How did Berserk influence Dark Souls?
This archive’s Berserk pages argue that Kentaro Miura’s manga reshaped modern dark fantasy; this page keeps the FromSoftware chapter of that argument to what is documented. First: Miyazaki is a matter-of-record fan of Berserk, named in interviews among the manga he reads, alongside Saint Seiya, JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure and Devilman. Second: the works’ own documentation names it, Demon’s Souls’ inspirations, as recorded in the series’ references, include Berserk directly, and the Dark Souls Design Works books carry the design conversation in print, in the interview volume this Library shelves separately.
What passed between them is visible without strain: a lone swordsman against a collapsing world’s worth of monsters; medieval Europe drawn as beautiful and doomed; brands, curses and fires; the refusal to let the hero’s victories stay won. The Berserk shelf of this Library tells the manga’s side; this page is the other volume of the same book.
