Griffith said:
I wonder about that actually. Does it make a difference? I'm not sure (can't be actually)... But it's certainly interesting that it's happening like this.
Griffith said:Yeah, the one thing we're not talking much about that could really be construed as a possible reaction by Femto to Skully's attack, is that it appears to have struck Femto's left shoulder. Doesn't that seem an odd place to aim? Why didn't Skully hit him in the head, right down the middle? Unless he was aiming there specifically, didn't care, was rushing or missed, it suggests Femto possibly pulled avoided the head shot. In any case, I think it bodes well for Skully's attack being potent, as it gives Femto a reason not to be hit in the head, which is possibly revealing about Miura's motives too in picking that spot, since he probably wouldn't want to kill the main antagonist 2/3rds of the way through the story, while pumping up Skully and having an excuse to give Griffith a cool scar or something.
Hahaha man, that's some crazy analysis you got there.
Personally I just think SK struck as soon as he got out of the portal and didn't bother to aim at the head. If he could damage Femto like he usually does apostles he'd still split him in half anyway.Griffith said:
But those are related to Ganishka, even if indirectly. The Garuda might just be a familiar, and the Kundalini is a spiritual creature that Ganishka and Daiba got to work for them somehow, but it hasn't been described as being any more "Kushan" than a kelpie or an ogre would be. In fact like I was lamenting earlier, we still don't know much about it. Still, it remains the best possibility that there's more to "Kushan magic" than what we've seen so far, assuming its teaming-up with humans wasn't a unique, unprecedented case. Notably the way Daiba fought together with it, uttering "Om" and whatnot. But that's also my point here: it's the only part of Ganishka's Pishacha-Gana that didn't directly rely on his own power, and as it turns out it's a spiritual creature that manipulates the water element like a kelpie does, only it's a lot more powerful. So basically it's not any different in nature from the usual elemental stuff we see Schierke performing, and then I don't see a reason to set it apart from the rest. It just doesn't seem to be a distinct form of magic per se. More like a variant of the same thing, only associated to a different ritual.
Griffith said:
Like you say, Schierke was impressed at first, only to later on realize that his feats really were the Kundalini's. Once it was gone, he had nothing else up his sleeve (tried to convince Ganishka to let him bring about more familiars, only to be sent to his room). I'm not saying he can't do anything else, but we haven't actually seen him do much by himself.
Griffith said:Anyway, considering there's even an episode title alluding to it, I think it's fair to say that we've seen, not necessarily a Kushan-brand of magic, but at least some magic techniques performed by Kushans, it's just impossible for us to separate pure skill from... Apostle performance enhancers.
I feel like we're juding Daiba as if his feats have been tainted by steroids now.
Oh I definitely agree that we've seen them use magic, my point was that so far it hasn't been some unknown, fundamentally different kind of magic that would be Kushan-specific. More like a mix of Ganishka's apostle-based powers and "traditional" elemental magic with Kushan clothes on. Even if we don't disregard Daiba as a mere extension of Ganishka and/or the Kundalini, what we saw of his actual power was very limited and not too remarkable. Just some mild manipulation of the wind element (levitating and avoiding the fog when it was feeding on people), one case during which Guts commented on how he was related to an apostle.
Now clearly I'm not saying that Ganishka and Daiba had no knowledge of magic as they obviously did know certain things, not to mention that Ganishka showed us he could do more than just transform himself into fog (see the way he projected his spiritual self into the clouds while his corporeal body remained elsewhere in episode 277). And it's of course entirely possible that there exists some Kushan magic users other than those two (who could use a different type of magic as well), since as we've seen with Farnese, everyone can learn magic. Time will tell.
Anyway, one thing I sure hope is that we'll see more creatures like the Kundalini at some point in the future.
Malachai said:
That was created from apostles though, so it really just furthers my precedent point.
Like I said earlier, this discussion should probably get its own thread, but anyway so far we've seen two distinct types of magic: "traditional" magic (I don't feel like reducing it to just elemental stuff, but I can't think of a proper name right now) and human-based magic (encompassing the Idea of Evil, the God Hand, the beherits, the apostles, etc.).
Malachai said:
No, he was talking about how Daiba seemed to know what he was talking about. And while he looked ignorant next to Schierke, it's true he and Ganishka know a good deal about magic and fully deserve to be called sorcerers.
Malachai said:
You're assuming there are other such creatures in their army, which doesn't seem likely from what Daiba and Ganishka say about it during their battle against Guts and his friends. The Kundalini was the Pishacha-Gana's major asset. I don't think they have anything else in stock.
On the off chance that's true, how that would interact with the Yobimizu no Tsurugi is anybody's guess.
It's no big deal though. 
