Summary
Financial dependence has led to compromises in the use of adult media such as Berserk, creating challenges in reconciling entertainment and faith. Media literacy helps grasp Berserk's deeper themes of overcoming trauma and critiquing fundamentalism and religion, which are important to adult readers. Returning to Berserk as an adult allows for a nuanced appreciation of complex themes, a growing faith, and a greater passion for art.
Hysterical is my favorite seinen manga, one that I continually return to reread and enjoy its disproportionate anime contributions. However, getting to grips with it and regularly reading it wasn't always easy when I was younger. Growing up, I was raised by Catholic parents and a member of the modern Evangelical community of the 1990s and 2000s, with ripples of the Satanic Panic still affecting my ability to media literacy of many families and congregations. This led to me discovering but ultimately withdrawing from Berserk in my early years, and while it was the right thing to do at the time, it didn't work out.
At this point in my life, I've spent more years regularly reading comics than any other form of written fiction, but I find Berserk's challenging themes difficult to reconcile with faith. mine at that time. It's not that I find it offensive; at the time it was a conscious and pragmatic decision.
Custom image by JR Waugh
As I reconsider the path that would eventually lead me to Berserk altogether, I realize that it was a wise decision at the time, and although my faith was a factor, the real reason will become clearer to me as an adult.
Berserk sells much better than Shonen Manga
Financial dependence on parents means many compromises
I remember discovering Berserk not first in manga form but through its adaptation. I was reading Dreamcast Magazine issue 6 when I came across an advertisement for Sword of the Berserk: Guts' Rage. I remember being struck by its exceptionally graphic violence at the time, with clear shots of Guts going through enemies with his Dragon Slayer like butter, and thinking that there was no way my parents could have this. I was right, like I grew up in a family that strictly prioritized wholesome, accessible entertainment, and Berserk was going to be a tough sell.
However, my excitement when I found out that Berserk was getting a manga series, as soon as I started looking into what a manga was, made me dig into any scraps of Berserk I could find. found online in 2000-2001.
However, my excitement when I found out that Berserk was getting a manga series, as soon as I started looking into what a manga was, made me dig into any scraps of Berserk I could find. found online in 2000-2001. This would lead me to encounter other factors where my pre-teen self would realize that I was not ready for Berserk, its violence is coupled with horror and sexual/psychological torment. Finally, with the depictions of the Holy See being extremely brutal in Berserk's Conviction Arc, I knew that if my parents read this book there would be no way they would buy it.
Satanic Panic makes Berserk-like manga less problematic
Kids like me were either willing to compromise or smart
As I got older and finally reached high school, I began to settle for manga such as those from Shonen Jump magazine, subscribing for the duration of the magazine's run in North America. However, with series like Berserk and other mature products, especially video games, Teenagers like me learned to be clever about hiding from the media so that parents wouldn't be too sensitive to the moral panic of the 1980s and 1990s. A childhood friend was brilliant enough to take a copy of Splinter Cell: Chaos Theory and keep it a secret from his Protestant family by printing a fake label with a Teen rating.
That friend is now a father and I will never stop smiling at his ingenuity. By comparison, my methods for avoiding the Satanic Panic of Evangelical Parents are more basic. They don't have much to do with Berserk's fake book covers but instead hide the products in my cupboard:
Imagine a snowy evening in Canada in March 2009 when Resident Evil 5, the highly anticipated sequel to Capcom's popular masterpiece, Resident Evil 4, was released. Naturally, I was seventeen at the time and decided to spend the majority of my latest paycheck on a collector's edition of a newly released game, which despite not even having a console, I intended instead. plan to play it on a friend's PlayStation 3. However, I would have to hide it in the closet until I saw him next, and I thought there would be no problem until I got home that snowy night.
I went upstairs to find my parents sitting at the kitchen table, waving for me to come over, where the contents of the RE5 collector's edition were displayed. The angry lecture I received then and there was basically like they had found bricks of cocaine or a severed goat head, how outraged they were that I bought this and kept it in my closet. Much of the anger is due to the ESRB, M for Mature rating, along with typical Resident Evil violence, but funnily enough, they focus on the Evil in the title. This is a $100 purchase, compared to the existing 27 volumes of Berserk that I'd probably have to hide if I got my hands on it, and there's no way out, but Berserk will have a much more intense theme.
From there, it was easy to see that my parents meant well and that I had a very sheltered childhood life. Berserk in that family is impossible. It wasn't entirely due to my faith but out of fear of the reaction of my parents and their faith.
Berserk taught lessons I couldn't understand as a teenager
Media literacy can transform the importance of manga to readers
When I first discovered Berserk, it was on its way out of the Conviction Arc and into the Hawk of the Millennium Empire Arc, arguably the best modern story, where Guts would undergo significant character development. pole. While I could easily understand the redemption story, the appeal of this story when I was young was the clear visuals and action, which meant the themes the series would soon explore will go through my head. Berserk, especially in the Hawk of the Millennium Empire Arc and throughout the entire series, is not some action horror spectacle but is about overcoming trauma.
Growing up in a fairly sheltered faith-based community, Berserk's themes didn't necessarily carry the weight they do to me now, as I would soon develop media literacy. Developing media literacy, an increasingly old subject, is crucial in processing news and understanding fiction. Using media literacy while reading Berserk allowed me to understand that the extreme and brutal depictions of Vatican-like Holy See members, like judge Mozgus, were not simply a critique of the faith.
From there I added the witch hunt, which gave me the idea of portraying the darker aspects of religion. There is a lot of diversity in religion, but when I thought of a figure who would be the overall embodiment of religious fundamentalism, I thought of Mozgus. The teachings came first, humanity came later. He is a further exaggeration of that. To some extent, all religions consider something that transcends the laws of reality and human thought and consider it absolute.
-Kentaro Miura, creator of Berserk
Rather, criticism of Berserk focuses on fundamentalism and the darker aspects of religion, according to Miura's interview in the Official Berserk Guidebook.
Berserk's themes have an overwhelming impact on adult readers
It's not ageism, I promise
As I mentioned, the topic of overcoming trauma is much easier to grasp for adults because we are at a stage in our lives where we are emotionally and mentally equipped to deal with trauma. face your past. Berserk deals with psychological trauma through many forms in its main cast, from surviving sexual assault, to losing a loved one, to religious trauma or simply losing everything. While it's important to remember that not all congenital trauma is worse, some trauma may be felt more intensely during Berserk than others.
In Berserk, dealing with trauma is even seen in the protagonist, Guts, and the antagonist, Griffith. Both suffered similar traumas, including both having been sexually abused in their childhood. However, their position in the story is largely influenced by the fact that Guts tries to depend on others and succeeds in coming to terms with his psychological trauma. At the same time, Griffith failed to do the same and instead became obsessed with gaining power. This led to Griffith seducing Princess Charlotte and, further traumatized by his subsequent imprisonment, used Beherit to sacrifice nearly all of his comrades to regain his power and become Godhand.
Coming to terms with the past is all too common in adulthood as we think about our regrets or mistakes from before we knew better or when we were completely different people. While Shounen shows like Naruto deal with painful themes such as losing family or being abandoned by society, they are largely overcome by outside intervention. In Berserk, trauma is often observed over a long period of time, with each character finding a way to overcome their pain largely through introspection. The main exception is Casca, with a beautifully symbolic journey in chapter #347 onwards.
My faith was no longer the same when I returned to Berserk
I went through significant changes before re-reading the manga
My twenties were when I was able to distance myself from the unquestioning and uncompromising enthusiasm that pervaded much of the Evangelical community. When I returned to Berserk, I was no longer attached to the series from my youth and felt much more disenchanted with most Protestant churches worldwide.. I was living alone and could absorb the message of the series without fear of my parents finding out for lack of a better term and it felt liberating.
I have no regrets about my spiritual background, and My faith is not completely lost either, just more nuanced than in previous years, so I appreciate Berserk more now than I did when I was younger. I'm also now morbidly fascinated by fantasy religious-inspired art, such as that of Hieronymous Bosch, whom Miura even drew inspiration from, such as the trilogy, The Garden of Earthly Joy and other works such as The Vision of Tondal, in Berserk chapter #306. Some in my family have even embraced more conservative and traditional liturgical practices. I appreciate the religious imagery more now and was happy to see it in Berserk.
I think a lot about the TikTok videos in which Logan Chitwood's son tries to join Berserk, leading to the “you're not ready” response, and while it's meant to be funny, he's not being unreasonable .
None of this is intended to demonize religion or faith, although I'm sure there are fair criticisms; this is not the place to air them. But Berserk and faith have a complicated relationship for me in ways that are more compelling now than they were in years past. Despite my misgivings about the manga's Big Threes, this is a dark, cerebral, and brilliant fantasy epic that deserves the hype, so it's worth reading for many reasons. Finally, don't hide Hysterical in your wardrobe, no matter what you do.
