Berserk Art Revisits Guts' Depressing Past

Berserk is an anime franchise that is one of the best in the business, as well as one of the [...]

Berserk is an anime franchise that is one of the best in the business, as well as one of the darkest, and one fan artist has decided to show off the series' dark side by revisiting one of the most tragic moments in the life of the anime's protagonist, Guts. The "Black Swordsman" wasn't always the demon slaying, emotionally hardened warrior that we've come to know as he attempts to get his revenge on his former best friend, Griffith, and this art work perfectly shows us the young boy who was fated to be destroyed by the world with a sword in hand.

Fans of the popular manga series have been waiting for the series of Berserk to end for some time, with the story of Guts and his band of rogues taking place over the series of decades. Early on in the story however, we got a better look into the story of Guts, who was born to a dead mother who was hanging from a tree. Being brought in by the cold soldier Gambino, Guts is taken in by Shisu who becomes his adoptive mother. Like most relationships in the franchise, the bond between Guts and his new mom was doomed from the start as she contracts the plague. With his caregiver dying next to him, Guts watches her die and is once again shown just how bleak the world of Berserk could be.

Reddit Artist UnGutsIncazzato shared this amazing fan art that recreates the younger years of Guts, showing that the Black Swordsman was living a terrible, frightening life far before he knew that demons were travelling the world or encountering the Band of the Hawk and its leader Griffith:

Mother stay with me. -UnGutsIncazzato from r/Berserk

While these days are long behind Guts, the memories of his past still haunt him to the current day of Berserk. As mentioned earlier, the manga has been struggling with a number of hiatuses that have pushed back the story of the Black Swordsman and his revenge against Griffith when the "White Hawk" decided to sacrifice his friends and fellow soldiers in order to accomplish his dream of becoming king of the world. With two anime series and a number of movies under its belt, it will be interesting to see if the story of Guts and Griffith returns to the medium of anime.

What do you think of this heart rending depiction of Guts' early life? Feel free to let us know in the comments or hit me up directly on Twitter @EVComedy to talk all things comics, anime, and Berserk!

1comments