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Before Berserk became a masterpiece, it needed one outrageous idea... then Kentaro Miura thought of a huge friggin' sword

Inspired by Fist of the North Star, Kentaro Miura knew Berserk needed a strong visual gimmick to stand out, so Guts' giant sword was born.

Berserk Guts Using a giant sword — Image credit: Hakusensha

News by Trent Cannon, Senior Contributing writer

Published on Tue Aug 04 2026

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One of the most enduring images of Berserk will always be the sight of Guts with his impossibly large sword. While the importance of that sword has been something that Kentaro Miura has discussed frequently over the years, many fans might wonder why he bothered to give Guts such a massive weapon in the first place. The reason, it seems, is that he is a product of a time when manga always needed some sort of gimmick to stand out.

In an interview for the Berserk Illustrations File (which was subsequently translated by the Skullknight community on Patreon), Kentaro Miura explains why he gave Guts a huge sword in the first place.

“As for the related materials, so many sources were mixed together,” he said. “The arm cannon, the big sword, the outfit of a black knight and the one-eyed man... I'd say they form a kind of image. The cannon and the sword are my signature items. It's because I'm from the generation that was impacted directly by Hokuto no Ken [Fist of the North Star]. The idea is the most important part of the manga. It was a time when the idea was considered to be the core of it, preceding the story or the characters. In Hokuto no Ken [Fist of the North Star], Hokuto Shinken was a lot more important than Kenshiro's personality. The idea of Hokuto Shinken: once attacked, they explode. That's why it blew us away.”

The need to do something different to make Berserk stand out visually and thematically was such a strong motivator that Guts' giant sword was one of the most important things Miura came up with during the development of the series.

“So, to come up with a novel or fantastic idea was a trend among us mangaka at that time. To me, a mangaka should think of, should be able to think of such things. I milked my brain. Finally, I came up with the idea of a huge sword or a huge thing.”

Eventually, it was the incredible artwork of Berserk and the crushing yet uplifting tale of pain and redemption that became what Kentaro Miura was known for. Still, it is tough to argue that the giant sword is pretty damn cool.

Each week, Popverse's resident anime expert Trent Cannon runs down the latest and, dare we say "greatest," in anime and manga in Popverse Jump. Some recent columns have included...