I read all volumes of Berserk by Kentaro Miura (Vol. 1 to Vol. 41)

I have finished reading all available volumes and chapters of the Manga series Berserk, written by Kentaro Miura. Its first volume was published in 1990 and is still ongoing even after Miura’s death.

This has definitely been one of the greatest reading experiences of my life.

The plot was to an extremely high level that you can only find in very well-written fantasy such as the A Song of Ice and Fire series by George R. R. Martin.

The artwork is absolutely insane. It is from another universe. I believe Miura has really expanded the possibilities within the genre of Manga to its very limits in a very virtuous and robust way.

The artwork was so stunning some panels would require a good 10 to 15 minutes in absolute awe before proceeding to the next page.

I first heard of Berserk as a recommendation from a friend, and I will definitely be following all his recommendations from here on. If you want to know, he did recommend I watch the anime Monster and read the manga Vinland Saga next.

The story is about Guts, who’s a child born from a corpse in a medieval type of work, pre-industrialization. Guts lives his life as a mercenary trying to survive each day until he meets the Band of the Hawk, a group of mercenaries that were getting a big reputation in the fictional country of Midland.

The story gets extremely intricate when Guts finds out the leader of the Band of the Hawk is interested in having guts as part of his army, and their relationship goes absolutely wild from there. It’s total insanity.

Griffith, the leader of the Band of the Hawk, dreams of having a kingdom for himself, and he goes to the absolute extremes to make that wish come true.

The story is breathtaking, stomach-churning, and brain-wasting. It’s art at its peak.

If art is work, those who write manga, or mangakas, are the living example of it. Miura has devoted all his life energy to creating Berserk, and he drew and inked that manga, that story, that dream that he believed in until the last day of his life.

I am not romanticizing work exploitation as the manga industry promotes, but we cannot separate the value that the life invested into the artwork that is Berserk brings to the table.

Thank you, Miura, for devoting yourself to a dream. Devoting yourself to a possibility, to the imagination, to the other worlds, alternative lives, and universes.

I am thankful to have read this manga. I am going on a Manga break for a while, though. I feel like Berserk was such an overwhelmingly positive experience that I just want to have more high fantasy right now.

I am currently reading A Clash of Kings by George R. R. Martin—the second book of A Song and Ice and Fire. I am loving every moment of it.

I will be back soon with book reviews and, in the future, maybe more Manga.

Thank you for being here if anyone ever did get here.

Have a wonderful existence, beings of the universe!