The Legacy of Beserk

A legend has passed

On the 20th of May 2021 it was announced that the legendary Mangaka Kentaro Muira had died a few weeks earlier, shocking just about everyone in the Manga and anime community to their core. Muria was only 54 at the time, characterising news like this as quite alarming and certainly unexpected, but beyond that comes the innate sadness that the creator of the legendary Beserk franchise has passed. Across the internet people mourned in their own ways, from simple posts to extravagant and populous virtual wakes in Final Fantasy XVI. And I personally feel the empty pit in entertainment left behind. I remember hearing a fan remark how Beserk was a series that had started before they were alive and would end after they had died, and I'm not sure if that latter will still hold true, but certainly it's legacy will maintain it as one of the most referenced and influential manga's of all time. It has been a very remorseful week in the meanwhile.

Personally, though, I will admit it's a little strange to feel so affected by this passing considering that I had never, at any point in my life, actually read Beserk, watched either of it's adaptations, played any of it's games, or just interacted with that direct world ever. I had heard of the series, of course I had, but it's one of those that I'd never gotten around to and now sort of feel pressured to rectify that. But even that new-found pressure doesn't explain why the initial shock hit me so hard. I think a part of that comes from my new found love of another hugely influential manga series in Jojo's Bizarre Adventure, which is similarly maintained by a lauded creative head who's certainly been around the scene for a long time considering he is now... 60?! Hirohiko Araki is 60? (I mean... either he's put on the stone mask or he's a Harmon practitioner, because that face looks late 20's at most.) But the other part of my reaction comes from the way in which Kentaro Muira's seminal work, Beserk, as I hinted, has influenced so many staples of gaming that I love to this day.

Following the journey of a mercenary called Guts, Beserk is an epic fantasy tale telling the journey of this orphan's life across a dark gothic world meeting friends and foes, and making the worst foes out of friends. Perhaps what I know the story best for, at least personally, is one period wherein a character boarded a ship for a far away land and it took them around 8 years to get there. That was in real time, by-the-by. (Thus is the consequence of waiting for incremental chapter updates from a perfectionist.) The story has yet to be treated to a regular anime dedicated to covering it's every step, the current anime has only released 2 seasons in the space of 5 years. (Which I guess could be seen as overarching perfectionism getting in the way of content production) However what's already there has bought to life significant chunks of the story and birthed at least one theme so iconic you probably don't even realise that you recognise it. (That's Gut's Theme by-the-way, look it up)

So now you know what it is, you probably want to know if it's influenced anything you've heard of. Well off the bat I think it's safe to say that one of the most famous titles it influenced, to the point where fans have speculated that the entire series exists as the creator's own unofficial adaption/interpretation of Beserk, is Dark Souls. That's right, the king of Gothic decay actually borrowed it's heart and spirit from Beserk, such to the point where they even included the iconic weapon of Guts as one of the staple swords you can find and enchant in the game. There's plenty of thematic parallels that people have picked out over the years, but overall the consensus is that if you want to feel like you're in the world of Beserk, Dark Souls might just be the closet thing to it. Again, I stress that I'm sharing the opinion of others here as I cannot attest to the similarities personally, but that's what I've heard insisted.

Another such influence was actually the classic Capcom series Castlevania, although that's more in reference to the world and story built retroactively for the franchise rather than for the original games themselves. As much as those games did have unmistakable gothic elements running in their veins, they were still a long way from the indepth development that the series enjoys today. Now, steeped in written literature, tons of story heavy entries for the franchise and a recently wrapped up Netflix series that is said to be excellent, it's easier to see the ways in which this dark fantasy owes it's heritage to Beserk. At least, that explains the ever so sleight similarities in tone that Castlevania shares with Dark Souls, even if Dark Souls is notably more hardline.

But I realise that, despite both of their meteoric rises in the past decade, both of those examples can still technically be considered 'niche'. I mean even then they both certainly fall on the heavy end of the concept of 'niche', but not everyone is familiar with the vampire series or the punish-you-till-you-cry games. What if I mentioned a series that's a lot more common with the regular folk; like Final Fantasy? That's right, apparently FF itself owes a lot to the legendary manga series; and even saying that I feel like that's something I should have already known. I mean just look at Cloud's Buster sword from FF7, surely there's a bit of a reference there? And that's not mention several of the character design parallels which may now be known as tropes but back then had real paths of influence and iteration. And I know for a fact that Nier and Drakengard both have directly credited Beserk for the fallen world they both depict, as celebrated with a refence here and there in both series.

And finally I want to sink back into obscurity to talk about a series which only I love, but it has Beserk influences so that's my excuse to drag it into the light once more. So Dragon's Dogma (Who's booing?) is another case of a game that I low-key think was trying to stealthy adapt Beserk without asking permission, I mean that just looking at the whole look of the rolling hills of the world, the choice of classical monsters with conceptual twists or amplifications, the general apparel of the world's inhabitants, the general premise of being a impromptu leader of a gang of mercenaries who wonders the land doing oddjobs. Only, I'd imagine that the stealth adaptation might have hit a bit of a snag when the team literally partnered with Beserk to bring two whole armour sets into the game directly modelled off of Guts and Griffith's iconic clothes. (Thems some powerful influences)

Though the manga series of Beserk may now have been prematurely cut sort in the wake of this, as I doubt anyone is going to to try and take it over with how personally driven and uniquely spirited these lauded Manga stories tend to be; the legacy of Beserk will continue to touch our entertainment lives in a plethora of different ways. Games, Manga and Stories will forever continue to me made with a tinge of Muira's legacy to them, and that's about as pervasive and lasting of a legacy as one man could possibly hope to have. So even though I was never as close with your work as I could have been, I bid a fond farewell and thank you to Kentaro Muira in the knowledge that we all we see his spirit and works through the stories that we love.