((There is a spoiler in this review. If you saw the 90's anime, go ahead and read.))

Berserk is of course extremely popular. You probably live under a rock if you haven't heard of it. Many fans see this as a landmark not only for manga but for storytelling as a whole, and I'd say they were probably right at some point, but I'm not sure if it still holds up. I personally loved what I read, however following a number of convoluted plot developments it could no longer captivate me any more past a certain point. Thus I dropped it. Unless the author overworks themselves to an unhealthy degree, most long running manga suffer the curse of frequent lengthy hiatuses with intervals strewn by drops in quality, and Berserk is definitely one of them up there with Hunter x Hunter.

What are the strengths and weaknesses of Berserk? The artwork is definitely its biggest strength. From a visual standpoint, Miura knows what he's doing and he knows how to do it well. From the gory, bloody details of the inhuman Apostles and footsoldiers being chopped in half, to the fluently articulate armor, and to the detail in each and every brick of castle walls, Berserk simply looks beautiful.

Now, where does it falter most? I'd say it's equally with the story and characters. The characters... Initially we have Guts, Griffith, and the notable Band of the Hawk members, like Casca, Corkus, Judau, Pippin, Gaston, Rickert so on and so forth. These characters are all very enriched to a degree and show potential for very deep development, but the problem comes after the Eclipse when Griffith kills off every Band of the Hawk member to ascend to a member of the God Hand except a now one-armed Guts, a retarded Casca and an absent Rickert. What does Guts get as a replacement for his now dead friends? Two dumb kids, two fairies who exist only for comic relief and some defective church missionary chick that idolizes him. None of them do anything interesting.

Despite Guts retaining his objective to cling to life and enact revenge on Griffith, the story goes all over the place and there are point where it's even a little bit tricky to follow. I believe it reaches its peak around the Tower of Conviction arc, which encompasses every one of the good things in Berserk. Everything from there is downhill.

Unfortunately author and illustrator Kentarou Miura has grown incompetent to the point where it's not certain if this work will conclude properly, and therefore the merits of taking the time to actually read hundreds of Berserk chapters becomes obscure. Is it good? Yes. Is good enough that it's worth your time? It might not be. I can't tell you to read Berserk or tell you to stay away from it either.

Decide for yourself, but take my thoughts into account.