The day has finally arrived for strugglers everywhere, as the 384th chapter of Berserk has been released in Japan. With manga readers waiting almost a year to see how Guts could survive his current predicament, the latest installment reveals some major revelations surrounding the Black Swordsman. Following the tragic passing of creator Kentaro Miura, writer Kouji Mori and the artists at Studio Gaga are looking to finish the series, taking notes from the original artist. Following this new chapter from the creators, you might never look at Guts the same way again.
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Warning. If you have yet to read Berserk’s latest manga chapter, Chapter 384, be forewarned that we’ll be diving into serious spoiler territory. Throughout Guts’ history, many fans who have followed Berserk from the start knew that the hero was doomed since birth. This is thanks to the Black Swordsman being born from his mother’s corpse, which the mercenary Gambino found hanging from a tree. With this dark beginning, it seems as though the Dragon Slayer wielder could never quite escape from his fate, but this is now a fact that has been confirmed in this latest chapter.
To cap off Chapter 384, a mysterious being overlooking Guts’ trials and tribulations inside of the Kushan Empire’s cave reveals that thanks to his origin, the hero shares a major similarity with Griffith. The Black Swordsman is described as a “creature of the abyss,” meaning that his physical presence in the human world is only one half of his form. The being confirms that Guts is a “creature who has not left the astral plane since his birth. You are like him (Griffith), a creature of the abyss. He faced himself only to find a soul he did not know.” While this new revelation seemingly hasn’t given Guts a boost in power, it might be what he needs to break out of his emotional funk.
The Future of Guts
While the revelation focusing on the Black Swordsman is a big one, Berserk had another big surprise attached to this new chapter. Young Animal is planning to release two more chapters in a row following chapter 384, but creating these installments was no easy feat for the creative team. In a recent social media post, writer Kouji Mori stated that the subject material had weighed on original creator Kentaro Miura’s mind for over twenty years, meaning it was no easy task for his successors to handle.
“Berserk will be featured in Young Animal, which goes on sale tomorrow. I’m truly, deeply sorry for keeping you waiting so long. This chapter is an episode that Miura agonized over for twenty years, and even I, who heard it from him dozens of times, found it incredibly challenging…We somehow managed to reach the finish line after going over the dialogue countless times with Shimada-san, who was our editor at the time and has been a long-time mentor to both Miura and me.”
While the manga has certainly hinted at the idea that its story is in its “end game,” we have no idea when Berserk will release its final chapter. Considering the breaks between chapters, it might be years before we see the last installment run in the pages of Young Animal. More disappointing, there has been no anime adaptation confirmed for the future, even though a wide swath of chapters have yet to be adapted to the screen.
What do you think of this new change for the Black Swordsman? Leave a comment below and join the conversation now in the ComicBook Forum!
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Courtesy of Shueisha
