Berserk (Japanese: ベルセルク, Hepburn: Beruseruku) is a manga series written and illustrated by Kentaro Miura. Set in a medieval Europe-inspired fantasy world, the story centers on the characters of Guts, an orphaned mercenary, and Griffith, the leader of a mercenary band called the Band of the Hawk. Themes of isolation, camaraderie, and the question of whether humanity is fundamentally good or evil pervade the story, as it explores both the best and worst of human nature. Both the manga and anime are noted for their heavy violence.
Miura premiered a prototype of Berserk in 1988. The first volume of the manga was published on November 26, 1990 by Hakusensha in its Jets Comics collection. In 1992, after the publication of three more volumes, Berserk began serialization in Young Animal. The series was adapted into a twenty-five episode anime series covering the series' first story arc by Oriental Light and Magic from October 7, 1997 to March 31, 1998. A series of films, Berserk: The Golden Age Arc, were released beginning in 2012.
Plot
Guts (ガッツ, Gattsu) is a wandering warrior and former Raid Leader of the renowned mercenary unit known as the "Band of the Hawk" (é·¹ã®å›£, Taka no Dan), who hunts demonic creatures called Apostles, humans who have made a deal with a group of archdemons known as "The God Hand" that entails sacrificing whoever or whatever is closest to them in exchange for incredible supernatural power. Guts himself bears a Brand of Sacrifice from this very ritual; he is one of the only people to have ever survived it, but still has demons ceaselessly drawn to him wherever he goes, with the Brand becoming more painful and bloody the closer and more powerful his adversaries are.
After a troubled childhood fighting in his adoptive father's mercenary band, Guts is recruited to the Hawks by their charismatic leader Griffith. Griffith, Guts and the Hawks play a pivotal role in ending the long war that has ravaged the country of Midland and are renowned as heroes; Griffith, however, in his ambition to become a ruler, seduces the King's daughter, leading to him being imprisoned and tortured for a year until he is rescued by his comrades. With his body horribly mutilated, rendering him a mute, immobile cripple, Griffith summons the God Hand and agrees to sacrifice his friends and mercenary group in a demonic ritual, and continue his dreams of world conquest through rebirth as a member of the God Hand itself; only Guts and his lover Casca escape alive.
After being separated from Casca, who lost her memories due to the trauma of the ritual, Guts begins hunting down Apostles in search of revenge against Griffith, later reuniting with Casca just in time to rescue her from being burned as a witch. While Guts and Casca travel to the Elf country of Elfhelm seeking a safe haven, accompanied by a new group of companions they have befriended during their travels, a reincarnated Griffith creates a second Band of the Hawk and leads the fight against invading forces from the east, eventually establishing his rule over Midland and founding a new, massive capital, Falconia, where the humans take refuge from the ever increasing attacks of demons, unaware that their leader is one himself.
Manga
Miura first premiered Berserk in 1988 with a 48-page prototype, which won a prize at the Comi Manga School he was enrolled in at the time. On November 26, 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 chapters are still being released in the biweekly magazine. Bound volumes are still published biannually in Japan by Hakusensha (Jets Comics collection); as of March 2013, 37 tankÅbon of the manga have been published in Japan. The manga has published on an irregular schedule since late 2006.
In North America and the United Kingdom, the manga is translated and co-published between Dark Horse Comics and Digital Manga Publishing, which has released 37 volumes so far, the first on October 22, 2003. The series has also been published in France by Samourai Editions, Dynamic Visions and Glénat, in Spain by MangaLine Ediciones, in the Netherlands by Glénat, in South Korea by Dai Won, in Italy, Germany, Brazil, and Mexico by Panini Comics, and in Poland by J.P.Fantastica.
Adaptations
TV series
Produced by OLM, the 25-episode TV anime series adaptation Berserk: KenpÅ« Denki (剣風ä¼å¥‡ãƒ™ãƒ«ã‚»ãƒ«ã‚¯, KenpÅ« Denki Beruseruku, lit., "Berserk: Sword-Wind Tales") first aired from October 7, 1997 to March 31, 1998. The series begins with the Black Swordsman arc, continuing through the Golden Age arc. Though the manga storyline remains largely intact, many changes were made, with the modification or elimination of characters (one notable example being Puck), some of the series' most violent and brutal scenes, and material that would have extended the storyline beyond the planned run of the anime series. Themes of friendship and ambition are more developed and emphasized than those of causality and the supernatural, all of which were made with the approval of series creator KentarÅ Miura.
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, with the seven volumes being re-released later in individual DVD regular cases in 2003.
Music
Susumu Hirasawa composed the soundtracks for both the anime and video games, using an eclectic selection of instruments. He received the offer to compose music for the series due to Miura being a fan of his works and listening to them while he works on Berserk, that also led to Miura almost never requesting a specific composition to Hirasawa. Hirasawa has said that Berserk does not feel like a self-restrained story, and that composing for the series is similar to the sensation of unlocking one of his inner restraints, leading to compositions on a "Berserk" style. The opening theme is "TELL ME WHY" by PENPALS, the ending theme is "Waiting so long" by Silver Fins, and the "next episode theme" is "BERSERK -Forces-" by Susumu Hirasawa.
Film series
In September 2010, a wraparound jacket band on volume 35 of the Berserk manga announced a new anime project, which was later revealed to be a series of films. The first two films, Berserk: Golden Age Arc I - The Egg of the King and Berserk: Golden Age Arc II - The Battle for Doldrey, were released in Japan in February and June 2012. Berserk: Golden Age Arc III - The Advent was released on February 1, 2013 in Japan.
The voice cast features Hiroaki Iwanaga as Guts (replacing Nobutoshi Canna from the original anime), Takahiro Sakurai as Griffith (replacing Toshiyuki Morikawa), and Toa Yukinari as Casca (replacing Yuko Miyamura). The English voice cast features Marc Diraison as Guts, Kevin T. Collins as Griffith, and Carrie Keranen as Casca, all reprising their roles from the original anime.
Video games
Two video games based on Berserk have been developed by Yuke's. The first game, Sword of the Berserk: Guts' Rage (ベルセルク åƒå¹´å¸å›½ã®é·¹ç¯‡ 喪失花ã®ç« , Beruseruku Mireniamu Farukon Hen Wasurebana no ShÅ, Berserk Millennium Falcon Arc: Chapter of the Lost Flowers), was released for the Dreamcast in Japan by ASCII Corporation in late 1999. It was localized in western regions early the following year by Eidos Interactive. The second game, Berserk: Millennium Falcon Hen Seima Senki no ShÅ (ベルセルク åƒå¹´å¸å›½ã®é·¹ç¯‡ è–é"戦記ã®ç« , Beruseruku Mireniamu Farukon Hen Seima Senki no ShÅ, Berserk Millennium Falcon Arc: Chapter of the Record of the Holy Demon War), was published by Sammy Corporation exclusively in Japan on the PlayStation 2 in 2004.
Other merchandise
In addition to video games and game guidebooks, Berserk has spurred on a range of different merchandise, from lighters to keyrings to Kubrick. Statues and action figures are produced by Art of War. A Berserk trading card game was released by Konami in Japan. A figure of Guts was released by Max Factory in its Figma line in January 2012. Guts was a combatant in the popular web series Death Battle, where he was pitted against the antagonist of the Soulcalibur video games, Nightmare, and won.
Reception
As of June 2013, the manga has sold 24 million volumes in Japan and 7 million overseas. The manga has won the Award for Excellence at the sixth installment of Tezuka Osamu Cultural Prize in 2002.
References
External links
- (Japanese) Berserk official page
- (Japanese) Berserk Films official site
- Digital Manga Publishing page for Berserk
- Art of War - Official Berserk merchandise
- Berserk (manga) at Anime News Network's encyclopedia
- Berserk (anime) at Anime News Network's encyclopedia
- Berserk at the Internet Movie Database