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4.36 AVERAGE
4.36 AVERAGE
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
sad
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
I'm shocked it has taken me this long to dive into the world of Berserk. This series is cited as the inspiration for a handful of my favourite creators and stories. After experiencing this first volume I can understand why.
In all honesty, the first few chapters were a tad difficult to get through. I felt that the edginess was almost too much at times. However, the plot picked up quickly and I found myself by the setting, the characters and the world-building. The art alone compelled me to keep my eyes glued to the pages. The demons and monsters are exquisitely designed. The vast variety of forms they can take is impressively conveyed. Furthermore, the gothic wasteland atmosphere is masterfully depicted.
At the start of the story, the reader is thrusted in the middle of Guts' ongoing struggle with demon kind. As a result, the characters goals and motivations are shrouded in mystery. This writing style may be frustrating to some, but it peaked my curiosity and kept me turning the pages. I was rewarded with complex characters and strong emotional arcs.
Kentaro Miura is obviously an incredibly talented artist and story-teller. I can't wait to experience the rest of this series.
In all honesty, the first few chapters were a tad difficult to get through. I felt that the edginess was almost too much at times. However, the plot picked up quickly and I found myself by the setting, the characters and the world-building. The art alone compelled me to keep my eyes glued to the pages. The demons and monsters are exquisitely designed. The vast variety of forms they can take is impressively conveyed. Furthermore, the gothic wasteland atmosphere is masterfully depicted.
At the start of the story, the reader is thrusted in the middle of Guts' ongoing struggle with demon kind. As a result, the characters goals and motivations are shrouded in mystery. This writing style may be frustrating to some, but it peaked my curiosity and kept me turning the pages. I was rewarded with complex characters and strong emotional arcs.
Kentaro Miura is obviously an incredibly talented artist and story-teller. I can't wait to experience the rest of this series.
While passable as a gory, fun ride, I had really high expectations for this, owing to it being heralded as the best manga ever written by so many people. So far, at hundreds of pages in, we know next to knowing about the world. It’s a standard dark fantasy affair, underscoring violence to women as various drives for the male cast, and a literalization of the worst in humanity manifesting as demons and the occult. At the end, there’s one chapter on Guts’ backstory - finally - and otherwise its little more than population to one fight after another where there is no real stakes, since it is not believable that Guts would ever lose. Or even come close to doing so.
The artwork is quite basic, for my taste. The pseudo gothic Victorian setting flavour is never explained in the slightest, but it’s relatively interesting for character design. I’m sure it’s important, in terms of its influence in the medium, but that’s an importance placed as a macro perspective and not something I care about when consuming anything, even “classics”. I want a story that’s compelling and interesting, not just to see what was first (and therefore probably worse than things that iterate on it).
The artwork is quite basic, for my taste. The pseudo gothic Victorian setting flavour is never explained in the slightest, but it’s relatively interesting for character design. I’m sure it’s important, in terms of its influence in the medium, but that’s an importance placed as a macro perspective and not something I care about when consuming anything, even “classics”. I want a story that’s compelling and interesting, not just to see what was first (and therefore probably worse than things that iterate on it).
adventurous
dark
emotional
mysterious
sad
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
adventurous
dark
emotional
sad
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Really Great product and I decided that this would be when I dived down in the series to check what the fuss was about and not regretting it so far, the story is engaging and the art is really good
adventurous
dark
emotional
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
It was a fine read, but I don’t really understand the hype yet. I can see some potential for greatness, but this first volume just seems grim for grimness sake, without having anything insightful to say about the dark sides of humanity. I think the art style is nice, but a lot of times the anatomy and perspective seems “off”. I’ll give the second volume a try, to see if it might change my mind.
To lazy to rate it on a volume by volume basis. On a whole it’s art is some of the best manga can get. Most of it is 4 golden age is of course a 5
dark
emotional
sad
tense
fast-paced
Berserk looms pretty large among the influences of some of my favorite creators and works, so it's been an object of curiosity for me for a long time. I wasn't quite sure what to expect going in.
I think its opening is a little rough, a little bit too abrasive for its own sake. There's an edgy sensibility in the opening chapters that I found tedious, even if some of its more gruesome panels are well-executed gut punches. There's likely also a degree of acclimation that I needed to pass through so I could start to understand what it was doing.
However, as the story picks up steam into the end of the Black Swordsman arc, and with just a toe into the Golden Age arc, I already find myself much more interested than I was at first blush. There's a sense of mystery to unravel and the world's bleakness is more affecting once Guts begins to have an overt place in it beyond just being an impudent badass.
I think its opening is a little rough, a little bit too abrasive for its own sake. There's an edgy sensibility in the opening chapters that I found tedious, even if some of its more gruesome panels are well-executed gut punches. There's likely also a degree of acclimation that I needed to pass through so I could start to understand what it was doing.
However, as the story picks up steam into the end of the Black Swordsman arc, and with just a toe into the Golden Age arc, I already find myself much more interested than I was at first blush. There's a sense of mystery to unravel and the world's bleakness is more affecting once Guts begins to have an overt place in it beyond just being an impudent badass.