The late Kentaro Miura's hit seinen manga series Berserk quickly became a landmark in dark fantasy. Its gritty mercenary hero Guts is a seemingly invincible swordsman who's burning for revenge and retribution. He is famed for bearing a massive, solid iron sword called the dragon slayer, and has a few additional weapons in his arsenal. Could anyone hope to challenge him?
Guts could find his true equal in the thuggish but brilliant Captain Kenpachi Zaraki, a deadly swordsman from Tite Kubo's shonen series Bleach. In some ways, Ichigo Kurosaki is more like Guts, being a moody antihero with dark clothes and a huge sword on his back. Who would win this titanic match?
The Weapons & Rage of Berserk's Guts
Guts used ordinary swords for a time in Berserk, but after Griffith betrayed the Midland king and sacrificed the Band of the Hawk to become Femto, Guts had to start all over. He lost an eye and a hand but gained the dragon slayer, a massive and heavy sword that no one else can wield properly. In fact, Guts needs only one hand to swing the dragon slayer, though he can use both for added power if needed. He has a prosthetic left hand and forearm made of metal, and the hand is magnetic so he can maintain his sword grip.
The dragon slayer sword is thick, heavy and sharp, and most characters who see it think it's more like a raw iron slab than a true weapon. However, this sword can dance all over the battlefield, cleaving apart armored knights, horses and apostles alike, and it can even cut ghosts and supernatural beings while in Guts' hands. Despite the dragon slayer's extreme size and weight, he can swing it around with astonishing speed, and his technique is highly refined on both offense and defense.
However, Guts can perform ranged attacks when needed, including throwing knives, a technique Judeau taught him. He can also attach a crank-operated crossbow on his prosthetic arm to rapidly fire bolts at the enemy, and if his metal hand is lowered, he can expose a small cannon and fire a single cannonball.
Later in Berserk, Guts has access to the berserker armor, which boosts his speed and strength even more by suppressing and altering his sensation of pain. The armor can hold his broken bones in place, but it doesn't properly heal him, and Guts can go completely out of control if he doesn't have someone to support him.
The Zanpakuto & Fighting Philosophy Of Bleach's Kenpachi Zaraki
Kenpachi Zaraki's life was forever changed when, as a boy, he came upon a fallen Soul Reaper's zanpakuto and claimed it as his own. He soon fought the thuggish Captain Yachiru Unohana and narrowly lost, but later became a Soul Reaper just like her. Kenpachi slew the previous Squad 11 Captain to assume his rank and has been fine-tuning his swordplay ever since. He doesn't even use kido spells at all in Bleach -- instead, he focuses entirely on swords, and it has paid off.
The talented swordsman has an incredibly strong spiritual pressure, allowing him to slow down or crush most foes before they can even fight back. Combined with Kenpachi's extreme natural durability and his ability to ignore serious injuries, he's nearly impossible to put down in battle. Getting injured is not a cause of concern to him, merely proof that the fight is an even match and therefore exciting. Still, Kenpachi will block or evade enemy blows if he must, and he is rather fast for his size.
Kenpachi is a master of the sword who loves battle and therefore holds back during a fight to prolong it. Eventually, though, he will fight at full power with both hands, and even learned the name of his shikai, Nozarashi, not long after slaying Unohana in battle. As his fight with Gremmy Thoumeaux proved, Nozarashi, taking the form of a huge cleaver, can cut absolutely anything in Bleach -- even the void of space or a massive meteor burning its way to the ground.
Berserk's Guts Vs Bleach's Kenpachi - Who Wins?
As the two swordsmen exchange blows, Kenpachi will hold back at first -- but he can't afford to keep that up. Guts has the tenacity, skill and bloodlust to rival his Bleach opponent, so Kenpachi will remove his eyepatch to release more of his power. That, along with his dense spiritual pressure, can keep the Berserk swordsman at bay and allow Kenpachi to go on the offensive. Guts can evade the attacks, but only narrowly, and his return fire with arrows and cannonballs is unlikely to hit Kenpachi or do much damage.
Guts needs more power, fast. He might try to don his berserker armor, but Kenpachi can retort with his shikai -- and if Kenpachi can cleave a giant meteor with ease, he can slash apart berserker-armored Guts, too. Bleach's Kenpachi would win the duel.