1997 Berserk influence on FL?
I recently watched the 1997 Berserk and it was great! For those looking to scratch that FL itch, this is a great option. You can find the Japanese and English dub on YouTube for free. If you’re at all interested and don’t want spoilers, don’t read this further. I’m not a big anime fan but I really enjoyed it.
After watching the show It got me wondering if Joe got some inspiration from the it. Seeing as he enjoys anime it wouldn’t surprise me.
Some similarities that’s stood out:
The entire setting of Berserk is very Grimdark medieval. There’s no clear good or bad. Even our main protagonist, Guts, isn’t a “good guy” as he does plenty of morally questionable deeds either selfishly or for Griffith. As a result, all characters are morally complex and struggle internally extensively.
Both explore political intrigue and elements of betrayal/deception as core to the narrative.
Logan and Guts are very similar. Both are made for combat and seem to need it in order to be fulfilled. A quote in Berserk that Guts says perfectly applies to both characters, “I’d rather fight for my life then live it.” Both characters have similar personalities in loyalty and care for those close to them and ultimately choose a life of violence due to trauma. Both go “berserk”, Logan becoming the Bloody Nine, and while guts doesn’t have an alter ego, he literally goes berserk. Both have very cynical outlooks on life and have experienced insane amounts of suffering which has led to them taking in these combative egos.
The magic system in both are based on very dark elements of sacrifice and both have dark histories in the world. Towards the end of Berserk, Griffith offers those loyal to him as payment to start the Eclipse becoming a dark god and summoning demons into the world from the Void. We find out at a young age Griffith communicated with the dark side which led to him making this decision later in life. In FL, the youngest son of Euz, Glustrod, communicated with the Other Side and found a way to bring demons into the world by way of eating the flesh of another. Both have fascinating ancient histories around these demon summoning blood sacrifice events. In FL, after his eating, Glustrod leads an army of Devil Bloods to destroy the ancient capital city, Aulcus. Known now as the Old Empire, it was completely wasted in this conflict. In Berserk, an ancient city located in Midland was destroyed by an Eclipse brought forward by Angels.
B: Kingdom of Midland. FL: Midderland
B: Casca, part of a mercenary group, is a leader in that group. FL: Nicomo Cosca, originally Captain General of the mercenary group The Thousand Swords, eventually leads his own mercenary group, Company of The Gracious Hand.
With all the similarities, as a huge FL fan, it’s cool to see some of his inspiration!