Berserk is a heroic fantasy manga and anime by Kentaro Miura.
The main character is an almost unbeatable mercenary named Guts. Almost his equal in the battlefield is his love interest, Caska. She is the only female member of the White Hawks, a mercenary band led by the mysterious Griffith.
The first episode of the manga was released in 1989. A new episode is released every other week in Young Animal. It is still running, and the end of the beginning is approaching. The anime series covers only a small portion of the manga.
The remainder of the series is a flash back, where the Black Swordsman, (later introduced as Guts), looks back into his past. He sees years of trials and tribulations in the Band of the Hawk, a successful band of mercenaries under the charismatic leadership of Griffith, a man driven by the ambition to become king. The series continues through all these years and shows the rise in fall of the hawks through Guts' eyes. Their impressive rise to power and fame is soon challenged by a terror that leads them to the very depths of evil; the horrifying evil that resides in all men, and the desire for power that is able to possess a man entirely.
There are numerous plot twists and superb character development that keep the series fresh and exciting for the viewer, but there is a some nudity and a lot of blood that would make this series inappropriate for younger viewers.Story
The series opens with an epilogue. In a dark time, a pack of the king's guards are harassing a young lady in distress when all of a sudden, they are attacked and slaughtered. The Black Swordsman has returned. He swings a humongous sword as large enough to cut people and horses in two.
