RoyalOss

(Re-upload of my first review)

Story

Summary
The story revolves around Guts a man out for revenge but soon his background is explained as a boy who didn't have parents from the day he has born, but instead has been raised by a band of mercenaries who had found him. Being in a band of mercenaries he enters battles at a very young age. We see him go from battlefield to battlefield while he grows up which leads to a great tragedy hurting himself and all his dear friends. Will he search for revenge with the danger of losing himself in his own anger and hate to become a monster himself. Or will he protect what he got left. We see him struggle with these internal conflict while constantly being attacked by demons and mythological creatures.

Review
Personally I've split up the story into 3 separate sections.
1. The anime section
Which has no big differences with the anime, we see Guts searching for revenge which is followed by the flashback of his life up towards the present day.
If you have seen the anime there is not much to add, it shows the hard life Guts has had and how he rages through the battlefields with his enormous sword and strength.

2. The revenge section
We continue where the anime has stopped and continue the story while he searches for revenge. This is personally my favorite part, it is extremely grim and dark while he slowly gets consumed by his own anger and hate. He will not hesitate to cut down anyone who opposes him. I just really really loved this part, Guts fighting and trying to survive having no moments to rest often covered in blood, surrounded by darkness, flames and body parts. With chapter 16 as my personal favorite.
Guts does not speak much but when he does it creates good quotes and one-liners:

''If I have to worry about the ants I crush beneath my feet....
..I couldn`t even walk around.''

''Look. Look around you carefully. Strain your eyes at the darkness around us.
At the darkness around me.
You said anywhere but here, this is where, here at the border.''

3. ''The pursuit of happiness''While slowly gaining new friends we see him and his party search for happiness by escaping all the demons. From here on the story gets a lot lighter as he tries to forget his revenge. This is noticeable in the dialogues but the drawing style as well. Though he cannot forget/escape his search for revenge completely as they still are being attacked by demons and mythological creatures at regular intervals. This part also contains a lot more fantasy elements such as trolls, witches and mermaids.

Art
The art is great, good attention to the small details and a changing drawing style depending on the emotions/''feel'' of the characters and events. For example, when the storyline gets more dark and evil and battles occur the background will become (pitch)black, there will be much use of black and big dark lines and many scratches to make it look chaotic and dark. Though (tiny point of attention) it is sometimes too chaotic in my opinion, sometimes during the most chaotic periods of a battle some of the bigger pictures are to chaotic and you need some more time to figure out what exactly is happening.
When the battles have finished and the story gets more cheerful this is also reflected in the drawings with a lot of white, great sceneries and a good attention for the small details. Here as well I’ve found a tiny point of attention as sometimes the dialogues are very big and there is a lot to read suddenly, especially when something is explained.

Characters
Not much to say about it, the characters and their backgrounds have been made very well. You can understand their actions because of their backgrounds and feel sympathy for them. I especially liked how the manga did make fun of itself by having puck explain why he keeps following Guts. ''Without me the manga would be to dark and not sell as good''. One thing I miss so far is the loss of (strong) Casca. But it does create new openings as Guts must choose between what he wants and what is best for Casca.

So overall because of the small points and the fact I liked the extreme darkness which has subdued a lot at the third section only for the story to drag along, I will give this manga a 9,2.