Episode 305

Rhombaad

Video Game Time Traveler
Malachai said:
Is it just me or does Guts face look a little elongated? Maybe that's just the a preview distortion...

It looks the same to me.

Malachai said:
Also, why do you suppose the white in his hair disappears when the light washes over him?

Because he's glowing brightly? What does it even matter?

Malachai said:
Hydras....Unicorns...Harpies...

Those are sirens, not harpies. The two are often confused.

Malachai said:

One can only hope! Perhaps even a few that rival Grunbeld. It's funny how some apostles almost mimic creatures you'd expect to be in the spiritual world. Like Grunbeld and that bird apostle, which looks a lot like the sirens flying overhead, for instance.
 

Aazealh

Administrator
Staff member
Rhombaad said:
Since Kundalini and the like may very well show up, think the Elemental Kings will? I wonder how the merging of the worlds will affect Schierke's magic...

Hmm, I don't know... They're seemingly pure spirits, so they might dwell too deep to directly appear in the world like that. Same for the spirits Schierke usually summons to help her. But who knows. Pretty much everything's possible at this point.

Proj2501 said:
I wonder. It'd be nice for there to be something that poses a new threat to Griffith or an even greater one than Ganishka (well he never really was one). Perhaps the Elemental Kings may play some role again. It'd be something else.

I don't really see the Four Elemental Kings attacking Griffith out of the blue. Do they even feel the necessary concern to do that? They're beings wholly unlike humans, don't forget that.

Malachai said:
Also, why do you suppose the white in his hair disappears when the light washes over him?

His white patch is still there in the picture we see. His spiritual form obviously doesn't show it, just like it doesn't show his other minor scars. The one on his nose probably appears because it's become a part of how he represents himself or something equally esoteric. :guts:

Malachai said:
Further, i wonder if this light will do anything to casca? Or even, if this light will have a different effect on people with the brand?

Well they were already in the Interstice, so who knows?

Malachai said:
DRAGONS.

*hopes to soon see the reality of the volume 3 cover*

Hahaha, that would be fun. "Miura had planned it ALL ALONG!!" :ganishka:

Rhombaad said:
Those are sirens, not harpies. The two are often confused.

Sirens would be at sea and even then that's hypothetical, but the creatures we see in the preview might very well be harpies.
 

Rhombaad

Video Game Time Traveler
Aazealh said:
Sirens would be at sea and even then that's hypothetical, but the creatures we see in the preview might very well be harpies.

That's true, Miura doesn't always follow classical mythology. He usually ends up doing his own thing.
 
This episode is damn awesome. Also, Az, if you're right about Skully living on the god damn moon, I'm gonna have to laugh for like a good four or five minutes.
 

Aazealh

Administrator
Staff member
Rhombaad said:
That's true, Miura doesn't always follow classical mythology. He usually ends up doing his own thing.

Well I think what we've seen is pretty close to the mythological description of harpies, don't you? Anyway, they kind of remind me of the bird apostle we saw in episode 301.
 

Rhombaad

Video Game Time Traveler
Aazealh said:
Well I think what we've seen is pretty close to the mythological description of harpies, don't you? Anyway, they kind of remind me of the bird apostle we saw in episode 301.

Yeah, but I think the two can both be described as bird women, although these being over land is probably closer to the description of harpies, since sirens were sort of allocated to one particular island. At first I thought one of 'em was the bird apostle, until I saw how many there were. :serpico:
 

Aazealh

Administrator
Staff member
Rhombaad said:
Yeah, but I think the two can both be described as bird women, although these being over land is probably closer to the description of harpies, since sirens were sort of allocated to one particular island.

Yeah, and there's also the fact that physically, while the sirens' appearance does vary in mythology, the harpies have mostly been depicted consistently, and those depictions fit the creatures featured in this episode remarkably well. It should also be noted that there were only three Sirens in the original tale, so that's a discrepancy as well. Lastly, their most important feature has always been their song, which was said to be irresistible, and we don't see any singing going on in this episode.

Anyway, this talk about mythological monsters really makes me wonder which one of them we'll see next. There are so many possibilities! :guts:
 

Griffith

With the streak of a tear, Like morning dew
cryo said:
hydra and unicorns, cool! even though i'm excited about these new developments, i'm also a bit worried about the direction Miura might take it in, here's to hoping it won't be too 'bland fantasy'-ish , but knowing Miura, those worries are silly :schnoz:

That touches on an interesting point, the archetypal fantasy elements are being intentionally used to tie this into real folklore and mythology that's common to the thinking and literature of both our reality and the fictional Berserk world. In a way, you almost have to think of this as if it was happening in the real world and not one where we already know about monsters, witches, and astral bodies. For most of the denizens of Berserk, this is like if you saw Godzilla attacking Tokyo in real life.

Aazealh said:
Anyway, this talk about mythological monsters really makes me wonder which one of them we'll see next. There are so many possibilities!

I wonder if we won't also see some trolls and ogres stomping around to establish a tie between them and these "new" creatures.
 

Aazealh

Administrator
Staff member
宮本 グリフィス said:
I wonder if we won't also see some trolls and ogres stomping around to establish a tie between them and these "new" creatures.

Of course! I can't believe I didn't mention this since it's pretty much the only thing I thought about while commuting (even had an image in mind). They just have to show up. RETURN OF THE TROLLS!

 
It's been a while since I was really excited about a new berserk episode, but this one finally has the stuff I love again, and then some!

I do like how Miura stays close to classical representations of mythological creatures. Why go out of your way to come up with some freakish alien design when we all already love the original vision. In the end he does add his own unique style and I really respect him as an illustration artist.

About the people needing Griffith now to stay alive, wouldn't the oposite be true in a way aswell? (maybe not consciously by Griffith himself) The Idea is behind Griffith ultimatily and in a sense I imagine the idea as powered by humans.
 

Oburi

All praise Grail
God Dammit! I slept in today and I now i'm late for work and I don't have time to read the whole thread!! :mozgus:

Let me say this episode looks amazing! I'm blown away and I love where Muira is taking this!
 
I wonder what this new world will mean to our two branded ones.
Up until now they lived in the interstice, were haunted at night and, even more important, were able to cause
"ripples in the Water", to use Skullknights words.
Some time ago, on the way to Albion, he told Guts that thanks to his brand he had the small chance of making a difference at the junction of time (referring to the reincarnation ceremony).

Now that the worlds have merged, it might be save to assume that there is no longer such thing as an interstice.
Every human, every beast, every demon is now within the same world.
So are Guts and SK's chances of actually hurting the God Hand improved? Or did they just lost that little edge they had thanks to their special status (being branded / a spiritual being to begin with)?
 
X

Xem

Guest
Hahaha, the image of the hydra biting one of the unicorns shattered my girlfriends universe. (Huge 'The Last Unicorn' fanatic)

Going on speculation, I'm curious to see if Griffith's apostle army will set out to destroy these astral creatures. Not that I see any real reason for it, outside of the fact that they're possibly powerful creatures who might want to oppose him.

Anyways, unicorns! Awesome. Unicorns being killed! Whoa!

edit: I thought about this earlier, but it seemed a tad cheesy. Does anyone think Muira might include vampires in this world? We know he planned on doing a Dracula story at some point, but I'm not sure if it fits into the world of Berserk or not.
 

Oburi

All praise Grail
Deci said:
edit: I thought about this earlier, but it seemed a tad cheesy. Does anyone think Miura might include vampires in this world? We know he planned on doing a Dracula story at some point, but I'm not sure if it fits into the world of Berserk or not.

I thought the same thing! I don't see how they could be used in the story but I certianly thought abou it before.
 

Aazealh

Administrator
Staff member
Shadax said:
It's been a while since I was really excited about a new berserk episode, but this one finally has the stuff I love again, and then some!

I still don't understand how anyone could say that. Even putting aside how individually awesome each recent episode has been, this one is just the continuation of the last few. It wouldn't have happened without them, and they're all part of the same big event. Is it just because we see Guts that you're excited?

Shadax said:
in a sense I imagine the idea as powered by humans.

That's quite the oversimplification.

Gaahl said:
So are Guts and SK's chances of actually hurting the God Hand improved? Or did they just lost that little edge they had thanks to their special status (being branded / a spiritual being to begin with)?

I speculated about this in the last thread. Both are possible, though I'd personally lean towards the God Hand being more vulnerable. At this point though the safe answer is that we don't know.

Deci said:
Going on speculation, I'm curious to see if Griffith's apostle army will set out to destroy these astral creatures. Not that I see any real reason for it, outside of the fact that they're possibly powerful creatures who might want to oppose him.

Who might want to oppose him? They're beasts. Animals. I'm pretty sure all that hydra wants is to eat more unicorns/humans/anything.

Deci said:
edit: I thought about this earlier, but it seemed a tad cheesy. Does anyone think Miura might include vampires in this world? We know he planned on doing a Dracula story at some point, but I'm not sure if it fits into the world of Berserk or not.

He said that he wanted to do a story about Vlad Tepes using the real historical records. Not a Dracula story as in your average vampire story.

Funkmasta Zeph said:
Call me crazy but I was most fascinated by how it looks like Berserk's geography is the same as ours.

Honestly I don't think we can see much. What parallels have you found?
 

Rhombaad

Video Game Time Traveler
Aazealh said:
Yeah, and there's also the fact that physically, while the sirens' appearance does vary in mythology, the harpies have mostly been depicted consistently, and those depictions fit the creatures featured in this episode remarkably well. It should also be noted that there were only three Sirens in the original tale, so that's a discrepancy as well. Lastly, their most important feature has always been their song, which was said to be irresistible, and we don't see any singing going on in this episode.

Well, I'm sold. :guts:
 
There's an overarching idea in Berserk that thoughts all coalesce somewhere and take on physical form, right? That's what the whole idea of evil is all about from my understanding. So, maybe the appearance unicorns, hydras and the trolls earlier etc. are all originally just a product of human thought? If that's the case, then just about anything could go in this new world.

Sadly enough, my first thought when I saw this episode before running out the door to the dentist was "Oh great, now it's completely plausible for a scene with Guts jumping through a rainbow on the back of a unicorn with pixies and sparkles all around him".
 

Aazealh

Administrator
Staff member
Judas Priestly said:
If only the planet is covered in the light, then aliens will be the true heroes of this story. :ganishka:

Seriously, seeing the planet from space does bring back a few interesting points that are rarely discussed. Is the whole universe made of 3 or more overlapping worlds? What is the reach of the Idea of Evil's power? Is its power limited to one planet? Are there astral beings in space? And so on. Really tricky and awfully speculative topic, though. :guts:

CowTip said:
There's an overarching idea in Berserk that thoughts all coalesce somewhere and take on physical form, right? That's what the whole idea of evil is all about from my understanding.

Well it's a bit more complicated than that actually. There's an "ocean" that represents mankind's collective consciousness. Its dark side gave birth to the Idea of Evil, according to episode 83. I wouldn't talk about taking on a "physical form".

CowTip said:
So, maybe the appearance unicorns, hydras and the trolls earlier etc. are all originally just a product of human thought? If that's the case, then just about anything could go in this new world.

They're related to human's deep, subsconscious beliefs (see the talk at Flora's mansion in volume 24 for more information). However at this point we can't say with any certainty that they're just a product of human thoughts. Besides I think it'd be a little too simple.
 

Funkmasta Zeph

Finely made wine since 1840
Aazealh said:
Honestly I don't think we can see much. What parallels have you found?

One shot seems to resemble the northern tip of Great Britain and a portion of southern Scandinavia, but that's pretty interprative on my part.

What ISN'T though is the very clear Africa and Madagascar we get in the other page.
 
Well it's the first time I saw a berserk preview. I just couldn't resist anymore! This whole stuff reminds me of southpark episode where the portal in imaginationland was destroyed and the evil characters attacked and killed the good ones. (alien, minotaur, predator vs unicorns, popey etc)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QDUh-_RdT2I :carcus: :chomp:
 

Black_Devil

Punos Rey
Aazealh said:
Seriously, seeing the planet from space does bring back a few interesting points that are rarely discussed. Is the whole universe made of 3 or more overlapping worlds? What is the reach of the Idea of Evil's power? Is its power limited to one planet? Are there astral beings in space? And so on. Really tricky and awfully speculative topic, though. :guts:

Doesn't its' reach only extend to humans though? :X If not please don't kill me.

Really cool episode, though honestly, I was expecting more demonic figures than Unicorns. >_> Though the hydra's cool, wonder if we'll get any eastern mythology like the Yuki-Onna, or even Hindu mythology, maybe Indra himself? :eek:

That is.....if Aolsier doesn't show up. *runs out of Aaz and Walter's clutches*
 
dear God I hope there are no Dragons.... It will be too much like inheritance series and somehow I don't see them fitting in Berserk manga. The dragon mythology is too well-developed in fiction and as Aaz said Miura seems to put a spin on all the 'creatures'. In a way Grunberd's apostle form could be called a dragon and well Guts does carry the 'dragon slayer' so may be.....

I wonder if opening the gates to hell will give Griffith some special status with godhands.. Actually I wonder if godhands like each other? Is there animosity between them. Is there a leader... I guess Void could possibly be the leader but it seems like they are mostly doing their own thing. Surely they must have noticed an event like this....
 
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