Episode 305

That was one stroke of brilliance on the part of Miura. He's never let me down yet. He's expanding the mythos in a direction I'm really liking. It's becoming like the ultimate fantasy tale with everything in there.

In the next episode, I hope we get to see what happened to Skull Knight, Daiba, Rakshas, Femto and Zodd and where they all went to...
 
Episode 185 is the oldest episode I could dig up. Back in 2001. So thats...120? episodes Skullknight has gone through. Not bad. Assuming thats right, probably not.
 

Walter

Administrator
Staff member
Death May Die said:
Episode 185 is the oldest episode I could dig up. Back in 2001. So thats...120? episodes Skullknight has gone through. Not bad. Assuming thats right, probably not.
We've been discussing scans here since episode 165. The forum as it is now only goes back to 185 though.
 

Oburi

All praise Grail
Bekul said:
just how old /is/ Schierke, anyway? I had her pegged at around 13, but seeing how small she looks with Serpico holding her up like that, I'm not so sure anymore.

I think she could be a little older than 13. Not by much though. Like Aaz said there is really no way to know.

schreikeboobs.jpg


I remember this scene though, indicating that Isidro could tell she was female after grabbing her chest, even if he jokes that there isn't much there. That should put her age at around a 13-16. Just my guess, though.
 

KazigluBey

Misanthrōpos
Aazealh said:
Same for everybody. But I have to point out that personally, you know, I'm not really "used" to unicorns. Not that I'm calling you a sissy that played with girls' toys as a kid, but you know... :ganishka: (I'm just kidding, please don't be offended)

Lol, no offense taken. I'm a child of the 80's which led to quite a few shows/books, etc. with Unicorns. Young girls eat this stuff up so both in school and in the neighborhood you see them playing with dolls or whatever the hell else, like children tend to do, and guys that like GI Joe or Transformers or whatever think it's about the lamest thing in the world. So from an early age I was a Unicorn hater, I must confess. :judo:

The one exception being Legend, but then again I wanted Darkness to rule the world, so I had to root against the "Ugly one horned mules".
 
This episode is all kinds of crazy. With the world having changed this much it opens up so many ways things could turn out. I wonder how the higher ups in Vritannis and Midland will react...
 
I'm new so Hey. So after what Femto did to Ganishka it causing the worlds to merge, as we know the spiritual world already merge what if Femto was using Ganishka who using the power of hell to reach deeper into layers where the god hands are. It be can awesome when the light fade the god hands appear.
 

NightCrawler

Aeons gone, vast, mad and deathless
All valid points, Griff and Oburi. I guess i really need to do some "soul-searching" to find if i can still love Berserk. Episodic reading doesn't help for sure. I mean, some episodes are amazing, even recent ones, but then, some others really turn me off immensely. Maybe i should go back to reading just the "tankõbon"s (sp).
I think i'm still attached just because of nostalgia. I'm definitely not the same person i was 9 years ago when Berserk entered my life. Maybe for newer fans it's easier to swallow the sophistication Miura has injected in the series, as for the old ones... well i know a few that have lost almost total interest. But for the old fans here, on this site, maybe they're just not as fundamentalistic as i am (and there's way more dedication too, i don't even question that).
And it's not about misunderstanding Miura's ideas or characters, it's about not really enjoying some of the directions he has taken. Specially when you have this piece of art that awes you for alot of time. Your expectations grow.
Sometimes i think it benefits the written work, if the author doesn't take decades to complete it. The work might become scattered and loose.
 

Gobolatula

praise be to grail!
-CASCA: "What the fuck was that?"
-Everybody turns and stares, wide-eyed at her
-CASCA: "UH-- I MEAN--- Ugiiiiii....."
 
Aazealh said:
Hahaha a hydra, holy shit! :ganishka:


Huh since when did Berserk have unicorns :???: and man o man is guts gunna have a fun time killing that huge hydra when he comes across it sooner or later in the manga :guts:
 

Rhombaad

Video Game Time Traveler
slan69 said:
Huh since when did Berserk have unicorns :???:

Technically they've always been in the spiritual world, we just haven't seen them before (aside from what we see during Flora's speech). They're showing up right now due to the worlds merging.

slan69 said:
and man o man is guts gunna have a fun time killing that huge hydra when he comes across it sooner or later in the manga :guts:

I guess it depends on when he gets back to land. I'm really hoping something attacks the ships while they're at sea and Guts has to step in yet again to save the day. :guts:
 
NightCrawler said:
I think i'm still attached just because of nostalgia. I'm definitely not the same person i was 9 years ago when Berserk entered my life. Maybe for newer fans it's easier to swallow the sophistication Miura has injected in the series, as for the old ones... well i know a few that have lost almost total interest.

Not to get too off topic...

But I think I know how you feel, it sounds familiar to when I was coming off the anime and volumes 18 and 19 were coming out and I thought that, 'man, this really isn't the berserk that I watched and grew so fond of, it seems different not in a good way. What is this, an RPG?'

Personally, what shifted me was when I sort of realized that it WILL NEVER BE THE GOLDEN AGE AGAIN, and that the characters and story and the wonder of it all when it was new and strange are just over. Hell, it still makes me sad thinking about that. But at the same time it started pulling me in more when Guts has a stab of nostalgia back those days, because I'm like, fuck, I miss that too! So now I'm linked because I want to know how Guts is going to deal with that and deal with the person responsible. It's like I had to grow up and get past it. It's never like your first time, is it? :judo:

Not to say this is the only reason to keep reading past the first dozen volumes. It was just a shift I had to make to start to really soak up what was going on, this ever expansive world opening up which is beyond beyond any fiction out there right now. To which I'll say the facial expression of everyone on the ship is what I've had on my face for the last I don't know how many episodes.
 
HOLY. FUCKING. SHIT.

Thanks for the episode link karwat. :serpico:

Miura is good to us Berserk fanboys. I`m not tripping about the unicorns or whatever people are complaining about them. I`m more thinking about the trolls (pillage & rapage all over the world! :troll:), kelpies, werewolves, griffins & everything else under the sun that`s going to be coming out. I can`t think of anything coherent after just seeing this all myself other then `nice`.

The Age of Darkness indeed. :griffnotevil:
 
Rhombaad said:
Technically they've always been in the spiritual world, we just haven't seen them before (aside from what we see during Flora's speech). They're showing up right now due to the worlds merging.

I guess it depends on when he gets back to land. I'm really hoping something attacks the ships while they're at sea and Guts has to step in yet again to save the day. :guts:


ahaha yea me to that would be fucking awesome another crazy fight with Guts if it does happen :slan: lets just hope casca doesn't fall in the water again :serpico:
 

Griffith

With the streak of a tear, Like morning dew
NightCrawler said:
All valid points, Griff and Oburi. I guess i really need to do some "soul-searching" to find if i can still love Berserk. Episodic reading doesn't help for sure. I mean, some episodes are amazing, even recent ones, but then, some others really turn me off immensely. Maybe i should go back to reading just the "tankõbon"s (sp).

That's definitely something to consider, like I've said, I usually don't like even a volumes worth of material until I see it fit into a wider context. It's hard to put things in perspective, especially when new elements are introduced, when you're in the thick of it. You can feel just as lost not knowing how it fits into what happens later as you can not knowing what happened before. I think that's true of any long form, stop and go, series like this. It's going to take twists and turns that throw you off, and you can't just read the next part to get on board again. Basically, it's the illusion we all face that whatever is currently happening, because it's last thing we see, is somehow Miura's ultimate statement, when in reality it's just going to be some small detail in the middle of everything else. Right now, it's unicorns. =)

NightCrawler said:
I think i'm still attached just because of nostalgia. I'm definitely not the same person i was 9 years ago when Berserk entered my life. Maybe for newer fans it's easier to swallow the sophistication Miura has injected in the series, as for the old ones... well i know a few that have lost almost total interest. But for the old fans here, on this site, maybe they're just not as fundamentalistic as i am (and there's way more dedication too, i don't even question that).
And it's not about misunderstanding Miura's ideas or characters, it's about not really enjoying some of the directions he has taken. Specially when you have this piece of art that awes you for alot of time. Your expectations grow.

That's some thoughtful reflection on the matter, speaking of dedication, I do always give the series the benefit of the doubt, as well as the benefit of time. It's a fine line between trying to perceive things how they were intended in a positive light, while guarding against faulty rationalization and zealotry. Which goes both ways, whether it's by accepting anything new and different, or being open to nothing we haven't seen already. In either case, it comes down to a challenge of maintaining objectivity, which is especially difficult when digesting the material in such a subjective format. You really have to be optimistic and almost up for anything to read it episode by episode like this without getting frustrated with it. Even still, we all do from time to time.

NightCrawler said:
Sometimes i think it benefits the written work, if the author doesn't take decades to complete it. The work might become scattered and loose.

I agree with that *cough*Dark Tower*cough*, but I don't think Berserk has lost its way; it's certainly expanded immensely, but I still feel like it's very tight. Every time I feel like it might be spinning out of control, or away from where I want it to go, later on I look back on that segment in question and realize, "That wasn't such a big deal." Again, it's that illusion of the latest being the ultimate.

feralotter said:
But I think I know how you feel, it sounds familiar to when I was coming off the anime and volumes 18 and 19 were coming out and I thought that, 'man, this really isn't the berserk that I watched and grew so fond of, it seems different not in a good way. What is this, an RPG?'

I think this is a great example of how subjective it all is though, because I think that feeling is the same no matter where you came in, and it's not because things are getting progressively worse, it's because, once again, the latest thing is also the last thing in our minds. It makes me imagine Japanese Berserk readers from the series' beginning thinking that Golden Age sucked because of the departure it took from The Black Swordsman arc, "Man, what happened, when did this turn into the knights of the round table!?" =)
 

Aazealh

Administrator
Staff member
KazigluBey said:
Young girls eat this stuff up so both in school and in the neighborhood you see them playing with dolls or whatever the hell else, like children tend to do, and guys that like GI Joe or Transformers or whatever think it's about the lamest thing in the world. So from an early age I was a Unicorn hater, I must confess. :judo:

The one exception being Legend, but then again I wanted Darkness to rule the world, so I had to root against the "Ugly one horned mules".

Well now you've got unicorns being devoured by a hideous hydra, it should be like a dream finally come true. Where Legend failed, Berserk delivers. :badbone:

Azriel said:
I'm new so Hey. So after what Femto did to Ganishka it causing the worlds to merge, as we know the spiritual world already merge what if Femto was using Ganishka who using the power of hell to reach deeper into layers where the god hands are. It be can awesome when the light fade the god hands appear.

Hi and welcome. The world had already started changing once Femto was incarnated. When Femto used SK's attack to open Ganishka up, a wave of astral light spilled into the corporeal world, finalizing the merging, or at least giving it a huge boost (since we don't know to what extent the worlds have been merged right now and to what extent they will eventually). As for Ganishka, he said he'd reached "the abyss of the evil world". We don't really know how that relates to the Vortex of Souls (what is Hell's equivalent in the Berserk world) or to the God Hand.

NightCrawler said:
I think i'm still attached just because of nostalgia. I'm definitely not the same person i was 9 years ago when Berserk entered my life. Maybe for newer fans it's easier to swallow the sophistication Miura has injected in the series, as for the old ones... well i know a few that have lost almost total interest. But for the old fans here, on this site, maybe they're just not as fundamentalistic as i am (and there's way more dedication too, i don't even question that).

Well, that's just my personal opinion, but I've always considered Berserk to be quite sophisticated, even at the very beginning. It might have been a bit rough at the edges at first but I know I could tell everything was there already. And I don't think there's been a fundamental change in the series either. Sure, there are different eras, different arcs and those don't necessarily focus on the same things or have the same themes, but they're part of a whole and they complement each other. The sum is greater than the parts. And a story can't stay the same for too long without repeating itself and losing quality. Can you imagine an alternate universe where Guts would still be fighting apostles like in the Black Swordsman arc after all this time? I can't.

Like you said though, people change, and the way they look at the story changes with them. For some that means not liking Berserk as much as they used to. I also think, and that may be arrogant of me but whatever, that many people do not necessarily see Berserk for what it really is at first and that it takes time for them to realize it.

For example, some guy will read the Conviction arc and think it's great because Guts is covered in blood and kills children-monsters. It's fucking metal man yeah! Then he's disappointed because the rest of the story is all about "kiddie stuff" (:schierke:-inducing as far as I'm concerned). But really, when you think about it, what's the Lost Children arc about? A fairy tale gone bad in which the main characters other than Guts are children. It's all about Jill and Rochine crying out, Guts struggling not to be disgusted with himself and Puck trying to fix it all up. It's also the part of the story that has a whole episode dedicated to Puck. So with that in mind, that person who thinks Berserk isn't like it was before, if he puts aside his nostalgia and re-reads the story objectively, well he might find out that it was never really like he remembers it.

NightCrawler said:
And it's not about misunderstanding Miura's ideas or characters, it's about not really enjoying some of the directions he has taken. [...] Sometimes i think it benefits the written work, if the author doesn't take decades to complete it. The work might become scattered and loose.

Unfortunately not much can be done about that. If you don't like the direction of the series, then it might just not be the one for you, sad as it is to say. As for long lasting works, I'll also point out that people can simply become disinterested with something over time. It's a natural thing. You have to really love something to stay a big fan for over a decade.

feralotter said:
But I think I know how you feel, it sounds familiar to when I was coming off the anime and volumes 18 and 19 were coming out and I thought that, 'man, this really isn't the berserk that I watched and grew so fond of, it seems different not in a good way. What is this, an RPG?' [...] Not to say this is the only reason to keep reading past the first dozen volumes. It was just a shift I had to make to start to really soak up what was going on, this ever expansive world opening up which is beyond beyond any fiction out there right now.

I think that viewpoint is biased because of the anime though. The series doesn't start with the Golden Age arc right away, and volumes 18 & 19 are about as far away from a RPG as I could imagine. Believe me when I tell you that I love the Golden Age arc, but in all honesty it served its purpose, which was to provide a background for Guts' current adventures. It's a testimony of Miura's talent that it was so well done that people still long for that time like Guts himself does. Which I guess is pretty much what you were saying. :guts:

EDIT: Damn and now Griff has beaten me to the punch!
 
Will other humans start gaining athletic abilities comparable to Gut's athletic abilities because everyone is connected now to the spiritual world?
 

Aazealh

Administrator
Staff member
DetriusXii said:
Will other humans start gaining athletic abilities comparable to Guts athletic abilities because everyone is connected now to the spiritual world?

Guts had "athletic abilities" before he was branded, you know. Anyway, I don't think the average human will now have superhuman strength. But that's not to say that supernatural phenomena in general won't be occurring a lot more often from now on, because that's very possible.
 
NightCrawler said:
I think i'm still attached just because of nostalgia. I'm definitely not the same person i was 9 years ago when Berserk entered my life...

Well I think the same can be said about any work. So many times the same book/article/written piece has a different meaning and it because of (as you said) changes in the perspective of the person reading it.

Personally I admire Miura's dedication to come up with ideas and then combining them with some awesome artwork. Of course some ideas are better than other. I think of it this way. Berserk manga is an epic which requires slow building of ideas/characters. Would we all be having this conversation or the mulling over this thing or that if the whole thing had been really compact and unidimensional.

The thing I look forward to and feel sad about at the same time is the day when he finishes this manga. What an awesome and complete piece of work would this be. So lets just enjoy the ride....

Gobolatula said:
-CASCA: "What the fuck was that?"
-Everybody turns and stares, wide-eyed at her
-CASCA: "UH-- I MEAN--- Ugiiiiii....."
haha that really made me laugh
 
late to this, but I just wanted to comment.

But who says anywhere that the 'good guys' will win? Are there even 'good guys' and 'bad guys'? I've never really thought of Berserk as a good vs evil type of story. From way back in the golden age after they say zodd, when the conversation went something like "like some kind of god" 'more like a demon" "is there a difference?" I'm not sure if it's just differences and/or inaccuracies in translation, but I remember hearing the god hand referred to as both demons and angels at different times.

Of course, that's just my interpretation, but I've always seen it as more of a man vs fate than a good vs evil kind of story.
 

Aazealh

Administrator
Staff member
SiRAuron said:
But who says anywhere that the 'good guys' will win?

Can't blame people for hoping Guts wins in the end. I hope so myself. :guts:

SiRAuron said:
Are there even 'good guys' and 'bad guys'? I've never really thought of Berserk as a good vs evil type of story. From way back in the golden age after they say zodd, when the conversation went something like "like some kind of god" 'more like a demon" "is there a difference?" I'm not sure if it's just differences and/or inaccuracies in translation, but I remember hearing the god hand referred to as both demons and angels at different times.

Yeah, there are good guys and bad guys. The members of the God Hand refer to themselves as several things, but they're evil. That's one thing that doesn't change. Apostles are evil too. And well, the God of the Berserk world, master of the God Hand, apostles and beherits calls itself the Idea of Evil. Name speaks for itself.

That doesn't mean it has to be manichean though. The gentle white knight in a shining armor is actually the antagonist, while the rude, bloodied black-clad warrior is the protagonist.

SiRAuron said:
Of course, that's just my interpretation, but I've always seen it as more of a man vs fate than a good vs evil kind of story.

What you call "fate" would be the principle of causality in our case, and it is manipulated by the Idea of Evil. So in effect it is a Guts vs Evil type of story. What's left is for you to decide whether Guts is good or not.
 
Whoever said that after Ganishka, these hydras etc really aren't that impressive or scary, I personally disagree. Ganishka was just one being and he was sort of a special case in a far off place. Now we all of a sudden have completely alien predators like the hydra invading this reality. I find that a lot scarier.

Till now, the apostles have mostly been isolated monsters who pick their fights consciously. Now, danger comes very close to the average man all of a sudden. There's no more really safe havens. everywhere is going to crawl with ferocious monsters now.
 

Rhombaad

Video Game Time Traveler
Shadax said:
Till now, the apostles have mostly been isolated monsters who pick their fights consciously. Now, danger comes very close to the average man all of a sudden. There's no more really safe havens. everywhere is going to crawl with ferocious monsters now.

As of now I'm picturing the Age of Darkness with humans staying behind their castle walls and rarely venturing outside due to the roaming monsters. I think the world is about to become a much scarier place and Man will find itself in a state of weakness it has never experienced before.
 

Aazealh

Administrator
Staff member
Rhombaad said:
I think the world is about to become a much scarier place and Man will find itself in a state of weakness it has never experienced before.

Or at least not in a long time. :slan:

On a totally different note, I forgot to mention a few days ago that we can clearly see Guts' spiritual wound on his chest when the wave of light hits him. I just thought that was a nice touch, though of course I expected nothing less. Another interesting detail: his left arm is shown whole in his spiritual form (might very well be the artificial arm of course, but even then that's quite interesting).

[attachment deleted by admin]
 

Th3Branded0ne

I'll be back.
Aazealh said:
On a totally different note, I forgot to mention a few days ago that we can clearly see Guts' spiritual wound on his chest when the wave of light hits him. I just thought that was a nice touch, though of course I expected nothing less. Another interesting detail: his left arm is shown whole in his spiritual form (might very well be the artificial arm of course, but even then that's quite interesting).

Interesting stuff indeed, even his patch of white hair is gone, so his spiritual form show us the changes it has taken. Even to be more of a nitpick here, Azan still wearing his helmet.(don't wanna get tanned?).
 
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