Berserk, Volume 2

Volume 2 of Berserk is a nice step up from Volume 1, with the story getting some more depth and the characters getting some room to breathe in between the crazy depictions of violence.

It's a nice change of pace from the more shonen, less adult manga I'm familiar with like Dragon Ball and One Piece. Those are violent, sure, but the stories always have a bit of childishness attached to them. Berserk is dark and grim and wildly violent, and the protagonist isn't a nice guy. In today's world where we have tons of media centered on morally gray characters, this isn't much of a novelty, but it's something I'm not super familiar with in manga.

The art is really nice and detailed, a little busy in some fight scenes. The non-combat scenes are show more well-done too, and characters are given some depth in a surprisingly small amount of time. I'm excited to read more and see how the world gets expanded. show less

Volume two of the Berserk manga continues the saga of bloody retribution the protagonist, Guts, seeks to visit upon the demons who have marked him for death and damnation. The story arc began in the first volume, The Guardians of Desire, encompasses the entirety of this volume, leaving Guts's pursuit of the rotund demon governor unresolved despite two lengthy parts to the story.

While the first volume makes no secret of Guts's disregard, and even downright scorn for the innocent people his actions and position tend to put into danger (with often tragic results), in this volume there can be no mistaking that this is a different kind of hero than we're used to seeing in traditional stories. In The Guardians of Desire, part two, upon show more securing a behelit from a deformed physician who is later executed by the governor, Guts simply walks away, not even bothering to thank the man who helped him. When he chooses not to stop the man's execution, he swears not to fail at killing the governor... as the physician did, he says. This kind of cavalier attitude paints Guts as a less sympathetic hero than most may be used to, but also points up the nature he has cultivated when dealing with demons and who knows what else, so it still makes for a compelling bit of character development.

TGoD, pt. 3 ends on a cliffhanger, with Guts confronting the demon governor one-on-one, and fighting him to the point where the demon begins to take the confrontation more seriously, but who also clearly has the upper hand. Puck, at this point, has been captured and given as a gift to the governor's human daughter, and we wonder if it might be better for him/her/it to stay with her than to return to the often thankless Guts, who he runs off to assist in his battle with the governor at first opportunity.

Again, while this isn't a title for the YA section, it is a well-crafted story that contains compelling characters, dark humor, and a plot that continues to expand and deepen, guaranteeing that those who start the story will be drawn in and clamor to continue Guts's adventures. show less

This is the 2nd volume in the Berserk series and continues the battle started in the first book. We find out that the evil Count is much more evil than even Guts first thought. The book is full of detailed battle scenes and we get a little more background on the brand Guts wears.

We also learn more about Guts as a character. Despite his bad attitude and the gruff and careless way he treats his companions, we find out that it does bother him some to leave the weak to their fate. However he’s fighting a larger battle and can’t afford to be distracted.

The illustration continues to be very well done and is easy to follow. I felt like the story didn’t make as much progress as it did in the first volume; hopefully this arc will start to show more wrap up in volume 3. This volume is basically one long battle between Guts and the Count’s demon.

Overall I enjoyed this volume and thought the action scenes were incredibly well done, the illustration is also very detailed and well done. show less

Second volume tells a tale of Guts against the corrupted Count. Driven by his fiery hatred towards daemons Guts will end up in direct conflict with the Count after he defeats several of his henchmen. But in Count ... Guts seems to have found his match.

Art is great as in previous volume, maybe a little bit blocky in some parts but overall great and highly detailed. Especially first few pages of several issues that are done in touche technique (at least I think this is the technique used :)).

Again, this is a mature graphic novel and might be too bloody for some.

Recommended to all fans of Berserk universe and horror fantasy in general.

Here the manga gets a little more serialized, and drops the "Demon Of The Chapter" aspect of the story. For that matter, it also fleshes out the characters a little more - so while the villain of this volume, The Count, is certainly monstrous, he does have his humanizing elements.

I had pretty similar thoughts to the first one, the protagonist isn't that interesting or fleshed out beyond him being cool and hard to kill, the world does seem a bit 'and then'. I'm going to give it another chance or two.

Wasn't bad, but got a little tired of the constant body morphing near the end.