Episode 371

I’m sure it’s been discussed excessively before, but, as always, these last few episodes’ developments only make me wonder where this all is going.
I guess Casca being taken in general was maybe a curveball to me
so I may have to read back, if anyone has respective thread suggestions? Any thoughts on where this episode could lead us though? Or are we simply “plot-thin” lately and lost as ever/needing a lot of confirmation otherwise?

On another note, I agree with and greatly appreciate the prior sentiments from Walter and co. :/
 
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I’m sure it’s been discussed excessively before, but, as always, these last few episodes’ developments only make me wonder where this all is going.
I guess Casca being taken in general was a curveball to me
so I may have to read back, if anyone has respective thread suggestions. Any thoughts on where this episode could lead us though? Or are we simply plot-thin lately and lost as ever otherwise?

On another note, I agree with and greatly appreciate the prior sentiments from Walter and co. :/
Just giving my 2 cents here.

Next episodes will be all about Casca.
I have a strong feeling that Sonia will read Casca thoughts, which will make she see the real damage that Griffith did to her.
Will she be shocked to see the truth?
Will she tell this to someone or not?
Maybe this could signify the start of Griffith's downfall.

Afterwards, Rickert and his companions.
They still have to deal with their plot, since the last time we saw them was a long time ago, before the Island of Elfhelm.

But I'm not sure were the story is going after that.

Anyway, that last panel of Guts reminds me of that time when Griffith was tortured.
Completely depressed and surrounded by darkness.
I wonder if he will attempt suicide like Griffith as well (when he was at the lake, just before the Eclipse).
 

Griffith

With the streak of a tear, Like morning dew
*SPOILERS* I guess

Well, I'm not going to get too into the nitty gritty here because there's not too much to say, but they tripled down on the Guts' sword thing again without addressing the Casca in the room, which is just... bizarre (I enjoyed the random walk down, like, Volume 16 Lane though; those were better days =). It was cool to see Falconia and its cast of characters in the new style, but maybe I was just relieved they didn't all magically vanish off screen. :griffnotevil:
 
Well...

I feel like Guts has become completely emo about his sword not being good enough for 4 episodes. He's had plenty of time to make this a more nuanced emotion, but no, it's just about his sword-killing ability when it comes to Griffith. Maybe we're supposed to assume that Casca being ripped away from him is deep down in there, but Mori and team don't focus on that at all when Scheirke reads his emotions. He's just thinking about other things he's killed with his sword. Guts has min-maxed his sword ability to defeat an opponent that turns out to be sword-proof, and he's very sad. :schierke:

The Island being swallowed up further by the sinkhole left by the tree is pretty cool, but I doubt there will be more to it beyond that.

Falconia looks great, even if I am completely clueless about how this all works geographically. Sonia seems to be looking off into the sea, but apparently sees the dark dome of Pandamonium out there... Still, the port and the lighthouses are pretty cool. The art is pretty good in general, but the interactions seem to be mostly fluff. No one is really saying anything of substance. And is Mule really short, or is Locus 8 feet tall?

Sonia knowing Griffith is on his way back makes sense, but it feels odd to have Locus and Grunbeld show up as if this is a scheduled arrival for Griffith. Zodd's face looks terrible as if he's just a wolfman. At best, this seems like another transitional episode. At this pace, we won't have an ending for another decade. With Miura that was worthwhile, because so much world-building and character would be baked in. With this... Mori and Gaga really need to step up their game if they are going to emulate the pacing of Miura. They may have to do dialogue and plot, otherwise, we'll have long dialogue scenes where no one says anything.
 
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Lithrael

Remember, always hold your apple tight
Ouch. Ok. I’m now 100% more interested in the fan-remix that will be created after Berserk Continuation is finished, than in this team’s valiant but… badly bunted game of Berserk Telephone. Though I’ll hold out hope that they will be able to do better at some other parts of the story through sheer luck.
 
The good: I like where this is going. Can't wait to see Casca's reaction! I also like the colored art.

The bad:
  • Guts is still having useless sword flashbacks. WHY?? Why show it again? WHY NOT SHOW HIM THINKING ABOUT CASCA?? His mental breakdown is about his sword! Sorry Guts, but grow a pair! Your girlfriend has been kidnapped by Griffith and you are whining about your damn sword all the f***** time. It's not fun to read, it's annoying and stupid.
  • The flow of the panels is weird. There is no sense of direction. Sometimes I don't even know what's going right now.
  • even Shielke doesn't care about Casca.
The ugly:

Who is this??

1.JPG

It's definitely not the same as this:
3.JPG

or this:
2.JPG

Consistency would be nice.
 
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Aazealh

Administrator
Staff member
Like others have said, this episode felt completely superfluous. It didn't bring anything to the table. In related news, Kurosaki confirmed on Twitter that six episodes were indeed planned originally and they just overran. Putting aside any questions about why they would announce a decisive number if it wasn't locked in, it's kind of incredible that this ends up being a less satisfying conclusion to the Elf island chapter than episode 370 was. But to me, it mainly cemented the fact they don't seem to know what they're doing, which really bums me out.

Misconstruing Schierke's body of light

The most egregious problem with episode 371 is something I don't expect many people will pick up on. It's the fact whoever wrote this doesn't understand what Schierke does when she intervenes to help Guts control the Berserk's armor. You see, Schierke has never gone inside Guts' mind. What she does, as a witch, is go inside the armor, which is a magical device. That's how she can "wake him up", by basically shielding him from or pulling him out of the flow of Od that distorts his perception.

But she doesn't have the ability to just go into people's minds and see what's in there. If she did, the group would have had no need to travel all the way to Skellig. She could have ventured inside Casca's mind all by herself. Note that we don't even see her even go inside him here anyway, she just hovers around in her body of light and somehow sees what's in his head. That actually makes even less sense, especially since she's eventually "repelled" back to her body because of what she sees or feels.

The way I see it, they just wanted to have striking visuals to show and tried to imitate what Miura did in volume 27, when Schierke first goes inside the armor to bring Guts back. But they didn't pause to think on whether or not it made sense narratively. The result is this pointless scene that reaffirms that "Guts is very distraught" because he couldn't hit Griffith, which is frankly unbelievably stupid. "I could hit trolls... and crocodiles... and Daka... but why not the fifth member of the God Hand.
:judo:
"


Taking the meaning out of the past

The scenes they chose as memories are meaningless here, and feel like they were only added because someone realized after 370 was done that it's a bit ridiculous to show Guts waxing poetic about his old swords that broke instead of the Dragon Slayer. They're simply used as "nondescript sword fights", which actually makes it worse, because they do all have meaning in the proper context. Case in point: the possessed horse isn't just notable because it had a grotesque face. When it assaulted Farnese in volume 17, Guts was reminded of Casca's rape by Femto and got so enraged he barely stopped short of cutting Farnese's head off.

So if any thought had been put in the scene, it could have been meaningful. But that was not the point, and clearly Casca was meant to be erased from the picture here, same as in the previous episodes. It had to just be the sword. So we get this insipid and vacuous depiction. Honestly, I don't get this decision. I already talked about it at length in the previous episode thread so I won't reiterate, but this isn't an accurate representation of Guts' relationship with his sword at all.

I have to point out that there were other ways to feature this sort of imagery. Puck is right there with Schierke, and elves have been shown to be able to feel people's emotions and get glimpses of what's in their mind. It actually happens in that aforementioned scene in volume 17! They could have used it here as well. Or, like I said in the previous episode thread, they could have had Farnese go see Guts instead and use her "healing magic", since what she wanted to learn from Danan was mind healing.

Missing the point of the Beast of Darkness

Schierke's little excursion ends with her seeing an image of the Beast of Darkness breaking the chains that keep it in check. Walter's earlier comment on this was on point: it doesn't make any sense. The Beast of Darkness symbolizes Guts' aggressivity and hatred, his desire for revenge, his self-destructive impulse to go to any length to kill Griffith. This is documented at length throughout the series. The chains represent Guts' feelings towards his friends, and are used as a metaphor for his ability to resist the armor's pull. This is introduced in episode 290 (volume 33), and we see what happens when they break in episode 316 (volume 36).

It is related to one specific thing: Guts being able to use the armor without attacking his companions. Nothing else. Which is why it's utterly nonsensical here. We saw Guts fight Griffith and yet the armor didn't activate. The Beast of Darkness was completely silent, even as Guts watched Griffith fly off with Casca in his arms. More importantly, he is completely broken right now, with no fire left in him. No fighting spirit. Which means that the Beast should be shown defanged and cowering in a hole, or as a puppy licking a broken paw, basically in a greatly weakened state as a representation of Guts' own state of mind. It's a huge missed opportunity, but more worryingly it also shows that whoever wrote this doesn't understand what the Beast of Darkness is at all.

If anything, that's my takeaway from this episode: this team displays a shocking lack of understanding about relatively fundamental aspects of Berserk, which is just appalling. Like with episode 370, it's clear Miura didn't write any of this stuff, and now I'm genuinely wondering to what extent Mori is even participating. It seems pretty obvious to me that they don't have much to go on, and sadly it's coming to a point where it's hard for me to trust anything they're putting out. Now more than ever, I wish they would publish the raw material and information they got from Miura.

Stretching and rehashing

There's a visual of Guts screaming as the armor disintegrates and then he sinks down into the sea. Same as above: what's the point of this sequence? They make sure we see that he's actually just prostrated afterwards, because it's so meaningless and confusing on its own that it requires to be invalidated. I guess it's supposed to be what's going on in his mind, but... Again, that's just unrelated to his relationship with the Beast of Darkness, and the imagery doesn't fit what's been going on. It's like they just mixed in the scene from episode 287 (volume 33) because it looks cool, but without caring about the deeper meaning.

Just at that moment, Roderick also stops caring. He'd been frantically trying to open an unlocked and unobstructed door on his own ship so far as if there had been an extreme emergency, but it turns out it wasn't that important, I guess? It's hard to explain that sudden and unexplained change of behavior. As it is, it just doesn't make sense. If it had really mattered, they could have broken the door. But most likely, it was meant to artificially add tension to episode 370, and now it's over. Instead we get to see the rest of the island suddenly sink (Why now? Aren't the Gnawers gone?) and form a giant whirlpool, which also doesn't matter. Next time we see the Sea Horse, it won't be dealing with that.

Nothing else we see matters either, it's just rehashing the previous episode. Farnese is lighting up some guy's face. I guess that's why she was so urgently needed. Isidro is sulking. Molda is ordering people around. All in all, this is a weaker closure for our characters than episode 370.

Retconning Falconia (and Midland, really)

The episode then cuts to Falconia and boy, where to begin. First off, why is there now a harbor in Falconia? Wyndham was landlocked, and so is Falconia. Or I guess was, because now it's near the sea. This is a pretty crazy change that I imagine they feel they can get away with because we never saw a clear aerial shot of the entire city, showing there's no sea shore at its back. The problem is... we do see and get told enough about the city for it to be very clear it's not by the sea side. This is really far beyond plausible handwaving.

It's also completely unnecessary for this scene. Why would Griffith land there specifically? He could just come straight to the palace. Are they just all going to walk back several kilometers after that? While he's naked and holding Casca? Is that the plan? To me, there's only one logical explanation: they plan to have the Sea Horse reach Falconia directly, and so this was the most convenient way to do it that they could think of. It's basically a story shortcut. That's the most generous interpretation I can think of, but even if that's it, it's frankly a shocking liberty to take. Then again, it's only one more on top of the many others that directly concerned key characters.

Dumbing things down

Besides the egregious location, the welcoming committee also makes little sense. Lest we forget, Danan explained in episode 364 that "a full moon night in the outside world lasts for at least a few days here". This means that while the boy may have stayed on the island a day or two (from what we see), only one night elapsed in the outside world. Meaning that Griffith should have only left for eight hours at most. And when he left, he did so discreetly, jumping out of Charlotte's window. It seemed like a rather private matter, which makes sense given the situation (him transforming into a kid that elopes to see his parents). So why is he welcomed by his lieutenants as if he was coming back from a long mission they're all aware of, with them kneeling and all? Beats me. I guess it's supposed to be cool and look triumphant. He got what he was after: the branded woman he once raped! Wait, really?

This is, in its own way, as big of a departure for the character of Griffith than the previous episodes have been for Guts. Perhaps more so, in fact. Even that smirk they gave him feels out of character. As a reminder, Guts and Casca have been meaningless to him until now, mere sacrifices that had already served their function. Remnants that were beneath his notice. It makes sense for him to try to neutralize the inconvenience that the boy represents, but outside of that motivation, it's not like this is a big victory for him. In every way that matters, this feels like a useless spectacle, once more simply trying to emulate a better scene from Berserk, in this case the apostles pledging themselves to Griffith at Shet.

We already knew where Griffith and Casca were going, and nothing of import happens other than them just landing there, so besides saying "hey there's a harbor in Falconia", showing this serves no useful purpose as far as I'm concerned. And this takes me back to what I said at the beginning: with each passing episode, it has felt more and more like this team was flailing around, simultaneously unsure of how to proceed and making bold moves, but in the wrong direction. Sadly, it doesn't reassure me at all for the future of the series.
 
I think this episode has, more than any of the others, cemented my "nothing happened" complaints. Or so little as to make no difference.

Guts is depressed. We knew that. The group is trying to console him. We knew that. Griffith reached Falconia with Casca in tow. We knew he'd do that too. Do we get a proper reaction from any of his servants or indication as to his next move? Nope.

The most substantial thing was an admittedly good looking spread of the city and accompanying port. After 2 months of waiting. If they're telling a truncated version of Miura's story already, then they can't continue at this pace. It's even more jarring after having reread up to the final wounds episode recently.

I won't lie and say I hate everything. In fact, before browsing people's takes here I was largely positive about the continuation. There's still a chance that Mori will step up his game now that Casca can develop on her own. But it's frustrating.
 
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Griffith

With the streak of a tear, Like morning dew
To me, there's only one logical explanation: they plan to have the Sea Horse reach Falconia directly, and so this was the most convenient way to do it that they could think of. It's basically a story shortcut. That's the most generous interpretation I can think of, but even if that's it, it's frankly a shocking liberty to take. Then again, it's only one more on top of the many others that directly concerned key characters.

Ding ding ding ding! Yeah, it's hard not to see it that way, and frankly, if they just tell Guts to buck up, sail into Griffith's new back yard with magic concealing fog, bypassing all that pesky established land security and walls (lol), and take him out like a punk... all the better, actually. Leave Rickert out of it, don't get any more creative, just get it over with and get out.

it's not like this is a big victory for him. In every way that matters, this feels like a useless spectacle, once more simply trying to emulate a better scene from Berserk, in this case the apostles pledging themselves to Griffith at Shet.

They could have established this was about him neutralizing ALL his enemies on the island, but it's hard to give benefit of the doubt. It does just seem like some Bowser shit. *Mario64BowserLaugh.wav*
 
Do we get mentally impaired Guts now? :troll:

Seeing him completely giving up, sinking into his subconscious whilst Schierke gets knocked out kinda gave that impression to me. OR/AND since Guts's mind disappeared, maybe the beast of darkness (a demon living inside the armor) will be in control once he wakes up. Look out, Sea Horse!
 

Aazealh

Administrator
Staff member
since Guts's mind disappeared, maybe the beast of darkness (a demon living inside the armor) will be in control once he wakes up. Look out, Sea Horse!

The Beast of Darkness isn't a demon that lives inside the armor. It's a narrative device that personifies Guts' darkest side. His hatred for his enemies, his deepest fears, his guilt and resentment, his self-destructive tendencies... It's a purely psychological construct. Something that only exists in his mind, not an external entity. So if "his mind disappeared", then so would the Beast. Anyway, as I said in my post just above, given Guts' current state, it makes no sense for the Beast of Darkness to surge forward. If anything it should be at its weakest.
 
On the subject of artwork, when we are reintroduced to Falconia, the pages are speckled with white dots that I'm assuming are cherry blossoms blowing in from Skellig through the branches of the World Tree. They seem to float on the breeze and some have the curled petal shape. Do you agree that this is correct? I think it's an odd choice and they look like messy paint splatters. Overall the clarity of the backgrounds and environments is very poor.

One other question, do the very messy panel borders that we see on the third and fifth pages of 371 and elsewhere in the continuation ever appear in Miura's work the way they do here? I remember some "sketchy" panel breaks appearing in episodes like 354 and 362 but those were much different and still very clean/legible. I'm also not a regular reader on this forum so I don't mean to rehash this point as I'm sure it's been discussed in the past, there are just dozens of pages discussing the continuation to sift through.
 

Aazealh

Administrator
Staff member
On the subject of artwork, when we are reintroduced to Falconia, the pages are speckled with white dots that I'm assuming are cherry blossoms blowing in from Skellig through the branches of the World Tree. They seem to float on the breeze and some have the curled petal shape. Do you agree that this is correct? I think it's an odd choice and they look like messy paint splatters.

I don't think it would make much sense for them to be cherry blossoms from Danan's tree, even though it does look like that in some panels. To be honest I'm not sure the staff themselves have a clear idea of what they're meant to be. Flakes of light from the World Tree? It really just feels like a random effect meant to enhance the look of the tree.
:shrug:


One other question, do the very messy panel borders that we see on the third and fifth pages of 371 and elsewhere in the continuation ever appear in Miura's work the way they do here? I remember some "sketchy" panel breaks appearing in episodes like 354 and 362 but those were much different and still very clean/legible.

This basically sounds like a roundabout way of saying those panels are shoddily done. Which... Yeah, they are. :ganishka: So I guess to answer your question: no, Miura didn't do panels like these. His "rough" panel borders looked better.
 
This basically sounds like a roundabout way of saying those panels are shoddily done. Which... Yeah, they are. :ganishka: So I guess to answer your question: no, Miura didn't do panels like these. His "rough" panel borders looked better.
Lol well yes I agree that they look shoddy but moreover that's a disappointing confirmation of what I was thinking, that those zigzag and "crossed line" panel borders are new to the series. Really a terrible time and place to be experimenting with that and whatever the particle effects in Falconia are imo.
 

Aazealh

Administrator
Staff member
Lol well yes I agree that they look shoddy but moreover that's a disappointing confirmation of what I was thinking, that those zigzag and "crossed line" panel borders are new to the series. Really a terrible time and place to be experimenting with that and whatever the particle effects in Falconia are imo.

Sure, although to me these are really far from being the biggest offenders on display. Like I said earlier, it really feels like they're winging it when it comes to the story and characters, which is unforgivable.
 
I think that this episode was too important to get in the "Tao" and "Ki" thing that Miura said at an interview to Yuji Kaku in 2019.

Google translate this :


it is in page 2.
 

Aazealh

Administrator
Staff member
I think that this episode was too important to get in the "Tao" and "Ki" thing that Miura said at an interview to Yuji Kaku in 2019.

Too important? In what way? What happens that is important in this episode? Also, Miura's throwaway comment in that interview isn't as meaningful as you seem to think. The concept he's talking about was introduced in Berserk long ago, but under another name: Od. He's mostly just complimenting Yuji Kaku on his work.

Google translate this

Machine translation is prone to creating misunderstandings. I wouldn't recommend people to rely on it too heavily.
 
To make it obvious that he looses all hope.
Maybe the broken chains does not mean that Guts is overtaken but that he is not influenced anymore by it.
Also when Guts lays down like an infant it may had been used to symbolize that he is in a state to be born again.

I think you are right about Od and Tao concept.
I think that this episode can produce too many ifs and maybes to be considered dull and empty.
Sorry for the harsh comment.
 

Aazealh

Administrator
Staff member
To make it obvious that he looses all hope.

Wasn't that obvious already in episode 370? Was there any doubt that he was crushed?

Maybe the broken chains does not mean that Guts is overtaken but that he is not influenced anymore by it.

Given what the Beast of Darkness represents and how the chains restraining it are introduced in episode 290 (volume 33), I don't see how it could possibly be interpreted as him not being influenced by the Beast anymore. Especially since we see its jaws clamping down on the imagery of Griffith just before Schierke gets thrown back to her body.

In another context, a scene with the Beast of Darkness similar to what's shown here could be used to imply that without Casca, there's nothing left to keep the Beast at bay. The problem is that:

1) It's not what's conveyed, since Casca is never brought up at all.
2) It conflicts with Guts' utter powerlessness and defeated posture.

So unfortunately, what we actually got is a scene that is confusing and meaningless, like I said in my big post above.

Also when Guts lays down like an infant it may had been used to symbolize that he is in a state to be born again.

That's a rather audacious interpretation. All I can say is that's not at all what it evokes to me. It's just more of him being totally limp and miserable because he can't understand why he couldn't hit Griffith with his sword.

I think you are right about Od and Tao concept.

Yeah, I mean it's literally the word 気 with オド as furigana. It first appears in episode 198 (volume 24), published in 2002.

I think that this episode can produce too many ifs and maybes to be considered dull and empty.

Good for you if you enjoyed it!
 
And was the whirlpool's appearance also added expressly so she could mingle those feelings with a convenient and thematic visual? Because I doubt that thing is going to smash the ship to pieces in the next episode.

I liked that we saw the remaining part of the island disappear down a glowing whirlpool. It appeared to explain something to me that I was wondering about, because under normal circumstances an island is a protruding piece of landmass that's simply higher than the ocean level. It's not something that can simply crumble and sink like a mythological Atlantis. What it seems to suggest is that the island existed and was sustained in the first place by some means of magic that made it vulnerable to an evil presence like Griffith. The place had wind constantly blowing in a similar whirl-like breeze and lower gravity as well as a time-difference with the outside world. Perhaps the place was more secure when it existed purely in the ethereal realm, but once the planes merged it became more vulnerable to potential damage due to the properties of the physical plane?

Of course there is the question of the Gnawers and what their role on the island was. Perhaps they were necessary for balance, to absorb the Barytes or something. I wonder if we'll get some background on the place in a potential Gaiseric flashback. The fact that the place was called "Skellig" suggests a connection with King Gaiseric and his skull motif.

This also makes me wonder if Danan intentionally cast some spell to remove the Elfhelm creatures from the world before the rest of the island would sink, even if it was some kind of "mercy kill."
 

Walter

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Of course there is the question of the Gnawers and what their role on the island was. Perhaps they were necessary for balance, to absorb the Barytes or something. I wonder if we'll get some background on the place in a potential Gaiseric flashback. The fact that the place was called "Skellig" suggests a connection with King Gaiseric and his skull motif.
I could be wrong, but I saw it as pretty straightforward. The gnawers, whatever their role underground was, emerged and chewed holes in the foundation of the island, causing its structure to collapse. Ultimately the large chunks of the island were pulled down and created a whirlpool.
 
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