Berserk Manga Review (Part 26): Awakening to a Nightmare

Oh, did you think the trauma was over? You sweet fool. It’s only just begun.

Today, we’re covering:

• Awakening to a Nightmare
• The Sprint
• Vow of Retaliation
• Demon Infant

Having been saved from the horrors of the Eclipse, Guts awakens from a coma to find himself cared for by Erica and Rickert. But his nightmare did not end upon waking. Casca’s mind has been shattered, and now both she and Guts are cursed to be hunted by demons and evil spirits until the end of their days. Even still, after all of that, Griffith has left one last painful gift for the pair.

I’ve got mixed feelings on Casca’s fate after the Eclipse. It’s most definitely dark and upsetting, and it leads to some truly incredible scenes in the later arcs of the series. But reducing the series’ strongest female character to a babbling madwoman still feels like a bit much. While it’s a mixed bag, I think it ultimately does more good for the series than bad. I just wish Casca got more agency.

On a far more positive note: ‘The Sprint’ is one of my all-time favorite chapters of Berserk. Guts is so overwhelmed by everything that happens that he just breaks and runs away. As he’s dashing through the woods, he’s haunted by memories of the friends he lost. He runs and runs until he can’t run anymore, collapsing into a field of grass. As the rain falls on him, he’s haunted by the memory of Griffith’s new demonic form. He ran as far and as fast as he could, and he still can’t get away.

It’s genuinely gut-wrenching, and it manages to do all of that entirely through the artwork. There isn’t any dialogue in this chapter until the last few pages, when the spirits and Skull Knight show up. Instead, we’re allowed to focus entirely on the scenery Guts rushes through and on the memory of those who died.

But wait! There’s more! Guts’ life can still get even worse! Because now he walks in the world between the spiritual and the physical, wherein evil spirits and demons will hunt him day and night. Even Skull Knight, who is explaining this to him, remarks on how hopeless it is for him to survive.

So what does Guts do? The same thing that he’s always done. Remember: Guts has a simple rule to life. If you hit him, he’s gonna hit you back. Really. Fucking. Hard.

I love how Guts frames his demonic hunt as a declaration of war. He doesn’t understand all of this bizarre magical nonsense, so he frames it as something he does understand. All the while, his face twists into a mad grin. The seeds for his insanity have been planted, and we’re only going to see them grow.

Speaking of seeds and growing, let’s check in on Casca.

That was the worst transition I’ve ever written, Jesus, I’m so sorry.

Remember the disgusting, terrifying demon baby thing that haunted Guts back in the Black Swordsman arc? Yeah, uh… how do I put this… Casca gives birth to it. Turns out, she got pregnant after her first time with Guts, and when Griffith did… what he did… the baby got all distorted and messed up and turned into a monster. Essentially, the baby is Griffith’s final ‘fuck you’ to Guts and Casca.

This is incredible for a couple of reasons. One: it answers a mystery that’s been hanging in the air ever since the very first chapter of Berserk. Two: the baby has now become a constant reminder to Guts as to how Griffith ruined the happiness he attained with Casca. Three: it’s a creepy parallel to the beginning of the Golden Age, when Guts’ adopted mother found him. Four: it sets up some pretty god damn major events to come in the future of the manga.

So, that’s where we sit. Guts is broken and out for blood, Casca is a shell of her former self, their baby is a mutated spirit, and all of their friends (save Rickert) have died gruesome, horrific deaths. The best days of Guts’ life are over and gone in the most terrible way possible.

But he can’t go to war just yet. First, he needs to arm himself.

Quite literally, in this case.