Berserk, tome 05

ベルセルク [Berserk] #5

by Kentaro Miura

Du point de vue de Guts, Gambino bien que cruel, était le premier humain à lui témoigner de l'affection. Ayant tué celui-ci par erreur, il se retrouve seul, jusqu'à rencontrer l'une des troupes de mercenaires les plus connue du Midland "La troupe du Faucon Noir", où il y fit la connaissance de l'un des plus grands guerriers Griffith.
Ils parcourront plusieurs kilomètres à travers ces terres hostiles et feront des rencontrent impressionnantes.
Notamment celle de Zood l'immortel.

Genres: Manga, Fantasy, Comics, Horror, Graphic Novels, Fiction, Seinen

240 pages, Paperback

First published March 31, 1993

About the author

Kentarou Miura (三浦建太郎) was born in Chiba City, Chiba Prefecture, Japan, in 1966. He is left-handed. In 1976, at the early age of 10, Miura made his first Manga, entitled "Miuranger", that was published for his classmates in a school publication; the manga ended up spanning 40 volumes. In 1977, Miura created his second manga called Ken e no michi (剣への道 The Way to the Sword), using Indian ink for the first time. When he was in middle school in 1979, Miura's drawing techniques improved greatly as he started using professional drawing techniques. His first dōjinshi was published, with the help of friends, in a magazine in 1982.

That same year, in 1982, Miura enrolled in an artistic curriculum in high school, where he and his classmates started publishing their works in school booklets, as well as having his first dōjinshi published in a fan-produced magazine. In 1985, Miura applied for the entrance examination of an art college in Nihon University. He submitted Futanabi for examination and was granted admission. This project was later nominated Best New Author work in Weekly Shōnen Magazine. Another Miura manga Noa was published in Weekly Shōnen Magazine the very same year. Due to a disagreement with one of the editors, the manga was stalled and eventually dropped altogether. This is approximately where Miura's career hit a slump.

In 1988, Miura bounced back with a 48-page manga known as Berserk Prototype, as an introduction to the current Berserk fantasy world. It went on to win Miura a prize from the Comi Manga School. In 1989, after receiving a doctorate degree, Kentarou started a project titled King of Wolves (王狼, ōrō?) based on a script by Buronson, writer of Hokuto no Ken. It was published in the monthly Japanese Animal House magazine in issues 5 and 7 of that year.

In 1990, a sequel is made to Ourou entitled Ourou Den (王狼伝 ōrō den, The Legend of the Wolf King) that was published as a prequel to the original in Young Animal Magazine. In the same year, the 10th issue of Animal House witnesses the first volume of the solo project Berserk was released with a relatively limited success. Miura again collaborated with Buronson on manga titled Japan, that was published in Young Animal House from the 1st issue to the 8th of 1992, and was later released as a stand-alone tankōbon. Miura's fame grew after Berserk was serialized in Young Animal in 1992 with the release of "The Golden Age" story arc and the huge success of his masterpiece made of him one of the most prominent contemporary mangakas. At this time Miura dedicates himself solely to be working on Berserk. He has indicated, however, that he intends to publish more manga in the future.

In 1997, Miura supervised the production of 25 anime episodes of Berserk that aired in the same year on NTV. Various art books and supplemental materials by Miura based on Berserk are also released. In 1999, Miura made minor contributions to the Dreamcast video game Sword of the Berserk: Guts' Rage. 2004 saw the release of yet another video game adaptation entitled Berserk Millennium Falcon Arc: Chapter of the Record of the Holy Demon War.

Since that time, the Berserk manga has spanned 34 tankōbon with no end in sight. The series has also spawned a whole host of merchandise, both official and fan-made, ranging from statues, action figures to key rings, video games, and a trading card game. In 2002, Kentarou Miura received the second place in the Osamu Tezuka Culture Award of Excellence for Berserk.[1]

Miura provided the design for the Vocaloid Kamui Gakupo, whose voice is taken from the Japanese singer and actor, Gackt.

Miura passed away on May 6, 2021 at 2:48 p.m. due to acute aortic dissection.

Reviews

[Tawfek · Rating 5 out of 5]

Lets talk about the details, i have never seen so much details, in most of the panels, in any comic book or manga before this one.
I mean gantz had it's moments.
But the amount of detailed panels here is overwhelming.
I laughed so hard at the naked water fun scene, and it kind of convinced me that Griffith is a guy!
I am convinced since guts didn't shout "oh my god, you are a girl, you got a ...."
Nosferatu zodd fight was epic, they got beaten badly, and there was no way for them to win, not at this level, and then Nosferatu decides its time to bail with a Prophecy!!!
I know eventually Griffith will be a god, but how he has to give up something!
I am terrified at the thought, that he might give up the band of the hawk, to become a god that would be disgusting and vile!
But oh well only time will tell.
Till then i am enjoying the ride 😍

[Juho Pohjalainen · Rating 5 out of 5]

Sometimes I wonder what this comic would've been like if the first couple books had been skipped altogether - if the future scenes, of Guts's fate as wandering swordsman and Griffith's as Satan, all the demon apostles had been left on the cutting floor, and the story on the whole had begun with Guts being born on the gallows, or his first meeting with Griffith, or perhaps the charge against the seemingly unbeatable Black Ram knights at the start of this volume (with some flashbacks later to show some of that above stuff). I'm not sure whether it would have been worth it, even if those early bits are not as good as the later ones: they set the mood and the premise rather appropriately.

I mostly wonder it because if they had been nixed, then the comic's very first touch with the supernatural would have been the emergence of Nosferatu Zodd. And that would have been one hell of a wake-up call.



Just look at this motherfucker. He's built a fucking wall out of corpses, and he's naked. And even before this, for the full chapter the Hawks have been whispering tales and legends of him. He's obviously not a guy to be fucked with. Up until now Guts has carved his way across battlefields, with very little capable of challenging him - has he finally met his match?

(Okay, he already met his match with Griffith, but bear with me here.)

Still, the bit about him having been around for centuries? That's obviously an exaggeration. This is a gritty low-fantasy manga. It doesn't have any magic or monsters or demons in i-



HOOOOLY SHIT!

So yeah, that whole surprise was a little bit let down: having read the first couple volumes, we could pretty much immediately guess his true nature. Him tanking Guts's hit and suddenly transforming into Ol' Scratch was not that big of a shock. I guess it's a shame.

But then on the other hand, we instead got this totally kickass opening scene:



So, fuck it I guess. Berserk's gonna berserk.

[Books with Brittany · Rating 5 out of 5]

Must keep reading

[Kay · Rating 4 out of 5]

I wish I could give more comprehensive reviews, but I really recommend everyone read this series.

[Maria · Rating 5 out of 5]

OHMYGKGJYIK WHAT A BEAUTIFUL GEM.
I’m living for the Guts/Griffith/Casca dynamics. I’m happy to see Guts finally learn to trust and rely on his comrades AND be respected and appreciated in return.
And don’t even get me started on the battle scenes!!!!! Epic as Game of Thrones and Lord of the Rings. SO GOOD.
I’m obsessed.

[Ali · Rating 4 out of 5]

"آیا نوعی قانون متعالی یا دست خدا وجود دارد که انسان را در این دنیا به سرنوشت خود سوق می‌دهد؟
به هر حال انسان حتی نمی‌تواند بر اراده خود احاطه داشته باشد."

[Himanshu Karmacharya · Rating 4 out of 5]

Vol. 5 of Berserk is just as violent and gory as the previous volumes in the series, but being set in the younger years of the protagonist, we see a brighter side that was absent before.

[Krysia o książkach · Rating 4 out of 5]

śmierdzi mi ten Griffith

[Lauren Lanz · Rating 4 out of 5]

I can only imagine where this extended backstory between Griffith and Guts will go. Considering how long Berserk has been around, I've heard my fair share of ramblings about Griffith's villainy, and from this point in the story, it's hard to see how he can go down such a path. At this point, Griffith's fixation (bordering on obsession) with Guts and Casca makes me inclined to believe he's a little bit in love with them both, so I'm interested to see how Miura addresses his character arc!

[Ola G · Rating 4 out of 5]

9/10 stars

How can you love a story where a villain is called Nosferatu Zodd? Yes, Transylvania and Superman in one. Well, how can you not? It's a freaking minotaur with polished diction, vast knowledge gathered over centuries of manslaughter, leathery wings and unquenchable thirst for blood.

The art in this volume is awesome. There are still awkward panels and a few anatomy lessons would've had been beneficial to the author by this point, but man, Nosferatu Zodd is a masterful creation. The detailed crosshatching, the work with shadows and whites - it's fabulous.

The foreshadowing of the future pain and treachery, the hints about the real stakes of the game, all is here. I'm still undecided whether Griffith is just a cold-blooded sociopath drawn to exploiting every weakness and vulnerability or whether the sacrifice for Godhand must be genuine and his feelings for Guts are true.

The best volume so far.

[Hiba · Rating 5 out of 5]

Loving the buildup.

I truly cannot believe myself. I, a person who the sight of blood disgusts and who despises looking at it or at open wounds, am actually enjoying this.
It's certainly getting better with each volume.

[Dream.M · Rating 4 out of 5]

گریفیث انقد شخصیت کاملی داره که آدمو میترسونه. همیشه شخصیت های اینقدر کامل و کاریزماتیک و موفق تهش معلوم میشه همدست شیطان یا خود شیطانن.  من گول اون لبخند معصوم و نگاه کودکانه ت رو نمی‌خورم عزیزم☺️

و یه چیز دیگه: بنظرم شنل دست و پاگیرترین اکسسوری یه جنگجوعه.  میپیچه به دست و پاشون توی مبارزه

[Ravenous Raven of Mordor · Rating 4 out of 5]

Immortality, a fate worse than death.

Griffith risks everything for the sake of one swordsman, thirty men stand in the way of his prize, so, let me just say that man has guts. That is why he is the general of the band of the hawk.
A bonfire that brings everyone together, (even though you vastly differ in opinion of the arrangements for inducting new members in a certain mercenary band, and are currently deciding if the view from the castle walls are better than Pippin’s shoulders).

Screams are reverberating throughout the dungeon walls, blistering the ears of all that stand outside, defenceless.
Guts tears through his own comrades as they attempt to hold him back from his destiny. The screams are getting louder as he sprints down the cobblestone halls, then... Silence.
Each step becomes more damp than the last. Blood. Piles of bodies, ripped apart, torn, splattered across the chamber walls and floors. And standing there, at the end, is Akuma. Which isn’t even his true form, he is just fond of cosplay.
Suddenly we are in the Undead Burg. His health has increased tenfold and there is no humanity to spend. However, the most notorious item in berserk uses leer and it’s super effective.
Til another night, Dracula.

This manga just keeps getting better and better. And we are only on volume 5.

As always...
4 Stars.

Bonuses -

Band of the Hawk members:
Griffith
Guts
Casca
Pippin
Judeau
Corkus
Rickert
Gaston

[Mahdiye HajiHosseini · Rating 5 out of 5]

اپدیت ۳ دی ۴۰۰-
گریفیث سامای این جلد در اوج زیبایی های بصری و نابصریشه.
حقیقتا هیچ وقت در تمام سیصد و اندی چپتر حتی وسط کسوف نتونستم تصمیم بگیرم که گریفیث در نهایت یک خداست یا شیطان و فکر میکنم جوابم رو خود بزرگوار بهم داد، مگه اینا یه چیز نیستن؟ این دیدگاه حاکم بر کل سریه و یکی از جذابترین قسمت‌هاش برای من.



داستان ستینگ قرون وسطایی داره و شیاطین داستان هم شبیه به شیاطین مسیحیت تصویر شدند که خدایان مردم دیگه‌ای بودن، اینکه فرد به چه کسی اعتقاد داره مشخص میکنه چه کسی خداست و چه کسی شیطانه. این نکته‌ایه که بارها و بارها هوشمندانه و جزئی توی مانگا تصویر میشه. اسم گادهند مشخص‌ترینشون، التماس‌های عاجزانه کنت بهشون و خطاب ارکانجلش، کنتی که خودش نابود کننده پگن ها بوده، اشاره به پرستیدن نوسفراتو زاد به عنوان خدای جنگ. چه چیزی خدایان و شیاطین رو از هم متفاوت میکنه؟
چیزی که ثابته ضعف انسان‌های فانیه.
و من هنوز نمیتونم تصمیم بگیرم گریفیث برای من خداست یا شیطان.

[Eileen · Rating 5 out of 5]

Griffith is so undeniably gay

[David · Rating 5 out of 5]

Ok I am hooked …. This is fucking awesome and I am loving the small sized paperback volumes 😍😎!

[Zahra Naderi · Rating 4 out of 5]

فایت آخرشو دوست داشتم ولی پایانشو نع.

[Tiag⊗ the Mutant · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is where the series begins for me, I don't know if Kentaro Miura had some help with his linework, but his art got so much better in this volume, I was not really feeling it until now, previous volumes should've been reworked. Storywise, this is my third time with the golden age story arc, so I know what to expect, pure dark fantasy awesomeness.

[Edward Gwynne · Rating 5 out of 5]

I'm officially on board the Berserk train. Count me in.

[Machiavelli · Rating 5 out of 5]

Really enjoyed this one… Guts promotes… more with Griffith, and Nosferatu Zodd is awesome!

[Hamad · Rating 4 out of 5]

Berserk Vol 1 ★★★★
Berserk Vol 2 ★★★★
Berserk Vol 3 ★★★★
Berserk Vol 4 ★★★★
Berserk Vol 5 ★★★★

[Subham · Rating 4 out of 5]

As Guts joins the band of the hawk, they continue to fight and Guts lead one unit and they attack from behind or engage first and he gets various wins and he and Casca are at odds with each other next we have Guts going against knights and they win so Griffith gets the status of the knight and so they are no longer mercenaries and in one attack when many of his men die, Guts goes and meets NOSFERATU ZODD and he is beast chewing men like nothing and his fight with Guts is awesome and then Griffith comes in to the rescue, the fight is something and seeing his Crimson Behelit, he spouts a dangerous prophecy and goes away and we have Guts recovering and wondering what it means. It was a great volumes and shines a great light on the duo and how they are different yet so similar. This story is taking an interesting turn and the art is still too good and the world building is epic!

[marko]

Bez razmišljanja najmoćnije nacrtana manga koju sam do sada čitao. Stranice su toliko prepune detalja da je to prosto neverovatno. Dizajn samih likova, njihove facijalne ekspresije i dinamika pokreta je neprevaziđena. Kentaro Miura je genije.

[Elizabeth · Rating 5 out of 5]

The story has me gripped. The art is blowing my mind. This was incredible.

[Artemy · Rating 3 out of 5]

[This is my review for Berserk volumes 1–7]

So, this is the last volume of Berserk for me, at least for a while. I borrowed these from my buddy who is a huge fan of the series, and if he had more books, I would probably keep reading. Sadly, only the first seven volumes were published here in Russia before the publisher abandoned the project, so that's all that my friend has in borrowable paper format.

I can't really decide how I feel about Berserk, honestly. It has a lot going for it: the artwork is phenomenal, the action is solid, and it's very readable overall. This manga never feels like a chore to read, the stuff happens all the time and holds the reader's attention really well.

On the other hand, for all seven volumes, Berserk didn't manage to surprise me even once. Every plot, every dialogue, every event is extremely predictable and clichéd. You have probably seen, heard or read this story hundreds of times before. It's a story about a brooding hero who is on a quest for revenge, he's practically unstoppable in battle, he is a loner and a bit of an asshole, but later we realise that he has a good heart after all. There is no twist on top of that, all is as it seems. This isn't necessarily a bad thing, but it is one of the reasons this series doesn't grab me.

It's a very masculine book, too, and it comes with all the bad stuff usually associated with such books. The main character literally has a sword that's three times his height, it's hilarious. Huge abs, naked bodies and giant flaming demons with horns are all over the place. There's also a lot of rape (and child rape at that), and a lot of homophobic and misogynistic slurs (many of them come from the main character), all of which may be considered natural for the world where the book is set, and yet all these things feel unnecessary and aren't handled particularly well, in my opinion. There's also a moment in this book where a strong, competent woman warrior (the only female character in the book who has at least some depth), who was also the commander of an army for a long time, loses a fight because she's having her period. And of course, this is the moment where the main character steps in and saves her. Seriously, was this manga written in 19th century?! Because sometimes it feels like it was!

So here I am. Not really enjoying this book, not really hating it. I think it's just not my thing. Continuing reading would mean that I'd have to order the rest of the volumes, and there are a lot of them (38 and counting!) — this is a huge financial commitment to a series I don't really love. Who knows, though, if I somehow get my hands on the following volumes, I might still give them a read.

[Drew Canole · Rating 5 out of 5]

"a bloodstained manga juggernaut, equal parts savage violence, gruesome horror, and black humor packed inside a flaming powder keg and rolled downhill into a crowd of terrified civilians" says the blurb on the back. It's pretty dang accurate.

Here we get young Guts going up against his first non-human foe a great beast called Nosferatu Zodd. It's pretty fricking awesome.

The artwork throughout is great, and seems to have gotten even better from the first 4 volumes. Some of the even small panels are super detailed, Kentaro Miura (and his team of helpers, I'm sure) really took their time to add details and make each page epic.

[Keiko, the manga enthusiast ♒︎ · Rating 5 out of 5]

Tell me, do I need a reason each time... I put myself in harm's way... for your sake?

This is giving me a definite heartache. I'm just too afraid to continue, thinking about the doom that awaits this beautiful friendship... and the villain it will create.

[b · Rating 5 out of 5]

I will never forgive my parents for not naming me Nosferatu Zodd never ever not even in a million years

[P.E. · Rating 4 out of 5]

Expérience des limites

Dans ce volume, Guts rallie pleinement la troupe de mercenaires du Faucon, sous l'égide de son commandant Griffith, nimbé de mystère... Il en apprend davantage sur chacun de ses membres du moment, tous à leur façon subjugués par l'aura du chef, là où on sent davantage de curiosité avide que de réelle fascination chez Guts. On découvre aussi l'existence de la béhérit, une curieuse pierre d'allure sinistre, et qui semble douée d'une vie dormante, pendue au cou de Griffith...

De nouveau, ce dernier se démontre capable aussi bien de joie presque enfantine que de froid calcul dans les conflits qu'il mène contre l'empire ennemi de Tudor, aussi bien qu'avec les plus hautes autorités du royaume de Midland, qu'il sert avec sa troupe. Au cours d'un de ces conflits, les deux héros se heurtent à l'opposition bestiale de Zodd, qui met leur vie en grave danger... en plus d'avertir Guts d'un péril plus grand encore pour lui, si Griffith venait à perdre son ambition.

J'aime assez la manière dont le récit permet au lecteur de jauger la force et la place de la troupe du Faucon dans l'univers où elle se déploie. Il existe bel et bien des entités, qu'il est tout à fait hors de portée pour nos mercenaires d'affronter efficacement, tout n'est pas joué d'avance dans l'ascension apparemment irrépressible de Griffith...


'Il y a de la variété pour une troupe de mercenaires, d'accord. Des fugitifs, des fugueurs, tout, du fils de forgeron au descendant ruiné de la noblesse. Mais... oui, en effet, il y a aussi Griffith. Que l'on veuille le suivre du fonds de son cœur, que l'on attiré par sa réputation... nous avons tous été séduits, c'est ce qui nous réunit. Pris un par un, nous serions de la chair à pâté dans une autre troupe. Mais nous différons des mercenaires ordinaires, qui ont les dents longues, ne se soucient que de leur survie et de leur richesse.'

[Amin Matin · Rating 4 out of 5]

Outstanding