I know most of us here on the forum were already aware and found the moonlight boy-griffith stuff obvious by now
Only because I spent 15 years hammering it in.
While I know it might not be the best moment to talk about this, I just have to talk about something. Assuming the master didn't do all of the work, I have to say that I'm incredibly impressed by the talented people over at studio Gaga. I could honestly be fooled that all this was the master's doing. Amazing work.
I think it was basically 90% complete. There's only one panel where it's obvious Miura did not draw Guts: the bottom one where he sends the boy back to Casca, Isidro and Isma after they share a dad+son moment. I could immediately tell when I saw it, but you know what? It's fine. And the rest of the stuff is almost seamless. I'm just glad we got this episode, and very grateful to the team for pulling through in what must have truly been the darkest of times for them.
but as that warmth fades he feels cold and lonely again.... Griffith felt what he once lost... The possibilities my god..
If you think Femto is talking about how
he feels lonely, then I don't think you're understanding the scene correctly. It's about how the boy's feelings linger only for a brief moment before disappearing.
It was very vague what actually happened when she first met the boy, it feels like something was missing there maybe some internal dialogue from Casca? Because later she is struck with the vision of the boy, i would have thought she would have recognised straight away who he was, but I think she did but it wasn't shown in this episode.
It all seems pretty clear to me... And no, she does not immediately know who he is...
I took my time, I treasured each page [...] I glimpsed this image when I purchased the young animal but I quickly looked away but now I looked at it again after I read the episode. Were is this in the new episode???????
Uhhh, it's all in there. One is literally the first panel of the episode. Really, please just read it carefully...
It's possible this was just a big revelation before a fight to come later (like if now Griffith can come back as he pleases with reinforcements, or maybe Zodd et all aren't far behind), it's certainly big enough on its own, but as we've noted before, the rule is usually that there's a fight, and this is a pretty delicious setup for him wreak havoc as you put it and for us to see him in an actual battle with magic users. Plus, if he devastated the place and left because of the child or something it would set off the rest of the series like Hill of Swords 2.0. It could have essentially checked all those boxes we thought were going to happen above (I mean, a God Hand already HAS shown up, your man is right there =). The fact that you don't think so though gives me self doubt since you're usually right.
Well, the thing is, I don't think at this point in the series we would just have gotten a repeat of Flora's or of the Hill of Swords, where basically the good guys get devastated. Guts & company can't just run away towards a far off place anymore: they're already there! When they leave the island it will need to be with a plan of action to actually beat Griffith (however slight their chances might be). Plus, given Femto's typical disinterest and the boy's possible interference, I feel that there would be a non-negligible risk for him to try and wing it all by himself (while buck naked to boot). You just know the Skull Knight is lying in wait ready to spring (he hints it's why he's here in episode 363). In a way, Griffith is also in a pickle, he's "waking up" in probably the last place he wants to be!
Besides, there's much more development that needs to take place on the island, including stuff we already got teased like Schierke learning to summon Daimons. They can't leave precipitately because this is basically their second to last stop before the big showdown, and the next one (the Bakiraka fortress) won't afford nearly the same opportunities. So my take is: Griffith leaves after a quick skirmish (lasting from a few pages to a full episode) and some smack talk. He later sends in the troops and a big battle ensues. The good guys win, but it's harrowing. Guts' group leaves afterwards (they can't stay on the island for too long anyway) with renewed determination despite having only a slim hope.
Now, in theory Griffith himself could return with his shock troops and take part in the battle directly. They can't travel there by themselves anyway. But the main reason I like the idea of another member of the God Hand attacking (either alone or separately from the apostles) is because Conrad or Ubik could be killed (with tremendous effort) and the story would progress naturally. However Griffith can't be defeated at this point, and yet he also can't just crush them. Could there be a crazy stalemate where it still feels real and dramatic? Well, I'm sure Miura could have done it (or anything else), but it seems harder to pull off.
In any case, I have to go against the general sentiment here and say that I sure wish we could have gotten episode 365, because I bet you it would have been absolutely amazing, and an even better place to leave the series at. But as the Skull Knight would say: you don't always get what you wish for.
I keep seeing people comment online saying studio gaga will eventually continue berserk. It literally says END on the last page.
I'm convinced that people will never accept that Berserk is done. The number of comments I saw that took the statement at the end of this episode as PROOF that Berserk was getting a continuation was astounding.
Like Walter's been saying, you can't fight hope with logic. It's not unlike the whole "fake news" phenomenon: people will distort reality to an amazing extent so that it fits their beliefs. They just perceive the world differently than normal people do. I'd love to talk to a neuroscientist about it.
Anyway, what's truly sad to me is the fact they can't comprehend that Miura literally
was Berserk. It can't possibly be the same without him, regardless of whether a continuation project is eventually launched or not. But I guess maybe they don't even care. They just want more of the
BRAND™. Good or bad, no matter what it is or who's doing it, they want to consume the
BRAND™ because they've come to identify with it, like it's a sports team or a car manufacturer or something.