Review of Kentaro Miura’s Berserk, Volume Six

The success of Griffith and his Band of the Hawk causes problems for the nobles of Midland. While victories bring stability, they also embarrass the efforts of the noble military and political leadership that has made no headway in years of warfare. Caring more for their own reputations and social standing, a plot is hatched to assassinate Griffith during a hunt in the company of the royal family. Their efforts are foiled when—as if by a miracle—Griffith survives the attempt on his life. What is worse is that he and Princess Charlotte develop a bond that, to all appearances, is more than just social. Polite in public, behind closed doors, Griffith is less forgiving of the assassination attempt, and he enlists Guts to carry out a retaliatory assassination before the Band of the Hawk is summoned and sent out to subdue rivals of Midland in the name of peace and security.

While there are several scenes of violence in intrigue, the real meat of this volume comes from the changing interpersonal situation between the characters. When seeing Casca’s backstory, it becomes clear why she idolizes Griffith and is slavishly devoted to him when she is otherwise so capable and confident a character in her own right. The dynamic between Guts and Casca changes too when he puts himself in harm’s way for her, and goes out of his way to help her and nurse her back to health when they are separated from everyone else. These scenes are the first glimpses of anything like tenderness and empathy observed in Guts.

The beginnings of the most forceful shift, however, are those between Guts and Griffith, even if Griffith does not yet know it. After carrying out murder on his behalf—which to Guts feels categorically different from killing on the battlefield—Guts overhears Griffith talking with Princess Charlotte, proclaiming that he could never consider someone his friend and equal who was following the dream of someone else. As Griffith explains it to the princess:

To me a friend is [...] someone who would never depend upon another’s dream... Someone who wouldn’t be compelled by anyone, but would determine and pursue his own reason to live and should anyone trample that dream, he would oppose him body and soul... even if the threat were me myself. (131)

Both Guts and Casca overhear this, but of the two, it is Guts that seems the most heartbroken. He knows that Griffith will only ever see him as a tool and use him accordingly as long he follows in the Band of the Hawk, but this is also the only place Guts has ever felt like he belonged. The internal conflict of the paradox troubles him and puts his future in doubt. Griffith is the only person he respects enough to follow, but the only way to have Griffith’s respect is to stop following him.

The Berserk series also begins to explore some of the themes building in the last few chapters such as the limited value of social standing, the conflict between security and innovation, and what true comradery and friendship in difficult circumstances actually looks like. To do this, the pace of this volume is considerably slower than some previous ones, and not always for the better. Some frustration will certainly occur in that the reader knows many of these relationships will fester into something truly terrible even if it is not clear exactly how it will happen. Some tension is maintained, but this volume is a far cry from the supernatural horror from the start of the series.

The artwork is stronger, more detailed, and assured than in many of the previous volumes. Bold and expressive character work is helped by some unique panel compositions. There are a few stock, manga conventions that will look out of place to reader not used to it given the rest of the artwork. Overall, though, this volume is a reasonable continuation of Berserk that looks like it is setting up near-future conflicts that will explain how the characters got to the point seen at the start of the series.

Source

Miura, Kentaro. Berserk, vol. 6. Translated by Duane Johnson. Dark Horse, 2005.