of the Kushan Empire is making life an even greater hell for anyone that’s in his path of conquest.
Griffith is back in the human world, building an army of knights, demons, apostles and any other willing companions in his journey to 'save' the world from war to fulfill his dream of attaining his own kingdom no matter the sacrifices and immoral actions he must commit to make his dream a reality.
Not my favorite arc, but definitely the most chaotic, action-packed and lore heavy of them all. The fantasy, paranormal and existential elements of the story really ramp up in this arc and there’s all kinds of mindblowing chaos at work.
***
The Fantasia Arc: Volumes 36-41
It’s difficult to review this arc because it was left unfinished after the author’s untimely passing.
The Fantasia arc marked another major turning point of the series. If Lost Children and Conviction were the age of darkness, this was the beginning of the age of misguided light. Griffith changed the world in truly remarkable ways, both fascinating and terrible.
Guts and his crew set out to Elf Island to restore Casca’s memories before deciding how to settle the score with Griffith once and for all. The arc was tying up loose ends at a very nice pace, answering questions that many readers have been contemplating since the beginning of the series such as the identity of Skull Knight, the origins of the God Hand, Griffith's true motives, how Casca confronts her trauma, the purpose of the Berserker Armor, Guts finding the answer to his life’s purpose, the secret history and lore of the greater universe and much more.
Just as the arc was heading for a climactic buildup to the finale, it ends on a tearjerking cliffhanger that serves as the untimely ending of the series as a whole. It’s a shame that Miura’s masterpiece wasn’t able to be finished, but he’s created the most influential manga of all time that heavily impacted millions of readers and thousands of artists all over the world.
***
If you're looking for dark ambient music that's perfect for reading horror, thrillers, dark fantasy and other books like this one, then be sure to check out my YouTube Channel called Nightmarish Compositions: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCPPs...
December 12, 2017
Medieval kingdoms, big swords, frenzied warriors, gore, nude, sex, intrigue, betrayal, demons, a quest for vengeance. Berserk is the encapsulation of the best parts of dark fantasy. You know how nowadays everything gets compared to Dark Souls? Even Dark Souls took heavy inspiration from it, if that is any indication for how well executed it is.
And why wouldn’t it be? If pretty images are all you care about, then you will never be disappointed as the artwork is amongst the best you can find in any manga. And despite changing slightly as years go by, it never becomes lazy and dull, as is the case with any other long-running title. Almost every frame is a painting of fine art, extremely detailed and graphical, taking hours to be drawn with attention to facial expressions, clothing and sceneries. Especially the panoramic views showing huge armies clashing are breath taking.
Obviously a big part of the charm is also the graphic depictions of people getting slaughtered in all sorts of disgusting ways, women getting raped, and demons looking like the stuff of feverish nightmares. I grew indifferent to all that over the years, since to the most part they come off as shock factor instead of maturity. It’s time to stop thinking the more fucked up something looks the more deep and thought provoking it is. All that stuff look cool, but they are B grade aesthetics for the less demanding audience.
What sets Berserk above a typical gorefest is its focus on the mentality of its characters. The world affects the characters and is affected back by them, becoming a double battlefield, one of external enemies and one of internal fears. The demons are not generic creatures of evil as they are mortals who were taken over by their desires and gave up on humanity in the name of lust and ambition. They were not born evil, they became monsters as a result of living in a cruel world where the strong can do anything they want and the weak are expendable cannon fodder. This is not something your average edgelord schlock can show properly, since over there everyone is born psychotic and acts like a maniac over first world problems.
Despite that, it still goes overboard in many cases, since anyone who is positive, cheerful, and believes in the kindness of people always ends up getting raped and murdered in the most humiliating ways. There is no counterforce to all the selfish cynicism and good-hearted people are treated as idiots who deserve to be kicked around for not wanting to be ruthless serial killers. The medieval setting sort of excuses it, but half the times it still comes off as petty for the sake of torture porn.
But you know what? This is a minor issue compared to how it’s being made for three decades and there is no ending in sight. Since the Eclipse event, the only thing I wanted to see is Guts getting his final showdown with Griffith, but chances are I am never going to get it because Miura is busy playing Idolmaster and keeps throwing more shit between them to make sure they will never meet. At this rate the creator will die of old age before completing it. I mean, the pacing was always slow and not focused on plot progression as it was on getting to know the characters or getting prolonged random battles in between. But just like it happens with everything that overstays its welcome, it eventually becomes tiresome.
I used to love seeing Guts butchering people with progressively bigger swords, but, falling victim to power creep, the stronger creatures he is facing the less dramatization there is behind the action. The typical soldiers in the early arcs were making it far easier to feel the devastation of war. When they got replaced with beasts and eventually with monsters, there’s nothing there anymore. Guts is killing abominations that have nothing humane and thus nothing relatable about them.
The story is also expanding beyond its initial premise to something much greater and multilayered. What began as a simple revenge story of one guy versus another guy, it moves away from Guts’ objective and slowly gets enriched with all sorts of extra themes, such as the intrigue of politics, the concept of faith, the origin of magic, and different dimensions overlapping each other.
Which is also an issue, since Guts is still the one defeating most of the enemies while everyone else is low level support. Despite the story expanding to include a dozen other characters and themes, it still has the same one guy doing all the work. While Guts was butchering to pieces anyone standing in his way, it was excused because he was getting the spotlight. Now a dozen other characters get some spotlight and are close to worthless in battle. How can you care about all the extra stuff thrown in there when none of them can stand on their own without Guts constantly jumping it to save them?
Not to mention the comic relief; it’s so annoying and only increases in volume as time goes on. When the story began, there were no gag characters in Guts’ team, while now half of the team is there just for making silly jokes. Despite the world getting overrun with horrible monsters, most of the depressing atmosphere of the earlier arcs is gone. Now it’s like a mindless hack and slash Dynasty Warriors videogame, where one guy is cynically killing thousands of faceless monsters before throwing in a few cheesy one-liners.
This is why the Eclipse was the peak of the story and everything after it keeps feeling less and less interesting. I didn’t give a shit about Griffith fighting that Hindu king, and the whole thing with the pirates and the mermaids was a seven year filler arc. Why do you think everyone makes fun of everything happening after the Eclipse? Because the anime adaptation was cancer CGI? No, because it didn’t have the same interest as before.
I will go as far as say the 90s anime adaptation is the best version of them all. Sure, the budget wasn’t the best, but for the material it covered, it was even better than the manga.
-It took out the unnecessary battles with filler monsters
-It kept the meaningful character interactions
-It removed Skull Knight and his plot armor
-It removed Puck and his horrible comic relief
-It stopped at the Eclipse, the best part of the whole story
-The hand-drawn still images were doing a much better job than the cancer CGI of later adaptations
Just watch that one and consider the rest mostly a waste of time and a huge disappointment consisting of terrible CGI and clang sounds.
And why wouldn’t it be? If pretty images are all you care about, then you will never be disappointed as the artwork is amongst the best you can find in any manga. And despite changing slightly as years go by, it never becomes lazy and dull, as is the case with any other long-running title. Almost every frame is a painting of fine art, extremely detailed and graphical, taking hours to be drawn with attention to facial expressions, clothing and sceneries. Especially the panoramic views showing huge armies clashing are breath taking.
Obviously a big part of the charm is also the graphic depictions of people getting slaughtered in all sorts of disgusting ways, women getting raped, and demons looking like the stuff of feverish nightmares. I grew indifferent to all that over the years, since to the most part they come off as shock factor instead of maturity. It’s time to stop thinking the more fucked up something looks the more deep and thought provoking it is. All that stuff look cool, but they are B grade aesthetics for the less demanding audience.
What sets Berserk above a typical gorefest is its focus on the mentality of its characters. The world affects the characters and is affected back by them, becoming a double battlefield, one of external enemies and one of internal fears. The demons are not generic creatures of evil as they are mortals who were taken over by their desires and gave up on humanity in the name of lust and ambition. They were not born evil, they became monsters as a result of living in a cruel world where the strong can do anything they want and the weak are expendable cannon fodder. This is not something your average edgelord schlock can show properly, since over there everyone is born psychotic and acts like a maniac over first world problems.
Despite that, it still goes overboard in many cases, since anyone who is positive, cheerful, and believes in the kindness of people always ends up getting raped and murdered in the most humiliating ways. There is no counterforce to all the selfish cynicism and good-hearted people are treated as idiots who deserve to be kicked around for not wanting to be ruthless serial killers. The medieval setting sort of excuses it, but half the times it still comes off as petty for the sake of torture porn.
But you know what? This is a minor issue compared to how it’s being made for three decades and there is no ending in sight. Since the Eclipse event, the only thing I wanted to see is Guts getting his final showdown with Griffith, but chances are I am never going to get it because Miura is busy playing Idolmaster and keeps throwing more shit between them to make sure they will never meet. At this rate the creator will die of old age before completing it. I mean, the pacing was always slow and not focused on plot progression as it was on getting to know the characters or getting prolonged random battles in between. But just like it happens with everything that overstays its welcome, it eventually becomes tiresome.
I used to love seeing Guts butchering people with progressively bigger swords, but, falling victim to power creep, the stronger creatures he is facing the less dramatization there is behind the action. The typical soldiers in the early arcs were making it far easier to feel the devastation of war. When they got replaced with beasts and eventually with monsters, there’s nothing there anymore. Guts is killing abominations that have nothing humane and thus nothing relatable about them.
The story is also expanding beyond its initial premise to something much greater and multilayered. What began as a simple revenge story of one guy versus another guy, it moves away from Guts’ objective and slowly gets enriched with all sorts of extra themes, such as the intrigue of politics, the concept of faith, the origin of magic, and different dimensions overlapping each other.
Which is also an issue, since Guts is still the one defeating most of the enemies while everyone else is low level support. Despite the story expanding to include a dozen other characters and themes, it still has the same one guy doing all the work. While Guts was butchering to pieces anyone standing in his way, it was excused because he was getting the spotlight. Now a dozen other characters get some spotlight and are close to worthless in battle. How can you care about all the extra stuff thrown in there when none of them can stand on their own without Guts constantly jumping it to save them?
Not to mention the comic relief; it’s so annoying and only increases in volume as time goes on. When the story began, there were no gag characters in Guts’ team, while now half of the team is there just for making silly jokes. Despite the world getting overrun with horrible monsters, most of the depressing atmosphere of the earlier arcs is gone. Now it’s like a mindless hack and slash Dynasty Warriors videogame, where one guy is cynically killing thousands of faceless monsters before throwing in a few cheesy one-liners.
This is why the Eclipse was the peak of the story and everything after it keeps feeling less and less interesting. I didn’t give a shit about Griffith fighting that Hindu king, and the whole thing with the pirates and the mermaids was a seven year filler arc. Why do you think everyone makes fun of everything happening after the Eclipse? Because the anime adaptation was cancer CGI? No, because it didn’t have the same interest as before.
I will go as far as say the 90s anime adaptation is the best version of them all. Sure, the budget wasn’t the best, but for the material it covered, it was even better than the manga.
-It took out the unnecessary battles with filler monsters
-It kept the meaningful character interactions
-It removed Skull Knight and his plot armor
-It removed Puck and his horrible comic relief
-It stopped at the Eclipse, the best part of the whole story
-The hand-drawn still images were doing a much better job than the cancer CGI of later adaptations
Just watch that one and consider the rest mostly a waste of time and a huge disappointment consisting of terrible CGI and clang sounds.
June 28, 2024
C/W: Extreme violence, extreme sexual violence, abuse of children and adults, demons, horror, politics. Everything you've heard is true, and probably even worse than you've heard. So, if you struggle with dark heavy themes in your fiction, then Berserk is... just the right story for you?!
Take heed, Struggler - life's a bitch. It beats us down, kicks us down, brings out the knives, some of us worse than others, much of it undeserved. Before we're through we've been bleeding on the curb more times than we can count.
But that you're here reading this right now means you're not done just yet. If you are down, it's not for good: you're just taking a well-deserved rest and gathering your strength and evaluating your tactics. You will get right back up and you will bare your teeth and your blade at it and you will charge right back into the fray. And from the bloody guts of life you will rip out the spoils - love and joy, calm and beauty, lessons and growth, meaning and fulfillment.
And when it all does end... it doesn't matter how much it hurt, now and then, it was still great and worthwhile and we would do it all over again if we could.
So it goes with Berserk.
You won't let some hearsay daunt you. You won't let the horrors balk you. It may frighten and disgust - would do that to anyone - but with all the things you've been through in your own life already, it's nothing you can't handle. It won't keep you from witnessing one of the finest tales ever written. Meeting people, women and men and beasts and demons, that will leave their mark into you and never let go. Watching them struggle with their own lives and strive for things and fight for what they value and, perhaps, learning from them how to manage your own battlefield.
Dig deep with your blade, ward off the monsters of the night, keep your mind open, be afraid but don't let it overtake you, be angry but don't let it consume you, and you will claim to yourself things of incalculable worth. That's life. That's Berserk.
All that being said, this first volume... ehh. Not quite there yet.
The art's still a bit rough and unrefined and not particularly appealing - especially in the case of Puck - and the writing's still pretty shallow and has a fair few inconsistencies overall. Guts himself is just a dark edgy badass that plows his way through small armies and big demons, a character archetype that we've seen a million times since and that rarely has anything to offer. The rest of the cast are all basically one-shots who serve for their part in the story and then disappear (usually in pieces) so there's not much to them either.
A few high points are to be seen, though. Fights are already gory and visceral and well-told, the cannon surprise is great, you've got a good bit of skeleton war, a couple quick clues of Guts's character being fleshed out later - a spot of conscience and his hatred of being touched - and the opening scene is hilariously over-the-top even if it contradicts everything we'll learn in the future. If you like this sort of a thing you'll have a good time already, provided Puck doesn't annoy you too much.
Even so... contrast this volume to that long preamble I went on up above, and you may wonder what I've been on about that whole time. You may not be sold just yet. But rest assured, it will get better: every criticism I've laid to this - artwork, story, Guts himself, other characters, everything - will be addressed, quite soon at that. If you make it to the end but still have your doubts, let me assuage you and wholeheartedly encourage you to keep on going. It's a long and thorny path you've picked up on but you won't regret walking it.
Good journey, Struggler.
Take heed, Struggler - life's a bitch. It beats us down, kicks us down, brings out the knives, some of us worse than others, much of it undeserved. Before we're through we've been bleeding on the curb more times than we can count.
But that you're here reading this right now means you're not done just yet. If you are down, it's not for good: you're just taking a well-deserved rest and gathering your strength and evaluating your tactics. You will get right back up and you will bare your teeth and your blade at it and you will charge right back into the fray. And from the bloody guts of life you will rip out the spoils - love and joy, calm and beauty, lessons and growth, meaning and fulfillment.
And when it all does end... it doesn't matter how much it hurt, now and then, it was still great and worthwhile and we would do it all over again if we could.
So it goes with Berserk.
You won't let some hearsay daunt you. You won't let the horrors balk you. It may frighten and disgust - would do that to anyone - but with all the things you've been through in your own life already, it's nothing you can't handle. It won't keep you from witnessing one of the finest tales ever written. Meeting people, women and men and beasts and demons, that will leave their mark into you and never let go. Watching them struggle with their own lives and strive for things and fight for what they value and, perhaps, learning from them how to manage your own battlefield.
Dig deep with your blade, ward off the monsters of the night, keep your mind open, be afraid but don't let it overtake you, be angry but don't let it consume you, and you will claim to yourself things of incalculable worth. That's life. That's Berserk.
All that being said, this first volume... ehh. Not quite there yet.
The art's still a bit rough and unrefined and not particularly appealing - especially in the case of Puck - and the writing's still pretty shallow and has a fair few inconsistencies overall. Guts himself is just a dark edgy badass that plows his way through small armies and big demons, a character archetype that we've seen a million times since and that rarely has anything to offer. The rest of the cast are all basically one-shots who serve for their part in the story and then disappear (usually in pieces) so there's not much to them either.
A few high points are to be seen, though. Fights are already gory and visceral and well-told, the cannon surprise is great, you've got a good bit of skeleton war, a couple quick clues of Guts's character being fleshed out later - a spot of conscience and his hatred of being touched - and the opening scene is hilariously over-the-top even if it contradicts everything we'll learn in the future. If you like this sort of a thing you'll have a good time already, provided Puck doesn't annoy you too much.
Even so... contrast this volume to that long preamble I went on up above, and you may wonder what I've been on about that whole time. You may not be sold just yet. But rest assured, it will get better: every criticism I've laid to this - artwork, story, Guts himself, other characters, everything - will be addressed, quite soon at that. If you make it to the end but still have your doubts, let me assuage you and wholeheartedly encourage you to keep on going. It's a long and thorny path you've picked up on but you won't regret walking it.
Good journey, Struggler.
June 4, 2021
Definitely will continue. Can’t get too much of a feel for where this is going yet.
March 2, 2014
A messy little manga that feels like a graphic artist venting his Dungeons & Dragons empowerment fantasies. Here we follow Guts, the frowny badass with a giant sword, who kills a bunch of bad guys, gets caught and tortured for a little while, then breaks free and kills more bad guys. He goes on a trip and is jumped by skeletons, who he beats up, while frowning. He gets a fairy sidekick, who he frowns at. He’s in pursuit of more bad guys, for reasons we don’t know, but for obvious motives: he’s going to beat them up. It’s what this volume suggests he exists to do. From adaptations of the series, one knows there must be more to it, but this volume doesn’t have anything more to offer.
July 8, 2017
This is my first ever manga, and I really enjoyed it! And it was a super fast read! I've seen quite a bit of the anime and I really enjoyed how much more this added. Such a fun little read! I'll definitely be picking up Vol 2, later on.
May 23, 2021
This is absolutely haunting and beautiful. I hadn't known about the author's passing at the time of reading, but I know that he'll be sorely missed.
March 2, 2023
I decided to read Berserk for the first time! You can check out my reviews arc by arc on YouTube: https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PL-...
September 26, 2021
À corps perdu. Berserk: Apollo and Dionysus, a Nietzschean tragedy
Perhaps you are asking yourself: 'Why this 'Berserk' buddy sits where it is, squeezed in between Zola's Money and just before the closure of the excellent A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man'... Why is that so?
Sheer curiosity and a thrill of joyful expectation is why. Sometimes, one has to decide it is high time to break the workaday routine, the reading of one book at a time at fixed hours, mostly spent in between the hotel, the laundromat and the convenience store. All the more so perhaps when one is about to leave his current night job, putting and end to one year and one month of the same environment, marred by Covid regulations, minimal income, hotel industry rules and night schedules. A breath of fresh air.
There are many reasons why this manga strongly reminds me of The Coming of Conan the Cimmerian... I'm not much of a fantasy reader, nor a manga reader. I can appreciate series such as Fullmetal Alchemist, Vol. 1, the first five tomes of Yu-Gi-Oh!, Kurozakuro or excellent one-shots such as Reset or Kodoku no gurume Solitary Gourmet , and yet I don't read much of them. Is it a contradiction? No, merely a highly specific use I have for such works: recreational reading, reading for sheer joy and marvel and wonder, as I used to read my 'J'aime Lire' magazines when I was little more than an infant. Conan I read when I was in the ruts of another job contract, wondering back then about the course to take after this temporary contract would come to an end. It seems like I need a measure of fantasy or epic literature to properly factor in the ins and outs of a future situation, and a host of formidable enemies to overcome my doubts and suspend my scepticism towards the part I pretend to play in my day and age, albeit temporarily.
Don't get me wrong: this is certainly not what you would call material suitable for toddlers. This is some gory, brutal and unremittingly dark story, at the onset of a series famed for its gruesome horrors, cruel fates, and unflinching depiction of the absurd side of life. The events in this first tome are already merciless and harrowing. Nieztschean tragedy indeed. This is also an emotion and a state of spirit I find when reading some works by H.P. Lovecraft. Facing Old Ones or Apostles, the odds are so monstrous, the part played by the characters so seemingly futile and abysmal, that paradoxically, the most resilient form of meaning appears. With H.P. Lovecraft's fiction, if you want to keep a litteral interpretation of them, that is certainly not the case with most of his tales. And yet I still hold that his stories have a curious life-affirmation quality to me. Life appears so ludicrously gratuitous, uncalled for, fragile, in a word impossible, that I am never more conscious that the mere fact of my being alive in such a puzzling universe is quite a wonder.
I call this my recreational reading. In the widest acceptation of the word.
With Berserk, be it through the comic format, through the epic/heroic genre adopted - and largely subverted here -, or with the spirit of Nietzsche and the absurd, I reacquaint myself with a fictional world where, grim, merciless and bloodthirsty as its characters may be, the lines and parts feel quite clear-cut, the questions coarse and blunt but definitely posed, and the problems however unsurpassable - are defined and faced right away.
The meaning isn't always clear, but there is also meaning in that.
Also read:
On the Genealogy of Morals
Le mythe de Sisyphe
Fullmetal Alchemist, Vol. 1
The Coming of Conan the Cimmerian
The Last Wish
Other recreational reading:
Sophie's World
The Man Who Spoke Snakish
The Complete Fiction of H.P. Lovecraft
La Montagne morte de la vie
Annihilation
Fullmetal Alchemist, Vol. 1 & following
Tragedy, Nietzsche and Berserk:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zxTwY...
Soundtrack:
Dark Desert Music - Cryo Chamber
Perhaps you are asking yourself: 'Why this 'Berserk' buddy sits where it is, squeezed in between Zola's Money and just before the closure of the excellent A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man'... Why is that so?
Sheer curiosity and a thrill of joyful expectation is why. Sometimes, one has to decide it is high time to break the workaday routine, the reading of one book at a time at fixed hours, mostly spent in between the hotel, the laundromat and the convenience store. All the more so perhaps when one is about to leave his current night job, putting and end to one year and one month of the same environment, marred by Covid regulations, minimal income, hotel industry rules and night schedules. A breath of fresh air.
There are many reasons why this manga strongly reminds me of The Coming of Conan the Cimmerian... I'm not much of a fantasy reader, nor a manga reader. I can appreciate series such as Fullmetal Alchemist, Vol. 1, the first five tomes of Yu-Gi-Oh!, Kurozakuro or excellent one-shots such as Reset or Kodoku no gurume Solitary Gourmet , and yet I don't read much of them. Is it a contradiction? No, merely a highly specific use I have for such works: recreational reading, reading for sheer joy and marvel and wonder, as I used to read my 'J'aime Lire' magazines when I was little more than an infant. Conan I read when I was in the ruts of another job contract, wondering back then about the course to take after this temporary contract would come to an end. It seems like I need a measure of fantasy or epic literature to properly factor in the ins and outs of a future situation, and a host of formidable enemies to overcome my doubts and suspend my scepticism towards the part I pretend to play in my day and age, albeit temporarily.
Don't get me wrong: this is certainly not what you would call material suitable for toddlers. This is some gory, brutal and unremittingly dark story, at the onset of a series famed for its gruesome horrors, cruel fates, and unflinching depiction of the absurd side of life. The events in this first tome are already merciless and harrowing. Nieztschean tragedy indeed. This is also an emotion and a state of spirit I find when reading some works by H.P. Lovecraft. Facing Old Ones or Apostles, the odds are so monstrous, the part played by the characters so seemingly futile and abysmal, that paradoxically, the most resilient form of meaning appears. With H.P. Lovecraft's fiction, if you want to keep a litteral interpretation of them, that is certainly not the case with most of his tales. And yet I still hold that his stories have a curious life-affirmation quality to me. Life appears so ludicrously gratuitous, uncalled for, fragile, in a word impossible, that I am never more conscious that the mere fact of my being alive in such a puzzling universe is quite a wonder.
I call this my recreational reading. In the widest acceptation of the word.
With Berserk, be it through the comic format, through the epic/heroic genre adopted - and largely subverted here -, or with the spirit of Nietzsche and the absurd, I reacquaint myself with a fictional world where, grim, merciless and bloodthirsty as its characters may be, the lines and parts feel quite clear-cut, the questions coarse and blunt but definitely posed, and the problems however unsurpassable - are defined and faced right away.
The meaning isn't always clear, but there is also meaning in that.
Also read:
On the Genealogy of Morals
Le mythe de Sisyphe
Fullmetal Alchemist, Vol. 1
The Coming of Conan the Cimmerian
The Last Wish
Other recreational reading:
Sophie's World
The Man Who Spoke Snakish
The Complete Fiction of H.P. Lovecraft
La Montagne morte de la vie
Annihilation
Fullmetal Alchemist, Vol. 1 & following
Tragedy, Nietzsche and Berserk:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zxTwY...
Soundtrack:
Dark Desert Music - Cryo Chamber
July 10, 2022
Pretty great start to a series, I'm excited to read the rest. This is dark fantasy through and through with lots of nasty monsters but a cute little fairy elf named Puck for light relief (pretty sure he's gonna end up as my favorite character, I love him already). This series is renowned for its brutal, gory action and boy does it deliver on that, this definitely has my favorite combat scenes from any of the action-centric manga I've tried so far. I will say I don't fully understand the significance of the opening scene, maybe it's important for Guts' character or maybe it was just to set the tone, I'm not sure, but other than that I had no issues with this and I'm excited to continue with the series.
August 17, 2025
Let's gooooo!😍🔥
I watched the anime 4 years ago, and I've read 8 volumes before via E-Book. Now, I'm starting an odyssey to the depths of the grisly world of Berserk!
I'm not gonna write a review for each one of the volumes, I'll just rate them.
I wanna write a decent review at the end, if there is an end, of course.
I watched the anime 4 years ago, and I've read 8 volumes before via E-Book. Now, I'm starting an odyssey to the depths of the grisly world of Berserk!
I'm not gonna write a review for each one of the volumes, I'll just rate them.
I wanna write a decent review at the end, if there is an end, of course.
May 23, 2021
Bloody gory dark fantasy. But don't underestimate this manga. This manga is not only selling gory scenes, but also there are some good promises in setting and characterizations. I don't know how the promises will be delivered, this series is still ongoing. When I write this review the series has been running for around 27 years.
EDIT on May 2021: RIP for Sensei Kentaro Miura. This work is unfinished, but can be considered one of the best grim fantasy in Manga.
EDIT on May 2021: RIP for Sensei Kentaro Miura. This work is unfinished, but can be considered one of the best grim fantasy in Manga.
January 27, 2022
6/10 stars
Mhm, as with most classics it's hard to rate. The art for most part is rather abysmal, compared to newer mangas (most of which were actually heavily influenced by Berserk, so there's that, too). I've seen some later volumes and man, Miura had improved immensely, to absolutely amazing levels of skill. But for now, it's bad, grainy, sketchy and overloaded with tropes.
The story is crude, the big sword sounds and looks like something straight from Freud and more worthy of an eyeroll than anything else. Though admittedly many manga-kas seem partial to it (yup, Naruto and Bleach, I'm looking at your creators).
Miura's love for graphic brutality that still looks like something conceived by a bloodthirsty child (those people cut in half!) is more offputting than endearing, and the only remotely likeable character is that of a naked, sexless elf that looks like an offspring of Tinkerbell and a shop mannequin.
And yet, and yet...
There's something special in this weird little medieval-fairy-tale-Europe-as-imagined-by-20th-century-Japanese that kept me reading. A whiff of Nietzsche and Sartre and Kierkegaard, a promise of complexity and depth hiding behind the simplistic tale of an unlikeable protagonist's journey of revenge, despair and brutality toward self-knowledge. It's cringy, stereotypical and very much rooted in the '90s but there's earnestness and some emotional truth in this ugly, depressing tale that makes me read on.
Looks like I'm hooked ;)
Mhm, as with most classics it's hard to rate. The art for most part is rather abysmal, compared to newer mangas (most of which were actually heavily influenced by Berserk, so there's that, too). I've seen some later volumes and man, Miura had improved immensely, to absolutely amazing levels of skill. But for now, it's bad, grainy, sketchy and overloaded with tropes.
The story is crude, the big sword sounds and looks like something straight from Freud and more worthy of an eyeroll than anything else. Though admittedly many manga-kas seem partial to it (yup, Naruto and Bleach, I'm looking at your creators).
Miura's love for graphic brutality that still looks like something conceived by a bloodthirsty child (those people cut in half!) is more offputting than endearing, and the only remotely likeable character is that of a naked, sexless elf that looks like an offspring of Tinkerbell and a shop mannequin.
And yet, and yet...
There's something special in this weird little medieval-fairy-tale-Europe-as-imagined-by-20th-century-Japanese that kept me reading. A whiff of Nietzsche and Sartre and Kierkegaard, a promise of complexity and depth hiding behind the simplistic tale of an unlikeable protagonist's journey of revenge, despair and brutality toward self-knowledge. It's cringy, stereotypical and very much rooted in the '90s but there's earnestness and some emotional truth in this ugly, depressing tale that makes me read on.
Looks like I'm hooked ;)
August 22, 2025
به جرأت میتونم بگم الان تازه دارم میفهمم دلیل بعضی اتفاقا چیه....
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November 20, 2022
Medieval fantasy is my jam, meaning it was incredibly pleasing to finally start Berserk. I’m really impressed with how strong of an opening this volume was: perfectly gritty feel, with a badass storyline from the get-go. Guts immediately won me over as a protagonist, fighting fiercely while the brooding mystery of his past hung tauntingly over my head. That kind of writing makes me want to stick around for the long run.
And then we have the thing I feel most strongly about: PUCK!!! Never in a million years would I have guessed Berserk would be the manga to include a fairy companion to the mc, but here we are. The second I first laid eyes on that little elf/fairy, I was done. He is so cute!! The comedic relief and banter Puck has with Guts never fails to make me smile. This first volume surpassed my expectations greatly!
And then we have the thing I feel most strongly about: PUCK!!! Never in a million years would I have guessed Berserk would be the manga to include a fairy companion to the mc, but here we are. The second I first laid eyes on that little elf/fairy, I was done. He is so cute!! The comedic relief and banter Puck has with Guts never fails to make me smile. This first volume surpassed my expectations greatly!
July 25, 2020
Berserk doesn't hold back in terms of violence and gore, but unlike many other books in the format, it doesn't have violence just for the sake of violence. The art isn't gorgeous to look at, but it is good enough and blends well with the setting of the manga. So, if you're looking for a violent dark fantasy manga, then Berserk is just for you.
April 10, 2023
I finally got around to starting this series. The 40+ volume series is just a bit long... it put me off of checking this out. But I'm glad I finally did, and this first volume has me excited (not fearful) to read the whole thing.
April 16, 2017
من جديد قررت اضافة المانجا اليابانية على هذا الموقع
خصوصا بعد ازدياد معدل قرائتي لها
مانجا بيرسيرك هي أحد أشهر المانجا المظلومة , فهي لم تجد استدويو يدعمها بشكل جدي لصنع انمي عظيم يليق بمانجا عظيمة مثلها
هناك عدة اسباب :
فمثلا المانجا تستهدف شريحة محددة من القراء وهم البالغين فوق ال 18 سنة
أيضا
فهي تستهدف فئة خاصة من هؤلاء القراء , القراء الذين ينغمسون في النفس البشرية و العالم المليء بالخطايا و أطماع البشر
/*/*/*/*
هي أيضا تمثيل قوي لأفكار دوستوفوسكي كما انها فلسفتها في التحدث عن الحياة فلسفة وجودية
كما انها من صنف مسلسل " لعبة العروش " فكلاهما يحتوي على نفس القدر من السادية و العنف الا أن بيرسيرك أقل تركيزا على الأفكار الجنسية و الشاذة أيضا
بيرسيرك يناقش الحياة و الموت و الأطماع و الأهداف
يناقش الخوف و الألم و التعاسة و يبحث عن ماهية السعادة
عالم مليء بالأساطير و الخرافات التي تتحكم بالبشر و اسم الإله عبارة عن طيف موت يفتك بالبشر
مهما قلّبت هذا العالم من أوجهه الشتى فسيبقى يشبه عالمنا بشكل أو بآخر
فهناك الذين آمنوا إيمانا أعمى و قرروا ان يعتدموا على إيمانهم و جعلوه " شماعة " تحمل خطاياهم و تبرر لهم ضعفهم ,
وهناك الذين آمنوا إيمانا أعمى أيضا لكنهم جعلوا ايمانهم ذريعة للفتك بالبشر باسم الرب لإنهم يخافون الذين جعلوا من الإيمان وسيلة لمطامعهم , فهم يخافونهم أكثر من الرب نفسه .
وهناك الذي ألقى الإيمان وراح يشق طريقه في الحياة متخبطا متحديا العوالم كلها , متحديا الخير وا لشر و الإله و الشيطان , متحديا كل شيء مفتقدا لمعنى وجوده , حائرا عن مالذي يجب عليه فعله . يمقت الإيمان كما يمقت نفسه , يريد ان ينقذ حبه و يسترجع قلبه الذي فقدهما مع يده , صحيح أن الحياة سلبت منه الكثير لكنها أعطته الإنتقام ليملئ الفراغ الذي حفر عميقا في سراديب قلبه
كما ان هناك الذين يبحثون عن إيمان حقيقي كما أن هناك من تخلى عن إيمانه بعد إيمان قوي
رحلة عن الإنسان و الإيمان و الوجود
يأخذنا فيها كينتارو متجسدا ببطله غاتس
*TMT*
خصوصا بعد ازدياد معدل قرائتي لها
مانجا بيرسيرك هي أحد أشهر المانجا المظلومة , فهي لم تجد استدويو يدعمها بشكل جدي لصنع انمي عظيم يليق بمانجا عظيمة مثلها
هناك عدة اسباب :
فمثلا المانجا تستهدف شريحة محددة من القراء وهم البالغين فوق ال 18 سنة
أيضا
فهي تستهدف فئة خاصة من هؤلاء القراء , القراء الذين ينغمسون في النفس البشرية و العالم المليء بالخطايا و أطماع البشر
/*/*/*/*
هي أيضا تمثيل قوي لأفكار دوستوفوسكي كما انها فلسفتها في التحدث عن الحياة فلسفة وجودية
كما انها من صنف مسلسل " لعبة العروش " فكلاهما يحتوي على نفس القدر من السادية و العنف الا أن بيرسيرك أقل تركيزا على الأفكار الجنسية و الشاذة أيضا
بيرسيرك يناقش الحياة و الموت و الأطماع و الأهداف
يناقش الخوف و الألم و التعاسة و يبحث عن ماهية السعادة
عالم مليء بالأساطير و الخرافات التي تتحكم بالبشر و اسم الإله عبارة عن طيف موت يفتك بالبشر
مهما قلّبت هذا العالم من أوجهه الشتى فسيبقى يشبه عالمنا بشكل أو بآخر
فهناك الذين آمنوا إيمانا أعمى و قرروا ان يعتدموا على إيمانهم و جعلوه " شماعة " تحمل خطاياهم و تبرر لهم ضعفهم ,
وهناك الذين آمنوا إيمانا أعمى أيضا لكنهم جعلوا ايمانهم ذريعة للفتك بالبشر باسم الرب لإنهم يخافون الذين جعلوا من الإيمان وسيلة لمطامعهم , فهم يخافونهم أكثر من الرب نفسه .
وهناك الذي ألقى الإيمان وراح يشق طريقه في الحياة متخبطا متحديا العوالم كلها , متحديا الخير وا لشر و الإله و الشيطان , متحديا كل شيء مفتقدا لمعنى وجوده , حائرا عن مالذي يجب عليه فعله . يمقت الإيمان كما يمقت نفسه , يريد ان ينقذ حبه و يسترجع قلبه الذي فقدهما مع يده , صحيح أن الحياة سلبت منه الكثير لكنها أعطته الإنتقام ليملئ الفراغ الذي حفر عميقا في سراديب قلبه
كما ان هناك الذين يبحثون عن إيمان حقيقي كما أن هناك من تخلى عن إيمانه بعد إيمان قوي
رحلة عن الإنسان و الإيمان و الوجود
يأخذنا فيها كينتارو متجسدا ببطله غاتس
*TMT*
February 22, 2023
No me puedo creer que mi novio me haya convencido para leer esto... PERO tengo que admitir que engancha, se lee fácil, rápido y Guts me ha gustado bastante (a pesar de no saber mucho de él aún). Es el primer manga que he leído en toda mi vida y no esperaba que me gustara tanto, pero al César lo que es del César. Eso sí, me han dicho que el dibujo mejora conforme van avanzando los volúmenes y lo he agradecido, porque me daba la sensación de que esto era un borrador que no quisieron mejorar. Y le doy de puntuación 4.75⭐️ porque he visto faltas de ortografía que me han molestado mucho y que la traductora pedante que hay dentro de mí no ha podido dejar pasar.
Me ha gustado mucho Puck, el elfo, a pesar de que me daba un poco de grima verle el culo en casi todas las viñetas; al final decidí dejarlo pasar teniendo en cuenta la cantidad de detalle desagradable que hay a lo largo de toda la historia, pero supongo que me iré acostumbrando.
Tampoco sé muy bien cómo reseñar esto, ya que no hay mucho más de descripción sobre la que comentar y los diálogos también son mínimos.
Me ha gustado mucho Puck, el elfo, a pesar de que me daba un poco de grima verle el culo en casi todas las viñetas; al final decidí dejarlo pasar teniendo en cuenta la cantidad de detalle desagradable que hay a lo largo de toda la historia, pero supongo que me iré acostumbrando.
Tampoco sé muy bien cómo reseñar esto, ya que no hay mucho más de descripción sobre la que comentar y los diálogos también son mínimos.
October 6, 2011
Blood, guts (in more ways than one), and huge swords (not even in the phallic symbol kinda way...okay it probably is). I haven't read a lot of manga, but this was great stuff.
Berserk is manga set in medieval times. It's straight-forward, good guy (who's kind of a dick) in pursuit of bad dudes doing bad things. It has it's mysterious elements that I'm interested in getting to know, but it's really all about taking people out...including slicing horses in half...and the dude has a crazy crossbow that shoots like 10 at once.
Not much more to say. I blazed through it in about half an hour and my appetite is only just whetted.
Thanks to Bastard for the rec.
Berserk is manga set in medieval times. It's straight-forward, good guy (who's kind of a dick) in pursuit of bad dudes doing bad things. It has it's mysterious elements that I'm interested in getting to know, but it's really all about taking people out...including slicing horses in half...and the dude has a crazy crossbow that shoots like 10 at once.
Not much more to say. I blazed through it in about half an hour and my appetite is only just whetted.
Thanks to Bastard for the rec.
February 9, 2024
Since I have about a month till season 6 of Game of Thrones starts I decided I'd revist the other emotionally abusive, horrifically violent, series that I'm obsessed with. AND This series isn't yet finished either, maybe I'm a masochist.
January 15, 2025
Z poleceń wielu. Warto było i dobrze się starzeje.
February 22, 2025
hell yeah
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