#I know I said I have mixed opinions on animated asoiaf

[francy-sketches]

Also speaking of possible prequels I want a dunk and egg show BUT only if it’s animated. I want to see baelor make a ‘gh!’ sound of disbelief when his helmet is taken off before half his head cleanly slides off, followed by diagonal slices in of characters having shocked reactions. Like an anime.

[midnight-in-town]

What is your opinion on Berserk? I've seen it floating around on Tumblr for ages and I'm a bit intrigued. I want to know if it's something that I would like to read in the future. Is it good?

Hello Anon :) Ah, you asked a… complicated question somehow, so I hope my answer will be good enough to make you understand how great this series can be. Though a quick search of “Berserk” on my blog should have given you a good idea of what I think about it in the first place.

“Is it any good?”

God, yes and it is even beyond the level of good in my opinion: be it about the art (google it), the story, the characters or the settings, it’s so good that it can even become pleasurable for the best arcs. 

To be quite honest, it’s probably one of the best stories that I’ve come across (in general, amongst all the manga/books/comics I’ve read) and I’m definitely not the only one thinking it’s that good. 

I also think it’s that good because there are many themes addressed within the story and it’s not just about violence or bloodshed unlike what we can initially assume, since romance also has a proeminent role for example, just like friendship and family do.

So yes, it’s really really really good but it’s extraordinarily hard to put it into words. 

Is it something you would like to read in the future?

I don’t know you so I can’t say for sure, but as long as you’re not triggered by things like violence (there is a lot of that), rape, minor incest, gore and torture, I think you should be okay with at least trying it and seeing whether you can enjoy it or not. 

Here’s a spoiler-free and over-simplified summary that I edited from the one on Wikipedia:

Guts is a wandering mercenary whose entire world from birth is warfare and bloodshed. Born from his mother’s corpse, his adoptive mother dies from the plague when Guts is young and he is enlisted within his adoptive father’s mercenary group.

Years later, as Guts continues to prove his worth on the battlefield, he catches the attention of the leader of the “Band of the Hawk”, Griffith, who swiftly defeats Guts, forcing him to join them. Guts soon becomes Griffith’s right-hand man while making a name as the group’s renowned raid leader.

However, while the band’s quest for recognition continues, Guts slowly realizes that he has to leave the Hawks to find his own dream, but his departure leads to a series of unfortunate events (aka spoilers), ending up with Guts being thrown into despair and cursed, and becoming the “Black Swordsman”, a warrior fighting against his own fate in order to get revenge for what happened to him.

There you go, and when I describe it to people I like to say that it’s like/it’s a mix between the Lord of the rings and Game of thrones/ASOIAF.If you’re interested I’d advise you to directly read the manga since it’s 1000000000000% better than all the animes and movies that were broadcast. 

However, to be honest, the first 3 volumes make the first arc and it’s really violent + it can be a bit senseless and uninteresting since you initially don’t know why Guts is so angry at the whole world. At the end of the third volume though, you have a flashback of eleven volumes about Guts’ whole life until vol 1 and that’s when things start being understandable and more interesting for you. :)

So, either you start at volume 1 but you’ll have to keep in mind that vol1-3 can be tedious to go through as an initial contact with the story, because it’s mostly violence and you don’t really understand what’s going on, or you do the following…

Start on the first chapter of the very long flashback (last chapter of volume 3) [x]

until ch109 (included)

and then you go back to volume 1 chapter 1 until the end of volume 3

and then you go back to ch110 to read onward.

It’s really as you want, you know yourself better than I do. ;)

All I can promise is that the story is incredible if you give it the chance to show you (aka if you don’t stop before vol 4) but since it’s long, complex and full of details, I’d also advise you not to binge read it even if it ends up appealing to you (personally I read the 38 volumes in 4 months). 

… I really think Berserk is a series that can’t be rec very well with just words or one’s opinion though, so as long as you’re not triggered by the things I mentioned above, I’d say take the time to try it and see whether it’s for you or not. :)

Personally, I was recommended Berserk by one of my closest friends 2 or 3 years before I started it, but the violence I saw by searching about it on Google didn’t appeal to me at first and, even after reading an interview of an author I liked who said he had been inspired by Berserk’s main heroine for his own heroine, it took for me to be in need of an emotional distraction in order to start it.

The result is that I fell in love with it and that I consider it to be a masterpiece even if it’s not finished (it started in the 90s) but so many things happen in the story that it’s hard to rec it without spoiling people or rambling about it for 5 hours.

I gave you the minimal things I could think of in order to trigger your interest and I am pretty sure anyone else reading the manga would tell you to go for it as well so… the rest is all on you :)

Have a nice weekend!