Pirate Prince's Plunder Of The Week: Berserk!
It's that time of the week again, and your irrepressible Pirate Prince is here to present yet another manga Plunder of the Week: Berserk. Berserk is the story of a tall, dark and handsome swordsman named Guts who bashes his way through a dangerous, demon infested world, encountering humorous and often horrific situations along the way. Drawn expertly and with heavy, dark lines by Kentaro Miura, Berserk is a story that you won't soon forget. For more info, I command thee to make the jump, savvy?
Let's get one thing straight--Berserk is not for the faint of heart, or for that matter, those under eighteen. This is some heavy stuff. You will see decapitated heads, limbs flying akimbo, and atrocities of a psychosexual nature throughout this gruesome tale. No character is safe from Miura's deadly pen. Just as you start to care for a young princess, for instance, he'll unleash a volley of tragedy and disaster on her so quick you'll almost feel nauseous. In fact, I have often finished one of the manga volumes with a decidedly iffy stomach. Although his story is often cruel, there is a bravery and truth behind it that transcends it from the level of being grotesque for grotesque's sake.
Brought to the states by Dark Horse Comics, and available up to the 17th volume, but the series is still being produced in Japan, with 286 chapters, and 31 volumes total. The art was, admittedly, a little rough for my standards at first, but it has definitely grown on me. Miura takes painstaking detail on all of his pages, with double spreads of imposing castles, huge vistas of soldiers on horseback, and detailed closeups of Guts' impressive physique. Yep, you heard me right boys, Berserk has a lot of male nudity. There are countless pages of Guts' impressive musculature, and I've counted several jock and butt shots (not that I'm counting).
Berserk has a ton to offer if you give it a chance, and can get past the extreme violence and often offensive scenes that can take place. The story of Guts has many very adult things to offer, including what it means to be a man, what it means to exist in a mindless world, the importance of one's dream and choosing whether or not to let it overtake you, perseverance in the face of annihilation, the will to live, the psychology of power and sex, and so on... Just when you think you've got a handle on Berserk, Miura throws a scene at you that can leave you awestruck.
This is truly a manga worth the time, effort and money. Not just because I say so, but because a Pirate knows best...
Pirate Prince
Posted to Hot Stuff, Miscellany on 27 June 2007
· Comments (10)
Other stuff like this: berserk, kentaro miura, manga, pirate prince, plunder of the week
Hey Pirate Prince, have you had the chance to play Sword of the Berserk: Guts' Rage for the Dreamcast? Although polygons can't do pen and ink justice, the game is well worth playing for any fan of Miura's manga.
Bad prince! Bad, bad prince. Digging out a manga that has seen the better part of a decade (still awesome though), only to omit the most interesting character to your dear readers: Griffith, the white "hawk" (y'know, sometimes the japanses get animals mixed up)... Seriously.
*snickers* Oh Griffith.
...he's just a girl, who can't say no..!
ahh... Berserk... good'ol days!
I personally prefer Berzerk. Berzerk is the story of a bunch of pixels, shaped like a neckless man, shooting at other pixels, shaped like trash cans with limbs. Occasionally the "Have A Nice Day" smiley face comes out and kills the neckless bunch of pixels and/or the trash cans.
And that's about it.
I believe the smiley face Raindog is refering to is named Evil Otto, but my memory of the late 70s is a little fuzzy...
Sometimes over-explanation can really kill a joke.
you guys are crazy--berserk is still going! new chapters are still being released! i thought about bringing up griffith but, i knew it would go on too long and it would be boring for those who hadn't read it yet. plus, he's a good character to meet without any preconceived notions.
although he was totally in love with guts.
I'm still disappointed that they never finished the animated series. :\
yes, the animated series was something else. :(