Ask John: Why Isn’t Berserk Considered Epic?

Question:
Would you consider Berserk an epic manga now after chapters 300-306? And why isn’t Berserk brought up in terms of epic manga like Akira, Black Jack, etc.?

Answer:
There aren’t very many manga series that I strive to stay abreast of. My interest is concentrated on anime much moreso than on manga. But Kentaro Miura’s Berserk is one of the handful of manga titles that I do follow. In fact, I’ve personally thought that Berserk moved into the territory of epic storytelling several years ago when the resurrection of the Band of the Hawk storyline began and the Berserk story expanded its scope beyond narrow focus on Gutts to detail literally world altering events. The awe associated with the casually used adjective “epic” is certainly unmistakably obvious in the story’s contemporary chapters that depict a monumental monster and a complete upheveal of the foundational principles of the human civilization depicted within the story. If the status of “epic” may be legitimately applied to any modern original manga, it certainly can and should be applied to the recent few years of story development in Berserk.

The approbation of “epic” on any manga is a matter of subjective, personal interpretation. I can’t think of any manga title that’s universally and consistently ascribed “epic” status. Akira may be frequently described thusly because of its apocalyptic imagery and broad scope. Akira may also earn the moniker frequently because it’s a very well known title. Berserk may be just as well known among manga fans, but many Americans probably aren’t aware of the stylistically change in the Berserk manga story because the change occurs well into the story, and that part of the manga story is only just beginning to reach America. Personally, I don’t recall having ever heard Tezuka’s Black Jack described as “epic.” Certainly the grand, epoch spanning vision and themes of Tezuka’s Phoenix manga may deserve the denomination of “epic,” but I would call the distinction misapplied to Black Jack.

Literally, an epic is a literary depiction of the grand struggles faced over a lengthy period of time by a heroic individual. In a more contemporary, coloquial sense, “epic” has been adopted to refer to anything that evokes a sense of cataclysmic, grandiose scale. While Black Jack might loosely qualify simply because of its length, it’s otherwise not “epic.” On the other hand, Masashi Kishimoto’s Naruto and Akira Toriyama’s Dragon Ball may be legitimately described as manga epics because they do literally depict the lengthy, larger than life exploits of singular heroic individuals. In casual, contemporary use English speakers have become much too disposed to using the term “epic” as a synonym for “excellent” instead of using it as a synonym for imagery and stories that are literally awesome – stories that depict and inspire awe. Because “epic” is most commonly associated with the revered epic poetry of ancient Greece, we tend to now think of anything “epic” as automatically exceptional. However, in actuality a manga series like Tezuka’s Black Jack, which is not an epic, still carries more critical acclaim and respect than titles like Naruto and Dragon Ball that are literal epics.

Whether or not Berserk is ascribed as an epic has nothing to do with – or should have nothing to do with – whether or not the manga is actually good. The fact that Berserk may not be frequently categorized beside other “epic” manga doesn’t mean that the series is getting disrespected or ignored. Rather, I think that the majority of English speaking manga readers and anime fans just haven’t yet become familiar with the part of the Berserk manga that best exhibits epic qualities.

On a side note, Claymore has also been getting quite epic lately.