Berserk Volume 20: A Very Thrilling Read

Mozgus starts off this volume by alerting us he is the main bad guy to take down as carries an unconscious Casca in his arms. As Isidro and Luca’s friends struggle with Mozgus gang, Guts is struggling to make it in time, and Farnese is struggling to make it to him in time as they race up the stairs. Luca even ends up getting saved by Skull Knight, one of the most bizarre sentences I have seen in my life. And Guts makes it in time to see Mozgus carrying Casca. Something I say a lot with the Conviction arc: a lot is happening but Miura makes it all feel so little. The best artist is able to grasp extremely convoluted situations and make them look simple. And Miura really excels at this here.

Now Guts must plow threw Mozgus’s gang before even reaching him, much less saving Casca and Luca is stuck talking to not any egg, but the one Griffith had as a necklace. Something seems to be going down. As Guts fights on, to Farnese, it’s become something more: a subtle wake-up call for her beliefs. The city soon starts noticing these terrors and it feels like an Eclipse is just taking over the world. Farnese, through this chaos, trips and is saved by the brilliant Serpico at the last minute.

Somehow Guts fight with Mozgus’s supporters mean nothing as he is back to square one. He must plough through these demons or Casca will be burned at the stake. This volume knows how to raise the stakes now and then, doesn’t it? Aside from hinting for what’s about to happen later, that concludes the twentieth volume of Berserk. Much less happens than volume nineteen, as major chunks of this volume are dedicated to action scenes, that while entertaining, don’t do much for the brain. Nonetheless, it’s hard to be super critical when you see panels like this every couple of seconds.