Hey guys. For the record, I realize what I missed with the Farnese/Guts fight scene. I've received about 40 messages on it now, ha ha. Also, *I DON'T CARE ABOUT ONE PIECE.* Please go to one of the 487 other booktubers that are covering it. Thanks!
I know you like coming of age stories so I’d like to recommend Oyasumi Punpun. It’s a stylised dark gripping tale of a young boy growing up and deals with themes such as depression, love, social isolation, sex, death, and family. A really special series.
I second Oyasumi Punpun. It's not Fantasy, but I have a feeling you'll come out of it with... Well... Its best you see yourself. Love your reviews of berserk thus far. Look forward to more
keep up the good work!! btw theres a great series that needs to be covered by you!its called "one piece" ,i dont know if anyone talked to you about it..... XD sorry,i couldnt resist....
@@ItsMeBarnaby I can kind of get Mike. If you really don't like manga to begin with for various reasons, it really doesn't matter how good something may be, you will problably not enjoy it. Even if that something is a master piece like One Piece. Berserk just managed to hit the right spot for him, but I can see him not enjoying One Piece, especially if things like Puck and Isidro's banter annoys him, which One Piece is shock full of. (Even though that banter in One Piece is hilarious)
"There is no paradise for you to escape to" A quote that always stayed with me. Guts knows how ugly and hard life can be. Guts sees himself in Jill and knows her life won't get easier, no matter where she goes. There is no paradise for you (Jill) to escape to". You must take accountability for your own peace and fight your battles. Lost Children imo is the arc that defines Guts's character.
@@joldomort5515 I have as a wallpaper of my phone unlocked the next panel, since "there's no paradise" doesn't fit. Instead I have the next panel "if you follow me the entire world is a battlefield", which is also really nice. As my lock screen and computer wallpaper I have images from Fantasia arc
I believe Nina is so universally hated because she represents the weakness we all have inside us. Nobody likes having a light shined on that. Granted most people’s weakness doesn’t come out as often as hers.. but theirs no denying her character is very human. That being said we all still hate her. Luca is best girl for this arc.
Yea I love it too, I’m currently up to vol 18 (6th deluxe edition) and I just love it all, there’s not a single volume that I haven’t loved, I love it all, I think it’s the most amazing story that I’ve ever read.
Mike the only thing you are missing is Music Score by Susumu Hirasawa. Guts theme, Earth, Behelit, Indra... It would be almost criminal to not lend Mr Hirasawa an ear.
Absolutely. Miura had actually stated in an interview that Hirasawa's music was a source of inspiration for his writing process. It perfectly captures the essence of Berserk.
@@mikesbookreviews Susumu Hirasawa delivers the audible experience to Berserk. A Maestro, A Genius. Would be nice to hear when you review next arc and listen to some of his stuff.
His album Aurora is so good, the song called Echoes is the Guts theme prototype you can hear how he repurposed some aspects of it while creating Guts' theme. I love his music, his work on the Paprika and Paranoia Agent soundtracks are also great
I believe it was Spired who described Kentaro's story telling of a hero's journey is a spiral not circular. Each arc ends into a new journey to deeper depths. No one ever really wins actions happen and consequence are permeant.
@@InfamyOrDeath-__- I’ll tell you if you absolutely want to know, but I suggest just reading and seeing it for yourself my friend. Don’t let it be spoiled for you.
I hear a lot of people say that you could cut the Lost Children arc but I disagree. After the Eclipse I feel like you need something to slow things down a bit before you get into another heavy hitting arc.
Lost Children is probably the most brutally drawn, and most exciting fight in the entire book. Guts gets his ass kicked harder than Slug Lord possibly. And those shots of evil monster Guts are so AWESOME! Guts is at his most rage filled. He puts his body through so much just to kill her, including being stabbed in the fucking face. God damn. You need a mini Black Swordsman Arc with old edgy Guts again to get back to where his character was at the beginning. Like a palate cleanser after the Golden Age Arc. We really needed another fight like the Slug Count to bring the excitement up again before the main story picks up again.
No, definitely not. I might not be as high on it as some of those dragging me in the comments, but it definitely belongs and is integral to Guts growth.
@@mikesbookreviews we’re all entitled to our opinion, and millennium falcon arc has some of the highest highs in the series I think it’s definitely better than conviction I know you’ll enjoy it
I'm really glad to hear you liked Luka! Its hard for me to put into words, but I'm a really big fan of her character... I think it probably has something to do with the fact that the world of Berserk is a horrible dark place, and while there are plenty of good people underneath all the muck, she's the only character in the entire story who is a genuine source of hope and kindness for everyone around her. And she's not a flat character either, she still feels real, she just happens to be really really positive and I love that.
Luca's character definitely is meant to contrast to the church. Where you have a group of prostitutes who are more willing to forgive people for their Transgressions than the Church that is constantly cruelly punishing people. Luca is willing to Forgive Nina despite being such a horribly flawed person, compared to the hypocrite church.
As for your questions - you might want to re-read the last part of the arc. Femto appeared to people in dreams as this hawk of light savior figure that they desire. When he appears to Zodd, it becomes clear that Zodd only desires the strong so the hawk flawlessly cut his horn to prove that he was the strongest - so strong in fact that Zodd was injured when he woke up. He’s sworn to Femto/Griffith now because he is indeed stronger than him by a mile. And the Godhand are the bosses of the Apostles either way. The egg of the perfect world was a Gollum-like outcast that lived near the tower of conviction and was shunned by the inhabitants. In the moment of his biggest despair he found a behelit and met the Godhand but he didn’t know what to sacrifice because he had nothing but his own body. So he wanted to sacrifice that and wished for the opportunity to change the world. He became the vessel for the rebirth of Femto back into the mortal/physical realm, looking like his old self, Griffith, which is gonna change the world for sure. Coincidentally, the demon child fused into the egg by accident and is now part of Femto‘s new body… you’ll see what will come of that :)
Lost Children is definitely one of my favorite arcs. I love that it's essentially a small retelling of Guts and Griffith's own story through children and their fairy tales, and yeah just has fantastic writing towards the end with the reuse of the Peekaf story motif for Rosine's demise and Gut's amazing speech on not running from the battles you need to fight (read: caska). It really remastered the idea of the Black Swordsman too, less so the edgy anti-hero of the first volumes and much more a tired and broken man who's beginning to crack. Some say it's filler, but for a series as motivated by characters as Berserk is, nothing that invokes character development so much is filler. I don't think Godo's speech would hit so hard if we didn't see Guts tettering that edge so much through Lost Children. I think you'll really come to love it more in your reread(s). And trust me, you'll also really come to miss the Puck of this era too.
My favorite protagonist of all time. Upon rereads it cements that even more, his struggle legitimately saved me from suicide years ago by inspiring me to continue pushing forward and fighting your demons no matter what. The brand tattoo I got on my neck in 05 is a permanent reminder of this for me. My favorite quote in the manga (very hard to choose just one) is this: "Struggle. Contend. Endure. For that alone is the sword of one who confronts death. Never forget this." -Skull Knight
Such an insane arc. Volume 34 has some of the most incredible artwork in all of manga imo, Mike you are going to LOVE the splash pages as you call em. Legitimately worthy of being in art galleries they are amazing
It’s my personal favorite arc. I think the art is best of the series and I just love the direction the story took and the elements such as magic which are introduced.
I’m getting scared, I’m up to vol 18 & I’m nearly halfway through, and I just don’t want this to end, I want this to be the never ending story. I’ll definitely reread this story endlessly, because it’s the most amazing story that I’ve ever read.
I wont lie to you. The further you get into the story the more surprised you will get by the art improvement itself. Miura was absolutely out of the world with his arts.
that’s just Griffith (in a new body), there are some debates whether he is completly himself (I do think so) and zodd lost his horn after he tried to fight Griffith but lost (after that he swore his loyalty to Griffith)
It's ok not to understand the end. A lot of it gets further explained by Griffith later on (look for Hill of Swords chapter). The end of Conviction is just pure chaos, and a lot of the minor plot points go by so fast. But I think it's by design as most of the characters are unaware of all this stuff entirely. Really all you need to know is this: Griffith has been reborn. He used that egg thing as his vessel (it's basically like an inseminated egg that he possesses with his Femto form). And Guts and Casca's demon baby is involved in some way. That will also be explored and in fact is one of the most important plot points by the end of where Miura left off. Zodd is bowing to Griffith because, well, he's a God Hand member and Griffith is like Jesus to these monsters. Zodd challenged his power in a vision (which is the astral world) and got his horn knocked off. As Guts can attest, things that happen in the Astral world affect your body in the "real" world.
Following your read-through has helped me deal with the loss of Miura-sensei, it's honestly cathartic to see someone discover the gift of Berserk for the first time. The real struggle begins once you've finished
There's an interview with Miura on youtube from 2002 in which he says that around the time he was writing this arc the Rwandan genocide was a huge topic in the news. This made him want to write something about mass psychology. It's quite an interesting watch and I'm fairly certain it's the only widely available recording of Miura's voice. Link to part 1 of the interview: ua-cam.com/video/YGLtPxJdfAU/v-deo.html
I have read the whole Manga like 5 times now nd lost children gets better every time tbh. The last Panel were Jill says her Goodby to Puck, under the blue sky. Damn it always gets me crying haha Oh and your in for a ride with farnese nd Serpico :D Absolutely love your vids! Keep it up
Been looking forward to this review!! On a totally unrelated note, you've convinced me to give M. Crichton a read!! (Still deciding which one to start with.)
Conviction is my favourite arc for sure, I love the art at this point in the manga, the fights are spectacular, and it's dripping with self-reflection. My favourite moment is when Guts visits Godo one last time, and Godo give Guts the "sword without a sheath, with a fatal flaw" speech, you could tell just how hard that hit Guts, it's what really turns him around from being the black swordsman
man those reviews are so fun. i could listen to you for hours i have so much love for this series i can not put it into words. i'm so glad i found your channel, you cover exactly the taste i love and now berserk too. im having a blast
dude you're legit - u earned a sub 20:23 bro you did not notice serpico is the one who got Guts with a stick to his wound 28:21 zodd's broken horn vol 17 chapter revelation part 3
I’m currently at vol 18 (6th deluxe edition), I absolutely love this Manga, it’s actually the only Manga that I’ve read & it’s utterly amazing. I think it’s the best story that I’ve ever read, it’s just amazing.
@@gutsusama2671 thanks captain obvious, you're saying as if I don't know what an opinion is. So that is why I mentioned the word 'disagree' in my previous comment indicating that I know people have different opinions. No need to be a condescending prick, kid.
@@penaldotapinaldo1713 the way you're so butthurt shows who is the kid here , when you say i disagree that A is better than B is like saying your opinion is invalid . "kiD"
Ah yessss the Conviction arc!!! This is my favorite arc. I just love how it expands upon what was set up by both Golden Age and Black Swordsman. "Cracks in the Blade" in particular is a goated chapter.
I can only say, that as more I re-read Berserk, the better I like Lost Children. If you pay attention, Guts hates to kill children, he pukes after doing so (it happened in the Blackswordman arc when he had to kill the girl who was traveling with his father, when killing Adonis during Golden Age and also during lost children). You can notice that he missed some hits at Rosine since he doesn't like to kill children. This fight could have ended much much much sooner, with his first attack. So this fight can also be viewed as Guts trying to become a monster and put aside his thoughts in order to kill the apostles, which turns this fight even better than what it is. Also, Jill is like a reflex of Guts, she had pretty much the same problems as Guts had before, like an abussive father. And art wise, I would take lost children over any other arc, I LOVE lost children art, if I had to made a list of my fav Berserk art, half of it would be lost children. Hope you enjoy the next arcs, 2 more to go
About the art: mind you that this was still the somewhat biweekly Miura.....he was putting out a chapter every 14/28 days. It's honestly mindblowing....no wonder he got burnt out Also, it won't peak the golden age, but just because the Eclipse is the pinnacle of manga. Period
Isidro and Puck’s comedy is definitely something that can be hard to enjoy on first read. I think it’s not as bad on reread but it still is hit or miss. In the case of Farnese, she has one of the best character growth in Berserk you just have to be patient. Conviction is a great arc but Golden Age is a tough act to follow and to me it falls just short of being equal in its greatness. However I do think FotME stands equal to Golden Age. Volume 34 especially is a feast for the eyes. Great review once again and enjoy the read!
@@MultiWar22 Honestly? Aside from a few characters in the cast not getting their time in the sun, I think where Miura left off is accidentally a really good ending to Berserk.
@@halowaffle25 I actually agree. It's just very unfortunate, because the next chapter was looking to be great for exposition, but regarding the overall story, it's quite fine
Other than Guts and Griffith, I think Farnese is my favorite character in Berserk. She's a great example of that "you become what you fight" but in a completely different way than Guts. Other than the two "Wounds" chapters and "Companions", my favorite chapters of Berserk are the two dedicated to her backstory in Falcon of the Millennium. It's funny, the way you talk about zooming in on details while reading digitally is exactly the reason Miura's drawing got slower when he switched to digital, his editor complained that Miura would zoom in to tinker over individual pixels in his images and would obsess over that level of thing. But that happens a lot later. Puck and Isidro are only going to get more prominent, sorry. Puck especially is going to be reduced to just being a Yoda reference for most of the rest of the series, so you better prepare yourself for that. The Golden Age and Conviction both give you some important hints about who the Skull Knight is, including his name. If you didn't figure it out I won't tell you though, because you said the thing again.
@@mikesbookreviews His weird way of talking does end up giving us such gems as "Whore Princess of the Uterine Sea", so I guess that's really the only way to respond to him.
I always felt like Lost Children was meant to be a turning point for readers if not for Guts. It’s showing that the demonic humans are sometimes just as much victims as Guts is.
The lost children arc is one of my favorites character writing wise. I just feel like it does an amazing job of giving Guts character growth for how short it is. Not to mention the Guts vs Rosine fight. Fights are probably on the bottom of my list of reasons I enjoy berserk, but man that’s a good fight. As for Puck and Isidro. I agree in that a lot of the humor doesn’t land, or maybe it just doesn’t feel like it fits the setting, but I think that might be kind of the point. To show contrast. Even Guts says it’s hard to take anything too seriously when those two are a few feet away acting like they might as well be from another genre of book.
Almost all of the questions you had are actually answered in the arc. The story gets insanely dense in Conviction and unfortunately some of the details are easier to miss when reading it though volumes at a time. I promise that whenever you do a re-read you notice things you missed on the first pass. Zodd lost his horn in a day-dream sequence where he receives the revelation informing him of Griffith/Femto's upcoming return. The demon child informs Guts that Caska is in danger after he escapes from the HICKs. Then the child is injured while protecting Caska inside the Tower of Conviction. Then the Behelit apostle swallows the child shortly before he sacrifices himself to birth Griffith's reincarnation into the world. You can see the Behelit apostle, usually depicted only as a set of staring eyes, throughout the Tower of Conviction arc orchastrating events behind the scenes. He is the one who makes the leader of the sex cult into the Great Goat psudo apostle (just like the Count made Zondark and Rosine transformed the children and adult protectors). He also transformed Mozgus and his crew into their Psudo apostle forms. That said, loved the review and I look forward to more. Although if you dislike Isidro and Puck's antics now then I fear what you will think going forward. I personally grew to enjoy them, but many others did not.
@@mikesbookreviews Sorry about that. It's an unfortunate problem with passionate fandoms. Berserk is a series I have followed and re-read numerous times in the past 16-17 years. Too many in the fandom seem to have forgotten just how much they benifited from reading much of this slowly as it was being released or with re-reads. I hope you don't let the pricks get you down and egerly await your next installment.
@@EmperorGeiseric i didnt realize so many ppl didnt like Puck and Dro. They are hilarious. I show my wife a Puck panel every chapter for her amusement.
Next major arc is my personal favorite other than the most recent one. On the goat and the Mozgus force, It's worth mentioning that they're half Apostles so not quite as powerful as a real one. I also like Azan as well, I got super hype seeing him later on. Also worth mentioning that Miura likes a particular comic book character and we see a design inspired by them. I think you should have no touble seeing them when you get there.
When I read this arc years after watching the anime I was surprised where the story went. Golden age will always be my favorite but I was never let down by the later work.
this was a great review! your berserk series was my intro to your channel -- im really enjoying your videos dude! cant wait for you to progress through berserk. keep it up :D
Glad you're enjoying this. I really loved this arc. It took a lot of influence from the book/movie "Name of the Rose," and I just loved the tension and mystery from this arc. I always love stories that deal with religious zealots doing things equally horrible to the demons they fearmonger, but perceive themselves as good.
I’m new to the channel and am loving your berserk videos, as it’s the series that got me into manga. If you’re loving the character work in this, you’ve got to give Vinland Saga a go. Incredible character writing and world building.
I think everyone who's read Berserk finds some of the stuff in Conviction's 3rd act a bit too weird lol But don't worry, the rest of the story is very easy to follow and not too convoluted, you'll actually get a LOT of answers in the next 2 arcs.
Don't worry too much about the comic/manga thing. In Japan Spiderman is a manga, it's basically just Japanese for comic. The only people that actually care have their heads stuffed up their own asses. And you'll find a lot of people agree with you on Isidro/Puck. It's just too much. Sorry, editing these in as I watch. Farnese didn't just get a lucky swipe in on Guts. I missed this the first time I read it, but there is a small panel where you see a stick hit the bolt sticking out of Guts' leg. Later in the background you can see Serpico let out a sigh of relief. Serpico actually threw the stick into the bolt in Guts' leg, causing him to stagger and get hit by Farnese's sword. In chapter 128 right before Guts returns to Godo to find out that Casca is missing we got a scene with Zodd. He dreams of a white hawk that cuts off one of his horns, he then wakes up with one of his horns on the ground and a bleeding forehead.
Mike I've been reading this series for 15+ years and I also didn't really understand what exactly happened at the end of the Conviction arc until I recently went back to reading Berserk and did a bit of research (that I was avoiding due to not wanting to be psuedo-spoiled by theories). However, now that I know what happened at the end of the Conviction arc, this has enhanced everything about Berserk and shows how much of a genius Miura really is. I recommend you finish the series, maybe do some research afterwards about what happened at the end of the Conviction arc. I know people have explained it, but it makes more sense as you read. Looking forward to it my man!
I love One Piece, but I think it's awesome that you're sticking to reviewing stuff you're interested in rather than stuff that will get you more views. Keep up the amazing work, Mike!
Lost children is my favourite arc of the story, I really love the parallels between guts and jill and I think it's kinda the catalyst of Guts opening himself back up to people again post black-swordsman.
I would say that there are some answers you should have now, and some of them will be clearer when mechanics of how Berserk's world works are explained later on. I think for now you're supposed to be like, "Why is Griffith back? Is this actually Griffith?" In the case of Zodd, we see him lose his horn when he challenged the Falcon of Light in a dream. This is both why he pledged himself to Femto, and why he is now missing his horn in real life. That he lost his horn in a dream and is affected in reality is one of the things that becomes clear when we learn about the mechanics of the world.
@@mikesbookreviews Ultimately though, the end of that arc is pandemonium. It's alright if some things that happened don't make complete sense; some of this is definitely supposed to go over your head for now
I cannot express enough how happy I am to see someone crossover from comics to manga, and to one of the best manga ever. I wouldn’t worry about being confused much, it was confusing for myself as well. The next arc though is one of those arcs that truly capitalizes on every single thing that’s come before it. God speed in the journey that lies ahead!
As much as I love Berserk, Conviction is probably the one arc that I love the least besides Black Swordsman, the main reason being that Guts is in it for a relatively smaller portion of the story. That said, Lost Children is probably my favorite chapter in the entirety of Berserk, I loved every single second of it. People may say that it could have been totally left out of the story, but Guts' entire character arc in that one, showing his lows and as you beautifully put it, is he fighting the monsters or is he himself a monster I thought was genius, plus Miura needed to reintroduce the reader to the Black Swordsman before continuing with the next big story arc. I also thought that the Jill and Rosine stuff is some of the most beautiful writing I've ever witnessed my entire life. As you also beautifully put it, Conviction had the hard part of following up the Golden Age, which seems like an insurmountable task, but having the Lost Children be equally great if not slightly better than ghe Golden Age just proves to me that Miura is one of the best writers and storytellers of all time, he's definitely my favorite. Sorry for being so late to this one, I kinda feel ashamed but I was on vacation and didn't spend that much time on UA-cam. Lovely video and I enjoyed hearing your thoughts on it, about the positive and negative parts. Look forward to the Millenium Falcon thoughts! Edit: I'm all for the Nina hate, speak your truth further, please! Edit 2: if you want to experience the Golden Age again, consider watching the 97 anime, you will get a chance to see your favorite moments beautifully animated and directed, plus the biggest reason is to have the privilege to listen to Susumu Hirasawa's heavenly music which equals Berserk's own greatness. That is the only animated version of Berserk to see though and nothing else.
A lot of Puck and Isidro's skits are really heavy in japanese word play that is near impossible to translate well, which makes us english readers missing the point. It's one of the problems when translating that you really just have to take, sadly.
Berserk is for sure better during a re-read as you everything is much clearer to you and since you already know what will happen you understand all information given to you and you get all various references. You will also notice smaller details you didn't notice previously.
Don’t worry there will be at least 2 more eclipse level, completely game changing, story events that will amaze you in this series. It took 12-13 volumes to build up the story for the eclipse payoff. Give Kentaro a full 12-13 more volumes from there to knock your socks off once again with these new investments (and then again even later on still)
Love this trend of seeing booktubers switching over to manga. Haha as I was about to write something about checking out one piece your one piece comment came up. All I'll say is there's a reason it's the 2nd highest selling comic only surpassed by superman.
Great review! if I remember correctly some of those questions you had at the end do get answered later on. I cant remember if its fully explained Griffiths returning so I wont say much on that but when I reread the story I did kinda place everything together cuz a LOT of stuff was happening towards the end of the Arc.
First of all, words can’t express how much I look forward to seeing you and others getting to experience Berserk for the very first time. I made three playlists all with different types of songs. I was very selective with my song selection, mostly focusing on Susumu Hirasawa songs and exclusive Berserk OST’s from games and anime. Hearing these songs while reading the manga enhances the experience, however, don’t feel like you always need to have a song playing in the background. Some songs are loops and some are not. Feel free to give me feedback if you prefer long looped songs versus shorter ones as well as the order of the song selection. If you want to loop a song and are playing it on the computer, right click the video and click “loop”. I want to ensure that you see this, so I’ll post this on every Berserk video that you’ve made. Thanks again for the content, I look forward to your future videos. - Danel Berserk Hype/Battle Songs ua-cam.com/play/PLizeOw7LgJEVgk1qP5vCIwJ9nKZBfb8Wo.html Berserk Epic/Emotional Songs ua-cam.com/play/PLizeOw7LgJEWOmfqjfQxiZnB_2XQWCDoR.html Berserk Mood Setters Dark/Light/Exposition ua-cam.com/play/PLizeOw7LgJEUDKNyI1JvA25e2PhNgucPH.html
im pretty sure farnese is pronounced as far-neh-seh (if that makes any sense) because its italian.... but almost everyone in the fandom pronounces it as far-niece lol
If you want to know… the egg man was a behelit for the new world, and when he ate Gut’s and Casca’s kid, he incubated the kid and turned into Griffith cause he is going to change the world. That is why in the earlier chapters they talk about a dream with the white hawk in it saving the world.
Yeah more or less the Egg Apostle was a sad and innocent soul who wanted to sacrifice everything he knew just to make the world a better place. Unfortunately for Guts though that better world came in the form of fulfilling of the Hawk of Light prophecy and reincarnating Griffith. New-Griffith is mostly just Femto put into a flesh body, but spawned from and fused with the Egg Apostle.. and the Egg Apostle had just swallowed the Demon Child. This makes new Griffith mostly still the cold psychopath that Femto is, but with the Egg Apostle's purpose and a small 1% that loves Caska and Guts, the Demon Child's parents. And I don't think it's a spoiler at all, it's just a little hard to all piece together on the first reading of conviction since all the elements are seperated out between a lot of fights and Mozgus' antics.
I'm still not up to date on Berserk, but it's hard to read Berserk in another format once you've tried the deluxe editions. They are mindblowingly good!
20:02 Azan was able to hold his own because Guts was practically on deaths door after fighting Rosine. Obviously its not the only reason, but definitely a prime.
Great video, the Griffith reborn stuff was hard to understand. I struggled with the whole prophecy that people were seeing. It almost seemed like Miura skipped a chapter on my read-through
imo you shouldnt ask ppl if you missed anything,in the 1st read you wont be able to see/catch everything but thats what makes berserk so much re-readable!!i ve read it 6 times allready and im thinking of starting it again
Yeah, I get that. I just knew the big time fans were going to be upset I didn't feel the way they did on their 19th re-read as I did on my first. I learned that while running through Wheel of Time.
Hey guys. For the record, I realize what I missed with the Farnese/Guts fight scene. I've received about 40 messages on it now, ha ha. Also, *I DON'T CARE ABOUT ONE PIECE.* Please go to one of the 487 other booktubers that are covering it. Thanks!
I know you like coming of age stories so I’d like to recommend Oyasumi Punpun. It’s a stylised dark gripping tale of a young boy growing up and deals with themes such as depression, love, social isolation, sex, death, and family. A really special series.
I second Oyasumi Punpun. It's not Fantasy, but I have a feeling you'll come out of it with... Well... Its best you see yourself.
Love your reviews of berserk thus far. Look forward to more
you know you gotta get the deluxes right
keep up the good work!!
btw theres a great series that needs to be covered by you!its called "one piece" ,i dont know if anyone talked to you about it.....
XD sorry,i couldnt resist....
@@ItsMeBarnaby I can kind of get Mike. If you really don't like manga to begin with for various reasons, it really doesn't matter how good something may be, you will problably not enjoy it. Even if that something is a master piece like One Piece. Berserk just managed to hit the right spot for him, but I can see him not enjoying One Piece, especially if things like Puck and Isidro's banter annoys him, which One Piece is shock full of. (Even though that banter in One Piece is hilarious)
"There is no paradise for you to escape to"
A quote that always stayed with me. Guts knows how ugly and hard life can be. Guts sees himself in Jill and knows her life won't get easier, no matter where she goes. There is no paradise for you (Jill) to escape to". You must take accountability for your own peace and fight your battles.
Lost Children imo is the arc that defines Guts's character.
It was beautiful.
I have this panel as my AniList profile banner, a different panel beat it for my phone screen but I agree I love this quote
@@joldomort5515 I have as a wallpaper of my phone unlocked the next panel, since "there's no paradise" doesn't fit. Instead I have the next panel "if you follow me the entire world is a battlefield", which is also really nice. As my lock screen and computer wallpaper I have images from Fantasia arc
Just remember what puck said, "if I wasn't in this story it'd be way too dark"
I believe Nina is so universally hated because she represents the weakness we all have inside us. Nobody likes having a light shined on that. Granted most people’s weakness doesn’t come out as often as hers.. but theirs no denying her character is very human. That being said we all still hate her. Luca is best girl for this arc.
Nina comes off as the type for me that would use children as a human shield to save her own hide.
Lost Children arc is one of my favorite arcs in Berserk, I love the metaphorical parallel between Jill and Guts.
Yea I love it too, I’m currently up to vol 18 (6th deluxe edition) and I just love it all, there’s not a single volume that I haven’t loved, I love it all, I think it’s the most amazing story that I’ve ever read.
I did love that as well.
Mike the only thing you are missing is Music Score by Susumu Hirasawa. Guts theme, Earth, Behelit, Indra... It would be almost criminal to not lend Mr Hirasawa an ear.
Absolutely. Miura had actually stated in an interview that Hirasawa's music was a source of inspiration for his writing process. It perfectly captures the essence of Berserk.
You're not the first to bring this up.
@@mikesbookreviews Susumu Hirasawa delivers the audible experience to Berserk. A Maestro, A Genius. Would be nice to hear when you review next arc and listen to some of his stuff.
His album Aurora is so good, the song called Echoes is the Guts theme prototype you can hear how he repurposed some aspects of it while creating Guts' theme. I love his music, his work on the Paprika and Paranoia Agent soundtracks are also great
Woah don’t forget shiro sagisu for the films, has some amazing OST’s there such as the Blood and Guts guitar version which is a favourite
I believe it was Spired who described Kentaro's story telling of a hero's journey is a spiral not circular. Each arc ends into a new journey to deeper depths. No one ever really wins actions happen and consequence are permeant.
Well said.
There are three constants in life: death, taxes, and Nina being worst girl.
For a minute there, I forgot who that was and wondered why you would bring up Code Geass. It works either way😂
💯
@@nerd660 Oh lord, I want to forget 😂
Oh wow, I’ve just been introduced to Nina right now, in the tent with Casca & Luca. Is she a bad person?
@@InfamyOrDeath-__- I’ll tell you if you absolutely want to know, but I suggest just reading and seeing it for yourself my friend. Don’t let it be spoiled for you.
The chapters Cracks in the Blade and a Feeble Flame is what made me really love the conviction arc, along with the lost children arc
I hear a lot of people say that you could cut the Lost Children arc but I disagree. After the Eclipse I feel like you need something to slow things down a bit before you get into another heavy hitting arc.
I prefer lost children over the rest of conviction
Lost Children is probably the most brutally drawn, and most exciting fight in the entire book. Guts gets his ass kicked harder than Slug Lord possibly. And those shots of evil monster Guts are so AWESOME! Guts is at his most rage filled. He puts his body through so much just to kill her, including being stabbed in the fucking face. God damn.
You need a mini Black Swordsman Arc with old edgy Guts again to get back to where his character was at the beginning. Like a palate cleanser after the Golden Age Arc. We really needed another fight like the Slug Count to bring the excitement up again before the main story picks up again.
No, definitely not. I might not be as high on it as some of those dragging me in the comments, but it definitely belongs and is integral to Guts growth.
@@mikesbookreviews we’re all entitled to our opinion, and millennium falcon arc has some of the highest highs in the series I think it’s definitely better than conviction I know you’ll enjoy it
I'm really glad to hear you liked Luka! Its hard for me to put into words, but I'm a really big fan of her character... I think it probably has something to do with the fact that the world of Berserk is a horrible dark place, and while there are plenty of good people underneath all the muck, she's the only character in the entire story who is a genuine source of hope and kindness for everyone around her. And she's not a flat character either, she still feels real, she just happens to be really really positive and I love that.
Luca's character definitely is meant to contrast to the church. Where you have a group of prostitutes who are more willing to forgive people for their Transgressions than the Church that is constantly cruelly punishing people. Luca is willing to Forgive Nina despite being such a horribly flawed person, compared to the hypocrite church.
As for your questions - you might want to re-read the last part of the arc.
Femto appeared to people in dreams as this hawk of light savior figure that they desire. When he appears to Zodd, it becomes clear that Zodd only desires the strong so the hawk flawlessly cut his horn to prove that he was the strongest - so strong in fact that Zodd was injured when he woke up. He’s sworn to Femto/Griffith now because he is indeed stronger than him by a mile. And the Godhand are the bosses of the Apostles either way.
The egg of the perfect world was a Gollum-like outcast that lived near the tower of conviction and was shunned by the inhabitants. In the moment of his biggest despair he found a behelit and met the Godhand but he didn’t know what to sacrifice because he had nothing but his own body. So he wanted to sacrifice that and wished for the opportunity to change the world. He became the vessel for the rebirth of Femto back into the mortal/physical realm, looking like his old self, Griffith, which is gonna change the world for sure.
Coincidentally, the demon child fused into the egg by accident and is now part of Femto‘s new body… you’ll see what will come of that :)
Bro I need another berserk review 😭😭
words cant describe how glad I am you're reviewing this!
words cant describe how glad I am you're watching this!
@@mikesbookreviews what a guy
Lost Children is definitely one of my favorite arcs. I love that it's essentially a small retelling of Guts and Griffith's own story through children and their fairy tales, and yeah just has fantastic writing towards the end with the reuse of the Peekaf story motif for Rosine's demise and Gut's amazing speech on not running from the battles you need to fight (read: caska). It really remastered the idea of the Black Swordsman too, less so the edgy anti-hero of the first volumes and much more a tired and broken man who's beginning to crack. Some say it's filler, but for a series as motivated by characters as Berserk is, nothing that invokes character development so much is filler. I don't think Godo's speech would hit so hard if we didn't see Guts tettering that edge so much through Lost Children.
I think you'll really come to love it more in your reread(s). And trust me, you'll also really come to miss the Puck of this era too.
I can see that.
The development that guts get in this whole séries is Just Amazing.
I would agree thus far.
My favorite protagonist of all time. Upon rereads it cements that even more, his struggle legitimately saved me from suicide years ago by inspiring me to continue pushing forward and fighting your demons no matter what. The brand tattoo I got on my neck in 05 is a permanent reminder of this for me. My favorite quote in the manga (very hard to choose just one) is this:
"Struggle. Contend. Endure. For that alone is the sword of one who confronts death. Never forget this."
-Skull Knight
@@cloudbloom Where would you place Musashi and Thorfinn in comparison to Guts?
@@layman_1822 couldn't tell you, I haven't read vinland saga or vagabond yet
@@cloudbloom I see
Hey Mike. Can’t wait for your journey through Falcon of The Millenium Empire arc. It’s sooooo EPIC!!!
Looking forward to it.
Such an insane arc. Volume 34 has some of the most incredible artwork in all of manga imo, Mike you are going to LOVE the splash pages as you call em. Legitimately worthy of being in art galleries they are amazing
It’s my personal favorite arc. I think the art is best of the series and I just love the direction the story took and the elements such as magic which are introduced.
I’m getting scared, I’m up to vol 18 & I’m nearly halfway through, and I just don’t want this to end, I want this to be the never ending story. I’ll definitely reread this story endlessly, because it’s the most amazing story that I’ve ever read.
@@InfamyOrDeath-__- I’ve reread this series a lot and it never gets old. In fact I pick up more each time I read it and it gets better and better
I wont lie to you. The further you get into the story the more surprised you will get by the art improvement itself. Miura was absolutely out of the world with his arts.
That's truly incredible.
@@mikesbookreviews do you have any new berserk reviews out ?
Guts has been trained in the ways of Anakin Skywalker in dealing with kids lol
Legit chuckle.
Too soon 🤣
that’s just Griffith (in a new body), there are some debates whether he is completly himself (I do think so) and zodd lost his horn after he tried to fight Griffith but lost (after that he swore his loyalty to Griffith)
Conviction is pure grittiness and I love it
I trust Miura when it comes to developing characters. So I believe it.
I disagree about Farnese getting better.
@@zhazhagab0r you obviously haven't read berserk
Cracks in the Blade never fails to hit me directly in the heart 😢
It was excellent.
Lost children is a fantastic arc imo.
It's one of the best in the series imo
It's ok not to understand the end. A lot of it gets further explained by Griffith later on (look for Hill of Swords chapter).
The end of Conviction is just pure chaos, and a lot of the minor plot points go by so fast. But I think it's by design as most of the characters are unaware of all this stuff entirely. Really all you need to know is this:
Griffith has been reborn. He used that egg thing as his vessel (it's basically like an inseminated egg that he possesses with his Femto form). And Guts and Casca's demon baby is involved in some way. That will also be explored and in fact is one of the most important plot points by the end of where Miura left off.
Zodd is bowing to Griffith because, well, he's a God Hand member and Griffith is like Jesus to these monsters.
Zodd challenged his power in a vision (which is the astral world) and got his horn knocked off. As Guts can attest, things that happen in the Astral world affect your body in the "real" world.
Gotcha. Thanks!
Cool. I forgot all about Zodd's vision and horn
Griffith really redefined "if you attack me in a dream, you better wake up and apologize"
Following your read-through has helped me deal with the loss of Miura-sensei, it's honestly cathartic to see someone discover the gift of Berserk for the first time.
The real struggle begins once you've finished
I already dread when I have no more left to read of it.
i dont wanna be that guy , but did you drop berserk?
Farnese is my second favorite character in Berserk. I love her character development. Her name is pronounced far-nay-say tho.
Huh. I could have pronounced it 10 different ways and never came up with that.
I first read Berserk in French and I've always called her "Far-ness" but this pronunciation makes sense
I always said Far-Knees.
Lol I call her Far-nees
Her name is based on an Italian name if anyone is curious, hence the far-nay-say pronunciation
Is it me or has Mike’s channel just exploded? It’s great seeing so many people commenting
I've always had decent engagement, but I'm still pretty small potatoes compared to the big channels.
Ohh yes been looking forward to this one
Hope it doesn’t disappoint!
There's an interview with Miura on youtube from 2002 in which he says that around the time he was writing this arc the Rwandan genocide was a huge topic in the news. This made him want to write something about mass psychology.
It's quite an interesting watch and I'm fairly certain it's the only widely available recording of Miura's voice.
Link to part 1 of the interview:
ua-cam.com/video/YGLtPxJdfAU/v-deo.html
This makes a ton of sense.
I have read the whole Manga like 5 times now nd lost children gets better every time tbh. The last Panel were Jill says her Goodby to Puck, under the blue sky. Damn it always gets me crying haha
Oh and your in for a ride with farnese nd Serpico :D
Absolutely love your vids!
Keep it up
Thanks for the kind words! I, too, loved that panel with Jill & Puck.
Been looking forward to this review!!
On a totally unrelated note, you've convinced me to give M. Crichton a read!! (Still deciding which one to start with.)
Andromeda Strain is a great one if you can handle some scientific overexplaining.
There are no wrong answers when it comes to Mr. Crichton.
Jurassic Park and timeline are the only two I've read but they are really great
LETS FKING GO.
I have been excited for this.
Great video man.
You got a new stan
Thanks so much! Glad you're enjoying it here.
What happened to the rest of the arc reviews ):
Conviction is my favourite arc for sure, I love the art at this point in the manga, the fights are spectacular, and it's dripping with self-reflection.
My favourite moment is when Guts visits Godo one last time, and Godo give Guts the "sword without a sheath, with a fatal flaw" speech, you could tell just how hard that hit Guts, it's what really turns him around from being the black swordsman
Such a great moment.
man those reviews are so fun. i could listen to you for hours
i have so much love for this series i can not put it into words. i'm so glad i found your channel, you cover exactly the taste i love and now berserk too. im having a blast
I'm delighted you enjoyed it.
Please, Please do a review of Falcon of the Millennium Empire Arc.
dude you're legit - u earned a sub
20:23 bro you did not notice serpico is the one who got Guts with a stick to his wound
28:21 zodd's broken horn vol 17 chapter revelation part 3
Someone else explained the Serpico part. I totally missed it.
The tower of conviction arc is what happens when you splice "The name of the rose" with "Evil dead" and "The blob."
A lovely combo.
I'mso bummed this and manga stuff in general stopped on this channel, they performed well and he seemed to enjoy it :c
great stuff love the long breakdown berserk deserves it.
Funny how many are saying it isn't long enough of a talk.
@@mikesbookreviews ye we want more from you :D
I’m currently at vol 18 (6th deluxe edition), I absolutely love this Manga, it’s actually the only Manga that I’ve read & it’s utterly amazing. I think it’s the best story that I’ve ever read, it’s just amazing.
It is quite good, I agree.
The final 2 arcs, Fantasia and Millennium Falcon, are by far the most emotionally rewarding and most visually striking parts of the whole series.
Nah disagree, they're good but not as good as Golden age or conviction. They have their moments, brilliant and beautiful but for me, they're flawed.
@@penaldotapinaldo1713 welcome to the world of "people have different opinions"
@@gutsusama2671 thanks captain obvious, you're saying as if I don't know what an opinion is. So that is why I mentioned the word 'disagree' in my previous comment indicating that I know people have different opinions. No need to be a condescending prick, kid.
@@penaldotapinaldo1713 the way you're so butthurt shows who is the kid here , when you say i disagree that A is better than B is like saying your opinion is invalid . "kiD"
@@gutsusama2671 fix your grammar mistakes first, kid. Go back to school. I'm done wasting my time with butthurt kids like you. Grow up.
Lost children for me is very important to the story of Conviction arc its where Guts begins to change again.
I can see that.
Ah yessss the Conviction arc!!! This is my favorite arc. I just love how it expands upon what was set up by both Golden Age and Black Swordsman. "Cracks in the Blade" in particular is a goated chapter.
I can only say, that as more I re-read Berserk, the better I like Lost Children. If you pay attention, Guts hates to kill children, he pukes after doing so (it happened in the Blackswordman arc when he had to kill the girl who was traveling with his father, when killing Adonis during Golden Age and also during lost children).
You can notice that he missed some hits at Rosine since he doesn't like to kill children. This fight could have ended much much much sooner, with his first attack. So this fight can also be viewed as Guts trying to become a monster and put aside his thoughts in order to kill the apostles, which turns this fight even better than what it is.
Also, Jill is like a reflex of Guts, she had pretty much the same problems as Guts had before, like an abussive father.
And art wise, I would take lost children over any other arc, I LOVE lost children art, if I had to made a list of my fav Berserk art, half of it would be lost children.
Hope you enjoy the next arcs, 2 more to go
I'm sure I will like it even more on a re-read.
About the art: mind you that this was still the somewhat biweekly Miura.....he was putting out a chapter every 14/28 days. It's honestly mindblowing....no wonder he got burnt out
Also, it won't peak the golden age, but just because the Eclipse is the pinnacle of manga. Period
He was certainly a wizard.
Isidro and Puck’s comedy is definitely something that can be hard to enjoy on first read. I think it’s not as bad on reread but it still is hit or miss. In the case of Farnese, she has one of the best character growth in Berserk you just have to be patient. Conviction is a great arc but Golden Age is a tough act to follow and to me it falls just short of being equal in its greatness. However I do think FotME stands equal to Golden Age. Volume 34 especially is a feast for the eyes. Great review once again and enjoy the read!
I'm not worried about Miura's character work at all.
Agreed, I think FotME is as great as The Golden Age. I really like how the next one was going too
@@MultiWar22 Honestly? Aside from a few characters in the cast not getting their time in the sun, I think where Miura left off is accidentally a really good ending to Berserk.
@@halowaffle25 I actually agree. It's just very unfortunate, because the next chapter was looking to be great for exposition, but regarding the overall story, it's quite fine
Other than Guts and Griffith, I think Farnese is my favorite character in Berserk. She's a great example of that "you become what you fight" but in a completely different way than Guts. Other than the two "Wounds" chapters and "Companions", my favorite chapters of Berserk are the two dedicated to her backstory in Falcon of the Millennium.
It's funny, the way you talk about zooming in on details while reading digitally is exactly the reason Miura's drawing got slower when he switched to digital, his editor complained that Miura would zoom in to tinker over individual pixels in his images and would obsess over that level of thing. But that happens a lot later.
Puck and Isidro are only going to get more prominent, sorry. Puck especially is going to be reduced to just being a Yoda reference for most of the rest of the series, so you better prepare yourself for that.
The Golden Age and Conviction both give you some important hints about who the Skull Knight is, including his name. If you didn't figure it out I won't tell you though, because you said the thing again.
I'm just treating the Skull Knight as "whatever you say, buddy" and rolling with it.
@@mikesbookreviews His weird way of talking does end up giving us such gems as "Whore Princess of the Uterine Sea", so I guess that's really the only way to respond to him.
Farny's mom is so great in those backstory chapters. Her and Luca = best berk moms😤
I always felt like Lost Children was meant to be a turning point for readers if not for Guts. It’s showing that the demonic humans are sometimes just as much victims as Guts is.
One of my favorite finishes to a fight is when he fights the two bug dudes in the forest. The Mantis and Beetle. Canon blast into spin to win. 🤌
The lost children arc is one of my favorites character writing wise. I just feel like it does an amazing job of giving Guts character growth for how short it is. Not to mention the Guts vs Rosine fight. Fights are probably on the bottom of my list of reasons I enjoy berserk, but man that’s a good fight.
As for Puck and Isidro. I agree in that a lot of the humor doesn’t land, or maybe it just doesn’t feel like it fits the setting, but I think that might be kind of the point. To show contrast. Even Guts says it’s hard to take anything too seriously when those two are a few feet away acting like they might as well be from another genre of book.
"Thats why im not reviewing One Piece" LMAO. Yea forcing yourself to read something just for views is dumb af
I will never do any content here just for views. I know some don't believe that, but whatevs. I read what I want.
Ratio
To me world buling of one piece is the best of all manga. but I can see somebody said it just big not the quality.
@@amotnate3797 100% false.
@@opedits-ar8920 lol
Almost all of the questions you had are actually answered in the arc. The story gets insanely dense in Conviction and unfortunately some of the details are easier to miss when reading it though volumes at a time. I promise that whenever you do a re-read you notice things you missed on the first pass.
Zodd lost his horn in a day-dream sequence where he receives the revelation informing him of Griffith/Femto's upcoming return.
The demon child informs Guts that Caska is in danger after he escapes from the HICKs. Then the child is injured while protecting Caska inside the Tower of Conviction. Then the Behelit apostle swallows the child shortly before he sacrifices himself to birth Griffith's reincarnation into the world.
You can see the Behelit apostle, usually depicted only as a set of staring eyes, throughout the Tower of Conviction arc orchastrating events behind the scenes. He is the one who makes the leader of the sex cult into the Great Goat psudo apostle (just like the Count made Zondark and Rosine transformed the children and adult protectors). He also transformed Mozgus and his crew into their Psudo apostle forms.
That said, loved the review and I look forward to more. Although if you dislike Isidro and Puck's antics now then I fear what you will think going forward. I personally grew to enjoy them, but many others did not.
Yes, many have educated me on these points already. But I do appreciate the feedback without the condescension others have used.
@@mikesbookreviews Sorry about that. It's an unfortunate problem with passionate fandoms. Berserk is a series I have followed and re-read numerous times in the past 16-17 years. Too many in the fandom seem to have forgotten just how much they benifited from reading much of this slowly as it was being released or with re-reads. I hope you don't let the pricks get you down and egerly await your next installment.
@@EmperorGeiseric i didnt realize so many ppl didnt like Puck and Dro. They are hilarious. I show my wife a Puck panel every chapter for her amusement.
I cannot wait for you to get to the rest. Soooooo much good stuff still coming!!
Next major arc is my personal favorite other than the most recent one. On the goat and the Mozgus force, It's worth mentioning that they're half Apostles so not quite as powerful as a real one.
I also like Azan as well, I got super hype seeing him later on. Also worth mentioning that Miura likes a particular comic book character and we see a design inspired by them. I think you should have no touble seeing them when you get there.
When I read this arc years after watching the anime I was surprised where the story went. Golden age will always be my favorite but I was never let down by the later work.
this was a great review! your berserk series was my intro to your channel -- im really enjoying your videos dude! cant wait for you to progress through berserk. keep it up :D
Thanks for watching!
As a One Piece fan, I love the shade you throw at the fanbase 😂
Those others are goddamn crazy 👀
I’ve never encountered a fan base that…dickish.
@@mikesbookreviews My Hero Academia fanbase. Also, Steven Universe fanbase. Holy fuck.
Glad you're enjoying this. I really loved this arc. It took a lot of influence from the book/movie "Name of the Rose," and I just loved the tension and mystery from this arc. I always love stories that deal with religious zealots doing things equally horrible to the demons they fearmonger, but perceive themselves as good.
That's always a gimmick in fiction I enjoy.
I’m new to the channel and am loving your berserk videos, as it’s the series that got me into manga. If you’re loving the character work in this, you’ve got to give Vinland Saga a go. Incredible character writing and world building.
Vinland Saga is one I plan to do after Berserk. Already own everything available on digital.
@@mikesbookreviews oh great, can’t wait to hear your thoughts on some of the characters.
The art peaks in this arc for me, the character designs, the Settings it's just on another level.
I just love the way he draws monsters.
I think everyone who's read Berserk finds some of the stuff in Conviction's 3rd act a bit too weird lol
But don't worry, the rest of the story is very easy to follow and not too convoluted, you'll actually get a LOT of answers in the next 2 arcs.
I would say more compelling than weird. For me, weird would be that horse scene.
Don't worry too much about the comic/manga thing. In Japan Spiderman is a manga, it's basically just Japanese for comic. The only people that actually care have their heads stuffed up their own asses.
And you'll find a lot of people agree with you on Isidro/Puck. It's just too much.
Sorry, editing these in as I watch. Farnese didn't just get a lucky swipe in on Guts. I missed this the first time I read it, but there is a small panel where you see a stick hit the bolt sticking out of Guts' leg. Later in the background you can see Serpico let out a sigh of relief. Serpico actually threw the stick into the bolt in Guts' leg, causing him to stagger and get hit by Farnese's sword.
In chapter 128 right before Guts returns to Godo to find out that Casca is missing we got a scene with Zodd. He dreams of a white hawk that cuts off one of his horns, he then wakes up with one of his horns on the ground and a bleeding forehead.
Mike I've been reading this series for 15+ years and I also didn't really understand what exactly happened at the end of the Conviction arc until I recently went back to reading Berserk and did a bit of research (that I was avoiding due to not wanting to be psuedo-spoiled by theories). However, now that I know what happened at the end of the Conviction arc, this has enhanced everything about Berserk and shows how much of a genius Miura really is. I recommend you finish the series, maybe do some research afterwards about what happened at the end of the Conviction arc. I know people have explained it, but it makes more sense as you read. Looking forward to it my man!
Great video, Mike! Can’t wait to hear your thoughts on Falcon of the Millennium arc!
It's long enough I'm sure there will be lots of discussions on the Discord.
I love One Piece, but I think it's awesome that you're sticking to reviewing stuff you're interested in rather than stuff that will get you more views. Keep up the amazing work, Mike!
Thanks! I'll never review content on here just for views. I don't want to be that kind of channel. Whole reason I still refuse sponsors.
Lost children is my favourite arc of the story, I really love the parallels between guts and jill and I think it's kinda the catalyst of Guts opening himself back up to people again post black-swordsman.
I enjoyed that as well.
This is one of my favorite arcs, warts and all.
Been impatiently waiting for this.
Hope you enjoy
@@mikesbookreviews I did, and I would definitely be interested in an arc ranking video later on down the line.
Yes! By far my favourite arc! I'm so glad you are covering it.
I'm so glad you are watching it.
Mikes loving it and I’m loving it 😂 lol!! The beginning of this video was FANTASTIC!! Laughed my ass off!
Happy to hear it!
I would say that there are some answers you should have now, and some of them will be clearer when mechanics of how Berserk's world works are explained later on. I think for now you're supposed to be like, "Why is Griffith back? Is this actually Griffith?"
In the case of Zodd, we see him lose his horn when he challenged the Falcon of Light in a dream. This is both why he pledged himself to Femto, and why he is now missing his horn in real life. That he lost his horn in a dream and is affected in reality is one of the things that becomes clear when we learn about the mechanics of the world.
I see. Perhaps I should flip back through this.
@@mikesbookreviews Ultimately though, the end of that arc is pandemonium. It's alright if some things that happened don't make complete sense; some of this is definitely supposed to go over your head for now
I cannot express enough how happy I am to see someone crossover from comics to manga, and to one of the best manga ever. I wouldn’t worry about being confused much, it was confusing for myself as well. The next arc though is one of those arcs that truly capitalizes on every single thing that’s come before it. God speed in the journey that lies ahead!
As much as I love Berserk, Conviction is probably the one arc that I love the least besides Black Swordsman, the main reason being that Guts is in it for a relatively smaller portion of the story. That said, Lost Children is probably my favorite chapter in the entirety of Berserk, I loved every single second of it.
People may say that it could have been totally left out of the story, but Guts' entire character arc in that one, showing his lows and as you beautifully put it, is he fighting the monsters or is he himself a monster I thought was genius, plus Miura needed to reintroduce the reader to the Black Swordsman before continuing with the next big story arc. I also thought that the Jill and Rosine stuff is some of the most beautiful writing I've ever witnessed my entire life.
As you also beautifully put it, Conviction had the hard part of following up the Golden Age, which seems like an insurmountable task, but having the Lost Children be equally great if not slightly better than ghe Golden Age just proves to me that Miura is one of the best writers and storytellers of all time, he's definitely my favorite.
Sorry for being so late to this one, I kinda feel ashamed but I was on vacation and didn't spend that much time on UA-cam. Lovely video and I enjoyed hearing your thoughts on it, about the positive and negative parts. Look forward to the Millenium Falcon thoughts!
Edit: I'm all for the Nina hate, speak your truth further, please!
Edit 2: if you want to experience the Golden Age again, consider watching the 97 anime, you will get a chance to see your favorite moments beautifully animated and directed, plus the biggest reason is to have the privilege to listen to Susumu Hirasawa's heavenly music which equals Berserk's own greatness. That is the only animated version of Berserk to see though and nothing else.
great videos man
Glad you think so!
A lot of Puck and Isidro's skits are really heavy in japanese word play that is near impossible to translate well, which makes us english readers missing the point. It's one of the problems when translating that you really just have to take, sadly.
Thats fascinating, can you give an example? (I dont mind if it ruins the joke by over explaining it)
Berserk is for sure better during a re-read as you everything is much clearer to you and since you already know what will happen you understand all information given to you and you get all various references. You will also notice smaller details you didn't notice previously.
Don’t worry there will be at least 2 more eclipse level, completely game changing, story events that will amaze you in this series. It took 12-13 volumes to build up the story for the eclipse payoff. Give Kentaro a full 12-13 more volumes from there to knock your socks off once again with these new investments (and then again even later on still)
Glad you appreciate the actual art so much because it is a visual medium.
Love this trend of seeing booktubers switching over to manga.
Haha as I was about to write something about checking out one piece your one piece comment came up. All I'll say is there's a reason it's the 2nd highest selling comic only surpassed by superman.
I realy like this Ark. I think is Very good
I enjoyed it.
So excited for the rest of these reviews
Great review! if I remember correctly some of those questions you had at the end do get answered later on.
I cant remember if its fully explained Griffiths returning so I wont say much on that but when I reread the story I did kinda place everything together cuz a LOT of stuff was happening towards the end of the Arc.
Great screen name.
cant wait to hear your thoughts about what's to come in this amazing story!
First of all, words can’t express how much I look forward to seeing you and others getting to experience Berserk for the very first time. I made three playlists all with different types of songs. I was very selective with my song selection, mostly focusing on Susumu Hirasawa songs and exclusive Berserk OST’s from games and anime.
Hearing these songs while reading the manga enhances the experience, however, don’t feel like you always need to have a song playing in the background. Some songs are loops and some are not. Feel free to give me feedback if you prefer long looped songs versus shorter ones as well as the order of the song selection.
If you want to loop a song and are playing it on the computer, right click the video and click “loop”.
I want to ensure that you see this, so I’ll post this on every Berserk video that you’ve made. Thanks again for the content, I look forward to your future videos. - Danel
Berserk Hype/Battle Songs
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Berserk Epic/Emotional Songs
ua-cam.com/play/PLizeOw7LgJEWOmfqjfQxiZnB_2XQWCDoR.html
Berserk Mood Setters Dark/Light/Exposition
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im pretty sure farnese is pronounced as far-neh-seh (if that makes any sense) because its italian.... but almost everyone in the fandom pronounces it as far-niece lol
Yeah, I'll never be able to break myself of that one.
My favourite thing on the conviction ark was the fight against stone mozgus + guts speech
If you want to know… the egg man was a behelit for the new world, and when he ate Gut’s and Casca’s kid, he incubated the kid and turned into Griffith cause he is going to change the world. That is why in the earlier chapters they talk about a dream with the white hawk in it saving the world.
Why spoil it tho😒
@@melancholyman369 not really it’s all in the convection arc, the dream, and egg man, it’s what it all means
Yeah more or less the Egg Apostle was a sad and innocent soul who wanted to sacrifice everything he knew just to make the world a better place. Unfortunately for Guts though that better world came in the form of fulfilling of the Hawk of Light prophecy and reincarnating Griffith. New-Griffith is mostly just Femto put into a flesh body, but spawned from and fused with the Egg Apostle.. and the Egg Apostle had just swallowed the Demon Child. This makes new Griffith mostly still the cold psychopath that Femto is, but with the Egg Apostle's purpose and a small 1% that loves Caska and Guts, the Demon Child's parents.
And I don't think it's a spoiler at all, it's just a little hard to all piece together on the first reading of conviction since all the elements are seperated out between a lot of fights and Mozgus' antics.
I'm still not up to date on Berserk, but it's hard to read Berserk in another format once you've tried the deluxe editions. They are mindblowingly good!
I wish I had gotten them before he passed away and the price gouging started.
I absolutely loved this arc. Very dark. But great.
Oh yes Farnese, you'll be in love with her soon enough!
I’m sure. Miura as a wizard on these things.
20:02 Azan was able to hold his own because Guts was practically on deaths door after fighting Rosine. Obviously its not the only reason, but definitely a prime.
Fantastic video so happy to see it!
Glad you enjoyed it!
Great video, the Griffith reborn stuff was hard to understand. I struggled with the whole prophecy that people were seeing. It almost seemed like Miura skipped a chapter on my read-through
Thanks for making me not feel like the only idiot here. Some of the other explanations have been...harsh. Ha.
I hope you can comeback to finish this series 😭
Did he drop it?
Nice video can't wait to see more videos.
imo you shouldnt ask ppl if you missed anything,in the 1st read you wont be able to see/catch everything but thats what makes berserk so much re-readable!!i ve read it 6 times allready and im thinking of starting it again
Yeah, I get that. I just knew the big time fans were going to be upset I didn't feel the way they did on their 19th re-read as I did on my first. I learned that while running through Wheel of Time.
Really appreciate you giving a great work of fiction its due regardless of the medium.
In the end, I just love good stories.
Was looking forward to this one. Just finished reading lost children