Manga Review: Berserk #40 by Kentaro Miura
Recap: After many trials and tribulations, the cursed swordsman Guts and his traveling companions have at last reached the island of Elfheim. While the others recuperate, the elf queen Danan allows young witch Schierke and former Holy Maiden Farnese to enter Casca’s dreams in an effort to free her from madness.
After the relative lightheartedness of the previous volume, we are back to dark and nightmarish (literally) imagery. Schierke and Farnese battle against a hostile landscape and a seemingly endless supply of monsters, digging deep into their magical reserves. Both Guts and Serpico help out in their symbolic representations, and we get callbacks to characters that haven’t been seen in years.
At last our heroines reach the center of the dream, but can they restore the last of Casca’s memories? Perhaps even should they, since these were the events that broke her mind to begin with?
A resolution is reached, and things seem at least a little hopeful, but the full consequences are yet to be seen–
–Because we switch scenes to see what Griffith’s up to. Turns out he’s leading his new Band of the Hawk against anthropophagic giants menacing the eastern regions of Midland. Despite their misgivings about fighting alongside monsters, the Midland troops do appreciate not all dying. Griffith unveils a new method of rapid deployment that will make it easier to defend the country, but only he and Sonia the medium can lead the troops through it safely.
If the reader didn’t know what Griffith’s background was, he’d seem like a super awesome guy.
The art remains richly detailed with cool monster designs and backgrounds. My synopsis may make the story seem shorter than it is; a lot is happening between the lines.
Content note: Nudity, body horror, gore, Casca’s rape is symbolically alluded to but not seen. This carries a “parental advisory” sticker for a reason.
This series continues to be well worth a read for dark fantasy fans.
