Why Black Cat and Berserk Are More Alike Than You'd Think

gamerant.com:

The late Miura Kentaro's Berserk (1989) is one of the most influential anime and manga works of the 20th century; with various artists, authors and media spanning video games, anime, manga and film crediting the dark fantasy title as their inspiration. The influence of Guts's story on those of countless other stories in media is immense, but there is one anime and manga title that saw inspiration in Berserk as a story structure, and funny enough, the author of this title shares a first name with Berserk's Miura!

Yabuki Kentaro is the author of Black Cat (2000), a manga about Train Heartnet, an assassin who defects from the mysterious organization known as Chronos, which controls a third of the global economy from the shadows. There are several major similarities between Berserk and Black Cat, and the structure of the latter shows heavy inspiration by the former – here's how:

How Berserk Inspired Dark Souls, Bloodborne, and Sekiro

One of the biggest similarities between Berserk and Black Cat lies with the protagonists because they're both characters with immensely troubled pasts, having lost their parents at a young age and being raised by murderers who shape the rest of their lives in very profound ways. They both become insanely adept at a particular brand of violence and wield a weapon that becomes synonymous with their very reputation – the iconic gigantic broadsword Guts wields, earning him the nickname «The Black Swordsman»; and Train Heartnet's orichalcum gun known as «Hades».

It goes without saying that the in-universe epithets granted to either character invoking a «Black» something are also an example of Berserk's influence over Black Cat, although the latter does rely on the imagery of misfortune invoked by the