Manga Review – Berserk Vol 40 by Kentaro Miura (4/5 stars)
Reading Level: Adult
Genre: Fantasy/Manga
Length: 176 pages
Publisher: Dark Horse Manga
Release Date: October 8, 2019
ISBN-13: 978-1506714981
Stand Alone or Series: 40th volume in the Berserk series
Source: Bought
Rating: 4/5 stars
“Deep within the nightmare realm of Casca’s dreams, Schierke and Farnese battle endless horrors to reach the dark secret that has imprisoned Casca’s mind for so long.
But the dreamworld dangers are no mere phantasms of the unconscious–they are a lethal reality to the intruders from the material world!
From creator Kentaro Miura comes the latest chapter of Berserk, a sprawling adult fantasy epic of horror, humor, and fierce imagination and the inspiration for the wildly popular anime series.”
Series Info/Source: This is the 40th volume in the Berserk series and I bought it.
Story (4/5): The first 75% of this is set in the nightmare realm of Casca’s dream where Schierke and Farnese struggle to recover Casca’s mind. The last 25% goes back to Griffith and his battle against the trolls. This felt really short to me and I was a bit peeved at where they left off with Casca and Guts. While this was still really well done, it was a bit of a letdown after such a long wait.
Characters (5/5): Guts is only in the story in his dog form for most of it (the form he takes in Casca’s nightmares), so he really isn’t in the story much at all. Farnese and Schierke were fantastic. I am still not a huge fan of any of Griffith’s new traveling companions.
Setting (4/5): Loved the setting in Casca’s nightmares, this was creepy and well done. I was pretty ambivalent about Griffith’s part.
Writing Style/Illustration (4/5): The illustration is absolutely top notch as with previous volumes. Some of the fight scenes get a bit hard to follow. I was disappointed in how short this was and how the Casca/Guts storyline was cut short. I feel like we’ve waited a really really long time for this and it was a bit of a let down.
Summary (4/5): Overall, though this was still well done, it was a bit of a let down for me. We’ve waited so long for the resolution to this storyline and, while the story progresses a little bit, we still didn’t get much. The illustration is still really well done. I am not a huge fan of the new characters who travel with Griffith but I did enjoy some of the progress Schierke and Farnese make.
