Customer Reviews

Berserk, Vol. 4

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This novel brings us to the start of the Golden Age Saga of Berserk where Gutts first meets Griffith. For those who have watched the anime, this novel will feel like a retread, but be assured that the artwork detailed in the book is more then worth the purchase price.

The tv show destroyed my heart and these novels take the experience even deeper and of course theyve once again ripped out my heart chewed it up and spit it out..YES ITS THAT INDEPTH OF A STORY...I would not recommend these to young kids as it does have a mature theme to it...Anyone who loves anime and have never experienced Besrerk please do yourself the favor snap in to it.

It is probably best to face the controversial issue in this volume right up front. The previous installment finished with little Guts as in a precarious situation. And as expected, the soldier that paid Gambino, the boy's stepfather and "protector", for a night with Guts, achieves his goal in a vicious manner. The scenes in the manga are clear and vividly disturbing, but I think that given the nature of this series it is reasonable to go this route instead of excluding the scene and only mentioning it. This brutal act is a key piece in understanding Guts, his distrust of other people and the hate and darkness he carries inside. At this point, I am fully aware that events of this nature are likely to show up again in this series, I accept it and it is not going to detract from my enjoyment of it.

On a different note, I found that this volume contained a considerably larger amount of dialogue and the absence of demons (if you discount Griffith) gives it the felling of a more typical story in medieval times. The volume follows Guts through his childhood and life as a mercenary. Maybe even more importantly, we witness the moment in which Guts meets Griffith and his Hawks, including the mighty female warrior Casca. Guts confrontations with Griffith are some of the best I have ever seen.

I have commented in my reviews of previous volumes about how detailed and vivid the graphics on this series are. In this case, I believe that the graphics were taken up a notch, or maybe it is because the nature of the story calls for more light, and therefore the details are easier to observe. The storyline is still fascinating and as I mentioned before violence and gore are present as usual. It is amazing how someone can create characters with such depth using images and sparse words; hats off to Kentaro Miura!

it was good and i would suggest it to any one looking for a good story

I'll start with the way this manga began, which is really the only reason why I took two stars from what I had guaranteed myself would be a five. In the previous volume, what I thought was an implied molest ended the graphic novel, but this volume picks up from that final scene and continues it all the way up to penetration. Though not graphically drawn, the motions and the imagery make it quite clear what is happening to the young Guts. This was an ugly scene that actually caused me to put this manga down for a while. Not only that, but it was unneeded. After finishing volume three, I had already known what had or was going to happen to Guts, as I'm sure most of the readers of this manga knew as well. And while the book has a sticker on the cover stating that there is graphic content within these pages, I think this was taking it too far. Violence and nudity is tolerable, but this wasn't. Kentaro Miura, or even the American publishers, could have cut this scene by two or three pages and it still would have made plenty of sense. It left me with a bad taste and I nearly gave this book a one because of it.

Luckily, though, it still is Berserk, and after that distasteful beginning, the story goes on into Guts's past. His history with Gambino is concluded in this volume, and his place with Griffith and the Band of the Hawk begins. For anyone who saw the anime first, this will be instantly familiar to you. Guts's beginnings with the Band of Hawk is not good. It begins as a series of confrontations and death, until Guts finally faces off with Griffith. It's this battle that determines Guts's future with the Band. After that, Guts begins his first official assignment, and determines that he'll succeed no matter what the costs. Despite the darker tones of the previous volumes, this volume is a little darker without the presence of the comic relief Puck.

Now, though I may be repeating myself, I will only recommend this book to fans of the Berserk series. If you're aren't really interested, then stay away from this book. And if you weren't impressed by the first couple volumes, then stop now so as not to find yourself extremely disappointed with a very graphic beginning. But, if you're aren't as sensitive as me, I'd still only recommend this book for readers eighteen years of age or older. There is nothing in Berserk that should appeal to kids in any way, and parents should avoid purchasing this for their children.