Contains discussions of sexual assault

Summary

• Guts' trauma as a character adds depth to his initially unlikable persona.
• Berserk's opening scene may feel contradictory given later revelations about Guts in the Golden Age Arc.
• Changes in Guts' character across arcs reflect both in-universe and real-world reasons.

Few manga have earned the respect and iration of readers across the world like Berserk. Central to that love is the series' main character, Guts. The Black Swordsman is a deceptively complex character with a lot going on under the surface. It's this depth that explains why some fans of the hit manga just can't reconcile the series' first few pages with what they later learn about Guts.

Created by Kentaro Miura in 1989, Berserk is the story of a powerful warrior named Guts. Throughout the manga's first handful of chapters, Guts appears as a completely unlikable protagonist. It gets to the point where the only reason he could be considered a hero at all is that the demons he kills are far worse than he is. In the series' famous Golden Age arc though, readers finally learn how Guts became so cold-hearted.

Guts is a man who has lost everything he cares about multiple times over. While the Eclipse that ended up killing his mercenary band is the most well-known example of this, Guts' trauma goes back further than that as readers learn that Guts was assaulted as a child. That cold and detached persona that defines him in the opening chapters is revealed to be a defense mechanism. All of this makes Guts a much deeper character than initial appearances suggest... which is why the manga's opening just doesn't add up.

Berserk's First Page Can Come Across as Out of Character For Guts

Later Revelations About Guts Make the First Page Feel Off

Berserk's first chapter opens on Guts with a woman. In the throes of ion, however, she reveals her true form as the first of Berserk's signature disgusting demons. Guts turns the tables and uses his arm cannon to obliterate the monster. Instead of setting up plot points, the opening establishes that demons overrun the manga's world and that Guts enjoys killing them. When looking at Guts' history though, it's difficult to imagine him doing this. He has trouble letting the actual woman he loves touch him, so it's odd that he seemingly has no problem hooking up with a demon.

As a result of this, it is easy to write this sequence off as non-canon. This is certainly a sympathetic stance to take. While dark and grim things often happen in Berserk, they rarely occur without making some sort of larger thematic point about its characters or world. Though the female demon does reappear during the Eclipse to kill Corkus, it could have been any other demon without changing much, meaning it's possible to remove the scene without changing much about the series' larger narrative.

Given that Corkus was famous for being motivated by his attraction to women, it makes sense that the unnamed female apostle would be the one to kill him in the Eclipse.

Berserk's many adaptations seemingly agree with this, as the 1997 anime adaptation of the series' Golden Age arc omits the scene entirely even in its Black Swordsman-inspired first episode. It's important to note that the scene on its own isn't bad in a vacuum. It still carries Miura's signature gorgeous and horrifying artwork. The problem with Berserk's opening pages isn't an issue of quality, it's that they offer too much of a contradiction for many readers.

Why Guts Feels Like Such a Different Character in Berserk's First Arc

Berserk's Black Swordsman Arc Shows a Darker Side of Guts

In of why Guts feels like such a different character in the Black Swordsman Arc compared to his future appearances, there are two real explanations. The first, the in-universe explanation, is that the Black Swordsman Arc takes place rather shortly after the Eclipse which took everything from Guts. As the series' title suggests, the Guts readers first meet in Chapter 1 is fueled purely by rage and a need for revenge.

This is coupled with the fact that many fans primarily know Berserk through the Golden Age Arc. That is when the series truly exploded in popularity and that is where its two biggest anime adaptations (the 1997 anime series and the movie trilogy) spend the bulk of their time. As a result, the ruthless and outright mean-spirited Guts seen in Chapter 1 can come as a shock to those who primarily know Guts as the introspective though harsh warrior he was during the Golden Age.

It's possible that Berserk creator Kentaro Miura was still trying to figure out the world and characters of Berserk

The second reason Guts' character is so different in the first arc though is the real-world reason. It's possible that Berserk creator Kentaro Miura was still trying to figure out the world and characters of Berserk while he was writing that first arc. Manga is a demanding business, and mangaka often don't have time to plan much beyond what they're working on. Guts' change could reflect a change in how Miura thought of the character.

Why None Of Berserk's Anime Adaptations Adapted The First Arc

Regardless of how fans feel about the first chapter and the first arc, it is a shame that none of Berserk's anime have truly adapted the series' Black Swordsman arc. Though it is markedly different than what comes after, that first arc still does an effective job of establishing Guts' status quo. If anything, the Black Swordsman arc creates a sense of dramatic irony that permeates the Golden Age Arc. Readers know that Guts will end up all alone, hunting demons in general and Griffith specifically.

Unfortunately, despite the Black Swordman arc's importance to Berserk as a whole, it is has never been fully adapted. The 1997 anime does include a snippet of it as setup for the Golden Age Arc, but it doesn't come close to showing the full arc. Meanwhile, the Golden Age trilogy of movies lives up to its title and only adapts the Golden Age and its immediate aftermath. While Berserk's 2016 anime was a follow-up to the movie trilogy and did have an opportunity to adapt the Black Swordsman arc, it instead chose to adapt the Conviction and Millenium Falcon arcs.

It is likely that the Black Swordsman arc is consistently skipped over in favor of the Golden Age because that is the series' most iconic arc. Though this does make a certain amount of sense, it is a shame that Berserk's first arc is too often left by the wayside. Understanding where Guts is at after the Golden Age is an important part of the series, so leaving out this first arc isn't giving new fans the whole picture of Guts.

Berserk's First Chapter is Still An Important Part of the Epic Saga

Regardless of How Fans Feel About its Depiction of Guts

Ultimately, Berserk's depiction of Guts in the Black Swordsman arc is pivotal to understanding the series' events past the Golden Age. It's no understatement to call Berserk a once-in-a-lifetime masterpiece. Kentaro Miura's epic might be ultra-violent, but it's also thoughtful. Even if some readers don't care for Berserk's controversial opening, the series is a work of art that will undoubtedly be celebrated for decades to come.

All chapters of Berserk are available from Dark Horse