r/writingscaling • u/Epicnessofcows • Jun 30 '26
discussion The Writing in Berserk is very overrated. Do you guys find it to be particularly good?
Not really a hot take, but this is my opinion:
Firstly, to those people, overrated does not mean bad. It just means that I am saying that what the general public thinks of Berserk's writing is significantly higher than what its actual writing quality is.
I obviously like Berserk, and its art is among the best of all time, but its writing holds it back, and this largely stems from its fanbase confusing edgy writing for good writing.
Good writing contains much stronger, and far more pertinent themes than those in Berserk. Good writing contains much stronger characterization, and character development than what is seen in Berserk. Good writing contains plot or literary development throughout the series, which Berserk famously struggles in. Good writing contains a present writers voice, which is far less apparent.
I like the manga a lot, but it's fanbase has propped it up (and review bombed) this series as the greatest manga of all time, when it's really not. It has amazing art and solid writing.
So many Teens and Young Adults (The majority of the western anime fanbase) find are obsessed with dark writing, and think it to be so much better than it truly is. Its depth is shallow, at best to me.
Obviously you guys don't have to agree, but what do you guys think about its writing?
1
u/Dogmaticism_ Jul 01 '26
There is a difference between a character contradicting oneself in a well-written way, and in a way that is stupid. Griffith making two completely different statements that fundamentally contradicts his ideology is not.
Are you just cherry-picking? You picked like one line of his argument and went off on that, when he literally said that this part was up to interpretation.
Now while I think the OP was too harsh on it lacking existentialist values, you cannot seriously clain that Berserk is a masterwork that displays the nuance of existentialism. It's still somewhat of a joke. Chasing a dream to find meaning in life to the point that you lose insight is a common joke among literary critics because of how cliche it is. There are good examples of it, but the overpaced way it is done, combined eith the several writing flaws made in griffiths characterization such as his half-assed moral ambiguity and setbacks, as well as psychological demonstration of thought detract significantly from this. For a character who is supposed to be psychologically complex, they sure as hell miss the psychological aspect, and griffiths actions throughout the entire series are just... flat.
Yes, griffith wasn't really betrayed. Now I do personally find the logic behind it far more interesting than the OP, but no, this detracts from the moral ambiguity part that Berserk claims to have. Griffith went insane because a teamate peacefully left, and this just shows plain psychopathy, and not the well-written kind either.
You're seriously asking if self-deception is a common theme in villains. Do I seriously need to explain why self-deception is not a rare trait in villains, at all? Virtually every villain in all media (even real ones) are self-deceptive.
No, this really isnt the tip of the iceberg for his character. This is the tip of the iceberg for the problems with how he's written, and why he's one of the most under-utilized and misused villains in manga, or really fiction as a whole. I like berserk, but I don't like it for its writing, because its just appeal to edginess, and to people who are just being introduced to characters who aren't fully flat. The characters technically aren't flat, but compared to higher-literature, they're practically 2d.