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REVIEW: Berserk GN 26




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Pirkaf



Joined: 14 Feb 2008
Posts: 156
PostPosted: Thu Mar 26, 2009 2:56 am Reply with quote
C- for the story? I didn't know it was an April Fools' Day already. Berserk is the best manga ever.
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GATSU



Joined: 03 Jan 2002
Posts: 15305
PostPosted: Thu Mar 26, 2009 3:24 am Reply with quote
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Meanwhile, the occasional moments of internal monologue—Farnese reflecting on her emotional bond with Casca, Guts thinking to himself how much fun he's having—are simply too superficial to be of any real value.


It's nice to see them in better moods than usual.

Quote:
Yet even this battle has to fall back on magical assistance—sure, it's nice to see advanced forms of ass-kicking and name-taking, but the hero of this series is supposed to have gained his reputation from sheer effort and skill, not because of performance-enhancing armor.


Yeah, his new "form" reminded me more of a shonen manga than a seinen manga. But I'll give the story credit for having the courage to give him spoiler[grey hair], when that could turn off younger and shallower readers. Though I guess you could argue his arsenal would be "cheating", too. Wink

My only gripe about the volume is that damned Kushan Army. They pretty much suck against Griffith, so why are they wasting time pretending they have a chance?
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mufurc



Joined: 09 Jun 2003
Posts: 612
PostPosted: Thu Mar 26, 2009 6:26 am Reply with quote
Pirkaf wrote:
C- for the story? I didn't know it was an April Fools' Day already. Berserk is the best manga ever.

Yeah. How can anyone miss the stellar storytelling, the intelligent and involving plot, the sophisticated character development...

...oh, wait...
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ikillchicken



Joined: 12 Feb 2007
Posts: 7272
Location: Vancouver
PostPosted: Thu Mar 26, 2009 6:55 am Reply with quote
I somewhat agree. I love Berserk but to me it's felt just a bit off since the start of the troll arc. Kinda convoluted, too much exposition, not a lot of direction. Overall too it just feels a tiny bit lost since the end of the Tower of Conviction arc. Of course, I'm not especially worried. I've found the weakest volumes usually come right before the biggest and best arcs. C- definitely seems too low though. I mean C- is like 'just barely passable' bad. This is hardly that bad. Sure it's relatively shallow and there are a few contrived plot points. Overall though I think it deserves to scrape by with at least a C+. Especially if you consider it's place in the larger work.
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rockman nes



Joined: 07 Nov 2008
Posts: 271
PostPosted: Thu Mar 26, 2009 3:20 pm Reply with quote
Berserk, you're so good and I love you but your pacing makes me want to give up on you entirely.. Sad
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HellKorn



Joined: 03 Oct 2006
Posts: 1669
Location: Columbus, OH
PostPosted: Thu Mar 26, 2009 4:16 pm Reply with quote
Carlo Santos wrote:
But constant peril and ever-escalating battle don't always spell good execution; Guts' escape from the cave seems a little too convenient to be true, and the next fight on his schedule gets a bit of a magical assist from an outside agent. The occasional forays into character introspection and personal development also seem arbitrary, placed there only to make the series feel deeper than it really is.

I dunno on the first point; it's sort of a deus ex machina that becomes Chekhov's gun in retrospect/upon re-reading it. Don't really see it as a detriment, honestly.

I don't see how the character development is arbitrary, either -- convoluted, perhaps, though that's pretty much a given with this type of work -- or how Miura is "feigning depth." (Plus, with a series that is very blunt with its messages and ideas, how is it possible to be pretentious?)

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But when you're busy having your mind blown by intense fantasy artwork and massive displays of power, do story flaws really matter all that much?

Now I can relate to your mindset on Sugar Sugar!

Quote:
Yet even this battle has to fall back on magical assistance—sure, it's nice to see advanced forms of ass-kicking and name-taking, but the hero of this series is supposed to have gained his reputation from sheer effort and skill, not because of performance-enhancing armor.

Uh, Guts isn't able to battle just on sheer grit and absurd human strength anymore. Hell, he's fighting back against god-like beings, and the reliance on magic has been here for quite a few volumes. It wouldn't really be justifiable to see this as a negative, so I don't see the complaint here.

ikillchicken wrote:
... too much exposition, not a lot of direction.

On the exposition: I actually like that we're LEARNING about the universe Berserk is set in. Before this past arc (since the end of the Tower of Conviction), the series is just a compelling tale on revenge and fate set against a generic fantasy backdrop. Since then it's slowly becoming something more tangible. I can see it being a bit much, but I love the stuff.

On the lack of direction: dead wrong on that one. The excursion with the trolls goes on slightly longer than I'd like, but Miura knows exactly where he's taking this series (especially considering more recent volumes in Japan).
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ikillchicken



Joined: 12 Feb 2007
Posts: 7272
Location: Vancouver
PostPosted: Fri Mar 27, 2009 4:34 am Reply with quote
HellKorn wrote:
ikillchicken wrote:
... too much exposition, not a lot of direction.

On the exposition: I actually like that we're LEARNING about the universe Berserk is set in. Before this past arc (since the end of the Tower of Conviction), the series is just a compelling tale on revenge and fate set against a generic fantasy backdrop. Since then it's slowly becoming something more tangible. I can see it being a bit much, but I love the stuff.


Oh I totally agree. It's great to get some detailed insight into the world of Berserk. Especially in light of the tower of conviction arc. I just wish it were executed better. The information it conveyed was good but how it was conveyed could have been better. To much expositionary dialogue.

Quote:
On the lack of direction: dead wrong on that one. The excursion with the trolls goes on slightly longer than I'd like, but Miura knows exactly where he's taking this series (especially considering more recent volumes in Japan).


Well I'm just keeping up with the R1 releases. I'm inclined to agree though. Miura is a talented man and I expect he knows where he's going with it all. I'd just like to know where that is already. I think you're right though that it mostly comes down to the troll arc dragging on too long. I found that there have been other parts (Vol 11, Vol 16) that felt a little directionless as well. Just sort of the series spinning it's wheels and having guts fight some random enemy while not really advancing the characters or overall plot at all. As they were only one volume each though it wasn't a big deal.
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ostinado



Joined: 27 Mar 2009
Posts: 2
PostPosted: Fri Mar 27, 2009 11:02 pm Reply with quote
[quote="HellKorn"]
Carlo Santos wrote:
But constant peril and ever-escalating battle don't always spell good execution; Guts' escape from the cave seems a little too convenient to be true, and the next fight on his schedule gets a bit of a magical assist from an outside agent. The occasional forays into character introspection and personal development also seem arbitrary, placed there only to make the series feel deeper than it really is.


Dont agree at all with that statement. If i remeber correctly he didn't escape the cave in such a good shape, but thats besides the point. he's now fighting apostles, the most powerfull ones among them. There is only so much sheer will, rage and training can do at this point. In my opinion, he needed something else. And it wasnt a freebe on this case, it introduces dangers and limitations, and it comes at a very high price for the caracter. It actually adds deept to his situation, without making him an overpowered character.
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Welshie



Joined: 25 Mar 2009
Posts: 7
Location: Canada
PostPosted: Fri Mar 27, 2009 11:08 pm Reply with quote
I think Berserk is the greatest thing ever, so I don't think I'm a good candidate for unbiased feedback. I will say though, that 26 probably has the coolest cover art they've done.
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equalityofcipher



Joined: 31 Mar 2009
Posts: 1
PostPosted: Tue Mar 31, 2009 9:21 am Reply with quote
Pirkaf wrote:
C- for the story? I didn't know it was an April Fools' Day already. Berserk is the best manga ever.


i heard that! i registered just to protest the reviewer's rating and to say that berserk is THE best manga i have ever read. no contest. i don't know of a manga that can hold a candle to miura's story line. combine that with the art and i don't know how anything can come out with less than an A rating - other than the release rate of course. there again, the quality makes it well worth the wait. a C for the story? stop playin'. seriously.
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REDOG



Joined: 01 Apr 2004
Posts: 37
PostPosted: Sat Apr 04, 2009 4:13 pm Reply with quote
Quote:
As an action series, there isn't much to be expected from the dialogue—basically, the text does an adequate job of having the characters explain the situation, make battle decisions, and taunt their enemies. But there are also moments of eloquence, like when Schierke casts an elemental spell (even if it does end in an overused Nietzsche quote), or the chilling description of Guts' newfound armor.


I completely does not agree with you Carlos Santos. It isn't a pure action series, if it was a pure action series it had not had all the fame the series acquired as "one of the best series of all time".
Even you (animenewsnetwork) gave that title to the anime. On the other hand fame alot of times does not say much about the quality of the series. But in the case of berserk the fame does mach the quality of the series.

However, there are alot of fans that claim that from the point guts gather around him new friends the series become shounen like because there is magick and more fantasy elements are in the story
and the atmosphere become less dark. But in my opinion these fans so used to see fantasy with shounen traits that the second the series start seemingly to remind shounen series they believe it becomes more shallow.

Quote:
Yet even this battle has to fall back on magical assistance—sure, it's nice to see advanced forms of ass-kicking and name-taking, but the hero of this series is supposed to have gained his reputation from sheer effort and skill, not because of performance-enhancing armor.


What do you expect guts indeed have extraordinary willpower but if he was to survive only on willpower the series wasn't believable.
I mean come on to skewer troll herd than to berely survive against one of the godhands and than to fight a very powerfull apostle is just too much. After all he is just a human not a god. The armour in this point fits to guts advantage and of course like anything in berserk the armour has a price. It may help guts to survive but destroys his body little by little so it is not so magickal solution.

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(Yes, Isidro finally does something useful with that flaming knife of his.)


I agree on this one.

Quote:
Yet that same intensity and attention to detail can also be the artwork's own worst enemy


I agree.
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