I wanted to love Berserk. And to give it credit, I did, for the first two arcs. But after the masterfully done "Golden Age" arc, Berserk falls flat on it's face and as the pages continue to turn it becomes increasingly apparent that author Kentaro Miura has no idea what he wants to do with his story.

Berserk starts off pretty strong. The first arc, commonly referred to as "The Black Swordsman Arc" has a bad rep online, often being sited as the weakest of the five current arcs. But compared to the latter three, I think it's one of the story's best. It does have it's weak points, but after the first few chapters, the arc builds up a lot of momentum and leads to great moments with interesting characters, especially the villain and his daughter. Berserk was very promising after it's first three volumes, and it delivered. Everyone's already talked about how amazing the Golden Age Arc is, and yes, it's that good. It's phenomenal. A 10/10, a masterpiece that shows Miura at the top of his game. But unfortunately, after such a good setup to what could've been the best manga of all time, Miura drops the ball. And unfortunately for the reader, it's a long, mediocre descent.

I have a long list of complaints about the arcs that take place after GA. They're not absolute trash, but just knowing how great they could've been makes the pages feel so much worse. The biggest issue for me, besides the introduction of magic, is that Puck's character is not developed whatsoever. Puck was set up to be Guts' sidekick but is instead turned into a comic relief with no actual personality or power over the story. The group following Guts is boring and immediately feels out of place within the story. What made Berserk so great was the relationship between Guts, Griffith, and Casca, so why Miura decided to completely destroy Casca's character and the relationship between the three is completely beyond me. As it keeps going, especially with the introduction of magic, it doesn't even feel like Berserk anymore. It's hard to believe the same person that wrote the GA arc also wrote the infamous "Boat Arc" that was 50 chapters with one of the most generic, boring villains i've ever seen and a pointless island that adds another pointless character to the Guts' boring group. As I kept reading, it just didn't feel like Berserk anymore.

The overwhelming positivity and number one MAL ranking makes me wonder if I read the same piece of literature that everyone else did. I wanted to love Berserk, and i'm glad I was able to for the first 1/3 of the story. But after that, it fails to stay interesting, unique, and play on the aspects that made it so good in the first place.

ARC RANKINGS:
Black Swordman Arc: 8/10
GA Arc: 10/10 (Best Arc Ever)
Conviction Arc: 7.5/10
Falcon of the Millennium Empire Arc: 6.5/10
Fantasia Arc: 6/10