Berserk’s Guts has a brush with Vincent van Gogh as he gazes into a Starry Night.
An Instagram account dedicated to fan art of Kentaro Miura’s dark fantasy series Berserk recently shared a piece from the artist Hawta Mahmood. It shows Guts, The Black Swordsman, sitting on the ledge of a large boat and gazing into the night sky — an image taken directly from a panel in Chapter 290, “A Howl From The Darkness.” However, unlike the source material, this illustration is fully colored. It also features a different skyscape inspired by the iconic painting The Starry Night by the post-impressionist icon Vincent van Gogh.
How the Artist Put Their Own Twist on the Iconic Piece
Mahmood also added a few more alterations besides the classic art-inspired backdrop. These changes include bringing the framing back to show Dragonslayer in the right-hand corner, which doesn’t appear in the original panel. The Dragonslayer is Guts’ legendary weapon, a sword larger than an average man and often described as “a heap of raw iron.” The instrument is synonymous with the violent series and very rarely leaves the character’s side.
The comments on the post were full of support for the unlikely crossover. Many users flooded the comments with appreciation, describing the fan art with phrases such as “Perfect” and “Too good.” A few fans even requested the page to send them the art via direct messages.
About Kentaro Miura’s Berserk
Kentaro Miura’s Berserk follows the life of a mercenary named Guts as he wanders battlefields fighting for money. However, his contentment for battling solo soon changes after encountering the charismatic Griffith, an enigmatic leader who convinces him to join his mercenary group known as The Band of the Hawk. Eventually, the lines between friend/foe and fiction/reality blur as Guts encounters unspeakable horrors and the world around him changes.
The series is one of the most beloved manga in publication, spanning 41 volumes and being compiled into a Deluxe Edition series by Dark Horse Publishing. Unfortunately, Miura unexpectedly passed away in 2021, leaving the series with an unclear future. Berserk has resumed serialization since his death, with the author’s close friend Kouji Mori taking over. Miura’s last chapter — Chapter 364, “Tear of Morning Dew” — left the series on a shocking cliffhanger before Mori and the Studio Gaga editing team brought Berserk back with Chapter 365, “Lull of the Waning Moon,” in June 2022.
Berserk’s 2016 anime adaptation is available on Crunchyroll, as well as Berserk: The Golden Age Arc – Memorial Edition, a remastered version of the 2012 film trilogy. The 1997 anime adaptation is unavailable for VOD at the time of writing.
Source: Instagram