MORE ABOUT GUTS

I only started reading Berserk in 2020 but I knew as soon as I started it that Guts would be a character that would inspire me, encourage me, and ultimately stand metaphorically by my side for the rest of my life. The story of someone who goes through so many hardships and has constant inner conflict, yet somehow continues to get up and struggle onward is both unbearably tragic and resoundingly hopeful — Guts’s story resonated with me so completely, I was instantly taken in and knew I would one day have to cosplay him. I started gathering materials for Guts back in early 2021, however after the untimely passing of Kentaro Miura I ended up putting this project on hold indefinitely. Indefinitely turned out to be until midway through February of 2022 when I decided instead to honor Miura at my favorite annual celebration of Japanese culture, Anime Boston.

In addition to that, this project fulfilled an urge of mine to try something totally at odds with my usual skill set and challenge myself for this piece. It may not have be a Guts' level challenge, but at the time I had a hefty background working with delicate fabrics and hand embroidery above everything else, so I wanted to try to create something from rough and sturdy materials where the detail work was equally rough weathering. I was also interested in developing my skills as a prop-maker and metal worker, so this costume checked every box I could think of! Despite initially putting it off due to tragic circumstances, when it came down to it, theuniverse made it clear that it was just time for Guts.

Guts was created linen and leather for the fabric bases of each garment, and a combination of Worbla and aluminum sheet for the armor. Everything was hand weathered and dyed with acrylic paints and leather dye. And the wig is actually two wigs spliced together and styled for maximum fluffiness. All patterns and templates were drafted from scratch based only on images from the manga. Learn how I made my sword from this video: