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Berserk: The Flame Dragon Knight
La primera novela oficial de Berserk desvela detalles hasta ahora no explorados en el manga original. Profundizaremos en la historia de Grunberd y conoceremos a fondo el estilo de vida de los Caballeros a lo largo de diez años, durante la invasión de Tudor.
142 pages, Kindle Edition
First published June 23, 2017
45 people are currently reading
295 people want to read
About the author
Kentaro Miura
374 books2,700 followersKentarou 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.
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.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 59 reviews
May 22, 2019
Just an utter disgrace on every level. It feels like it was written by somebody who only took Berserk in at a surface level. This is essentially what you get if you have a bad writer who doesn't understand Berserk at a basic level rewrite the Golden Age arc. There's violence, rape, gore, trauma, and a stoic protagonist. So it must be Berserk, right? There's no depth, no subtlety, no nuance, no symbolism. Berserk does feature those blunt qualities, but they are handled with a gentle touch that makes the series special.
The world of Berserk is grim, but not for its own sake. The manga portrays such horrible suffering because the point is that our protagonist creates meaning in his life despite of how grim the world is. And he arrives at that conclusion after reflecting upon himself, making mistakes, learning, and growing. Guts has an emotional nuance that Grunbeld lacks. His unhealthy coping manifests itself as beast of darkness- a raging monster that will born from pain that will overtake Guts if he is not careful. Contrast this with Grunbeld, who suffers his own share of misery, but doesn't express any emotion. Where Guts is a wild dog because he tends to lash out via meaningless fighting instead of dealing with his pain, Grunbeld is a flame dragon because he's... big and red. And like, people don't refer to Guts's symbolic animal often. I think Casca called him a mad dog maybe once. But the people in this book won't shut the fuck up about how Grunbeld is a flame dragon. He does not embody the features of this creature. It has no symbolic meaning. He's just a tall guy with red hair that fights well.
But don't worry, we sure do get a lot of sexual violence. The only sex that is somewhat consensual is a big power fantasy. A character who we know almost nothing about aside from the fact that she can only be satisfied by massive dick seduces the plank of wood named Grunbeld. Lucky for her, Grunbeld has peen for days. Keep in mind here, we know next to nothing about who either of these characters are. Grunbeld is this poorly defined character with no emotional depth. And the woman seducing him could have been fleshed out in the space that was used to describe her body. Anyway, at the sight of Grunbeld's mondo dong, she says not to worry about whether it will fit in her. After all, the vagina can stretch enough to give birth. That may be the most embarrassingly stupid line I've ever read. I wish I made this up as a joke.
On that note, there's an undercurrent of misogyny in this whole thing. Only women are the victims of sexual violence in this story. Every major female character has the attractiveness of her body described at some point in the story. And the descriptions of rape tend to be worse than those that were ever shown in Berserk. And it's just rape for its own sake. A cheap trick that contributes nothing to the overall plot. At one point, a character goes from discussed childhood rape to having a light-hearted laugh within the space of a page. At this point, I'm not questioning if the author has actually read Berserk. I want to know if he's actually talked to a human being before.
The whole thing is a dumb, schlocky mess. At it's best, you can laugh at how dumb parts of this book are. And it's worst, it's just throwaway garbage. This is the worst thing to bear the Berserk name, worse than even the 2016/2017 anime. I would call it a permanent blight on the manga's sterling reputation if it weren't so forgettable.
If I remember anything from this dumpster fire, it's that Grunbeld has a big hog and doesn't know what to do with it.
The world of Berserk is grim, but not for its own sake. The manga portrays such horrible suffering because the point is that our protagonist creates meaning in his life despite of how grim the world is. And he arrives at that conclusion after reflecting upon himself, making mistakes, learning, and growing. Guts has an emotional nuance that Grunbeld lacks. His unhealthy coping manifests itself as beast of darkness- a raging monster that will born from pain that will overtake Guts if he is not careful. Contrast this with Grunbeld, who suffers his own share of misery, but doesn't express any emotion. Where Guts is a wild dog because he tends to lash out via meaningless fighting instead of dealing with his pain, Grunbeld is a flame dragon because he's... big and red. And like, people don't refer to Guts's symbolic animal often. I think Casca called him a mad dog maybe once. But the people in this book won't shut the fuck up about how Grunbeld is a flame dragon. He does not embody the features of this creature. It has no symbolic meaning. He's just a tall guy with red hair that fights well.
But don't worry, we sure do get a lot of sexual violence. The only sex that is somewhat consensual is a big power fantasy. A character who we know almost nothing about aside from the fact that she can only be satisfied by massive dick seduces the plank of wood named Grunbeld. Lucky for her, Grunbeld has peen for days. Keep in mind here, we know next to nothing about who either of these characters are. Grunbeld is this poorly defined character with no emotional depth. And the woman seducing him could have been fleshed out in the space that was used to describe her body. Anyway, at the sight of Grunbeld's mondo dong, she says not to worry about whether it will fit in her. After all, the vagina can stretch enough to give birth. That may be the most embarrassingly stupid line I've ever read. I wish I made this up as a joke.
On that note, there's an undercurrent of misogyny in this whole thing. Only women are the victims of sexual violence in this story. Every major female character has the attractiveness of her body described at some point in the story. And the descriptions of rape tend to be worse than those that were ever shown in Berserk. And it's just rape for its own sake. A cheap trick that contributes nothing to the overall plot. At one point, a character goes from discussed childhood rape to having a light-hearted laugh within the space of a page. At this point, I'm not questioning if the author has actually read Berserk. I want to know if he's actually talked to a human being before.
The whole thing is a dumb, schlocky mess. At it's best, you can laugh at how dumb parts of this book are. And it's worst, it's just throwaway garbage. This is the worst thing to bear the Berserk name, worse than even the 2016/2017 anime. I would call it a permanent blight on the manga's sterling reputation if it weren't so forgettable.
If I remember anything from this dumpster fire, it's that Grunbeld has a big hog and doesn't know what to do with it.
May 26, 2021
Kentarō Miura (三浦 建太郎 Miura Kentarō; Chiba, 11 luglio 1966 – 6 maggio 2021) R. I. P.
Il primo romanzo tie-in della saga di Berserk è stato un po' una delusione per me.
La storia delle origini di Gurnbeld non è il massimo dell'originalità e poteva essere benissimo raccontata in un breve flashback all'interno del manga, Kentaro Miura si è invece limitato ad aggiungere qualche bellissima illustrazione ed a fornire all'autore di questa light novel qualche linea guida.
Il risultato finale non è malaccio e si respira a volte l'atmosfera dell'Epoca d'Oro, ma qualcuno avrebbe dovuto spiegare a Fukami che Berserk non è solo truculenza, stupri (descritti poi fin troppo dettagliatamente...) ed ultra-violenza.
I meravigliosi disegni e la comparsata finale della Mano di Dio, prevedibile ma sempre gradita, hanno arrotondato verso la sufficienza piena il voto finale.
February 14, 2020
Does the world of Berserk work in prose as well as comics? Mostly... mostly.
What’s it about?
This is a story in the same world of Berserk, this book about a character named Grunbeld. This basically goes over his life and him becoming the warrior he becomes. That’s all I can really say without spoilers.
Pros:
The story is good. An interesting thing is you don’t even need to read Berserk in order to understand it so if you’re not into manga but you’re slightly interested in Berserk’s world or whatever you can still read a story within that world and decide if you wanna try the manga after reading this (which I would highly recommend!). It’s a very interesting, intense fantasy adventure.
This book is very exciting, has a lot of action and never boring!
This book is fairly suspenseful. Now I haven’t got to the part of the manga that Grunbeld is in yet so maybe that’s why but in my reading experience it was unpredictable.
One thing that Berserk does very well is mixing epic, exciting fantasy with emotion and that’s still the case here!
The ending is really cool.
Despite mostly being prose there’s a few pages with an illustration and they’re really cool pages with bad-ass art.
Why not 5 stars?
The characters. Grunbeld was pretty interesting but everyone else? Not really TBH.
Mixed thoughts:
The translation seems kinda iffy. On one hand I get it since it’s a book translated from Japanese to English which are very different languages but on the other hand it is slightly more rough and iffy than most manga translations and such I read so... IDK.
Overall:
This book is something that I would recommend to readers looking for an exciting fantasy adventure, Berserk fan or not. It is really interesting and intense. I definitely enjoyed it. I should point out that I do slightly seem to be in the minority here because it looks like a lot of people really didn’t like this book but I personally had a good experience so hopefully more people read this and also have a good experience.
4/5
What’s it about?
This is a story in the same world of Berserk, this book about a character named Grunbeld. This basically goes over his life and him becoming the warrior he becomes. That’s all I can really say without spoilers.
Pros:
The story is good. An interesting thing is you don’t even need to read Berserk in order to understand it so if you’re not into manga but you’re slightly interested in Berserk’s world or whatever you can still read a story within that world and decide if you wanna try the manga after reading this (which I would highly recommend!). It’s a very interesting, intense fantasy adventure.
This book is very exciting, has a lot of action and never boring!
This book is fairly suspenseful. Now I haven’t got to the part of the manga that Grunbeld is in yet so maybe that’s why but in my reading experience it was unpredictable.
One thing that Berserk does very well is mixing epic, exciting fantasy with emotion and that’s still the case here!
The ending is really cool.
Despite mostly being prose there’s a few pages with an illustration and they’re really cool pages with bad-ass art.
Why not 5 stars?
The characters. Grunbeld was pretty interesting but everyone else? Not really TBH.
Mixed thoughts:
The translation seems kinda iffy. On one hand I get it since it’s a book translated from Japanese to English which are very different languages but on the other hand it is slightly more rough and iffy than most manga translations and such I read so... IDK.
Overall:
This book is something that I would recommend to readers looking for an exciting fantasy adventure, Berserk fan or not. It is really interesting and intense. I definitely enjoyed it. I should point out that I do slightly seem to be in the minority here because it looks like a lot of people really didn’t like this book but I personally had a good experience so hopefully more people read this and also have a good experience.
4/5
October 31, 2021
Being a big fan of Berserk, this spin-off had a couple things against it in my mind from the get-go, and it never quite redeemed itself.
Firstly - out of all the Apostles in the new Band of the Hawk it could have centered itself around, it picked up the single most boring one. In terms of his physical form, fighting style, and stoic attitude, Grunbeld really is basically just Guts Plus: I could imagine that the story would have to work extra hard to make his story anything we haven't already seen in Berserk. I'd much have preferred to learn about Irvine or Locus, two Apostles with something entirely different going for them.
It could still have pulled it off, mind. It could have given us a unique story of a character with great deal to contrast with Guts, different challenges, different choices, different perspectives. But... it didn't. It was basically just the same sort of stuff: warfare, impossible odds, and ripping apart his foes with his enormous strength and huge weapon. Also, rape.
Secondly - it's not a manga, but rather a book. It's written rather than drawn. Gone are Miura's vivid worlds, beautiful landscapes, surreal nightmarish horror, and storytelling through visuals - each picture, as the saying goes, being worth a thousand words. The narrative and prose replacing it is, honestly, mediocre at best - bland, often clumsy, that got its meaning across but nothing more. Perhaps some of it was because of shoddy translation work, but not nearly all, I'm sure.
The story also fails to understand what makes Berserk such a compelling read. It seems to think that the brutality of it, the rape and gore and really terrible people, is the reason - the end rather than the means. It gets really unpleasant as a consequence, piling up all this stuff at the reader at times to even greater extent than its source material, very detailed and visceral and almost over-the-top, without it ever serving much of a real purpose in the plot or character growth. It's like a pizza cutter - all edge, no point.
I'm not saying Berserk itself didn't occasionally go too far for no real reason, but even then it had a much better framework supporting it, and I suspect some of it is also the different mediums the stories use. It's much harder to get away with it in written form: you need to spend a long time describing it, and the reader needs to spend a long time reading it as well, and it's about as blunt and unsubtle as it gets.
Finally, the climax - the Behelit, the God Hand, the sacrifice - were all kind of smushed at the very end, taking only a few pages and being almost an afterthought... when really, wasn't it the entire point of this story? Wasn't it what everything was leading up to, and why I picked up the book in the first place? Could you not have spent some more time building it up? Have Grunbeld hesitate a while and Ubik show him some visions from his past and of his friends to convince him to take the deal, rather than him just... going for it basically right away and without a question? The rampage at the end was similarly short and gone too quickly.
So all in all it's kind of a pointless addition to the mythos, and probably not worth reading. But in a greater context, I've read worse. I felt for the characters at times, even if they were not all that interesting in the grand scheme of things. And Miura's illustrations were as great as you can imagine. Still, unless you have to read everything to do with the story, you can safely skip it.
Firstly - out of all the Apostles in the new Band of the Hawk it could have centered itself around, it picked up the single most boring one. In terms of his physical form, fighting style, and stoic attitude, Grunbeld really is basically just Guts Plus: I could imagine that the story would have to work extra hard to make his story anything we haven't already seen in Berserk. I'd much have preferred to learn about Irvine or Locus, two Apostles with something entirely different going for them.
It could still have pulled it off, mind. It could have given us a unique story of a character with great deal to contrast with Guts, different challenges, different choices, different perspectives. But... it didn't. It was basically just the same sort of stuff: warfare, impossible odds, and ripping apart his foes with his enormous strength and huge weapon. Also, rape.
Secondly - it's not a manga, but rather a book. It's written rather than drawn. Gone are Miura's vivid worlds, beautiful landscapes, surreal nightmarish horror, and storytelling through visuals - each picture, as the saying goes, being worth a thousand words. The narrative and prose replacing it is, honestly, mediocre at best - bland, often clumsy, that got its meaning across but nothing more. Perhaps some of it was because of shoddy translation work, but not nearly all, I'm sure.
The story also fails to understand what makes Berserk such a compelling read. It seems to think that the brutality of it, the rape and gore and really terrible people, is the reason - the end rather than the means. It gets really unpleasant as a consequence, piling up all this stuff at the reader at times to even greater extent than its source material, very detailed and visceral and almost over-the-top, without it ever serving much of a real purpose in the plot or character growth. It's like a pizza cutter - all edge, no point.
I'm not saying Berserk itself didn't occasionally go too far for no real reason, but even then it had a much better framework supporting it, and I suspect some of it is also the different mediums the stories use. It's much harder to get away with it in written form: you need to spend a long time describing it, and the reader needs to spend a long time reading it as well, and it's about as blunt and unsubtle as it gets.
Finally, the climax - the Behelit, the God Hand, the sacrifice - were all kind of smushed at the very end, taking only a few pages and being almost an afterthought... when really, wasn't it the entire point of this story? Wasn't it what everything was leading up to, and why I picked up the book in the first place? Could you not have spent some more time building it up? Have Grunbeld hesitate a while and Ubik show him some visions from his past and of his friends to convince him to take the deal, rather than him just... going for it basically right away and without a question? The rampage at the end was similarly short and gone too quickly.
So all in all it's kind of a pointless addition to the mythos, and probably not worth reading. But in a greater context, I've read worse. I felt for the characters at times, even if they were not all that interesting in the grand scheme of things. And Miura's illustrations were as great as you can imagine. Still, unless you have to read everything to do with the story, you can safely skip it.
May 23, 2019
Let me preface this by saying I am a huge Berserk fan- Not only having the whole series but a shrine dedicated to it. So it is from that place of love for the series that I say: The Flame Dragon Knight is a quick and fairly fun read, that started weak and ended a bit too abruptly. It fulfills its goal of a Grunbeld backstory competently but certainly doesn't overachieve.
I will say the writer was in a bit of a hard place- Some of Berserks cruder/more basic moments pertaining to throwaway antagonists and sexual violence work as plot devices in the manga, but do not translate well to written word.
What I mean by that is that- Although Miura has some of the best(including some of my personal favorite) character rich/powerful plot scenes- He also is prone to using simplistic characters to efficiently tell his story, often times in scenes involving rape etc. This however, does not read as well in text as it works in a novel. For example Guts walking into the bar and rescuing a girl being sexually harassed would read similarly poorly to several of the scenes in this novel.
I do wish the author had left some of the scenes more ambiguous or cut a few since it does indeed stick out a bit jarringly in such a short, mostly self contained story. The characters in general did feel very much like believable Berserk characters, and Grunbeld himself felt genuine enough for it not just to feel like a fanfic.
However I was surprised that despite a reasonably lengthy setup, that the ending honestly felt like the writer ran out of time, with Grunbelds actual ascent to an apostle being incredibly quickly done and the book not continuing long after.
To fellow Berserk fans, the biggest reason to buy this are the ten pieces of art exclusively for this novel, rendered by Miura himself.
I will say the writer was in a bit of a hard place- Some of Berserks cruder/more basic moments pertaining to throwaway antagonists and sexual violence work as plot devices in the manga, but do not translate well to written word.
What I mean by that is that- Although Miura has some of the best(including some of my personal favorite) character rich/powerful plot scenes- He also is prone to using simplistic characters to efficiently tell his story, often times in scenes involving rape etc. This however, does not read as well in text as it works in a novel. For example Guts walking into the bar and rescuing a girl being sexually harassed would read similarly poorly to several of the scenes in this novel.
I do wish the author had left some of the scenes more ambiguous or cut a few since it does indeed stick out a bit jarringly in such a short, mostly self contained story. The characters in general did feel very much like believable Berserk characters, and Grunbeld himself felt genuine enough for it not just to feel like a fanfic.
However I was surprised that despite a reasonably lengthy setup, that the ending honestly felt like the writer ran out of time, with Grunbelds actual ascent to an apostle being incredibly quickly done and the book not continuing long after.
To fellow Berserk fans, the biggest reason to buy this are the ten pieces of art exclusively for this novel, rendered by Miura himself.
June 28, 2018
Premetto che Berserk è il più bel manga che sia mai stato realizzato, e chi non è d’accordo dev’essere fumettisticamente daltonico. Ora, detto questo può darsi che io tenda ad arrotondare per eccesso alcune delle qualità di questo romanzo, ma vi assicuro che non se la cava affatto male. Il libro racconta la storia di Gurnbeld (un tipo davvero massiccio) e sembra ricalcare le leggendarie saghe nordiche, narrando di questo possente guerriero dalla capigliatura rossa in un’epoca turbolenta. Da ragazzino entra in contatto con una fanciulla che ha tutta l’aria di essere uno spiritello - con tanto di compagno animale a seguito - che lenisce le sue ferite tanto nel corpo quanto nell’animo.
Ricordate però che stiamo parlando di “Berserk”, quindi ecco rompersi l’incanto. Il villaggio, e la madre, del ragazzone devastati dagli invasori. La prigionia, la guerra, e ancora: amicizia, cupidigia, perversione, invidia, tradimento… insomma tutto il catalogo delle emozioni più forti affrontate con toni molto duri, che ci accompagnano in un’escalation di violenza per condurci al profetizzato avvento del lucertolone! Gli intrallazzi a palazzo hanno reso il boccone ancor più succulento, con bassezze tali da spingere il protagonista all’estremo sacrificio, innescando così il Bejelit, e regalandoci l’omone/drago che già conosciamo.
Fantastica panoramica su uno dei personaggi del mio titolo preferito, ci trovate pure qualche bella illustrazione, che volete di più?! Un must per i/le fan di Berserk ;)
Ricordate però che stiamo parlando di “Berserk”, quindi ecco rompersi l’incanto. Il villaggio, e la madre, del ragazzone devastati dagli invasori. La prigionia, la guerra, e ancora: amicizia, cupidigia, perversione, invidia, tradimento… insomma tutto il catalogo delle emozioni più forti affrontate con toni molto duri, che ci accompagnano in un’escalation di violenza per condurci al profetizzato avvento del lucertolone! Gli intrallazzi a palazzo hanno reso il boccone ancor più succulento, con bassezze tali da spingere il protagonista all’estremo sacrificio, innescando così il Bejelit, e regalandoci l’omone/drago che già conosciamo.
Fantastica panoramica su uno dei personaggi del mio titolo preferito, ci trovate pure qualche bella illustrazione, che volete di più?! Un must per i/le fan di Berserk ;)
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
February 19, 2025
I didn't hate The Flame Dragon Knight as some do, but I do agree with all of the complaints. The choice of a book based on the Flame Dragon Knight is odd. He isn't particularly compelling, and his story ends up being too similar to Guts. The writing is mediocre, and the plot feels too much like a pastiche of Miura's work without understanding why Berserk is so well regarded and adored. I could go on, but I won't. To be honest, I was occasionally entertaining, and I enjoyed the artwork, but at the end of the day, this is forgettable and unnecessary.
May 21, 2024
Sämre än fanfiction
February 29, 2024
Incroyable roman !!!! Fan ou non de Berserk, vous allez adorer si vous aimez l'héroïque fantasy c'est du pur génie
September 20, 2025
2025 #61
👁️
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Con questi spin off non bisogna mai avere grandi pretese, sono abbastanza soddisfatto
👁️
🩸
Con questi spin off non bisogna mai avere grandi pretese, sono abbastanza soddisfatto
September 10, 2019
Now I know that Berserk is known for its darker themes but.... there is just so much rape in this book. And not well placed either - a lot of it has no meaning to the story and is there just to shock the reader.
The art is really good - it's Kentarou Miura so I'd expect that. The book is a bit too short and jumps around time periods a bit.
I say this book is just above average - which is a shame because I was looking forward to it for a long time.
The art is really good - it's Kentarou Miura so I'd expect that. The book is a bit too short and jumps around time periods a bit.
I say this book is just above average - which is a shame because I was looking forward to it for a long time.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
November 26, 2023
Is this a good book? A tough question. The writing, or the translating, or both, is extremely clunky and heavy-handed. Often feeling like someone's describing non-existent comic panels, poorly, rather than telling a story. Despite that, the story and characters are quite engaging and satisfying. So yeah, I would say it was an alright book despite its telling.
But the better question would be, is it more Berserk? And the answer is yes, yes, yes.
This wonderfully expands upon the world of Berserk, fleshing out many of its facets by presenting them through the eyes of a new cast of characters and makes the world feel larger as a whole. Not to mention turning a cool but one-dimensional side villain into a sympathetic character of his own.
Plus, you get a few more badass Muira panels. Something infinitely more precious now that they're a fixed quantity.
But the better question would be, is it more Berserk? And the answer is yes, yes, yes.
This wonderfully expands upon the world of Berserk, fleshing out many of its facets by presenting them through the eyes of a new cast of characters and makes the world feel larger as a whole. Not to mention turning a cool but one-dimensional side villain into a sympathetic character of his own.
Plus, you get a few more badass Muira panels. Something infinitely more precious now that they're a fixed quantity.
May 27, 2025
Was für eine Reise!
Diese Geschichte über Grunbeld hat mich von Anfang bis Ende gefesselt. Zu sehen, wie er zu dem Drachen an Griffiths Seite wurde und was er auf diesem Weg durchstehen musste, war absolut beeindruckend. Besonders bewegend fand ich die Rettung der drei aus dem Lager, seine komplexen Beziehungen zu Benedikte, Edvard und Sigrid – voller Vertrauen, Zweifel und gegenseitiger Unterstützung – sowie das Ende, das viele Gedanken in mir ausgelöst hat (auf die ich hier bewusst nicht näher eingehe).
Für alle, die Berserk lieben, ist diese Geschichte ein absolutes Muss.
Grunbeld hat sich damit einen Platz ganz oben auf meiner Liste der Lieblingsfiguren in Berserk verdient.
Diese Geschichte über Grunbeld hat mich von Anfang bis Ende gefesselt. Zu sehen, wie er zu dem Drachen an Griffiths Seite wurde und was er auf diesem Weg durchstehen musste, war absolut beeindruckend. Besonders bewegend fand ich die Rettung der drei aus dem Lager, seine komplexen Beziehungen zu Benedikte, Edvard und Sigrid – voller Vertrauen, Zweifel und gegenseitiger Unterstützung – sowie das Ende, das viele Gedanken in mir ausgelöst hat (auf die ich hier bewusst nicht näher eingehe).
Für alle, die Berserk lieben, ist diese Geschichte ein absolutes Muss.
Grunbeld hat sich damit einen Platz ganz oben auf meiner Liste der Lieblingsfiguren in Berserk verdient.
January 18, 2025
I honestly really enjoyed it. Causality was quite ruthless toward Grunbeld. Lowkey tragic but I’m not gonna sit here and feel bad for him when you take his current position in the manga into account. All in all, a good one off story.
Disclaimer: I did remove a star for the very VERY (!) inappropriate/abuse scenes within this short story. I can’t stress enough how mentally prepared you must be if you pick up Berserk. Somethings are better not drawn OR written
Disclaimer: I did remove a star for the very VERY (!) inappropriate/abuse scenes within this short story. I can’t stress enough how mentally prepared you must be if you pick up Berserk. Somethings are better not drawn OR written
June 8, 2019
Yeah, not well written at all. Feels more like an outline with a few more words thrown in to beef it up. Aaah would have been a fab few manga chapters though 😖 Well, we now know how Grunbeld the Fire Dragon apostle came to be - battles, blood, betrayal etc.
At least there are a few Miura illustrations.
At least there are a few Miura illustrations.
April 20, 2021
Berserk: The Flame Dragon Knight is a short novel taking place in the world of Kentaro Miura’s Berserk. The latter is a masterpiece of a manga with compelling storytelling, characters, and art. The former, on the other hand, is mediocre at best and insulting at worst. That’s the one we’re here to discuss today, unfortunately.
Makoto Fukami's Berserk: The Flame Dragon Knight is a fantasy novel largely separated from the parent story. It mostly follows the character of Grunbeld, a knight from Berserk and the political, and militant issues that he faces before he appears in the manga. We meet a handful of new characters which are probably the most interesting part of the book. Some range from malicious and conniving while others are empathetic. Of the new characters, Sigur and Benedikte are welcome additions to the world and have a few fun scenes. Otherwise, the book plays out rather dully—a couple decent set pieces but not enough character work is given for such a generic story. Not to mention the completely missed opportunity to flesh out the titular character, Grunbeld, whose personality only extends as far as aloof, cool knight. The author probably knew this leading to the terrible moments of shock thrown in to every chapter.
Yes, it should be noted that sexual assault does happen in Berserk. But, with this book, one might think that it happens every volume in the long 40+ year run of the series. Fukami can’t help but shove such tasteless scenes into many scenes in this short book. Often for simple shock; nary is the psychological trauma an actual factor of the book like the parent story. At best, it’s used to easily vilify a character in less than a sentence. Couple with the lame story and the excess of sexual assault weighs on this book even further.
Of note, beyond the bad, are the few but great illustrations by none other than mangaka Kentaro Miura himself. One should exercise the search feature of the internet to enjoy each picture so they can wisely avoid the rest of this book.
The first spinoff novel of Berserk is a big miss and won’t satiate even the most eager of fan. The occasional, fun character does not make up for the dull story, poor writing and excess of sexual assault. Instead, the reader is encouraged to simply look up the illustrations done by Miura, reread the parent manga and give this missed potential a wide berth.
Makoto Fukami's Berserk: The Flame Dragon Knight is a fantasy novel largely separated from the parent story. It mostly follows the character of Grunbeld, a knight from Berserk and the political, and militant issues that he faces before he appears in the manga. We meet a handful of new characters which are probably the most interesting part of the book. Some range from malicious and conniving while others are empathetic. Of the new characters, Sigur and Benedikte are welcome additions to the world and have a few fun scenes. Otherwise, the book plays out rather dully—a couple decent set pieces but not enough character work is given for such a generic story. Not to mention the completely missed opportunity to flesh out the titular character, Grunbeld, whose personality only extends as far as aloof, cool knight. The author probably knew this leading to the terrible moments of shock thrown in to every chapter.
Yes, it should be noted that sexual assault does happen in Berserk. But, with this book, one might think that it happens every volume in the long 40+ year run of the series. Fukami can’t help but shove such tasteless scenes into many scenes in this short book. Often for simple shock; nary is the psychological trauma an actual factor of the book like the parent story. At best, it’s used to easily vilify a character in less than a sentence. Couple with the lame story and the excess of sexual assault weighs on this book even further.
Of note, beyond the bad, are the few but great illustrations by none other than mangaka Kentaro Miura himself. One should exercise the search feature of the internet to enjoy each picture so they can wisely avoid the rest of this book.
The first spinoff novel of Berserk is a big miss and won’t satiate even the most eager of fan. The occasional, fun character does not make up for the dull story, poor writing and excess of sexual assault. Instead, the reader is encouraged to simply look up the illustrations done by Miura, reread the parent manga and give this missed potential a wide berth.
February 15, 2023
actually way better than you'd think
this book was honestly way better than i had expected. I thought it'd be a edgy gorey rape filled shitshow (it kinda was) but it got so much better towards the end with the buildup for, and eventually the betrayl. The ending was honestly so good.
As i read the book i wrote down things to came to mind:
There were so many paralells to guts like when grunbeld first used his hammer, it was "a weapon too big for anynone to effectively wield"
they also said that they'd cut the tendons of some prisoner so that he'd never be able to wield a sword again(where have i read that)
The chemistry and dymanic and banterfull friendship of grunbelds trio was similar to the original band of the hawk in some ways.
The priestess would go on about him being a fire dragon but she also once told a story of a dragon and a priestess and something which i dont remember exactly, i'll try to find it. but back to the point, it was similar to jin roh where a story was told and we'd know just what character in the movie was the corresponding character in the story and how it'd end which was honestly really cool.
it was the last page of the prologue, on a black page with white text. A story really similar to saint george which i also thought was cool. Some guy defeated the dragon really long ago. i dont thin kthey're ever going to touch that again but it was cool honestly.
Whilst reading the book i would so many times go "where have experiecned this trope before" or "damn ive witnessed something similar ealrier" and it'd always go back to golden age arc or revenge of the sith, kind of shows how similar they are.
like grunbeld and edwards mother were similar to guts and casca which caused griffith/edward to get jealous or very upset(not blaming edward entirely he was manipulated)
they reflect anakin and obiwan but if obiwan became darth vader in the end after sacrificing everything he had(ayy just like griffith to pursue what he wanted the most, his kingdom like anakin wanting padme). Well, edward got manipulated by an older man, llike a father figure to him.
and sigur loved grunbeld too? damn that was also a thing, cool ig
but i have to add THERE WAS SO MUCH RAPE. i dont know but i think the average page per rape case was atleast 20 pages per rape. You could NOT got 20 pages without reading about some rape case. most of the time it did not add shit to the story. any of it barely did honestly. That's one of the things i dislike with berserk. there's a lot of uneccessary rape that doesnt contribute to the story or strengthen it in a "valid" way. like the rape goblins that rape villagers and kidnap them to their rape cave where they rape them even more. also cant fucking forget wyald 💀.
direct copy paste from my notes:
"bruh so much rape its insane like randomly adding they got raped and bent over and hanged and idk and OH YEAH there’s a 9 year old too who cried.... !yup! guys its scary right? randomly throwing in edgy shit lke that is the equicalent of having someone randomly cut themselves to be deep"
the staged diversion maneuver to send grunbeld after a captured nobleman was kind of like when palpatine staged the battle of corusant so anakin could save an old "noble" man too which lead to his demise. it was also cool to read how petrified people were when they found out edward had betrayed them.
edwards speech to benektide and sigur was honestly good. another copy paste from my notes:
"edwards lil speech after priestess temple raid was cool BRING PEAE AND JUSTICE TO MY NEW EMPIRE(+trembling voice)", It reminded me of anakins speech to obiwan on mustafar before their duel.
Also, they suck at portraying scale. they say something like 100 000 people were waiting or 3000 knights. And the thing is that it only feels like at highest 200 armed knights. Lotr had some HUGE battles, hobbit too (the movies) but (excluding the orcs) there were probably no armies larger than 10000 and that was like every single elve in middle earth. i just googled it and there does seem to have been more than 7000 knights in france at one time. This shitty volcanic island had 3000 heavy ultra armoured knights and were sieged by 100 000 knigts and 20 000 at another time (nvm idk if all of them were knights but those are some big numbers). Like said, the battles and so on were never depicted so that it felt like more than 200 men.
there were also some goofy jokes like“"is grunbeld joking charging in?"(enemy soldier), "i dont like jokes”(enemy soldier)“no howl from you small guy”(grunbeld to enemy soldier who blew a battle horn.)
The later art pieces were cool as shit. The first ones looked goody when he had the wolverine looking ass hair and being unnaturally red haired but the later illustrations were honeslty insane. just wish there was one of him devestating the capital or a battlefield.
it was also cool when his heavy armoured knights were killed as they were betrayed. they didnt even know what happened. kind of like order 66 or when maximus maridmimus's soldiers/gladiators were killed in gladiator.
and oh yeah edward was so similar to griffith with how he was ready to betray all his friends and so on to achieve his dream of power, he even tried to grape sigur like griffith did to casa.
Grunbelds conversation with edward after he found out about the betrayl was kind of weak “i considered you a good friend (1 line of something else) why did you betray me?"
“i dont want to kill you but it looks like i must”🤷♀️
and the sacrifice grubeld made wasnt even bad honestly. it was a good deal. his dying and suffering friends(one of which was about to be graped) would be sacrificed and he would turn into a bigass dragon thats able to kill anyone. the count in the first berserk ark had to sacrifice his daughter but rejected it because it had im ambivalent bigitime. this was more of a win win situation.
it was cool how edward would say "you dont know you have somehting special until you lose it" as he privelege check-bullied grunbeld but in his dying moments he remembered his mother and said that HE had not realized what he loved (he killed his own mom). honestly really good.
i honestly feel for grumbeld. he feels like darth vader, continuing his pursue of darth plagieues knowledge/white hawk because of the one he loved. Real one 👊.
i think i said it before but the whole thing was like a mini golden age arc and i basically knew he'd sacrifice everyng he had to become an apostle which honeslty was cool. its like watching Rots knowing anakin is going to turn some time and that all jedi have to die. Really good book honestly would give it a 7 or 7.5👍
this book was honestly way better than i had expected. I thought it'd be a edgy gorey rape filled shitshow (it kinda was) but it got so much better towards the end with the buildup for, and eventually the betrayl. The ending was honestly so good.
As i read the book i wrote down things to came to mind:
There were so many paralells to guts like when grunbeld first used his hammer, it was "a weapon too big for anynone to effectively wield"
they also said that they'd cut the tendons of some prisoner so that he'd never be able to wield a sword again(where have i read that)
The chemistry and dymanic and banterfull friendship of grunbelds trio was similar to the original band of the hawk in some ways.
The priestess would go on about him being a fire dragon but she also once told a story of a dragon and a priestess and something which i dont remember exactly, i'll try to find it. but back to the point, it was similar to jin roh where a story was told and we'd know just what character in the movie was the corresponding character in the story and how it'd end which was honestly really cool.
it was the last page of the prologue, on a black page with white text. A story really similar to saint george which i also thought was cool. Some guy defeated the dragon really long ago. i dont thin kthey're ever going to touch that again but it was cool honestly.
Whilst reading the book i would so many times go "where have experiecned this trope before" or "damn ive witnessed something similar ealrier" and it'd always go back to golden age arc or revenge of the sith, kind of shows how similar they are.
like grunbeld and edwards mother were similar to guts and casca which caused griffith/edward to get jealous or very upset(not blaming edward entirely he was manipulated)
they reflect anakin and obiwan but if obiwan became darth vader in the end after sacrificing everything he had(ayy just like griffith to pursue what he wanted the most, his kingdom like anakin wanting padme). Well, edward got manipulated by an older man, llike a father figure to him.
and sigur loved grunbeld too? damn that was also a thing, cool ig
but i have to add THERE WAS SO MUCH RAPE. i dont know but i think the average page per rape case was atleast 20 pages per rape. You could NOT got 20 pages without reading about some rape case. most of the time it did not add shit to the story. any of it barely did honestly. That's one of the things i dislike with berserk. there's a lot of uneccessary rape that doesnt contribute to the story or strengthen it in a "valid" way. like the rape goblins that rape villagers and kidnap them to their rape cave where they rape them even more. also cant fucking forget wyald 💀.
direct copy paste from my notes:
"bruh so much rape its insane like randomly adding they got raped and bent over and hanged and idk and OH YEAH there’s a 9 year old too who cried.... !yup! guys its scary right? randomly throwing in edgy shit lke that is the equicalent of having someone randomly cut themselves to be deep"
the staged diversion maneuver to send grunbeld after a captured nobleman was kind of like when palpatine staged the battle of corusant so anakin could save an old "noble" man too which lead to his demise. it was also cool to read how petrified people were when they found out edward had betrayed them.
edwards speech to benektide and sigur was honestly good. another copy paste from my notes:
"edwards lil speech after priestess temple raid was cool BRING PEAE AND JUSTICE TO MY NEW EMPIRE(+trembling voice)", It reminded me of anakins speech to obiwan on mustafar before their duel.
Also, they suck at portraying scale. they say something like 100 000 people were waiting or 3000 knights. And the thing is that it only feels like at highest 200 armed knights. Lotr had some HUGE battles, hobbit too (the movies) but (excluding the orcs) there were probably no armies larger than 10000 and that was like every single elve in middle earth. i just googled it and there does seem to have been more than 7000 knights in france at one time. This shitty volcanic island had 3000 heavy ultra armoured knights and were sieged by 100 000 knigts and 20 000 at another time (nvm idk if all of them were knights but those are some big numbers). Like said, the battles and so on were never depicted so that it felt like more than 200 men.
there were also some goofy jokes like“"is grunbeld joking charging in?"(enemy soldier), "i dont like jokes”(enemy soldier)“no howl from you small guy”(grunbeld to enemy soldier who blew a battle horn.)
The later art pieces were cool as shit. The first ones looked goody when he had the wolverine looking ass hair and being unnaturally red haired but the later illustrations were honeslty insane. just wish there was one of him devestating the capital or a battlefield.
it was also cool when his heavy armoured knights were killed as they were betrayed. they didnt even know what happened. kind of like order 66 or when maximus maridmimus's soldiers/gladiators were killed in gladiator.
and oh yeah edward was so similar to griffith with how he was ready to betray all his friends and so on to achieve his dream of power, he even tried to grape sigur like griffith did to casa.
Grunbelds conversation with edward after he found out about the betrayl was kind of weak “i considered you a good friend (1 line of something else) why did you betray me?"
“i dont want to kill you but it looks like i must”🤷♀️
and the sacrifice grubeld made wasnt even bad honestly. it was a good deal. his dying and suffering friends(one of which was about to be graped) would be sacrificed and he would turn into a bigass dragon thats able to kill anyone. the count in the first berserk ark had to sacrifice his daughter but rejected it because it had im ambivalent bigitime. this was more of a win win situation.
it was cool how edward would say "you dont know you have somehting special until you lose it" as he privelege check-bullied grunbeld but in his dying moments he remembered his mother and said that HE had not realized what he loved (he killed his own mom). honestly really good.
i honestly feel for grumbeld. he feels like darth vader, continuing his pursue of darth plagieues knowledge/white hawk because of the one he loved. Real one 👊.
i think i said it before but the whole thing was like a mini golden age arc and i basically knew he'd sacrifice everyng he had to become an apostle which honeslty was cool. its like watching Rots knowing anakin is going to turn some time and that all jedi have to die. Really good book honestly would give it a 7 or 7.5👍
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
December 2, 2023
You know what I love? Berserk. You know what I don't love? Shitty tie-in fiction that was clearly made absent any kind of passion, respect, or understanding of the property with which it is to meld.
This book is a genuine fucking travesty. Disregarding what I can only assume is a poor translation, the sloppy prose and cliché animeisms only serve as surface level shit smears on what is, actually, a gigantic pile of doo doo feces at its core. Is that a juvenile way to put it? Yes, but that's really all this book deserves.
And honestly I don't think a tie-in novel with Berserk is a bad idea at all. It could totally work. I think Berserk's writing style would lend itself well to the medium. Heavily layered and introspective characters with depths and moralities that run the entire spectrum of white to black or somewhere in-between should feel right at home in the pages of a hefty and intelligently written novel. When you read the manga you're left with the distinct impression that there is so much more beneath the surface of every character that I bet you could take just about any of them and pen an entire novel's worth of compelling narrative, and expounding on the setting is never a bad idea either.
Grunbeld would be a natural fit for the first go-around with this idea. His fight with Gutts paints an interesting picture of implication and serves as one of the manga's action highlights. Giving him his own origin tie-in novel is far from a bad idea, given how easily you can take the Berserk formula (if you can call it that) of a burly dude with hidden depths occasionally going apeshit and killing horrific monsters or monsters in the shape of men.
But this just ain't it chief.
To begin with, the prose was fucking awful and way below sub-par. I know Berserk is a visual feast, and I wasn't expecting something terribly extravagant for a fairly light paperback manga tie-in, but it goes beyond basic and often feels like baby's first NaNoWriMo submission. I understand translating Japanese prose is extremely difficult, from what little I've done for research into the subject translating it into a new language is more like operating on a guideline and effectively re-penning the novel but I have to assume that this isn't entirely the fault of a shoddy translation because the content of the novel is not much better.
The character work feels really shallow. Granted, there isn't a ton of page space to work with here, and the manga has had literal decades of releases to fully flesh out characters, but Grunbeld and company are just so stock and archetypal. Grunbeld wants to be strong to protect the people he cares about, he's like a dragon because he is big and red, he has a fat cock, and that feels like where it pretty much starts and ends. The side characters don't fare much better, with his primary love interest and best friend feeling less like individuals and more like props meant to service the scenes of Grunbeld's story rather than people with layers and depth of their own.
And there's something pretty unpleasant about the way that this book handles violence and dark themes. Berserk is a horrifying and dark story full of awful and grimdark subject matter. Terrible things happen all the time and it's all very unsettling and unpleasant but it all works within the themes and presentation of the manga to create a story that is more than the darkness around it. Grunbeld commits the cardinal sin of most grimdark fantasy in that it doesn't really seem to know how to handle any of its material in a way that isn't purely gratuitous. Not to say that the original manga didn't occasionally fall into the same space, but the darker elements in the original manga feel more meaningful and horrifying, rather than existing purely for shock value.
Gratuitous descriptions of a little girl's severed head being eaten by pigs, violent rape, murder, torture, it all feels like someone's immature idea of dark and mature storytelling, which compounds to make the 'bad fanfic' feeling of the story much worse. (There's seriously a moment where Grunbeld is lamenting his own lack of strength and clenching his fist in a bad shot that is so anime it physically made me recoil.) It's like someone went "Oh yeah, this is Berserk, uh... have them rape and dismember a ten year old or something I guess. That seems Berserkian."
Then there's the stuff that clearly feels like guro fetishism, shit like fucking open wounds in gratuitous detail, it's just appalling and unnecessary. I'd say the manga, even at its most excessive, never trends towards this sort of blatant boner storytelling. Someone was clearly writing a few of these scenes with a half-chub, or with intention of giving half-chubs, and either way they seriously need their head checked and their hard-drive seized because that's the sort of blatant degeneracy that normies are right to bully weeaboos over.
All in all, avoid this hunk of literary junk. You can look up the illustrations Miura did online and read a bulletpoint summary of what happens if you really really want more Berserk, but as it stands, this is just another in a long line of horrible pieces of tie-in media.
One day Berserk will get a piece of fiction that respects and understands the source material, I just hope to god Netflix has nothing to do with it.
This book is a genuine fucking travesty. Disregarding what I can only assume is a poor translation, the sloppy prose and cliché animeisms only serve as surface level shit smears on what is, actually, a gigantic pile of doo doo feces at its core. Is that a juvenile way to put it? Yes, but that's really all this book deserves.
And honestly I don't think a tie-in novel with Berserk is a bad idea at all. It could totally work. I think Berserk's writing style would lend itself well to the medium. Heavily layered and introspective characters with depths and moralities that run the entire spectrum of white to black or somewhere in-between should feel right at home in the pages of a hefty and intelligently written novel. When you read the manga you're left with the distinct impression that there is so much more beneath the surface of every character that I bet you could take just about any of them and pen an entire novel's worth of compelling narrative, and expounding on the setting is never a bad idea either.
Grunbeld would be a natural fit for the first go-around with this idea. His fight with Gutts paints an interesting picture of implication and serves as one of the manga's action highlights. Giving him his own origin tie-in novel is far from a bad idea, given how easily you can take the Berserk formula (if you can call it that) of a burly dude with hidden depths occasionally going apeshit and killing horrific monsters or monsters in the shape of men.
But this just ain't it chief.
To begin with, the prose was fucking awful and way below sub-par. I know Berserk is a visual feast, and I wasn't expecting something terribly extravagant for a fairly light paperback manga tie-in, but it goes beyond basic and often feels like baby's first NaNoWriMo submission. I understand translating Japanese prose is extremely difficult, from what little I've done for research into the subject translating it into a new language is more like operating on a guideline and effectively re-penning the novel but I have to assume that this isn't entirely the fault of a shoddy translation because the content of the novel is not much better.
The character work feels really shallow. Granted, there isn't a ton of page space to work with here, and the manga has had literal decades of releases to fully flesh out characters, but Grunbeld and company are just so stock and archetypal. Grunbeld wants to be strong to protect the people he cares about, he's like a dragon because he is big and red, he has a fat cock, and that feels like where it pretty much starts and ends. The side characters don't fare much better, with his primary love interest and best friend feeling less like individuals and more like props meant to service the scenes of Grunbeld's story rather than people with layers and depth of their own.
And there's something pretty unpleasant about the way that this book handles violence and dark themes. Berserk is a horrifying and dark story full of awful and grimdark subject matter. Terrible things happen all the time and it's all very unsettling and unpleasant but it all works within the themes and presentation of the manga to create a story that is more than the darkness around it. Grunbeld commits the cardinal sin of most grimdark fantasy in that it doesn't really seem to know how to handle any of its material in a way that isn't purely gratuitous. Not to say that the original manga didn't occasionally fall into the same space, but the darker elements in the original manga feel more meaningful and horrifying, rather than existing purely for shock value.
Gratuitous descriptions of a little girl's severed head being eaten by pigs, violent rape, murder, torture, it all feels like someone's immature idea of dark and mature storytelling, which compounds to make the 'bad fanfic' feeling of the story much worse. (There's seriously a moment where Grunbeld is lamenting his own lack of strength and clenching his fist in a bad shot that is so anime it physically made me recoil.) It's like someone went "Oh yeah, this is Berserk, uh... have them rape and dismember a ten year old or something I guess. That seems Berserkian."
Then there's the stuff that clearly feels like guro fetishism, shit like fucking open wounds in gratuitous detail, it's just appalling and unnecessary. I'd say the manga, even at its most excessive, never trends towards this sort of blatant boner storytelling. Someone was clearly writing a few of these scenes with a half-chub, or with intention of giving half-chubs, and either way they seriously need their head checked and their hard-drive seized because that's the sort of blatant degeneracy that normies are right to bully weeaboos over.
All in all, avoid this hunk of literary junk. You can look up the illustrations Miura did online and read a bulletpoint summary of what happens if you really really want more Berserk, but as it stands, this is just another in a long line of horrible pieces of tie-in media.
One day Berserk will get a piece of fiction that respects and understands the source material, I just hope to god Netflix has nothing to do with it.
March 14, 2021
If I'm to give Makoto Fukami's THE FLAME DRAGON KNIGHT the benefit of the doubt, I can only conclude that something must get lost in translation here--both the literal translation of Japanese to English and the translation of a largely visual medium of graphic storytelling into pure prose.
The source material for this one-off spin-off, Kentaro Miura's long-running BERSERK manga series, conveys the bulk of its emotions and atmosphere through Miura's masterful linework. Unfortunately, Fukami is not Miura's stylistic equivalent.
THE FLAME DRAGON KNIGHT reads like competent fanfiction, with both the positive and negative connotations that statement implies. Fukami faithfully sticks to the larger themes that echo throughout BERSERK (destiny, revenge, war, imprisonment, brutality) and perhaps overly-faithfully mimics many of the plot beats in the Golden Age arc of the manga (a love triangle, weaponized sex, betrayal, mass sacrifice), which does make this a recognizable BERSERK-type story. However, the quality of Fukami's writing is clunky, mechanical, and unimaginative. Sometimes details are repeated. Some details are historically or technically interesting (like a side explanation of how a certain tactic works or what a certain weapon is) but interrupt the flow of the narrative. Characters often don't act, react, or talk realistically, with weird lines of dialog that come out of nowhere and bursts of emotion that serve the needs of the plot instead of reflect the inner world, motives, and desires of the characters, who seem to be little more than palette-swapped versions of some of the characters from the original BERSERK series.
It's possible that Fukami was too afraid (or did not have enough official license) to be too original in this story, which I can understand; writing within the confines of an existing intellectual property can come with certain challenges. But another part of the problem is that Fukami writes like a screenwriter, in the sense that scenes open with "the camera" describing a setting or unfolding action, and this external point of view is always prioritized over any internal point of view. We sometimes get to read direct thoughts that characters are having (set aside in italics), but the story rarely enters anyone's head and allows us to inhabit anyone's thinking or desires--and when it does, again those thoughts and desires feel like something that the plot requires that person to experience, instead of things that arise naturally through who that person is.
I consider myself an ardent BERSERK fan, but even that bias isn't enough to nudge my rating up beyond 3 stars. I think if I didn't already have such love for the universe, I would've rated this one 2 stars and a "meh".
The source material for this one-off spin-off, Kentaro Miura's long-running BERSERK manga series, conveys the bulk of its emotions and atmosphere through Miura's masterful linework. Unfortunately, Fukami is not Miura's stylistic equivalent.
THE FLAME DRAGON KNIGHT reads like competent fanfiction, with both the positive and negative connotations that statement implies. Fukami faithfully sticks to the larger themes that echo throughout BERSERK (destiny, revenge, war, imprisonment, brutality) and perhaps overly-faithfully mimics many of the plot beats in the Golden Age arc of the manga (a love triangle, weaponized sex, betrayal, mass sacrifice), which does make this a recognizable BERSERK-type story. However, the quality of Fukami's writing is clunky, mechanical, and unimaginative. Sometimes details are repeated. Some details are historically or technically interesting (like a side explanation of how a certain tactic works or what a certain weapon is) but interrupt the flow of the narrative. Characters often don't act, react, or talk realistically, with weird lines of dialog that come out of nowhere and bursts of emotion that serve the needs of the plot instead of reflect the inner world, motives, and desires of the characters, who seem to be little more than palette-swapped versions of some of the characters from the original BERSERK series.
It's possible that Fukami was too afraid (or did not have enough official license) to be too original in this story, which I can understand; writing within the confines of an existing intellectual property can come with certain challenges. But another part of the problem is that Fukami writes like a screenwriter, in the sense that scenes open with "the camera" describing a setting or unfolding action, and this external point of view is always prioritized over any internal point of view. We sometimes get to read direct thoughts that characters are having (set aside in italics), but the story rarely enters anyone's head and allows us to inhabit anyone's thinking or desires--and when it does, again those thoughts and desires feel like something that the plot requires that person to experience, instead of things that arise naturally through who that person is.
I consider myself an ardent BERSERK fan, but even that bias isn't enough to nudge my rating up beyond 3 stars. I think if I didn't already have such love for the universe, I would've rated this one 2 stars and a "meh".
December 27, 2024
Berserk The Flame Dragon Knight.
On its own this novel does not hold up well. It is very clear that the target audience for this novel are those who are already familiar with the subject matter and lore of berserk. The story itself is simply as the title and artwork would suggest the backstory of one of the main series antagonists Grunbeld, and in that capacity it provides an interesting and painful story, so painful it actually hurts to read.
As far as the story goes I enjoyed the narrative, however this story is incredibly rushed, and heads all over the place. Initially setting up as some Jack the Ripper style serial killer murder mystery, only to go back in time and turn into a childhood backstory of pain and misery with a glimmer of hope in the form of Benedikte, only for the reader to be rushed back into the present timeline to experience the pure raw yet aloof power fantasy that is Grunbeld, upon which we are thrust into some hastily written budget game of thronesesque political manoeuvre which very much solves the murder mystery introduced to us at the beginning yet while that mystery is solved for the readers there is absolutely no resolution for the characters involved in such behaviour, until a rushed and abrupt ending. I understand my writing of the previous run-on sentence serves no better, but that’s what it’s like reading this book.
Ultimately if you like Berserk lore you will enjoy this book as much as I have, but you will not be blind to its flawed writing. Ultimately I found the purpose of this narrative was to simply establish the character who was Grunbeld Ahlqvist. There was much more potential for so much more, and the writing could not deliver. The saving grace of this story were the beautiful illustrations drawn by Kentaro Miura, and the reputation Berserk holds backing it up.
Perhaps if this was told in the medium of a manga it would surely have held up better, and I’m not just saying that because I enjoy looking at pictures, the writing is incredibly elementary in style.
I love Berserk and I love the world it’s built, and I even came to sympathize with Grunbeld but Jesus Christ reading this book felt like reading a magic tree house book with rape and violence in it.
On its own this novel does not hold up well. It is very clear that the target audience for this novel are those who are already familiar with the subject matter and lore of berserk. The story itself is simply as the title and artwork would suggest the backstory of one of the main series antagonists Grunbeld, and in that capacity it provides an interesting and painful story, so painful it actually hurts to read.
As far as the story goes I enjoyed the narrative, however this story is incredibly rushed, and heads all over the place. Initially setting up as some Jack the Ripper style serial killer murder mystery, only to go back in time and turn into a childhood backstory of pain and misery with a glimmer of hope in the form of Benedikte, only for the reader to be rushed back into the present timeline to experience the pure raw yet aloof power fantasy that is Grunbeld, upon which we are thrust into some hastily written budget game of thronesesque political manoeuvre which very much solves the murder mystery introduced to us at the beginning yet while that mystery is solved for the readers there is absolutely no resolution for the characters involved in such behaviour, until a rushed and abrupt ending. I understand my writing of the previous run-on sentence serves no better, but that’s what it’s like reading this book.
Ultimately if you like Berserk lore you will enjoy this book as much as I have, but you will not be blind to its flawed writing. Ultimately I found the purpose of this narrative was to simply establish the character who was Grunbeld Ahlqvist. There was much more potential for so much more, and the writing could not deliver. The saving grace of this story were the beautiful illustrations drawn by Kentaro Miura, and the reputation Berserk holds backing it up.
Perhaps if this was told in the medium of a manga it would surely have held up better, and I’m not just saying that because I enjoy looking at pictures, the writing is incredibly elementary in style.
I love Berserk and I love the world it’s built, and I even came to sympathize with Grunbeld but Jesus Christ reading this book felt like reading a magic tree house book with rape and violence in it.
Read
August 18, 2024"Bright red flames will burn your enemies, and hard scales will break blades."
The first and only spin-off from the series, why?
Why the story of the least interesting Griffith's apostle? Might be because he's the one with less development so far, or maybe... maybe nothing. This book didn't give anything relevant. All it did was saying, Hey, you remember that huge guy that transforms into a dragon? Well, this is he's origin story. Ok, then let's talk about the story. It's clearly too short for what I presume people who worked on it wanted to be. It's an arc, that's all, a long arc. The main character has no development, again, so what am I supposed to get out of this that I couldn't get in more nuanced expressions in a later volume of berserk? He's just has cold as Guts, just has strong in comparison to those around as Guts, wields a big ass weapon as Guts, but it couldn't be farthest from being Guts, and sure, he shouldn't be like Guts, but he should be something! The story is predicable, it's amateurish, and is a superficial rubbing in the world and meaning of Berserk. All I can think of that might mean anything to the people and the reason why this was ever made is that it established a new nation, an island, and it might be important later on in the series, but really, it doesn't justify a whole new book. It could go so much deeper, so much better, and it didn't even make the run for it... at least there were some cool drawings by the legend himself.
"Go on living, my fire dragon... Make us your sustenance..."
The first and only spin-off from the series, why?
Why the story of the least interesting Griffith's apostle? Might be because he's the one with less development so far, or maybe... maybe nothing. This book didn't give anything relevant. All it did was saying, Hey, you remember that huge guy that transforms into a dragon? Well, this is he's origin story. Ok, then let's talk about the story. It's clearly too short for what I presume people who worked on it wanted to be. It's an arc, that's all, a long arc. The main character has no development, again, so what am I supposed to get out of this that I couldn't get in more nuanced expressions in a later volume of berserk? He's just has cold as Guts, just has strong in comparison to those around as Guts, wields a big ass weapon as Guts, but it couldn't be farthest from being Guts, and sure, he shouldn't be like Guts, but he should be something! The story is predicable, it's amateurish, and is a superficial rubbing in the world and meaning of Berserk. All I can think of that might mean anything to the people and the reason why this was ever made is that it established a new nation, an island, and it might be important later on in the series, but really, it doesn't justify a whole new book. It could go so much deeper, so much better, and it didn't even make the run for it... at least there were some cool drawings by the legend himself.
"Go on living, my fire dragon... Make us your sustenance..."
February 19, 2024
A great story, if quite lacking in the prose department.
I really enjoyed the story of Grunbeld as depicted in this story. He is in many ways similar to Guts, and as an eventual Apostal, his story is naturally a tragedy. That being said, I enjoyed getting to learn about him, his friends, and his path towards becoming what we see in the manga. When things turn south for his group, I felt similar feelings of sadness as when the Band of the Hawk was lost. One of the characters could have used much more development to explain their 'turn' but....
The weakest element is certainly the prose of the book - this is the same translator as the main manga series, which doesn't usually have a problem, but things were often described a little too stiff or uninspired. I am very cautious when it comes to over-localizing a Japanese work, but in this case it does seem like it follow too much of a literal approach. I read a first printing so maybe they fixed some things in later printings, but I also found a few too many typos to be acceptable.
On the whole though I really enjoyed my this quick read. The main cast of characters are endearing and memorable, the illustrations are masterful, and the added context regarding the rest of the Berserk world is appreciated. If you are a fan of Berserk, you'll probably find something to like, even if the quality of the writing is closer to 3/5.
I really enjoyed the story of Grunbeld as depicted in this story. He is in many ways similar to Guts, and as an eventual Apostal, his story is naturally a tragedy. That being said, I enjoyed getting to learn about him, his friends, and his path towards becoming what we see in the manga. When things turn south for his group, I felt similar feelings of sadness as when the Band of the Hawk was lost. One of the characters could have used much more development to explain their 'turn' but....
The weakest element is certainly the prose of the book - this is the same translator as the main manga series, which doesn't usually have a problem, but things were often described a little too stiff or uninspired. I am very cautious when it comes to over-localizing a Japanese work, but in this case it does seem like it follow too much of a literal approach. I read a first printing so maybe they fixed some things in later printings, but I also found a few too many typos to be acceptable.
On the whole though I really enjoyed my this quick read. The main cast of characters are endearing and memorable, the illustrations are masterful, and the added context regarding the rest of the Berserk world is appreciated. If you are a fan of Berserk, you'll probably find something to like, even if the quality of the writing is closer to 3/5.
December 26, 2025
He leído como 3 o 4 light novels japonesas, pero siempre están como bien mid. En este caso, se siente como un libro que quiere ser más pero se queda a medias, como si lo hubieran recortado a la mitad. La historia de Grunbeld empieza interesante y está bien desarrollada al principio, pero a partir de la segunda mitad acelera muchísimo y el final está súper incompleto: lo que debería ser el clímax, el equivalente al eclipse del manga, se resuelve en como 4 páginas sin que haya el menor atisbo de indecisión por parte del protagonista, lo cual es muy decepcionante.
Como dicen la mayor parte de reseñas de este libro, se siente como escrito por alguien que no entiende el punto de lo que hace a Berserk especial. Es muy violento y sexual, pero sin mayor motivación más allá de la brutalidad por si misma. No se desarrollan los personajes adecuadamente y los matices se pierden, además de que lo que le pasa a Grunbeld es básicamente lo mismo que pasa con Guts y Griffith, pero sin lo que vuelve esa relación interesante.
Sí me gustó, pero hasta cierto punto. El final lo agría.
3.5 / 5
Como dicen la mayor parte de reseñas de este libro, se siente como escrito por alguien que no entiende el punto de lo que hace a Berserk especial. Es muy violento y sexual, pero sin mayor motivación más allá de la brutalidad por si misma. No se desarrollan los personajes adecuadamente y los matices se pierden, además de que lo que le pasa a Grunbeld es básicamente lo mismo que pasa con Guts y Griffith, pero sin lo que vuelve esa relación interesante.
Sí me gustó, pero hasta cierto punto. El final lo agría.
3.5 / 5
January 25, 2021
A gripping and ferociously unforgiving tale, fitting of the Berserk universe. Once you start reading it is extremely difficult to put down. Definitely NOT FOR THE LIGHTHEARTED!! However, it is a MUST read for any fans of love, gore, horror, and the unflinching writing of Makoto Fukami and Kentaro Miura. Truly an incredible journey from beginning to end.
For those who say it is nothing more than a gorefest derived from nothing, they clearly did not read it, as the protagonist, as well as his allies, all rose from an extreme world of despair and torture to become who they did. It's a story of an unrelenting soul born for battle and hardened by year's of imprisonment and agony, while still maintaining his humanity and ability to love and care for those around him. True, it may not be as grim and deep-seated as the typical Berserk mangas, but it still feels like it fits perfectly into the Berserk world after only having one story told.
For those who say it is nothing more than a gorefest derived from nothing, they clearly did not read it, as the protagonist, as well as his allies, all rose from an extreme world of despair and torture to become who they did. It's a story of an unrelenting soul born for battle and hardened by year's of imprisonment and agony, while still maintaining his humanity and ability to love and care for those around him. True, it may not be as grim and deep-seated as the typical Berserk mangas, but it still feels like it fits perfectly into the Berserk world after only having one story told.
December 1, 2024
I don't quite understand why so many people dislike this book... I've seen people mention how edgy it is and at some points it seems ridiculous but the book is literally what berserk is, it's just in novel form. Besides the many people saying not to read this because it's a waste of time, don't listen to them!! Read the book on your own and form YOUR own opinion about it. I really did enjoy this book and glad Grunbeld has some lore to him since he's one of my favorites besides Zodd (Zodd lore when?!). Some parts really had me on edge, it certainly is a page turner and a quick read! The novel overall is literally so interesting and every page just keeps you hooked.
September 4, 2022
This reads like Berserk fan fiction. There is no subtlety or nuance applied to the darker aspects of the world, and while the comic series often includes similar levels of violence, it is handled with more care and exists beyond basic shock value. The dialogue is stilted and the writing is clunky - readers are told what characters are thinking or feeling, never shown. And the characters largely feel like watered down versions of the original Band of the Hawk.
Fans of the manga may want to check this out to get Grunbeld's backstory, but it added nothing to the series.
1/5
Fans of the manga may want to check this out to get Grunbeld's backstory, but it added nothing to the series.
1/5
May 7, 2024
Berk Fan: I don’t know what’s worse, reading the mangas, or imagining it for yourself. “The Flame Dragon Knight,” although being clunkier and rougher than the intricate Berk; is still painted with the same overtly cruel darkness and sickening oddities. (I have major grimaces with the disgustingly common involvement with a theme in the universe) And yet, a story of gut wrenching tragedy rivaling some of the major classics. I felt sick to my core at every twist and turn, but deeply compelled to devour the story, like a dragon does his foes.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
October 15, 2024
This book is not very good. The lead character is bland and boring and is never truly in any danger until we know he has to be. The side characters have no personality other than to say how great the main character is and the antagonists are comedically evil for poor reasons. At its core it is a worse version of the berserk story. It's only value is if you're a berserk fan and want to see the drawings by Miura.
July 2, 2025
Interesting to read Berserk but in a novella form. I thought it was well done with some clear flaws. It has the same themes of Berserk, but with a new but similar protagonist in Grunbeld, some background to the inner politics of the world of Berserk, and some pretty gruesome scenes. it also has a tried but true character arc, but I thought it was pretty good! If you are a Berserk fanatic like me, give this a read!
July 30, 2025
Un disastro, come il 99% degli adattamenti del mondo di Berserk, e lo dice un fan sfegatato della saga (basta guardare la mia foto profilo).
Scritto con i piedi, copiato di pari passo dall'opera originale - definirlo "derivativo" sarebbe un complimento -, noioso, banale, cerca a tutti i costi di scioccare.
Un pessimo plagio della IP originale, tristemente autorizzato da Miura, del quale si salvano soltanto le rappresentazioni.
Scritto con i piedi, copiato di pari passo dall'opera originale - definirlo "derivativo" sarebbe un complimento -, noioso, banale, cerca a tutti i costi di scioccare.
Un pessimo plagio della IP originale, tristemente autorizzato da Miura, del quale si salvano soltanto le rappresentazioni.
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