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Berserk Story Summary (Anime)
The Black Swordsman
At the start of the Berserk anime we see a mysterious man who calls himself The Black Swordsman (aka Guts) entering a town, seeking to battle the town's ruler. In a rage, and to draw Guts to him, the evil ruler starts burning the town and slaughtering people. Guts shows up and apparently kills the ruler. However the ruler then turns into a huge lizard monster and proceeds to beat Guts to within an inch of his life. Just as Guts looks to be dead, he blows a hole in the monster with a hidden arm cannon. Guts then grabs his huge sword and cuts the monster in half.
Guts
The story then flashes back to a castle which is under siege. The castle is occupied by a group of young mercenaries (The Band of The Hawk) lead by a young man named Griffith. Defending the castle's entrance is a huge knight. A young Guts shows up and kills the knight in one on one combat to collect the reward money.
Later we see Guts walking alone when he is ambushed by some of The Hawks. Although outnumbered, Guts easily defeats them. Griffith, who is watching, orders his second in command, Caska, a young woman, to go fight Guts. Guts nearly kills Caska but Griffith intervenes and defeats Guts instantly.
A wounded Guts awakes in The Hawks camp and goes looking for Griffith to get his revenge. Guts wants to kill Griffith in a duel, but Griffith makes him promise to join The Hawks if he loses. Eventually Griffith wins, forcing Guts to join.
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The Hawks
In his first mission with The Hawks, Griffith gives Guts a role of great responsibility. Guts is very successful in his role, winning the support and respect of the members of The Hawks. However he does not win over Caska who dislikes Guts a great deal. As time goes on the two argue bitterly. Caska who loves Griffith, does not know what he sees in Guts and thinks that Guts' recklessness only jeopardises Griffith's goal of rising to power and becoming a king.
In a flashback we see how Guts began life. A group of mercenaries finds Guts as a baby, newly born from the corpse of his dead mother. The wife of Gambino, a mercenary, takes Guts in as her son. Years later she dies, leaving Gambino to raise Guts. We see Guts learning to fight alongside the mercenaries even though he is just a child and his sword is as big as him. Although Guts loves Gambino as a father, Gambino is cruel and harsh on Guts, believing the child to be cursed and blaming him for his wife's death. One night Gambino attacks Guts in a rage and Guts accidentally kills him in defense. The mercenaries run Guts out of the camp, trying to kill him. Though just a boy Guts must survive on his own.
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We flash back and see that as time has gone on, The Hawks have had great success and their status has become legendary. The Hawks even earn recognition from the King of Midland, the country where The Hawks live. Griffith is knighted for the help The Hawks give Midland in the war against the neighbouring country of Tudor.
In one battle Guts meets a huge monster called Zodd the Immortal. Guts nearly dies but Griffith comes to rescue him. Zodd notices a strange amulet around Griffith's neck, and after warning Guts that Griffith will cause Guts' own death, Zodd flies away.
Following another great victory, Griffith is promoted to Count. Griffith plans to win the heart of the King's daughter, the Princess, and one day marry her as he knows this will be the simplest way to one day become King. Meanwhile jealousy of Griffith's fast rise to power is arising amongst the Midland nobles. General Yurius, the King's brother, conspires with a minister to assasinate Griffith. However Griffith survives the assasination attempt, and in response secretly sends Guts to assasinate General Yurius.
In another battle against Tudor, Guts and Caska become separated from The Hawks. They end up spending some time alone together and talking, as they have to hide in a cave over night to survive. Caska tells of how Griffith took her into The Band of the Hawk when she was alone as a little girl. Guts and Caska are then ambushed by a 100 man Tudor army. Guts protects Caska and stays and fights so that she can escape and bring reinforcements. However, when the reinforcements return they find that Guts has killed the 100 men on his own.
Later at camp, Guts and Caska talk and Guts reveals his feelings of one day wanting to leave the Hawks. He feels like it has always just been him and his sword, and that fighting is all he's ever known. He does not want to just follow another's dream forever.
The Hawks achieve a great victory which means the end of the 100 year war against Tudor. Because of this Griffith is promoted to general and given supreme command of the Midland Army. Also because of this, another assasination is conspired, this time with the involvment of the Queen. Again the attempt is foiled and Griffith kills the conspirators in revenge, including the Queen.
Feeling that The Hawks have achieved their aim, Guts attempts to leave. Caska is shocked as she realises how much she wants Guts not to leave. Griffith refuses to allow Guts to leave, and forces him to win his freedom in a duel, just as Griffith won him with a duel at the beginning. Guts wins the duel and leaves The Hawks.
Griffith Imprisoned
Devastated by Guts' departure and in a moment of madness, Griffith goes to the bedroom of the Princess, who has now fallen in love with him, and seduces her. Griffith is captured by the King's guards and imprisoned for this.
Guts lives with the blacksmith who made his sword and the blacksmith's daughter. After a long time Guts learns of Griffith's imprisonment and that The Hawks have been declared outlaws and that they are now lead by Caska and are on the run. Guts comes to their aid as they are being attacked and saves Caska's life.
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Caska is angry at Guts for deserting them and blames him for Griffith's imprisonment and she attacks him. She then tries to fall off a cliff but Guts saves her. She then kisses him and confesses to him the feelings she realised she had for him the day that he left. They plan to leave The Hawks together after they have rescued Griffith.
Caska and Guts break into the castle's dungeon and rescue Griffith. However Griffith has been badly tortured and his body is broken and he cannot even speak anymore. Back at the camp The Hawks begin to fall apart as they realise that Griffith can never lead them again. At this moment Guts realises that being with The Hawks was what he had wanted all along afterall.
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Hell
A despairing Griffith hallucinates and tries to kill himself but his blood falls on his magical amulet and triggers a supernatural eclipse. Next thing, The Hawks are all in hell. They are surrounded by monsters and four beings known as members of the god hand. Apparently Griffith is the fifth and final member of the god hand. To be reborn as one of the god hand, Griffith must sacrifice all of The Hawks' lives. A giant hand rises up out of the ground taking Griffith with it.
Griffith sees a vision of himself as a child wanting to go visit the castle. As he gets closer to the castle he sees that the path is made up of dead bodies. An old woman tells him that the only way to the castle is to walk on the path made of the bodies. To complete the path, he must sacrifice more lives. At this moment he sees Guts. We hear Griffith's thoughts that out of all the tens of thousands of comrades and enemies, Guts was the only one who ever obscured his vision of his dream. Nevertheless Griffith declares he will sacrifice The Hawks. The hand then closes up with Griffith inside.
The monsters all begin to devour The Hawks. Eventually only Caska and Guts are left alive. Just as Caska is about to be killed the giant hand opens up and Griffith, reborn as a winged demon, flies out and lands before Guts. Griffith then rapes Caska in front of Guts. Enraged, Guts tries to rush forward to kill Griffith but is held down by the monsters. A claw of one of the monsters digs into Guts' right eye, blinding him and making blood flow from it. Guts screams.
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Aftermath
After the credits we see Guts leaving the blacksmith with a new sword. Things have now come full circle, as he looks like he did in the first episode as the Black Swordsman.
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