Berserk manga

[Zelgadis]

Anyone a fan of the manga? I am going to try to start collecting them at some point, probably when I turn 18 because my dad can't object than or I work a comic store that sells it.

[Yun Lao]

Currently I'm on number 8 manga-wise, but I've been taking it slow since I know that Caska's rape is only volumes away; however, I will state Berserk is probably my favorite manga out of all.

[Samurai]

I have the 1st 20 books of the manga in the original Japanese... they are some pretty out-there and disturbing stuff, but the art is good and the character designs are interesting. My Japanese is not good enough to comment on the intricacies of the story, I can just pretty much get the main points and stuff.

[Sparda]

Currently the manga in volumes is up to 31 and the series so far is awesome. Currently though chapters haven't been releasing lately but I recommend reading the series. Big PLUS.

[The Xenos]

I have the 1st 20 books of the manga in the original Japanese... they are some pretty out-there and disturbing stuff, but the art is good and the character designs are interesting. My Japanese is not good enough to comment on the intricacies of the story, I can just pretty much get the main points and stuff.

If you paid for the original Japanese version, I'd say just download the scanlations. Try torrent sites or look for.. eh.. I don't want to say too much and bend forum rules, but as you've actually bought the Japanese books, I think if anyone should be entitled to scanlations or translations, it would be you. They should be some what easy to find on whatever filesharing sites are out there. I reccomend Band of the Hawk group for ealier chapters and Evil Genius for later ones that the Hawk haven't gotten to yet.

Or buy teh Dark Horse ones. They have done an excellent job releasing them. Though I would understand how that would be expensive on top of the Japanese ones.

And, yes, I've been cheating and reading scanlations ahead of what I own, but I've been buying every volume from Dark Horse. They are beautiful in your hands and well made.

[marco.roc]

hi men, im an italian guy (so sorry for my terrible english) i love berserk but near the 26th book it lose some of initial fascination.

how many berserk books have you got in your country?

why in america the comic books price is so high? :D 14 $ per berserk book is a theft:(

[The Xenos]

Eh. I belive it all depends on how much the Japanese publisher charges and how much the US publisher fights for it. Berserk started to come out just as Tokyopop was getting their ten dollar bargin books out there and before Viz had their $8 Shonen Jump deals. Plus add to that the unproven market of seinen (adult male audience) manga, so the Japanese publisher and Dark Horse played it safe. An R or NC-17 rated film just isn't going to sell as much as a PG movie. I personally think the quality of the book is nice and the $14 isn't too bad.

Hell, considering Berserk contains what acould be technically argued as 'virtual child pornography' and is borderline legal in this country, I'm just happy it's out here. Does anyone know if it comes out in Canada, because it could be technically illegal there?

Just recently Dark Horse published volume 14, just after where the anime finishes. Also, I'm glad vol 13 was fully uncensored and they just had a bigger advisory sticker on the cover to cover up Caska's nudity.

I've noticed from some cosplay pics online, there is a good following of Berserk in Italy. I know Blame! has a pretty good following in Germany and maybe Spain, France, and Italy. Very cool to hear from people in other countries. PLus, thanks for speaking English because I sure the hell don't know Italian (as much as I love their women). I'm of Greek hertigage myself and don't speak that much or on any comprehensive level.

[Inkthinker]

Berserk is $14 in the US 'cause it's done right... it's a mature series for mature adults, and Dark Horse is good enough to print it uncensored and well-translated, even in light of pressure to "tone down" manga to appease the more puritan and litigation-happy American market.

It's worth every penny, too.

On the hot front, Dark Horse is upping the release rate in the US to bimonthly... so we're getting a new volume every two months now, rather than every three or four. Even at that rate, though, it's going to take about three years to catch up to where the current (32 or 33) volumes in Japanese are at.

In my opinion, it's a hell of a treat. The artwork just keeps getting better, and the story's become quite intricate (without becoming confusing). Miura's stated in the past that his favorite Japanese novels are part of a 100+ volume epic series, and it would appear that he's aiming to do something similar. Berserk is one of a few series which I feel strongly should not be read by children due to it's graphic and explicit imagery, but for adults it's an epic gothic horror unlike anything I can think of.

[Samurai]

If you paid for the original Japanese version, I'd say just download the scanlations. Try torrent sites or look for.. eh.. I don't want to say too much and bend forum rules, but as you've actually bought the Japanese books, I think if anyone should be entitled to scanlations or translations, it would be you. They should be some what easy to find on whatever filesharing sites are out there. I reccomend Band of the Hawk group for ealier chapters and Evil Genius for later ones that the Hawk haven't gotten to yet.

Or buy teh Dark Horse ones. They have done an excellent job releasing them. Though I would understand how that would be expensive on top of the Japanese ones.

And, yes, I've been cheating and reading scanlations ahead of what I own, but I've been buying every volume from Dark Horse. They are beautiful in your hands and well made.

Yep, I paid for them... I lived in Japan teaching English from 1996-98, and I bought over 1500 Japanese manga while I was there. When I came home, I had all of them sent to the US by sea mail... 25 big heavy boxes costing over $850 for shipping! Berserk was only up to issue 20 or maybe 21 when I left, so those are the issues I have. I have tons of other series too, many of which have never been seen in the US, others of which are slowly gaining US distributors and are being released here.

Manga is relatively cheap in Japan. Berserk was less than $5 an issue brand new, and I bought many of the older issues in manga back issue stores for $2-3 an issue. At that price, it's worth it just for the art and what I can make out of the story, I figure.

Japanese manga comes in 3 sizes (not including the telephone book-like serials.) The smallest books were less than $4, the mid-sized ones were $5, and the largest size was about $8. (I'm talking physical dimensions of the pages, not page count, which seldom seemed to affect the price, even though some books were little more than 125 pages and others were over 300.) Berserk is a mid-sized book.

[Chou Blaster]

hello ALl, I am a Berserk Fa n as well.

It first started when I palyeed the Dreamcast game, now, I rea dwhen I ge tthe chance. (newest bits, on scans at a message board.)

[Ayo]

It's okay, but it runs longer than 3x3 Eyes, which to me is unacceptable.

[Guts/Batman]

I love the hell out of this story. So violent, so...much to take in. Very worthwhile.

[The Xenos]

I stopped by one of the anime clubs at my college the other day. The guy with the regular show didn't show up, so Berserk was the back up. I wasn't going to say, but I had to catch at least a couple of eps. Another guy there who was also current with the manga and I kept saying how good the anime was, but how much better (and more messed up) the manga was and the crazy places it goes.

[Inkthinker]

Miura is back on the job, by the way. His most recent two chapters (280-281) spoilers:

center around the Neo Hawks routing the Kushani army, thus bringing Griffith's plan to be viewed as a saviour closer to fruition. No real character development, just pages and pages of medieval battle, and nothing new on Guts and crew, now bound across the seas for Elfland in the hopes of curing Casca

end of spoilers.

It's a little slow, but just as awesome as ever. I don't know that I've ever seen any other artist attempt to draw battle scenes like these... the closest comparison I could think of would be the Battle of Pellinor Fields in Peter Jackson's Return of the King.

[Kid Kamikaze10]

I'm also a fan of the series, but I only got up to the part where Zodd and Guts fight against that Emperor guy (the one that used an elemental state to fight against them).