His reckless yet powerful fighting style attracts the attention of Griffith, the leader of a mercenary group called the Band of the Hawk, which he makes Guts join after defeating him.
After being branded with sigils that mark them for sacrifice, the Hawks are slaughtered by the Godhand's Apostles—former humans turned demons who like Zodd, gained power by sacrificing their loved ones—and only Guts and Casca survive.
After learning from the Skull Knight that the Brands of Sacrifice make them targets for beings of darkness, Guts leaves Casca in the care of the blacksmith Godo, his adoptive daughter Erica, and Rickert, the youngest member of the Band of the Hawk, who survived because he was not present at the Eclipse.
His search for her takes him to the ruined city of St. Albion, which the God Hand have prepared as the site for a ceremony to give one of their own a physical form and which has become a refuge for refugees fleeing the invading Kushan Empire's armies.
Guts saves Casca from the Holy See bishop Mozgus as the souls of the dead attack the city, creating a massive Brand of Sacrifice, and is joined by Farnese, her bodyguard Serpico, and the young thief Isidro.
After recruiting a merrow girl named Isma, Guts' party reaches Elfhelm; its elf ruler, Danann, helps Farnese and Schierke in their magical training, and succeeds in restoring Casca's mind.
Daiba, therefore, orders that Guts and his party, Rodrick, the ships' crew, and Elfhelm's surviving sorcerers be placed under his command as the empire prepares for war with Falconia.
While briefly working as an assistant to George Morikawa at 18, Miura had already planned some ideas for Berserk's development, having a dark warrior with a gigantic sword illustrated in his portfolio who would be the first conception of Guts.
Miura said that the title was connected to Guts' imagery, influenced by Mad Max, further elaborating, "In short, starting from a world with a dark hero who is burning for revenge, prompts you to imagine a rabid character.
[17][18] Miura said that his favorite manga series was Dororo by Osamu Tezuka, and that he wanted to create a fantasy work that possessed dark, "muddy" and yōkai-like elements.
[19] Miura stated that he learned the basics of storytelling from George Lucas, creator of the Star Wars franchise, and called the eponymous 1977 film his favorite work.
He wanted to convey an "extension of reality" feel to the sword, similar to the depiction of the Fist of the North Star's Hokuto Shinken martial art, and make it believable for the readers.
[72] Mori related how he had visited Miura nearly 30 years ago when the latter was drawing "the Eclipse" event of Berserk and how his friend completed the storyline for the manga up to its last chapter that week.
"[72] In a 2023 interview, on the occasion of the 42nd volume release, Mori commented that Miura "was a manga genius bursting with talent," and that "[h]e had an eagerness to see things through to the end as well as an outstanding ability to paint, conceive stories and employ narrative devices effectively."
The first game, Sword of the Berserk: Guts' Rage (ベルセルク 千年帝国の鷹篇 喪失花の章, Beruseruku Sennen Teikoku No Taka Hen Wasurebana no Shō, "Berserk—Millennium Falcon Arc: Chapter of the Lost Flowers"), was released for the Dreamcast in Japan by ASCII Corporation in late 1999.
[143] A spin-off novel, titled Berserk: The Flame Dragon Knight (ベルセルク 炎竜の騎士, Beruseruku Enryū no Kishi), written by Makoto Fukami with illustrations by Kentaro Miura, was released on June 23, 2017.
[188][189] Berserk: Birth of the Black Swordsman, a 15-second video commercial for the 2016 anime television series adaptation, was one of the Entertainment Division's Jury Recommended Works at the 20th installment of the Japan Media Arts Festival Awards in 2017.
[218] In March 2017, Michael Gombos, Dark Horse Comics' director of international publishing and licensing, reported that Berserk was their best-selling product of all time (not just among manga), dethroning Lone Wolf and Cub,[219] and it had over 2 million copies sold in North America by September 2018.
[113] Following Miura's death announcement in May 2021, it was reported that the first eight volumes of Dark Horse's deluxe edition of Berserk ranked on Amazon's top 100 overall best-selling books list.
Reviewing the first volume, Michael Aronson of Manga Life described Berserk as "a curious mix of medieval barbarism, sorcery and futurist technology, combining ghouls, guns and gore.
[228] Writing for SciFi.com, Zac Bertschy said, "Kentaro Miura has managed to create a story that's not only darkly disturbing, but also absorbing and affecting on a deeper level than most manga titles can achieve."
"[4] Thompson, in a review for j-pop.com, also wrote, "Despite the slaughter, Berserk doesn't feel as amoral as it could be; our hero is a killer, but given his well-developed back story, his occasional tears of remorse seem more genuine than, say, Crying Freeman's.
"[230] In another article, writing for Anime News Network (ANN), Thompson said that Berserk started as "the story of a lone swordsman traveling the world fighting demons with blood and sweat," and it was later turned into a "fantasy RPG party of heroes with a magic-user, a thief, a fighter, some elves, etc.," commenting that Miura apparently was "aiming the series at a younger age group."
"[80] Matt Fagaly, writing for Crunchyroll, analyzed Berserk's use of shōnen and shōjo manga tropes in the Lost Children arc (volumes 14–16), which resulted in an "entirely original and moving narrative."
Fagaly commented about the arc protagonist, Jill, and her hopeful words at the end of that story, further adding, "I have never seen another Shonen or Shojo express this notion with the same audacity, depth, and idiosyncrasy as Berserk.
"[239] Carlo Santos, reviewer from ANN, wrote, "Miura's complete command of light and shadow gives every moment an otherworldly quality—this is one of the few series that can honestly claim to transport its readers to another time and place—and the attention to backgrounds is a welcome sight when so many other artists are too lazy to be bothered.
[244][245][246][247] Peter Fobian, in an essay of the legacy and impact of Berserk, called it a "monolith not only for anime and manga, but also fantasy literature, video games, you name it", comparing its level of influence to Blade Runner, further adding, "it's difficult to imagine what the world might look like without it, and the generations of creators the series inspired.
"[233] According to writer and editor Kazushi Shimada, series like Fullmetal Alchemist, Attack on Titan, Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba or Jujutsu Kaisen would not have existed if not for Berserk.
[248] Some dark fantasy manga authors who have declared influence from Berserk include Hajime Isayama (Attack on Titan),[249] Kazue Kato (Blue Exorcist),[250] and Yana Toboso (Black Butler).
[243] Critics like Gene Park of The Washington Post and Ramsey Isler of IGN stated that Berserk started a visual trend of characters wielding giant swords that spread to Cloud Strife from Final Fantasy VII, Dante from Devil May Cry, and Ichigo Kurosaki from Bleach.