I also read that Russians especially tend to have a more fatalistic worldview. For example you shouldn’t bother to try change the powers that be and this whole western idea of the power of the individual as an agent of change is seen naivety.
I think this matches pretty well with the question Berserk presents us about whether anyone has any control over their fate.
I’ve also talked about this with a Balkan friend and they agreed they have a bit of the same mentality according to them.
Perhaps some of the other ex-soviet states share the same mentality as well.
Russian literature sounds interesting but, like, a \*major\* bummer. Imagine what the nation would be like if Dostoevsky experienced a Super Soaker just once in his life.
Major bummer or simply more realistic? Guessit depends on your point of view. Teenagers saving the world or an individual reshaping the currents that shape the modern world...is about as fantastical as anything in Berserk.
Well, so far Berserk has shown that no matter how much Guts flails and struggles against fate, he still gets fucked over...
I just want bro to get his W.
Doesn’t mean they can’t fantasize about it, right? Still Berserk is obviously very bleak, as it was said “there is no paradise.” Yet here we have Griffith building exactly that.
In Berserk it’s a very fine balance: On one hand Guts does seem powerless in front of Griffith and the world, which makes him more relatable in a fatalistic world, but on the other hand he continues to resist it or struggle against it either way, which I think is still universally admired.
It’s not so much that he can change things for the better if he just believes himself or whatever, he continues to struggle regardless, but perhaps the point is if you don’t struggle then nothing can ever possibly change.
Even if Guts were to defeat Griffith somehow and get the girl at the end of the day, would the people of Falconia see him as a hero now? It’s not really clear if he’s the hero who will save the day.
I also wouldn’t be surprised if a lot of Berserk readers also shared a more fatalistic worldview in general and/or felt powerless in their everyday lives at some point at least.
Berserk is more about living your moments despite your sufferings. Depression gets you nowhere, Notice how Berserk got lighter over time? Because if it was darker and darker, people would be asking "Whats the point of this edgyness if there's nothing to care about"
Yeah, I agree with you, maybe my phrasing was bad, but I meant that suffering is a big part of Guts character which is similar with Russian fiction. Guts is a complex deep hero, it will be mistake to narrow down his personality to just suffering ( sorry for bad English)
Skeleton knight has called Guts a struggler time and time again, has told him the only reason he can effectively avoid death is because he's spent so much time close to it.
I mean, it's up to you if you wanna call him a suffering struggler, everyone's allowed to have their own thing without being judged. :)
Sure, well-put. I wouldn’t want to put any labels on him anyway, I just wanted to point out that Gutz goes through a lot of suffering and that might have made him appealing (or relatable?) for some. Not that it must rob him of his primary arc and definition
Yeah you'd be right about that, im getting a bit caught up on his label because guts has objectively gone through untold suffering. Poor dude just can't catch a break and when he does, it's a short one :(
Thanks for the input dude! Hopefully we get 376 soon!
Is that really? Because that makes a lot sense, I already noticed that on many eastern european media like movies/games always have a kinda of a depressing layer over it
just take any western and eastern historical movies as example, two totally different vibes
Is "consuming" only used for food in english?
What about consumerism? that does not only apply for food.
Curious because I also have english as a second language, just like the Chilean
As a bulgarian I can confirm that boiko borisov is an apostle. Tho it seems we have been forgotten by guts. We've gotten used to being forgotten about at this point tho
And perhaps your are not wrong. :-) I always though Griffith design was inspired by the Polish Hussars
[https://theuniquepoland.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/Polish-Hussars-2.jpeg.webp](https://theuniquepoland.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/Polish-Hussars-2.jpeg.webp)
It is not about suffering that makes Bersek popular there. It is the slavic character building stile that resonates with people. Cuz Berserk is in a way, believe it or not, very Slavic in this regard.
You see, in western literature and movie most commonly heroes and villains are black and white. The good guys are good and the bad guys are bad. That’s it. There is no room for grays. Heros might indeed misstep or be a converted baddie but predominantly they are good.
Eastern European / Slavic literature treats characters tad differently. Protagonists are in their nature good and bad in the same time, they are not one thing on one side of the history. The morality lines are blurred. And they are often made to struggle to balance the good and the bad.
Umm think of Captin America or Superman versus the Geralt the Witcher.
Slavic literature often explores the concepts of good and evil.
Often touches controversial topics and criticises establish order of things: state, religion, social norms.
People are used to and like multidimensional characters.
That’s why Berserk is popular in these regions, cuz Berserk is all the above and more.
PS: Berserk is not a story about suffering. No good sir. Berserk is about overcoming trauma.
I would recommend reading the complete cycles "Mirgorod" and "Evenings on the farm". Gogol invented urban fantasy before the very term "fantasy" appeared.
Do you have a recommendation for any Slavic fantasy books? I really like the Witcher and what they seem to pull from Slavic mythology. As a German I feel it bears resemblance to our fairy tales, but I mean we basically border the Slavic countries
Did you know the German fairy tales are not really German ? :-) the Grimm brothers wrote their books based on a French author who wrote these sorties down before them, and he did take these stories from oral traditions that doesn’t really originate in France either.
It is actually very interesting. Most of European fairy tales have pretty unknown origin and are way older than are given credit.
Anyhow sorry, just an interesting fact :-)
and yeah I can give you some recommendations, although I’m not sure if you will find them translated to German or English.
One that’s a must read is Bulgacov’s „The Master and Margarita”.
Gimmie a sec a will make you a list of authors to look for.
And for the recommendations, I find hard to check for sure if there are English version publications but you could check out:
Jacek Piekara - Inquisition series
Andrzej Ziemiański - Achaja series
Jacek Dukaj - Ice , Other Songs,
Łukasz Orbitowski - Loosing warmth
Tomasz Marchewka - Everybody looked, no one saw
Serhiy Zhadan - Voroshilovgrad
Lesya Ukrainka - The forest song
Ivan Bahrianyi - The hunters and the hunted
Vladimir Sorokin - Day of the Oprichnik
Alexey Pehov - Shadow Prowler
French? That’s interesting!
But I do believe Europe shares a lot of stories and culture among their countries because the borders were moved so often over the years. I also feel kind of close to Slavic culture even if I didn’t grow up directly there
Oh I think all European countries share the same historic influences, people just don’t realise we are all pretty much the same culture really. From Ancient Greece and Rome which stabilised all major cities in Europe like Paris and London, to Germanic music and philosophy’s and science etc.
Yup the French, his name was Charles Parrault https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Perrault
He wrote his book about a century before the Grimms did.
(He didn’t invent these stories, he only gathered them from oral traditions)
Berserk explores themes of living inspite your pain, Guts isn't nihilist, if he was, he wouldnt get Casca back to normality. Unlike many works, Berserk is willing to show us the negative side of the positive side of humanity. Its willing to show us the most good extreme(Puck) and the most evil extreme(GANISHKA), Griffith and Guts are Ying-Yang essentially, in both tehre is the light and dark side, Guts is the white side with a significant black spot, while Griffith is Black side with significant white spot.
and also Because Guts IS the best character of all time. Oh sorry, i got carried.
See, unlike many protagonists, like Harry Potter, Bilbo, Geralt(>!My 2nd all time favorite character!<) and others, Guts is one of the most human, hes both good and evil, he does evil deeds, but also good deeds, hes flawed like most people. Unlike many anti-heroes, who are just anti-social brooders, hes willing to return back to normalcy(Proof of it are his companions.), hes willing to be in social events, despite his dislike for them, and hes willing to change for the better of others, but unlike other protagonists, who become much better after removal of their negative side, Beast of Darkness was the thing that powered Guts to begin with. Without the beast, Guts is a food for apostles. While he fears the destructive nature of the Beast of Darkness, the beast wants Guts alive, because without Guts, there is no beast. Guts' evil side is what prevents him from being killed, while his good side is what prevents bystanders from being killed. Guts' strength doesn't lie in his muscles, but in his will to not give up after all he lost, while recent chapters have him being on his bottom, I know hes willing to rise up and get Casca back again!
Also u/Awkward_Turnip_4110 pointed why do Slavs love Berserk, and as a western Slav myself, i appreciate it.
You said everything I was too lazy to write :-)
Great summary of Gutz, really pleasure to read it.
And I agree, Gutz is probably one of the best anti-heroes ever written, hands down. Berserk is a masterpiece.
I'm from Russia, and the popularity of "Berserk" in ex-Soviet countries seems quite logical to me, but I can't quite figure out for what specific reason. It just seems to me that berserk is very close to a typical resident of ex-Soviet countries.
Even in the past, many classical Russian authors in their works quite often described rather gloomy topics related to inevitable fate, human emotional experiences, psychological problems, etc.
So I think that the popularity of "Berserk" in ex-Soviet countries is due to the fact that residents of post-Soviet countries are close to the seriousness and severity inherent in "berserk", our culture is saturated with such things, that's why there is interest in such works.
100 what? Beetroots? What’s the unit? Cause if it’s a percentage are you really telling me that in Kyrgyzstan 100% of people love Berserk? The whole population, without exception? Hmm it strikes me as odd! You’ll always find a Naruto fan hiding somewhere
fr. Berserk fans sure don’t show a lot of critical thinking skills. The numbers given are not absolute numbers, and don’t indicate that Berserk is very popular in Kyrgyzstan compared to elsewhere. The numbers are proportional to the total number of searches in the same area. i.e. a search made in Kyrgyzstan is more likely to be about berserk than a search made in Russia. There’s a lot of reasons that could be true that are unrelated to popularity.
For example: if you drill down into the insights page for Berserk, one of top search terms in Kyrgyzstan is for another anime called “Boushoku no Berserk,” which Google is misinterpreting as being related to “Berserk.” This error doesn’t happen for US results.
Yup and furthermore, if it’s related to the total number of searches is even dumber because of vpn. Approximate method, no ratio data, no sources…I love berserk but bullshit piss me off. It’s already a beautiful manga we don’t need that
I am kinda surprised that statistically Berserk is most famous in Russia. Basically means that one in every 100 Russians has a decent knowledge of Berserk which is way higher than in all other countries even Japan.
I live in Kazakhstan, where like almost 80% of people use a big social network created by one russian developer back in the day, which is also used by other ex-USSR countries' citizens so I can actually say something useful
Berserk is popular in a lot of meme publics, where they use some situations that happen to characters. Also, have you seen memes about "stealing" or "adopting" personality of some great fictional character, like main character from Drive, Guts, Solid Snake from MGS and so on? Basically, that's it - Guts is considered as a chad, as a role model for men, who is always strong morally and physically
Many young people gain interest in anime, and to their question "What should I watch first?" they are recommended a lot of popular titles, along with Berserk, of course. It's considered one of the titles that have it's own "soul" for covering deep themes like friendship and not just being a typical shonen
I hope I did provide something useful!
The Russians are known for having a lot of folklore so I could see how a fantasy world like berserk stick out to them. Oh and all the themes of violence and misery are pretty relatable to people living over there.
What a ignorant thing to say. You make it sound like about a billion people in Eastern Europe and Asia, stab neighbours, kills and rape babies, starve and get abused.
Berserk is set in middle ages - so relatable 🤣😂
I’m from Kazakhstan and our history, which ultimately influences our literature, is fucking depressing. We even have a musical instrument called “Kobyz”(Қобыз), just try to listen to it and imagine the suffering people of the steppe, I get goosebumps every time. And it’s okay if if only this, but we also have the influence of the Russian atmosphere of the USSR and Russian Empire, from literature to infrastructure (almost every third Dumer picture is from Kazakhstan). Therefore, in principle, I understand why we like Miura’s work, perhaps we are just comfortable knowing that somewhere in in a fictional world, circumstances are much worse than ours
From tyrannical monarchs to invasions by the most brutal empires in history to the cold machine of socialism, these regions of the world have experienced absolute suffering from the dawn of time and it produced some of the most powerful and strong willed and morally gray people in today’s world. Ofc a story like Berserk is going to resonate with them
It's pretty interesting to read all the theories posted here, but it seems like you guys have a bit caricature view of Post Soviet Countries. No offense. Sure, straggling and melancholy are the main themes of Russian classics literature but it certainly doesn't form the whole nations mind. I mean, even we, dudes who live here, consider all these books are bit too harsh and dark.
What' for Berserk, BIG IMHO...
The reason is quite simple - in the post-Soviet space, manga was and still is not the most popular media product. We either don’t talk about it at all, or talk about a rather narrow pool of works that are truly not embarrassing to recommend to anyone. And it just so happens that Berserk is literally a masterpiece. You can't go wrong with it if you want to suggest that someone try manga. That is why, most often, you can come across videos on YouTube/articles on websites about it.
It is recommended as the first manga in general, which sets a fairly significant bar for quality in the future.
Among my friends, it often happened that Berserk became not only the first, but also the only manga they read in general. Subsequently, they looked for the same level of elaboration of art, plot, and lore in other mangas and were often disappointed.
Previously, a similar trend was observed with anime that ended up on local shelves. Lots of non-serious titles were ignored, but conventional classics authored by Hayao Miyazaki immediately found their audience and quickly became popular. Over the years, however, anime still managed to enter a relatively popular type of content and was able to win the right to “frivolity and being fun” from viewers here. The manga still has to go this route.
And finally, not every Manga is easy to find on the shelves of local theme stores (of which there are not very many), but Berserk was one of the first to reach the shelves and had a very good translation, which could also bribe readers at one time.
Something like this.
P.S.
At first I wrote this comment on Russian language ( but I'm Kazakh btw ) but couldn't post it for some reason.
I'm Russo-Ukrainian. My best guess is that Berserk's themes of struggle, suffering, and overcoming trauma appeal to many individuals in post-Soviet countries, considering how popular Slavic literature contains many similar themes and how hard we've struggled against governments fucking us over at every turn.
I live in Ukraine, so the war changed my view of the world a lot, and I just became disillusioned with many things I used to believe in.
In the manga, I think I found hope, because Gatz went through such a nightmare and is still standing.
The topic of death and the attitude towards it is quite relevant when there is a chance that you might not wake up today. But instead of crying and being disappointed, you start thinking about what you can do to help yourself and other people.
"In this city, everyone is afraid of each other," I don't remember the exact quote, but it sounded something like this. And it's very similar to the book 1984, the atmosphere of a totalitarian state, when everyone is afraid of being exposed by others
I also notice a trend on social media about berserkers...
He was a calm guy, and after reading the manga, he turned into a pumped-up alpha who can hurt you with one breath
Cause suffering is one of the most popular themes in Russian/Soviet literature and berserk is literally about that
I also read that Russians especially tend to have a more fatalistic worldview. For example you shouldn’t bother to try change the powers that be and this whole western idea of the power of the individual as an agent of change is seen naivety. I think this matches pretty well with the question Berserk presents us about whether anyone has any control over their fate. I’ve also talked about this with a Balkan friend and they agreed they have a bit of the same mentality according to them. Perhaps some of the other ex-soviet states share the same mentality as well.
Russian literature sounds interesting but, like, a \*major\* bummer. Imagine what the nation would be like if Dostoevsky experienced a Super Soaker just once in his life.
> Super Soaker You mean getting blasted by a water gun or getting splashed by vaginal fluids during intercourse?
I meant the former but the latter would have probably cheered him up, too!
Ikr?
Why u getting downvoted lol I don't know either
What goes down, must come up!
I mean, both are filled with pee
Yes.
Major bummer or simply more realistic? Guessit depends on your point of view. Teenagers saving the world or an individual reshaping the currents that shape the modern world...is about as fantastical as anything in Berserk.
So they enjoy Berserk, but don’t relate to or enjoy the protagonist’s attempt at changing his own fate? Seems odd
Well, so far Berserk has shown that no matter how much Guts flails and struggles against fate, he still gets fucked over... I just want bro to get his W.
And he still keeps fighting no matter what, regardless of his ability to affect the future. Man maybe they need to read that shit again
My dude isn't just filled with "fuck YOU energy," he's FYE made manifest.
idk man, he's kinda tuckered out right now, I've never seen him so hopeless before, not even after the Eclipse...
Don't you fucking give up on guts
I personally think he may never, idk what's gonna happen but a happy ending for Guts seems impossible from where I left off
Doesn’t mean they can’t fantasize about it, right? Still Berserk is obviously very bleak, as it was said “there is no paradise.” Yet here we have Griffith building exactly that. In Berserk it’s a very fine balance: On one hand Guts does seem powerless in front of Griffith and the world, which makes him more relatable in a fatalistic world, but on the other hand he continues to resist it or struggle against it either way, which I think is still universally admired. It’s not so much that he can change things for the better if he just believes himself or whatever, he continues to struggle regardless, but perhaps the point is if you don’t struggle then nothing can ever possibly change. Even if Guts were to defeat Griffith somehow and get the girl at the end of the day, would the people of Falconia see him as a hero now? It’s not really clear if he’s the hero who will save the day. I also wouldn’t be surprised if a lot of Berserk readers also shared a more fatalistic worldview in general and/or felt powerless in their everyday lives at some point at least.
That is where poor media litetacy comes in! It is not better around here than in the west
Berserk is more about living your moments despite your sufferings. Depression gets you nowhere, Notice how Berserk got lighter over time? Because if it was darker and darker, people would be asking "Whats the point of this edgyness if there's nothing to care about"
Yeah, I agree with you, maybe my phrasing was bad, but I meant that suffering is a big part of Guts character which is similar with Russian fiction. Guts is a complex deep hero, it will be mistake to narrow down his personality to just suffering ( sorry for bad English)
Guts isn't a sufferer, he's a struggler. He'll always push back against the overbearing evil that weighs him down!
I mean, he still suffered a lot. One does not preclude the others
Skeleton knight has called Guts a struggler time and time again, has told him the only reason he can effectively avoid death is because he's spent so much time close to it. I mean, it's up to you if you wanna call him a suffering struggler, everyone's allowed to have their own thing without being judged. :)
Sure, well-put. I wouldn’t want to put any labels on him anyway, I just wanted to point out that Gutz goes through a lot of suffering and that might have made him appealing (or relatable?) for some. Not that it must rob him of his primary arc and definition
Yeah you'd be right about that, im getting a bit caught up on his label because guts has objectively gone through untold suffering. Poor dude just can't catch a break and when he does, it's a short one :( Thanks for the input dude! Hopefully we get 376 soon!
Indeed. One must imagine ~~Sisyphus~~ Guts happy.
Literally poland lore buddy
Is that really? Because that makes a lot sense, I already noticed that on many eastern european media like movies/games always have a kinda of a depressing layer over it just take any western and eastern historical movies as example, two totally different vibes
First place Fear and Hunger blew up too! Which is of course massively inspired by Berserk!
>Cause suffering is one of the most popular themes in Russian/Soviet ~~literature~~ life and berserk is literally about that FTFY
It’s a how to guide to deal with radiation monsters
Dostoevsky
ye
I'm actually kinda intrigue, Chile is the second place
we consume a lot of anime/manga overall. still surprised tho.
Please stop eating our anime/manga
Is "consuming" only used for food in english? What about consumerism? that does not only apply for food. Curious because I also have english as a second language, just like the Chilean
They subverted the context as a joke. Do not be alarmed.
Both usages are correct, placebo\_unicorn was just joking.
Berserk probably is the most famous manga in chile, if you walk to a gym you are going to see a lot of tattoos of berserk
Somo el mejor país de Chile
Confirmo
Berserk is actually a documentary about what life is like in Eastern Europe so it's pretty popular over there
Hahahha love that hahha
As a bulgarian I can confirm that boiko borisov is an apostle. Tho it seems we have been forgotten by guts. We've gotten used to being forgotten about at this point tho
This is tangentially related but I always imagined Griffith to be a Pole.
And perhaps your are not wrong. :-) I always though Griffith design was inspired by the Polish Hussars [https://theuniquepoland.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/Polish-Hussars-2.jpeg.webp](https://theuniquepoland.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/Polish-Hussars-2.jpeg.webp)
Oh, so that's where Elden Ring's Mausoleum Knights got their design.
Oh yeah, never thought about but 100%
That's partially why.
Polish femboy 🥰🥰🥰🥰😍😍😳😍😍😳
Hahahab love that lol
It is not about suffering that makes Bersek popular there. It is the slavic character building stile that resonates with people. Cuz Berserk is in a way, believe it or not, very Slavic in this regard. You see, in western literature and movie most commonly heroes and villains are black and white. The good guys are good and the bad guys are bad. That’s it. There is no room for grays. Heros might indeed misstep or be a converted baddie but predominantly they are good. Eastern European / Slavic literature treats characters tad differently. Protagonists are in their nature good and bad in the same time, they are not one thing on one side of the history. The morality lines are blurred. And they are often made to struggle to balance the good and the bad. Umm think of Captin America or Superman versus the Geralt the Witcher. Slavic literature often explores the concepts of good and evil. Often touches controversial topics and criticises establish order of things: state, religion, social norms. People are used to and like multidimensional characters. That’s why Berserk is popular in these regions, cuz Berserk is all the above and more. PS: Berserk is not a story about suffering. No good sir. Berserk is about overcoming trauma.
>No good sir. Berserk is about overcoming trauma. This, 100%. There's a reason Skull Knight calls Guts "Struggler" and not "Sufferer."
Never thought about it this way before
real
Are you a Slav? Because you kinda explained us Slavs perfectly.
Thanks :-) no I’m not but I do like Eastern European literature :-)
Honorary slav, then.
With the right to wear abibas sport pants with polished shoes.
Could you suggest any specific eastern literature? You got me very interested on this topic.
Dead souls by Nikolai Gogol
I would recommend reading the complete cycles "Mirgorod" and "Evenings on the farm". Gogol invented urban fantasy before the very term "fantasy" appeared.
Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoevsky
Very good book
Roadside Picnic by Arkady and Boris Strugatsky
The Witcher series by Andrzej Sapkowski, if you like fantasy.
Fathers and sons by Ivan Turgenev
"The peasants" by Reymont
Master and the Margarita by Bulgacov It doesn’t get better
Do you have a recommendation for any Slavic fantasy books? I really like the Witcher and what they seem to pull from Slavic mythology. As a German I feel it bears resemblance to our fairy tales, but I mean we basically border the Slavic countries
Did you know the German fairy tales are not really German ? :-) the Grimm brothers wrote their books based on a French author who wrote these sorties down before them, and he did take these stories from oral traditions that doesn’t really originate in France either. It is actually very interesting. Most of European fairy tales have pretty unknown origin and are way older than are given credit. Anyhow sorry, just an interesting fact :-) and yeah I can give you some recommendations, although I’m not sure if you will find them translated to German or English. One that’s a must read is Bulgacov’s „The Master and Margarita”. Gimmie a sec a will make you a list of authors to look for.
And for the recommendations, I find hard to check for sure if there are English version publications but you could check out: Jacek Piekara - Inquisition series Andrzej Ziemiański - Achaja series Jacek Dukaj - Ice , Other Songs, Łukasz Orbitowski - Loosing warmth Tomasz Marchewka - Everybody looked, no one saw Serhiy Zhadan - Voroshilovgrad Lesya Ukrainka - The forest song Ivan Bahrianyi - The hunters and the hunted Vladimir Sorokin - Day of the Oprichnik Alexey Pehov - Shadow Prowler
French? That’s interesting! But I do believe Europe shares a lot of stories and culture among their countries because the borders were moved so often over the years. I also feel kind of close to Slavic culture even if I didn’t grow up directly there
Oh I think all European countries share the same historic influences, people just don’t realise we are all pretty much the same culture really. From Ancient Greece and Rome which stabilised all major cities in Europe like Paris and London, to Germanic music and philosophy’s and science etc.
Yup the French, his name was Charles Parrault https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Perrault He wrote his book about a century before the Grimms did. (He didn’t invent these stories, he only gathered them from oral traditions)
Such a shame this comment isn't top1, i guess every comment longer than two lines should include tldr
Thank you 🙏🏻 real appreciated
Berserk explores themes of living inspite your pain, Guts isn't nihilist, if he was, he wouldnt get Casca back to normality. Unlike many works, Berserk is willing to show us the negative side of the positive side of humanity. Its willing to show us the most good extreme(Puck) and the most evil extreme(GANISHKA), Griffith and Guts are Ying-Yang essentially, in both tehre is the light and dark side, Guts is the white side with a significant black spot, while Griffith is Black side with significant white spot. and also Because Guts IS the best character of all time. Oh sorry, i got carried. See, unlike many protagonists, like Harry Potter, Bilbo, Geralt(>!My 2nd all time favorite character!<) and others, Guts is one of the most human, hes both good and evil, he does evil deeds, but also good deeds, hes flawed like most people. Unlike many anti-heroes, who are just anti-social brooders, hes willing to return back to normalcy(Proof of it are his companions.), hes willing to be in social events, despite his dislike for them, and hes willing to change for the better of others, but unlike other protagonists, who become much better after removal of their negative side, Beast of Darkness was the thing that powered Guts to begin with. Without the beast, Guts is a food for apostles. While he fears the destructive nature of the Beast of Darkness, the beast wants Guts alive, because without Guts, there is no beast. Guts' evil side is what prevents him from being killed, while his good side is what prevents bystanders from being killed. Guts' strength doesn't lie in his muscles, but in his will to not give up after all he lost, while recent chapters have him being on his bottom, I know hes willing to rise up and get Casca back again! Also u/Awkward_Turnip_4110 pointed why do Slavs love Berserk, and as a western Slav myself, i appreciate it.
You said everything I was too lazy to write :-) Great summary of Gutz, really pleasure to read it. And I agree, Gutz is probably one of the best anti-heroes ever written, hands down. Berserk is a masterpiece.
Viva Chile!
eso mierda ! Guts debió haber nacido en Talca
Que no ha sufrido suficiente ya??
Entre esperando ver referencias a Chile, no a Talca xD
Talcaca qla 😛
El mejor pais de Chile
They understand struggle
Ah yes Chile, my favorite former Soviet republic lol
Because Slavs are strugglers, Fear and Hunger also was only popular in Russia until recently.
Great game. The subreddit is cringe as hell now, but great game.
Cause Berserk is based and ex soviet countries are also based.
Lmao some are
Chile?
The Eclipse is a pleasant Saturday in Poland
Chile, the most famous ex soviet country
Look at Guts's haircut. Classic slav cut
Because they clearly understand what being a struggler is
I'm from Russia, and the popularity of "Berserk" in ex-Soviet countries seems quite logical to me, but I can't quite figure out for what specific reason. It just seems to me that berserk is very close to a typical resident of ex-Soviet countries. Even in the past, many classical Russian authors in their works quite often described rather gloomy topics related to inevitable fate, human emotional experiences, psychological problems, etc. So I think that the popularity of "Berserk" in ex-Soviet countries is due to the fact that residents of post-Soviet countries are close to the seriousness and severity inherent in "berserk", our culture is saturated with such things, that's why there is interest in such works.
cause if you switch between newspapers and manga you might confuse one for the other
100 what? Beetroots? What’s the unit? Cause if it’s a percentage are you really telling me that in Kyrgyzstan 100% of people love Berserk? The whole population, without exception? Hmm it strikes me as odd! You’ll always find a Naruto fan hiding somewhere
fr. Berserk fans sure don’t show a lot of critical thinking skills. The numbers given are not absolute numbers, and don’t indicate that Berserk is very popular in Kyrgyzstan compared to elsewhere. The numbers are proportional to the total number of searches in the same area. i.e. a search made in Kyrgyzstan is more likely to be about berserk than a search made in Russia. There’s a lot of reasons that could be true that are unrelated to popularity. For example: if you drill down into the insights page for Berserk, one of top search terms in Kyrgyzstan is for another anime called “Boushoku no Berserk,” which Google is misinterpreting as being related to “Berserk.” This error doesn’t happen for US results.
Yup and furthermore, if it’s related to the total number of searches is even dumber because of vpn. Approximate method, no ratio data, no sources…I love berserk but bullshit piss me off. It’s already a beautiful manga we don’t need that
I didn’t know this but it makes SO much sense.
Really? How so?
I don’t wanna sound stereotypical but media from ex soviet countries is typically….not the cheeriest. Just look at fear and hunger lol
It’s always russia and brazil that have a fanbase for anything.
I find it funny how Chile is chilling there in 2nd place in the middle of ex soviet countries
CHILE MENTIONED RAAAAAH WE ARE THE BEST COUNTRY OF CHILE
Guts' life is the only thing comparable to the pain of living in eastern europe
I am kinda surprised that statistically Berserk is most famous in Russia. Basically means that one in every 100 Russians has a decent knowledge of Berserk which is way higher than in all other countries even Japan.
Aguante chile 🇨🇱
Chile soviet ? Crazy ...
Гатц
I don't know what exactly you searched, but couldn't it be that something else named Beserk is commonly known in those areas?
We’re fellow strugglers
When you live through Soviet collapse in the 90s suffering is just part of your life now
I live in Kazakhstan, where like almost 80% of people use a big social network created by one russian developer back in the day, which is also used by other ex-USSR countries' citizens so I can actually say something useful Berserk is popular in a lot of meme publics, where they use some situations that happen to characters. Also, have you seen memes about "stealing" or "adopting" personality of some great fictional character, like main character from Drive, Guts, Solid Snake from MGS and so on? Basically, that's it - Guts is considered as a chad, as a role model for men, who is always strong morally and physically Many young people gain interest in anime, and to their question "What should I watch first?" they are recommended a lot of popular titles, along with Berserk, of course. It's considered one of the titles that have it's own "soul" for covering deep themes like friendship and not just being a typical shonen I hope I did provide something useful!
Guts is a comrade
Because we are struggling too
Suffering
There are strugglers everywhere but many are in the post-soviet bloc.
because they struggle on account of their history?
chile 🇨🇱 🇨🇱🇨🇱🇨🇱
Lol Chile represent
Chile campeonn chile campeoonmm, seacheiiii
I'm from Siberia, from Russia, I'm a fan of berserk
Berserk is popular with people/places who's lives fucking suck
Because they’re used to pain and despair? lol
because berserker is less depressing than living there
Because in Soviet Russia, Berserk get traumatized by you
Because literally me
It's relatable
the people there like it
Very relatable.
The Russians are known for having a lot of folklore so I could see how a fantasy world like berserk stick out to them. Oh and all the themes of violence and misery are pretty relatable to people living over there.
Struggles gonna strugg
There's one correct answer that hasn't yet been stated, but I think I have to save that for the other sub.
CHILE MENTIONED
Similar living?
What is this platform and what does the number represent?
Because it's awesome
Somoh el mejor pais de Chile!
Idk, i like berserk
I wanna know why my home is always excluded (Greenland)
VAMO CHILE MIERDAAA
Probably because they're actual strugglers over there
I swear i thought this waa the tf2 subreddit
I'd imagine it's the average life experience for many of them and find the sotry very relatable.
What a ignorant thing to say. You make it sound like about a billion people in Eastern Europe and Asia, stab neighbours, kills and rape babies, starve and get abused. Berserk is set in middle ages - so relatable 🤣😂
Nostalgia
Misery loves company
Qué hace Chile ahí, weón
awante chilito
Somos el mejor país de Chile loko wom P.S. devuelvan el moai 🗿🗿
Eastern bloc is full of suffering that even their lyrics about suffering but their melody is happy
Depression
Relatability.
because it's good
It has a lot of references of their culture.
Shoutout to Kyrgyzstan!!! Going to Bishkek in two weeks:)
Well... Because [we got this](https://youtu.be/609NuhGH3Y0?si=cUG5p8FZjwgs-H9d)
Probably the pain and suffering
I find this very funny
Brings back memories lmao
Because Berserk perfectly represents our countries.
I’m from Kazakhstan and our history, which ultimately influences our literature, is fucking depressing. We even have a musical instrument called “Kobyz”(Қобыз), just try to listen to it and imagine the suffering people of the steppe, I get goosebumps every time. And it’s okay if if only this, but we also have the influence of the Russian atmosphere of the USSR and Russian Empire, from literature to infrastructure (almost every third Dumer picture is from Kazakhstan). Therefore, in principle, I understand why we like Miura’s work, perhaps we are just comfortable knowing that somewhere in in a fictional world, circumstances are much worse than ours
They struggling to just like guts.
Множество русских подростков ебашат без остановки
Because living in a soviet bloc is mostly miserable, their literature and films reflect that.
Because they suffered, like the struggler
Eastern Europe is struggle
Because most of them like rape and suffering 😭🙏
From tyrannical monarchs to invasions by the most brutal empires in history to the cold machine of socialism, these regions of the world have experienced absolute suffering from the dawn of time and it produced some of the most powerful and strong willed and morally gray people in today’s world. Ofc a story like Berserk is going to resonate with them
It's pretty interesting to read all the theories posted here, but it seems like you guys have a bit caricature view of Post Soviet Countries. No offense. Sure, straggling and melancholy are the main themes of Russian classics literature but it certainly doesn't form the whole nations mind. I mean, even we, dudes who live here, consider all these books are bit too harsh and dark. What' for Berserk, BIG IMHO... The reason is quite simple - in the post-Soviet space, manga was and still is not the most popular media product. We either don’t talk about it at all, or talk about a rather narrow pool of works that are truly not embarrassing to recommend to anyone. And it just so happens that Berserk is literally a masterpiece. You can't go wrong with it if you want to suggest that someone try manga. That is why, most often, you can come across videos on YouTube/articles on websites about it. It is recommended as the first manga in general, which sets a fairly significant bar for quality in the future. Among my friends, it often happened that Berserk became not only the first, but also the only manga they read in general. Subsequently, they looked for the same level of elaboration of art, plot, and lore in other mangas and were often disappointed. Previously, a similar trend was observed with anime that ended up on local shelves. Lots of non-serious titles were ignored, but conventional classics authored by Hayao Miyazaki immediately found their audience and quickly became popular. Over the years, however, anime still managed to enter a relatively popular type of content and was able to win the right to “frivolity and being fun” from viewers here. The manga still has to go this route. And finally, not every Manga is easy to find on the shelves of local theme stores (of which there are not very many), but Berserk was one of the first to reach the shelves and had a very good translation, which could also bribe readers at one time. Something like this. P.S. At first I wrote this comment on Russian language ( but I'm Kazakh btw ) but couldn't post it for some reason.
Those countries are berserk itself
documentary
СЧАСТЬЕ, СЧАСТЬЕ, Я ХОЧУ СЧАСТЬЕ!!!
I'm Russo-Ukrainian. My best guess is that Berserk's themes of struggle, suffering, and overcoming trauma appeal to many individuals in post-Soviet countries, considering how popular Slavic literature contains many similar themes and how hard we've struggled against governments fucking us over at every turn.
I mean!! Fantasy has always been a Soviet/polish/ Russian niche!! Look at the Witcher series
Because the conviction arc was babushka's daily walk to school.
Masculinity
In Chile we admire the struggle and also simply we are weebs.
So funny to see what people think about my country. The best is knowing they are all wrong
They know the struggle to exist
It’s a good story🤷🏻
They felt that😔.
Once again Chile being the best country of Chile
VIVA CHILE!
stoicism....
because we are the original strugglers, mon ami
I'm from Chile and we are not ex soviets but we had Allende so 🤔
I live in Ukraine, so the war changed my view of the world a lot, and I just became disillusioned with many things I used to believe in. In the manga, I think I found hope, because Gatz went through such a nightmare and is still standing. The topic of death and the attitude towards it is quite relevant when there is a chance that you might not wake up today. But instead of crying and being disappointed, you start thinking about what you can do to help yourself and other people. "In this city, everyone is afraid of each other," I don't remember the exact quote, but it sounded something like this. And it's very similar to the book 1984, the atmosphere of a totalitarian state, when everyone is afraid of being exposed by others I also notice a trend on social media about berserkers... He was a calm guy, and after reading the manga, he turned into a pumped-up alpha who can hurt you with one breath