New interview with Mori about Miura, Berserk and more

[Keratos]

BERSERK should have died as an unfinished masterpiece.

If they wanted to release a cliffnotes version to give fans some kind of closure, that's one thing. However, it was always 'optimistic' to think that a seminal work that was so masterfully auteured could ever be continued in the same format without its author.

Recently Yoshihiro Togashi, mangaka of Hunter x Hunter and YuYu Hakusho, gave an interview where he talked about HxH's ending.
He gave them a short ending "in case he passes away before he manages to end it himself", imo pretty much stating he doesn't want the manga to continue after his passing.
And even though he said that, I somehow still think Shueisha will find a way to continue his work if that ends up happening...

We really need to start letting these unfinished masterpieces stay as they are instead of sullying their names.

Especially in huge works like One Piece, Hunter x Hunter, Kingdom, Dragon Ball, Detective Conan etc, I don't doubt their publishers have already thought of who they'll hand over the manga to in case the author passes away. Obviously I have no way of proving that, but I have a feeling.

 

[Lithrael]

As to how they can be good at their jobs and care a lot and still whiff points that are clear and important to people who are really invested in the masterfully crafted existing story structure and characterizations... It's so, so easy to think you know what makes these things tick and to be almost orthogonally wrong. See: George Lucas.

 

[Odeon]

The only occasion which would be 100% respectable was if Miura had said "please finish the Manga for me if I can't".
In which case he would probably have the whole story in written form, and also done most of the storyboards.

I doubt that, he was still deciding things as he went along, the only way we would’ve gotten the “real” berserk is if he lived. but he died. that’s extremely unlucky, but we are still extremely lucky that he existed in the first place.

 

[Vitris]

he was still deciding things as he went along

It will surely be something witnessing if Mori will include those or not, especially after what he said about the bit they're working on right now, which I guess we will see not long from now, at least episode-wise.

 

[ApostleBob]

If I'm being hopeful, I hope the story starts taking some interesting turns and isn't just a perfunctory drive towards Falconia with regular boss fights. Maybe Guts can grow in the Bakiraka fortress. Maybe he can undergo some additional training with the Tapasa and Silat, and his gear can be modified by Rickert and the Bakiraka. That might be an interesting way to get him out of his funk. It would be nice if the dwarven smith was shown to still exist and help out.

He could try out his new skills when the Apostles inevitably show up to address this Kushan holdout force. Maybe we see Guts face some of the human falconia soldiers like Raban and he gets a reputation as an existential treat to the new Utopia.

 

[blodvind]

I've been thinking about this moment a lot... I began re-writing 365 and 366 for fun and roughly came up with this (please enjoy if you can. It is just for fun).

Spoiler: My silly attempt to re-write 365 & 366

Caska's eyes open
She is alone in her bed
Memories of the child next to her.
The brand bleeds into her gown.
Where is the child? Danger.
She rushes to the front door and open it to see the child
The child turning into Griffith
Griffith brushing away the child's tear
Griffith locks eyes with her for an instant and her memories surge forward.
I am still so helpless?
Is my child also helpless?

Guts realizes Caska is behind him.
He remembers her going to Griffith on the Hill of Swords
Her in Griffith's arms
Her in Mozgus's arms
Her yell of pain towards seeing him.
The beast begins to take over.
He hears her cry and thinks it must be Griffith's fault
Remembering the demon child at birth, and in the egg and now as Griffith
All the while remembering the pain it brings Caska

Griffith smirks:
"To awake in such a place,
and you both brought me here...
Even now, you belong to me."

The beast attempts to assert control over Guts, his vision and emotions fading into violence.
He doesn't know whether he is attacking Griffith to protect or to kill or to just end this cycle
He considers where to land the first strike, but his vision is distorted
He thinks he is attacking Griffith, but it is all a blur
Something is still nagging within him. A doubt.
Who cares? Attack now.
But this person he is attacking, is it Griffith? Is it his friends on the beach? Is it Caska? Is it his child?

Better than the continuation!!! I like it.

 

[guuuuuuuuts]

Better than the continuation!!! I like it.

Thanks, I really would love a storyboard that better explains the transition of Guts from his encounter with Griffith through the destruction of the island. ...I still wonder what would break a person with such strong resolve, and my mind keeps coming back to he, himself being the threat. Perhaps he finally snaps, but gives in to the armor in a whole new way because he is facing Griffith. If Griffith ended up saving the other characters from rampaging Guts, that probably would warrant depression in regards to further conflict...

This could also align with Serpico's observation that Guts cannot be trusted once the armor activates. If the party could no longer trust him it would set a much clearer tone.

 

[ApostleBob]

Thanks, I really would love a storyboard that better explains the transition of Guts from his encounter with Griffith through the destruction of the island. ...I still wonder what would break a person with such strong resolve, and my mind keeps coming back to he, himself being the threat. Perhaps he finally snaps, but gives in to the armor in a whole new way because he is facing Griffith. If Griffith ended up saving the other characters from rampaging Guts, that probably would warrant depression in regards to further conflict...

This could also align with Serpico's observation that Guts cannot be trusted once the armor activates. If the party could no longer trust him it would set a much clearer tone.

My takeaway from what Mori and crew presented is that Guts has been solely focused on becoming the best swordsman in the world in order to defeat his nemesis, and his encounter on the island has proven that Griffith is sword-proof. So it's broken his faith in his abilities, and he's wasted his time. This is why there's so much emphasis on his sword since then, as it's been the only companion he's always been able to count on, and it's finally let him down.

It's handled very clunkily, and at the expense of Guts caring about Casca being kidnapped.

 

[Aazealh]

My takeaway from what Mori and crew presented is that Guts has been solely focused on becoming the best swordsman in the world in order to defeat his nemesis, and his encounter on the island has proven that Griffith is sword-proof.

This is frankly embarrassing to read.

 

[ApostleBob]

This is frankly embarrassing to read.

It's been embarrassing to see Guts go through this arc.

Of course, I'm being cheeky in my phrasing, but do you disagree that Mori and Studio Gaga have represented Guts falling into depression because of his inability to hurt Griffith with his sword? Or are you just embarrassed that this is the direction they took?

 

[Aazealh]

Of course, I'm being cheeky in my phrasing, but do you disagree that Mori and Studio Gaga have represented Guts falling into depression because of his inability to hurt Griffith with his sword? Or are you just embarrassed that this is the direction they took?

The latter of course. It's embarrassing that this is the best they could come up with for this great character. And I include the "depression" itself in the statement, which is among the worst portrayals of anything I've ever read.

 

[Vitris]

It's handled very clunkily, and at the expense of Guts caring about Casca being kidnapped.

The worst thing is that they chose to focus only on the "sword failing Guts" without developing it. Not only it is superficial for the character, it is also superficial on its own. Studio Gaga can't handle a complex character like Guts, or any character for that matter.
It's pretty sad seeing people coming up with the most ridiculous excuses to justify this horrible writing, like saying that "Puck didn't react because he's used to seeing Guts like this", or "Rickert didn't react to Guts because now he's more mature/the Kushan would've labeled him as a spy". I even saw a video on YT where a guy praised the team for making Puck a "silent observer", even though it's a completely random and out of character thing for him to do. I guess people really do believe in that return of "normal Puck" they're all talking about (it won't happen).

 

[ApostleBob]

Maybe this is all setup.

Guts learns the lesson that he doesn't need his giant sword after all, because he'll defeat Griffith with the power of friendship.

 

[Vitris]

Maybe this is all setup.

Guts learns the lesson that he doesn't need his giant sword after all, because he'll defeat Griffith with the power of friendship.

I can’t wait to see Guts give the same stare as Puck did in ep 375 when he finally kills Griffith. And after that, he pukes and falls face-first one last time.

 

[John Doe]

Mori admits that with only what he knows, the story doesn't make sense.

Regarding the final part of the story, "there are still many difficult questions to solve, and there are things on which Miura had not yet made up his mind."

Mori says that he could never create or draw Berserk with what abilities he has

And that right there is the real problem with this continuation.

A Berserk continuation that does not respect Miura's work and vision (everything that Miura wrote in Volumes 1 - 41), and introduces totally unnecessary plot holes and retcons, and takes massive shortcuts to race to the ending, is definitely not "the story that Miura wanted to tell".

Miura would *never* do this.

Miura would *never* introduce a new party member (Isma) and give her unique abilities (she can survive underwater, she can tame lesser water spirit creatures, she can attack enemies with a magical song, she has a connection to the mermaids), and give her a unique magical item (the magic seashell that Isma didn't even get a chance to use yet), only to eliminate her at the end of the ElfHelm story arc. That's literally not Miura's writing style. Just imagine if Farnese, Serpico, and Isidro were killed off at the end of the Troll Extermination adventure.

And Miura would *never* show us multiple panoramic views of Falconia, and explain to us that Falconia now stands where the capital city of Midland once stood, and make it perfectly clear that *the capital city of Midland is landlocked*, if he really planned for Falconia to have a seaport.

And Miura would *never* show us that Schierke did *not* lose any of her powers after Flora's Spirit Tree Mansion was destroyed, if he really planned for the Skellig Island's mages to "lose their powers" after their home is destroyed. If Miura didn't know what to do with these Skellig Island mages... he would have them *die with the island*. It's that simple. He would explain to us that Schierke, Farnese, and maybe Morda are now the only magic users left alive in the West. He would not invent some ridiculous plot twist ("they lost their powers") that doesn't even make sense and contradicts his own carefully established continuity.

And Miura would *never* have Guts, Farnese, and Schierke say absolutely NOTHING when Griffith kidnapped Casca. That's just common sense. He would *never* write that scene with no dialogue. Guts would be yelling "Don't touch her!!!" and "You bastard!!!". Farnese and Schierke would at least say something like "No!" and "Leave her alone!".

What makes this even worse is the fact that Mori was Miura's best friend. He is not some 3rd party hack who isn't even familiar with Berserk. So *why* is Mori doing such a poor job? Why is Mori not respecting Miura's work and continuity? If Mori simply isn't capable of writing a continuation of Berserk that respects Miura's work and vision, he should have been brutally honest with the publisher of this manga and with the fans: "I'm sorry but I can't do this. I don't have enough material to write a proper final story arc for Berserk".