5 Reasons to go Berserk in 2026 (*minor spoilers*)
By go Berserk, I mean go read the seinen manga “Berserk” by Kentaro Miura.
In this dark fantasy you will encounter:
Knights! - It’s incredibly cool to see so many detailed scenes of armoured knights fighting. The sheer scale of these battlefield scenes is mind-boggling.
Motion! - The art throughout is both beautiful and technically masterful. The way motion and speed are conveyed through multiple renderings in the same panel is especially delightful.
Humour! - It’s a surprise there is any humour at all in such a grim story, but it’s there. Guts even has a comedy sidekick (not pictured).
Monsters! - Now mostly the monsters in Berserk are horrific abominations (I think Kentaro Miura had H.P. Lovecraft, H.R. Giger and H. Bosch as his assistants). But there are also some classic tropes, including the loveable skeleton horde.
Feels! - All of the craft would be for nothing if it didn’t grab you emotionally. If even Guts gets the feels, you will too.
Some of you will probably be wondering whether a series as lauded as Berserk even needs a post like this. Well, I personally slept on it for years. I think what held me back were the uninspiring covers and the daunting length of the series. Fortunately, it is quite feasible to take a break after the Golden Age arc which concludes in the 5th Deluxe volume (which is where I am right now, so please no spoilers beyond that).
I had also looked at the first few pages of Volume 1 and got the impression that it was just a schlock horror tale. After all, the series starts off with a throwaway scene of the main character having sex with a demon. But actually that opening is a very helpful litmus test. If you know you are too young or too sensitive for that scene, then don’t read on! If “The Golden Age of Science Fiction is Twelve” then the “The Golden Age of Berserk is Eighteen Plus”.
Berserk is certainly a very dark series… but the horror is not taken lightly and it’s not all grimdark, as my examples show. It’s a story about love and trauma, following a leader and finding your own path, the cost of ambition and the burden of revenge.
Neat indeed, huh?