Berserk Deluxe Volume 1

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The Hawks' berserker champion, Guts, will take on perdition itself to save his lover, Casca, from the profane violations that only Hell can offer! People often say how difficult Japanese humour is to translate but I strongly doubt the jokes work very well over there either. In Albion, with the surrounding refugee camp in utter disarray from the starved and over-populated masses, Mozgus begins his task in the Tower of Conviction where "sinful" beggars are tortured.

Three years pass and the Band of the Hawk grow in power and numbers as they are employed by the Kingdom of Midland for its Hundred Year War against the Tudor Empire, and Griffith rises in the kingdom's hierarchy after a successful battle. Serpico retrieves a traumatized Farnese and escorts her back to their camp, allowing Guts a reprieve despite Farnese's demand to have him killed. Nina breaks down before seeing Luca, who disciplines her before forgiving her, and then learns that Casca followed her.There is a scene in which an ape-like monster tries to rape one of the main female characters and it is played way too humorously; the monster looked a bit goofy, the scene looked a lot like something from monster rape porn. Berserk has conquered the worlds of manga and anime, and now comes the essential roadmap to the sprawling Berserk universe, exploring the characters, creatures, settings, and stories of Berserk's first 38 volumes. The author seems to have a understanding of some of the weight if what he's depicting though, be careful if you are sensitive. But as it really is, I still love enough things about it and I'm still desperate to find out how the story finishes.

A stunning body of work of a harrowingly arduous tale about Friendship, Camaraderie, and what not to do when some wisened old hag, offers you a funny looking egg. A few characters prominently suffer from rape trauma and it is an important thing for the story to present better.The spirits pass Serpico and possess hounds that Guts fights off before killing a possessed horsed as it was about to rape a horrified Farnese. Guts finally manages to drive Serpico off upon disarming him, only to learn Casca and Nina are captured and taken Tower of Conviction. In their cave, the pagans intend to marry Casca to the Great Goat with Nina as a sacrificial offering, but Isidro distracts the pagans while Puck goes after Guts.

I thought one of the later fights with Serpico and Guts was a really silly idea, they are prepared to kill each other, when they stand to gain very little from that and both of them could have suffered serious consequences for killing the other. Though it isn't until later Volumes where we see how Guts arrives on this road and then how he heals in the aftermath of certain cataclysmic events. He probably could have shown a lot more cool monsters and places if he didn't feel the need to show everything that happened at each time.The series is a beautiful work, I especially love the authors use of two page panels(actually why I went for physical copy) and I'd put his line work on par with junji ito. It isn't really a good or a bad thing but there are several visible inspirations from films like Hellraiser, Phantom Of Paradise and Pet Semetery. I mean the Elves of the Misty Valley part with the two girls' friendship; the trolls invading the village, the floods and the swampy forest caves where the trolls live; the pirates, sea monsters and merrows part. Good guys" fighting in comics has always been a major turnoff to me, it always makes the heroes look like fools who don't realise there are more important things going on.

Everything in between is pretty much a rollercoaster whirl of violence, rude bits, philosophical waffle and some of the darkest themes ever to (dis)grace the media and not get banned. He sometimes poses as if he is trying very hard to look cool and his hair looks way too neatly styled for a guy with his lifestyle (you never see him with facial hair no matter how rough his days have been). But Guts mocks Farnese about her authority and her faith, provoking her to whip him in rage before Azan stops her and locks Guts in a cage. The landscapes, scenery, architecture, castles, armour, boats, corpses and monsters all look excellent; there are lots of really brilliant images that succeed mightily in grandeur, awe, nasty brutality and grotesque.Berserk has been my favorite manga, fantasy story and perhaps favorite story ever made for over a decade now and I was really sad to hear that the man behind the masterpiece passed away earlier this year.