The Manga Berserk would have been the greatest dark-fantasy story of all time, if not for the untimely death of it’s author.

The manga of Berserk had no plot holes, no extra story to explain how things work in the world, no side content that you need to buy, no pointless character arcs (looking at you CW), and no lame tropes.

What makes Berserk such a masterpiece is the usage of two characters as plot devices, Griffith and Guts.

By looking at the two of them side by side, Griffith has a much more pure, holistic, and godly feel to him. Just look at him. Clad in silver and gold, long white hair, pure blue eyes. Everything about him personifies justice and righteousness. Meanwhile, Guts is the opposite.

Griffith is perfect. He wins every battle, closes every deal, inspires every man, and does everything right. Just by looking at him you want to be under his wing, but by knowing him, you want to clip those wings. No matter how perfect he is, no matter how pure he portrays himself, he is not human. Far from it. He is perfection, and humans are not.

Guts is dark, rugged, pained, bloody, broken, and is literally haunted by death. He is the opposite of justice, the opposite of what humans should be, what a human should even inspire to be. On the surface, Guts embodies monstrous chaos, but somehow the story of Berserk is told in such a way that Guts is the most human of us all, and that is why he is the main character.

That is what makes the story so compelling to read, the difference these two characters have is the driving force behind how captivating Berserk is.

And this is why Berserk is one of the greatest stories ever written, there is literally a perfect foil between the two main plot devices. Kentaro Miura uses Guts to push character development within the story for many characters, While Griffith pulls us through the plot, a plot I can not tell you about because even a little bit of it will give away the enjoyment of reading the story.

The misfortunate thing about this whole story, it could never be completed as intended.

Kentaro Miura passed away on May 6th 2021 at 54 years old.

Miura’s death left a lot of unanswered questions in Berserk that after 30 years of publications were just about to be answered.

Death is one of the main themes of Berserk. How we deal with it, how we face the fear of dying, and how we overcome it, and the answers of those are within the characters of Guts and Griffith. Making the death of Mirua very…ironic.

A 30-year journey of the most human character in storytelling who overcomes the one thing that binds all living beings together, ended sadly by that very same concept.

I know this is not a review that you are used to seeing. No numbers, no ratings, nothing of the sort. This is a plea.

A plea to give Berserk a try. Even if you don’t like manga, don’t like gore, don’t like fantasy, give Berserk a chance. The author cannot finish the story but at least it may be able to touch one more life, and that’s all Kentaro Miura really cared about.

– Adam Bukacel