Based on the hit manga by Kentaro Miura, Berserk was first adapted into an anime in 1997. Since then, there have been numerous video games, a film trilogy, and an underwhelming sequel anime. The series follows the character Guts, a soldier who wields a massive greatsword, fighting bloody conflicts with the mercenary troop known as the Band of the Hawk.
Berserk is known for mixing extreme violence with intimate character moments, intense feudal politics, and heady philosophical discourse, all followed by more violence. One fascinating aspect of the story is how it explores the juxtaposition of the horrors and glories of medieval warfare. With respect to both, here are the ten best fights in Berserk.
10 Bazuso
When still in his early teens, Guts helps take part in besieging a castle. After breaking into the courtyard, his army is stopped by a single armor-clad defender wielding a massive ax, the legendary knight Bazuso.
Bazuso cuts men down in the narrow castle courtyard, using the space to his advantage. Guts attacks the knight, swinging his own oversized sword with such speed and ferocity that he drives the famed knight backward. His sword cracks Bazuso's ax while they fight, and as the knight attacks, the ax shatters against Guts' helmet instead of decapitating him. Two sword strokes later, Bazuso fell. It may be luck, but at least Guts can keep his head in the heat of battle.
9 Dueling Griffith
After taking his pay for killing Bazuso, Guts sets out on his own. On the road, he is attacked by bandits—actually a rival mercenary band who was defending the other castle. Guts is eventually defeated by the leader of the mercenaries and stabbed in the chest. Soon after, he awakes in their encampment, his wounds treated.
The mercenaries are the Band of the Hawk. Their leader, Griffith, wants to recruit Guts, who agrees to serve Griffith—so long as the handsome mercenary leader bests him in combat. Griffith eventually bests Guts, entwining their fates from that moment forward.
8 Securing the Bridge
This fight is not in the manga, being unique to the 1997 anime. It is one of several new scenes created by the studio to flesh out plot and characters.
An enemy castle is situated on the far side of a bridge. Any army that tries to attack must cross this narrow bridge as a fortified gatehouse before them unleashes a storm of crossbows and cannons. Griffith demonstrates his military genius by rallying his forces in front of an enemy castle, while a small contingent sneak in the back. Also, the villain Adon defends the fort, fleshing out his character.
7 Zodd the Immortal
At its core, Berserk is a horror series. While most of the anime focuses on the Hawks fighting in a war for the country of Midland, the first episode deals with Guts as an older one-eyed one-armed demon hunter. The rest of the series is a flashback, showing how he became the Black Swordsman seen in the opening. A pivotal part of that is the fight with Zodd the Immortal.
Guts enters an enemy castle and finds Zodd standing amid the broken corpses of fifty dead Hawks. Guts quickly realizes he is desperately outmatched as Zodd flings him about the room with ease. Eventually, Guts gets a lucky blow in after snapping Zodd's sword. Then Zodd reveals his true form. When Griffith intervenes, Zodd spots the red behelit pendant hanging from Griffith's neck. Seeing this, he departs, warning that one day, Griffith will eventually destroy Guts.
6 Assassination of Yurius
This is one of the more intense scenes in the early parts of the anime, which is saying a lot, as the characters have already survived a literal demon and an attempted assassination against Griffith. In fact, Griffith realizes it had to be the king's brother, Yurius, who tried to have him killed. So, he asks his best friend to kill the nobleman. Guts agrees.
Killing Yurius is a straightforward process. Guts breaks into the lord's home and dispatches him. The nobleman's son enters, discovering his father's murder. Guts impales the boy to silence him, but too late. The boy cries out, alerting the guards as Guts stares in horror at the innocent life he's just taken. Then he proceeds to fight his way out of the fortress, desperately holding a hood across his face to conceal his identity.
5 Battle Over the Cliff
This fight is the first massive cavalry battle where the Hawks fight alongside the other armies of Midland. Knights from different companies charge against the enemy atop a grassy hill. One of Griffiths's commanders, the female captain Casca, enters the battle while suffering a fever. She engages Adon--the enemy general whom the Hawks had defeated at the bridge fort.
Adon drives Casca to the edge of a cliff. Her men try to rescue her, but Adon cuts them down with his halberd. All about, the battle rages. Thankfully, Guts fights his way to her and saves her, just before she passes out from the fever. As Guts catches her, Adon shoots him with a crossbow and, with Guts holding onto Casca, both plummet over the cliff into the river below.
4 Hundred Man Fight
After they go over the cliff, Guts and Casca struggle to reunite with the Band of the Hawk. Both are injured, but the enemy is scouting for their location, determined to kill the two commanders while they're vulnerable.
Adon finds them, bringing a host of one hundred mercenaries to attack. Guts and Casca fight back to back, killing their opponents as they come in waves. Eventually, Casca realizes Guts is getting repeatedly injured to protect her from harm. He lets her make a run for it as he takes on the main host. When she finally returns with help, she finds Guts lying against a tree, bleeding from countless wounds. A hundred corpses surround him. Somehow, he's still breathing.
3 Siege of Doldrey
This is the final battle of the whole war. After years of fighting, the Band of the Hawk lead the victory charge against Chuder's capital. The city is defended by General Boscogn—the most powerful warrior in the whole country. Another general guarding the city is Adon, who drove Casca and Guts over the cliff. Finally, there is Governor Gennon--an old pederast whom Griffith once slept with to help secure funding for the Hawks.
Every enemy in this fight is a foil to the heroes. On top of that, the Hawks are completely outnumbered. Without spoiling the details, this is the climax the war deserves!
2 Freeing Griffith
Upon their triumphant return, Griffith and the Hawks are honored for their service, but Guts is done fighting with them. He wants to set out on his own. Years later, Guts returns when he learns the Band of the Hawk is being hunted by the Kingdom of Midland as enemies of the state. His old allies inform him they are about to rescue Griffith, who is being held in a dungeon.
Guts' departure broke Griffith emotionally. Grieving, he recklessly seduced the princess, a crime for which he was locked away. Guts and the others find him a broken ruined thing, having endured years of torture. Guards swarm the Hawks, trying to stop their escape. What makes this fight so harrowing is the knowledge that whatever happens, they've already lost.
1 Eclipse
After being rescued, Griffith tries to kill himself. He fails and bleeds onto the behelit—that gem around Griffith's neck which Zodd noticed—at which point the world goes red around him and his fellow Hawks as the demonic pantheon of the Godhand appear before them, along with other lesser demons.
The Godhand tell Griffith he can have all he ever wanted and join their ranks just so long as he sacrifices the Band of the Hawk. He agrees. The demons begin to eat the Hawks, ripping them to bloody sinews. Guts, armed with a dagger, desperately fights for his life. By the end, Griffith has transformed into a godlike demon, while Guts is turned into the one-armed one-eyed demon hunter known after that day as the Black Swordsman.