The LoTR of manga, in terms of scope and depth. Art is possibly the best i've ever seen. Characters are incredibly human, capable of great kindness and incredible darkness. Imagine a protagonist who's thrown into to the harshest and most hopeless of circumstances, and yet fights on against his fate. Anyone who thinks manga is light, kiddy fare should read this.

Been meaning to review this series for a while so i guess i finally should do it. Anyway this series as my title says is one of the best ever. Its probably one of the best medieval adventure mangas ive seen (if not the best). And i have read a lot. I pretty much broke it down to categories to explain why:
Story: The is basically a tale of Revenge and survival, its basically involves are lead going through the hardships of life trying to live in a fanasty world that has many hardships including demons and just over all the horrible aspects of human natures. Despite being a fantasy series this series shows this world and its horrors as REALISTICALLY as possible. So yea this has a lot of Dark moments like Blood, gore, torture, rape Etc. IF you cant stomach that dont complain and just read something else. The story and adventure of this lead a great and you definitely are along for the ride after finding out his past.

Characters: The characters are pretty good, i dont wanna spoil anything so ill forcus on the lead. He is pretty much the definition of a bad ass Lead. Has a big ass sword, kicks ass of anyone and thing who crosses him. and isnt afraid to do what ever it takes to survive and or save those close to him. He does have some cynical and asshole tenancies but in terms of what hes been though you really cant blame him at all. Just gotta be touch to survive.
Other characters become interesting in their own way. This has several being introduced so yea cant really cover them all.
Art: Despite all great things ive said about this so far this has to be the best part of this manga by far. The art is so amazing and one of the best out there. you can tell the author puts so much detail into so many of his designs even if its just the background or a crappy beast or enemy that gets one offed. It will still have detail. Plus the has one of the best art evolution too. Cause the art starts off good and over time gets better and better.

Progress: This is one of the more longer series (as you can see by its start date) so sit back and know it will take a long time. Both story wise and chapter release wise. This series is an adventure in ever sense of the word so going to destinations and progressing does take a lot of time to go though but still along the way there are a lot of encounters so its not like its boring or anything. The problem only come from the author and his hiatuses here and there.

Over all this is a great series to read for someone who enjoys Fantasy action adventure mangas and is okay with Dark and rated R moments (cause there is a lot as i keep saying). Its one of the better longer series out there.

I don't know why I avoided this manga for so long but I regret it. Guts is possibly THE best main character in ay manga so far. He's strong, doesn't complain or make dumb jokes and when he's getting his ass kicked (which happens often against apostles) he doesn't scream out " I'll never give up" or [insert generic and cliched shonen quote] he just gets up and shoves a sword up their asses!

The art is so good its actually kind of ridiculous, the story is so interesting that it took up about two whole days of my life while I was reading it and the battles....what can I say about the battles that hasn't been said about sex.... they're just amazing.

If you don't read this then you're missing out on a good chunk of manga heaven, but its not like you'll die if you don't read it

Masterpiece. There are many words that come into mind when thinking about Berserk, but only one includes them all: MASTERPIECE. A life's work for its author and a life's read for me. Not only hypnotizingly beautiful, but so deeply thoughtful that makes Tolkien's childish tales seem like Teletubbies. Good and bad (God and Devil) are only terms (ideas) born from our fears. There is no good-bad and only one of them wins.There is only human and human means endless tragedy and shivering beauty. To fully enjoy it you have to be patient and examine everything around you, as you must in real life. A true masterpiece that only Japanese minimalism (the beauty of the simple) and openmindedness could make possible...

... Last updated on December 31st, 2008, 9:52am

Definitely the best manga I've ever read. The art is simply beautiful, the story wraps you in. The characters all have their own unique thing about them, and development is constant throughout the manga. One prime example is in chapter 294, with Silat speaking about the two sides. I'm trying not to give spoilers.

Honestly, I don't really like how Puck is becoming just comic relief, along with Isidoro. I loved Puck in the beginning... At the beginning of the manga, it was just Guts alone. Now with all these people tagging alone, it is slowly resembling other manga of the same genre. Like what Magnum said, I'd rather just have Guts, Caska and Puck. I felt it's meant to be a dark manga... I don't really mind the other people, I guess. It goes with the plot very well, so it's all good.

Kentaro Miura is a freakin' genius.

... Last updated on March 31st, 2008, 9:00pm

I've heard of Berserk since I was a kid and heard it again when I read the comment section from Ubel blatt, the comments there tend to compare it with Berserk. I tried to look into the Berserk and honestly, I don't like the art. This manga is older than me but it hasn't end yet, I heard that it is a good manga but the hiatus is killing the fans, yet the fans still waiting for the return patiently. So, this year, I heard that it makes its return. So I decided to read it. At first I don't put so much hope, but hoooooooo boyyyyyy!!! I LOVE every single one of them (except for Sonia, that g*dd*mn noisy brat!), even for the villain, I love them toooo!!! I hate Griffith for what he did, but for a villain, I must give him 100/10 for being a horrible villain! Even for the Apostles too, they have so much background story (you hear that Sonia?? Apostles have more personality than you!)

What makes me love this manga is the story and the character development. Dang! Miura-sensei really can make a story. As I mention before, I love everyone of them (minus Sonia), I grew attached to Guts and always root and even pray for him to have a happy life with Casca, the thing that I rarely do with fictional characters. I do root for them but never in my life I pray for a fictional character. Guts story is a very tear jacking, from the very first day he was born, he always defy his destiny. I can feel how he was a lonely man and turned into a very caring man when he was with the band of Hawk, after that with his travelling companions. Huuuu Huuu... I wish Guts to have his happy ending with those he loves so dearly.

Upon seeing him getting older, my heart is crushed. He sacrificed so much already, his friends, his lover, his LIFE. I feel sad and as the reader, I only can pray that another ally will help him and I wish the travelling companions will get bigger and help him to fight (don't leave the fight for him, Serpico and Schierke only)

You can't blame Miura for introducing "pointless" characters, knowing that Guts already is the strongest human on earth.

It is not the case that he wishes to popularize this manga by ruining it, it would be stupid.
He drew this for 20 yrs, not thinking how long it takes toward the end, with increasing quality like no manga can compete, if he wishes to do things with lesser time, lesser mind, the first symptom is degradation on quality, sorry, i can't find this anywhere, it happens only in the opposite way.
My interpretation is that if he is the kind of person who trades quality for anything, he may rather trade this stupidity for longer release cycle, that is why Berserk is still in the half-way after 20 years of work.

The underlying reason on having characters who are more stpuid than Guts, is that not everyone is Guts. Still, it would be more boring if Guts fights as a lone wolf all the time.
I cant say i like the current plot development or defend anything, i just think that if you think about "what's for" all the time, you are not reading the manga.

... Last updated on January 21st, 2013, 11:56pm

There are a handful of mangas that are so good they provide inspiration for other mangakas to up their game and raise the quality of mangas as a whole. This is one of those mangas.

I would have given this a ten if some of the characters weren't missing some fundamental, human character traits. Of course, most mangakas make the same mistake, but I am more greatly dissapointed to see it here.

... Last updated on August 28th, 2012, 9:36pm

You know, kotto, you actually have a point there. When I read the manga for the first time, I also thought the same thing. Miura bringing the magic and everything in put it almost "over-the-top", but somehow it all balances out with the demons and God Hands and the bad guys. Besides, it was refreshing, and Guts certainly needed something else than his sword to be able to kick some serious apostle ass (which he did after he got the armor). ^^
As for the characters, in a way they also balance eachother out, you have the comedic relief (Isidro and Puck), the all-so serious women of the squad (Schierke, Farnese and that female fairy), and last, but not least, a mastermind and a tactitian (Serpico) being Guts' opposite when it comes to fighting, as Guts is more of a up-front kinda guy, while Serpico will cunningly find the best way to defeat someone, even if it's "fair" or not. Serpico can in a way have similarities to Griffith, but that's another story. My point is that Miura makes it all balance out perfectly, and with all the different character's background stories and introductions done so magnificently, this deserves nothing less than a 10 on my account.

PS.
A girl actually does survive in the beginning of the manga. --> Chapter 8, the daughter of the apostle Guts' fights when we first see Femto.

... Last updated on October 25th, 2009, 6:20pm

I try not to prejudge stuff I really do. But whether we like it or not our opinions on things can be affected by other people's opinions. It's just human nature to want to feel accepted, to find the same enjoyment in things that other people do.
I saw a recommendation for Berserk when I first got into anime/manga a couple of years ago. Sadly I was not ready for that kinda story, being both underage and only having read and watched a few shoujo and shounen. I got scared off by the first chapter. Maybe if I'd pushed through it would've made an impact on me. But I waited through all the hype until I'd read enough manga to find my pace. That first impression left a huge "This is big people's manga, I'm not ready for it." feeling in me so I kept putting it off. And several years later I thought I could handle Berserk. Sadly I was right.

To cut a long whine short, it's good. But I went in with expectations through the roof and it didn't blow them away. It didn't change my life. I read over a hundred chapters in a short period of time but it didn't blow my mind. And according to a couple of comments I've seen, the first hundred or so chapters is arguably the best part of this manga.
Don't get me wrong I winced and cringed just like any normal human would. I felt frustrated and sad at the appropriate times. But it's not changing the way I'll look at other manga. This must be what people who weren't raised on DBZ feel when they watch it for the first time and see the glaring flaws. That feeling of missing out on something that everyone else feels. It tends to build hostility, like you're the odd one out.

Despite my long backstory I don't hate Berserk, it's great. Miles above your average manga. I'm just disappointed I won't be able to love/fan girl over it like everyone else. But I'm glad I read it. It's just a fact of life that not everything will affected people the same way I guess.