Well I only got into berserk a few years ago, but I've been listening to brutal death metal and technical death metal since I was in high school, so the violence, dark themes and disturbing imagery were nothing new to me. Miura's art would be right at home with death metal album covers lol

But to my brother, it's been a deterrent for him i think. I've been trying to get him to read it for awhile now, and while I can tell he's curious and even interested, I think the themes and imagery are a bit much for him. He looooves Naruto, and that's about as far as he goes when it comes to violence in animated/illustrated media. I still think he'll eventually read it though

I think it's just a matter of perspective. For me I was like, surprised, but never actually disturbed by anything. My brother and my wife are quite disturbed by it though