Berserk: Volume 1

Kentaro Miura's Berserk is a fantasy epic centred around Guts, a man who's quest for vengeance is as relentless as it is bloody. It is a dark, harrowing and extremely violent story which certainly isn't for the faint of heart. The ongoing series has been running for twenty two years and currently spans thirty six volumes. Many people, myself included, feel that it is a masterpiece but what will I think after I reread it? 

The first thing that struck me as I reread volume one was the art, which is much simpler than that in later volumes. It is still very impressive but lacks the insane levels of detail he uses in the more recent chapters. The monster designs are very good and there are bucket loads of gore but it lacks the finesse I'm used to but seeing as it is his early work its seems unfair to criticise it.

The central character Guts appeared a lot younger and his attitude is more unforgiving, crueller even, than I remembered, I'd forgotten just how much he had developed over the course of the story. Its good to see Puck whose comic antics help keep Berserk from being too oppressive and whose actions help move the plot along nicely.

Speaking of he plot, the stories are in book one are excellent and it is very clear that Kentaro had a solid vision of what he wanted to create. This volume introduces ideas and items have have relevance to the series even today and at its core it feels like Berserk. The setting is vague, a sort of pseudo European medieval world, but you can get a good sense that there is more too it than that. To his credit Kentaro doesn't feel the need to explain everything at once, so what if there are elves and monsters, just deal with it. The dialogue is strong and the fight scenes are both grisly and enthralling, all in all it is a great first volume for a wonderful series.