Berserk Manga Review: Conviction (Part 5)

Onwards we go. Towards the Tower. Towards the edge of insanity.

Today, we’re covering:

• Bowels of the Holy Ground
• The Witch
• Spirit Road 1-2
• Pillar of Flame

Luca follows Nina to her cult’s secret orgy, inadvertently bringing Casca and her curse into contact with the cultists. Guts’ journey towards the Tower is met with not one, but two fateful meetings. All the while, Farnese and Serpico struggle with their roles within the Holy Iron Chain Knights.

‘Bowels of the Holy Ground’ is among the most uncomfortable chapters in all of Berserk. Not just because of the orgy. Which I cannot show you guys, since it is literally just actual hentai.

You think I’m kidding? No, no, no. They show. EVERYTHING.

It’s hard to describe just how weird and disturbing this scene really is. Between the acid-trip visuals and the cannibalism and Nina being Nina, it’s horrifying, confusing, and just downright nightmarish. You’ve just gotta read it for yourself to understand because you need to see it to believe it.

So instead of showing you that, here’s Guts yeeting a child off of a cliff.

Also, Luca spanks Nina like an annoyed parent, which just makes me like her even more.

‘The Witch’ is an uneventful but important chapter. Pretty much everything that happens in the rest of the arc happens because of this bit. All because Casca nearly gets assaulted again.

Which is unfortunately not gonna change any time soon.

‘Spirit Road’ is great. First, we get Guts’ first scene with Isidro, which is just so much damn fun. Isidro trying to steal the Dragon Slayer and ending up stuck beneath it will never stop being funny to me. Just as Guts smiling at the kid’s attitude will never stop melting my heart.

*Side note: they fight skeletal wheels in this scene. It’s a cool scene, as well as the inspiration for my least favorite enemy in Dark Souls 1. Therefor I hate it just as much as I love it.*

Along with new meetings comes a reunion. Skull Knight is back, and he’s got yet another cryptic warning for Guts. The God Hand is up to no good and Griffith is gonna come back. How? Via another Eclipse-like event.

So… stakes are pretty high on this one.

‘Pillar of Flame’ is all about backstory. Primarily regarding Serpico and Farnese. Turns out, Serpico’s mother was burned at the stake, so he’s got some PTSD. And Farnese… well…

Yeah, there’s no gentle way of putting this. Serpico is sickened by the sight of people burning. Farnese? She gets off to it.

To be fair, there is more to it than her just being a sexual sadist/masochist. We see that she was pressured into throwing that first torch, then encouraged to keep going. Considering how socially isolated she’s been shown to be, it makes sense that she’d latch onto the first positive piece of social reinforcement thrown her way.

The art and imagery continues to be just as incredible as before. It’s the creative blend of dark, creative, and disturbing. Just look at that panel of Farnese as a kid. That one drawing says so much about her character, her childhood, the environment she was raised in, and so much more.

It’s also setup for where her character is gonna go. But we’ll cross that bridge when we get to it.

With these chapters, the stage is officially set for Conviction to begin. All the pieces are in place and the stakes are set. It’s high time for the madness to begin.

Buckle up. The rest of this arc is nuts!