Berserk Manga Review: The Berserker Armor

It’s here! It’s finally here! I finally get to talk about the armor!!

Last time on Berserk: Slan made a surprise appearance within the Qliphoth to attack Guts. With some help from Skull Knight, the God Hand member was driven off. Meanwhile, Isidro proved himself as a warrior and protected Schierke from some trolls. With Casca, Farnese, and the women and children of Enoch Village brought home safe, Guts is astonished to find that he’s come to value his new companions every bit as much as he loved the Hawks of old. However, when the party returned to the Spirit Mansion, they found Flora’s domain engulfed in flames.

Today, we’re covering the following chapters:

• The Blaze Parts 1 – 2
• The Berserker Armor Parts 1 – 2

A distraught Schierke rushes towards her burning home, crying out for her master. Sensing the approaching danger, Guts urges Serpico and Isidro to stop her. As the three depart, Guts turns to find the culprits behind the blaze: Apostles. Dozens of them, clad in war armor.

Being an expert demon slayer, Guts charges straight into battle. However, being injured and exhausted from an entire day of fighting monsters and would-be gods, he lacks the strength to do any meaningful damage. Luckily for him, Skull Knight is there to lend a hand.

Not so luckily, a familiar face emerges from the Apostles: Nosferatu Zodd. Accompanied by the giant dragon knight: Grunbeld.

Grunbeld, having heard tales of the Black Swordsman, challenges Guts to a one-on-one duel. The cherry on top: he does so claiming to be a warrior of the Band of the Hawk. One of the demons who slaughtered Guts’ friends, his family, now bears their name for himself as if by right.

And Guts is NOT having it.

Over by the fire, Isidro and Serpico manage to stop Schierke from diving into the flames. But the little witch is distraught, calling out for her mistress both by shouting and with telepathy. Flora, sitting calmly within the inferno, sends her apprentice a message: get that to the Black Swordsman.

But Schierke doesn’t leap to do her master’s bidding. While Flora is at peace with dying, her apprentice is heartbroken, bursting into tears over the end of her home and her peaceful life with the master she loves. For all her magic and power, Schierke is still just a kid. Seeing her sob over the death of her mother-figure is downright painful for me to read.

Nearly as painful as the beatdown Guts is getting from Grunbeld. The Apostle’s hammer and shield send Guts flying, and our protagonist’s attempts to fight back are falling woefully short. Without armor to protect him, Guts’ wounds are opening back up. Even if Guts was in tip-top shape, one thing is clear: Grunbeld stands head and shoulders above any other Apostle Guts has faced thus far.

The other Apostles go to kill Flora, but Skull Knight steps in to stop them. In response, Zodd shoves the other Apostles aside to challenge his old rival once more. It’s time for yet another duel between the two coolest characters in the series.

Which we get one page of. One page of what could have been the coolest duel in the entire series. Miura gave me balls as blue as Papa Smurf’s with this one.

Back in the mansion, Schierke’s grief is cut short when an Apostle emerges through the flames. With a quick spell and some help from Serpico, they manage to drive the monster off. Mastering her emotions, Schierke leads them down to the treasure room to fulfill Flora’s request. Here, they find a dangerous magical fetish of incredible power: a suit of black armor with a skull-shaped helm.

Hm… That’s a funny coincidence… I’m sure it’s not important.

Meanwhile, Guts is still getting his ass kicked by Grunbeld. But rather than mocking or being cocky, the Apostle is merely disappointed. He expected more from the supposedly legendary Black Swordsman, the human said to be equal to Nosferatu Zodd himself. Kicking his opponent away, Grunbeld levels his cannon-shield and opens fire. Just as it seems Guts is finally doomed, the witch’s clay golems spring to life to shield him from the blast, and Schierke telepathically contacts him to come collect his new battle wear.

Once he reaches them, however, Guts collapses from his wounds. Seeing him in this state, Schierke hesitates to put the armor on him, fearing it could endanger his life. But when another Apostle appears and Guts takes her arm, the choice is taken from her. Schierke, Isidro, and Serpico fit the armor to Guts’ body, and the Black Swordsman rises once again…

And immediately gets swallowed by the Apostle.

Grunbeld steps through the flames in search of his quarry. The Apostle emerges to greet him, groaning in pain and begging for help, an armored boot dangling from its maw. A moment later, the Dragon Slayer erupts from its face, and the Apostle explodes in a burst of gore, revealing Guts clad in the skeletal armor. Another Apostle charges in for the kill, but the Black Swordsman annihilates it instantly, cleaving it clean in two with one swing.

Everyone is in awe at Guts’ newfound strength. Isidro is excited, Schierke is concerned, and Grunbeld is eager to finally fight a worthy foe. Zodd, on the other hand, recognizes the armor, basking in nostalgia and asking Skull Knight if he intends to lead Guts down the road he took long ago.

Gee, I wonder if Skull Knight wore the armor with the skull helmet before. Nah, couldn’t be. I’m sure it’s just a coincidence.

Within the armor, Guts tries to wrap his mind around the new power he possesses. The pain he felt before has vanished, and in its place, a ferocious impulse is rising. The Beast of Darkness howls, consuming Guts, and the armor’s helm changes from that of a skull to that of a black hound.

Firstly: that’s just really cool. Watching the armor unnaturally bend from a skull to a hound is awesome. Secondly: this is an incredible pay-off to the Beast of Darkness. We’ve seen it lurking behind Guts ever since Conviction, and now, it’s finally getting what it wants. It takes this transformation, a normally triumphant moment in manga/anime, and makes it something horrifying and unnerving.

Moving with impossible speed, swinging with inhuman strength, Guts charges back into the fight with Grunbeld. To say the tables have turned would be an understatement. It’s more like the table has been completely smashed, and Guts is now beating the dragon Apostle over the head with a chair. It’s an awesome fight scene, featuring artwork and paneling that is easy to follow yet perfectly capture the insane speed and power with which Guts is now fighting. The armor even molds around his hand so he can still use his cannon arm!

Now, at long last, I get to gush about the Berserker Armor!!

I’ve seen a lot of anime and read a lot of manga. I’ve witnessed more transformations than I can count. I’ve seen Goku go Super Saiyan half a dozen different times, witnessed Luffy become the Sun God, and blared ‘Number 1‘ while Ichigo unleashed his Bankai multiple times in ‘Bleach‘. So trust me when I say, without exaggeration or hyperbole, that the Berserker Armor is the single coolest powerup I have EVER seen in a work of fiction!

There’s the obvious surface-level fact that it simply looks fucking awesome! More than that, it fits Guts’ character perfectly! It doesn’t give him a blazing aura or flashy new techniques. Instead, it numbs his body, blocking off all pain and letting an already superhuman man fight well beyond his ordinary limits.

On top of all that, it comes with something few other anime/manga powerups have: consequences. As Schierke explains, the armor doesn’t heal Guts. It simply keeps him from feeling pain. It holds him together, stabbing into his flesh to hold his muscles and bones together. He can keep fighting like a wild animal, too strong for anyone to stop, until all of his bones are dust and the last drop of his own blood is spilled. At the same time, it deprives him of all conscious thought, bringing his darkest, most dangerous desires to the surface of his mind. It makes Guts stronger, but it also makes him more dangerous, both to his foes, his own allies, and even himself.

This makes every scene in which Guts activates the armor equal parts awesome and terrifying. While the armor gives him the strength he needs to face Griffith and his new Band of the Hawk, it also deprives him of the humanity he needs to protect those he loves. By using it, he runs the risk of becoming exactly like Griffith. It’s an ingenious power-up that ramps up the tension for the rest of the story going forward.

Which we will talk about later. I was gonna review every chapter of this battle here, but… well, I got a bit too excited over the Berserker Armor. The rest will have to wait for another day.