Beserk
Beserk is a very unique anime. More bloody and violent than Elfen Lied, it is certainly not for the squeamish. The protagonist of this story is Guts, who we see in the first episode battling a Demon Baron in a feudal kingdom. Guts is truly amazing in this battle; he is very heavily armed, carrying a sword which is easily much taller than himself, a repeating crossbow and a rocket launcher in his prosthetic arm. Believe it or not, the rest of the serious is devoted to explain how Guts became this way. The next few episodes go over the early back story of Guts; he was a mercenary who earned respect for taking on impossible tasks, eventually running against the well-known mercenary group the Band of the Hawk, led by the charismatic blue-haired Griffin. Running into them after a battle, Guts easily triumphs over anyone in this group of mercenaries except for their leader, who blocks Gut’s blows with surprising ease. Griffen always wears a mysterious charm call the Behelit or Egg of the King around his neck; we see this charm in the first episode around the neck of the Vampire Lord. Its nature remains a mystery until the very end of the series, and it is also seen in the opening being held in in the hand of a very obvious demonic hand. The Behelit obviously has some unusual property in one scene it clearly looks at Guts with an eye, normally closed, and it saves Griffen’s life at least twice. A demonic monster ceases to fight with Griffin and Guts once he observes its presence.
As I’ve mentioned before, Beserk is a very violent anime; this really cannot be overemphasized. Sensationalist in the extreme, Beserk has actually no problem flaunting all the blood and gore that’s going around. Heads explode graphically, and Caska, the only woman in the band, or indeed all of Midland’s army, attracts some unwanted attention from some of the male characters in the series, including a demon or two. Indeed, I would highly recommend anyone interested in seeing this anime view Elfen Lied first, to make sure that they are actually ready for the mature topics and graphic depictions of slaughter and rape contained in Beserk. If Elfen Lied turns your stomach, then Beserk will probably make you vomit. I can’t really say that there’s any deeper meaning to Beserk. This is an action anime through and through, albeit one that is very well executed.
At the same time, this series reminds me just a little bit of Stephen King’s Dark Tower series, especially the first book, The Gunslinger; We know that something is wrong with world that we are seeing, but we’re not entirely sure what the problem is until the very end of the show. Scott, always willing to aid me in my anime adventures, commented that the ending of the series is easily much more depressing than Neon Genesis Evangelion as a mild spoiler, it can basically be summed up as “everyone dies,” and an especially gruesome death at that.
There’s also an element of courtly intrigue entwined throughout the entire series. We see the Band of the Hawk rise from a ragtag group of mercenaries into elite fighting unit, eventually becoming nobles of the Kingdom of Midland. However, Griffin’s reach exceeds his grasp, and he begins to fall from grace, First subtly involving Guts in a elaborate plot to eliminate his enemies in the court, which partially succeeds. After an affair with the princess, he winds up in a surprisingly elaborate torture chamber in a prison in Midland’s capital. This, however, is not his final destination, as fate has ordained that a hellish meeting is still in the cards for him and the remains of the Band of the Hawk.
The music in Beserk is beautiful. I know I say this a lot, but it is hauntingly beautiful. It never pretends to be anything it’s not – even if you’ve never seen Beserk and were listening to the soundtrack, it would be difficult not to guess that these compositions are of a cinematic nature – but they are never overpowering and perfectly complement their scenes.
Information on other sites:
Buy Beserk at Amazon.com