Berserk

No, no, I'm not angry. It's the name of a manga. Berserk by Kentaro Miura is probably the bloodiest manga I've ever seen in my days. There's about every form of violence you can imagine. But when you have your stereotypical cold-blooded killer that carries a 7-foot, 200 lbs sword that slays innocents and demons alike, usually you have some kind of hero take him down and ramble about "justice" and how one shouldn't just go killing willy-nilly. Well...the murderer happens to be the main character in this manga. His name is Gutts, and he's not a happy camper. But hey, when you and all your friends were sacrificed by your best friend in the attempt to gain godlike powers and you're the only one who survived sane, you'd be a bit grumpy too.

The plot of the story is above average, but the battles are what really make Berserk incredible (go figure). There aren't many battles not involving giant robots or martial arts masters that tickle my fancy so well, but this manga definitely has the best fights ever. When you have one guy take on 100 or so soldiers by himself, that's a battle! And they make it almost believable: that one guy could actually take them all down, it's just a matter of will. Later in the series, he starts losing himself to rage, and gets armor that just encourages that. It really can be frightening at times because of the scale of his...destruction. When you see small children and women just get slaughtered because they were taken over by evil spirits, it's a bit much, but I'd say if you are as heartless and insensitive as me, it's an excellent story.

An anime was made over the first story arc, but it leaves out all the comic relief characters, so...it's a bit of a battle-fest with poor story. All in all, it's decent though. It managed to keep the violence and destruction, so that's all I like it for anyways.

Rating: B-