Berserk/Tropes I-P

Everything About Fiction You Never Wanted to Know.


I

  • I Ain't Got Time to Bleed: Did anyone else get the idea that Guts was so blinded with rage that he felt little to no pain as he hacked away at his arm ?? Aside from that, Guts passes out from the blood lost only after Femto finished raping Casca and left her and Guts to the demons.
  • I Did What I Had to Do: Griffith's reasoning behind his Face Heel Turn (though from a certain context, it tends to fall flat on its own face). Guts gave a more sympathetic one when Casca accused him for being the reason for Griffith's and the band's downfall, sincerely feeling sorry for what has happened but not sure what he could have done to correct what has already taken place.
  • I Have Your Wife: Griffith gets some hired goons to kidnap Minister Foss's daughter in order to get him to thwart the Queen of Midland who was planning to poison him during a ceremony honoring him and the Hawks.
  • I See Dead People: In Berserk: Millennium Falcon Hen Seima Senki no Sh? Guts sees the ghosts of his comrades from the original Band of the Hawk; Judeau, Corkus, Pippin and later pre-eclipse Casca.
    • During the first encounter Guts is told that while they find their death's unfortunate the ghosts of Hawks present do not hate Griffith for it. Instead they like to think that because of the nature of their deaths their lives had meaning and it is alright as it was for Griffith's dream.
    • Right after this because the Guts stating he was fighting to avenge the fallen Hawks the ghosts start to fight him because of his future plans to battle and possibly kill Griffith stating they are still Hawks even after death and Griffith is their leader so they must defend him. Then the player (as Guts) much fight and defeat them all at once. The use of the original VA's doesn't make the conversion or fight any easier. "Watch Here"
  • I Want My Beloved to Be Happy: Judeau tries and succeeds to help Guts and Casca start a relationship together despite his own feelings for Casca.
    • In fact, when he has mere moments to live, one of the last things he says is intended to remind her of Guts and cheer her up a bit.
  • I Will Protect Her: Half of Guts' motivation is to kill the Godhand; the other half revolves around protecting Casca. Guts protects Casca when she was a capable Action Girl and after he failed to protect her during the Eclipse and vows to do so from now on,especially after he rescues her from Mozgus). As noted above, you hurt Casca, you die. Simple as that.
  • If I Can't Have You: Griffith's thought of Guts leaving the Band? If he couldn't have him stay, he'd rather kill him in one of several different ways that he contrived in his head.
  • I'm a Humanitarian: The Apostles. In the first episode of the anime, we first find this out by implication. After the scene where Guts is menaced by the demons, we hear a woman's scream, then immediately segue to the Baron cutting a steak. Given the conversation that follows, we can assume it wasn't beef... In the manga, it comes right out and says that he's a monster who eats human flesh, and many references are made of the Count's cannibalistic tendencies.
    • Child Eater
    • Eats Babies: Most Apostles qualify for the aforementioned two. They don't care if the one they're eating is an innocent baby. No, they don't. In fact, the fresher and more tender the meat, the better!
  • Immune to Fate: Both Guts and the Skull Knight have this ability, for reasons that aren't 100% clear at this point. As far as the story would go, Casca also seems to have it.
    • Or ARE they?
    • That, and the Skull Knight is most decidedly not a human anymore. He shed his mortal body as far back as when the Godhand first came for him, but he didn't do so by becoming an Apostle. And as his dialogue with the witch indicated, Guts is essentially traveling down the same path that he did, starting with his use of the Berserker Armor.
  • Impaled Palm: Happens to Guts during his fight with the one-hundred mercenaries, where an archer shoots at Guts but he blocks it with his hand to protect his vitals. He then breaks the arrow with the same palm, kills the archer, and presumes fighting with one hand.
    • This trope is yet another example of the horrendous type of torture Griffith went through for a year.
  • Impaled with Extreme Prejudice: The warden got what was coming to him.
  • Important Haircut: Farnese, when she tries to convince Guts to let her join him.
    • When she first joined the Hawks as a child Casca had long hair at the start of the Golden Age Arc (several years later) it is cut super short but grows out slight through out then after the eclipse it has become long again.
  • In a Single Bound: Serpico's Wind cloak gives him gravity-defying powers.
  • In a World: The opening narration of the Anime series, each episode.
    • Naturally, this is parodied by the outtakes: "In a world of tiny red objects, one man held one for a very long, long time."
  • In Medias Res: How this whole story begins.
  • Inciting Incident: It was like any other day for young mercenary Guts: take up a contract with some snob general, kill some Giant Mook for him, get paid, get lost. On this day, however, he was Being Watched...
  • Indecisive Deconstruction: While Berserk acts as a Deconstructor Fleet for most traditional Shonen tropes (despite not, itself, being shonen), it takes a more nuanced approach with the idea of following your dreams. It acknowledges that people need something to strive for in order to become stronger, but at the same time: 1) Not everyone can have what they want, 2) Many people's dreams can actually be quite destructive, and 3) Dreams you had as a child SHOULD be abandoned, as they are usually for childish things that aren't worth the effort it would take, or the sacrifices that would have to be made, to get them (ie Griffith is prepared to sacrifice countless lives because he wants a castle).
  • Infant Immortality: Brutally averted. In Berserk's World Half Empty, there is no such thing. Children and babies are just as likely to be brutally murdered as their parents and Miura makes it a point to show it to us VERY clearly. Hell, even the main characters' unborn child is not spared from a cruel fate.
  • Inferiority Superiority Complex: It seems that just about everybody in the first Band of the Hawks has shades of this when they compare themselves to Griffith (Corkus has a bad case of this). They're all confident enough in their abilities, but feel that they will never reach the level that Griffith is on, and for the most part don't even attempt to. The only one to try to make attempt to better themselves was Guts, after several months of debating his merit when comparing himself to Griffith. And look how that turned out.
  • Inherent in the System: Why life in Midland sucks.
  • Innocent Fanservice Girl: A few examples, though some could qualify as Innocent Fan Disservice Girls. Slan, for example, is always naked, as are some female Apostles, like Rosine.
    • Since being raped by Femto and taking on an infantile mind, Casca has become this, possessing no sense of shame or modesty whenever unclothed. This serves as a deconstruction, since Guts is still very much sexually attracted to Casca.
    • And in a rare male example, Griffith, who is quite comfortable being in the nude around others.
    • Isma is a more straightforward example, having no aversion to standing butt naked in front of Isidro and quick to ditch her clothing when she has to jump into the water. Unlike the examples above, she is not evil and is otherwise a perfectly normal teenage girl... who happens to be a Merrow.

Isidro: T-t-t-t-t-t...
Isma: Tits? Don't worry, they didn't get smaller.

  • Instant Plunder, Just Add Pirates: Averted since the pirates following Guts and his troop are the most recent gang of butt monkeys. They're pretty fun while they lasted, though. It's like having a more incompetent and hammy Le Chuck.
  • Intimate Healing: Casca to Guts - on orders from Griffith, and she sulks about it afterwards - and later Guts to Casca.
  • Intimate Psychotherapy: When Guts had an emotional breakdown from reliving his childhood rape while making love to Casca, rather roughly at first, and then goes so far as choke her, he at first attempted to walk away and deal with his issues on his own. Casca, however, gave Guts a Cooldown Hug and the two proceed to have sex again, though more gentle this time around. After this, Guts's dark childhood ordeal is not talked about again.
  • Invisible to Normals: Normal people who are either dedicated followers of the Holy See who only see what they want to believe and/or have most likely never had a mind-shattering supernatural event happen to them can't see elves or any non-threatening preternatural creature that doesn't want to maim, devour, or rape them.
  • Invulnerable Horses: HA! Horses and any other animal are just as likely to get bumped off in a gruesome fashion just as the humans are. Do you know how many horses have been decapitated in this series? Hell - Wyald once punched a horse in the face to get the upper edge on Guts. You don't know whether to decided if that was bitch move or badass.
  • Irony: Though there are several cases of irony throughout the series, the most iconic would pertain to the fates of Griffith and Casca. Ever since Griffith first saved her from being raped by a nobleman, Casca was able to successfully evade future sexual assaults either by her own merit or being saved by Guts, and Griffith was the person that Casca looked up to the most. During the Eclipse, Casca ultimately gets raped by none other than Griffith as his very first action as demon lord Femto. Fate has not been kind to this woman.
    • Also, how Farnese turned from a rampant, Pyromaniac Knight Templar whose motivation was to burn heretics and accused witches, of which half of the motivation went to her own gratification, to a soft-spoken student of witchcraft who merely wants to be of use to others around her.
  • It's Going Down: The Tower of Conviction near the end of the Retribution Arc.

J

  • Jedi Mind Trick: Schierke is quite good at this.
  • Jerkass Facade: Despite his comparatively noble intentions, Guts often pretends to be a heartless, sociopathic, sadistic Jerkass in order to keep anyone else from being hurt by the Demons that hunt him incessantly.
    • Arguably, he primarily uses the Jerkass Facade as a psychological-defense mechanism in order to avoid fully facing the horrors that he lives through and the things that he is forced to do in order to survive.
    • Also arguably he simply is a Jerkass, just also with a bit of Jerk with a Heart of Gold thrown in. He doesn't hesitate to use children as shields or bait when fighting physically more powerful foes, and he butchers anyone who happens to be in his way regardless of whether or not they have perfectly understandable reasons for being there, such as the Knights of the Holy Chain, who were after him largely because he left a path behind him consisting of butchered, unarmed men and women (the bug-creatures once they'd been slain) and barnfulls of burned children (the 'elves' once they were killed).
  • Jerkass Has a Point: Came from none other than Wyald, the resident villainous moron of the series. After getting a can of whoop-ass siced on him earlier by Guts, Wyald came back, refusing to die much to Guts's chagrin, and decides to plan his final revenge on Hawks by taking Griffith hostage and snatching his Behelit in order to get another chance at life (which is not on his body - for now). The Hawks are desperate to get Griffith back but don't want to risk injuring him. Then Wyald, although backed into a corner due to his injuries and his will to live, gives a cruel Hannibal Lecture to the Hawks by presenting Griffith's frail body to the mass, and telling them that with his amount of bodily mutilation, the Band of the Hawk is over and Griffith will never return to normal. And as much as the Hawks did not want to come to face with the cruel reality - it was true.
  • The Juggernaut: Most Demons.
  • Just a Kid: This reaction that a lot of adversaries had to seeing a young Guts on the battlefield. They were in for a world of deadness.

K

  • Kick the Dog: Gambino does this both literally and figuratively throughout his appearance.
    • In fact Gambino probably deserves some sort of a freaking achievement award - the man manages to Kick the Dog by petting the dog!
  • Kick the Son of a Bitch: Of all the people he killed and/or maimed, Guts mostly takes on absolute bastards who totally deserved what they got.
  • Kid Samurai: Isidro is a simultaneous parody and Deconstruction, who shows that a real-life Kid Samurai would be both incompetent and delusional.
    • Isidro is actually highly competent for his age, being able to put up a good fight against a pirate captain. However, he fails to acknowledge that he's simply not in the same league as the adversaries his party primarily deals with.
  • Killed Mid-Sentence: An anonymous captain who criticizes Guts for showing how exhausted he is (he just sprinted up several stories of a spiral staircase, killing nonstop). Just as he's telling Guts that he's already lost by showing weakness, his head is cleaved in two.
  • Kill'Em All: The Anime ending.
  • Kill It Through Its Stomach: Happens when Guts wears the berserker armor for the first time, when an apostle eats him when he just put on the armor, but Guts rips through its stomach.
  • Kill It with Fire: Used effectively within the series several times, no matter the situation.
  • Kill the Cutie: Colette, right at the beginning. Interestingly enough, there a only a few more instances where this happens to minor characters.
  • The Kingdom: Why, little 'ol Midland, of course, which has been bullied by not only one empire, but TWO over the span of the series, before Griffith came into action. However, this might all change now that Griffith is basically in charge of the place now that Falconia has arisen, bringing on the age of darkness. Fun times.
  • Kneel Before Zod: A cruel example, even for this trope. When Griffith is reborn as Femto, Guts' arm is caught between the jaws of the apostle Borkoff, and is thus forced into a kneeling position when Griffith presents himself to him in his reborn form. Then, to make it even more cruel, Griffith begins raping Casca in front of Guts making it quite a despicable act of dominance and submission.
  • Knife Nut: Judeau
  • Knight in Shining Armor: The Skull Knight is the combination of this and the Black Knight. Griffith is a deconstruction.
    • Azan seems to be one as well.

There's only one thing we can do as knights. We are going to protect the people from demons.

  • Knight of Cerebus: Played straighter in the TV series, since it featured less Complete Monsters and wasn't as dark in atmosphere (that and the ever persistent presence of General Adon). When Nosferatu Zodd turned up with his prophecy, we knew that things were going to take a less optimistic turn in the story. But it wasn't until the complete introduction of the Godhand and their newest member, Femto that we knew that shit was getting seriously ugly.
  • Knight Templar: The Holy Iron Chain Knights.
    • Subverted: The order itself is a ceremonial guard composed of young nobles whose parents wanted them to have the prestige of military service minus the risk associated with actual warfare. Farnese was all Knight Templar, however, and often ordered them to mete out some brutal punishment to supposed heretics.
    • It should be noted that Guts had one very Knight Templar moment near the end of the Golden Age Arc when he is about to depart from Godo's:

Guts: " (Fear me...) For a good future... you'll be the first... (That I'll kill... I'll erase you all.)"

L

  • La Résistance: The Midland resistance against the Kushan occupation of the capital of Windham was headed by Sir Laban and Minister Foss.
  • Lady and Knight: Charlotte and Griffith respectively, though it's zigzagged all over the joint what with Charlotte being the bright lady character type and Griffith being the knight who (literally) looks bright but has dark intentions.
  • Lady of War: Farnese, though this is subverted when we find out she can't fight. Casca is a straighter example, even though she wasn't from a privileged background.
  • Lampshade Hanging: All over the place, most of it coming from Puck. When Magnifico first shows his cowardice in battle, the elf notes that "there was never a character like this before..." - obviously recalling Corkus, who Puck never even met.
  • Large Ham: Adon Coborlwitz, the commander of the Blue Whale Knight Corps (or the Blue Whale Assault Knights in the anime.)
  • Laughing Mad: With all of the madness that happens in this universe, expect it to happen a lot.
  • Law of Inverse Recoil: It's zigzagged a bit, since Guts has a cannon (which shouldn't produce recoil) but since it's attached to his arm as a prosthetic, thus it is not open-ended and is smaller in size, he gets a powerful recoil with each blast. And that recoil has both saved his life and done some damage.
  • Layered World: The Berserk universe in general (until the fusing of the worlds by Griffith).
  • Leave No Witnesses: What prompted Guts to instinctively stab Julius's son Adonis.
  • Left Hanging: For those of you who haven't read the manga and have only watched the first anime series, you're probably wondering how Guts got back from the Vortex and whether or not Casca survived her ordeal during the Eclipse, since the anime ends on one of the weirdest - but nonetheless tragic - notes possible. Also, you're probably wondering what happened to Rickert in episode 22.
  • The Legions of Hell: Demons are everywhere, and their masters are the four known as the Godhand.
    • Five, actually, depending on the time period.
      • Or less, taking into the following into account: that the number in the far past isn't clear, that an Eclipse takes place every some 216 years, and that Void is credited as the eldest of the Godhand, we should presume that their number has changed over the years.
  • Leitmotif: Well, "Guts" of course, though it's actually used whenever something really sentimental and emotional is happening, like when Griffith is talking about what the true meaning of friendship means to him, pretty much whenever Guts talks about dreams and ambition, and probably most remembered as the music that is played during Guts and Casca's love scene.
  • Let's Get Dangerous: A bloodbath will turn into a bigger bloodbath when Guts's helmet comes off.
  • Life Energy: Od.
  • Light Is Not Good: Griffith has white hair and white armor, he is nicknamed the White Hawk, and nearly everyone loves him. He is the Big Bad. Do the math.
    • And, as if the church wasn't already bad enough (it is, after all, inspired by the medieval catholic church), Inquisitor Mozgus becomes a angel-like pseudo-apostle covered by white feathers and having a light breath.
  • Lightning Reveal: Used to re-introduce Guts after the two year Time Skip which opens up the Lost Children Arc.
  • Lighter and Softer: Never thought you'd see the words "light" and "soft" when mentioning anything Berserk related, huh? Well, all things considered, the first anime series was a lot softer on the gore and the sexual assaults - two things that Miura just looooves to draw for us in all of its horrific detail - to the point where the presence of assaults was cut in half due to the anime cutting most of them out. And, as disturbing as it sounds, Casca's on-screen rape in the last episode was WAAAAAY MORE DOCILE than how the manga depicted it. We probably aren't going to be so lucky when these new movies come out...
    • Also arguably the arcs after Guts gains his new True Companions, compared to the ones before it where he travels alone and pretty much kills everything in his way. There's a lot more humor thanks to more Plucky Comic Relief characters, and while there are still mass genocidal events, there's a good chance things won't turn into a Kill'Em All fest.
  • Like a Badass Out of Hell: The Skull Knight pulled one of these upon saving Guts and Casca from the Godhand's clutches during the Eclipse.
  • Like an Old Married Couple: How Guts and Casca start acting toward one another after they affirm their relationship.
  • Living Emotional Crutch: Guts is this to Griffith in a BIG way.
  • Load-Bearing Boss: When Guts destroys Slan's "Trollguts" manifestation in Qlippoth, the entire cave and all it's monstrous inhabitants explode in a welter of chaos.
  • Lock and Load Montage: In manga example.
  • Locked in the Dungeon: Griffith, for a horrifying year of torture. Guts was also locked in a dungeon at the beginning of the series, but he busted himself out of there.
  • Long Runner: A direct consequence of the series' Schedule Slip. The first volume was published in 1990.
  • Losing the Team Spirit: After Griffith's arrest, the whole Band of the Hawk's morale just shuts down with the lose of their leader and their status in Midland, along with the remaining members either dying or abandoning the crew. However, Guts' return brought a lot of hope back for the time... But you know what I'm going to say next.
  • Lost Love Montage: Every once in awhile, Guts will have flashbacks of the good times he had with Casca before the Eclipse happened, often reminding him of the one time he felt true love in his life, his big mistake of leaving her behind for two years, or how their relationship is fragmented for the time being. *sniff* Poor Guts.
  • Love At First Punch: The eventual romance between Guts and Casca all began with them sword-fighting to the death. The literal first punch came after Casca was told by Griffith to lay with Guts for two days after he fell ill, and Casca showed her chagrin for the act by punching Guts square in the, er, guts.
  • Love Dodecahedron: Berserk is less big on that than many other series but Triang Relations show up every now and then, partly due to the fact that Guts is a Chick Magnet. So far: Judeau had a crush on Casca, who had a crush on Griffith, who himself is attracted to Guts who has a thing for Casca. All of which is settled when Casca reciprocates Guts' feelings right before things go to hell. After the Eclipse, Farnese and Shierke have a crush on Guts, who loves only Casca but she can't love him back any more due to her mental condition. Farnese herself is courted by Roderick and used to have a flirtatious relationship with Serpico, and Schierke has a Puppy Love thing going with Isidro. And on the enemy's side, Griffith is lusted after by Sonia but he is already betrothed to Charlotte, while Sonia has formed a close relationship with Irvine and Mule, her beleaguered attendant.
  • Love Epiphany: Casca finally realizes that she is in love with Guts after he left the Band of the Hawk, but still didn't want to accept her feelings due to her pride as a soldier under Griffith, who she fought so long for to earn his love and respect, but finally accepted that for his plan to succeed, he'd have to marry Princess Charlotte and needed Guts' strength the most, leaving her no room to be Griffith's sword or woman.
  • Love Redeems: Guts and Casca's son had been corrupted by evil, but despite this, the child still loves its parents and comes to their aid multiple times.
  • Love Triangle: The Guts-Griffith-Casca triangle is the main one of the series, and it can be easily said that this triangle alone is even more complicated than the series' Love Dodecahedron. Of course, this has two centers, as it is implied that the feeling of Griffith for Guts goes beyond being simple true companions.
  • Loves the Sound of Screaming: The Snake Baron.
    • Also the sound of bones snapping beneath hooves.
  • Low Fantasy: Aside from being a Dark Fantasy set in a European Medieval world, Berserk has many characteristics of a Low Fantasy (but don't miss take the word "low" as a bad thing).
  • Ludicrous Gibs: A constant byproduct of Guts' fighting style.
    • A particularly deserving example is when Guts slashes through a soldier's head, and his jaw, eyeballs, tongue, scalp, and entire undamaged brain fly off in different directions.
  • Luke, I Am Your Father: Farnese's father eventually reveals to Serpico that he is his biological father. Serpico expressed his excitement in his usual way.
  • Lying on a Hillside: This is the last serene moment that the Band of the Hawk have together.

M

  • Mr. Fanservice: Well now, the series has Guts for you tall, dark, handsome and snarky girls and Griffith for you chicks who dig the whole White-Haired Pretty Boy Bishonen thing. There's some Fan Service for everybody, even for the female readers.
  • Ms. Fanservice: And for the guy readers... well, practically every female character who goes topless or completely nude in a consensual way could count, but we'll give special designation to Casca, for guys who like level-headed, tomboyish (and perhaps dark-skinned) Action Girls, and Slan for the guys who are total kinks.
  • Made of Evil: The Behelits, Berserk Armor and a couple other things.
  • Made of Iron: Guts, who can be beaten to a pulp by a monster the size of an elephant and still be on top form the next day. Averted in the case of Griffith, who ends up crippled by torture.
    • Justified, as elf dust has powerful healing properties. This is lampshaded by the elves when they complain how much they've had to work over such a short time.
    • Basically, a person's ability to take damage and heal disability free is measured by how important they are to the plot. Griffith needed to be crippled, Guts needs to stay in top form, mooks are unimportant.
    • The most hard to ignore case of this comes when Guts recovers from a MASSIVE, nearly fatal beating by Wyald fast enough to be in sufficient fighting shape to take on the legions of hell with his bare hands probably only twelve hours later. There was no elf dust involved either.
  • Made of Plasticine: People tend to... splatter when Guts hits them.
    • Although when something weighing at least a hundred pounds is swung into you with the amount of force Guts is (somehow) capable of producing, splattering is understandable.
  • The Magic Comes Back: Griffith's ascension as Femto and subsequent rebirth into the human world caused it to slowly merge with the supernatural world. It finally becomes a permanent change during the battle with Emperor Ganishka.
  • Magnetic Hero: All three main characters have a powerfull effect on people: Griffith has the looks, the social skills and the intelligence to conquer the world. Guts can turn the tide of any battle by diving right into the action and kicking ass, greatly inspiring his allies and terrifying his enemies and Casca is a role model for Midlands usually rather meek and oppressed women; good men are in love with her, bad men want to possess her. There are other leading figures in the series, but none of them compare to the Power Trio. Exept emperor Geiseric. But he is long dead. Officially...
  • Magnetic Plot Device: The Brand of Sacrifice.
  • Makes Just as Much Sense in Context: So, while Guts and Casca are separated from the Hawks, General Adon shows up with a troop of mercenaries that he hired to catch Guts. Guts makes a path for Casca to escape, when Adon sends some men after her in order to kill her. When they catch up to her and eventually over power her, the mooks are mad that she was able to kill some of their comrades, so they want to thank Casca for doing so... by raping her. THEN killing her. Um, okay then.
  • Man in the Iron Mask: Griffith, after he slept with Charlotte.
    • Literally, even—after being imprisoned, his helmet never came off again until the Eclipse.
  • A Man Is Always Eager: Although both he and Casca are the least sex-crazed characters in Berserk, Guts is shown to be a bit less nervous about initiating sex with Casca as this is his first time as well. And afterward, Guts is shown to be very eager about making love to Casca a hundred - no, a THOUSAND - more times.
    • This of course plays into Guts's Heartbroken Badass status later, as he is not only desperate for Casca's emotional love, but also her physical love and his beast within uses this longing for his own desires.
  • Manipulative Bastard: Griffith. He WILL emotionally manipulate you one way or another. In fact, at least in the manga, Guts finally realizing that Griffith is using him for his own goals is a key motivation for him to leave the Hawks.
  • Manly Tears
  • Mars Needs Women: Most male apostles or evil spirits won't hestitate to have their way with any human female in the vacinity.
  • Mark of the Beast: Inverted in that Griffith was the one who made the Deal with the Devil, but those who are given the mark are to be sacrificed to demons; thus it's called the Mark of Sacrifice. It'll bleed when the individual is near a demon.
  • Massive-Numbered Siblings: In her backstory, Casca mentioned that she was the youngest daughter out of six siblings (and added that it was unusual that none of them had died of starvation up to the point of her being taken away...). Later, it was mentioned that Farnese had three older brothers ( not including Serpico), but she suffered from Only Child Syndrome due to her Parental Neglect and has suffer for it. Or rather, others have.
  • A Match Made in Stockholm: Pretty much how Guts and Farnese met.
  • Mauve Shirt: A couple of minor recurring characters that lasted for several volumes, like Gaston.
  • Meal Ticket: Charlotte to Griffith. Lampshaded in the The Abridged Series.
  • Medieval European Fantasy
  • Medieval Stasis: Ziggzagged. If you look in volume 10, when Charlotte is telling the team about the history of Midland, the landscape is still looking medieval-esque, even 1,000 years in the past. However, with the presence of Viking-like warriors and Emperor Gaiseric and his army, the world looks to be influenced by The Low Middle Ages. Right now, the world looks to be transitioning between The High Middle Ages and The Late Middle Ages, with an overlap of The Renaissance.
  • Mega Neko: Ganishka's monstrous demon tigers.
  • Melancholy Moon: Every once in awhile, we see Guts staring at the moon, lost in his own thoughts... He Schierke also share a moment of heartwarming this way.
  • Men Are the Expendable Gender: Averted. In the Berserk-verse, women are just as expendable as males and are not given any Karmic Protection against gorny death. While there are technically more men shown dying on-panel due to most fights happening on battlefields, when it's not the case, women get no special treatment and are killed just as gruesomely and indiscriminately as men. Oh, and in case you're wondering, children and babies WILL be killed on-panel in the same atrocious way as their parents were.
  • The Messiah: Griffith, though he is more of a subversion (zigzagged at best), since he appears to be a good-willed person who loves everybody and everybody in turn either loves him or willingly follows him, but in truth he's a guy with some issues. This complex is especially seen after his reincarnation into the physical world since he justifiably can't be a messiah since he is devoid of the human capacity for empathy. Guts, on the other hand, is an aversion, since he's a decent guy who has also done good, but he doesn't even pretend to love everybody, nor does everybody that he meets love him.
  • Messianic Archetype: Griffith and Guts can both be seen as this trope. Griffith is a dark version of this, in reality being a Dark Messiah who is also an demonic demigod, as he was "crucified" but was then "resurrected" in the demonic sabbath of the Eclipse. He has currently "ascended" onto his throne that is Falconia. Guts is becoming a straighter example as the story progresses. He has the unusual birth down, and he is against the populace's belief that Griffith is The Chosen One, and has since gradually begun gathering "disciples" and little by little, people who would have normally been afraid of Guts are growing to admire him. Wanna know what's really fucked up about this? See below.
  • Million Mook March: The Kushan Empire loved doing this. Didn't do much to intimidate Guts OR Griffith, though.
  • Minor Injury Overreaction: Gambino reacted quite violently and a bit like a brat when Guts managed to cut him on the cheek during his childhood training, ending with Gambino giving the kid an even nastier cut across his nose which ended up physically scarring him for life. On a more comical side, Guts himself is quite Afraid of Needles and acts like a baby whenever he has to get sewn up.
  • Misery Builds Character: Though it isn't explicitly stated, a large portion of the backstory goes into showing why Guts is such a hardened (and therefore exceptional) warrior. Most of his life has been misery heaped on tragedy, forging him into an inhumanly durable person.
    • Off course, the story allso points out that there are limits to this, and sometimes there isn't much character left when the dust settles. Poor Casca...
  • Misplaced Wildlife: A warthog shows up during a fox hunt. Bear in mind Midland is apparently the fantasy counterpart of Denmark.
  • Mistress and Servant Boy: Farnese and Serpico's relationship. It was on a more twisted level back when Farnese had a limp grasp on her marbles, but now she is much more lax and is more preoccupied with serving others. Still, Serpico is still loyal to her and her first before anyone else.
  • Missing Episode: One chapter of the manga ( where during his transformation into a Godhand, Griffith meets the Idea of Evil (A.K.A God) who explains its origins and its goals) that should have been in volume 13 was supposedly pulled by Miura because he felt that it revealed too much about the setting at the time; it was later released as supplemental material.
  • Mix-and-Match Critters: Most of the Apostles and the qlipoth creatures. We got tigerbullapes, manspermwhaleelephants, froghorses, elephantwhales, and ratmonkeypigs, just to name a few.
  • Modesty Bedsheet: Attempted and failed each time it's presented.
  • Mooks: Thousands and thousands of them, all meeting grisly deaths. The series' kill count is remarkable - one site, that only counts into the high two hundred chapters, lists it as well over a thousand.
      • Guts kills 100 in a single battle at one point. He only gets better at it.
    • Mook Horror Show
  • Monster of the Week: The early concept was for Berserk to be this kind of series and it follows this system during the Black swordsman arc. It soon abandons it tough.
  • Moral Event Horizon: Enforced, In-Universe examples occur whenever a Crimson Behelit is activated. As Griffith finds out, you have to be willing to cross it in order to join the Godhand and become a powerful demon yourself.
  • Moral Myopia: Guts is loyal to his friends. If you are a hapless soldier/guard who gets in his way, he won't think twice about slicing you in two. Even if you were just doing your job and not hurting anyone. Guts is also somewhat apathetic about people he doesn't know.
  • Morality Chain: Post-Eclipse Casca to Guts.
  • Morality Pet: Puck for the borderline-sociopathic Guts of the first issues. Post-eclipse Griffith/Femto seems to be fond of Sonia, the rookies and the refugees that accompany him for the second, demonic Band of the Hawk, though since he was a first-class Manipulative Bastard from the start, it's difficult to tell how genuine this affection might be. His total lack of remorse over everything he did during the Eclipse does not encourage the idea that he considers people anything more than tools anymore.
    • Also, Guts' new team is pretty much a cage full of adorable pet hamsters for him (though they have a nasty bit). Ever since they were assembled, Guts' mood and behavior have become a lot more mellow, not only because now he doesn't have to take care of Casca all by himself (which caused him stress in a very bad way), but because they're collectively the voice of reason behind his combat action now. Guts even lampshaded this once by saying that he knew that he was wrong when a bunch of women and children start telling him what to do.
  • More Teeth Than the Osmond Family: Just about every monster in the manga.
    • The monster in chapter 319 takes this up to eleven as all you can see is a giant mouth of very sharp teeth.
    • Godo lampshaded this in volume 14 when Guts is up against the swine apostle.
  • Muggles: Basically, anyone who can't see the supernatural (and to a greater extent, anyone who can't cope with it, i.e. defend themselves or just have experience with this side of the reality). Everyone more or less starts out as a muggle, as a lot of the supernatural go unnoticed because a) they exist on a different plane (the Nexus) that everyday humans aren't a part of, and b) people only bother to detect what their minds are able to comprehend (and Holy See religion that forbids the old pagan beliefs in the supernatural aides in this). However, this only really applies to the less harmful beings in the Berserkerverse (like elves), as the more threatening variety (like apostles and trolls) are a bit more difficult for the mind to ignore for obvious reason... And now that the natural and the supernatural planes have merged, no one is exempt from not believing anymore.
  • Mr. Exposition: The Skull Knight.
  • Mundane Utility: Puck once tried to use a Behelit as fish bait.
  • My Brain Is Big: Void is a particularly creepy version.
  • My Greatest Failure: Guts's greatest failure, without a doubt was being unable to save Casca from being raped by Femto. Also, he came to realize how much he screwed up by leaving Casca when the two of them needed each other the most, but instead decided to drown his sorrows in killing Apostles, which didn't help him very much in the end.
    • My Greatest Second Chance: And now that he has straightened things out the best he could, he's devoted himself to protecting Casca, starting with rescuing her at St. Albion. Remember: hurt Casca? You're dead. Get in the way of Guts trying to protect Casca? You're still dead. Both Isidro and Farnese learned not to either fail or get in the way of Guts when it came to Casca's safety - the scary way.
      • This is more of an Anti-Hero variation, since Guts still profoundly hates the Godhand and Apostles, and even admitted to himself that even though he may have lost the right to avenge the Band of the Hawk he would NEVER FORGIVE GRIFFITH for what he did to Casca.
  • My Kung Fu Is Stronger Than Yours: After facing off with Nosferatu Zodd for the first time, Guts's goals in life became centered around training himself and becoming stronger so that the next time he encountered Zodd or another bigger enemy, he'd win (or, at best, survive). Then, more serious stuff settled into the plot - like the Eclipse - and Guts's eyes were set on one thing and one thing only: Revenge. With that, Guts would get into battles without really caring how much stronger his foe was. Later on, the trope was re-introduced with the appearance of Isidro.
  • Mysterious Protector: The Skull Knight.
  • Myth Arc: In essence, the tumultuous personalities of Guts, Griffith, and Casca are explored as well as their relationships to each other throughout the series. Their relationship pretty much influenced the fate of the entire world as it always comes down to these three. This is great and enticing to the reader, but the unfortunate myth stall kind of sours it.

N

  • A Naked Shoulder to Cry On: Griffith does this with Princess Charlotte in the immediate aftermath of Guts leaving the Hawks. It ends badly. VERY badly.
  • Narrator All Along: Void
  • Never My Fault: When he returned to Godo's house to find Casca was missing, Guts immediately went to blaming Rickert instead of looking how he played a role in Casca's condition.
  • Never Sleep Again: Ever since he got the brand, Guts can only get some shut eye when he finds a spot in full sunlight. Eventually he gets so conditioned to this he can't fall asleep at nighttime anymore even when he knows he is in a safe spot.
  • Nice Hat: Irvine, seeing that he's the big hat wearer of the series, but Guts also deserves some special mention, since he wore the coolest looking hat during the victory ball fiasco that made him look all the more badass.
  • Nice Job Breaking It, Hero Guts assumed that Griffith would eventually get over his leaving. Boy was he wrong.
    • To make it worse, had Guts stayed a little while longer (or had Casca not gone and told Griffith that he was leaving) then maybe Griffith wouldn't have a massive breakdown and derail everything he worked for and the whole group could have a happy ending. (of course that would have been a boring manga)
    • In an attempt to kill Griffith, the Skull Knight appears to have broken the entire world!
  • Nice Job Fixing It, Villain: All that Earl Julius's assassination attempt on Griffith did was increase Griffith's popularity, as it appeared that he saved Princess Charlotte from an assassination attempt. This incident also gave Griffith more of an excuse to eliminate the Earl as an opponent.
  • Nipple-and-Dimed: A bizarre case. Miura has no qualms with sex and nudity, even the full frontal male one. No problems with showing genitals very clearly, orgies, paedophilia, rape in all its forms and all kinds of explicitly sexual things that few manga writers would dare to show so clearly on panel. So it's pretty strange that no man on his pages is shown to have nipples... when women's are clearly shown at every turn!
    • From some screencaps of the next movie(s), that's apparently going to change. NSFW.
  • No Export for You: Berserk: Millennium Falcon Hen Seima Senki no Sh? has only been released in Japan and Korea.
  • No Fourth Wall: Puck, sometimes.
  • No-Holds-Barred Beatdown: Guts delivered one of these to Griffith during their first rematch... and then got his ass handed to him by Griffith.
  • No Periods, Period: Averted - Casca insists on fighting during her period and nearly gets killed because it's taking her edge off.
  • No Woman's Land: We understand that in this Crapsack World, everybody has it hard, but it's especially hard if you're a lady, where you're in danger of getting raped by anyone, anything, anytime, just 'bout anywhere. Not only that, but your husband/father/brother are more than likely jerks to you, and may even try to rape you too. If you're a title character, you are not given anymore immunity than the background women - in fact, that just makes you more ample prey. We're sorry, but it's true.
  • No Good Deed Goes Unpunished: A family helps the Band by giving them a place to stay while on the run from the army of Midland after rescuing Griffith, because they believed that he and the Band were innocent of the crime of treason. Then, Wyald and his Black Dog Knights came along, and, well...
    • And then there were those that remained with the Hawks, and out of pure loyalty, rescued Griffith from torture and imprisonment. And we all what he ultimately did to them...
      • Basically, this is what you get for being a good person in the Berserk-verse.
  • No One Could Survive That:
    • Early on in the manga, a young Guts is shot with an arrow and falls off a cliff, prompting the bowman to proclaim, "He won't survive the fall."
    • The entire Eclipse, which Guts was not suppose to survive. Zodd is quite surprised that Guts defied his prophecy although Guts, as well as Casca, who also survived, is unconscious at the time due to the severe physical and emotional trauma. They were both saved by the Skull Knight before the apostles could finish the job.
    • At the end of volume 21 of the manga, after the Tower of Conviction fell after the mock Eclipse the Kushan army comes and Guts and Casca are surrounded while the other surviving party members escape. No one thinks that they could avoid capture. Moments later, to their surprise, they see Guts escaping with Casca (and Puck) on horseback into the horizon, chopping up Kushan soldiers all the way.
  • No Sense of Humor: Almost all of the big villains.
  • Noble Demon: As hard as that might sound in Berserk, but Locus and Irvine (as well as some of the other apostles in the New Band of the Hawks) are pretty nice and friendly.
  • Non-Action Snarker: Evarella. She's pretty judgmental for someone who doesn't do anything.
  • Norio Wakamoto: Gambino in the anime.
  • Not Himself: Immediately following the Eclipse, Godo and company notice a big change in Guts' personality, most definitely his increased rage and blood lust.
  • Not So Different: In the manga, Puck chastises Guts - who at the time is just as vicious as the monsters he hunts for - for being so cruel to Vargas, a kind but revenge-driven man who wants the apostle who mutilated Vargas and forced him to watch as he ate his wife and children dead, saying that they weren't much different and should consider each other allies. Guts laughs it off, but later reconciles to himself that he and Vargas weren't so different after all, since he and Guts shared the same cruel fate when encountering apostles.
  • Nothing but Skulls: The road to the castle in Griffith's Mind Rape.
  • Nothing Is the Same Anymore: The Eclipse that ends the Golden Age arc, and the fusing of the worlds in the latest arc.
  • Now That's Using Your Teeth: Guts has saved his life more than a few times by chomping on his enemies' weapons. Claims this is the only way to use your mouth in battle. Also:
    • Cutlass Between the Teeth: Guts uses his teeth in order to use other weapons when he's incapable of using his own two hands, such as when he used his teeth to pull the trigger to his cannon arm when he was incapacitated by the Snake Baron.
    • Man Bites Man: Or in Guts' case, Man Bites Demon.
    • Guts can even swing the frickin Dragonslayer with his teeth when he has no other way to do it and a demon absolutely, positively needs to be cut in half...right now...Ok, that is just flat out impossible, but lets not think about it too much. It's Guts and he gets away with it. But you most definitely WILL NOT.
  • Number of the Beast: The Eclipse, which heralds the birth of a new member of the Godhand, happens once every 216 years. 216 = 6 x 6 x 6...

O

  • The Obi-Wan: Godo, though not a swordsman, gives Guts a place to train for a year, made him most of his weapons and equipment, give him insight and advice, and above all, managed to be the only person in the series to make Guts bite his own tongue and think about how he was acting like a complete asshole to people for reasons that were primarily his doing. And he did all this knowing that he was going to die soon and before he refurbished the Dragon Slayer for the final time. Awesome work, man.
  • Oblivious to Love: Guts and Casca were both guilty of this around the time that Guts decided to leave the Hawks, but luckily, they later become the -
  • Offing the Offspring: First occurs when Gambino tries to kill Guts but this leads to Guts killing him instead. Then Guts tries this on his own tainted child. It is also presented as Emperor Ganishka's rather disproportionate and overall lame Freudian Excuse when his mother tried to kill him so that his half-brother could get the throne (just considering that others have had fates a zillion times worse than this in the Berserkerverse).
  • Oh Crap: A Crapsack World has a lot of Oh Crap moments:
    • First notable moment was when Guts battled Nosferatu Zodd for the first time. He kept his cool for the first moments - until Zodd turns into his apostle form.
    • Then came the time when Guts was facing off Wyald, his second encounter with an Apostle. He took it a lot better than with his fight with Zodd, but it was one of the few other times that we see Guts tremble with fear.
      • Likewise, Wyald as a few of these himself, such as when Guts pulled the most epic of cock-blocker in order to save Casca from being raped by him, and then it gets better when 1) Wyald sees that Griffith does not have the behelit on him when he's near death, and then 2) look who's right behind him.
    • When the Hawks were transported to the Vortex where the Eclipse ceremony is held (a.k.a. HELL), and the realization of what the God Hand meant by "sacrifice" hit them.
      • The entire Eclipse ordeal was littered with Oh Crap, one tragic expression after the other. It was basically a Mass "Oh Crap" convention.
      • Of particular note is the the look of absolute, unlimited and all consuming horror on Guts face when he realizes that Femto IS going to rape Casca, right in front of him.
      • When you mention that, Casca has this subtle but nonetheless horrified look in her eyes when Femto kisses her that just about any survivor of sexual assault can relate to that says, "oh no. NO."
    • When Farnese found out how the world really worked in volume 17.
    • Any mook who realizes what Guts's Unstoppable Rage is capable of doing to them.
  • Old Hero, New Pals: Guts' new companions. To add a split situation, the same goes for Griffith, only its a brutal inversion for obvious reasons.
  • Ominous Latin Chanting: Used in "Murder" on the official soundtrack. This track was infamously used during the Eclipse, and that chanting gave the scene all the more terror.
  • One Curse Limit: Once branded as a sacrifice, no one else can sacrifice you. So, hooray?
    • ...Which is mainly because you aren't supposed to survive being branded.
    • ...And the demons won't stop until you are sacrificed for the first rite.
  • One-Gender Race: The merrow appear to be this.
  • One-Handed Zweihander: Guts tends to swing the Dragon Slayer with only his right arm. Of course, his left arm is just a metal prosthesis, so this is standard for him.
  • One-Man Army: They call Guts the Hundred Man Slayer for a reason.
  • One-Winged Angel: Most Demons start off mostly human, only to explode into a giant monster when the time for talking is over. Rosine does it twice.
  • Only a Flesh Wound: Guts tends to have this attitude with his major injuries. If only. To hell with that stab wound! It wasn't going to stop Guts from making sweet love to Casca!
  • Only One Name: Most of the cast have only one mentioned named, unless they're really important on the aristocratic level (e.g. Farnese di Vandimion).
  • Opening Narration / Opening Scroll: "In this world, is the destiny of mankind controlled by some transcendental entity or law? Is it like the hand of God hovering above? At least it is true that man has no control, not even over his own will."
  • The Ophelia: Casca becomes one after the Eclipse.
  • Opposing Combat Philosophies: Midland and Tudor had different armies. Tudor seemed to favor brawny Mighty Glacier units that were themed after huge animals, including the Black Rams, Whale Corps, and Holy Purple Rhino Knights. Meanwhile, Midland preferred lightning fast units, most successfully the Band of the Hawk, and designated their best as "white," such as the White Dragons, and White Tigers.
  • Oracular Urchin: Sonia
  • The Other Darrin: The new movies will be replacing Casca's original Japanese voice actress, Yuko Miyamura, with anime neophyte Toa Yukinari. It's probably safe to assume that once the new movies get licensed and dubbed there will be a number of different English voices as well.
  • Our Mermaids Are Different: Isma.
  • Our Ogres Are Hungrier: They look like biological mashups between human and sperm whale with noses on the crown of their heads and massive tusks. Just look.
  • Out-of-Clothes Experience: Happens a few times in dream sequences and flashbacks, such as when Guts is being chased by his deformed child in the first volume and when he has a nightmare of he and Gambino. Most recent was when the combined force of Femto and the Skull Knight succeeded in breaking the world forever by merging the physical and supernatural worlds together and sent a wave of energy that was felt around the entire planet, including Guts and the friends who were at sea. This describes the experience well. NSFW.
  • Outside Context Villain: One of the main reasons why even weaker Apostles and minor supernatural beings are such a threat to humans.
  • Out with a Bang: The Female Apostle's modus operandi - she transforms from her human form (a naked woman) mid-coitus and devours her victims. It works on Corkus during the Eclipse,[1] but she doesn't get so lucky with Guts later on.
  • Overdrawn At the Blood Bank: Everyone and everything bleeds a LOT. Guts himself is almost constantly dripping blood (especially from his brand), but he never seems to run completely dry. It's occasionally lampshaded when Guts needs to interrupt his battle to patch up, but his blood loss is still pretty unrealistic.
  • Over-the-Shoulder Carry: How Guts kidnapped Farnese at the beginning of the Conviction Arc.
  • Over the Shoulder Murder Shot: There's a scene like this where it's a family of three devouring their newborn. Alive.

P

  • Freudian Trio: Guts, Griffith, and Casca are the most prominent in several contexts:
  • Papa Wolf: Guts, in the latter stages on the manga, becomes this towards Schierk
  • Parental Abandonment: Everywhere. Prominent examples:
  • Parents in Distress: Although tainted with evil, the Child does love its parents enough to protect Casca by manipulating the very demons that are out to get her in order to fend off would be assailants, to giving Guts cryptic messages warning him that Casca is in danger. The little guy gives a rather Heroic Sacrifice by using the last of its strength to protecting Casca at the Tower of Conviction.
  • A Party - Also Known as an Orgy: YES. Beserk has a lot of these, especially of the pagan variant.
  • Pastel-Chalked Freeze-Frame: Berserk is fond of doing this for dramatic moments, usually when Guts is doing something particularly Badass.
  • Peek-a-Bangs: Casca and Serpico both have these from time to time, more so for design purposes since they have the most distinct bangs, but it could also reflect some of their personality traits:
    • After the Eclipse, Casca is shown having these a lot more when she is in her severe emotionally and psychologically fragmented state.
    • Serpico, having a very sly and cunning nature, has these when he's at his best.
  • Perspective Flip: The coming of the Anti Christ is part of the entire lore. Which is Guts. Wait, Something's wrong here. Why is Griffith The Messiah again? Why is he acting like a Messiah? People see Guts as a child-slayer and demonic conqueror? Oh dear.
  • Physical Scars, Psychological Scars: The lose of his left arm and his right eye serves has Guts' painful reminder of what he failed to save during the Eclipse.
  • Pietà Plagiarism: The cover art of Volume 13.
  • Pimped-Out Cape
  • Pimped-Out Dress: The Midland royal court has plenty of these.
    • Those Vandimion's are pretty pimped-out themselves.
  • Pint-Sized Kid: Every kid who's from the ages of 10 to 12 is short as hell. But then again, if you're comparing them to Guts, everyone's a midget.
  • Pirates: Captain Sharkrider and his pirate crew are a group of stereotypical Type 1 pirates - only they suck at what they do and Guts and his gang always take some time to talk shit about them.
  • Playing Cyrano: Guts does this with Casca towards Griffith. Also, Judea does this with Griffith towards Casca.
  • Plucky Comic Relief: Isidro and the two elves.
    • Arguably Corkus, as well, and much less slapstick and annoying about it, too.
  • Pocket Protector: Used twice- once with Griffith's Crimson Behelit deflecting a crossbow bolt, the other with Mozgus' holy book stopping a sword.
  • Pointy Ears: A handful of characters, human and non-human, have 'em.
    • The fact that Guts' ears, while still human, are somewhat sharper than other humans (the same can be said for his teeth) has led to considerable fan speculation about what exactly he might be. Being born from a dead woman with no known father means anything is possible.
  • Poor Communication Kills: Guts could at least try to explain himself to people occasionally.
    • Also, it was because Casca was mute that got her the attention of Mozgus, since she didn't - nor couldn't - curse at the other supposed heretics. Understandable, since back in the day, people who had any sort of impairment were more than often seen as weird and in alliance with the devil. Apparently, a young and beautiful insane woman is more likely to be in league with the Dark Prince than his own crew of malformed minions.
  • Post Dramatic Stress Disorder: Happens all too often after a battle or just something really climatic.
  • Potty Failure: Casca has an accident in volume 23.
  • Power of Friendship: Camaraderie is probably the second most important theme in the series, with Guts learning to work with comrades and forming bonds with them, and also the after affects of having such bonds broken in very tragic ways, most notably between he and Griffith An important highlight in the Golden Age arc was when Griffith talked to Charlotte about what he defines as a true friend. Guts overhears this and takes it to heart.. Upon forming his new True Companions, Guts remarks to himself that he never thought he'd have comrades again after the events of the Eclipse. Relates to the The Power of Trust below.
  • Power of Hate: Yes. Guts had shades of this as well as his standard Unstoppable Rage. When he wasn't slicing away at Apostles, some of which he had no connection to, Guts spent his spare time thinking about that one Apostle in particular that he hates above all else... And Mr. Uber-scary-hellhound-beast helped with that. However, Godo later deconstructs this when he lectured to Guts that hate is where a man goes to when he is really afraid and is overwhelming with sadness. Guts' power of hate was eventually displaced by...
    • Power of Love: Caused Guts to chisel off an arm with little hesitation in order to save Casca from Femto. That's pretty damn powerful. Not to mention he gave up a two-year vendetta in order to come to her aid and to keep her near him so that he doesn't loose her to anyone or anything again.
      • Also invoked a couple of times. What's the last and best way to bring Guts back from being drawn over to his Super-Powered Evil Side, or from just going on another blinding, roaring rampage of battle? Remind him of his love for Casca.
  • The Power of Trust: Because of Guts traumatic childhood, he rarely trusts people, not even allowing a tap on the shoulder. After joining the Band of the Hawk, and learning the value of camaraderie, he slowly opens up to certain members of the band. However, the events of the Eclipse reverted Guts back to his original mistrustful self, possibly to an even greater degree. Puck the Elf eventually earns Guts's trust so that he becomes his first travel companion. During the Conviction Arc, however, he trusts the Hot-Blooded Isidro enough to save Casca while he fought off monsters, and after that when he and Casca travel together but he almost rapes her when his inner beast got the better of him he allows Isidro, Serpico, and Farnese to come along with him, entrusting them all to help him fight monsters while protecting Casca. He even admitted to himself that under any other circumstance, he would not have let them come with him, but because of the difficulty of fighting demons while protecting someone who was incapable of protecting themselves, Guts was at his rope's end.
    • Griffith also displayed a The Power of Trust moment during Guts's first mission with the Hawks by entrusting him with the task as being the rear guard, even though Guts didn't want to be part of the band and was at a high flight risk at the time. The event began to change Guts's way of thinking toward the Hawks.
  • Pragmatic Adaptation: The anime toned down on the violence as well as the occasional slapstick comedy, and focused more on the emphasis of ambition and friendship (albeit in the negative way) instead of on the series long supernatural plotline in order to give the series a dark, serious, and realistic atmosphere. Some also believe that by omitting Guts's emotional breakdown from being raped as a child and the Skull Knight's presence when he saved Guts from the Eclipse made him look like a stronger person and more likeable to the audience. Despite all this, along with some of the plot holes and lack of explanation for some scenes, the fans were pretty accepting of these changes to the anime.
  • Precision F-Strike:

--Guts: "When you meet your God, TELL HIM TO LEAVE ME THE FUCK ALONE!!"

  • Precocious Crush: Schierke has this for Guts.
    • Implied that Jill had one for him too.
    • Sonia has one for Griffith.
    • Don't forget the adorable Collette, who was all shy and helpful and bashful around Guts, and also died horribly the same issue that she was introduced simply for being near him. Does that count as Kill the Cutie?
    • How could anyone miss younger Casca's obvious fawning over Griffith when he rescued her?
  • Pretty in Mink: A few furs, especially among the royalty and nobility, given this show's setting. One standout is a dress Charlotte wears with a trim of white fur, but arranged as lines of puff balls.
  • Primal Fear: No. Berserk doesn't stop at Nightmare Fuel and Adult Fear. Now we have those fears that everyone can relate to, including the valued reader: a fear of the dark (Guts virtually cannot sleep at night because he has to fight off monsters and evil spirits the whole time), being eaten alive (happens too often with both monsters AND humans), blood and guts (chances are that you will NOT die in one piece), giants (those goddamn scary apostles), monsters and scary beasts (again, those damn apostles - AND just about every supernatural creature is out to get you. It's a surprise that unicorns and fairies haven't been wiped out), bugs (Rosine and her little minions), snakes (um, the Great Goatheads phallis), and probably dozens more. Alas, the one that takes the cake is the sadism and the Squick (and for added horror, the humiliation involved). What's the worse thing about being apprehended by the guards and going to a trial that might end with your execution? No, it's not the actual trial (or even the actual execution). It's:

"No no no! I'll be raped!! I'm going to die!! HELP ME GOD!!" Volume 19

  1. ↑ although he only gets to second base
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