So at WA, we've all finished watching Kentaro Miura's 25 episode Trailer for the Berserk Manga (otherwise known as 'Kenpū Denki Berserk' aka: the Berserk anime), and you're wondering what to do now!
What happens at the end of the Eclipse? How does Guts survive? Does he get even with Griffith?
All is explained* in the Manga epic, Berserk.
Currently available in Bookstores such as Waterstones. You can also read the online translated version if you want to get to the latest up-to-date chapters.

The Berserk Manga is very much different to the Anime, as with most adaptations, things had to be cut out.

The Skull Knight - A mysterious knight with a skull for a face. He appears a few times whilst Guts was a member of the Hawks. He warns Guts of the dangers that lie ahead.
He's also the one who saved Guts and Caska from the Eclipse Sacrifice.
The mystery of who the Skull Knight is and his relationship with the ominous God Hand are one of the key mysteries into working out how the world of Berserk works.

The Black Swordsman Arc - Heavily abridged in the Anime version (as seen in Episode 1). This covers Guts's rampage through the land as he searches for Griffith, taking down apostles who wish to feast on Guts.
The Brand on Guts' neck is what connects the mortal world with the realm of the dead, meaning that Guts can never sleep peacefully with that brand on his neck, knowing that creatures can attack him at any point (and boy, they sure do).
This arc also introduces Griffith, long before the Golden Age (prequel arc) begins, as Guts is once again pulled in as a part of another Apostles sacrifice.

Another key element cut out of the Anime was Gut's friend Puck.
To put it bluntly, Puck is the Navi to Guts' Link. Puck is an elf/fairy/elf who acts as mild comic releif and gives Guts someone to talk to. He's introduced very early on in the Manga, and naturally appears again after the prequel story, when it goes back to Guts killing Apostles.

SO WHAT ARE YOU WAITING FOR? START READING!

If you also have a Dreamcast, you can also play "Chapter of the Oblivion Flower", the Berserk hack-and-slash game that acts as a Side Story during one of the later arcs. This game was actually released long before the Berserk Anime and Manga were licenced in this country, so it doesn't carry the name 'Berserk', but rather the title of 'Sword of the Berserk: Guts' Rage'.



*eventually

I couldn't help but notice the music for that game is Forces 2 by Susumu Hirasawa, who did most of the music for the Berserk anime.

That's right. With both the Dreamcast and the PS2 game (sadly unavailable outside of Japan), Hirasawa did their soundtracks, the voice cast from the Anime also returned for their game roles.

You can hear the PS2 theme song 'Sign' here. Although the intro does have minor spoilers (aka more awesome moments from the later Manga. )

Thanks for posting this link.
I'm up to volume 3 already, but the site is a bit buggy, and some of the scans are poor quality.

Anyone else got a better scource for reading it online?

There's quite a lot of sites that host the Berserk manga. But sadly, most of the early volume scans are still low quality. Only really picking up after Vol 5 ish.

http://www.onemanga.com/
http://www.read-manga-online.com
http://www.mangatoshokan.com/
http://www.mangafox.com/

The best way to read it (aside from buying the books themselves) is to download the Manga from any torrent site (they usually have them up in batch volumes) and use a program such as CDisplay to show two pages at a time, almost as good as the real thing.

haw haw! luckily i have STOLEN your collection of actual papery "anime comics" and will be getting on with that for the foreseeable. i've already read a WHOLE two chapters of the first book.

But anyway, thankyou also for those links as i will inevitably need to peruse them when the paper versions run out.

Unfortunately Berserk has been taken down from most of those sites, but it is still here.

http://unixmanga.com/onlinereading/inde ... h=Berserk/

The licensed manga volumes are nearly up to date with Japan, at Volume 33.

Great. And here I was hoping to actually save some money from my next pay... Ah well, guess I should use this opportunity to buy the rest of the Conviction story arc in one go. XD