Berserk was published in 1989 by Kentaro Miura. It is the story of former mercenary, Guts, who is out for revenge. After being betrayed by a man he trusted and swore his loyalty to, he is marked for death and condemned to a fate in which he is relentlessly pursued by demonic beings. He soon sets out on a quest riddled with misfortune. He will let nothing stop him, not even death itself, until he is finally able to take the head of the one who stripped him—and his loved one—of their humanity. Like any good Gothic protagonist, Guts is shaped by a cursed past. Thus, his journey is less about "heroism" and more about surviving hell while trying not to lose his humanity.

Berserk leans hard into the Gothic trope of fallen religion. The Apostles, the Brand of Sacrifice, and the God Hand (all objects or groups of people in the manga) are all steeped in Gothic supernatural horror. They blend religious imagery, demonic transformations, and cosmic terror to represent the fear of the otherworldly and unknown. The Holy See is corrupt, inquisitions are violent, and "divine" miracles often come from the hand of God, and they may not always be good. Religious figures become zealots or manipulators, and faith becomes a mask for cruelty. 

From the start, Berserk is filled with Gothic architecture and ruined spaces, such as decaying cathedrals, labyrinthine dungeons, haunted castles, and medieval towns. In these places, the past lingers. They reflect the emotional and psychological decay of the characters. For instance, the man Guts once swore his allegiance to and who betrayed him, Griffith, was locked in a tower at one point. In this scene, the surroundings were symbolic of death, corruption, and the collapse of idealism as he was imprisoned and forced to reconcile with his mortality. In this way, psychological Gothic is core to Berserk. Every major character is mentally or emotionally broken and struggling with themselves and their pasts. Guts suffers from PTSD and constant nightmares. Griffith’s fall is about obsession, control, and the collapse of identity. Guts' lover, Casca’s, trauma after what was done to her during the major downfall of the characters called the Eclipse, is a raw portrayal of how horror can shatter the self. The manga constantly tries to answer the question of what it means to be human and fails to put a label on it.