Episode 308

Aazealh

Administrator
Staff member
グリフィス said:
Obviously, what were seeing with the ghost ship isn't a distortion, but the evil actually emanating from it, so it's probably just a similar technique to express that.

Yeah in this precise case it's a pretty neutral depiction, so the comparison can be strictly about the artwork.

Anyway this talk makes me wonder about the armor's dark fluid again, both the physical component (that covers Guts' body) and the spiritual one (that deforms his vision). Hopefully someone in Elfhelm will be able to shed some light on how it all works.
 

Rhombaad

Video Game Time Traveler
Gobolatula said:
I encourage you all to do the same! It's great!

I just got back from the Kinokuniya in Seattle where I set up a year long subscription to Young Animal. I also ordered YA No. 19 and 20. Hopefully, my subscription will start with the upcoming issue, No. 21, but if not, I'll just order the issues I'm missing later on. I'm pretty excited. :serpico:
 
I'm probably the only person who enjoyed Isidro painting the scar of Crocodile, from One Piece, on Schierke's face more than any other single thing in the entire episode.
 

Aazealh

Administrator
Staff member
Rhombaad said:
I just got back from the Kinokuniya in Seattle where I set up a year long subscription to Young Animal.

Good man. A model citizen!

Triple Life said:
I'm probably the only person who enjoyed Isidro painting the scar of Crocodile, from One Piece, on Schierke's face more than any other single thing in the entire episode.

Hadn't thought of it, but it's true it's resembling. Funny coincidence I guess?
 

Walter

Administrator
Staff member
Triple Life said:
I'm probably the only person who enjoyed Isidro painting the scar of Crocodile, from One Piece, on Schierke's face more than any other single thing in the entire episode.
If doing a 1:1 comparison, they indeed look very similar. But I'm not 100.00% sure it's an homage.
 

Aazealh

Administrator
Staff member
Walter said:
If doing a 1:1 comparison, they indeed look very similar. But I'm not 100.00% sure it's an homage.

For an homage it would really be very obscure and not quite related. The character in question in One Piece is about as far from the "typical pirate" Isidro and Puck were making Schierke into as possible, and I'd think of his giant hook or his special power rather than his scar as his signature. Not to mention that he's an old villain not very prominent in the series. Not exactly the best material for an homage in my opinion. Finally, when Miura actually pays homage to a series he makes it clear. Clear like this:

Puck-JimHawkins.jpg


So I'd be wary not to see more into it than an exaggerated stereotypical pirate scar to go along with the rest of the disguise. As someone who's actually read One Piece (including the Arabasta arc and far beyond it), it sounds as unlikely as saying Mihawk would be an homage to Guts and/or Griffith to me. Interestingly enough I didn't notice that detail at all before Triple Life mentioned it, but found a funny parallel in the pirate boss' "indefatigable spirit" and the notion often found in shounen manga that as long as the hero tries really hard, no matter how outmatched he is, he can win.
 

Johnstantine

Skibbidy Boo Bop
Aazealh said:
For an homage it would really be very obscure and not quite related. The character in question in One Piece is about as far from the "typical pirate" Isidro and Puck were making Schierke into as possible, and I'd think of his giant hook or his special power rather than his scar as his signature. Not to mention that he's an old villain very not prominent in the series. Not exactly the best material for an homage in my opinion.

Actually, Crocodile has been a pretty prominent character for the last few months.

Crocodile was actually the first major villain in One Piece and still continues to be the longest running primary villain in the series. Arlong was a big one, but Crocodile took the crown since he actually beat Luffy on more than one occassion.

So I'd be wary not to see more into it than an exaggerated stereotypical pirate scar to go along with the rest of the disguise.

I imagine it's purely coincidental, but there's always the slight chance that it could just be a homage to the character.
 

Aazealh

Administrator
Staff member
Johnstantine said:
Actually, Crocodile has been a pretty prominent character for the last few months.

Sure, he's come back recently (but then again, so has Baggy, right?), but overall if you had to think of one character to represent the series, would he the one? Not to me. That's what we need to think about here and that's what I mean by prominent. I'd understand if Schierke had a fake hook and if her face wasn't covered in pirate clichés, but I just don't see it here. Maybe I'm crazy, I don't know.

Johnstantine said:
I imagine it's purely coincidental, but there's always the slight chance that it could just be a homage to the character.

By that reasoning though, why not say the time the captain fell into the water and told Isidro he couldn't swim is a reference to devil fruit users? Personally, if I had to imagine a real homage in line with those we've seen so far, it'd be more along the lines of Isidro fighting while awkwardly holding a sword in his mouth and Puck making a witty comment while wearing Zoro's bandana. An unmistakable nod, like the ones to Saint Seiya, Doraemon or Gundam.

Maybe we ought not to turn this into a One Piece discussion though. :farnese: So, uh, who's in for an Azan/Isidro combo in episode 309?
 

Walter

Administrator
Staff member
Maybe we ought not to turn this into a One Piece discussion though. :farnese: So, uh, who's in for an Azan/Isidro combo in episode 309?
Here's hoping. And yeah, there are indeed much better things to be arguing over than a cartoony scar that was wiped away a few pages later.

With all these creatures appearing, and the possession of the pirate ship, it really drives home the fact that this is going to be a pretty violent, chaotic world. Not simply unicorns over here and dragons over there. And with that, the possibilities are nearly endless, so much so that it's very difficult to predict much in the near or even distant future.

What I've been wondering about recently is what will happen to the deceased. What will happen to people's spirits when they die now? Before, lingering spirits would hang around for a time before ultimately moving on "to a place where they become one," as Griffith said in ep 195. But... what now? Are spirits still going to be compelled to move on to the afterlife? And, as evidenced in ep 306, if corpses are reanimated as they were around Guts in vol 1, does that mean ... ALL corpses will have that response? That's pretty serious. Corpse disposal could become BIG BUSINESS!

And on that note, if we learn of the ultimate fate of the pirates aboard the ghost ship, it could give us a clue to how that cycle will operate now. Personally, I agree with Puella's earlier post. I think they've joined their former comrades, at this point.
 

Aazealh

Administrator
Staff member
Walter said:
What I've been wondering about recently is what will happen to the deceased. What will happen to people's spirits when they die now? Before, lingering spirits would hang around for a time before ultimately moving on "to a place where they become one," as Griffith said in ep 195. But... what now? Are spirits still going to be compelled to move on to the afterlife? And, as evidenced in ep 306, if corpses are reanimated as they were around Guts in vol 1, does that mean ... ALL corpses will have that response? That's pretty serious. Corpse disposal could become BIG BUSINESS!

Interesting question actually. Breaking the cycle of life and death, having souls permanently remain in the world as specters... Could that be part of the God Hand's secret plan?! :SK: And yeah, I guess people might start burning the dead real soon.

Walter said:
And on that note, if we learn of the ultimate fate of the pirates aboard the ghost ship, it could give us a clue to how that cycle will operate now. Personally, I agree with Puella's earlier post. I think they've joined their former comrades, at this point.

Well if not I hope they can all hold their breath for a while. :ganishka:
 
And, as evidenced in ep 306, if corpses are reanimated as they were around Guts in vol 1, does that mean ... ALL corpses will have that response? That's pretty serious. Corpse disposal could become BIG BUSINESS!

Oh boy, i just noticed that those corpses are all emerging from a random cemetery.

I first thought it was the spirits of warriors who died a particularly gruesome death or the usual spirits who couldn't accept their death. If *any* dead person is game for resurrection, that could mean complete chaos in certain areas. After the 100 year war, the constant mercenary, the plague that spread through Midland, the Kushan war and all the unrelentless crap that you expect in a medieval world, the corpse toll should be in the thousands.
 

Aazealh

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Deathbringer said:
I first thought it was the spirits of warriors who died a particularly gruesome death or the usual spirits who couldn't accept their death. If *any* dead person is game for resurrection, that could mean complete chaos in certain areas.

It's evil spirits that possess skeletons, the same way they can possess humans or animals or pretty much anything. Remember Colette. :beast:
 

Walter

Administrator
Staff member
Deathbringer said:
Oh boy, i just noticed that those corpses are all emerging from a random cemetery.

I first thought it was the spirits of warriors who died a particularly gruesome death or the usual spirits who couldn't accept their death. If *any* dead person is game for resurrection, that could mean complete chaos in certain areas. After the 100 year war, the constant mercenary, the plague that spread through Midland, the Kushan war and all the unrelentless crap that you expect in a medieval world, the corpse toll should be in the thousands.
Yeah as Aaz pointed out, spirits can possess bodies, but my point was more that I wonder if the death --> spirit --> afterlife/vortex cycle will be disrupted now.
 

Oburi

All praise Grail
lol awesome! Do you think Miura designed Adons helmet with the sea creature in mind or is it just a coincidence? And a follow up question - how the hell did you think of that Aaz?
 

Rhombaad

Video Game Time Traveler
Oburi said:
lol awesome! Do you think Miura designed Adons helmet with the sea creature in mind or is it just a coincidence? And a follow up question - how the hell did you think of that Aaz?

This is Aaz we're talking about. Have you seen the history of Guts' bag? The man is into details. :badbone:
 
Speaking of which, does anyone know where that thread can still be found? I can't find it in a search for "history of guts' bag" and I vaguely remember it from a long time ago. Reminiscing sounds fun.
 

Aazealh

Administrator
Staff member
Oburi said:
lol awesome! Do you think Miura designed Adons helmet with the sea creature in mind or is it just a coincidence?

His helmet and pauldrons were clearly designed after a creature of that kind. Notice how the plume imitates a jet of water too.

Oburi said:
And a follow up question - how the hell did you think of that Aaz?

If only you knew all the stuff I think of and that I never post. :slan:

Rhombaad said:
This is Aaz we're talking about. Have you seen the history of Guts' bag? The man is into details. :badbone:

Give credit where credit is due! The history of Guts' bag was by Griff. I did other bag-related posts, but not that particular one.

Jaze1618 said:
Speaking of which, does anyone know where that thread can still be found? I can't find it in a search for "history of guts' bag" and I vaguely remember it from a long time ago. Reminiscing sounds fun.

A BRIEF HISTORY OF GUTS' BAG

And two other bag posts, by me this time:

Aazealh said:
Sacrilege! Guts actually has carried (and still does) numerous bags in the manga, some of which have specific roles. The bag containing the mini-bombs that Rickert gives him in volume 17 is this one. It has nothing to do with the bag Guts stores his crossbow in, and it's also different from the pouch he takes a bomb from in volume 19. You can see the different bags he always carries by clicking here. He actually discards the bag Rickert gave him shortly before using the mini-grenades for the first time, that's why he takes them from another one (bag 3, see below).

He gets two new bags (and Casca a pouch) when returning to Godot's place in volume 22, that later evolve into the bags "Griffith No More!" wrote the history of (picture on the right).

I've numbered the bags Guts keeps when he fights so there would be no confusion, see this image.

Bag 1 (more like a holster) is where he stores his crossbow, bag 2 is where he stores his arrows, bag 3 is where he stores the beherit, the bandages, the powder for the arm cannon, the mini-grenades, the throwing knives, etc (and accessorily it's where Puck chills at). Bag 4 is the mystery pouch (I don't remember seeing him using it off the top of my head), he could use it for anything (plenty of possibilities: tools to maintain his equipment: crossbow, artificial arm; grease for the knives and why not even the DS, etc).

Here are two shots of the inside of bag 3. Notice the pouch at the bottom of the bag in the upper picture, that could very well be the bombs, and that's after he gave some to Isidro.

Of course this is all from his post-Black Swordsman arc equipment, before that he had yet different ones. Bag 3 and 4 were already there (although looking slightly different), but bag 1 didn't exist since his crossbow was much bigger (didn't fold) and bag 2 was completely different.
Aazealh said:
Well in the first volumes it was drawn a bit differently yeah, plain white (in B&W) instead of crosshatched. That's just the result of Miura's artistic evolution IMO, since in the color illustrations he did back then the bag was already brown and looked pretty much like it does today. When Guts receives his equipment in volume 14, before setting off for his revenge, that bag is also crosshatched. See these pictures for reference:

- Black Swordsman arc, first volumes.
- Black Swordsman arc, first volumes (in color).
- The end of the Golden Age, volume 14.

I included images of the other bags just so that nothing is left out. We could always imagine that he changed bags several times and that we just didn't see it happen, but it's pretty evident to me that it's simply a matter of artistic choices (still talking about bag 3 and 4, there's no doubt he changed bag 2).

To think some people say we take Berserk too seriously here at SK.net... Why would they think that?! :SK:
 

Oburi

All praise Grail
To think some people say we take Berserk too seriously here at SK.net... Why would they think that?!

You know I find that type of trivia to be some of the more interesting stuff.

Does anyone else think that this may be the final story arc? Considering how long the last arc was and Miura's answer in our letter about the length of the series, I could see this being the beginning of the final arc.
 

Aazealh

Administrator
Staff member
Oburi said:
You know I find that type of trivia to be some of the more interesting stuff.

But of course. Don't be mistaken, anyone who thinks we take Berserk too seriously is wrong. It's very serious business. :azan:

Oburi said:
Does anyone else think that this may be the final story arc? Considering how long the last arc was and Miura's answer in our letter about the length of the series, I could see this being the beginning of the final arc.

My original guess was second to last, but that depends on the length. Miura could make the Fantasia arc extra long like he could make it shorter than the Millennium Falcon arc.
 
X

Xem

Guest
Call me shortsighted but I think we have at least 2 more arc's left in the story.

In my mind, the story has just started, how can you even begin to think of the end at this point.
 

Rhombaad

Video Game Time Traveler
berserkfan said:
since it just says "next chapter coming soon at the end" does this mean there going to be another break or has the next chapter been announced yet??

A. It's "episode" not "chapter."

B. The next episode comes out on 10/23/09

C. Use the search function for future questions. You would have found your answer earlier in this thread.
 
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