Guts

Guts (ガッツ, Gattsu, sometimes romanized as Güts) is the main protagonist of the manga Berserk written by Kentaro Miura. He is a mercenary who travels from company to company so he is always fighting.

The dynamic and turbulent relationship between Guts and Griffith, the leader of the Band of the Hawk, forms the primary focus of the manga for the first thirteen volumes. After the events of the Eclipse, Guts seeks revenge on Griffith, who is now Femto. In the process, he is reunited with Casca after a separation of two years and following the Incarnation Ceremony at Albion, Guts travels with a new group of companions.

Why He Rocks

 * 1) For starters, his exceptionally well-done and incredibly tragic yet compelling backstory that makes him a very sympathetic and realistic character.
 * 2) Amazing character development, as he starts from an uber-masculine powerhouse of rampant demon-slaying destruction with little concern for others who get in his way and a vicious determination to slay all monsters in his path, to a person who sacrifices his vengeful intent towards the divine entities that made his life so terrible in the first place, opting to use his life to defend the only person he has ever truly romantically loved.
 * 3) He's a great combatant and a determined warrior who will stop at nothing to achieve his goals.
 * 4) Much like Kratos, despite his brutality, Guts is a person who only wants to live a peaceful life and isn't completely heartless.
 * 5) He has numerous memorable moments, like when he swung the Dragonslayer sword for the first time or when he teams up with Zodd to take on Emperor Ganishka.
 * 6) His moments when wielding the Berserker Armor are absolutely epic, especially his fight against Grunbeld.
 * 7) His introduction is absolutely great.
 * 8) His personality, abilities, and outlook on life make him the perfect foil to Griffith.
 * 9) His anger at Griffith is very understandable, considering he betrayed him in the absolute worst way possible during the Eclipse, though thanks to his allies, he's able to control it.
 * 10) His chemistry with Casca is absolutely fantastic.
 * 11) He has a very good design which makes him very memorable.
 * 12) He's very edgy but in a good way which further adds to his iconic status.
 * 13) He can be funny at times, especially when putting up with some of the humorous antics of his companions.
 * 14) He has good leadership skills.
 * 15) A brooding loner by nature, Guts is callous, serious and self-absorbed, yet open to people (especially his companions) and anti-heroic by the most part and is actually cunning and strategic (though not on the same degree as Griffith, obviously).
 * 16) While a loner, Guts still has people he loves and cares for, mainly his teammates and his girlfriend Casca.
 * 17) His 1997 anime leitmotif is hauntingly beautiful, and captures his character perfectly.
 * 18) Nobutoshi Canna, Hiroaki Iwanaga, Marc Diraison, Kaiji Tang and Michael Bell all do an outstanding job voicing him.
 * 19) He has many great nicknames, particularly the "Black Swordsman" and the "Hundred Man Slayer".
 * 20) His name is really cool and badass.
 * 21) He appears in all the Berserk video game adaptations, and each of his appearances are really amazing and true to the manga.
 * 22) Despite all the tragedies he has gone through, Guts never gives up and keeps fighting to protect his lover Casca and face all the dangers he encounters.
 * 23) Because of all the above, Guts is one of the most badass anime and manga protagonists as well as a pretty memorable one.

Bad Qualities

 * 1) While he's likable, he can be a bit unlikable at times. More often than not, he tends to act like a jerk around some people at times, which is why he doesn't have a good reputation.
 * 2) His anger tends to get the better of him sometimes. In fact, he can get very angry very easily, though he's able to control it, as said before.

Trivia

 * Guts has been mainly inspired by Kenshiro, the protagonist of Fist of the North Star.
 * According to the manga's official guidebook, Guts is 204 cm (6 ft, 8 inch) tall and weighs 115 kg (253 lb, 8.5 oz).
 * Guts has inspired a number of characters like Cloud Strife from Final Fantasy VII and Artorias from Dark Souls.