I am back to Berserk again after a long break.
This volume was absolutely stunning, the mixture between the tragic story or stories told and the gorgeous art with a few casually wholesome moments is just unmatched by anything I have experienced before.
I find it fitting to get back to the manga with this volume, it combines a lot of the elements that make Berserk what it is. You get poetic set up, epic action, character building moments, world building, a highlight of the two characters driving the conflict and last but not least a tragic backstory.
*spoilers*
My favorite parts of this volume would have to be the fight between Guts and Zod and the backstory of Serpico.
I love the fact that we get to see the perspective of Ricket on both Guts's fight and Griffith, in a sense we get to understand how Guts is still living in the Eclipse, but only with one leg, we see the growth but also what remains. The entanglement of different emotions and conflicts that happens between Griffith, Guts, Ricket and Casca was just brilliant and he product of so much set up.
I also like how a part of Griffith now is the baby of Casca and Guts and how that baby is a driving force inside of Griffith. He is the absolute evil of the story, but also now has withing him a piece that should not be there and that adds a very interesting dynamic that I cannot wait to see explored further.
Serpico was a great character to see developed as well. He exposes a harsh and ugly reality about the world and people, yet his lens is not the one you expect see things through, he is in many ways atypical and to someone like him go through those experiences just pushes a certain cliche back into interesting territory. Suffering in the world of Berserk is multi-colored and shapeshifting, it sticks itself to people in different ways and grows to accommodate them and their circumstances. Sometimes it feels like too much, but then you remember that it doesn't have to adhere to any laws or rules of the real world, it follows its own nature that is fitting to the world. When Serpico finds his mother among the heretics you believe it, when he has to torch her himself, it just fits with his character and everything he went through, seeing his thoughts contrasted with his mother seeing him as his father and his action of burning her to death was just heartbreaking.