First Round Rave vs. Berserk

[Kiki]

Rave Hiro Mashima		Berserk Miura Kentarou

 

[Nie Li]

As much as I loved certain aspects of Rave, Berserk is just too epic of a manga to not vote for it.
I would also argue the ending chapter of Rave kinda ruined the weight of the final confrontation but at least it's got an ending, unlike Berserk.

 

[Valhalla]

Both Berserk and Rave are among my fav manga ive read with Berserk being my fav and probably best written manga ive had the pleasure to read, and Rave is definitely in my top 5 fav manga ive read and completed (i always differentiate favs and best written, and Rave is definitely not the most well written manga of all time lol).
Both mangas are gems that i greatly treasure ... which is why this situation right now is just .... huh yeah. I definitely cant see myself winning this, and i would love to see Berserk win a MW trophy for once, i think its well due time, but nonetheless i will give my all for Rave. I probably will throw everything that i have, all my content, so there wont be regrets like a few years back against my war rival Reebi.

 

[SirSamuel016]

I'll get my campaign under way later today here's to a good battle and some great campaigning @Valhalla777 !

 

[Valhalla]

So ... since ill be lacking time tomorrow lets start now.

RAVE MASTER
(Rave: The Groove Adventure)

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We all know it, we all heard it, at least i hope so. Mashima's big start and in MY humble opinion his actual best work. The shonen manga that gained him the fame that resulted in the creation and popularization of Fairy Tail. A funny line i once read "Rave walked so that Fairy Tail could run", half true but lets not go into comparison arguments, this is not about Fairy Tail, lets talk Rave.

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THE STORY

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The Story is pretty simple. We follow a simple young islander named Haru who's life and destiny drastically changed after accidentally meeting Plue, yes that Plue of all things. After meeting that strange being, he is getting introduced to a conflict between light and darkness/good and evil, a conflict that could potentially destroy the world and his island that also almost met a tragic end after a certain incident with a certain organization and after a destined meeting with an old man hailed as the Sword Saint.

An evil organization called Demon Card is collecting artifacts called Dark Brings which gives the user great power and with said power they aim for global domination. Only the Rave Master, that is able to use the five Holy Brings called Raves, can stop Demon Card and destroy the Dark Brings. To save the world and his peaceful island from Demon Card and world destruction, Haru decides to take up the mantle of Rave Master that is bestowed upon him by the Sword Saint Shiba. And thus he starts a long, fantastical, bizarre, epic, emotional and deep journey to find the Rave pieces scattered through the world, destroy the Dark Brings, stop Demon Card, and finally bring piece to the world.

Sounds simple right. Well it starts simple but gets many layers and gets deeper as the journey goes on. And yet at its core still stays simple ...

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A DESTINED MEETING

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On this epic journey to save the world, Haru meets our lovely main heroine Elie, a young girl who at first glance is really ordinary, but who's fate gets tied with the upcoming conflict and who's storyline is one of the biggest standouts in the manga, with many great, emotional and unforgettable moments. Elie is a really fun roller coaster of a character and her interaction, chemistry, friendship and romance with Haru is, in my opinion, the best and most believable of all the main duos relationships in all of Mashima's works.

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..... And thus without really spoiling, you have a focused and simple story that begins kinda slow and at some point boring (it might have the weakest start, till chapter 30 or so, after that its straight uphill), but establishes itself pretty well through the first few volumes, to a epic and deep journey that gets better and better each volume. More serious themes, great character moments, tear jerking moments, badass moments and fights, comedy that will cause your sides to hurt, less BS, great world-building, and overall a great journey. A forgotten gem that deserves a anime reboot.

THE CHARACTERS

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MAIN CAST​

Like in all of Mashima's works, one of the main charms are the characters. The main and side character are all really great, and a good portion of the villains are pretty compelling and deep. The focus of the story is on a small compact ragtag gang with different personalities (character types), very interesting backstories, good character development, and are all very capable warriors with different kinds of abilities. You can divide the Rave series into two halfs and the same way you divide the main squad.

SIDE CAST​

The side characters, and like i mentioned, villains are also all pretty interesting, compelling and deep. One of these side characters is probably one of Mashima's greatest character, or at least he is my fav character of his works, and that side character is also a focal point of the greatest story arc Mashima did, in my opinion. Aside from HIM, there are also other great side character.

THE GOAT

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HISTORY

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Once there was the Great Empire of Raregroove led by the cursed family of Raregroove. The Empire wished to unify the world under its banner, but to do so they needed great power, so they used ancient dark magic that resulted in the creation of the Dark Brings, magic stones that feed on darkness and evil nature of human beings, but in turn give great power to its user. With the Dark Bring the Raregroove Empire conquered most of the known world, but there was one kingdom that stood its ground against the evil, and that kingdom was the Kingdom of Symphonia led by the royal family of Symphonia. The Kingdom managed to use the power of a certain maiden to create a counter to the Dark Bring, and that counter was a Holy Bring that would later be known as Rave. The holy maiden named Resha Valentine used her power to create five pieces of the Holy Bring and bestowed them to the Sword Saint Shiba, the first Rave Master, and with the Rave Master and the Raves, the Kingdom of Symphonia managed to stop the vast expansion of Raregroove and thus began the brutal Kingdom War. During the finale of the war, Sword Saint Shiba with the Rave Bearer Plue (believe it or not, THE Plue) managed to destroy all Dark Brings of Raregroove but one, the Mother Dark Bring Sinclaire that in its last breath caused the Overdrive (basically a nuclear bomb) that wiped a portion of the known world, including the Raregroove and Symphonia kingdoms. After the Overdrive the Mother Dark Bring and the five pieces of Rave scattered through the world leaving a desolate continent with only two survivors, Plue and Shiba. Fifty years after, Shiba and Plue meet a young islander named Haru.

Spoiler

WORLD BUILDING

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THE WORLD OF RAVE​

The world of Rave is vast and the journey leads our heroes into many different places with different environments, different species and cultures, and of course the world provides with many different powers, legends, myths, history before the Kingdom War and so on. By the point you reach the end it feels like a fullfiling journey around the world, Lord of the Rings style, There and back again.

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Another fun thing Mashima did in Rave was invent an alphabet that was used in the Kingdom of Symphonia. The alphabet was present throughout the series here and there, but they did not amount too much since there were characters that could translate it themselves. Its still pretty neat to see Mashima taking some time to invest into stuff like this. It wasnt needed, but he did it anyway. Devotion.

THE OTHER WORLD​

The World is divided into two separate worlds: The Human World where all humans live and the Mystic Realm where the sentinoids live (all manner of different species and races from demons, intelligent animals that can talk, Green Race, to Dragon Race, Mermaids etc). Even though the realms dont like to meddle, some races do live in the human world. After the Kingdom Wars 50 years before the start of the series, there were also the Sentinoid wars between the humans and demons, so by the start of the main series some humans developed great hatred towards non-humans that further developed into racism. A thematic that is explored in a certain arc of the series.

THE MAJOR FACTIONS
The world of Rave is home to many factions that our heroes encounter throughout their journey
from gangs, pirates, underworld organizations, Empires, Sentinoids tribes, Demon Lords and so on.​

THE EMPIRE - After the Kingdom War 50 years ago and the destruction of both the Raregroove Empire and the Kingdom of Symphonia, an imperial organization was established to secure piece in the world. The Empire rules the known world and ensures that a war like the Kingdom War never happens again.


DEMON CARD - A mercenary organization that began as a shield of humanity against the sentinoids, but was later doomed for tragedy because of the cursed bloodlines of Raregroove and Symphonia. Now, at the start of the series, the organization serves as its main antagonist and is led by King and his Oracion Six generals. They use the power of the Dark Brings to bring the world and the Empire to its knees, and to create a new Raregroove Empire that would unite the world under its banner.

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DORYU GHOST ATTACK SQUAD - A criminal underground sentinoid organization led by Pumpkin Doryu and his Ghost Attack Squad. They are rivals to Demon Card. They are a fun nod to Thriller Bark in One Piece.

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ONIGAMI - a criminal underground organization of sentinoids known as Oni. They are led by Ogre.

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BLUE GUARDIANS - a powerful pirate crew rivaling Demon Card and the other factions in power and is led by Captain Hardner and his Six Guard.

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THE DEMON LORDS - The rulers of the Mystic Realm each individually wielding power to destroy a nation.

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THE PEOPLE OF TIME - The people of Mildian, the city of time. Magic casters that preserve the flow of time and remove all irregularities.

and so on ...

Spoiler: Just some places as a sample

etc etc

THE ENTIRE STORY ...

THIS IS A BIG BIG WARNING. GO THROUGH THIS ONLY IF YOU HAVE READ RAVE MASTER OR YOU JUST REALLY DON'T CARE, or you care but still want to see...

STRAP IN AND ENJOY, ARC BY ARC. THEY SAY A PICTURE SAYS A 1000 WORDS ....

Ill borrow Fairy Tail ending song that works well as a slide show for arcs

ONCE AGAIN BEWARE SPOILERS AND OPEN AT YOUR OWN RISK (even though i tried doing this with as few spoilers as possible, it was still not avoidable

Spoiler: THE STORY PART 1

Spoiler: PART 2

Spoiler: PART 3

WHY VOTE FOR RAVE

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Well why not. If you love heartwarming stories, a fulfilling journey full of wonder, epicness, emotion, hardships, laughter, goofiness, great characters that you really grow to love as the journey goes on, awesome side characters, interesting villains. Oh and also definitely give a vote if you love Mashima in general. This manga might not be the best of all time and it definitely has its fair share of BS lol, but it has a heart and a soul, and love and devotion from its author.
.....

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[animeangryfan4]

Rave is seriously underrated. People may liek the brutal art, grim reality and dark story telling of Bersek.
and that is fine, it defiently have a uniqueness
but Rave is at least finished. The storys art may be of putting but it also has an RPG feeling to it that is great. And its true adventure of peopel becoming friends
Comparing them is difficult. For one is Grim Dark Fantays, the other is Adventure Hero Fantasy (my words, not yours).
Still I prefer Rave over Berserk.

 

[ItsSamu]

Even though I'm behind on it (waiting for more chapters to read in a bulk) my vote has to go to Berserk!

 

[King Moe]

What an interesting collision as one of the darker Shounen against one of the darker Senien and I know both of them enough on how well-written they are all are. I have great respect to these two as both are respective Masterpieces I can say in their areas. It's really hard for me to choose who I go for, but I have to depend on who is better, it's go either way since they are good in their own areas deeply, but will say I kinda leaning on RM more given it's more completed and finished given Berserk I feel it's losing the hype the more the hiatus affect it if author is taking too long on establishing things. I like that he taking his time, but several years worth feels like taking too long just to make some chapters and then leave again for another amount of years.

I might have to give RM my vote, but I will always respect and enjoy what Berserk set out to do on it's end.

 

[Seraph]

I'll get my campaign under way later today here's to a good battle and some great campaigning @Valhalla777 !

What's going on here Sammy? You're not just gonna let this play out without showing your guns will you?

 

[SirSamuel016]

What's going on here Sammy? You're not just gonna let this play out without showing your guns will you?

I must apologise, University started up this week and I've had that to deal with on top of me scrapping various drafts of posts. I'll get something out ASAP.

 

[Valhalla]

I must apologise, University started up this week and I've had that to deal with on top of me scrapping various drafts of posts. I'll get something out ASAP.

I feel you. Ive been busy with college stuff these past few days as well, and even preparing for my diploma defense which is on Monday.
If it werent for all that content that i had gathered since 2018 (curse you Reebi) i doubt i would have the time to post much lol

 

[SirSamuel016]

Sorry again for not posting something earlier than this, I've been bogged down with University and scrapped what what I'd started preparing several times due to not being happy with it. For now though, I just want to write about why I love Berserk. I'm not a photoshop wizard so don't expect me to put in a fancy effort on that front, but this post while rough around the edges will go into what makes Berserk so special to me and makes it my #1 Manga.

My experience with reading it:
I picked up Berserk a couple of months ago now amidst some tense uni deadlines as something to read when I needed a break, but I quickly found myself being sucked in by it's narrative and immersed in its world; something that I hadn't felt in ages with something and in this case this was potentially the strongest I've felt when it comes to immersion. As someone who doesn't usually read dark fantasy/horror, I wasn't too sure if I'd enjoy Berserk before I started but I was quickly drawn in by it's quirks and what it presented. The beginning wasn't grand with a statement of "here's our wonderful MC" but far different and that was polarising, but a breath of fresh air all the same. Guts wasn't someone I could relate to initially because he was cold, blunt and someone obsessed with revenge, but as the story goes on you see what shaped him to being this broken man and seeing that moved me. I'll come back to Guts and his character soon.

In my experience with Berserk, one of the things I quickly came to appreciate was the painstaking detail in Miura's art. It is beautiful, and one thing I immediately loved was the medieval setting. Steeped in flavour but growing to become more fantastical, the setting is just one piece of the puzzle to why my experience with Berserk so far has been something I've savoured and have been obsessed with. Even without speech bubbles, the art tells a story in itself in a supreme way of showing, not telling and I urge people to check out some panels from Berserk if they don't plan on reading it as it's definitely something to see.

My experience with Berserk's story has been one that has me just feeling engrossed in it and the world that has been crafted. I've felt more immersed and invested in Berserk's story than anything else, and I think that across Berserk's 30+ year history it has remained coherent and has not had any plot holes which you'd see in some other manga (you probably know the ones). Berserk's story is entertaining, and also thought-provoking with commentary on philosophies of living which comes to life on the page. The story is dynamic, and I don't think I've been this obsessed with any story ever; just looking into interactions with characters in the story and feeling emotions from those interactions is magical and it is a credit to Miura's writing to get that across in the experience. The characters are never static, they grow and change as the world changes around them and there truly isn't a character I don't like in the story as they are all so solidly written.

A couple of final thoughts in terms of my experience that I want to go over are my feelings on the main Villain, as well as Guts and what I feel the story overall is. Berserk's Main Villain is brilliant, and the way they grow to be what they now are is just so well done because they stay true to themselves and their ideals which makes it all the more heartbreaking to see things unfold. Seeing Guts with his tragic history and how he hits his lowest point, before growing and becoming a better person is a truly special and touching journey, and something I think we can learn from. That's a point I do want to drive home, that Berserk isn't just some fantastical and sometimes horrifyingly gruesome tale showing reflections of our world, but it is something we can learn from. Berserk is ultimately not about killing monsters and demons, nor is it about exploring a fantasy world; it's a story about true love, friendship, and goals.

Berserk may have hyperviolence and can seem off-putting in that respect, but at its very core it is a human story that runs so much deeper than that. I know this isn't a crazy analysis into everything it pertains, this is just me at nearly 3AM writing a bit about why I love Berserk. I love it for everything it has; the horrifying moments that had me genuinely feeling despair to lighter moments that were heartwarming and just served to reinforce how much I cared for these squiggles on a page. Miura has crafted a gothic-esqe, fantastical, and medieval world- and tells a deeply engrossing story that really makes a connection with its readers. At a time where a lot of things were changing and I was under a lot of stress, Berserk was a different world I could immerse myself in and enjoy for it's beauty and it's horror. It certainly won't be for everyone, but I urge you, if you haven't read it go in with an open mind and try to stick with it as much as you can and you will quickly experience what is not just one of the greatest manga of all time but what I'd say is a true work of art.

Cheers for reading, if I can I'll try and post more at some point but I hope this told you some of what you'd like to know. A couple of videos I'd like to share which echo these thoughts and more are these two, and I think if you can invest the time into them then you'll see where I'm coming from.