Berserk nearly over? Or only halfway done?

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Femto the Raven

The location of agony? The human soul.
I hope this is in the right forum, but does anybody have a theory on how close Berserk is to its conclusion? I personally want it to keep on going and going, but I don't want Mr. Miura to not finish it.

If you ask me there are a couple of indications that we may be closer to the end then some thing, there are of course many contradictions, but if you will...

1. Femto reborn on earth and begun his conquest, a final conquest that will undoubtly plunge the world into a ireversible darkness.

2. Caska MAY be on the verge of regaining her memory/mind. I don't know why but IF she is cured in Elfhelm, I would see that as a sure sign the end of the series is near. Maybe because that will make Guts' quest halfway finished?

3. The size of Gut's party worries me. The last time we had a close group of confidants this size, the eclipse happened, I think it likely that some, or most of them will die during a (final?) climatic confrontation with Femto/Godhand, not before.

Shaky logic at best, I know, but by volume 31 I think we are more than halfway, if not 75% done with the epic.

What are your theories?
 
75% is bit far-fetched imho. About 65% if you ask my opinion (Boat trip and Elfhelm will become looong adventures for our hero). But even if you’re right, we have more than 5 years of Berserk ahead. :guts:
 

SaiyajinNoOuji

I'm still better than you
Aaz and I were talking briefly about this subject at one point in time and he had mentioned, and I may be wrong, but that Miura had said that when Gut's got his little band together and Griffith got his army together that NOW the REAL story could begin. SO if that is any indicator... we maybe just a quarter of the way into the story. :isidro:
 

Aazealh

Administrator
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Here's a link to a previous thread (now locked) on the topic. Now, some remarks on what you said:

Femto the Raven said:
1. Femto reborn on earth and begun his conquest, a final conquest that will undoubtly plunge the world into a ireversible darkness.

That's hardly an indication that the story is close to its end. Who knows what the extent of the conquest will be, who knows how much resistance he'll encounter, and who's to say it'll mark the end of anything? I wouldn't be surprised if the end of the story were to take place in a world ruled by the God Hand, years from now. The very process of changing the world could take quite a while, not to mention that a lot of events could easily take up several volumes each depending on how Miura chooses to treat them. Also, Femto wasn't reborn but incarnated. Nuances matter! :void:

Femto the Raven said:
2. Casca MAY be on the verge of regaining her memory/mind. I don't know why but IF she is cured in Elfhelm, I would see that as a sure sign the end of the series is near. Maybe because that will make Guts' quest halfway finished?

A sure sign that the end of the series is near? But why? I mean you say you don't know why and I can really understand you because I can't think of a reason either. It could and most likely will go on for quite a while with a cured Casca.

Femto the Raven said:
3. The size of Guts party worries me. The last time we had a close group of confidants this size, the eclipse happened, I think it likely that some, or most of them will die during a (final?) climatic confrontation with Femto/Godhand, not before.

Because the Hawks died during the Eclipse doesn't mean every time Guts will make friends it's going to happen. There's simply no logical reason to think it would be the case based on the evolution of the story. It'd be redundant and IMHO uninteresting. The Golden Age arc was a flashback, we knew what to expect from the start. The Hawks were meant to die from the very beginning, and they served their purpose. I don't see why it's likely Guts' friends will die in some hypothetic final battle. It's certainly not corroborated by Miura's old declarations on the subject of the ending.

Beyond that, you need to look at the dynamic in Guts' party. It's at its beginning, and it just reeks of potential. There's enough to fill 20 volumes with character development, not including other possible new characters. The situation's very different from what it was before the Eclipse and I don't think the simple fact Guts has people around him can be used as a mean to predict when the series will end.

Femto the Raven said:
Shaky logic at best, I know, but by volume 31 I think we are more than halfway, if not 75% done with the epic.

Personally, I doubt that. 75% means that Berserk would end around volume 40. At the rate the story's progressing that seems terribly short to me. It's been 10 volumes since Guts started travelling to Elfhelm, and he's only set sail now. The group's not going to go there, get their business done, come back and meet up with Griffith in just 10 more volumes. And that's not taking into account all the imprevisible events, flashbacks and side-stories (if they can be called that). There's really a lot of things to address before the end.

I could easily see Berserk's publication last 30 years more. It's a depressing number for many people but the potential is indubitably there. Given the time constraints 20 years is probably a more realistic estimation though. In the end it's up to Miura, and I trust his choices.

SaiyajinNoOuji-Trading Cards said:
Aaz and I were talking briefly about this subject at one point in time and he had mentioned, and I may be wrong, but that Miura had said that when Guts got his little band together and Griffith got his army together that NOW the REAL story could begin.

Nah, that's not really it. This is a deformation of a quote that has been around for years and every time I hear it, it seems it's moved farther away from its original meaning. The source of this misconception is a comment from Miura in the YA n°2 of 2001 in which he said among other things "グリフィスが登場して、やっとスタートラインに立った気がする。" That can be translated like this: "With the appearance of Griffith, I have the feeling that I am on the starting line at last."

This refers to Femto's incarnation of course, back at the end of volume 21. To be honest I don't think the remaining length of the story should be estimated on this basis (though it did imply the story would last for quite a while longer at the time it was issued; back then it wasn't so obvious).
 

Femto the Raven

The location of agony? The human soul.
Twenty more years???!! :isidro:
Well then, I guess I'll just get comfortable.

Mr. Miura had better take good care of himself then. I don't want to be cheated out of my finale by a little thing like mortality. :guts:
 

Aazealh

Administrator
Staff member
Femto the Raven said:
Twenty more years???!! :isidro:

Well that's just my opinion, but think of all that's left to do/show/explain in the manga, and how long it'd take to do it well and in detail. The series hasn't really "just begun," but to me it's definitely not "almost over" either. Like I said it's really up to Miura to decide how long it'll go on, because in terms of potential I could see it reach a hundred volumes naturally.

Femto the Raven said:
Mr. Miura had better take good care of himself then. I don't want to be cheated out of my finale by a little thing like mortality. :guts:

It's funny that people keep bringing this up these days, it seems overly pessimistic to me. I know I don't like to even think about it. :SK: Anyway, life expectancy in Japan is one of the highest in the world, over 81 years old, so don't worry too much about it.
 

Aazealh

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xfool said:
20 years is a good estimate at the rate of bout 1.5 vol per year but hopefully it would be less than that.

The rate should be at least 2 volumes a year, since it's what we're getting currently. And personally I hope Berserk will last as long as possible while ending properly. 20 years are fine with me.
 

Rhombaad

Video Game Time Traveler
Aazealh said:
And personally I hope Berserk will last as long as possible while ending properly. 20 years are fine with me.

Same here. I hope it goes on for at least that much longer, as I just can't get enough of it. :serpico:
 
20 years? That maybe the time in finishes it Japan. For it totally release in America could take twice that! Unless it becomes so overwhelming popular, I won't even have Volume 20 in my English collection before the end of WW III!

I really hope Mr. Miura expands his production team. He has got to know that his length of the serise is opposing the time he has to make it.
 

Aazealh

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Death May Die said:
20 years? That maybe the time in finishes it Japan.

That's what we were talking about. The US edition is irrelevant, what matters is the completion of the original work.

Death May Die said:
Unless it becomes so overwhelming popular, I won't even have Volume 20 in my English collection before the end of WW III!

Dark Horse's edition of volume 20 should come out at the end this year, I don't know what you're talking about...

Death May Die said:
I really hope Mr. Miura expands his production team. He has got to know that his length of the serise is opposing the time he has to make it.

I'd prefer him to keep doing as much stuff himself as possible, as cruel as that might sound. He's an incredible artist, and having 80 assistants wouldn't replace his personal touch.
 

Pesmerga

This is going to be one hell of a party
Death May Die said:
=. He has got to know that his length of the serise is opposing the time he has to make it.

Miura know that more than anyone, he surely think of that many times but the quality is the most important
 

Dirty Dog

Avatar by CnC ^^
dwarfkicker said:
I think by the time Griffith gets his own kingdom we'll have reached the half-way point.
I would call that "the beginning of the end," not "the half-way point." (all that's left after that is for Guts to kill Griffith and save the world from the 'the age of darkness'... then possibly for Guts to dispatch the rest of the God Hand (if he hadn't already), but I think that is unlikely as Guts has never shown any real interest in fighting any of the other God Hand, aside from when they attack him first)
 

Rhombaad

Video Game Time Traveler
Dirty Dog said:
but I think that is unlikely as Guts has never shown any real interest in fighting any of the other God Hand, aside from when they attack him first)

He attacked Slan as soon as he saw her when she appeared in the Qliphoth. The rage was clearly evident on his face, too. If given the opportunity, I believe he would kill all of them, just as he would Griffith.
 

Dirty Dog

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Rhombaad said:
He attacked Slan as soon as he saw her when she appeared in the Qliphoth.  The rage was clearly evident on his face, too.  If given the opportunity, I believe he would kill all of them, just as he would Griffith.
you're right, I had forgotten that. >.<
 
I would call that "the beginning of the end," not "the half-way point." (all that's left after that is for Guts to kill Griffith and save the world from the 'the age of darkness'... then possibly for Guts to dispatch the rest of the God Hand (if he hadn't already), but I think that is unlikely as Guts has never shown any real interest in fighting any of the other God Hand, aside from when they attack him first)

Beginning of the end nothing. Do you have any idea how many obstacles could be placed on Guts path to Griffith. And whose to say that Guts dethroning Griffith would mark the end? Bottomline, Miura's good at drawing things out and making everything work while doing (journey to Elfhelm anyone). This situation would be no different.
 

Dirty Dog

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dwarfkicker said:
Beginning of the end nothing.  Do you have any idea how many obstacles could be placed on Guts path to Griffith.  And whose to say that Guts dethroning Griffith would mark the end?  Bottomline, Miura's good at drawing things out and making everything work while doing (journey to Elfhelm anyone).  This situation would be no different.
Well, Guts'll have to kill most of the apostles, and possibly a couple of the God Hand before he manages to dethrone Griffith...
His major difficulites (IMO) will be the "legendary" apostles (Grundbeld, Locus, Zodd, etc), his inner beast, and overcoming the pain he suffers by even just getting close enough to a God Hand to touch them, and the God Hand themselves (although, hopefully, SK will take care of Void...).
I don't think that will take longer than 30 volumes (we're currently at 32, right? and it'll probably be at least 5 more before Ganishka is killed, and Griffith won't be kinged before then...), though, even with Miura drawing everything out.

then again, who knows. This is all just speculation. :/
 

Walter

Administrator
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Dirty Dog said:
Well, Guts'll have to kill most of the apostles, and possibly a couple of the God Hand before he manages to dethrone Griffith...
His major difficulites (IMO) will be the "legendary" apostles (Grundbeld, Locus, Zodd, etc), his inner beast, and overcoming the pain he suffers by even just getting close enough to a God Hand to touch them, and the God Hand themselves (although, hopefully, SK will take care of Void...).
Do you really think all that's in store for the rest of the series is a hit list for Guts? That's really the failure of these types of speculation, they don't take everything into account. The series can't be simplified into a list of kills, as my kill roster proves :guts:
 

Dirty Dog

Avatar by CnC ^^
Walter said:
Do you really think all that's in store for the rest of the series is a hit list for Guts? That's really the failure of these types of speculation, they don't take everything into account. The series can't be simplified into a list of kills, as my kill roster proves  :guts:
That is definately true, no denying it.
But will you deny that the realization of Griffith's dream wouldn't be the beginning of the "climax" of the series?

btw, what happened to your void avatar? :( almost didn't recognize you
 
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