Berserk (1997)

## Berserk (1997) **Berserk** (剣風伝奇ベルセルク, *Kenpū Denki Beruseruku*) is a 1997 anime television series produced by OLM, adapted from Kentaro Miura's legendary manga series. It remains one of the most celebrated dark fantasy adaptations in anime history and is frequently cited as one of the best TV anime ever made. The 1997 series covers the "Golden Age" arc of the manga — universally considered its finest arc — and tells a story of ambition, brotherhood, and catastrophic betrayal that is among the most emotionally devastating in the medium. In a brutal medieval world consumed by war, the wandering mercenary Guts is a man who has always fought alone — with a massive sword almost too large to lift and no allegiance but to his own survival. His path crosses with Griffith, the charismatic, white-haired leader of the Band of the Hawk — an elite mercenary company whose ferocity and brilliance have turned the tide of a kingdom's war. Guts defeats Griffith in a duel and, by the terms of their contest, is bound to the Band. What follows is years of brotherhood, glory, and war. Guts discovers for the first time what it means to belong somewhere. But Griffith's relentless ambition — his dream of ruling a kingdom of his own — will eventually exact a price that no one could have imagined. The series ends at what is possibly the most shocking moment in all of anime history.