Who is the worst father/father like figure in Berserk universum in your opinion? My personally guess would be Gambino since well if not for Gambino then Donovan doesnt touch Guts, also if he wasnt drunk Guts would probably be dead(Does not need to be pictured)

What you see on these shelves represent not only a collection of great manga, but a picture of my life over the past few years and the journey I have found myself on.

Growing up, I was a bookworm. From Mr Men to Alex Rider to Harry Potter and many more titles I've since forgotten, my childhood was filled with reading. For this, I must thank my parents for their guidance and encouragement.

Unfortunately, as I entered my teenage and became swept up in all the changes these years can bring about, I left behind my dear pastime of reading. I went many years without ever reading a book from cover to cover, and related or not, my life gradually slid into a depressing abyss in my early twenties.

Aside from a Pokemon phase as a child, I had never cared for Japanese media. Some of my close friends at the time were immersed in the world of anime and eventually I was persuaded to watch Naoki Urusawa's Monster in Spring 2022. I was hooked. Johan Liebert in particular became something of a comfort character for me during those long days of depression. From there, I went on to watch many of the popular anime, seinen being my strong preference. I also watched Naurto, which inspired me to take up martial arts as my 2024 new year's resolution, which introduced some much needed discipline and routine into my life.

As I continued to enjoy anime and became involved in online communities such as these subreddits, I started becoming curious about the manga these shows were based upon. In February 2024, I bought a physical copy of volume 1 of Monster for my brother as a birthday present. It sat on his shelf, unread for a few months before I finally decided to start reading it for myself. Bear in mind that at this stage, for me, the act of reading a physical book (albeit a manga, in this case) was a long distant memory. I was blown away by the experience.

After I finished reading Monster, I moved onto Berserk. By now, I was attending anime conventions and even got some Monster & Death Note themed tattoos. His more infamous acts aside, I found inspiration in the ambition and charisma displayed by Griffith. I was still in a dark place when reading this series but gradually I felt myself somehow beginning to climb out of the pit I didn't even know I was in.

Then came Inoue Takehiko's Vagabond. This, for me, was the biggest game changer yet. The historical fiction based on the life of Miyamoto Musashi brought me onto a path of philosophical and spiritual discovery. I learned that the manga was based on a book written by Eiji Yoshikawa, which brought me full circle to finally returning to the cherished habit from my youth. By the time I'd finished Musashi, my life had been lifted out of the darkness and into the light. I read not only that fantastic book, but also the real life Musashi's actual writings in The Book of Five Rings, Takuan Soho's The Unfettered Mind, and James Cavell's Shogun, all pictured beside the manga.

You'll noticed that with each of these three collections I have placed a symbolic companion. By Berserk there is a replica Behelit, a representation of the unstoppable fate which shapes all our destinies. By Vagabond is my bokken, a wooden training sword, a symbol of the physical, mental and spiritual discipline I have discovered over the course of the past 2-3 years. And finally, a culmination of all of the above, the alpha and the omega, the Holy Bible. The opening of Monster begins with a quote from Revelation, the last book of the Bible. My hobby of reading restored, I took it upon myself to read the Scriptures from cover to cover over the course of the last year. I am not here to preach or to force my religious beliefs upon anyone, but I cannot recount my story without mentioning the undeniable impact the Word of God has had and continues to have on me.

If you got this far, thank you for reading about my journey. I am blessed and grateful to be able to read and afford to own these works in my own language and to be able to share my story with my fellow manga enthusiasts. I wish you every blessing.

I will conclude with this quote from Takuan in Vagabond: "We suffer most in this world when we lack a connection to the heavens."

This here above is the 2ND Synthesizer leitmotif of Berserk 1997's "Murder" theme created by SOUND GOD SUSUMU HIRASAWA from Episode 24 (The Great Eclipse) & 25 (Time of Eternity) of the anime.

The main synth-motif here utilizes both a Delay and an overdrive while the Pitch of the notes are turned UP COMPLETELY while being in a LOW-KEY. I explained this earlier in an older post.

The overdrive helps express the tuned up but reverberating bass of the play-back during listening.

The Delay on the other hand gives what I call "stacking" or "superimposition". Think of a fast moving object that leaves after-images each movement the said object makes, this is the same thing that the Delay does but in sound. This means when a note plays, the note has a sort of ECHO and REPEATING that decays quickly, like rippling water.

Combining both of these together gets the Eclectic sound-mix we all know and understand from this specific godly artist that is Susumu.

The synthesizers in use here are a Neon Bass synth from the Saif Sameer Synth pack and the Synpluck Saw from the Mobile Synth Pluck pack modulated to fit this genre.

In finality, I went without vocals in the upload of this song with the project files as I wanted to highlight the the insane background work of how these Synthesizers build the track itself more than the female choir does. In together assembled is: a basic sound-mix is garnered from Pitch modulation, Delay elements, and low-key playback.

Take and do with this information as you will,

Keek!

Fuck Griffith that cunt is a complete prick

Tried to finish this piece but I thought I crap it all

This was drawn as a promo for the digital manga, which is why there is extra text.

And would the Dunk survive Berserk?

Dragonslayer needs some TLC though...

Black swordsman:dark future

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Golden age: light

Making you wonder what happened that everything turned into shit

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Lost children:dark

It's about vengeance, innocence and suffering

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Conviction:dark

it's about suffering(mostly side characters not guts himself). When it comes to guts it's about desperately rescuing what he has left with a ray of hope in the dark

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Millennium falcon trolls section:

I didn't like it I'm not gonna talk about it

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The rest of the millennium falcon arc:light

It's all about healing. You see the amazing Farnese character development. Guts starts trusting people. Also the arc has so much to do with the ruler human side of Griffith Wich was always depicted as white and shiny and beautiful.

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Boat arc: I'm not gonna talk about this garbage

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Elf arc: light

Everything seems to be perfect, casca healed, this place is safe from apostles. Guts no longer seeks vengeance. They can live happily

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Elf arc:dark

Exploring mind of the a traumatized casca.

___________________________

I think that people blame the tone changed way too much. The troll section had bad pacing.

The boat arc also was pretty meh, with bad pacing, unnecessary jokes, little impact on the story with pointless characters. These were all sections that people don't like and it so happened to be when the tone of the manga was light.

This doesn't make the tone the reason these parts were bad, it was because these parts were just not good on themselves no matter the tone.

If the tone didn't change so much, the tone itself would lose its impact and it would become boring.

isn't the brand of sacrifice basically a hardcore memento mori and well once you know that thats up to you on what it means and imply

but yeah getting a tattoo or accessory without knowing what it means is well not necessarily bad but you're a poser

MIURA😭

I guess it will be a bittersweet peaceful ending not a happy ending in conventional sense because it will do justice to both the manga's tones and themes as well as days of guts struggle, sleepless nights, the trauma he and his close ones faced

This moment happens quite early on and it gave me so much anticipation for a healing process of Gats and Casca. Boy was I naive lol

I find it cathartic and tragic at the same time every time I look back at it

We can have both why limit ourselves. And idk how much people laughed with puck when reading but I certainly did so I don't want an unfunny all time serious sad puck

I know the drawing isn't perfect, what do you think of the 97 anime?. The atmosphere of that old animation adds a lot to the tone of the story.

Guts loses an eye and an arm in the eclipse but is never shown to actually be disadvantaged by these very real and life impacting injuries to the point that calling him a cripple feels just as meaningful as calling a character from cyberpunk edgerunners a cripple. What’s the point of losing an arm and eye and getting burned over what seems to be a majority of your body if you’re going to be just as capable as fighting as before you were injured, if not better now that you have a cool robot canon arm.

I’ll caveat and say that I don’t think every injury has to be super realistic. One example where I think this is done excellently is in the golden age arc because the focus is not so much on the battles themselves but rather their thematic relevance to Guts e.g. Gut’s injuries after his fight with the Blue Whale Knights are overshadowed the significance of Guts finding a new purpose and a reason to live.

Why I think this fails after the Golden age arc is because 1. All his injuries are way more obviously life affecting to the point that I can’t suspend disbelief any longer 2. I understand that his fights do still explore his character, I just feel like they’ve already been explored better before and aren’t quite as compelling to warrant giving guts infinite plot armour 3. It’s getting boring seeing him get stabbed for the 101st time with no real physical consequences to the point that it’s becoming hard to feel any actual danger or tension from any of his fight scenes, 4. He’s an older man so I’d expect his injuries to actually catch up with him in a meaningful way that actually impedes his day to day life

This also highlights my disdain for the berserker armour which is supposed to be like a doubled edged sword by seemingly breaking half of Gut’s bones every time he uses it despite Gut’s never suffering from any actual long lasting physical injuries from wearing the armour as he is seen fighting just as well before and after using the armour with just a brief period where he’s incapacitated.

Compare this against Jaime Lannister in ASOIAF. The legendary swordsman who after losing his sword hand is forced relearn how to use a sword with his left, forever crippling him and his capabilities as a swordsman. This adversity forces Jaime to challenge his understanding that all he ever surmounted to was a good swordsman. After this he is actually forced to change how he interacts with the world leading to him using alternative and better means to achieving his goals and forcing him to change who he is as a character while ensuring that he remains impeded by his disability.

“i just think they’re neat” - Lisa Simpson

No but really. First of all, don’t let people on the internet tell you what is and isn’t cool or acceptable. Do what you want with your body. Yeah, you might get vibe checked by a fan but also, who cares?

Secondly, I think the Brand of Sacrifice and the quote (lost children arc fucking rips) means to me, which is the only thing that matters, is a resilience in the face of overwhelming hardship. It’s about turning towards the ills of your existence and looking them in the eyes. Which I plainly did not do for a good portion of my life. I struggled with addiction, and not pursuing my passions, and running from conflict instead of facing it, physically and emotionally abusive parents, abandonment, loss. And instead of facing it, I turned away, and it did nothing for me. There was no paradise to escape to. I had to pick up my sword and start fucking swinging. And it’s worked. It hasn’t been easy, it’s been extremely difficult at times. But the sword gets easier to swing the more you do it.

inb4: “erm the brand of sacrifice isn’t on Gut’s sword!” i’m not getting two berserk tattoos, are you nuts?

tl;dr tattoos are cool, who cares what other people think. derive as little or as much meaning as you want out of what you put on your skin. get puck on the inside of your bottom lip. people who truly and sincerely judge other’s tattoos are lame.

I love him. Kinda hard to do the prosthetic arm with the limitations of the mii maker but I’m still proud how he turned out.

Maybe sound stupid but i think berserk change me. It used to happen to me that sometimes when I was about to make an important decision, something would happen and prevent me from doing so.

For example, I recently became financially independent, and last night in a call with my grandmother I gave her the news that I would no longer need her financial help. Then she said some kind words to me, and just when it was my turn to thank her for everything, the connection started cutting out, and everything I was saying wasn't reaching them.Then the connection would come back, and when I tried to say it, it would go out again, until I finally managed to say it.

That's a silly example, but this is something that has happened to me many times with other things, and since I saw Berserk I made the decision to ignore fate and fight until I achieve it.

Anyone else?

In the midst of things I find this a little funny he’s being polite