Games - Berserk

	Games - Berserk

|} :For other articles related to the word "berserk" see Berserker (disambiguation)

Berserk (ベルセルク Beruseruku) is a heroic fantasy manga by mangaka Kentaro Miura.

With over 29 million volumes sold, it is one of the most successful adult manga ever. Berserk takes place in a setting similar to Europe in the Middle Ages. It centers around the life of Guts, an orphaned mercenary warrior, and his relationship to Griffith, the leader of a mercenary band called the Hawks. Both the manga and anime are noted for their heavy content of violence.

Currently, 31 volumes of the manga have been published in Japan.

Berserk manga

Miura first premiered Berserk in 1988 with a 48-page prototype, which won a prize at the Comi Manga School where he was enrolled at the time. The following year, the first volume of the manga was released. Three more volumes appeared until Berserk was serialized by Young Animal in 1992, and new episodes are still being released in the semi-monthly (every second and fourth Friday of the month) magazine. Volumes are released biannually in Japan by Jets Comics, and contain 8-11 episodes depending on the release.

In America, the manga is translated and published by Dark Horse Comics, which has released ten volumes so far, the first in October 22, 2003. As with other Dark Horse manga releases like Hellsing or Trigun Maximum, the Japanese reading format from right to left is preserved in the English release.

For a list of the chapters, see the Chapter Listing.

Berserk anime

In 1997, production began on a 25-episode anime series of the first thirteen volumes of the manga, titled 剣風伝奇ベルセルク (Kenpū Denki Berserk). Though it chronicles how Guts served Griffith in the Band of the Hawk, the TV adaptation took limited liberties with the story, which was too broad to be adapted perfectly to video. The story was taken largely intact, although certain characters, and the most violent or brutal scenes, were modified or removed. The series was animated by OLM (Oriental Light and Magic), and broadcast on Nippon Television in a post-midnight slot from October 7th 1997 to April 31st, 1998. In America, the anime series has been dubbed/subtitled and published by Media Blasters, and has never aired there but is available on DVD and VHS.

The anime only "accurately" portrayed volumes five through eight of the manga. No other volumes covered remain intact to the true story, and some, such as volume 11, were even removed completely. Because those changes were approved by the series creator Kentaro Miura, many fans claim that the anime is nothing more than a giant advertisement for the manga itself. Others, however, claim the anime is meant to be an introduction to the story, not the story itself.

Characters

Note: All subsequent names come from the English translation, and Miura's statements about the official transliterations of the characters names in the beginning of Volume 27.

Main characters

Guts (ガッツ lit. Gattsu)
Guts is the protagonist of the story; a tall, muscular white male with a sword about 7' long and 12" wide at its base with a prosthetic left forearm (that also conceals a cannon). Guts is a tragic hero; he is born as one who may be able to struggle against Causality, but unable to maintain it indefinitely. The second story arc of the series revolves around his childhood and adolescence in a mercenary band after being adopted by the band's leader Gambino, and his subsequent joining of, and departure from, the Band of the Hawk. The dynamic and turbulent relationship between Guts and Griffith, the leader of this group, forms the primary focus of the manga for the first thirteen volumes. After the events of the Eclipse, in which he loses his left forearm and right eye, Guts seeks revenge on Griffith (now Femto). Upon doing so, he is subsequently reunited with Casca after two years seperation. After the Incarnation Ceremony at Albion, Guts now travels with a new group of companions. He currently possesses the Berserk's Armor, an ancient, cursed suit of armor that allows the wearer to overcome his physical and mental boundaries in combat. Doing so damages his body and allows his inner beast, a feral dog-like demon, to take over and endanger everyone in the vicinity, friend or foe.

Griffith (グリフィス lit. Gurifisu)
Griffith is the founder and leader of the mercenary army Band of the Hawk. Extraordinarily charismatic and handsome, his tactical skill gives him and his army the reputation of invincibility, making him the favoured choice of the king of Midland, who is locked in a long and devastating war against the Empire of Chuder. He is willing to sacrifice everything for his dream of glory, believing that he is destined for things greater than the average man can aspire to. However, being of common heritage, Griffith must prove through battle his mettle in a court where everything depends on birthright. After he won the war for Midland, he challenged Guts to a duel for Guts' freedom and lost, leading to Guts' departure from the band. Griffith, broken and feeling betrayed briefly finds comfort in the arms of Charlotte, the Princess of Midland. The affair is soon discovered, after which Griffith is imprisoned and tortured for a full year. He is rescued by Casca and Guts, but he has been already physically crippled and mentally broken. In the depths of despair, thoughts of his dream's end drive him to summon the God Hand. He gives up the Band of the Hawk for sacrifice, with only Casca and Guts surviving, and becomes Femto - the final member of the God Hand. Two years later, Griffith is reincarnated in the city of Albion; he now leads a newly formed Band of the Hawk, still in pursuit of his dream to obtain his own kingdom.

[ Visit the complete Wikipedia entry for Berserk ]

Games - Berserk

Berserk manga

Berserk anime

Characters

Main characters

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