I like the Guts/dog parallel with his missing front leg.
We already knew that from the preview... What I like about it is that it's a very standard dog and there's no hint of the Beast of Darkness in there, which is as it should be. The details with the brand and iron leash/collar and all are neat as well.
Good stuff, very curious about the tiny Cascas and the pyramid-shaped structure on the horizon.
Indeed, that pyramid in the background is most ominous, and is surely where Danan is taking them... Wonder what it'll be. A giant sacrificial altar maybe, as a metaphor for the hand during the Eclipse? Or just some sinister building inside of which they'll find Casca's lost self?
Also, the things attacking Guts/Casca have Femto-shaped wings.
I wonder whether that intentionally references Femto... Could just be a cool design with bat wings, although the Femto connection makes a lot of sense.
And is it me or these specters are actually the weird cloaks stuck on a stick?
Yes, they morph into those.
And it seems (to me at least) that Casca consider herself a burden for Guts.
Indeed, that's one aspect of it. The image of the coffin chained to the dog's neck, the fact it drags it incessantly across an endless desert, the fact the winged creatures attack the coffin itself first (prompting the dog to bark to defend it)...
I actually took that as a bit of a burden on her as well, him dragging her, or this idea, shell or corpse around everywhere in a casca-et (sorry =).
I wouldn't say it's a burden on her as much as a very harsh representation of her current state. She sees herself as basically broken and dead, and literally a dead-weight for Guts. I think that implies a lot of misplaced guilt to come on her part.
That's a factor, but I was thinking more the expectations Guts has had for her since the beginning, post-eclipse. Despite the sacrifice he's making it's not necessarily a healthy and completely selfless thing he's doing for or to her here. Even if he's protecting what's left of her old self, it's also a broken shell locked in a coffin and chained to a ferocious dog... so, that's a lot of potentially conflicting stuff to unpack. It seems at least somewhat harmful to her recovery as good as the intentions (and real world benefits of not being killed) are, and could in fact be hindering her from moving forward and recovering from where/who she is now.
I don't really agree with that sentiment. I don't think those scenes are meant to show her resenting Guts for what he's doing, like he's clinging to her old self instead of letting it go. I think it's really much harsher on her than it is on him. He's pictured pretty truthfully: enduring tirelessly and with nothing to show for it.
Is it me or the dog's the same race as Gambino's dog?
I don't believe it is. They have different "faces" and Gambino's dog was much, much smaller. Besides there'd be no point to it. No relevant connection between the two, thematic or otherwise.
