Berserk is a serial manga by Muramata (?) that has run for 18 volumes now and was made into a 25-episode anime. It is set in medieval Europe. It doesn't have high scorcery or magic fights, but rather gritty man-to-man hand-to-hand combat. That said, some magical elements exists such as fairy and their healthing power.

The protagonist Gatsu began as a black swordman roaming the land, killing demons disguised as human. He wields an incredibly big sword called the Dragon Slayer and he's very good with it. But Gatsu is no hero... in fact the title Berserk reflects adequately on his state of mind. He doesn't operate on any moral standards and doesn't always try to save the good people; he just wanted to kill the demons for his own vengence. He has a burnt mark on his neck, and it bleeds whenever demons are nearby. The story then take us through his life since birth and his reason for vengence.

This manga is very good in terms of art. Armors are painstakingly drawn and the pen strokes have lots of power. But the main reason I like this manga is it has a lot of good ideas in it that are worth thinking about. I made this page to develop some of these ideas. If there's any bad thing about the manga, it'd be it dwell on sex and violence too much at times that it becomes excessive.

Brief story synopsis

Volume 1
Gatsu the black swordman visits a town and saved a fairy Baku when he fought in a pub. Ever since Baku follows Gatsu around even though Gatsu finds that very annoying. Gatsu later was captured by the army in that town but was freed by Baku. We learnt that the landlord of the town eats people. When the landlord went out and rampaged his land just for fun, Gatsu fought him and the landlord turned into a cobra demon. Gatsu was losing, until he shot the cobra with the cannon hidden in his fake left arm. A few swings later the demon was no more. But Gatsu showed his berserk side when he cuts the demon slowly, making him scream in pain and laugh sadistically.

Volume 2
Gatsu arrives at another town and declared war on the baron of the castle in a beheading ceremony. When Gatsu was surrounded in a heated fight against the local army, he was saved by a short man who has lots of bandages on his whole body. Later he reveals that baron was a reasonable man until one day he went insane and started killing people for fun. The man himself was a doctor but was forced to participate. When he refused his family was eaten in front of him, and he was badly maimed, only to escape by faking death with the help of his pills. He showed Gatsu an egg shaped object that looks like a human face, but with facial features all scrambled in random locations. Gatsu recognized the egg as "Behelit", a stone with power to open up an alternative dimension. They were then attacked by a guard Gatsu defeated earlier in the morning, only to reveal the guard had turned into a demon too. Gatsu managed to fight until the doctor showed an escape route through a secret duct. When the group resurfaces, Gatsu took the Behelit and left, and the doctor was later captured by the baron.
Gatsu later heard rumors about the beheading ceremony to be held the next day. Baku urged Gatsu to save the doctor but Gatsu ridiculed this idea, claiming it to be more risk than its worth. On the day of the beheading, Baku found Gatsu watching in an inconspicuous corner. Baku thought Gatsu was going to save the doctor but Gatsu said he just wanted to watch his end, and if Baku wanted to save the doctor so much, he should do so on his own. Baku was very mad and charged in, hidding on the axe, fainted and was captured. The doctor begged Gatsu for vengence when his head went flying.

Volume 3
We saw Gatsu going in the cemetry in the night and look at the head of the doctor, saying he would do a good job (of killing the baron). Just then wandering spirits surrounded Gatsu and said they wanted vengence too. Gatsu screamed his fight is for his own and not for people who's already not in this world.
Back in the baron's castle, Baku was given to the baron's daughter as a pet. The baron's daughter never left her room on her father's order, though she loved her father she was also scared of him. Meanwhile Gatsu infiltrated the castle and met the guard. He finished him and ascended the tower to meet the baron, who turned into a huge demon. Gatsu had a hard time fighting it, but when baron's daughter entered the room, Gatsu took her as a hostage and got the upperhand, and soon he was cutting the baron's face bit by bit. The baron screamed out in despair and the Behelit suddenly rearranged it's facial features into a crying face with blood coming out of its eyes, and 5 mysterious figures who call themselves the "Hand of God" appeared. Gatsu called one of them Griffith and wanted to kill him, but he was almost killed. The "Hand of God" asked the baron to sacrify his daughter so that he may live, while revealing the tragic past of the baron : a loving father who have a happy family, who needed to go on long campaigns to stamp down heresy. One day he returned home early, only to find his wife and a number of people were having orgy session with a goat-headed herectic god. He slayed everyone in the room but couldn't kill his wife, but in despair he wanted to kill himself. Just then the Hand of God appear and offered him a painless way out if he can offer his wife as sacrifice. When he nodded, demons come out and ate his wife, and the baron was turned into a demon.
But this time baron could not sacrifce his daughter, and when he finally died, a bridge made by the dead came out of a huge swirl and dragged the baron into hell. Then the Hand of God left. The baron's daughter was very sad and wanted to end it all, and Gatsu gave her a knife. "Your life is your own, do whatever you please." The girl started cutting her wrist while Baku tried to stop her, just then the floor crumbled and the girl was about to fall to her death. Gatsu thrust his huge sword which the girl grabbed on dearly. Seeing she has no intention to die anymore, Gatsu left, while the girl blamed him for everything that happened and vowed to kill him one day. Gatsu welcomed the idea, but when Baku looked at Gatsu's face, he saw Gatsu was actually crying. Hiding his face, Gatsu left the town.

Volume 4
To be continued...