Berserk Manga Review: Redemption

Get your gear in order, everyone. It’s time for a rescue mission.

Last time on Berserk: Guts fought an ogre, and Serpico fought a kelpie. Schierke conjured a water spirit, washing the trolls away in a great tide. However, both Farnese and Casca were lost in the waves and taken to the trolls’ domain. Now the party, short one injured Serpico, must set out to save them.

Today, we’re covering the following chapters:

• Qliphoth
• Taint
• Retribution
• Redemption

As the party prepares to set out, the grateful villagers gather around Schierke to offer their thanks. Flustered as she is by the attention, the little witch takes the opportunity to teach the townsfolk of the spirits that helped them, requesting that the priest build a shrine to them like the days of old. The priest, having grown from their experience and her teachings, agrees, and everyone parts on good terms. It’s a wholesome inversion of what happened to Flora all those years ago, thus proving the little witch’s master correct once again.

Isidro sits and watches nearby, feeling dejected and humiliated. Morgan, having been healed by Puck, comes to offer him a parting gift: a short sword more suitable for the boy’s smaller frame. The old man explains that when he went to the witch all those years ago, he hadn’t gone to save his mother; he had been trying to run away, using his dreams as an excuse to flee his problems. In doing so, he encourages Isidro not to give up on his dreams, and the boy swaggers away with some renewed vigor.

Back in the church, an injured and frustrated Serpico entrusts Farnese’s safety to Guts. As the party sets out, Isidro hesitates, still feeling insecure about his place among them. But when Guts ushers him into motion, he sets those doubts aside and joins them in their journey to the dark.

As they draw closer to the troll’s domain, the woods begin to twist and distort in unnatural ways. Here, on the precipice of darkness, the party encounters a creature. A monster far more terrible and horrifying than even Griffith himself.

Schnoz.

After driving away this mighty foe, Schierke realizes where they’ve wandered into. The Astral World’s domain of darkness: Qliphoth. With this reveal, we get a little glimpse into the horrifying, bizarre creatures dwelling here in the darkness. Misshapen insects with human face, glowy-eyed monsters hiding in the darkness, and other such mind-bending creatures born from human nightmares. It’s a creepy and unsettling location, like a fever dream made manifest. A chilling return to Berserk’s horror roots.

Those of you returning from last week now understand that joke. Congratulations.

Schierke goes on to note that it should be impossible for Qliphoth to have manifested so strongly in the physical world. She postulates that the boundaries between worlds have begun to fade, hence why the events of the last twenty-or-so chapters have occured. Or perhaps said boundaries have already vanished with the advent of the Hawk of Light.

I love the fact that she doesn’t even mention Griffith by name. She doesn’t even use his title. She just says ‘that person’ and Guts immediately knows who she’s talking about. Given his experiences, he never considers even for a second it could be anyone else.

As they progress further through the forest of nightmares, the party come to the trolls’ den. Here, we cut back to Farnese and Casca, who awake from their peaceful sleep to horrors beyond human comprehension. Oh, and dead bodies. Plenty of those.

Naturally terrified out of her wits, Farnese tries to guide Casca away. When one of the bizarre monsters pursues them, she lashes out with her silver knife, driving it away. Drained, she hugs Casca tight, drawing some comfort from the other woman and steeling her urge to protect her. It’s a short but sweet little moment.

Followed immediately by a waking nightmare.

We see why the trolls took the village women. For lack of a way to describe this delicately: the monsters rape them half to death, then troll babies explode out of their bellies to finish them off. Oh, and in case you were curious about the human kids: the trolls at them alive, wear their skulls like jewelry and adorning their skeletal torsos on their spears.

I will be showing none of this for obvious reasons.

Unable to contain her fright at the gruesome display, Farnese shrieks in terror, drawing the attention of the trolls. Her lifelong trauma response tries to take over, urging her to cower and hide. Instead, she presses Casca against the wall and desperately slashes with her knife at anything that gets too close. Though Farnese has felt useless throughout the journey, she understands that Casca is even more helpless than she is, and with her to protect, Farnese cannot let herself be powerless anymore. In this moment, with Casca’s warmth at her back and a swarm of horrors closing in before her, Farnese is determined to face retribution for the crimes of her past.

When the trolls move in for the kill, Guts arrives and mows the horde down with his crossbow. Tears spring to Farnese’s eyes, and in her relief, her knees finally give out, and she falls daintily into his chest. Though Casca hisses protectively at Guts, pulling her new big sister away, the smitten Farnese is too busy blushing to notice.

As Guts catches her up on the situation, Schierke and Isidro gather the surviving women and children to begin their escape. But with so many humans and even more trolls, the odds seem hopeless. Guts, having survived more hopeless battles than any character in fictional history, steps forward to buy the others time to escape. An act which leaves the little witch flustered and frustrated.

Before they depart, Guts has some words for the party. He thanks Farnese, telling her that everything she does is extremely helpful and shares his gratitude. He tosses Isidro his bag of bombs, making him the rearguard; when the boy tries to protest, Guts expresses his faith in him, making his trust in the land known. It’s no wonder the Raiders were so loyal to Guts; this scene is a great highlight of Guts’ leadership abilities.

With no one to get in his way, Guts prepares himself for yet another hundred-on-one slaughter. With the others, we see Isidro defending the escaping villagers, the normally cocky boy acting quiet and focused, determined to prove himself to himself. Not even Schierke or Ivalera can mock him for his efforts.

At the same time, Farnese has another crisis. She admits to herself that she only stood firm against the trolls with Casca. First, she had considered that her retribution, punishment for her previous crimes. Now, however, she’s starting to see it as something else entirely: redemption.

This is a small moment, but it’s importance to the character is huge. Up to now, Farnese has been beating herself up, punishing herself for the person she used to be while also being ashamed of the person she had become. But thanks to both Guts and Casca, she’s not only growing as a person, she’s learning to love and forgive herself. It’s a perfect little microcosm of why I find Berserk so beautiful. This is a world that twists and breaks people, yet they find a way to keep going and heal.

Meanwhile, Guts is doing what he does best.

Without anyone to protect, he can finally cut loose and fight with all his strength. In this moment, standing against the trolls in the dark of the Qliphoth, the Black Swordsman emerges once again in all his visceral bloody glory. It’s almost reminiscent of his first one-hundred man slaughter back in the Golden Age. Though he’s far more efficient now than he was all those years ago.

Back with the escaping survivors, Schierke finds that they’re trapped on all sides by trolls. But before the monsters can attack, a shadowy figure rushes past in a blur, slaughtering the beasts and clearing the path. A familiar horsed silhouette, making straight for Guts.

Speaking of: Guts is just about done with his wanton troll slaughter. Exhausted and caked in blood, he prepares to go and catch up with the others. But there’s something else with him. Another shadow, growing in the blood of the dead monsters, rising towards our protagonist.

On that note, we’ll call it a day. We’re about to dive into some deep waters. Best we properly prepare before taking that plunge.

Even if I want to throw caution to the wind and get straight into it. These next few chapters are PEAK Berserk! But I’m getting ahead of myself.

Farnese really steals the show with these chapters. Her growth from religious masochist to sniveling coward into protective big sister is some of Berserk’s best character growth. And we’re not even done! She still has so much more development to go! Her arc is second only to Guts!

Speaking of: next week, we get to see our leading man step into the spotlight again.

These next two reviews are gonna be crazy, dudes, I’m so excited!