Berserk (manga)

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Berserk
ベルセルク
(Beruseruku)
Genre Action, Horror, Low Fantasy
Manga
Author Kentarō Miura (三浦 建太郎)
Publisher Flag of Japan Hakusensha
English publisher Flag of the United States Dark Horse Comics
Demographic Seinen
Serialized in Young Animal (Hakusensha)
Original run 1989 – ongoing
Volumes 32
TV anime
Director Naohito Takahashi
Studio OLM
Network Flag of Japan Nippon Television, Animax
Original run October 7, 1997 – March 31, 1998
Episodes 25
Video games
Collectible card game
  • Berserk Trading Card Game

Berserk (ベルセルク Beruseruku?) is a dark fantasy manga by mangaka Kentarō Miura.

Berserk's setting is inspired by medieval Europe. It centers around the life of Guts, an orphaned mercenary warrior, and his relationship to Griffith, the leader of a mercenary band called the Band of the Hawk (鷹の団 Taka no Dan?). Both the manga and anime are noted for their heavy violence.

As of November 2007, 32 tankōbon of the manga have been published in Japan.

Contents

[edit] Berserk manga

For more details on the structure of the series, see List of Berserk chapters.

Miura first premiered Berserk in 1988 with a 48-page prototype, which won a prize at the Comi Manga School where he was enrolled at the time. On 26 November 1990, the first volume of the manga was published by Hakusensha in its Jets Comics collection. Three more volumes appeared until Berserk was serialized by Young Animal (Hakusensha) in 1992, and new episodes are still being released in the biweekly (every second and fourth Friday of the month) magazine. Volumes are still published biannually in Japan by Hakusensha (Jets Comics collection), and contain 8–11 episodes depending on the release.

In America, the manga is translated and published by Dark Horse Comics, which has released 23 volumes so far, the first in October 22, 2003. As with other Dark Horse manga releases like Hellsing or Trigun Maximum, the Japanese reading format from right to left is preserved in the English release and the sound effects are left untranslated in the earlier releases, but are translated in later books starting from volume 12. The company has also started incorporating references to fantasy films, such as Army of Darkness and Lord of the Rings, into the dialogue. However, the content in general remains untouched.

In Europe, the manga was introduced back in 1996, first in France (Samourai Editions), then in Italy (Panini Comics, under its Marvel Manga – later Planet Manga – imprint) a few months later. The manga has also been translated and released in Germany (Panini Comics/Planet Manga) and in Spain (MangaLine Ediciones) since 2001. In France, after Samourai Editions' bankruptcy, the comic series is now published by both Dynamic Visions (since 2002) and Glénat (since 2004), the latter edition being a larger format. A two-books-in-one Max edition (400+ pages) is also published in Germany and Italy since 2006 (Panini Comics). As of yet the series is not being published in Poland.

In Asia, Berserk manga has been published in South Korea since 1999 by Dai Won.

In Latin America, Panini Comics has published the manga series in a demi-sized (120 pages) edition in Brazil (2005).

[edit] Berserk anime

For more details on the anime adaptation, see List of Berserk episodes.

Berserk, known in Japan as Kenpū Denki Berserk (剣風伝奇ベルセルク Kenpū Denki Beruseruku?), is a 25-episode animated TV series by OLM which began airing in October 1997.

It covers the first thirteen volumes of the manga including the first two arcs (Black Swordsman & Golden Age). It chronicles how Guts served Griffith in the Band of the Hawk (Golden Age Arc). The TV adaptation made many changes and although the story was taken largely intact, some characters, and the most violent or brutal scenes, were modified or removed. The anime covers volumes 5 through 8 of the manga most accurately, other volumes were changed, and some material, such as volume 11, was removed completely due to the graphic depictions of content that would only build upon themes that were to be continued after the storyline in the anime had concluded. Another example of omitted content is the battle against the count in volumes 1–3, where Guts and Femto are reunited for the first time since the eclipse. These changes were approved by the series creator Kentarō Miura. Due to the elimination of key characters in the manga, the anime focuses on developing and emphasizing themes of friendship and ambition more so than causality and the supernatural.

The American release of the anime version was labeled "Season One", which may have misled people into assuming that a "Season Two" was planned. Currently, virtually nothing supports this assumption.

[edit] Release Information

The series was broadcast on Nippon Television in a post-midnight slot from October 7, 1997 to April, 1998. The anime broadcast started in Japan between the publishing of the 14th and the 15th volume, tankobon #14 completing the Golden Age Arc and starting the Retribution Arc.

In America, the anime series has been dubbed/subtitled and published by Media Blasters in 2002. Both dubbed and subtitled versions were released in VHS. The English and Japanese soundtracks were included in the DVD release that was made available as six volumes and as a "TV series season one complete collection" standard (slim) box set. By the time of the series' launch, a volume one "War Cry" was bundled with an empty "Box of War" 6-disc case as a special edition. In 2003, the "Box of War" containing all volumes was released as a collector box set. While fans have suggested that Cartoon Network air the series, one of a series of Adult Swim "bumps" claimed that censorship requirements would butcher it.

In Europe, the series has been published as seven subtitled single DVD in France (Manga Distribution) and six single disc in Germany (Panini Video) both from 2003 to 2004. With its dubbed soundtrack added to the original Japanese one in its 6-DVD Berserk "Radical Edition", Spain (Jono Media, 2003) is the only European country to not release a subtitled edition. Italy is another exception with being the only country to have broadcasted the TV series (via Italia Uno public channel) under the same conditions as it was done in Japan, with uncensored episodes aired at night (2001). The 24th episode The Sacrifice (aka The Great Eclipse) was aired only at a later hour (as usual habit in the Italia 1 management policy for late night shows), so many Berserk fans missed it and assumed it wasn't aired due to its gore content. The entire series was released in 2002 as a dubbed 13-VHS and 5-DVD editions (Yamato Video).

In Asia, Vap Video has released thirteen VHS and twelve VCD including two episodes each (a single one in the last VHS and three in the last VCD) from 1998 to 1999 in Japan. The seven discs "DVD-BOX", using Audio-CD cases, was released in Japan in 2001 (Vap Video). In the same country, the seven volumes were later re-released, this time in individual DVD regular cases, in 2003 (Vap Video). Abroad, the anime series has been subtitled and published as a 6-DVD box set standard edition and a 7-DVD collector box set in Korea (Mania Entertainment) in 2004. In Thailand, thirteen Thai dubbed VCD volumes including two episodes each, later re-released as three VCD boxsets ("Prosperity:I", "Declination:II" & "Disaster:III"), were published by Tiga in 2004. A Thai dubbed/subtitled complete series "War Box" 8-disc DVD boxes et, including a collector beherit necklace, was released by the same company in 2005. A Traditional Chinese subtitled 5-DVD box set was released in Taiwan in 2005 (Catalyst Logic).

In Oceania, the American dubbed/subtitled DVD version was converted to PAL standard and released in 2003 as six single volumes and, in 2004, as a 6-disc collector "Box of War" in both Australia and New Zealand (Madman Entertainment). The same year, the "Box of War" case, which is graphically different than the American version, was also sold separately in these countries.

[edit] Reception

Source Reviewer Grade / Score Notes
Anime News Network Zac Bertschy Overall (dub): A
Overall (sub): A+
Story: A+
Animation: A-
Art: A
Music:A+		 DVD/Anime Review of Berserk: DVD 5: Requited Desires
AnimeOnDVD Chris Beveridge Content: A
Audio: A+
Video: A
Packaging: A+
Menus: A-
Extras: B+		 DVD/Anime Review of Berserk Boxed Set: Disc 1
Anime Academy Gatts, Mugs, Kain, Keitaro 92.8% Anime Review
THEM Anime Reviews Carlos Ross 4 out of 5 Anime Review of

[edit] Characters

For more details on this topic, see Characters of Berserk.

All subsequent names are from the English translation and Miura's statements about the official transliterations of the characters' names starting from Volume 27.

  • Guts (ガッツ Gattsu?)
    Guts is the protagonist of the story: a tall, muscular male with a huge sword called the Dragon Slayer, and a prosthetic left forearm that has a magnetic grip and also conceals a cannon & repeater crossbow. Guts is a Byronic hero: he is born as one who may be able to struggle against Causality, but is seemingly unable to affect it on a large scale. The Golden Age story arc of the series revolves around Guts' turbulent childhood and adolescence in a mercenary band after reluctantly being adopted by the band's leader Gambino at the behest of Gambino's lover, Shizu, and his subsequent joining with, and departure from, the Band of the Hawk. The dynamic relationship between Guts and Griffith, the leader of this group, forms the primary focus of the manga for the first thirteen volumes. After the events of the Eclipse, in which he loses his left forearm and right eye, Guts seeks revenge on Griffith. Upon doing so, he is subsequently reunited with Casca after a one year separation to attempt to have his own dream realized. After the Incarnation Ceremony at Albion, Guts now travels with a new group of companions. He currently possesses the Berserker's Armor, an ancient, cursed suit of armor that allows the wearer to overcome his physical and mental boundaries in combat greatly increasing his fighting strength. Doing so damages his body, however, and allows his inner beast, a feral, dog-like demon, to take over and endanger everyone in the vicinity, friend or foe.


  • Griffith (グリフィス Gurifisu?)
    Griffith is the founder and leader of the mercenary army Band of the Hawk. Extraordinarily charismatic and handsome, his tactical skill gave him and his army the reputation of invincibility, and the favored choice of the Midland King, who was locked in a century-old war with the Empire of Tudor. Griffith was willing to sacrifice everything for the dream of his own kingdom, believing that he is destined for things greater than the average man. After he won the war for Midland, Griffith engaged and lost to Guts in a duel which stipulated that Guts remain in his service should he lose and freed if he wins. This loss results in Guts' desertion from 'The Hawks'. Stunned and filled with betrayal, Griffith sought comfort in a one-night stand with the king's daughter, and sole heir to the throne, Princess Charlotte. The affair was discovered, after which Griffith was imprisoned and tortured for a year. He was rescued by Guts along with the primary members of 'The Hawks', but was already physically crippled with the tendons in his wrists and ankles cut, and mentally broken. Despairing the loss of his dream at Guts' influence, he was driven to a state of madness that coincided with both the reappearance of his lost Behelit, and a solar eclipse. The God Hand appeared, and he sacrificed the Band of the Hawk to them to become the fifth and final God Hand: Femto. Only Casca, Guts and Rickert, who was outside the Occultation, survived, all having been rescued by the Skull Knight. Two years later, Griffith was reincarnated as a human in the city of Albion, where he now leads a newly formed Band of the Hawk, still in pursuit of his dream to obtain a kingdom, only now he has sanction from 'God'. He is considered the antagonist of the series.


  • Casca (キャスカ Kyasuka?)
    Casca was the only female soldier in the original Band of the Hawk and is behind only Guts and Griffith in swordsmanship. Her ambivalent relationship to both of them makes her moody and capricious. Casca joins the Band of the Hawk after Griffith saves her from a sexual assault by a nobleman. After Griffith is imprisoned, she becomes the leader of the Band of the Hawk and, along with Guts, leads the mission to rescue Griffith. The trauma of the Eclipse, especially her rape at Femto's hands, has cost Casca her memory. In addition to being Guts' lover, she also gave birth to a child, which had become tainted by Femto's rape. During her travel with Guts, the strain of watching over her in her state and fighting against evil spirits for nights on end drove a possessed Guts to succumb to his inner beast and nearly rape her. Due to this, she now detests Guts and has found comfort in the only adult female traveling with them: Farnese. Casca travels with them completely oblivious to her surroundings, with Guts and company keeping close watch over her. Casca's well being is the driving force for Guts to keep himself from reverting back to a revenge-obsessed wanderer. It has been revealed outside the city of Vritanis that her mental state may be cured at their final destination, Elfhelm, by King Hanafubuku.


[edit] Behelit

A Behelit is a small, oval object resembling an egg, with a set of human facial features scattered randomly across its surface, giving the thing a rather disconcerting appearance. In fact, reference is often made in the story to the fact that the Behelit looks to be a living thing, and it emits a certain aura of unspecified dread. On occasion, it seems as though one of the Behelit's eyes opens and stares at the examiner, though this is usually quickly disregarded as merely an illusion.

The origin of the word comes from the Syriac word "Beherit", a Great Duke of Hell — the r turning into an l is an often-made mistake in localization.

[edit] Egg of the King

In the anime series, only two Behelits are expressly shown, but one is more significant: It is the crimson Behelit owned by Griffith, leader of the Band of the Hawk. It is also called the Egg of the Conqueror or Egg of the King, and was given to Griffith when he was a child by an old fortune teller. It is believed that any one possessing this Behelit is destined to someday rule the world, and as this is very much in line with Griffith's ambition, he continues to hold on to it. It comes with the price of offering one's flesh and blood (and/or the flesh and blood of others) for their dream.

[edit] Its Purpose

The Behelit is actually a key used by mankind to summon the God Hand, a group of immensely powerful, god-like demons, themselves the servants of a dark God that governs the Berserk universe. A Behelit is not truly found or kept by someone, rather it finds its way to the one fated to possess it through the manipulation of causality, and tempts the person with the opportunity to be free of their pitiful situation and have their innermost desire realized.

The Behelit Griffith found reached him, for it was his fate to become a new member of the God Hand. In this regard, his Behelit was also unique, for it was meant to be used by the one new mortal to transcend and become a member of the God Hand. The other Behelits seen in Berserk are minor compared to Griffith's: meant to transform the one who possessed it at the right time into Apostles. Apostles, which are humans who have offered their most precious possessions in exchange to escape their horrendous fate, can transform into hideous creatures (a bizarre manifestation of their ego) and bow down to the God Hand, though there are a few exceptions in the manga.


[edit] The Dream and The Sacrifice

In all cases, the ritual involved with the creation of a new Apostle or a new addition to the God Hand, happen under the same circumstances. The mortal possessing the Behelit must feel an intense desire to be free of their ill-stricken situation prompted by the manipulation of causality that created this scenario. This in turn "awakens" the Behelit (either by being nearby or through blood contact), the human features rearrange themselves into a face: the eyes open and bleed, and the mouth opens to scream. The God Hand hears and comes, opening a rift to their dimension and invites the mortal into their fold; tempting him or her with supernatural power and to be rid of their dire circumstance in return for a sacrifice.

In order to properly complete the ceremony, the mortal must agree to sacrifice something (or someone) infinitely precious to him or her. Only in such a case, the members of God Hand explain, will a high enough price be paid for a mortal to receive the chance to having their dream realized. Generally, the sacrifice will be family, friends, loved ones, or loyal followers. Normally, the one possessing the Behelit wouldn't sacrifice his or her loved ones, but will when the Behelit is in the bearer's hand at the right time. That usually happens when the person is under such emotional distress, he or she will give up anything to escape it. The sacrifice will then be devoured by the denizens of hell while the one who summoned the God Hand is reborn as an Apostle with a monstrous new form and abilities to match. Amazingly enough, some apostles are able to maintain at least one remnant of their former humanity despite their transformation such as the Count who refused to sacrifice his daughter in exchange for the God Hand restoring his former demonic power.

[edit] The Brand of Sacrifice

Those marked for sacrifice are branded with the God Hand's Brand of Sacrifice, a laceration marked into their skin, which bleeds and hurts the victim when in the presence of a demon or demigod. As part of the ceremony, the God Hand calls forth innumerable Apostles to feast upon the sacrificial offering. None are meant to survive the ritual, but any that do are forever branded, and wherever they may go, they will never know true peace, as, when night falls, local spirits attempt to overwhelm and reclaim the branded as of their own.

[edit] Berserk video games

For more details on this topic, see Sword of the Berserk: Guts' Rage.
For more details on this topic, see Berserk (2004 video game).

The Berserk games are not explicitly linked with each other, but are both set within the continuity of the manga series, more specifically its Millennium Falcon arc, which begins in volume 22.

Despite taking place during the Millennium Falcon arc, the first game was actually released during the publishing of the previous arc, giving Japanese players a taste of the things to come. In America, it was released two years before the TV series DVD (2002), and even before the comic book series' own introduction (2003). As a consequence, its original title was altered overseas.

The second game is roughly based on volumes 22 up to 27. It was released a few weeks before the publishing of the fifth American volume (Golden Age Arc). Set a while later within the manga's storyline and introducing new characters and intrigues not even mentioned in the TV series, the game was not released in America.

Game soundtrack CDs composed by the TV series' very same Susumu Hirasawa were sold in the Japanese market, and a Berserk Millennium Falcon Hen Wasurebana no Shō Visual & Story File game artbook was published by Hakusensha under the supervision of Kentarō Miura.

[edit] Licensed merchandise

In addition to the video-games and game guidebooks, Berserk has spurred on a range of different merchandise from lighters to keyrings to kubrick sets (6 cm Lego alike). Statues and action figures are produced by Art of War. The original soundtrack of the anime series and video games by Susumu Hirasawa are available on CD. A Berserk trading card game released by Konami is available in Japan.

[edit] Historical references

The iron prosthetic hand worn by Götz von Berlichingen.
The iron prosthetic hand worn by Götz von Berlichingen.

Guts

(1480–1562) Götz von Berlichingen, a German knight, was the leader of a band of mercenary soldiers and had a reputation as a Robin Hood figure. In 1504, his right arm was struck by an enemy cannon fire, and a prosthetic iron arm was developed to replace it. Guts' iron arm in his original character concept is very similar to Götz's iron arm kept in the Nürnberg Museum.

Miura stated in an interview that he created Guts independently and that he did not find out about von Berlichingen until after several volumes of the manga had been published.

Emperor Gaiseric

The Emperor Gaiseric alluded to in volume 10 was based on the actual King Gaiseric who ruled the Vandals' kingdom in Europe in the 5th century. He was famed as a brilliant general who even had the Roman Empire worried about his might. In the manga, Gaiseric is said to have created a vast empire similar to the Romans that was destroyed by God's wrath. He banded together his small tribe and brought them great fame as a kingdom that exercised its authority in the Mediterranean region.

It is hinted that Emperor Gaiseric has somehow survived his fallen empire in the form of The Skull Knight, a reoccurring character who aids Guts and stands in opposition to the God Hand.

Emperor Ganishka

The Emperor Ganishka working as Griffith's enemy in Berserk was based on King Kanishka, who ruled over the actual Kushan Empire, a vast empire in India, South Asia and Central Asia during the 2nd century. He was also a profound Buddhist and adorned his empire with its respective figures and promoted it vigorously. Like his real-life counterpart, Ganishka also decorates his palace with famous Buddhist figures, but has demonized them to suit his nature.

[edit] External links


Berserk
Characters | Chapters | Episodes | Dreamcast Game | PS2 Game
Anime OST | Forces Single | 1st Game OST | 2nd Game OST