At what age would you allow your child to read Berserk?

Your kids super interested in the Berserk manga on the shelves in your room. How old until you let him/her read it? I know people will say "Well it depends on if they're mature enough for it or not" but there's got to be an age limit somewhere. Just curious on the opinions.
 

Grail

Feel the funk blast
I would probably let a kid watch the first 20 or so episodes of the anime at 12 or 13. The imagery is gory, but not too crazy compared to what they're already watching on HBO. Besides, I started on the anime at about that age and I turned out just fine! :troll:

The manga is a different story, though. I had a hard time with parts of volume 1-3 in my mid teens, so I would say go to the store and buy your own copy. If the clerk doesn't try to check some ID, go nuts, and enjoy your night-Voids. :void:
 
I would allow most of it and just edit parts of the anime or movies out till they're older. Lets face it, if its in the house they WILL find it. I always did anyhow. Great question. The manga will be locked up though. Not much material out there this graphic.
 
This is a question I often find myself asking, but to be honest I think that if you're old enough to love Attack on Titan and can watch Game of Thrones with a straight face then Berserk will be fine. If I had to stamp an age on it I would say 15-16, personally anything below 14 seems a bit too young, especially for the Eclipse. It then raises the argument for me that I don't care what you've seen on TV or in movies, I believe that the Eclipse is something you need to be mentally mature enough to properly process and react to. And that age was around 15 for me.
But...everyone is different.
 

Walter

Administrator
Staff member
My kid is 2 and has already been found thumbing through the Berserk volumes that constantly litter my office desk. Of course, he's too young to understand what he's seeing, so it's merely cute. But at some point I'm going to have to lock them down. If I had complete control over it (which I don't, because at some point it'll be his decision) I'd rather he not read Berserk until he's 17-18 or so. I don't really think anyone should. I think it's a series for adults in the truest sense of the word.

I suppose that makes me sound like I'm ultra conservative, but it's really more about being exposed to things that younger minds can't fully appreciate yet. For example, it stuns me to this day that they try to teach Shakespeare in freshman year of high school. Fully grasping that stuff is well over their heads, and so teenagers come away with an impression that it's just highfalutin nonsense language. I fear the same happens with stories like Berserk in a different way, where the superficial aspects like violence are latched onto, while all the careful details and storytelling being done are mostly ignored or unappreciated.
 

Aazealh

Administrator
Staff member
Walter said:
I'd rather he not read Berserk until he's 17-18 or so. I don't really think anyone should. I think it's a series for adults in the truest sense of the word. I suppose that makes me sound like I'm ultra conservative, but it's really more about being exposed to things that younger minds can't fully appreciate yet.

That's exactly what I came in to say.

Forget about the violence and blood, the main concern is that if someone reads Berserk at 15, they're not going to "get" it.
 
Interesting question. 12+, maybe? I don't think a kid should even show too much interest in it until they've at least reached puberty. (Not unless you personally fuel the interest. E.g. "Daddy's gonna go into his super secret basement now to read his super awesome manga... NO PEEKING!")

Also, a big difference between introducing someone to the manga, and allowing someone to look at it. I mean, if my daughter is 14 and she wants to check it out because it's on the bookshelf, sure, why not? If they like it, cool. If they find it boring and stupid, I don't mind. I wouldn't actively tell them to check it out until they were older (17? that really does depend on the individual) and I genuinely thought it's the kind of thing they might enjoy.
 
Oburi said:
Dude, 12?

Sure, for the hard lower limit I mean. I doubt they would be able to grasp the depth of the manga, but they're old enough that the imagery and subject matter shouldn't be too disturbing for them. I might feel a bit too queasy knowing they'd read the rape stuff, I dunno.

Personally, I remember checking out rotten.com with some friends at 11-12, and I don't have any bad memories about that. On the contrary, I thought it was pretty cool! :schnoz: (Although I wouldn't let my kid check out something like that at 12, it's often outta your hands; some other kid at school will always have a badass couple-of-years-older brother who exposes them to all the horrible things. :ganishka:)
 

Oburi

All praise Grail
IcePuck said:
Sure, for the hard lower limit I mean. I doubt they would be able to grasp the depth of the manga, but they're old enough that the imagery and subject matter shouldn't be too disturbing for them. I might feel a bit too queasy knowing they'd read the rape stuff, I dunno.

Personally, I remember checking out rotten.com with some friends at 11-12, and I don't have any bad memories about that. On the contrary, I thought it was pretty cool! :schnoz: (Although I wouldn't let my kid check out something like that at 12, it's often outta your hands; some other kid at school will always have a badass couple-of-years-older brother who exposes them to all the horrible things. :ganishka:)

Well sure, kids being kids is one thing. But as a parent I wouldn't give Berserk to a 12 year old. That seems irresponsible.
 

Walter

Administrator
Staff member
Oburi said:
I wouldn't give Berserk to a 12 year old. That seems irresponsible.

I don't agree with his assessment either, but gauging different people's responses is after all the point of this thread.
 
I myself just got 17 a week ago.
Personally i would hand my volumes to my child once he gets either 17 or 18.
I especially agree with what Aaz said, put the violence aside most of the young people would not get the themes nor the symbolism at some parts,which i have to say happened to me here and there. The first time i read Berserk i was 15 and currently in my re-read and also listenting to the Podcast's i am realising that i didn't noticed some stuff.

Although i have to say that i even appreciate the Story even more now :guts:
 

Kompozinaut

Sylph Sword
I got into the anime when I was around 16-17. I could handle my kids watching that around 15, maybe 14 at the earliet. I think the manga is definitely something that needs to be consumed at a later age if for no other reason than the sexual content is quite a bit more intense than the anime.
 
I read the manga at 13-14, so I'd say around there. I played a lot of Diablo 2 in elementary school so the gore wasn't really an issue, and I was mature enough to handle the sex scenes. I had unfettered internet access since my parents did not understand the internet, so I was exposed to graphic things much earlier than I should have been (I was heavy into 4chan in its early days). It depends on the child too, though. I won't be such an ignorant parent regarding the internet, but it is also much harder to monitor the internet nowadays than when I was a child.

One thing I know is my child, if they ever get into Berserk, will never have to read the Band of the Hawk scanlations :ganishka:.
 

Rhombaad

Video Game Time Traveler
I'd probably let my child start reading Berserk after he or she turned eighteen. Like Walter said, I think you need to be a bit older to appreciate Berserk's content.
 
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