Episode 248

Aazealh

Administrator
Staff member
"Griffith No More!" said:
Sorry Aaz, I sympathize. ;D

Can you feel my pain?

xechnao said:
Now back to topic

You see, I intended to let you have the last word, but you disappointed me, I'm used to it now I guess. So yes, let's get back on topic: I deleted your posts since you were merely repeating yourself in the same petty and condescending way, and removed my replies as well.

You tried, it was worthless, you lose.
 

Walter

Administrator
Staff member
"Griffith No More!" said:
P.S. Next chapter, who thinks Guts puts it together that the Hawks are in town? =)
I was pretty suprised Guts was so subdued in the shadows as Mule passed him, his armor all emblazoned with Hawk insignia etc. I guess we'll see his reaction next chapter indeed.
 

puella

Berserk forever
It was quite interesting to see such a childlike personality of the kids, Schierke, Sonja and Mule. I think they look too serious for their age but they look like real and common kids in this episode.

And it was also interesting to find Miura's another homage to the classic manga/anime via Puck, of course. ;) Ashita no Joe! Puck played the coach, Tange Danpei, then Isidro is Joe? ;D


puckjoe.jpg


tange.jpg
joe.jpg


So far, Miura showed us his homage to the classic manga, "Mazinga", "Saint Seiya", "Sally, the witch(Mahotsukai Sari)", "Doraemon", "Getta robot" via Puck. What would be the next? Expecting.
 

roberto999

The Black Chick of Darkness
puella said:
And it was also interesting to find Miura's another homage to the classic manga/anime via Puck, of course. ;) Ashita no Joe! Puck played the coach, Tange Danpei, then Isidro is Joe? ;D
If you think how ended that Manga I am sure that Isi is touching something  wooden just now :p ;D. A great touching ending however -a great battle and at very the end it seemed that Joe was just resting....
 

Rhombaad

Video Game Time Traveler
Smith said:
They? Huh?

Sorry, my post was a little confusing.  I meant to ask if anyone thinks that Griffith gave Sonja her powers or if she already had them before Griffith rescued her.
 
Looks like a bit of a climax isn't too far away.

At first I thought Sonja was a decent kid who has just had her destiny tied down with Griffiths, yet still be totally innocent at the same time but now I wonder if she is going to betray Schierke.

Sonja has a deep connection to Griffith, that is certainly true so prehaps her motives could very well reflect of Griffiths. It has already been proven that Griffith does not like Magic users and considers them a threat, yet she still invites Schierke back to the Hawks.
I suppose Sonja could just be somewhat naive despite being Griffiths medium, though having Schierke come back with them. I wonder if this is her Idea to get in the good books with Griffith again since Charlotte has been put as the main priority. Prehaps not likely, but possible.

Guts simply watches the Hawks take his group members. Not seeing his facial expression as they leave would have to be intentional to make the reader have a more difficult time to guess what he has planned. Question is How many other dangerious Hawk members are in Vritanis?

Olivier Hague said:
ANYWAY.
Am I the only one who's a bit surprised that Schierke doesn't seem to be realizing that Sonja's "falcon" is the Falcon?
After all, she saw the guy back in volume 22, and he was freeing a city from the Kushan with the help of Apostles...
And I'd expect her to be more reactive to the mention of a "falcon". After all, the Falcon is responsible for her current journey in more ways than one... I mean, sure, she's not Guts, and she never said anything about "revenge" or anything like that, but she gets upset about her hat... and that Falcon guy ordered Flora's death (he sent a dragon, as a matter of fact).

It also seemed like Farnese had put things together for a bit as well, but it must be alot for them to grasp.


Gut's crew can't be too far away from knowing now, questions have arised recently anyway like Isidro asking Guts what mercenary group he used to be apart of for a start. In reality someone would have surely asked Guts what his plans are aside killing monsters and going to Elfhelm and why (I can't remember if anyone aside Schierke and Puck even knows about that). I can only guess that they will know the truth about Guts's past within a few more volumes.
 

Headless_Death

u/QuartetGhent
I agree, I would say it would be likely that the others will begin to learn of Guts' past sometime in the next few volumes.  Especially since they seem to be getting closer to it.  To both tales and rumors of the golden age, and to the new B.O.T.H.

I believe that scheirke is not being tricked by Sonja, but I suppose it is because I still trust her and Mule.  Of course I thought Griffth was trustworthy when I began the story and we know how that turned out.

My big question is how many more volumes until they reach elfheim?
 
I am personaly beginning to have some slight doubts about Sonja.

In the Page 17's translation, Mule says:

Mule - But that witch she was looking for

Mule - Is she a real....?

Mule - something is on her hat too

I'm wondering what it exactly means!? Does that mean that Sonja was looking for a witch by coming to Vritannis. And that the witch Mule was looking for when he asked Isidro the first time wasn't Sonja, but Schierke? If so, maybe it's not a coincidence that Sonja met Schierke, and she may purposedly try to have her come to Griffith's camp. It doesn't seem to fit Sonja's personnality, but who knows... :-\

And more than that, Sonja seems to be aware of the upcoming attack on Vritannis, while Mule is wondering about what is gonna happen there:

Mule - Even though theyre kids, to be able to get out of the city with this many Kushans without question...

Mule - What is going on?

Sonja - That's a

Sonja - secret

Scherkie - right

Ivarella - It's a piece of cake

And on Page 03 of Episode 247's translation:

Sonja - I guess it can't be helped if this place burns down....

So, maybe Sonja isn't as cute and kind as she looks?!
 
asmer said:
I am personaly beginning to have some slight doubts about Sonja.

In the Page 17's translation, Mule says:



I'm wondering what it exactly means!? Does that mean that Sonja was looking for a witch by coming to Vritannis. And that the witch Mule was looking for when he asked Isidro the first time wasn't Sonja, but Schierke? If so, maybe it's not a coincidence that Sonja met Schierke, and she may purposedly try to have her come to Griffith's camp. It doesn't seem to fit Sonja's personnality, but who knows... :-\

And more than that, Sonja seems to be aware of the upcoming attack on Vritannis, while Mule is wondering about what is gonna happen there:



And on Page 03 of Episode 247's translation:



So, maybe Sonja isn't as cute and kind as she looks?!

Don't read Aaz on this...I am the one right (even if he will become a madman when I tell him so)
WHAT?!?!?!  :-X ;D ;D  :-X ;D ;D :eek: :eek: ;D  :p ;D
[well, truth be told on this it's because I am an ass myself and can't help sometimes but piss people off, whatever that is: note my first phrase on this post to get what I am talking about]

Anyway, seriously, yes, I at least, agree with this - I mean Sonja, yes "isn't as cute and kind as she looks"
Anyway, on that first Mule dialogue you posted I believe he was talking about Sonja, not Schierke if I remember correctly
Nevertheless, I tried to describe my take on Sonja: a "witch" as what it means when used negativelly, describing one's personallity I think fits her well
Besides, as I tried to say before, Sonja herself-in her story made clear that her vital mentallity is, that she is a person yet, but then more gifted than the others...
I believe that it is possible that she visited Vritannis first place because of Schierke...in my opinion there is something solid of a "medium" on her...She could see Griffith was coming when they were taken hostages, she was confident enough to pass through the dark forest with Mule, filled with Apostles that were willing to eat them...IMO it could propablly be because she can see and predict somehow fate, she has a vision on things, she can get causality from a distance...after all she is telepathetic for sure on minds and linking this till the extremity of the world-matter chain could reach to causality itself...And IMHO she has a dose of this "extremity" potential since we have seen her to telepathically experience an event complicated and big enough as a big battle, a big conflict on a battlefield -not to speak about that she is also able of telepathetically actively interacting with what she sees.
Yes, I believe she can have something more sinister and twisted in her personality than her innocent face...and this means in her makings and machinations too since she has the ability-and most propablly the intention :she is more than a duck: she is a kite, remember?-And after all kites are still predators  ;)


EDIT: Jesus, I make so many mistakes when I first type and post I impress even myself...Hope this one is the last edit here
EDIT2:No! No! No! (had to EDIT again) ;D :-[
 

Rhombaad

Video Game Time Traveler
The more I think about it (which is either a good thing or a bad thing), the more it seems like Sonja is being a little "too" innocent and nice. Either she's genuinely being kind to Shierke because she wants to bring a witch to join up with the BotH, or she's tricking her into going to Griffith and getting killed (or tortured, who knows). Her expression creeps me out anyway, but I'm not going to call this one until we see more of the story....sniff...two more weeks :'(
 
Sparnage said:
At first I thought Sonja was a decent kid who has just had her destiny tied down with Griffiths, yet still be totally innocent at the same time but now I wonder if she is going to betray Schierke.

Guts simply watches the Hawks take his group members. Not seeing his facial expression as they leave would have to be intentional to make the reader have a more difficult time to guess what he has planned.


Indeed Sonja might be more cunning than we can possibly imagine, it might a sinister plot to get rid of all Griffith possible threat...



but whatever it is Sparnage u did make me realised something... Guts might be planning something... He could overheard the whole conversation... knowing what and who are Mule and Sonja working with...



Guts "......" expression really make me wonder a lot
 

kimchan

"Should I be overcome by the vapors?
Mule - But that witch she was looking for

Mule - Is she a real....?

Mule - something is on her hat too

Looked more like a typo to me.  Mule knew Isidro was looking for a witch and was probably talking about Schierke.  She's dressed like a witch, so he's wondering if she really is one or not.  And he's definitely talking about Schierke in regards to the "thing" (you know, that elf thing...) on her hat, considering Sonja had no hat and Mule had indicated before that on some level he knew Evarella was there.

Mule - Even though theyre kids, to be able to get out of the city with this many Kushans without question...

Mule - What is going on?

Sonja - That's a

Sonja - secret

Scherkie - right

Ivarella - It's a piece of cake

I think this refers to how this particular city is not a good place for witches to be.  They might not have been noticed because of something Schierke did.  But since it's not a good idea to parade around proclaiming you're a witch in a city like Viritannis, Sonja just says that whatever helped them get out of the city unnoticed was a "secret."  Not to say Sonja isn't hiding anything else.  But you're making it sound like  she's some kind of mastermind behind something, asmer.  Seeing as she's not in a position to do that, she probably just knows something about the Hawks' plans for Viritannis, stuff that nobody else is privy to at this point.

And for the little ongoing argument...  Sonja has never shown any signs of being a witch.  She doesn't cast spells, she doesn't call on spirits, she doesn't seem to do healing either, etc.  All things a witch does in this place.  She even seems to be fascinated with the hypnosis thing Schierke did, even though to Schierke, it was just a simple spell.  Someone who was experienced as a witch would likely think the same, not make  big deal about it like Sonja did.  All Sonja seems to be able to do is some sort of "sensing," both of thoughts and feelings and more remote sensing, like her warnings on the battlefield.  This doesn't qualify her as a witch.  Schierke for that matter is not a druid or "druidical," she is trained as witch, by a witch, and calls herself a witch (by extension the author of the story does too.)  Working with nature and spirits of nature is extremely common for witchcraft and does not make her something else.  In fact, that's the very thing that defines her as a witch.  But arguing about whether Sonja is a witch or is Schierke a witch, these things really don't matter that much at this point (especially since they were pretty much settled a long time ago...)
 

Walter

Administrator
Staff member
I think all three of you (Smith, Xech, Rhombaad) are missing the obvious and likely truth: The one Miura presents to us in ep 247. Sonia professed, quite genuinely to me, she's in Vritannis because she's upset at Griffith's pairing with Charlotte. And what's wrong with this story? Nothing. Oh, but Walter look! She's smiling all the time! She must be planning something sinister!

Whether or not she has devious intentions CAN'T BE KNOWN TO US YET. In fact, you could say we know less about her intentions than *GASP* ... Skull Knight's true identity! OMG!

However, if you still want to go with the SONIA MUST BE EVIL BECAUSE SHE'S SMILING road... She may be planning to bring Schierke to Griff to gain his favor, then he'd pay attention to HER instead of Charlotte ::) ( I feel dirty just considering it...)
 

Aazealh

Administrator
Staff member
asmer said:
Does that mean that Sonja was looking for a witch by coming to Vritannis.

Kimchan and Olivier beat me to it.

asmer said:
So, maybe Sonja isn't as cute and kind as she looks?!

Well, she can be cute and kind, and still serve someone that isn't a good guy (like Griffith).

xechnao said:
Don't read Aaz on this...I am the one right

Or so you think 8).

xechnao said:
she was confident enough to pass through the dark forest with Mule, filled with Apostles that were willing to eat them...

Notice the apostle reaction when she mentioned Griffith though, right before Grunberd interfered.

Smith said:
Indeed Sonja might be more cunning than we can possibly imagine, it might a sinister plot to get rid of all Griffith possible threat...

We can't know before it happens, but it doesn't look so to me. I think she's just naive and eccentric, a gifted and good hearted girl, even though she serves a very mischievous being (Griffith).

kimchan said:
Schierke for that matter is not a druid or "druidical," she is trained as witch, by a witch, and calls herself a witch (by extension the author of the story does too.)

Don't want to start that discussion again (and I'm sure Xech agrees), but I'd like to point out for info that she was as excited to be in presence of a witch (Schierke), than of the pirates, like it was the first time she saw one (she actually used Schierke's typical witch outfit as a proof -__-;) and that she refers to herself as a "Maiden", a very different word.

Walter said:
I think all three of you (Smith, Xech, Rhombaad) are missing the obvious and likely truth: The one Miura presents to us in ep 247. Sonia professed, quite genuinely to me, she's in Vritannis because she's upset at Griffith's pairing with Charlotte.

Yes guys, listen to the wiseman here, since you wouldn't listen to me.

Aazealh said:
As for why she left the camp, she herself says it's because she was jealous of Charlotte, as any young girl having a crush on someone that gets married to another girl would.
 

puella

Berserk forever
kimchan said:
Looked more like a typo to me.

I think it's because of the Japanese word "aitsu". I myself thought it meant Sonja at first but I found Isidro would be more proper in the context after I read it more carefully.

Mule - Even though theyre kids, to be able to get out of the city with this many Kushans without question...

Mule - What is going on?

Sonja - That's a

Sonja - secret

Scherkie - right

Ivarella - It's a piece of cake

I just thought that Sonja meant that little story between Schierke and her was a secret when Mule asked her "what's going on". And I also think Ivarella said something like "It's no big deal or nothing important(or special)" to support what Sonja replied to Mule.
 
Kim, when I was referring to Schierke as a druid and Sonja as a witch my take was on the character of the words...
I believe that was clear, I guess still perhaps it wasn't
What I want to say has to do with sometimes calling a person a "witch", meaning something negative about her character and intentions
To cantrast this negative approach I give on Sonja with Schierke's more positive and good-willing one I characterized the later as a druid or shaman which from legend I suppose is the person that uses nature's magical forces to help people
It was only a characterization
Now, I don't know if we can officially distinguish witches and druids or whatever in Berserk and what sense this would have.
The way I see it, magic exists and can be used in various ways but they can't be distinguished officially as if they were something different...In the end, Flora, explains the whole world using one general explanation
One thing important though is Holy Order's and Griffith's claims on "witches", which obviously is a political take on fighting what can threaten or menace them
Remember that Schierke has made clear that religion and magic reffer to the same things
With this I end hoping that to have convinced you if you didn't agree with me allready




Walter, I guess this Sonja bad girl stuff is first of all my take, at least I was the one that first posted this on the thread...and I did this cause Olivier's post made me think about it
Olivier Hague said:
Am I the only one who's a bit surprised that Schierke doesn't seem to be realizing that Sonja's "falcon" is the Falcon?
After all, she saw the guy back in volume 22, and he was freeing a city from the Kushan with the help of Apostles...
And I'd expect her to be more reactive to the mention of a "falcon". After all, the Falcon is responsible for her current journey in more ways than one... I mean, sure, she's not Guts, and she never said anything about "revenge" or anything like that, but she gets upset about her hat... and that Falcon guy ordered Flora's death (he sent a dragon, as a matter of fact).

Then, Olivier posts to say how impressive this seems for Shielke's character in the story since Skullknight gives her kudos for her intelligence

So this made me think (or at least wanna think) that other than Shielke's fault Sonja could be responsible too

The story about Sonja feeling strange about Charlotte I don't get it so much seriously -not saying that ain't true, but saying that Sonja the "medium" who sees in the future wouldn't drive all her way to Vritannis just because of a distress this has caused her for a moment: it can't be the Las Vegas escape thing: Las Vegas is far and a more significant decision if you see what I mean
 

Aazealh

Administrator
Staff member
xechnao said:
It was only a characterization

I think she had got what you meant with your previous post already Xech, let's not digress too much, you can have a talk by PM if needed.

xechnao said:
The story about Sonja feeling strange about Charlotte I don't get it so much seriously -not saying that ain't true, but saying that Sonja the "medium" who sees in the future wouldn't drive all her way to Vritannis just because of a distress this has caused her for a moment

What about Sonja the naive 12-or-so years old girl that had a hard childhood?
 
Aazealh said:
What about Sonja the naive 12yo girl that had a hard childhood?

You' ve got a point but I still ain't convinced for two reasons
Firstly, I ain't sure she can be characterized naive because she is 12 (actually do we know her age?)- in the same means as Schierke could be
Let me explain:
The first time we see Sonja, we see a person with a different power or gift that has been living amongst other people first place...It's not like Schierke, that it seems she has always been with her protector, away from and not used with people - living in a sense in her one world - considering other people that is
So, I guess Sonja can have the potential to be more cunny (socially) that Schierke herself
The second reason and most important is, as I tried to say above, that a trip to Vritannis doesn't seem to me the same as somebody going to his room to stay alone for a while - It sounds as something more big, more important - it's like going to Las Vegas I say again, if you get with this what I want to say...but this is my feeling of course
 

Walter

Administrator
Staff member
xechnao said:
So, I guess Sonja can have the potential to be more cunny (socially) that Schierke herself
Cunny, Noun. 1. The female genitals.

The second reason and most important is, as I tried to say above, that a trip to Vritannis doesn't seem to me the same as somebody going to his room to stay alone for a while - It sounds as something more big, more important - it's like going to Las Vegas I say again, if you get with this what I want to say...but this is my feeling of course
Its a big city indeed. But I never saw Vritannis as a real "vacation" (vatican puns, anyone?) rather, I saw it as her taking a job for the Hawks away from the heat of battle i.e. The Ganishka front. But that's just me reading into it.
 

Rhombaad

Video Game Time Traveler
Walter said:
I think all three of you (Smith, Xech, Rhombaad) are missing the obvious and likely truth: The one Miura presents to us in ep 247. Sonia professed, quite genuinely to me, she's in Vritannis because she's upset at Griffith's pairing with Charlotte.  And what's wrong with this story? Nothing. Oh, but Walter look! She's smiling all the time! She must be planning something sinister!

Whether or not she has devious intentions CAN'T BE KNOWN TO US YET.  In fact, you could say we know less about her intentions than *GASP* ... Skull Knight's true identity! OMG!

However, if you still want to go with the SONIA MUST BE EVIL BECAUSE SHE'S SMILING road... She may be planning to bring Schierke to Griff to gain his favor, then he'd pay attention to HER instead of Charlotte  ::)  ( I feel dirty just considering it...)

lol, true, there's no way to know at this point, and you never know what Miura will throw at us. There's definitely a good chance that Guts overheard/saw most, if not all, of the "pirate incident." Can't wait to see how he handles things and if he can finally control The Beast this time (I doubt it, but that's speculation, nothing more). Things are getting good.
 
Olivier Hague said:
I think it should be "he was looking for". Isidro, not Sonja.
OK, thanks.

kimchan said:
But since it's not a good idea to parade around proclaiming you're a witch in a city like Viritannis, Sonja just says that whatever helped them get out of the city unnoticed was a "secret."  Not to say Sonja isn't hiding anything else.  But you're making it sound like  she's some kind of mastermind behind something, asmer.
Well, that's not exactly what I meant, more that she knows something, not that she necessarily is behind it. And since she seems to be able to see future events, why would she go just where she knows the Kushans are gonna attack!? That's the thing I was wondering about. :-\
 

Kirika-chan

I'm a llama? :'(
I think it should be "he was looking for". Isidro, not Sonja
That's what I thought, at first, but it's not the absolute strongest of possibilities (as it first seemed) because there is a link between "Sonja" and "witch" even before she met Schierke... AND that link is precisely in Mule's mind! (that made it, for me, about a 50-50)

Let me expand. I think it's safe to assume that Mule was looking for Sonja when he first overheard Isidro and he was immediately interested at the very mention of the word witch.

His interest could be just because Griffith has every Hawk on the lookout for witches, but that's unlikely. In the attack on Flora's house, there didn't seem to be any human soldiers. That could imply that Griffith is keeping his ducks ignorant of his witch-hunt (although it's not absolutely certain).

If Mule is not aware of Griffith's interest in witches, then his interest in Isidro's witch-talk could only be motivated by three causes:
a) He is interested in witchcraft himself (yeah, right ::) )
b) He thinks that Sonja might have been confused with a witch because she's such a weirdo (not entirely unlikely but not too likely either... she doesn't really look like a witch, I mean, the girl doesn't even wear a hat!)
c) He knows that Sonja was looking for a witch and thinks that finding the witch will eventually lead to reuniting with Sonja.

Relevant Question:
Does Griffith consider Sonja a dragon, a duck or something in between (kite???).
If he considers her a duck, she's probably ignorant of his interest in witches. If he considers her a dragon or an almost-dragon, because of her supernatural powers, she probably knows (although Mule wouldn't; he'd only know of -her- interest). If she's something in between, she might or might not know.

She considers herself a kite (in-between [although she think's it's even higher than dragons, I doubt it]) so (-if- she's right) it's possible that she might know... but let's hold that thought for a second.

I want to consider the other question that was asked a few posts above. If she really escaped to Viritanis in a fit of jealousy against her falcon's matrimony to the duck queen Charlotte, why would she be telling the story so happily?
(Yes, it could be because she had a wicked plot, but she wouldn't flee to another city if that was the case... it's not the logical reaction)
It could be because she knows that she'll triumph in the end, knowing that a silly duck queen couldn't possibly compete with her.
It could be that she's "just like that" all the time.
It could be that she's so happy about finding a new friend and looking at the ocean, that all other troubles don't seem sad anymore.
...or.... (dum dum dum) it could be because she found a witch and that is the answer to her problem!

How can it be the answer?
Let's continue from where we left off. If she knows how important finding all witches is for Griffith, she might think that offering him Schierke will earn her enough bonus points to change his mind on his choice of spouse.
If she doesn't, it could still be because she think's that she can use the witch's powers to change either Charlotte, Griffith, herself or some other relevant factor so that she'll be the one he marries.

Whatever it is, after reading that "she was looking for" phrase, I haven't been able to look at these chapters (or at Sonja) with the same eyes again.


So what was it that really happened? Leaving the logical analysis behind and going for a straight plot event stitching (aka just plain guesswork, since other options could be just as valid :p), my guess on the previous events would be that Sonja arrived on Viritanis because she wanted to look at the sea and clear her thoughts. She really did it because she was jealous and "hurt" (in the way that she can feel hurt). Then she felt the power of the witch. Maybe right from when she controlled the first guards or maybe when she overlooked her work burning the corpses. Whenever it was, she told Mule some half-comprehensible "I found a witch, I'm going to it" and ran off. Mule was confused and tried to follow her but he lost her. He started to look all over the city and eventually came near Isidro....

What she really wanted with the witch would still be a mystery (a scary unnerving mystery, if you ask me :eek: ) but it would tie Mule's initial interest in finding the witch with the apparent femininity of his last phrase.
 
Don't know japaneese but Olivier said that it was a "he" and not a "she"...if this is clearly true (I mean, I don't know how clearly Japaneese state gender) I guess your whole premise is pointless...
On the other hand if this could be a "she", in this case then I guess you have made your point
 
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