Episode 309

This is what happens when you spend most of your time in Shooting the Breeze!

Well then, how easy will it be for humans to get attuned to use magic and what not? No offense to Farnese but there are probably others out there better suited for magic use.

Although I suppose it will be up to those people to be willing to learn it or to repress any previous racisms against those that were affiliated to magic and what not.

SaiyajinNoOuji said:

Well then, how easy will it be for humans to get attuned to use magic and what not? No offense to Farnese but there are probably others out there better suited for magic use.

Although I suppose it will be up to those people to be willing to learn it or to repress any previous racisms against those that were affiliated to magic and what not.

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Im not so sure the merging necessarily means everyone can (or will) use magic. I think there would still be a discipline required to use it effectively. Not everyone can be Schierke overnight. The manner of magic she uses involves establishing delicate contracts with ultra-powerful beings. I doubt Johnny from the Tudor Trading Post Express will be able to accomplish that.

As for the oppressive and limiting nature of the Holy See, I think the jig is up. Check out what the Pontiff says in ep 298, it's pretty revealing I've always thought.

puella said:

Pontiff: …Because humans are afraid of unknown things, they communicate with the same languages.
Because they are afraid of unknown things
They suspect languages they can’t understand.
Because they are afraid of unknown things, they believe in dogmas.
Because they are afraid of unknown things, they ostracize other people's gods.
Because it’s unknown things that humans rely on, because humans are afraid of unknown things, they create others
Other religions, foreign languages, other nations, all the (social) classes.
All the things that keep humans apart are here now.
…But these kinds of things are considered (recognized as) mere child's play by the absolute unknown things…
…But why? My heart… …No, all the people here have their morale raised to its highest.
What a brilliant chaos…!!

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Much of the Holy See's doctrine is in renouncing magical things as heretical, apart from miracles of course. But if the leader of the religion is questioning the validity of these restrictions, and a few minutes later he sees a city appear in front of his eyes and a giant tree, I'd say the Holy See will probably have an altered foundation of beliefs in the future. Possibly something focused purely on The Falcon. But I'm just guessing here...

Walter said:

As for the oppressive and limiting nature of the Holy See, I think the jig is up. Check out what the Pontiff says in ep 298, it's pretty revealing I've always thought.
If the leader of the religion is questioning the validity of the limitations, and a few minutes later he sees a city appear in front of his eyes and a giant tree, I'd say the Holy See will probably have an altered foundation of beliefs in the future. Possibly something focused purely on The Falcon. But I'm just guessing here...

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Excellent point Walter. The Pontiff will believe w/e Griffith wants him too, and that will become the belief of the people. I always loved that speech by the Pontiff

Walter said:

As for the oppressive and limiting nature of the Holy See, I think the jig is up. Check out what the Pontiff says in ep 298, it's pretty revealing I've always thought.
If the leader of the religion is questioning the validity of the limitations, and a few minutes later he sees a city appear in front of his eyes and a giant tree, I'd say the Holy See will probably have an altered foundation of beliefs in the future. Possibly something focused purely on The Falcon. But I'm just guessing here...

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Speaking of religion, did everyone just forget about the Prophecy regarding the Falcon of Darkness/Light? Or was that not really significant enough a prophecy to draw the attention it needed to be looked into, other than what the HICKS did? Unless I missed when everyone dismissed it as phooey, than please, excuse me

Chaos said:

Speaking of religion, did everyone just forget about the Prophecy regarding the Falcon of Darkness/Light? Or was that not really significant enough a prophecy to draw the attention it needed to be looked into, other than what the HICKS did? Unless I missed when everyone dismissed it as phooey, than please, excuse me

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We haven't been shown anything to suggest that the Holy See has dismissed the prophecy of the Falcon of Darkness, but who knows what will happen in the future. Like Walter said, their beliefs could very well change in this new world.

Chaos said:

Speaking of religion, did everyone just forget about the Prophecy regarding the Falcon of Darkness/Light? Or was that not really significant enough a prophecy to draw the attention it needed to be looked into, other than what the HICKS did? Unless I missed when everyone dismissed it as phooey, than please, excuse me

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Well, the one and only time we've seen the inner council of the Holy See was in vol 17, when they pulled Farnese off the job of hunting The Black Swordsman -- their biggest lead in the Falcon of Darkness investigation. They basically dropped it, saying the casualties in the HICKS were too many and they got so much heat from the parents of dead noblemen. The "Miracle Recognition Department" of the Holy See then reassigned Farnese to investigate the Falcon of Light dream. And that's where it's stood since then.

Walter said:

Well, the one and only time we've seen the inner council of the Holy See was in vol 17, when they pulled Farnese off the job of hunting The Black Swordsman -- their biggest lead in the Falcon of Darkness investigation. They basically dropped it, saying the casualties in the HICKS were too many and they got so much heat from the parents of dead noblemen. The "Miracle Recognition Department" of the Holy See then reassigned Farnese to investigate the Falcon of Light dream. And that's where it's stood since then.

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I thought as much. So it just strikes me as odd that with the Pontiff spewing his whole Falcon of Light bit, no one has piped up about the Falcon of Darkness. I'm interested into how this will play out, if it does. Will it be a case of everyone who knew about it will have forgotten about it, due to what happened with the merger? Or might we have another incident like we did with the queen, where they're silenced, in someway? Hmm

Chaos said:

I thought as much. So it just strikes me as odd that with the Pontiff spewing his whole Falcon of Light bit, no one has piped up about the Falcon of Darkness. I'm interested into how this will play out, if it does. Will it be a case of everyone who knew about it will have forgotten about it, due to what happened with the merger? Or might we have another incident like we did with the queen, where they're silenced, in someway? Hmm

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Griffith has the pontiff on his side. He can warp that Falcon of Darkness prophecy however he wants, if into anything at all. Perhaps Griffith will say the Falcon of Darkness is stirring on a distant island -- the final evil in the world must be conquered! (No, I don't seriously believe this).

Walter said:

I thought it was interesting that unlike other possessed beings, the Boss here appears to have retained his memory and personality, such as when he flips out to seeing Isidro aboard the Sea Horse. It's probably nothing, but it stuck out to me as strange that he'd still be "himself" after a possession.

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There's also the fact he can speak normally and has kept some level of intelligence, which is a never-seen-before event. Another indication that there's more going on here than a simple possession by evil spirits?

Walter said:

Anyway, Im sure many of these questions will be answered, and "fleshed out" in the coming episodes. How many eps do you think it'll take Guts (and crew) to dispose of this creature? 2-3?

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Sounds like a good estimate to me.

SaiyajinNoOuji said:

I know this probably should go into speculation but. I wonder how easy it will be for Schierke to communicate with the elmentals. Before she had to go into a trance like state to reach their plane. Now? Maybe she can ring up the batphone and have them come in kicking like gangbusters?!

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I don't think that will have changed much. Like you said yourself, she needs to leave her physical body in order to reach them in the first place.

SaiyajinNoOuji said:

Well then, how easy will it be for humans to get attuned to use magic and what not? No offense to Farnese but there are probably others out there better suited for magic use.

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What is your basis for thinking that Farnese is not as well-suited to learn magic as anyone else?

Walter said:

Much of the Holy See's doctrine is in renouncing magical things as heretical, apart from miracles of course. But if the leader of the religion is questioning the validity of these restrictions, and a few minutes later he sees a city appear in front of his eyes and a giant tree, I'd say the Holy See will probably have an altered foundation of beliefs in the future. Possibly something focused purely on The Falcon. But I'm just guessing here...

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Renouncing or integrating them to their doctrine. I think that's key. They had no problem including the four kings of the world into their scriptures as "guardian angels". If they wanted to, I'm sure they could rationalize it all, even apostles. Especially if it's Griffith doing the rationalizing.

Chaos said:

So it just strikes me as odd that with the Pontiff spewing his whole Falcon of Light bit, no one has piped up about the Falcon of Darkness.

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From what we've seen so far, the prophecy of the Falcon of Darkness didn't seem to be a serious concern for the Holy See. So why would they be mentioning it now? Let me take a really crude example: if Jesus came back to the world today, would Christians be talking about the Devil? There is no doubt in anyone's mind that Griffith is their savior. Not to mention that they've been through a series of incredible events and have just had the world transfigured before them. They were dazed when we saw them.

Hmm, interesting developments.

Hahaha, love Azan's expression on page 8. And it looks like we'll have plenty of time to wonder about what the creatures are (random note, but the "heads" kind of remind me of Venus Flytraps in some scenes and of monstrous paws in others) and how they're tied to the ship.

Also, notice that while Guts has been greatly healed, he's still got some scars left. YA's announcement (about his recovery being greatly accelerated) was quite literal for once.

PS: Title is... Ghost ship 2.

After seeing the episode in detail, I'm actually inclined to go back to my original theory, that the Capt... er, the Boss and visible crew are part of the creature.

Looks like Guts is soon to be everyone's favorite sailor.

グリフィス said:

After seeing the episode in detail, I'm actually inclined to go back to my original theory, that the Capt... er, the Boss and crew are part of the creature.

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Yeah I think it's pretty clear they've been assimilated one way or another. The big questions remains of how this ties with the "ghost ship". Is it just a cool name for what is really a monster-controlled ship and crew? What of the glowing portholes and apparent lack of main body underwater when we saw the ship move by itself then? And the fact actual ghosts (dead comrades) where mentioned in the previous episode?

I considered the possibility of the porthole glows being real eyes dimmed by the darkness (in a similar style to Azan when he's wearing his helmet), but it doesn't look like it's the case to me.

Preview images don't hold a candle to the real thing! I'm really excited to see what will happen in this fight, and Guts' return to action has me really jazzed for whatever comes next!

Gorgeous artwork as always. Thank you, Mr. Miura.

That pirate captain is actually quite terrifying in my opinion.

Also, there are some shots where Schierke and Serpico look slightly more mature than usual... It could just be an art style thing...

This episode does a great job showing that this monster is truly dangerous and poses a real threat... And it also showcases how a "comeback" should be done. I nearly teared up seeing the last page with Guts standing there ontop of chopped up monsters in all his badass glory.

One of my favorite details from this episode is on page 20, among the severed tentacles, on the one that's half-eaten one of Roderick's men, you can see the man's helmet coming out the other side through the cut.

Excellent episode, especially the buildup to the final frames with Guts going buzzsaw on the sea creature.

グリフィス said:

One of my favorite details from this episode is on page 20, among the severed tentacles, on the one that's half-eaten one of Roderick's men, you can see the man's helmet coming out the other side through the cut.

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Ha! You beat me to it! I thought that was great. A little detail that shows Guts does care.

These tentacles are a serious mix of Kraken & Vagina Dentata.

It's kind of depressing to see how ineffectual Serpico and Azan were against the tentacles. Guts has to clean up this big mess himself.

In transcribing the text for the episode I came across the section where the Boss/Captain introduces himself to Roderick and crew as: CAPTAIN SHARK RIDER

Holy awesome. Pirate Cap'n is my favorite thing ever.

And yeah, squid flesh, yeesh. Poor mortals! IIRC that stuff (real world version anyway) is full of crazy tough collagen fibres which give it its amazing resilience. Those Humboldt's'll beat the shit out of ya.

ETA: "CAPTAIN SHARK RIDER"? FUCK YES

(I have a transforming robot whose name is Captain Shark. I love him as well.)

Lithrael said:

ETA: "CAPTAIN SHARK RIDER"? FUCK YES

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It's also the statue on the front of the ship, so it could just mean he's The Captain OF the Shark Rider. Don't rely too much on Wally Translations

Gobolatula said:

This episode does a great job showing that this monster is truly dangerous and poses a real threat...

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I really enjoy the panels where the appendages attack, I have to say. It almost feels like you're there.

グリフィス said:

One of my favorite details from this episode is on page 20, among the severed tentacles, on the one that's half-eaten one of Roderick's men, you can see the man's helmet coming out the other side through the cut.

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Hehe yeah, that's a very nice little touch. But I feel like we've become spoiled by these now, if they weren't there we'd be disappointed.

Walter said:

It's kind of depressing to see how ineffectual Serpico and Azan were against the tentacles. Guts has to clean up this big mess himself.

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Aww, come on, they didn't do too bad. Azan whacked one good, allowing Isidro to ignite it, and Serpico did some damage to another one with even a token thrust from Roderick. Also, I guess it does answer the question of whether the merger itself has had a drastic effect on the magic weapons. Apparently not.

Walter said:

It's also the statue on the front of the ship, so it could just mean he's The Captain OF the Shark Rider. Don't rely too much on Wally Translations

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Yeah, "Captain Shark Rider" is the name of the ship (we've known that for over 2 years now ), see the figurehead for reference. Like I said earlier he also calls himself the "skeleton captain" and his band the "bearded skeleton family".

Aazealh said:

Yeah, "Captain Shark Rider" is the name of the ship (we've known that for over 2 years now ), see the figurehead for reference. Like I said earlier he also calls himself the "skeleton captain" and his band the "bearded skeleton family".

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Yeah, just more teasing from Miura, dancing around my dream of an Apostle/monster shark, instead the "Captain Shark Rider" has tentacles!?

Quite possibly one of the greatest returns in history.

グリフィス said:

After seeing the episode in detail, I'm actually inclined to go back to my original theory, that the Capt... er, the Boss and visible crew are part of the creature.

Looks like Guts is soon to be everyone's favorite sailor.

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I agree just by looking at the eyes of the captain. Looks like plastic skin and then his eye is one of the monsters.