I caught up to the series back in November. It was the eighth or ninth manga I'd read (I've been transitioning away from anime towards manga recently), and after reading other series and re-reading select parts of the story, I feel like my overall perspective on Berserk has only been reinforced.

It's my personal favorite manga so far, but I do not think the series is above criticism. I'll list some brief pros and cons. Before I get started, ignore anyone who says the story falls off after the Golden Age. I've dealt with the argument before, but suffice to say, from a character, world-building, art, and meta-narrative perspective, the Falcon of the Millenium Empire Arc blows the Golden Age arc away. Honestly, the main reason I think people rate the Golden Age arc above everything else in the series is nostalgia. Either that or they read the series with distorted expectations due to all the praise for that arc. The Golden Age, while very good, has always just been a foundation for the rest of series.

Pros:
- The protagonist-antagonist dynamic aka the driving force of the series. Guts and Griffith are some of the most interesting fictional characters I've ever encountered, and the way they play off of one another is incredibly captivating. My personal favorite moment in the story isn't a fight scene or some crazy hype panel, but a conversation between these two.
- The secondary and tertiary characters are surprisingly well written. Characters like Casca, Judeau, Corkus, Farnese, Serpico, and Shierke that may initially seem like cliches are surprisingly complex. Other characters that aren't particularly complex, such as Minister Foss, Pippin, Roderick, etc. are still enjoyable.
- The dark fantasy setting. This point is a very personal one to me. I love games like Dark Souls and the Witcher, and A Song of Ice and Fire is my fictional book series.
- The art. :> There's no other series I've read where I consistently felt the urge to save a panel and/or make it wallpaper.

Cons:
- Isidro and post-Conviction arc Puck. Blech.
- The first three volumes are somewhat slow and not particularly representative of the series. They're enjoyable, especially during a re-read, but they don't really highlight the excellent character writing that's gotten Berserk the bulk of its praise.
- The sexual violence (sometimes). As general plot points, the assaults in Berserk are handled quite well, and the impact on the characters is never made light of. That being said, certain scenes are drawn similarly to hentai, and I do feel that overtly eroticizing a violent act can come across as a little cheap and misogynistic.

Conclusion. If you've got the stomach for it, 100% give this a go. I love analyzing and re-reading this series, and it's definitely one of my personal favorite stories.