I first caught wind of Berserk by way of a friend I made in college. When there was a light lull in classes, we just talked about a few random things, and the topic of conversation came to what stuff we were watching. I don't quite remember what I recommended he watched, but he immediately told me "Dude, try Berserk" "Berserk?" I asked, not knowing what exactly that was.
He went on to tell me it was the father of dark fantasy stories, and I should really watch it, it is just so good. Well, after class ended and I got home, I immediately went to search Berserk for any online copies I could read. There was a confusing thing where, for some reason, there were two chapters that went 1-12, it wasn't until later that I learned about the weird issue of whether the Black Swordsman Arc is the first, or if its the Golden Age arc.
But I digress, so, what exactly is Berserk?
Berserk is a long running seinen series that started from 1989 all the way to the present, even past the death of the creator, Kentaro Miura, and taken over by long time friend and collaborator, Kouji Mori. The story itself follows the adventure of Guts, the Black Swordsman, as he traverses a medieval European inspired setting while grappling with his past and seemingly causality itself, as he encounters forces, both natural and supernatural, that stand in his way.
Fair warning for everyone, literally every part that I review is gonna contain some case of content warning because, right from the gecko, Berserk makes it clear what kind of story it is, and just what it'll be like. I also won't be reviewing everything chapter by chapter because, my lord, Berserk has a very slow pacing that I fear would make this review last far longer than I'd want it to go, so I'll review things by bulk, but read everything.
By the way, since this is Berserk- CW: Graphic depictions of violence, sex, both voluntary and involuntary, and many, many other things that haven't crossed my mind.
We open the story with a very interesting visage. It's some guy, presumably our protagonist, chained up, in some sort of dungeon, revealing a muscular, yet extremely scarred body, alongside a prosthetic arm,
The next image we get is of him, in the midst of violent intercourse with a woman, who soon reveals herself to be a succubus kind of monster, luring him into her trap, until he tells her HE pulled HER into HIS trap. Smash cut, she's been cut to pieces and he moves on to greener, and probably just as demonic, pastures.
As he enters a new town, and Guts looks around in suspicion at a cage full of people, we meet a curious little creature in captivity, struggling and dodging projectiles being thrown at it as it longs to fight back. The murmuring in the background reveals the creature to be an elf, and the man torturing it are revealed to be men of the castle in the distance, named Koka castle, and for reasons soon to be explained, are basically untouchable, even by the lord mayor.
As the elf continues to get tortured, Guts shows up, pulls out a repeating crossbow, and kills the men of the castle, grabs one of the few he didn't kill, and tells them to tell their boss, "The Black Swordsman has come"
As the elf get himself free and tries to thank him, introducing himself as Puck, explaining that he was part of a traveling circus band before they were attacked and he got captured, the Black Swordsman just tells him to piss off, pissing off our little elf friend and soon to be comic relief of the series.
Before they can argue any further, a band of armored men surround the two, throw the Black Swordsman into a dungeon, whip him presumably a hell of a lot of times, and the mayor himself shows up to ask him if he knows what he just did. The Black Swordsman just gives a chuckle, he knows exactly what's going on, and tells the mayor he knows about his deal with the leader of the castle, that those people stuck in cages a few panels back? He knows they're sacrifices, meant to appease the monstrous leader of the castle, just so the little shit of a mayor can save his own hide.
Angered at being called out, he orders for him to be tortured within an inch of his life, but kept alive, he'd make a good offering to the monster of the castle as he travels there himself. At the castle, we meet the leader, and he is just as described. He's monstrous, carrying himself with a literal serpent like-disposition, with a serpent themed armor right next to him, and he just tells the sniveling mayor, who was in the middle of telling him the man who killed his men wasn't a villager, he was just some crazy mercenary, that he doesn't give a shit about his explanations.
He doesn't care about sacrifices, or gold, or any of that, he just wants to see people suffer, before giving the mayor a sinister look and presumably eats, kills, or does something much worse to him, but not without noting with interest that the Black Swordsman is nearby.
We get back to our Black Swordsman, somehow getting loose of the chains, I don't quite know how, and is just cursing his tortured self, and even worse, he sees some monstrous, fetus-like creature approaching him.
You two know each other?
Despite showing absolutely no fear of a succubus demon being right in front of his face, armed men that outnumbered him, or the prospect of being turned into a sacrifice to some monster, this odd-little creature is enough to freak him out, screaming at it to get away from him, scaring Puck who lands in suspicious yellow water. Despite his shit attitude, Puck helps him out by healing his wounds, telling him that elves always repay their debts and asks for his name.
See, as well as flying, elves have the ability to heal and sense emotions, even making people happy.
At least, that's what Puck's old troupe leader said before he got his head chopped off.
After much bad attitude, he finally relents and says Guts, that's his name, before Puck notices an odd symbol on his neck and asks what it is.
Before the elf knows it, he gets thrown off of Guts, told its actually called The Brand, and its making Guts bleed out any non-edgelord tendencies out of him as he gets back to his old self and calls Puck an annoying bug. Soon enough, he tells Puck, the people from the castle are gonna wanna kill him, and they aren't gonna be merciful, they're gonna cut down everyone with impunity, with no care, just to get to Guts, and he doesn't care, somehow still shocking Puck as Guts lets out a cacophony of dark emotions, as he tells him the weak deserve to die because they can't survive on their own strength.
Having had enough, Puck headbutts? chinbutts? Guts and flies out the window.
"What was that all about" Guts wonders.
As he sits down and wonders why being an edgy asshole drove Puck away, he notices the keys to the cell laying on the ground, before he feels a pain on his neck and gets a murder boner as we cut to Puck, staring in horror at the burning town.
The men of Koka Castle have arrived, and they're bringing a fiery apocalypse, and the sound of snapped bone crushed under the hooves of their horses.
While Puck looks down in abject horror, their savior(?) is closeby. Hiding under a pile of corpses, Guts emerges and ambushes the soldiers, killing a whole lot of 'em as Puck stares in amazement.
Just then, one of the soldiers start shaking in fear, and another one as well, as an armored figure, the monstrous lord of Koka Castle in full snake armor regalia, moves forward and confronts Guts.
"So," he says, as Guts prepares his repeating crossbow, "You're the "Black Swordsman" who's been hunting us Apostles"
"I don't know what you hope to accomplish, but to think that a mere mortal can oppose us" he continues, while Guts drops his sword and continues to load up on ammunition while the newly named Apostle gets closer and closer, "IS PURE FOLLY!!!"
THWACK, THWACK, THWACK, THWACK, THWACK
He gets riddled with arrows, but like a champ, gets back up.
Guts just shoots him again and goes to inspect his kill.
Well, that was anti-climatic, but that's the price for monolog-
SLAM!!!
Suddenly, a tail comes out of the rubble and knocks the wind, and feet, off of Guts.
"It futile, no matter how many bolts you shoot at me" a demonic, and familiar voice rings out.
"A MERE HUMAN LIKE YOU CAN'T KILL ME!!"
It's transformed into something even more monstrous, and it is angry, and hungry.
"I'M GONNA EAT YOU, BOY" the now snake monster says as he comes barreling down towards Guts, and Puck is in full comical freak out mode, begging Guts to look up and get back up as the apostle whips Guts around with his tail.
Now having the advantage, he praises Guts' surprising durability, saying that most humans would've been dead by now, before testing his durability again, not by tail whipping, but tail slamming as he throws Guts to the ground, probably cracking a majority of his ribs.
Now sure this pesky little human is dead, he monologues about how humans are nothing but pre-
Guts is, somehow, after getting the shit beaten out of him, still alive, and has a few more tricks, not just under his sleeve, but in his arm as it apparently proxies as a cannon.
As the snake apostle screams in pain, Guts, conveniently next to the sword he dropped a few panels ago, dashes towards it, and with one last desperate heave, cuts the apostle in half, his guts flying around Guts.
Puck, not having the sense to flee, is disgusted by. . .well, probably everything, but Guts isn't done.
Stepping forward, and telling the snake monster that, while humans are really fragile, even while near death, they still want to live.
"Do you?" he asks with a big, creepy smile, before he begins to torture the monster as it begs for mercy and Puck, traumatized and for some reason, still there, shivers in fear.
The monster continues to beg, before he notices something. The Brand,
"You are-" He says, before Guts cuts in with a question of his own.
As the monster continues to squirm in agony, he tells Guts that he doesn't know where the Godhand are, Guts just leaves in disappointment, before offering some last words himself
"Take your time and savor it, as your body is slowly burned to ashes"
Guts leaves, the apostle screams, and Puck starts to cry in fear.
Thanks, Guts?
End, Chapter 1.
Okay, first off, thoughts, observations, and spoilers since I'll be talking about future plot points.
The first few chapters of Berserk are weird, quite normal for a series that's just starting off, and especially normal for a young writer, like Kentaro Miura who was just 23-24 when he wrote this. Berserk's known for its complex, sprawling plot, balancing different character POVs with intricate designs and personalities.
The first few parts of Berserk are much simpler, in comparison. If we took them in isolation, they would seem like one-shot stories, or are indicative of an episodic series, in the vein of Fist of the North Star, which, admittedly, Berserk was massively influenced by. Miura, admitted in an interview that he was sort of working backwards when writing the story. He wrote the story with the only clear thing about what he had in mind was it being about anger. Guts is angry, very much so, throughout the entirety of the story. Why is that? What made him angry?
Even as Miura was trying to figure out what exactly he wanted Berserk to look like, he was already planting the seeds for much of what Berserk would become, though he was unsure of what it would look like when it became fully grown. In this chapter, we meet two central characters, Guts, the inspiration for every edgy swordsman since the 90s, and Puck, the resident comic relief of the series, bringing a touch of humor and lightness to an extremely bleak story. We're made aware of the monsters known as Apostles, which take the form of humans, extremely cruel and inhuman ones, who, after a prolonged fight, transform into something much more monstrous. And we're given a hint of the Godhand, who would later become a central antagonistic force of the series, even as their appearances are limited and their influence is mainly felt through their subordinates.
Alright, with that out of the way, what are my thoughts on this chapter, and on early Berserk as a whole?
Well, my opinion tends to divert a bit to usual ones when it comes to Berserk, but I think I share the same thought when I say that Guts at this moment is completely unlikable. Only by comparison to everyone around him is he even a hero at all, and that's mainly because his anger is targeted at some yet uknown thing, but still uncaring of whoever happens to get in his crosshairs. The bad guys, by comparison, are wholly destructive, or are so cowardly they cause destruction for others to save themselves. It's really, at this moment, a matter of least bad, and Guts isn't doing himself any favors.
Perhaps it was intentional? I might be reaching here, but it can be argued that Guts, even if he's not actively malicious, is just as much of a monster as the Apostles, as much of a bringer of chaos and destruction as the ones he fights. Guts, by his mere presence, brought a scourge on the town he was staying at, the men of Koka castle cutting through the town so they can get to him. We can argue that it would've happened sooner or later, but that doesn't really deflect the fact that Guts just accelerated the town's doomsday.
Even as he's fighting the Apostle, Guts isn't exactly framed in a positive light either. There's no sense of triumph, no heroics or any of that, just trickery, desperation, malice, and sadism. Guts is, at this moment, quite the monster himself.
Well, that's all I have to say for now. Sorry if the review looks really rough and amateur, never done this before, hopefully I'll improve in the future.
We're in chapter 2 of the Black Swordsman Arc, and our opening visage is an interesting one.
Like something out of a horror movie, the entire page is pitch black, horrific creatures surround Guts in countless directions, emitting an unholy sound, taunting him, before they strike. And we cut to. . .
A bird?
And Puck?
It's Puck, taking a lift on a bird (Doesn't he have wings?) in search of Guts. He thanks the bird as he gets off, rests on a thin branch, and as he decides continues his search on foot? wings? the branch breaks, Puck face plants into the dirt, and whaddayaknow?
Found him.
It's Guts! Just as hurt and just as edgy as we last saw him before Puck flies around him, bombarding him with questions.
Did the wolves get you? Why you always so banged up? Want me to heal you up, buddy?
Guts gets annoyed, grabs Puck, and asks him why he's following him. "Because I'm bored, and you make interesting things happen, so I aughta see a lotta interesting stuff if I'm with you" Puck basically says, and Guts is having none of it. He drops him, reiterates his old schtick of hating weaklings, and storms off.
"YOU BASTARD!!!" Puck screams, as Guts goes off into the distance.
In said distance, it's raining, Guts is on foot, and a kindly old priest offers him a ride. Guts tries to say no, but the old man is insistent, "Better than catching a cold, eh?" he says, "It's for your own good, I attract evil spirits" Guts counters, but the old man just laughs and reveals he's got a lucky spirit to ward those things off.
It's Puck, pulling a face, and he's got a little girl next to him.
"Eh, fuck it, why not" Guts thinks, "Not like I care what'll happen to these people'
Doom is closeby.
Inside the carriage, it's awkward for everyone. Puck yells at Guts he was there first, so no complaining from him! Guts just throws his towel at the tiny little elf, before the little girl offers them some wine. Guts drinks it in silence, while Puck salivates and begs. Guts shuts him up by squishing him with the wine skin and the girl inquires about Guts' wounds.
He says he got them fighting evil spirits, and the old man interrupts the conversation to ask Guts to stop scaring his daughter.
"By the way" he asks "Is that some sort of sword?"
Guts snarks at the obvious question, saying that, nope, he's obviously using it for cooking, before Puck snarks back, with a bit of liquid courage coursing through his veins, asks why Guts just doesn't earn an honest living and open up a roadside grill.
Yeah, Guts, stop being such a bum!
Guts, in a brief moment of humor, kicks the barrel Puck is on, and makes him do his second faceplant of the chapter.
The priest, again asking an obvious question, asks if he's some sort of mercenary, Guts answers in the affirmative, before the priest gives a scoff.
Mercenaries, the priest thinks, aren't a respectable lot, live by the sword, die by the sword. His nephew, went off on his own once, left to go find glory and honor, but no glory and no honor was found, and he died a nameless soldier, in a nameless battlefied.
Maybe if he stayed, the old man muses, he could've had a family, and still be alive, the damned idiot.
Guts thinks differently. What's so wrong, he says, about being a mercenary? About following your dreams?
That hit a nerve, Guts?
Of course, nice moments are few and far in between with this guy, and he tries to backslide into his lonely edgelord mode by telling everyone there's no afterlife for him, no eternal reward after death, that's it, nothing else happens afterwards.
Puck is suspicious, but lets it go. Guts wants to go to sleep, the little girl, who might've gained a crush on Guts, gives him a blanket, and he dozes off to a nightmare.
He's running, in a narrow corridor, and it seems to be closing in on him. He keeps on moving, but steps on some pikes. He's naked, he seems something in the distance, he wants to fight, but his prosthetic, its gone, and the monster, looking like the demon in his old dream, is getting ever so closer.
"YOU CAN'T RUN!!!" It screams, scaring Guts out of his slumber, before he meets something just as bad.
He kills it, waking everyone else up, and they're shaken. Guts identifies it as an incubus, something that feeds of fear and gives you nightmares. Realizing that Guts wasn't just trying to scare them, he really is haunted by demons, all chasing after him because of the brand on his neck. He gets out of the carriage, and things have gotten bad to worse.
The incubi are things that are born off the fluids of those who died filled with hatred and malice, and their little carriage just wandered into a forest filled with corpses.
The horses get spooked, the little girl, revealed to be named Collette, tries to calm them down, but, out of nowhere, gets impaled.
Doom arrives
Not just a corpse filled forest, looks like they wandered into an old battlefield. Puck tries to get Guts to flee, but he's not having any of it. Danger and death is a part of being a mercenary after all as he cuts through hordes of the undead.
Puck, scared out of his wits, hears the old priest scream and goes to see something has gone horribly wrong.
Guts, busy fighting himself, hears Puck scream, and before he can tell him to shut up, something shocks even him.
Its Collette, she's been possessed and killed her father. Everyone, even the corpses, are waiting to see what she does, and as she approaches Guts, the memory of an innocent girl prevents him from doing anything.
That is, until, she stabs him, snapping him out of his shock, before he goes Berserk, cutting the possessed little girl in half, and going on a rampage, killing everything in sight, even as he vomits out his own blood.
It's sunrise, and Puck is scared, trembling on top of a tree as he looks at Guts, exhausted and surrounded by the dead yet again. He goes to Guts and tries to offer his own words of comfort, telling him its not his fault. There was nothing he could've done.
Guts, trying his best to try and keep his tough guy act up, just laughs it off, telling Puck that he knows that. It was their fault, anyone who can't keep up deserve to die, if they can't survive him, then what right do they have to live?
While Guts tries to keep on moving forward, ignoring the pain inside him, the whole forest speaks, and taunts Guts.
Guts, not being able to handle the weight of the day, loses it, firing his arm-cannon wildly into the sky before leaving to go whoever knows where.
That enough excitement, Puck?
Guess not.
End. Chapter 2: The Brand
This chapter seems like a horror story. While the previous one followed a kind of Fist of the North Star type of story, wandering man fighting those worse than him, here we delve deep into the supernatural. Instead of bandits or odd monsters, we're faced with demons that seemed to have crawled straight out of hell itself.
The Brand, it seems, is something that attracts those demons. We had a hint of what it was in the last chapter, but here we get a bigger explanation.
Besides expanding on the horror aspect, something that Berserk will make itself known by in the future, this is one of the early hints we get on Guts' past. While the previous chapter gave us his motivations, this is where we get a general idea on who Guts is as a person aside from his extreme anger. From what we can parcel of his little interruptions, Guts used to be happy, he used to be able to do what he wanted, but something happened. His interruption isn't just defending the priest's nephew, it seems like he's defending himself, in a way, about his own life choices, why he's still fighting and killing and not settled down somewhere.
This chapter offers us a glimpse at something besides the merciless Black Swordsman, and lets us see Guts, the person. Despite his attempts at hiding it, he's clearly bothered by what's happened to him. The nightmares he suffers aren't just making him angry, it makes him scared. Scared of what, exactly? If the incubus feeds on fear, then what does Guts fear?
Failure? Death? Perhaps, something else?
The Black Swordsman Arc: The Guardians of Desire (1) (2)
We open at the execution of an unnamed young woman. The atmosphere is thick and oppressive, hammered home by the dark shading of the panels; a crowd forms around the execution grounds, curious and terrified in equal measure.
A herald reads her verdict. For the price of alleged deals with demonkind, the inquisition finds her guilty and sentences her to immediate death. She begs and pleads for her innocence, that it's all lies, but her pleas fall on deaf ears as we cut to the herald speaking to a large man, hideous, obese, and misshapen in splendid clothing. His lord, the Slug Count.
As the herald informs him of the successful execution, he timidly questions the increased frequency of them, this being the fifth one that month. Does his lord not fear invoking the attention of His Holiness?
The Slug Count assures him that it's for the good of his subjects, which does nothing but further frighten the herald.
Back at the execution grounds, commotion erupts. The brother of the accused heretic, throws himself at the guards to retrieve his sister's body, but is thrown back and, with everyone too scared to do anything, about to be arrested for sympathizing with a convicted heretic until something happens.
Guts, who's been watching the whole thing, picks up the head of the executed, and after quite literally spitting in the face of authority, throws down the gauntlet.
Or head, both work.
On said head, Guts draws the symbol of The Brand, alerting the Slug Count. Making sure that there would be no misunderstandings on what he meant, he takes the blood oozing from his neck, courtesy of the brand on his neck, and points it at the probable Apostle, issuing a challenge.
"I'm the Black Swordsman, you freak, come get me."
As commotion erupts, and orders are made to arrest The Black Swordsman, the Slug Count just chuckles to himself as he squishes the decapitated head, and accepts Guts' declaration of war.
Challenge accepted, Black Swordsman.
We cut to a small, suspicious man obscured by the shadow of his hood and robe, as he watches armored men march down the street to arrest the Black Swordsman, before he runs off.
Back to Guts, we see he's also on the run, cutting through unfamiliar corridors, before he's cornered by an armored contingency. Under arrest, cornered, and with nowhere left to go, with a pair of swords around his neck like the blades of a scissor, Guts makes his decision.
In one fell swoop, and one pretty gory panel, he takes his sword, and slices the men open.
As the shock wears off, and Guts is finished posing, his enemies charge, and Guts, with incredible ease, goes all those who surround him, cutting through their armor like it was paper, and bathing the alleyway in blood and gore as fear grips the heart of those still alive.
The crossbowmen, at a safe distance from Guts' sword, take aim, but unexpected help comes Guts' way. A whizzing light flies through the sky, stopping in front of the crossbowmen men, before momentarily intensifying its brightness, blinding them, and alerts Guts, who immediately destroys the scaffolding holding them at an elevated position.
It's Puck, and he says Guts owes him one for saving his life yet again.
Guts is surprised that Puck is still following him, and it's a valid thing to question, him being an asshole notwithstanding.
Puck said he's following Guts around because he makes interesting things happen, but when those interesting things happen, Puck isn't exactly left with his mouth agape, his fists pumped, his heart pumping blood at the excitement of it all.
No, he's been left utterly terrified, staring in utter horror at the carnage that follows Guts everywhere he goes.
So why does he bother?
Questions for later as Puck is grabbed in the middle of his bragging, Guts chops off the offending soldier's hand in turn, says they're even, and comes face to face with Captain, err, Lord Zandark.
He. is. BIG., towering over Guts, who's apparently 204 meters, and from the angle we get, only reaches Zandark's upper chest. The big man, in turn, asks Guts how well he thinks he can swing that sword of his, in comparison to how well he can swing his warhammer.
It's not much of a contest, as he swings it less like a trained soldier and more like an enraged brute, never really touching Guts in any meaningful way, and somehow impaling his fellow soldiers as he tries swinging his way to victory.
Guess they weren't just afraid of his presence, eh?
Zandark manages to corner Guts, and tells him, with no self-awareness of how he's been fighting, that a weapon's just baggage if you don't know how to use it properly. Guts, utterly unimpressed with this braggadocious wannabe, gets ready to end the fight.
Using his sword's superior length and durability, he swings his weapon at the same time as Zandark to intercept it, and to the latter's shock, as well as everyone watching, the warhammer breaks. As it breaks, Zandark's helmet conveniently comes flying off as the shards of the weapon hits his face like medieval shrapnel, blinding him before Guts smugly agrees with his prior thoughts on how to handle weapons, and stomps on his face, digging the shards deeper, and further disfiguring him.
The soldiers, who were all standing and watching the two 1v1 each other, not realizing they outnumber Guts, realize their advantage. There's only 1 of Guts, and a never ending stream of them, and Guts is literally backed into a corner, so why don't they try and just kill him?
Couldn't you guys have figured that out a few minutes ago?
Guts, realizing the soldiers have gained a brain, and he's outnumbered, gets nervous, before another unexpected savior comes his way.
It's the same robed figure from the panels before the fight, and he throws a smoke bomb, and tells Guts to come with him before it's too late as Zandark, holding his broken face, tells the soldiers to kill Guts immediately.
Huh, does Guts go through another escape route? The one he's told to go to is pretty small, and I don't think Guts can go through it without getting stuck, or looking real silly.
Back with our heroes, they wander through the town at night, going through the streets as the townsmen look in suspicion of them through their windows, and the hooded figure explains their suspicion and fear is only natural.
The town's been whipped into submission, the inquisition's been hard at work, and anyone and everyone could be a heretic. People don't want to be accused of heresy, like that poor woman at the beginning, or be accused of association with heretics, like that poor woman's brother.
They continue to cut through the streets, before entering a slope downwards, where the hooded figures bring them to his study room, and it is. . .something.
While Puck freaks out at the horrible, weird shit, Guts is just accustomed to all of it, and tells their man he's gonna have a hard time explaining this if he's ever accused of heresy.
He just waves it off by saying that he's nothing more than a physician, before telling Guts he saw him at the execution, and asks him something important.
You wanna get revenge against The Count?
Guts, realizing he needs to be an asshole to at least somebody, kicks the man's cane, who predictably collapses on himself. Puck questions why he's such an asshole, before asking the man if he's okay, and we get a glimpse of his face.
Disfigured, with peglegs, he tells Guts he wants revenge, to cut that bastard demon into little pieces! And he is not using demon as a figure of speech, and Guts knows this.
Satisfied that he's got someone who truly believes him, he opens up a secret passageway in his secret passageway, saying he's got something to show Guts.
Guardians of Desire: Chapter 1- end
Guardians of Desire: Chapter 2- start
The good physician is surprised that Guts knows what it is, before he gets seized and demands to know where he got the damned thing.
He explains that it's not his, he stole it from the castle, it's actually, no surprise, The Count's. Guts demands answers, and he obliges.
His name is Vargas, and he used to be the castle's physician. All those years ago, The Count, while still cruel, was still a human. But, when he came into possession of the behelit, he changed. His cruelness became exponentially worse, gathering up bodies to play as if they were toys, his inquisitions became nothing more than just an excuse to acquire more corpses to play with.
Vargas couldn't handle it, and he tried to flee from The Count with his family, but was intercepted and thrown in prison. As punishment, Vargas was mutilated, his legs chopped off, and he was forced to watch as his family was eaten by the Count.
Vargas was helpless, and his great shame wasn't that he couldn't do anything, but that the only thing he felt wasn't sadness, or rage, but blind fear of death. By good chance, he managed to slip a vial that allowed him to fake his death, and managed to escape, taking the behelit with him.
Ever since then, he's tried his damndest to uncover what the fuck the behelit actually is, researching every religion, every cult he can find, but always came out empty.
Yet, Guts knows what it is, it's a key, a key that cuts through space and time to summon supernatural forces. A force that has manipulated mankind since its inception.
Elsewhere, Zandark rages at the castle, wishing nothing more than to find The Black Swordsman, and cut him in two, even as castle physicians attempt to heal him, he rages.
Hearing all this noise, The Count appears, and his interest is piqued as soon as he hears of Zandark's wish to kill The Black Swordsman. He orders everyone to vacate, everyone except Zandark.
As he rages, and everyone vacates the premises, The Slug Count subdues him, before, like the devil in a man's ears, telling him that, if he truly does hate The Black Swordsman, then his proposal should interest him.
Zandark, blinded by rage, would do anything for his revenge, and The Count gladly fulfills his wish.
Outside, the men of the castle are told, and I was apparently wrong about the decrepit old man being a herald, he's actually a lord, that an informant has found The Black Swordsman. As they prepare their troops, The Count, done giving Zandark an upgrade, tells him it's not necessary, and they only need one man to get the job done.
Zandark appears, with a bandaged face, and a crazed look in his eyes, as he prepares to wreak his vengeance on the Black Swordsman.
Back with our three outlaws, they continue to observe the behelit. Well, Puck continues to observe the behelit, playing with it, slapping it, before he gets the life scared out of him by the eyes of the stone actually opening.
It's alive, Guts informs him, to Puck's chagrin at not being told beforehand, and he has no idea how the hell it actually works. Out of curiousity, Guts asks Vargas where exactly The Count found it, and he's told that he got it purely by chance, buying it from some merchants, who only say they acquired it from the east.
As Guts muses on this, Vargas unveils his plan for revenge, he knows of a secret passageway only a few know, and he begs Guts to kill The Count, to wreak vengeance on the man who took everything from him.
Guts is nonplussed, and doesn't care one bit about Vargas, mocking his weakness, saying he'll kill The Count, but it won't be for someone as pathetic as Vargas. Puck, somehow still surprised at Guts being an asshole, asks why he's like that, before Vargas tells him it's all okay. As long as The Count is dead, he doesn't give two shits about what people say about him.
But, they're interrupted by something.
It's Zandark, and he's bigger, and stronger than before, worse yet, Guts feels a pain on his neck, it's The Brand, and he has an idea on what happened. As Zandark charges at Guts yet again, as swift as lightning, the latter disarms the former, lobbing of the arm holding the warhammer, before a strange, slimy substance appears in its place.
It's The Slug Count's gift, a piece of himself that would substitute any of Zandark's limbs, and as Vargas and Puck quiver, Guts licks his lips and gets ready for a fight.
Anyway, the fight begins, and Guts is backed into the corner when he realizes that, with the additional length of Zandark's newly given arm, something that reaches every part of the small room they're in, it's just as lethal in sheer brute strength, pushing him to his limits.
As the two fight, collateral damage is imminent, and Puck, who's been hiding to avoid getting in between the two, almost gets crushed by the debris, but in an act of selflessness, Vargas shields him.
He asks Puck if he's okay, and they smile at each other, glad to have finally gotten some kindness in their cruel world. This sweet moment is put on hold for later as they resume to watch the fight, and are amazed at what they see.
Zandark, with his new arm, moves his weapon almost as if its a whip, yet it still hits just as hard, any normal person would've been annihilated, but to their astonishment, Guts still stands and is blocking everything Zandark throws at him. He's not just some madman swinging his weapon, Guts is a true swordsman, and he demonstrates this by bracing himself, spinning his body, rotating around Zandark with his sword, and cutting off his other arm, before finishing with a slice to his head.
Yet, the battle isn't over.
The Slug Count, having not just offered Zandark strength, but also a literal piece of himself, manifests through the chunk of his head that was cut off by Guts, and offers him his congratulations, before he turns to Vargas. After all this time, even with all the hatred and rage that's been boiling in his heart, Vargas still fears The Slug Count as the latter promises him, when he's done with Guts, he'll come for him next.
The Slug Count again gives Guts praise, and before they can resume their fight, the building collapses around them, and Vargas quickly directs them through the sewers as a method of escape. As they compose themselves, Guts explains that Zandark isn't actually alive, he's The Slug Count's daemon, a flesh puppet controlled by The Count himself, only fueled by Zandark's continuous desire to kill Guts.
Guts decides its time for them to part ways, but wants a down payment.
The behelit.
He doesn't wait for him to give it, and just snatches it from Vargas. Puck, while incensed by Guts' latest asshole antics, finds the time to wish Vargas well, telling him that, while he used to find him creepy, he's a good man underneath it all, and offers some elven advice.
As Vargas smiles at Puck, trying to digest his advice, he's suddenly grabbed by a tentacle, and to his horror, his worst nightmare has come true.
The Count has finally caught him.
Back over with Puck, he confronts Guts for his attitude, and just snatching the behelit. Why is he treating his own allies that way? Puck questions him, before Guts laughs at the idea of that sniveling little worm being his ally. He doesn't need friends, they'll only drag him down. He doesn't need a weakling like Vargas, and he doesn't need a bug like Puck as well.
As Puck stews at Guts' horrid attitude, they overhear a conversation between townsmen. Apparently, one of the accomplices of the person who caused all that commotion is being executed as a show of strength.
Retreating to an old, torn down building on the outskirts of the town, Guts prepares himself for something. Puck tries to get his attention, but fails. Deciding he's a lost cause, Puck goes off on his own, and Guts contemplates Vargas' words.
At the execution grounds, it's just as Puck feared, Vargas has indeed been captured. The Slug Count greets his old friend with a smile, while Vargas can only glare at him. Yet, its not a total triumph for the former as he hoped to draw out The Black Swordsman, yet he is nowhere to be found.
Puck is freaking out, humorously, also next to an elf shaped wind vane, before he spots Guts. Overjoyed at Guts apparently growing a heart, he rushes him with a hug, before he's disappointed at Guts' reasoning. He's not here to save anyone, he's here for the same reason the crowd is there.
He wants to watch the man die.
Besides, even if he could, the whole place is fully manned, anyone trying to mount a rescue would be surrounded, and ambushed by the soldiers hiding in plain sight.
And if Puck is so worried for the man, then why doesn't he save him himself? Puck, ashamed of his own weakness, just admits he doesn't have the strength to really do anything, so Guts just tells him to shut up and watch.
As Puck resigns himself, he gets overwhelmed by Guts' emotions as the latter admonishes Vargas, he overreached, his overambition only rewarding him with self-destruction. Puck wonders if all the dark, destructive emotions pouring through Guts is the source of his strength.
Puck, finally managing to compose himself, asks Guts if he's afraid. Is he afraid that everything he's doing is all hopeless? If all the negative emotions pouring through him is all there is? That, if he was really so hateful of everything, why'd he even bother to show up?
Guts is getting tired of Puck and grabs him, telling him to shut up, but-
Puck, taking advantage of the situation, sinks his teeth into Guts' teeth, and goes off to save Vargas himself, calling Guts a selfish, cowardly bastard, all the while Guts starts feeling something he thought he got rid of - compassion.
As Puck surveys the execution grounds, he is again overwhelmed by the swelling of emotions in the courtyard, but, as he looks around, he is incensed by Guts' smug look.
"Ha, look at you, too much of a coward to do anything." His face screams to Puck.
To prove him wrong, Puck charges right in, intent on saving his friend himself!
And completely fails, only bonking his head on the executioner's axe, knocking himself out, and getting captured.
Now free from any distractions, the execution continues, but not before a last parting of words. Overcoming the fear that has gripped him since he escaped The Count, Vargas musters up all the strength he has and tells Vargas his only regret.
That he won't get to drag The Count to hell himself, alongside everyone that he's killed.
Vargas' last wish.
Guts, feeling overwhelmed, and sensing a growing pain on his neck, goes to leave through the alleyway, but sees, to his horror, the fetus demon he's been encountering in his dreams. Except, this is different, the fetus-like demon now sports the face of Vargas, as he again hears his call for vengeance.
Sometime later at night, as townsmen go off to dump the bodies of the executed, Guts intervenes, and decides to have some final words with Vargas.
As he speaks to the man who cried out for vengeance, suddenly, the whole environment, filled with the souls of the executed, come forth. They thirst for revenge, and in Guts, they sense a kindred spirit. They surround him, intending to add another to their host, but Guts resists, and fights back.
Declaring to all the spirits that surround him that he's not like them. He's not a monster, not a dead spirit filled with regrets or longing for vengeance, he's a man, of flesh and blood, and this is his fight.
Man, this was a long one. I had initially planned to separate the two chapters, but I thought that my previous reviews seemed much too short, so I mixed in the two, and went to the limits of how much I could write in one chapter, and how many pictures I'm allowed to post.
These chapter begins the long-winding plot of Berserk. The previous ones I reviewed were, as mentioned before, mainly stand-alone stories, episodic incidents meant to fill the viewer in on the characters and establish the setting. While it initially seems like another episode of Guts' misadventures, wandering into another nameless little town, stirring shit up, getting his ass kicked, getting angry, killing demons, etc, we are instead taken for a ride, and are set up for a collision course with Guts' past.
Of course, its not just the larger mythos of the setting we're given, but the themes of Berserk are introducing themselves. In the previous chapters, we didn't really have much in the way of motivation for characters, they were all just sort of wandering around, letting the wind blow them to their next destination. Here, we are given Vargas, a man fueled by vengeance, and vengeance, this anger that drives a man forward, will be something that will be very important.
I think that's all I got for now. See you all later, bye.
We open this chapter with a wide view of the Slug Count's castle, an imposing structure that dwarfs the structures surrounding, and while nobody is looking, through a secret entrance composed of rickety wooden stairs spiraling to the high heavens, Guts sneaks his way through, hoping to get the drop on the Slug Count.
Over with said slug man, Puck's pathetic rescue attempt has, as expected, led to him getting captured and put in a cage, the little elf in tears because he couldn't do a damn thing to save his friend, and he's being marched off to his horrible fate, imagining he'd become Puck cake, as. . .
A present to the Slug Count's daughter?
This guy had a child?!
Shocking revelation aside, Theresia thanks him for the present, and while the Slug Count tries to provide reasons for her loneliness, the world is too scary and impure, nothing good for a pure soul like her, pretty basic bitch reasoning for keeping a child sheltered, and she doesn't like it one bit. He tries to give her some physical affection, but she's just too scared of him to let that happen. And this seems to be a long time thing for all of them.
Gritting his teeth, he goes to leave, but at the last second, his child has something to say, but she just says to forget it. Outside her room, he broods over his horrid relationship with his own child, but this brooding is interrupted as he senses something.
Careful, Guts, he knows you're there.
As Guts climbs to his goal, he's interrupted by an old foe.
It's Zandark, err, the Slug Count possessing Zandark, or just the Slug Count itself. I don't know, that whole thing is confusing.
Anyway, Guts just shoots it with his prosthetic repeating crossbow, when that proves ineffective, he resorts to good old fashioned bisection, and it works! Zanard's top half falls below the cascading staircase, and Guts goes off to face the Slug Count.
Or not.
Not noticing the tentacles of the monster approaching him, he's struck down by the enemy as it strikes him unaware on the head, and he's down. While he's down, the even more monstrous thing tells him, very stupidly, why would he say it, that he can only die if you chop off his head.
Seriously, why would you tell him your only weakness?
Guts jumps to his feet, takes his oversized sword, and chops off what he can assume is its head, and makes just the most horrid pun.
Ugh.
As punishment for the pun, the disembodied head comes to life and wraps itself around Guts' sword. Guts immediately takes his sword, and slams it on the wall, squishing the demon, before it issues a warning that he's waiting for Guts.
Guts once again accepts the challenge, but has lost a lot of blood and can only limp his way up. Yet, he keeps on going, determined to see things through, and with a demented little smile, promises to skewer The Slug Count's head on his blade of steel.
Ok, calm down you edgelord.
Back over at the castle proper, Puck is unsure of what to make of the disarmingly nice room and disarmingly young little girl, warning her that there's not much flavor in elves, and that they're high in calories, so they'll only make her fat. But, she assures him she doesn't mean any harm, noting that they've both been caged, one in a more metaphorical sense, the other in a far more literal one.
She understands why he's wary, she is the daughter of a monster, a different person than the one she once knew, but he wasn't always this way, she tells Puck.
See, he was once a great leader of man, harsh, but only as harsh as necessary, and was a kind husband to his wife, and soon to be, a kind father. Yet, when Theresia was a child, her mother was kidnapped by pagans, and threatened to kill her if he continued to persecute them and disallow their religion. Naturally, as the good god-fearing man he is, said no.
She got sacrificed, the Count lost it, and his heart turned to stone as he persecuted supposed heretics even more than he once did, almost taking a perverse pleasure in doing so.
Little lady, you have no idea how right you are on that one.
To take note of all this, this is a pretty clear case of an unreliable narrator. Remember, Theresia has no personal recollection of the events she's telling Puck, she only knows this through supposed second-hand sources. All of this is through rose-tinted glasses, the people telling her this reminisced about the time before, painting it as far better than it truly was, even as a close eye witness as Vargas noted that The Count was still cruel, yet not inhumanely so.
Back over on the other end of the castle, a couple of guards are passing the time, joking about maybe taking a break, but with a certain edge and fear in their tones, before they notice a dark figure approaching them.
It's Guts, bandaged wrapped around his right eye from where The Count struck him, and immediately strikes them both down with his repeating crossbow and moving on upstairs where he's confronted by a very large armed contingency. Leading them is Dahl, the fearful old man who announced the woman's execution a few chapters ago, he asks Guts to surrender, predictably, Guts does not do that and just tells him to get out of the way which leads to what we all expect.
Somehow, with men presumably trained with their weapon of choice, and surrounding the guy, all the shots and stabs either miss him or just hit his sword, and he just cuts his way through all of them without any trouble.
I know Miura meant for this to make Guts seem cool or awesome, but the sheer incompetence of these people just makes them seem worse than make Guts look better.
Another big, armored guy comes forth after Guts made mincemeat of the rest of the mooks., named Gerico. Predictably, the fight ends in Guts' favor as he just swings his sword onto his wooden shield and breaks it, swings it one more time, going through the big guy's armor and sends him smashing onto a column and his two halves to separate.
Wow, such a suspenseful fight, I wonder who's gonna win!
After mopping up the big guy, everyone's too scared to do anything, and Guts gets right in front of Dahl, and I am sorry, but Guts just looks so funny in this, he's looking like he's staring into the distance when he should be looking down because this guy only goes up to his fucking waist, and his panel with Dahl, where he's supposed to look imposing, makes it look like he's gonna eat him or something.
Back over with Theresia and Puck, the former is glad to finally have someone to talk to after seven years of isolation and only meeting decrepit old men, monstrous dads, and armored soldiers, while the latter is a-okay with being her shoulder to lean on.
Theresia finally asks for his name, before asking what it's like to fly. Puck doesn't really know how to answer, but it immediately becomes clear she's not interested in the flying per se, though being able to soar through the air is really cool, it's to do with the freedom of it all. Elves, from her point of view, are free, able to do as they wish, with a world as wide as the open horizon, open to soar through and see it all, unlike her, a little bird trapped and held captive in a gilded cage.
This nice moment between them is interrupted as they look down and see a whole lot of commotion below them as soldiers are being told of a burglar in the inner compound. Not needing anymore details, Puck realizes who this supposed burglar is and wants to go and help him. Theresia is more worried than Puck is, and screams about not wanting him to go before composing herself, and letting Puck leave, knowing herself how bad it is to be held somewhere against your will by someone who supposedly cares about your safety.
Puck, in another show of humanity, which is funny considering he really isn't a human, knocks on her window, and when he sees her tears, assures her that, after he's done helping Guts, he'll come back to get her outta her gilded cage.
She's relieved, yet anxious at the prospect, while Puck is processing all the information he's learned, and is theorizing that maybe, just maybe he knows why the Slug Count turned out the way he is.
Back over with the action, surprisingly, Guts didn't eat or chop the old man up into edgelord juice and drink him, he just presumably punched him really hard on the face, broke his nose, and tossed him around a bit for directions.
As Guts throws the old man into the corner and confronts The Slug Count, he notices a crack on the steps, and not getting jumped a second time, stabs the ground, and whaddayaknow, it's a piece of The Count! Looks like he's gonna have to take the fight seriously.
The Count's big dick energy on full display
Over with Puck, who's big show of bravery and concern over his not-friend did not exactly provide him with directions, and has been wandering around all night looking for where The Count and Guts are, which is kindly provided to him in short order as the wall behind him bursts open, he peeks inside and sees something he wishes he probably didn't.
It's The Count, and just like the snake apostle, this one has shown its true form, and it is a sight to behold.
As Dahl, who's nose seems to have miraculously healed, and Puck cower in fear of The Count's true form, Guts tries chopping off the limbs of The Count, apparently not remembering the last time he did that, and is once again informed that doing that only makes things worse.
The tremors of the fight, which seems to be just above Theresia's room? Why did Puck have such a hard time finding the place if it was just above him? Anyway, the tremors have reached Theresia's room, causing it to collapse. Now having literally no choice but to leave her room, she reaches for the door, but sees something that causes her to reconsider. Yet, steeling her nerve, and remembering Puck's bravery herself, she takes a deep breath and steps outside.
Back over with Guts, the fight has not gone in his favor as the gigantic size of The Count, with the small size of the room itself, has turned Guts' usual straightforward fight into a game of cat and mouse.
While The Count taunts The Black Swordsman for running, Guts finds Dahl, and gets an idea.
Back over with The Count, he sees the outline of Guts' poncho? Cape? And goes off to charge, with Puck warning him of the attack.
It's a fake! Guts, somehow managed to wrangle Dahl into staying behind a wall, with his clothing, and tricked The Count into attacking it, while Guts, who was actually at the corner, charges at the Count, this time aiming for the head, but only manages to make a shallow cut, and curses himself for not cutting deeper before getting slammed to the wall and Puck looks on in worry.
The Count, finally having cornered the troublesome Black Swordsman after chasing him for so long, congratulates his capabilities, yet says he is only a human, and he is beyond a human's strength.
Now having a chance to get a good look at Guts, he is shocked to find him bearing The Brand, and just being alive is a surprise to him. He asks him if revenge is what he seeks, revenge against the one who branded him. Yet, this whole business, barely being able to stand, hounded by demons every day in constant pain and fear, offers him his own brand of mercy, and offers to kill him.
For the first time we've seen him, Guts is afraid.
As he offers him a cold compliment of at least wounding him, The Count continues to beat Guts into the ground, yet Guts' will to fight lives on, as even with all he has gone through, he still grips his sword.
He's down, but not out.
End: Guardians of Desire (3)
We have arrived at the climax, or near climax of this arc! Guts finally faces off against The Slug Count, we are drip fed information on The Count, and are introduced to even more canon fodder!
Jokes aside, the best part of this story to me would be the interactions between Puck and Theresia, offering a picture of The Count, filtered through second-hand sources, nostalgia, and the eyes of a child as this monster is humanized through his child.
The battles with the soldiers, by comparison, seem rather tedious, and serve only to fill up the pages. While it is logical that the castle would contain security, the way Guts just slices through them and makes them seem second rate can be quite annoying and repetitive. This is around the 4-5th time Guts has been surrounded, and predictably, he's not gonna lose to them.
While the fight with The Count is nice and shows us that Guts can indeed feel fear, this will be the start of Berserk's repetitive fight process between Guts and Apostles whereupon he fights them, they transform, he gets his ass handed to him, he retreats and/or gets really angry then wins. It's more creative than I make it sound, but when I noticed that it tends to flow that way, it kind of annoyed me.
Anyway, despite my complaints, this was a nice chapter, and is a good leadup to what is to come afterwards. I meant to cover more chapters, but I wanna save up the surprise as we will soon meet some very important people very soon.
But for now, see ya, everyone.
The Black Swordsman Arc: The Guardians of Desire (4)
Last we left off, Guts was down, yet still alive, Puck was crying, and The Count was smug, and we pick up with Guts still down, yet still alive, Puck still crying, and The Count still smug.
Puck tries to wake up the unconscious Guts, hitting him with his tiny elf hands, telling him to get up, is this how he's gonna be after being such a high and mighty asshole, always putting other people down? And he just won't get up.
The Count, relishing his victory, tells the both of them, that it's all pointless. No matter how much one trains themselves, they are just nothing compared to him. Nothing but just a bunch of fragile humans.
And Puck has had enough. Standing up, and mustering his courage, he tells The Count he knows everything. Why he is the way he is, how Theresia told him about his wife, how he acquired his powers for his revenge against the heretics.
But that wasn't the only reason was it?
He became the monster he is because of the wound in his heart. Too great to bear, he threw away his humanity, to relieve himself of the pain he felt. He is, at the end of the day, just as much of a human as the people he mocks, just as fragile as any other.
Shocked at what the little elf has to say, he quickly hides it under a mask of amusement, telling Puck that, for such an act of bravery for one he considered inferior he'll let him go.
That is, until the behelit Guts was carrying falls onto Puck, and finding even more bravery, tells The Count there's no way in hell he'll give it to him and flies away.
Thinking that, with his small size and greater agility, there's no possibility he can be caught. That would have been the case until his small size also means he's quite physically fragile, and a piece of errant debris is enough to knock him down.
The Slug Count, having finally had enough of this little bug, prepares to kill him, until something gets in his way.
It's Theresia, calling for her friend, and as she sees the sight before her, she screams in terror. Once again, her father tries to reach out to her, and once again, she recoils in fear and hides.
The Count, to everyone's surprise, is horrified at her reaction, shedding tears that have not been shed in a very long time. Yet, this sorrow will soon turn to anger, as, turning to Puck with a murderous rage, The Count lunges at the one who exposed the horrid truth of the outside world to the only one he's loved. Puck, paralyzed by fear at this horrifying monstrosity, can only stand still as his death approaches.
Yet, yet this is not where he shall die.
Arrowheads suddenly fly through the air and pierce the head of The Count, and as a man stands up and once more grips his sword, one thing is made clear.
Guts will not give up.
Guts stands his ground, Puck, seeing that his companion is truly still alive, once again hits him, crying about his attitude. Guts, in a rare moment of empathy, lets Puck vent his emotions, before, as per usual, waving him off so he can fight. Puck warns him that he can't, he can barely even stand, and can only limp his way to his enemy, yet he can only offer up a smile as he moves forward.
The Count didn't do enough, a few broken bones? That doesn't matter, he'll have to do much better than that, he's just like him, only a crushed skull or a pierced heart shall kill him. The Count, enraged at this challenge, charges forth and once again, hurls Guts to the wall as Puck calls out in fear for his friend.
As The Slug Count once again charges at Guts, finally putting down this troublesome swordsman, Guts has a plan.
Without warning, Guts reaches out and grabs Theresia and holds her hostage. The Count, unable to harm the only person he still loves, hesitates, and as Theresia cries out in fear, Guts extends his prosthetic, and with The Count so close to him, fires his prosthetic cannon.
Staggering forward, he tries to move his hand, but its too mangled. So, letting go of his sword, he grips it with his teeth, and propping it up with his metal prosthetic, Guts lunges forth.
And cuts off The Count's head.
As the great body of the apostle falls, Guts falls alongside him, and the structure of the castle only further weakens, Puck can do nothing but watch. Watch as Theresia, who he promised to help leave her room, has only cause her further harm. Watch as Guts, who can only prop himself up with one leg and a pillar, stands up again with a demented grin, he can only realize that Guts had always planned to take Theresia hostage.
He can only watch as The Count, now reduced to nothing but a head, bleeding to death on a corner of the castle, can only curse The Black Swordsman as he approaches.
The Black Swordsman has brought a knife, and as he cuts The Count open, Theresia, who is only a few centimeters away, even in her utter terror and hatred of her father, cannot bear the sight, and cries out for it all to end.
Puck can only ask Guts to stop, to not do this in front of a child, but Guts is not having it.
Threatening to kill Puck if he gets in his way, he moves to The Count and grabs his head, telling him his daughter will see his real face. As The Count begs for him to stop, Guts can only tell him to take a good hard look. . .
At a body that doesn't die.
As he continues his assault, Theresia, who has only wanted to see what lurks beyond her little cage, can only cry in fear, her wish granted.
Guts, eventually, does not have the strength to keep on going, collapses once again.
And begins to laugh.
As he laughs, The Count can only cry, he doesn't want to die.
And the behelit cries with him.
As the behelit continues to cries out, the world starts to change.
The Count, with relief on his face, says that they have arrived.
Guts' brand brings him to his knees
As Guts collapses, and as the shadows continue to materialize, he can only look up and glare as one looks back down at him.
They're here.
The beings Guts has been searching for are here.
The masters of the apostles are here.
The gods who have manipulated history since humanity's existence are here.
Outside the castle, the summoning of these extra-dimensional beings does not limit itself, a great tornado envelops the roof of the castle, and all of the little town surrounding it knows, something extraordinary is occurring.
Something unnatural comes their way.
Back in the castle, these unnatural beings stand in a way that defies gravity, the very laws of reality bending before them, and all are too shocked to truly say anything.
Except for Guts.
Forcing his bloodied and broken body to look up, gritting his teeth, he stares at one, a very particular one, who stares back at him.
This being is an odd one. Seemingly the most human by appearance, and yet the least human looking, for at least the rest of the Godhand show themselves, yet this one is almost entirely covered in a strange armor, shaped into the muscles underneath the skin of all men, and oddly, a helmet in the shape of a hawk.
The Godhand who stands above him offers a glance, and a mocking smile. Guts, with rage permeating throughout his broken being, bellows out a name.
The hawk-like Godhand- Griffith - pays him no heed, and only observes that, even after all this time, he still squirms in his pathetic little existence?
Guts, shocked at his careless dismissal by this godly being, calls out to him, but he, and the other four of the Godhand, bring their attention to The Slug Count.
Another of these beings speak, telling The Count, with the wailing of the behelit, and an ordinance by the laws of fate, his attachment of life, and fear of death, has cleaved space open and brought them here.
This one, the being above them all in the strange dimension that accompanied them, a seemingly flayed man, his skin and skull removed, leaving the innards of his head exposed, and a collar, shaped like the scales of a reptile, that protrudes around his exposed organ , the entirety of his body covered in the same black material as the one called Griffith by The Black Swordsman is covered by.
The Count, in ecstasy and in relief, calls out to this being, Archangel Void, to grant his wish and avenge him, to take the life of this troublesome man.
Yet, these otherworldly beings will not entertain such a pathetic request.
Another of the Godhand speaks, this one a beautiful woman with hair that seems unnatural, and clothing that emphasized her figure, simply tells The Count that their summoning was nothing more than a desperate clinging to life.
They will not fulfill his wish.
Yet, they are here for a purpose, another Godhand, this one a small, impish figure floating upside down, carrying a chubby, human face, and eyes that look almost like glasses were sewn to his face, and clothing that brings to mind a protruding cocoon, says they are here to fulfill A wish, just not the one he seemingly desires.
He calls out to them, calling Guts out as the slayer of apostles, their servants. A hated enemy.
An enemy?
What is a few servants killed to them, Griffith questions. An inconsequentiality, a worthless little thing. He is a petty existence, unworthy of their attention.
Hearing this, Guts despite it all, despite his broken his broken hand, clenches his sword. Guts, despite his broken self, makes himself stand, and roars.
Griffith can only continue to look down, unmoved by this show of will, yet, all the others present, even The Godhand, are impressed by this mere mortal. A Godhand, the beautiful, succubus like creature, praises it, and another, the impish one floating through there strange dimension, notices his feelings.
Extreme hatred, not just at them, but at Griffith, or Femto, as his fellow Godhand calls him, who is, after all, the one who is responsible for branding him.
The final Godhand, another figure, a curious, round faced creature with veins protruding throughout what was once its jaw, its hands clasped together, question how long he will last.
Despite all the pain, Guts limps his way towards the one who marked him, and lets out his rage.
His petty existence?! His petty existence is why he stands there, because of him, he is where he is, because of him, who fights the dead and writhes in his own blood. And he dares, Guts roars, to act like he is some godly being?
Femto is unmoved.
To him, he is nothing, an inconsequential, squirming, sacrificial offering too stubborn to die.
Puck can only stand at the sidelines, wondering about their history, and Guts, as he moves forward to the target of his hatred, is stopped. His brand, always causing him a stinging pain when in the presence of a demon, nearly kills him when in the presence of the greatest demons of all.
Yet, even with The Brand reacting more than it ever has, Guts is not yet finished. Fighting through the pain, as he has ever since he was branded, he steadies his broken body, and strikes.
Femto does nothing more than glance, and Guts is sent hurling through the air.
Once more sent flying, Puck can only worry for his friend, and the other Godhand, are impressed by Guts' fighting spirit, even broken and bloody when fighting The Count, the boy still stands and fights! A worthy servant, if the laws of fate had ordained, but it does not.
Femto, looking at the broken body of the one he had cursed to this hellish existence, tells The Count it seems, though by complete accident, his wish has been granted.
But they are here for other matters. The Invocation of Doom must be performed, a sacrifice is once more needed!
The Count, not truly understanding, offers his hated enemy, but that is not enough.
To the Godhand, The Black Swordsman cannot be used, he is already marked, an enemy he feels nothing but hatred for. The Invocation of Doom requires a true sacrifice, not just of flesh and blood, but of heart and soul. To tear your heart asunder, by severing your ties to your own humanity, that is the only way to become an Apostle. Through this, a fissure will open whereupon the evils of demon kind shall flood your heart.
Puck can only realize the meaning, The Count continues to deny, and Femto points to the only possible source of sacrifice worthy enough.
Theresia.
His own daughter.
The Count's own flesh and blood. His very soul.
The last tie to his humanity.
The Count cannot even consider this. Anyone, he will gladly offer to the Godhand but his own child?
But that is why she is the only possible sacrifice! Your very heart and soul, the person you treasure, it is the only way.
He has already done it once, a Godhand says, he only needs do what he did last time.
Theresia hears this, so does Puck, and catching their look of surprise, the impish looking Godhand is delighted, and wishes to tell this little tale. The Count begs for him not to tell, but his master does not listen.
Cleaving open time and space, The Count's past is slowly revealed to all those present.
Himself, still human, and as the Godhand comments, more trim.
His family.
And his secret.
The Count begs for him to stop, but he does not, and begins his tale.
Once, seven years before, the land was overrun by pagans, and The Count, a man of faith and zeal, led many inquisitions to hunt down the pagans, leaving him often far from home and weary.
One day, after his campaign of zealotry ended, and he rushed back home to his beloved to soothe his soul, he saw something.
Something that will forever change his life.
The Count, in the present, continues to beg for him to cease, but it is too late, the door has been opened.
And all see his shame.
In The Count's absence, a pagan orgy began in his own homeland. An offering to a pagan god with the head of a goat, a mass of bodies wreathing in pleasure and ecstasy around their god as they gave themselves to him, and to hedonism itself.
In it, was someone The Count never wished to see present.
His own wife.
Theresia, her whole world coming crashing down upon her at this revelation, refuses to accept the truth of it all, and the story continues.
The Count, in a blind rage, betrayed by his love, and surrounded by the heresy he hated, massacred all those present. He killed all those committing this act of blasphemy, until only was left alive.
His beloved wofe
Raising his sword once more to strike her down, and she, naked and accepting her fate with open arms, welcomes his rage, but he cannot.
He cannot cut out the part of himself, and he knows it, and his wife knows it, as she smiles in triumph of this knowledge.
Seeing her smile, and unwilling to kill her, he turns his sword to himself, in the depths of his despair, he wishes to relieve himself of his pain, and die.
Yet, he has been ordained by the laws of fate, and he will not die today.
The behelit, present in the background, hears the whaling of his soul, and cries out in turn. A fissure is opened, the world changes, and The Godhand appear before him.
Only four?
And The Count does not care. Whether they be angels, gods, or even demons from hell, whatever they are, he does not care. He begs for them to relieve him of his pain, and they oblige, in exchange for one thing. For one thing, they will cut his heart asunder.
He must two simple words.
"I sacrifice"
The Count becomes a supernatural being that shall never know sorrow or despair again.
He spoke them, and offered his heart as sacrifice. To cast it asunder, to transcend his very humanity, he sacrificed the woman he loves, the life of the women he loved and hated the most, his other half, he gave it, so that he could bury his fragile human heart.
Berserk Chapter 372 Spoilers & RAW You are reading Berserk manga chapter 372 in English. Read Chapter 372 of Berserk manga online on readberserk.com for free.
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New chapter of the series just came out, just wanted to inform everyone.
Been taking another break because of university concerns, but I think I can squeeze in a new review in a few days.
Damn, how many years has it been, in real world terms, since the two have met? I followed Berserk shortly after the Artorias DLC for Dark Souls was announced and they were already on the boat arc when I was reading it.
Damn, how many years has it been, in real world terms, since the two have met? I followed Berserk shortly after the Artorias DLC for Dark Souls was announced and they were already on the boat arc when I was reading it.
You mean Griffith and Casca? Last time they saw each other, well, a bit of a stretch in Casca's case since her mind was still broken, was around the time of the Hill of Swords chapter, so around 2001, about 21-22 years ago.
In-universe time, I'm guessing like, a few months, to a year at most? Berserk's never been known to rush through the plot, so all the time probably amounted to a year at most in their reality.
The Black Swordsman Arc: The Guardians of Desire (5)
We get our first real look into Guts' past, and it is an interesting one. A bloody battle field, littered with corpses, as the sun rises in the back, and Guts, to no one's surprise, was most probably in the thick of it, a sword in hand, wounds littering his body as he lays down next to the bodies, but an interesting person calls out to him, asking if he's alright. As Guts answers in the affirmative, and our mystery man praises his luck for surviving what was probably a pretty brutal battle, he offers young Guts his hand, and we get a good luck at him.
As this story has been going, at least at this early point, none of the characters we met could be described as beautiful. The apostles are monstrous and terrifying, Puck just looks like an odd human child, the humans are ugly for the most part, Theresia perhaps being an exception, but this is the first person we can unequivocally say is beautiful.
Amidst the blood and horror that litters his surroundings, this man stands out as shining and beautiful.
Makes you wonder.
As this beautiful man helps Guts up, he speaks, and I'm sorry, but I'm gonna need to type the whole thing out.
"Martyrdom for a merciless god. What a waste. In today's world, most people's lives are subject to the whims of a handful of nobility and royalty. On the battlefield, the life of a common soldier isn't even worth a single piece of silver. Of course. . .even a king himself can't live exactly as he pleases. We are all at the mercy of a great tide. . .fate, or whatever you wish to call it. And we all disappear in the end. . .our lives spent. . .never even knowing who we were."
As Guts looks on, listening to his words, he looks annoyed, but is he really? And the man continues on.
"In life, unrelated to one's social standing or class as determined by man, there are some people who, by nature, are keys that the world in motion. They are the true elite, as dictated by the golden rule of the universe. That's what I want to know!!! What is my place in the world? Who am I? What am I capable of? What am I destined for?"
His monologue finished, as Guts looks on, his face softens, and the man lets out a small chuckle, before the big reveal.
This man is Femto, the man we've just heard monologue about destiny and his place in the world, is Griffith. The man whom Guts hunts with a crazed hatred once, to Guts, shined before him as something beautiful, noble, and larger than life.
From the panels and dialogue we were given, we have an idea of who this man is. In a world stratified and ruled by a handful of nobility, there still are people who can break through, who can change the world, move it, and make it their own, this is what he wants to know. Is he one of those people? Does he have something special in the future waiting for him?
All that, and we can see Guts' changing expressions as he continued on his monologue, and we also get a feel of their relationship. Initially, he looked like he wanted to ignore him, then looked annoyed, but his face kept changing, until we were given the big bomb that, that Guts was utterly entranced by him. Something shining, noble, beautiful, and larger than life. And this man, even as he appeared so above Guts, speaks to him openly, revealing his thoughts, things he has never said to another person except Guts.
As we leave the confines of Guts' mind, and back into the present, the situation is at an impasse. The mark of the brand, the symbol of sacrificing your heart to demonkind, floats above a terrified Theresia, and Void demands that The Slug Count, or as Kentaro Miura apparently referred to him as, The Slug Baron, make his choice. Does he do it once more? Will he sacrifice the one he loves the most to demonkind?
Meanwhile, Guts, who I feel should just be unconscious because he is really just breaking our concentration of this very interesting event, wakes up and tells Puck to heal him, or else Puck's little buddy is gonna end up like him.
Shut up Guts, you're ruining the moment.
The Godhand, who are getting impatient, offer the Slug Count a little encouragement. If he doesn't hurry up and sacrifice his daughter, he is gonna end up in a very bad place. Guts' ex-boyf- I mean, mortal enemy, Femto, points, Guts feels a stinging pain on his neck, and hell itself appears before them.
That is not a metaphor, it literally pops out by Femto's command.
A swirling pool of evil that overwhelms our resident empath, Puck, as the faces of the damned surround the new dimension they were transported into, and that is where the Count is gonna go if he doesn't hurry up.
Worse part is, that's only a small part of hell.
Informing their underling that his souls vibration are inching ever closer to that swirling hellpool of misery and evil, his mortal body, which hosts his soul, is gonna expire real soon, and unless he hurries up, he's gonna end up in that wretched pool of demons, his consciousness slowly dissolving into the mass of dark souls.
A young Hidetaka Miyazaki takes note.
FromSoftware jokes aside, this is an interesting glimpse into early Berserk cosmology, or just, its afterlife. Contrary to what Guts said a while back, souls, and the afterlife, very much do exist. They exist in every being, it seems, even those that become demons, and those similar beings, those evil things that consort with such dark beings become one in anguish, eternally tormented in their own malice.
This is what happens to those who contort with demonkind, as Slan explains, which does offer its own implications. She didn't say this is where everyone ends up, regardless of if they were good or not, she says this is where those who mingle with their kind end up, otherwise, the Count probably wouldn't have been too shocked at what he was seeing, and the price for being a demon would have been less steep if its just for everyone, regardless of morality.
So is it possible that there's a whole lot more? Femto says so, and if so, can good people end up in their own little spiral of souls?
Wondering aside, the Godhand, hoping that this little peek into his possible fate would encourage him to make his decision, says to the Count there's a very easy way to avoid all this. Do what he already showed himself capable of doing, speak the words, and this horrid fate shall be avoided.
"I offer you my daughter for sacrifice"
This one phrase shall save him, but he can't.
The world turns cold, his blood, and life, is pouring out of him, and yet, he can't do it. Even when staring into that vortex, the abyss of which will be his fate since he spoke the words "I sacrifice", he cannot do it. Yet, he doesn't want to die.
It's clear, from this chapter, and the previous ones we've had, that the Godhand were full of shit in their promises. "A supernatural being who shall never know sorrow or despair", yet this supernatural being has never known greater sorrow at the sight of his crying daughter, or no greater despair than the fate that awaits him. He may have become supernatural, and his worse traits amplified, but his heart was not truly gone, he is still human, underneath all of it, he is still a human man who feels as he always had.
And the thread of fate has been severed. The brand, hanging ominously above Theresia, a signal of her possible fate, disappears in a flash of light, her fate is secured, she will not be a sacrifice to the Godhand.
Her father's fate is secured as well, for his failure, the great sea of dark souls will swallow him whole, and in that whirlpool of the damned, a chain of the dead appear to take the Count, and a familiar face appears to us.
It's Vargas, his failure to let go of his hatred, of his obsession with getting back at the Count has damned him for all eternity, but, he will find some small comfort in what will happen next.
Grabbing the Count, a small hint of satisfaction on his face, they rip out the soul of the Count from his decaying body, and just before he is dragged down and his ego scattered into the vortex, he takes one last look at his daughter, and she, even with all that has happened, loves him, and reaches out as well.
It's not over yet, they may not have been able to grab Theresia as a sacrifice, but there's still one left.
As our heroes? look at the scene in horror, a few errant souls of the damned grab Guts by the foot, intending to drag him down as well. Noticing it, and Femto ignoring him, as he is being dragged, Guts decides he wants to go out with a bang.
Forcing his broken hand to heal itself, he fires one last cannon shot at his old friend, and Femto doesn't even care. Just one glance at the approaching cannon, and he creates an invisible barrier around him, blocking it.
The Godhand have fulfilled their purpose, there will be no sacrifice, it is time to go, and Guts is left stewing in his rage as Griffith offers him one last look.
The world rearranges itself, and as the Godhand leaves, so does the odd little dimension they brought with them, and our mere mortal protagonists find themselves back in their boring old dimension. Guts is keeling over in pain, and Theresia is even worse off. Puck spots her, and seeing her gasp for breath as the dismembered body off her father lies there in the ruins, Puck rushes to help, but she's not having any of it.
Slapping her former friend away, she breaks down in tears. Realizing that the outside world she longed for is not the grand fairy tale she dreamed of, no great mysteries or wonderful beauties, only death, terror, and horror greeted her as her father was revealed to be the demons he was supposed to hunt, being taken hostage, and seeing the truth of the world, she broke.
She demands to be taken back to her room, for everyone to get away from her. She doesn't want the real word, this horrid place, she wants to go back before everything.
Before Guts came in and destroyed her world.
She'd rather be dead than be here, and Guts has a few words for her.
Enraged, but not surprised at his attitude, Puck slaps him and scolds him for his attitude, but Guts, again, is seemingly unmoved. He just tells her that, if she wants to go back, to forget everything and retreat to a safe place, why doesn't she just. . .end it all? Its not too hard of a thing, just grab a knife, slit the wrists, and its all over in a flash, she'll probably be in heaven, or, if she wants to see her family, maybe she can go to hell for the company?
Puck can't believe Guts is saying all this, and to his horror, Theresia spots a knife, and is about to do it, but the floor collapses underneath them! Puck can fly, he'll be fine, but Theresia can't and nearly fall until she catches Guts' sword by the sharp end. In pain and dangling on the edge, she finds the strength of will, she doesn't want to die, even as Guts' sword cuts through her hand.
Theresia is in pain as Guts pulls her out of the wreckage and into solid ground, and to Puck's worry, the cut is deep. Guts, staring at his own mangled hand, seems to break a little.
Puck offers to help her, but Theresia is unmoved and full of hatred. Declaring her hatred for Guts, she swears to kill him, and Guts declares himself ready for her hatred, and limps away.
Only, there's something. . .different this time. Guts is. . . crying?
End of the Black Swordsman Arc
Wow, that was a real doozy of a finish, so let's recap everything we know in the story so far.
Apostles, or demons as they are sometimes called, are human beings chosen by a higher power, whether that be the Godhand or something else, through an odd item called the behelit, when they are in the greatest throes of despair. Through sacrificing their hearts by offering to demonkind the one they love the most, they will transcend their humanity and become an Apostle, beings who know no despair or suffering.
Yet. . .is that true? All the Apostles we have met still show emotion, the Slug Count being the most noticeable so far, so is there more to it?
In this world, there is an afterlife, and the simple fact is that souls of those who consort with demons end up in their version of hell, where they will be funneled into a sea of evil until their very consciousness, their ego, is subsumed by the vortex as they fade into nothing.
Guts, the Black Swordsman, is on the hunt for Apostles and their masters, the Godhand, specifically one person, his old companion Griffith.
He was branded by him, and has to live his whole life being hunted by demons and evil spirits.
And perhaps most importantly, he once saw him as beautiful, noble, and larger than life.
What happened between those two?
In the next few chapters, we'll learn.
Okay, so, what are my thoughts on this arc? I can say that, personally, Miura was still trying to get a feel of what he wanted this story to actually be. The first few chapters seems to set us up for a Fist of the North Style kind of tale, where Guts will go from place to place hunting demons in a mad search for their masters. It seemed, to me at least, an episodic kind of series, but through the fight with the Slug Count, the series seems to move away from that.
What looked like a very edgy story of a man with a bad attitude and an oversized sword seems to have more depth, though this story was most probably the originator for many man with bad attitude and oversized sword stories, as Guts, despite everything, isn't as heartless as he makes himself out to be.
This arc offers us hints and foreshadowing, we are given glimpses of ideas that will be fleshed out in the future. We are introduced to the brand, to the Apostles, to the Godhand, and though not exactly a major part for quite some time, the religious side of the story which will play a major part much later into this tale.
I apologize for the long delay, had many things to do for university, but I'll try and update more frequently.
