User rating of this review - 2.24 out of 5
Story/Plot - 3 out of 5
Characters - 3 out of 5
Drawing Style - 5 out of 5
Enjoyment - 3 out of 5
Overall - 3 out of 5
Plot/Story
First Major Arc: A tortuous and maddening past created a frightening warrior, but the chance meeting with a gregarious knight created a chivalric everyman's hero. He learns to love and be loved. Yet fate has naught but cruel paths paved. An unexpected betrayal erases the hero into a ruthless avenger, bent on destruction and vengence.
Second Major Arc: Cue the idiotic fairy, the horny swordswoman, the mysterious strategist, the kid with potential, a clueless damsel in distress and a loli-witch and you have yourselves a messed up party of random pointless questing and such.
Characters
The characters were well constructed and played significant parts in mutual development as the story progressed in the First Major Arc. They were consistent with their ideologies and the paths they've chosen were moreso realistic and mortal.
The characters (from hereon referred to the "party") of the Second Major Arc consists of stereotyped Adventure-genre folks, each equipped with an enchanted weaponry of their 'element", able to unlock more power as they "believe" in their weapons more and more. Oh, and did I mention that once the weapon is given to a certain person, the "enchantments" of each weapon "familiarizes" with the person holding it, refusing to let others use it? How cool and exciting is that!
Last but not least don't forget to put in awkward character deviancies to help create fun and totally original drama between the party. Who cares about staying true to their personalities when you can sell 21 million copies of garbage on paper!
Drawing Style
The drawing seems old, because it* was *old. Beginning in 1988, it was obvious the palettes chosen and styles of characters created. Enter the late 90's where fanboys outnumbered true fantasy-genre fans by about as much as the Persians to the Spartans (sorry, couldn't resist), now it's all about the brain-rotting fan-service, the slapstick of side characters, and a very disturbing romantic development between a gigantic loner with a "dark past" and a vertically challenged Sabrina. And lo and behold, this witch ain't even a teen yet. (or is she? cue dramatic music)
Nothing to complain about from a strict art point of view. The effort put into each frame is comparable to Miyazaki's saga about a princess who loved nature. The art also moved with the times accordingly, but not as much as to break the flow.
Enjoyment
The story was captivating and breathtaking. It gives no pause and it hits you wave after wave, each larger than the prior and builds almost limitless momentum.
Then it hits you with a big WTF, nekkid elf?
Now it all becomes clear, and the path chosen by the author revealed. Goodbye dark-seinen fantasy, hello action/adventure - shounen.
Overall
If you did not catch on yet, I hate what Berserk has become. I hate lines like "No humans can harm me!" or "Time to fight seriously!" or "I'll get you next time!" or "Get yer penis outta my arse!"
No matter how many boobs are exposed, or brains being chewed like gum, this manga has completely lost its "mature" and 'seinen" qualities to its desire to appeal to a greater market, known as pre-pubescent boys.
If I wanted an action/adventure shounen with side-busting comic relief with a hint of romantic comedy, there is plenty of "Id" to go around pukes. I don't need all this sex and violence. I don't need this otherwise ass-kicking half-man half-beast monstrosity of a protagonist and I don't need this beautifully detailed and intricate art.
To call this the "Star-Wars" of manga is like calling K-Fed the father of rap & hip-hop. (Unless you were referring to S-W I, II, & III.)
This manga is the epitome of what WAS and what * COULD HAVE BEEN IF NOT FOR...*
Good review, though little hard.....you really went deeper than most people, and i agree that this became more like shonen stuff, but i still have faith in his creator!....you should too, cause no matter what happen, we will keep our eyes in this one to the very end, cause we love it!!
I loved Bersek, it was by far my favorite manga, and in many aspects, it still is. However, watching it turn into Lord of the Rings rip off, and seeing Godzilla style battles between monsters kind of killed it for me. The whole story ended up being so weird, that it is no wonder that the author ran away from his own work(I mean seriously, a couple of chapters after a YEAR and then ANOTHER break(!) ?)
(I am giving it a 4, for old times' sake)
It's undeniable that Berserk currently seems more like an action/adventure-shonen manga. But if true fantasy-genre fans are as rare as you imply, the mangaka can't really afford serving only what they demand, the previous dark fantasy. He has to make a living with manga after all.
Additionally with this genre-change the manga succeeded in avoiding the threat many long manga series face - repetiveness.
However with the introduction of a witch and magical weapons etc. the plot did get a lot more generic, so I understand your disappointment.
hmm ive to say u bring up some interesting facts and some points i havent viewed that way, however ive to say that i think that puck was/is a great add to the manga as he introduced a new genre to this manga (comedy namely, at least for me), i kinda love that guy and ive to rofl at almost every sentence spoken/thought by that guy
on the other hand ive kind of to agree with u about the seinen/mature part and berserk becoming an action adventure, however ive a biased view about that,
on one hand my fav part of berserk so far was the fight with the queen-bee which was probably the most entertaining one for me (because gatts attitude and personality really comes through), the following fight with that wanabe judge was pretty good as well, however as soon as the witch enters the scene i pretty much tho "wtf" cause somehow it just didnt seem right and with the berserker armor gatts also has somewhat lost a part of his personaloty i think (which kinda killed the manga for me for about 60 chapters but the fight with daiba pretty much made up for it tho)
well on the other hand i think gatts getting companions and loosing a part of his emo-attitude was a necessary step cause... lets be serious, gatts alone wont be able seriously harm griffith (which kinda sucks as well cause the whole point of gatts surviving the eclipse was for him to get his vengeance) so he needs companions to help him cool his head on the way
well hope is not lost, im guessing that gatts will lose at least 3 of his current companions, that he will give in to his hatred at some point and that caska will get her heart/mind back while having her memorys sealed forever
non the less this manga is still damn awesome and im going to keep my rating at 10, now all thats left to do is to wait another 5 years till continuing to read will become acceptale
...sry for spamming ur review^^
... Last updated 16 years ago
I already have enough of his emo self the past 25 or so volume. who wouldn't mind some light hearted scenes?. Beside, we won't know what the author planned for the series, why not wait till the end of this arc before you give such harsh review.
This is a severely, unjustifiably harsh review (despite the effort that went into it). The grain of truth in the vitriol is that a few of the characters introduced in the latter half of the manga (Ishidoro, Schierke) aren't nearly as developed as the core cast and there are some shounen-esque moments involving them and Puck (the elf) when they give unneccesary color commentary during battles, etc. Suggesting that these minor caveats (if you mind them) bring this epic down from a must-read classic 10 to a decent 6.8 is ridiculous.
... Last updated 17 years ago
