Manga Review – Berserk Vol 3 by Kentaro Miura (5/5 stars)
Reading Level: Adult
Genre: Fantasy/Manga
Length: 240 pages
Publisher: Dark Horse Manga
Release Date: December 21, 2004
ISBN-13: 978-1593070229
Stand Alone or Series: 3rd volume in the Beserk series
Source: Bought
Rating: 5/5 stars
“Guts, the feared Black Swordsman, finishes his desperate battle with the monstrous Count, cutting and blasting him to gory scraps when the presence of the Count’s daughter makes the monster hesitate. But Guts won’t even have the time to clean his gigantic sword when the Count’s dying pleas activate the Behelit, summoning the five God Hands, demon lords of immeasurable power. Guts’ journey so far has been a long road of pain and death, but that’s a walk in the park compared to fighting his way out of Hell itself!”
This the 3rd volume in the Berserk series and wraps up the storyline started in the 1st and 2nd books. It is very well done and, as with the other volumes, full of incredible action and violence.
In this book Guts finally defeats the monstrous Count only to have the Count activate the Behelit and send them all (the Count, his daughter, and Guts) to a different realm where the five God Hands rule over a hell like world.
Here we find out that Guts has some sort of history with the God Hands and is desperate to take them down. Additionally the Count finds out that his pleas won’t be answered exactly in the way he hoped (the God Hands are demons after all).
As with previous volumes the illustration is well done, detailed, and easy to follow. There are a ton of action scenes which are also incredibly well done. This volume continues to be full of a lot of gore and violence, so a caution to those who don’t like that. Of course if you are ready to read the third volume in the series I would imagine you are fine with all that.
Overall an incredibly well done continuation of the Berserk series. I loved meeting the God Hands and learning more about Guts history with them (of course if you have watched the manga you know a lot already about Guts’ history with the God Hands already). Guts continues to impress with his determination, durability, huge sword and straight-out..well…gutsiness.
This book goes towards the following reading challenges:
– Mount TBR Reading Challenge
– You Read How Many Books? Reading Challenge
– Graphic Novel Reading Challenge
– Flights of Fantasy Reading Challenge
