“I don’t REALLY want to talk about the rape theme that runs through this series, but I’m going to. Here, buried in volume 27.
For starters: not continuing through a series because of the presence of something you don’t like is fine. There are like a billion series out there, and what I’m about to write isn’t an attempt to force, or even encourage, people to read something that’s just not their jam.
Berserk contains rape and sexual violence of a very graphic nature.
What I want to say is that something like rape can be present in a series, even present fairly often, and that doesn’t make the series bad, unreadable, or unenjoyable for all.
1. Historic Context
In Medieval Europe, rape was not an uncommon thing. I can link to a ton of sources, but it’s really not interesting to debate because it’s pretty hard to deny that rape was something that women had to contend with on a pretty regular basis in that time and place. I think all we need to say here is that it’s not super inappropriate for the time and place of Berserk. It’s not like it was added on in a context where it makes no sense.
2. Artist’s Prerogative
An artist can definitely choose to deviate from history and remove rape from the equation. I mean, it’s not like Berserk is 100% historically accurate. At least, I sure as hell hope not. By that same token, I think it’s an artist’s prerogative to tell the story they want to tell, the way they want to tell it, so that (enormous sword) cuts both ways: If an artist feels something like rape is present in their story, they can choose to add it in where it didn’t really happen, whitewash it where it did, or do any number of things within the context of that decision and the fictional narrative. Part of the artist’s job is to make a huge series of decisions about where to go with reality and where to fictionalize, and some of those decisions will be to our taste, and some won’t.
3. The First
The first rape (I think) in the series is of our young hero, Guts, and it definitely fucks him up something fierce. It causes a huge rift between him and his father figure (not the rapist, but responsible for the situation), and it’s a central part of the struggle the character has through the series thus far. It was shocking, affecting, and while unpleasant, is a big part of the story.
4. Including and About
I wouldn’t say I’m a fan of rape in any story, but my least favorite version is in a lot of 80’s shitty action movies where a character is raped unnecessarily. And by “unnecessarily” I mean that the character could have been NOT raped and it wouldn’t change the story at all. In Berserk, there are rapes that have super significant impact on the story and the characters, and I’m of the opinion that this lends a lot of weight to these incidents. The ongoing ripples from these incidents are key components of the story, not just set dressing. They sometimes happen to central characters, not just side characters who ultimately don’t matter. I think that’s the thing: The sexual violence matters beyond the act. It has meaning and impact.
5. Types of Horrors
I think Berserk is kind of a polyhorror, a horror that does not shy away from any type of horrific situation or act. The violence is blood-saturated and rendered in excruciating detail. The horrifying things that are done to characters seem to have no end. The monsters’ forms are revolting. The behavior of some characters is absolutely villainous on every level. There is no kind of horror or act that is off the table in Berserk, and I think that’s kind of what makes it work: it can always get worse. I don’t think this mandates the presence of sexual violence, but I do think sexual violence is well within the parameters of the tone set by the book.
6. Nothing Is Good
Something that works about Berserk is that the world of Berserk is pretty awful all around. Early on, one of the most memorable characters is a very pathetic man who meets an awful fate, which establishes some things about this world and its inhabitants. Life is very cheap in Berserk, and I kind of think one of the book’s central themes is exploring how one can have meaning and purpose in a world where human life is so readily discarded. It’s a narrative with HEAVY contrast between good times and bad where the bad times are absolutely horrific and the good times are just pretty okay, and while not the only option, I think the presence of sexual violence serves this contrast.
7. Colonization
When we talk about colonization, we’re talking about someone applying western cultural and taste standards to non-western cultures and people. I do not know enough about Japanese culture to know what the lines are in fictional comics, but I suspect the lines are not the same as those we have in the U.S., based on some of the graphic violence and sexualization that seem more common in manga and would be fairly outrageous in American comics. Regardless, for me to decide that rape is inappropriate in Berserk would be me applying a set of western ideologies and values to a non-western work. That doesn’t sit right with me, and it shouldn’t sit right with anyone. I know, it’s an odd line, and there are times when I do think that my western values are the values everyone should have, especially when we’re talking about matters of life and death. But we’re not talking about me asking Japanese people to apply my values because rape is rampant in Japanese culture and they don’t care (at best, being SUPER generous to the U.S., sexual violence is still more common in the U.S., and being realistic, the U.S. probably has no room to talk). We’re talking about applying my values of taste to a fictional narrative. I think that reading Japanese comics has been a wonderful cultural experience for me, and that doesn’t mean I’m always going to be pleased. Having experiences with cultures other than the ones you come from is almost guaranteed to be a mixed bag of things you like and things you don’t, and it becomes a colonization issue when you try and smooth away those things that you don’t care for so much. I DO want to reiterate: It’s fine to apply your values to your personal reading choices. It’s not “colonization” to not read something or dislike something you read because it goes against your personal or cultural values. It becomes colonization when you decide that it’s not for you, and therefore it’s not for anybody. Or when you decide that something that doesn’t meet your values is objectively bad.
8. Fiction Isn’t Real Life
I understand arguments that will say fictional depiction of acts may cause those acts to increase in real life, but this has never been definitively shown to be true, mostly in the context of violence and video games. The book Is Art Good For Us? by Joli Jensen lays this all out really nicely, both in a hard stats way and in a philosophical way. In general, I don’t think fiction is obligated to play within the rules of real life, I don’t think fiction can reasonably be expected to be a problem-solving tool, and I don’t think there’s anything wrong with fiction going to a place that, in real life, we shouldn’t.
9. Carrots and Sticks
I understand that a lot of folks examine sexual assaults in narratives as motivations for male characters to do things. I can see interpretations of events in Berserk going both ways and having plenty of justification for their position(s).
10. Berserk Works
I’m not easily shocked, and I have been shocked multiple times by Berserk, by the violence, the sexual content, in addition to the twists and turns of story.
I think Berserk’s aesthetic could be mistaken for edgelord nonsense, but it’s my opinion that it’s better understood as a book that takes things to an extreme place in order to spool out a very human story.
Berserk, to me, is about redemption. Whether a person can overcome the circumstances of their birth. It’s about what a “good life” is. It’s about whether an unusual person can learn to be happy doing things that are unnatural for them.
I guess what I’m swiping at: I’m loving Berserk. It works. And while it’s possible a friendlier version works, I honestly don’t know.
And I just don’t feel like I can get in there and tinker. I don’t think I have the right. “