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Berserk (Japanese: ベルセルク, Hepburn: Beruseruku) is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Kentaro Miura. Set in a medieval Europe-inspired dark fantasy world, the story centers on the characters of Guts, a lone swordsman, and Griffith, the leader of a mercenary band called the “Band of the Hawk”. Miura premiered a prototype of Berserk in 1988. The series began the following year in the Hakusensha’s now-defunct magazine Monthly Animal House, which was replaced in 1992 by the semimonthly magazine Young Animal, where Berserk has continued its publication. Following Miura’s death in May 2021, the final chapter that he wrote and illustrated was published posthumously in September of the same year; the series resumed in June 2022, under supervision of Miura’s fellow manga artist and childhood friend Kouji Mori [ja] and Miura’s group of assistants and apprentices from Studio Gaga.
Guts, renowned as the “Black Swordsman”, is a former mercenary and branded wanderer who travels the world in a constant internal struggle between pursuing his own ends and upholding his attachments to those dear to him. At one time driven solely by his will to survive, Guts finds purpose in life upon joining the Band of the Falcon, greatly helping in the faction’s storied successes during the Hundred-Year War as captain of the band’s raiders. He eventually becomes dissatisfied with clinging to Griffith’s dream[9] and departs from the band in pursuit of his own.[10] Following the horrors of the Eclipse prompted by Griffith,[11] Guts embarks on a two-year war against the God Hand and apostles, becoming increasingly embittered on his one-track quest for retribution. He in time realizes protecting his regressed lover is more important to him,[12] as well as something he cannot do alone,[13] and thus puts aside his quest for revenge while fostering camaraderie with new companions.