The first time I was reading it, the art design of the beginning kinda deterred me. Not because it was bad (it's brilliant right off the bat and surpassing all charts of measurement after the 7th volume), but because it can be as realistically disgusting as a European medieval scenario probably should be.

However, overcoming that this manga is a masterpiece all over - up to the currently last arc, millenium falcon, sadly, where it just feels too mainstream, too arbitrary and too normal.

Whatever, that is just one story arc. Each time I'm re-reading a part of Berserk, my mind is just blown away and I hate myself for having rated Berserk down to "only" 8 temporarily because of a certain disappointment of the latest arc. Before that, it delivered over 25 volumes (!) of pure awesomeness. Every time I'm re-reading it I feel the urge of marking every second page as a brilliant highlight of arts nad staging, well knowing that the other 50% of pages will follow next time.

And also everytime I'm re-reading something, I'm understanding more of it. By no means Berserk could be considered a flat story only because it contains much action, gore and has no problems of displaying nudity. This story is deep, the character developements are complex but plausible and understandable, and the overall setting is more than epic.

Do you think that these are too many superlatives for this to be a potentially fair review? Dig through the first two or three volumes until Berserk catches you, and you won't be able to help yourself but to agree.