Manga Review – Berserk Vol 34 by Kentaro Miura (4/5 stars)

Reading Level: Adult
Genre: Fantasy
Length: 240 pages
Publisher: Dark Horse Manga
Release Date: September 15, 2010
ISBN-13: 978-1595825322
Stand Alone or Series: 34th volume in the Berserk series
Source: Bought
Rating: 4/5 stars

“Faced with the Kushan emperor’s horrific new form and the bloody swath of destruction and spawning demons he leaves in his wake with every step, the soldiers in Griffith’s new Band of the Hawk must assume their true unholy forms to battle the emperor, revealing their true faces to the citizens of Midland. How will these tormented refugees react when they discover that their would-be rescuers are as monstrous as their enemies? And could this titanic confrontation threaten to unleash even greater horrors upon the human world?”

This is the 34th volume in the Berserk series. This volume was mainly a gigantic battle between Griffith’s Band of the Hawk and the evil demonic godlike being Ganushka has become. It is revealed that part of Griffith’s force are monsters and initially the human members are upset, but they get over it pretty quickly.

Things get really weird towards the end of this volume. Griffith journeys to Ganushka’s center and the Skeleton King shows up behind Griffith and attempts to kill Griffith. Instead of hitting Griffith the Skeleton King slices the center of Ganushka open with his sword. Ultimate light spills out from this wound in Ganushka and Griffith jumps into the wound/ultimate light.

Suddenly mythological creatures are released into the world, supposedly bringing the world of Fantasia to the current world. It was all very bizarre and there was very little dialogue throughout the whole volume; very different from previous Berserk volumes. I am honestly not sure what I think about all of this and where this story is going.

As with previous volumes illustration is well done.

Overall this was a different and intriguing volume in the Berserk series. There is actually very little dialogue throughout, with the majority of scenes being battle scenes. I never thought I would see unicorns in Berserk, but low and behold…here they are. I would recommend this whole manga series to those who enjoy fantasy horror manga.

This book goes towards the following reading challenges:
– Goodreads Reading Challenge
– Mount TBR Reading Challenge
– Graphic Novel Reading Challenge