Contains discussions of sexual assault
Summary
Guts' trauma as a character added depth to his initially unpleasant personality. Berserk's opening scene may feel at odds with the later revelations about Guts in the Golden Age Arc. The changes in Guts' personality across the arcs reflect both in-universe and real-world reasons.
Few manga have earned the respect and admiration of readers worldwide Hysterical. At the center of that love is the series' main character, Guts. The Black Swordsman is a seemingly complex character with a lot going on beneath the surface. It's this depth that explains why some fans of the hit manga can't reconcile the first few pages of the series with what they later learn about Guts.
Created by Kentaro Miura in 1989, Berserk is the story of a powerful warrior named Guts. Throughout the first few chapters of the manga, Guts appears as a completely unlikeable main character. To the point that the only reason he can be considered a hero is because the demons he kills are far worse than him. However, in the popular Golden Age arc of the series, readers finally learned why Guts became so cold.
Guts is a man who has repeatedly lost everything he cares about. While Eclipse killing his group of mercenaries is the most famous example of this, Guts' trauma goes further than that as readers learn that Guts was assaulted as a child. The cold and detached personality that defines him in the opening chapters is revealed to be a defense mechanism. All of this makes Guts a much deeper character than initial appearances suggest… which is why the manga's opening makes no sense.
The first page of Berserk can be strange for the brave
Later revelations about the intestines make the first page feel uncomfortable
The first chapter of Berserk opens with Guts with a woman. However, in a fit of passion, she reveals her true form as Berserk's first signature disgusting demon. Guts turns the tables and uses the cannon in his hand to destroy the monster. Instead of setting up plot points, the opening shows that demons pervade the world of the manga and that Guts enjoys killing them. However, when looking at Guts' history, it's hard to imagine him doing this. He has trouble letting the real woman he loves touch him, so it's strange that he seems to have no problem having sex with a demon.
The result of this is that it is very easy to write this sequence non-standard. This is certainly a sympathetic stance to take. While dark and grim things often happen in Berserk, they rarely happen without bringing up some larger themes about its characters or world. Although the female demon reappears in Eclipse to kill Corkus, it could have been any other demon without much change, meaning this scene could have been eliminated without changing much of the larger story of the series.
Given that Corkus's fame was driven by his attraction to women, it makes sense that the unnamed female apostle would be the one to kill him in Eclipse.
Many adaptations of Berserk seem to agree with this, as the 1997 anime adaptation from the 'Golden Age' part of the series completely omitted this scene even in the first Black-inspired episode Swordsman. It's important to note that the vacuum scene itself isn't bad. It still carries Miura's signature stunning and horrifying artwork. The problem with Berserk's opening pages isn't one of quality, but rather that they present too much conflict for many readers.
Why did Guts feel like such a distinct character in the first part of Berserk
Berserk's black swordsman arc shows the dark side of the gut
As for why Guts feels like a different character in the Black Swordsman Arc compared to his future appearances, there are really two explanations. The first in-universe explanation is that the Black Swordsman Arc takes place long after Eclipse took everything from Guts. As the title of the series suggests, the Guts readers first meet in Chapter 1 are motivated entirely by rage and a need for revenge.
This goes hand in hand with the fact that Many fans primarily know Berserk through the Golden Age Arc. That's when the series really exploded in popularity, and that's where its two biggest anime adaptations (the 1997 anime series and the movie trilogy) spent most of their time. As a result, the ruthless and downright mean Guts seen in Chapter 1 may come as a shock to those who primarily know Guts as the introspective yet harsh warrior he was during the Golden Age.
It's possible that Berserk creator Kentaro Miura is still trying to understand the world and characters of Berserk
The second reason why Guts' character is different in the first part is a real-world reason. It's possible that Berserk creator Kentaro Miura was still trying to figure out the world and characters of Berserk when he wrote that first season. Manga is a demanding business, and mangakas often don't have time to plan more than what they're already doing. Guts' change may reflect a change in Miura's thinking about the character.
The first chapter of Berserk is still an important part of the Epic Saga
Regardless of how fans feel about its depiction of courage
Final, Berserk's depiction of Guts in the Black Swordsman arc is key to understanding the series' events during its prime. It's no exaggeration to call Berserk a once-in-a-lifetime masterpiece. Kentaro Miura's epic can be extremely violent but also thoughtful. Even if some readers don't care Hysterical'S controversial opening, the series is a work of art that will surely be celebrated for decades to come.
All chapters of Hysterical available from Dark Horse
