If you try to tell someone about Berserk, it’s easy to make it sounds like a mindlessly violent piece of popcorn-gore. This is not the story of a man with a giant sword slicing through everything in his path. It only looks that way at first. Watching the show, though, makes it quickly apparent that the violence is secondary—a result of the story and the characters—rather than the focus. Those characters are the real focus of the show, and they are what make Berserk stand the test of time.
Berserk brings us to the kingdom of Midland, a sort of pastiche European-like nation, stuck in a brutal war with neighboring kingdom Chuder. Between them stands the band of mercenaries known as the Band of the Hawk. Led by the charismatic Griffith, the Hawks (which include a single female soldier, Casca) have been hired on by king of Midland in hopes they’ll live up to their spotless reputation as efficient warriors and make a difference in the interminable war. Even more than being a historical war story, though, Berserk is at core a sort of three-man play, starring Guts, Griffith, and Casca.
My copy was just shipped!