No Guts, No Glory: the Berserk Podcast

Ryan is alive and well and ready to talk about the Egg of the Perfect World, a super-powered Mozgus and his crew of be-winged torturers ready to burn Casca at the stake, and Luca being pulled into the Egg's inner sanctum where it reveals the saddest autobiography of all time and it's plan to bring about a perfect world by sacrificing...something...

Sorry for ANOTHER late podcast! Ryan is sick and we got behind on all of our content as I adjust to life with a newborn and finals in my master's program, so thanks for your patience and understanding

We’re back after Joey’s podcast paternity leave! These chapters move like water through a nude Griffith’s bucket - action, intrigue, thrills they’ve got it all…and a sick duel between Guts and Serpico on a two foot wide cliff! Plus, a tissue-melting blood monster bursts out of the very walls of Father Mozgus’ torture chamber. What more could you want from old Berk and the boys? Follow No Guts, No...

Hey! Joey's baby boy came a few weeks early, so we very much appreciate your patience for the new episode, which will be coming next week!

It’s been quite a while, both in the original timeline of readers of the Berserk Manga, and in the lives of the characters themselves, that Guts and Casca have been in the same room with each other. Unfortunately…Casca is trapped in a room where a pagan cult is hosting a “naked party” where she will be forced to “mingle” with a half-man/half-goat demon creature with a snake boner. On a more touchi...

Farnesse…makes a mess. And we get some flashback segments that explain why. Isidro begins to share the spotlight as he tags along with Guts, and we get a major exposition/lore drop from Skull Knight about the nature of the upcoming “Festival” that just might be mimicking The Eclipse so that a certain Hawk-like figure can incarnate in flesh where there was once only incorporeal consciousness giving...

Who ever thought a Guts-free set of chapters could be so compelling?! Not us, but we were plum surprised. These chapters are setting the stage for major future events in ways we never realized on previous reads of the series. Everyone's favorite character Nina gets introduced, and we learn a lot more about Mozgus, his torturers, Luca and her colleagues, and the seemingly protective power of the De...

WE'RE F**CKING BACK!!! First appearances of Isidro (!), Luca, and the Bloody Scripture himself...Father Mozgus!

Just a quick update from Joey on the imminent return of new episodes!

-- SPOILERS BEGIN AT 1HR, 5MIN MARK (1:05) -- Our review is Spoiler Free up until that point, so enjoy, watch the show and come back for the rest! Steve is recovering from a long weekend out of town, so Ryan and I decided to cover another massively critically acclaimed manga/anime by Naoki Urasawa that really made an impact on us: Monster. We cover Dr. Kenzo Tenma's journey to "right" the "wrong"...

Visions in hypnagogic states, deep introspection, and the ouroboros of prophecy vs. causality abound in these chapters as we learn more about Farnesse’s religiously driven sexual repression, Zodd’s first interaction with his new and future master, and Guts getting an emotional truth-bomb dropped on his face for leaving Casca and Rickert alone for two years so he could selfishly focus on revenge. M...

The Holy Iron Chain chapters of the Conviction Arc present some really cool dynamics into the characters, story, and world building of Berserk - namely the almost “anti-Casca” that is Farnesse. We also get the juxtaposition of the Holy See’s perceived religious mythology with Guts and Puck’s very much lived experiences. Faith vs. Horror, Light is Dark, Dark is light, etc. Very rich stuff here. Ooo...

Rosine bears down on Guts at supersonic speeds (literally) and their final showdown begins! These chapters (that were too long to list in the title of the podcast: A BLOODY NIGHT SKY, THE SPACE BETWEEN DEMON AND MAN, FIREFLY, THE WAY HOME, BLUE SKY ELF, THE BEAST OF DARKNESS), cover Guts' triumph over Rosine, Jill's triumph over her fears of living in her abusive home/town...and the Beast of Darkn...

The battle against Rosine (and her child-elf minions) continues, with Puck trying to convince Jill to not succumb to Rosine’s fanciful temptations…and Guts just killing more and more children with murderous glee. We get some of the raddest and goriest scenes thus far, plus the appearance of Guts’ signature Super Cannon Sword Whirlwind Attack to deal with those Ugly Buglies once and for all. Enjoy!...

Boy have we got some sceeeeeenes with Queeeeeeen Rosiiiiiiiine! Rosine full reveals herself (and it’s definitely disturbing) to Guts, Jill and Puck, and she’s pretty ticked off that Guts has been killing her little “Ugly Buglies,” as we have dubbed them. The horrific realization that the Ugly Buglies might be (now former) “Kuddly Kiddos” is a shock to Guts, for sure…but does that stop further chil...

The Conviction Arc begins!!! We have finally struggled through the Eclipse and the world-establishing epilogue immediately after, and now we are back to Black Swordsman Guts wrecking shop with the dragon slayer! Puck and his beautiful butt cheeks are back, as well as his cheeky comic relief, as Guts faces off with the fairy-like denizens of The Misty Valley, where helps an abused girl named Jill....

In the aftermath of The Eclipse, Guts must choose how to move forward with new limitations and truths. These chapters are exposition-heavy, but fascinating in how they establish the “new normal” of Berserk from here on out. The Golden Age Arc is the most well-known arc for sure, and the story becomes much more dynamic as new challenges and characters are introduced into Guts’ merry band of travele...

(COVERS THESE CHAPTERS: STORM OF DEATH, GOD OF THE ABYSS, LIFEBLOOD, QUICKENING, BIRTH, AFTERGLOW OF THE RIGHT EYE, ESCAPE) We have arrived. The "main events" of the Eclipse transpire during this episode, and we basically go page by page and find (in our humble opinion) a ton of nuance that tends to be missed because these sections tend to be...read "quickly" for lack of a better term, and for obv...

(COVERS THESE CHAPTERS: The Promised Time, Advent, The Inhuman Host, The Castle, Parting, The Feast) We’re in the thick of it now ladies and gents: these chapters ultimately form the first half of the events of The Eclipse in all it’s betrayal and blood filled glory. This chunk of chapters focuses on the reveal of the Godhand, the lore of The Eclipse and the Crimson Behelit, and ultimately Griffit...

Sorry there's no new episode this week! It was Memorial Day here in the states and we tried to record over the long weekend but our schedules just couldn't line up. Sorry for the delay, but we'll be back this Monday to dive deep into the Eclipse proper - Love you, and struggle on!

Welp, here we are: the precipice of The Eclipse. These chapters are the (in our opinion) the true final pages of The Golden Age Arc, before the skies go dark on our intrepid hero, Guts, and his followers…forever. We see the end of Wyald at the hands of Zodd; Casca and Guts acquiescing to their guilt and vowing to stay behind to take care of our disabled “Hawk boss;” and Griffith taking the reins (...

It’s time to get WYALD…AGAIN, baby! This apostle fight is a long one, but Miura is using our monkey-fied friend in dynamic fashion: to give Guts something more monstrous to fight than even 100 men, sure, but also as an intricate foreshadowing tool for a forthcoming major sun-darkening event, as well as a major mouthpiece for exposition and lore. We definitely had some technical issues with this on...

Canonical Berserk Chapters: 059, 60, 61, 62, 63. It’s time to get WYALD baby! The Black Dog Knights have been sent to pursue the core members of the Band of the Hawk as they whisk away Griffith back to safety. Something is a bit…off…about Wyald, the BDK’s leader. Guts suspects he’s an apostle, thought maybe his horrific ape like appearance might have given that away initially? This is a long battl...

The Band of the Hawk's key players (minus Rickert) find Griffith in his sorriest state at the bottom of the pit under the Tower of Rebirth, and the escape plan is on! The king sends feared Kushan assassins - the Bakiraka - to take them down, as well as dozens of his own knights. The pain of seeing Griffith mangled beyond belief activates, for the first time, Guts' true rage, and we see Miura's fir...

New love has given way to death…horrific…cannibalistic death. Can Rickert slap his way out of being devoured by some impatient apostles? Can Guts, Casca and crew actually find Griffith’s torture cell at the bottom of a thousand year old hole? Can ANYONE actually claim that Skull Knight isn’t Supreme King Gaiseric? All that and more on this intrepid episode of your favorite new Berserk podcast! Fol...