Berserk 3

Hooray!  I just got a ton of this series in, so expect a lot of it coming up.  I also got a ton of volumes of Saint Seiya, Astro Boy, Dragon Ball, and Bastard, so expect some of those as well, but Berserk is the one I’m most excited about.

This volume wraps up the Guardians of Desire storyline in the most insanely violent way possible.  Much as you would expect, the lord’s daughter is involved in the fight and sees her father in his true form.  Full advantage of this is taken, and Guts continues to fight the undying monster.  Of course, his hand is broken and his fingers are grotesquely twisted, so he has to use his mechanical arm cannon and hold his gigantic sword IN HIS TEETH.  He’ll have to sever the monster’s head somehow, I suppose.

A gate to an Escher-esque hell is opened at one point, and five or six demon lords make their appearance and deepen the story.  In addition to sort of elaborating on their contract with the undying monster, we find out that Guts has something to do with what appears to be the head lord.  There is apparently a distinction between those who are demons or become demons and those who belong to them, and Guts can never be of the demons… as impressed as all the lords are with his tenacity.  One wonders if this is as concrete as they make it out to be, and I kind of hope we get to see Guts get more involved with them later on.  It seems like he’ll have to if he wants to get rid of his demon-summoning brand.

I can’t help but think of the demon lords as Cenobites.  That’s just an amusing connection I’ll have to deal with for the duration of the series, I suppose.

In the backstory of the undying demon, there is the most exquisitely drawn orgy scene I’ve ever seen, complete with false idol.  It was only a few panels, but it made me love the series a little bit more.

We finally see a more human side to Guts, too.  After his possible connection to the head Cenobite is revealed, there’s a really awkward and bizarre scene with Guts and the lord’s daughter where the girl is trying to figure out if she wants to live or die.  The conclusion of the scene makes Guts cry, which is… well, the bizarre part.  I wasn’t sure what to think of that.

The next story arc seems to be a flashback, starting with the birth of Guts and jumping ahead three years every now and again.  Guts was born a mercenary through and through, but there’s lots of good stuff in this story arc so far.

I’ve got through volume 10 sitting next to me.  I’m expecting to absolutely tear through all of them this week.  And then there’ll be more to read!  I’m pretty excited I get to read such a huge chunk of the story at once.