-This review contains no spoiler.-

Introduction :
Tells the journey of a young swordsman named Guts who always attended wars as a mercenary, until he met with the leader of the Band of the Hawk, Griffith, who was interested in getting Guts to join his group after being impressed by Guts' sword skills. Band of the Hawk itself is a group of mercenaries who have an unbeatable reputation and are quite well known in the Midland area.

I deliberately wrote so briefly in the synopsis above so that I did not make blunder touching the spoiler realm, because I must admit, it is very difficult to tell Berserk without touching the spoiler at all, and believe me, the more you are blind about Berserk, the greater your potential to feel extraordinary satisfaction when Following his story. If you don't know Berserk, don't worry, I won't mock you outdated, not cool or so, because indeed the age of Berserk which is the work of Kentaro Miura is quite old. The manga was released in 1988 and still continues today(!). And the anime adaptation itself was first aired 9 years later. Although the animation picture itself is indeed unsatisfactory and has many shortcomings, but who would have thought that the low quality of the animation would actually increase the
atmosphere of the Berserk world horror so that the anime deserves a classic status. So don't be surprised if many Berserk fans recommend watching the original anime rather than the trilogy of the actual anime film which has satisfying animation and 3D quality and Berserk anime which was just released last year and continues its journey this year too. I, who have watched all versions of Berserk anime, might agree with those fans' opinions. No need to ask again how disappointing the 2016 version of the anime that the level of badness fell to an alarming level so it is not a wise step for those of you who want to get acquainted with Berserk through this version. The trilogy movie itself has above-average anime quality, but of course three films which are approximately 2 hours long in each film are not able to move all the important scenes in the manga into the film so there must be important scenes that are not aired. If you want to get acquainted with the Berserk anime version, watch the original version.
Seriously, you will not mess around with old school pictures when you have drowned with the fascinating Berserk story.

What makes Berserk great?

Everything I want is all in Berserk. Starting from the protagonist characters who are different from usual, the storyline that does not necessarily talk about the dream of the main character, the characters are filled with anti-heroes, the point of what is in Berserk managed to eliminate my thirst and thought "THIS IS WHAT I'VE BEEN LOOKING FOR". Life in the Berserk world makes the world of Shingeki No Kyojin nothing. Not only filled with blood-thirsty evil demons, the world of Berserk is also exacerbated by the characters in it who seem to be without morals and truly adhere to the legal system "The strong is he who survives." What Miura wants to convey with the brutality of life in the simple Berserk animanga, which shows that humans are actually only creatures driven by desires born of lust itself. The easiest example is just Griffith. Nearly 100% of Berserk fans hated Griffith's decision at the close of the Golden Age Arc, but I am sure, when asked if you could
make a decision contrary to Griffith, almost all of them would be silent because we inevitably have to admit that the decision taken by Griffith was very reasoned, seen from his characterization and what he had experienced before. This one is one of the many reasons why the Golden Age Arc is the best arc I have ever read in the animanga world. Do not miss the levels of gore, blood rain, severed head, body split, not a strange sight that you will find in the Berserk series that automatically makes Berserk not the right meal for those who are not familiar with these things.

To deal with such a cruel world, it is necessary to have the main character who is able to make connoisseurs of animanga like I believe can survive in such a messy condition, and that character is none other than Guts, where when I have completed the Golden Age Arc, I considered Guts is the best badass character in the world of comics, hell, he's the role model that I've been searching for long time. Character writing is the biggest aspect why Berserk deserves to be named the best manga at the moment. Both the main characters and their supporters get a portion of the character development for each arc. Take for example the three main characters in the Golden Age Arc namely Guts, Griffith and Casca who experienced significant changes when the Golden Age Arc closed its curtain. Griffith experienced suffering that he might never have imagined before, Casca who opened his heart to Guts who was previously the man he hated the most and Guts began to return to believe in a comrade in arms that he could trust and he considered friends. Everything flows as it is without the slightest impression of being rushed or forced. Miura did not stop there, because after the Golden Age Arc the characters involved in each arc continued to develop, such as Farnese and Serpico who were able to cover the void left by Casca before (if you know what I mean). But there will always be a special treatment from the author for the main character and that's what Miura did in Berserk by making Guts, the main character, a tragic hero.

Not without reason why I made Guts as a role model in my life. If you have read Berserk at least spent the Golden Age Arc, surely realize how hard the life that Guts has lived. A little backstory about Guts, he was born from a woman who had become a corpse, adopted by mercenaries who taught nothing but fighting or swinging a sword. Guts' childhood was filled with the rigors of the world of war, and when he found the figure of a father in Gambino, the army who adopted him, Guts was even betrayed in a heinous way, which made Guts have problems in trusting the existence of friends. And when he found his place in the Band of the Hawk, Guts again accepted the bitter reality (well, just watch / read closing of the Golden Age Arc). Guts is a perfect example of defining the tragic hero himself. What makes Guts's character awesome is, no matter the pain, bitterness, loss, betrayal he has experienced, Guts refuses to surrender, and continues to move forward, so I really hope Miura will end the Berserk story with Guts getting the end he deserves.

Artwork : 10/10

There may be certain reasons why the anime version, especially the most recent version, is not able to describe the true atmosphere of Berserk, yes because the material that must be raised to the anime version has the kind of god art quality.

Just, holy shit. Notice how Kentaro Miura pays close attention to the slightest detail, and not only excellence in its artistic scratches, Miura successfully builds an atmosphere of horror in the Berserk world. Seeing this picture of the god Miura I can understand why Miura often took hiatus in publishing his manga. This may be a decision that results in disappointment from some fans who can't wait to see Guts get what he deserves, but I personally don't mind, as long as the quality of the Berserk remains stable and does not experience a decline in the quality of both the telling and the art. It is precisely the minor complaint from me that Miura often places various monsters or characters that have supernatural powers which for me are excessive. Also supporting characters who often take the Guts spotlight as the main protagonist, where not infrequently Guts are only used as characters who fight great enemies without any strong motive behind them. Though the battles that took place at the Golden Age Arc or at the Conviction Arc were personal battles for Guts so that the fans felt enthusiastic about watching the battle.

Well, nevertheless, Berserk is a work that deserves to be crowned as a classic that will always be interesting to follow. For those of you who want to try Berserk, maybe it's better to start first with the anime version in 1997. Don't think too much about the anime graphics that look stiff or old, pay attention to the storyline and the characters that can make us feel
attached.

Thanks for reading.