Episode 312

Oburi

All praise Grail
Gobolatula said:
Oburi, you're insane. A page a day with new eps? Man... It'd drive me batty.

I was only kidding. But three minutes is still way too fast!
Anyway, perhaps there should be a separate thread (if there already isn't) about how we all personally cope with larger gaps between releases.

Whatever happened to those manga re-read threads huh? :casca:
 
Oburi said:
Whatever happened to those manga re-read threads huh? :casca:

Yeah, I just start over and re-read the series every time I reach the end. (With breaks of time before starting over.) I find something new every time. When it comes to new release, I read it, and really just kinda forget about it. That way there isn't a lot of weight on the following episode. When a new one finally comes out, I re-read the episode before the new one the remind myself whats going on. That's my pattern. But tell you what, what feels almost as good as getting a new episode is simply spreading the word about Berserk. I refer to it as "Converting." I let my friends borrow the DVD, which they love, then express deeply they should check out the Manga. Its getting them to convert from the anime to the manga that is the hardest part, but once you done it. Its a great feeling.
 

Oburi

All praise Grail
I know what you mean Death, I feel like my number one mission in life is to spread the book of Berserk sometimes. I can't tell you how many people I've "converted". Problem is my manga has taken a beating, at least my Darkhorse copies. That gave me incentive to go out and purchase the Japanese editions to treasure for everandever. In fact I'm in the middle of moving right now and I'm going through all my crap when my dad asked me about my manga collection. I said I'll sell most most it, but Berserk stays, I want my kids to have it.


He looked about as confused as when I showed him my tattoo.


As for re-reading the series goes, I find that I've been starting with book 22, when the Millennium Falcon arc starts. Not sure why but I just love the way that arc starts and works out, like that's the main story and everything else has been leading up to that point. That's also when I think the artwork really becomes remarkable. Berserk was always very detailed but you can almost tell once Millennium Falcon starts the work takes on a new seriousness. I also (in my own mind) like to imagine that arc as the "true" beginning to the "main" story. I can't really think of anything else to compare it too, but it's kinda like when the Beatles stopped touring and stopped making poppy boy likes girl songs and decided to concentrate on their albums. From that point on they made Revolver, Sergent Pepper, Abby Road, etc, their true masterpieces. It's a terrible comparison but you get the gist. It's how a feel about the Millennium Falcon Arc, the true masterwork of the series and the most memorable among it's many epic story lines.

Ahh ranting in episode threads during breaks, gatta love it.
 

Panicfactorx

"Guess I should say you did well for a human..."
The sea god looks a bit like Chuthulu. I wonder if Miura meant to do that? Of course anything aquatic could be represented by the Octopus, but it seems to be a reference to the Old Ones. The episode is pretty interesting. I'm under the impression Isma is the sea god... or like a fragment of the creature.
 

Aazealh

Administrator
Staff member
Panicfactorx said:
The sea god looks a bit like Chuthulu. [...] I'm under the impression Isma is the sea god...

I detect a flaw in your reasoning. Does Isma look like Cthulhu? :iva:
 

Panicfactorx

"Guess I should say you did well for a human..."
Aazealh said:
I detect a flaw in your reasoning. Does Isma look like Cthulhu? :iva:


No, but all beasties in the Berserk world have at least two forms. Yet at the same time the idol could be a misrepresentation... just a thought...
 

Aazealh

Administrator
Staff member
Panicfactorx said:
No, but all beasties in the Berserk world have at least two forms.

Nah, that's not true. See for example trolls, ogres, kelpies, and many other astral creatures.

Panicfactorx said:
Yet at the same time the idol could be a misrepresentation... just a thought...

That's true, it could be. However at this point I believe the Sea God's true form will be close to the idol. Isma seems to be independent from it and fundamentally good at heart.
 

Panicfactorx

"Guess I should say you did well for a human..."
Aazealh said:
Nah, that's not true. See for example trolls, ogres, kelpies, and many other astral creatures.

True that

Aazealh said:
That's true, it could be. However at this point I believe the Sea God's true form will be close to the idol. Isma seems to be independent from it and fundamentally good at heart.

Her benevolence could just be from curiosity. The last scene, Schierke's astral vision, I got the feeling Isma was throwing up some power (being territorial) when she felt Schierke's power... but I guess its only speculation at this point... HAHA! :ubik:
 

Aazealh

Administrator
Staff member
Panicfactorx said:
Her benevolence could just be from curiosity.

From her general behavior I don't think so. Like I said before in the thread, she's the one who mentioned the Sea God and how horrible it is in the first place, and her attitude as well as the way she's been depicted so far don't correspond to what it's supposed to be (a big, evil and very powerful monster).

Panicfactorx said:
The last scene, Schierke's astral vision, I got the feeling Isma was throwing up some power (being territorial) when she felt Schierke's power... but I guess its only speculation at this point... HAHA! :ubik:

Hahaha, speculation, eh? Well I'll bet you that Isma hasn't done anything and that Schierke just saw her for what she really is, since she can perceive the astral side of things. :slan:
 

Panicfactorx

"Guess I should say you did well for a human..."
Aazealh said:
...her attitude as well as the way she's been depicted so far don't correspond to what it's supposed to be (a big, evil and very powerful monster).
Well I'll bet you...

She's a wild god with a sense of self depreciating humor, I don't know, we could spend months debating our opinions...hah! :badbone: Anyway we'll just have to see! :guts:
 

Aazealh

Administrator
Staff member
Panicfactorx said:
She's a wild god with a sense of self depreciating humor, I don't know, we could spend months debating our opinions...hah! :badbone: Anyway we'll just have to see!

Actually I think it goes a little beyond opinions here (see my previous posts on the subject in this thread). But you're right, we'll see. :carcus:
 
Aazealh said:
I'd say the way you worded it didn't make it sound like it was just an assumption of the way "people" perceive it. Regardless, you're missing Walter's point that "people" have been complaining about stupid shit for as long as "people" have been reading Berserk. That's because the people in question are idiots. That's all there is to it. Your attempt to explain that behavior based on your assumptions is not only redundant but misled and completely unnecessary. You're right though, it's not important.

Pardon my French but my, what a load of shit this is. His size was completely meaningless? How about the whole "bringing the astral world into the material world" business? Did that fly over your head? And the gigantic tree he became might very well play a role in the future. Yeah we knew Griffith would win. We knew that before Ganishka (please make the effort of spelling characters' names properly) was even introduced. That's not what the ultimate goal of the encounter was about though. It was to bring the worlds together, just as the humans and apostles in Griffith's army were brought together almost effortlessly under the stress of their first truly challenging battle. And wasn't it also simply cool to see this huge battle of monsters against monsters? And to be introduced to Irvine's apostle form? To see him and Sonia getting closer? But I guess those don't count to you.

Anyway, if Ganishka's giant transformation, the ensuing battle, Femto vs SK and the advent of Falconia & Fantasia only got a "get the charade on already" from you then I truly pity you (and I say this without malice).

Supernatural equipment does nothing to change this. Or should every character be fighting bare-handed? And it's not like receiving new equipment made anyone instantly much stronger than they were before. They all had to learn to use their equipment, they had their failures and they're growing with it as fighters. Yet they'd still get their ass handed to them by an apostle (as shown during the battle at Flora's mansion).

Ah, so Guts' magical equipment (and his non-magical equipment like grenades and a repeating crossbow) are totally fine but for other characters they're not because... of what? Is Guts not winning by his own merit when he has to use explosives to defeat an enemy? In fact, is he really winning completely by his own merit considering the fact he uses a much better weapon than those he fights against? Not to mention he benefits from free, unlimited magical healing thanks to Puck. How arbitrary.

And by "magical daggers and summoning spirits and mystical capes" I take it you mean the one magical dagger Isidro use, the one cloak Serpico wears and Schierke, the one character who summons spirits. Schierke is a child who cannot fight conventionally. Are you saying that to win a fight by her own merit in your view she should be killing monsters with a sword? Is that really where you want to go? As for Isidro, he's also just a kid himself, and really his dagger doesn't give an incredible edge in battle. I'd argue that Guts' grenades have been more useful to him than the dagger so far, actually. Especially since he uses it in combination with a standard weapon, and that one of his biggest solo battles (in Vritannis against the pirates) has been without said dagger. So please, tell me in detail how it lowers his merit in battle when he fights giant monsters.

That leaves us with Serpico, whose equipment actually has been helping him a lot, it's true. But then again, he's been using it against supernatural monsters he could have done nothing against otherwise, and it's not like it's made him so extraordinarily powerful that he can do much more than help Guts. In fact he still managed to get himself wounded half the times he tried something on his own so far (e.g. against the trolls in Enoch, against the Makara on the beach). Again, like Walter said, the equipment Serpico received doesn't even make up for how drastically the stakes have been raised. Look again at the fight against Daiba and Ganishka in Vritannis and try to tell me how Serpico would have done "on his own merit" with a simple sword.

And parallelly to all this, Serpico's insecurities have only grown. These new abilities have done nothing to reinforce his self-confidence and he seems more confused than ever by his situation. You can add to that the fact Schierke's abilities hurt the confidence of more than one character, particularly Isidro (and it drove Farnese to become her student). It's not like all those elements have had no repercussions other than during fights. And aren't those the aspects of the story you said interested you? Because it doesn't look like you're taking them into account here.

Yeah man, and if you're bothered that people reply to what you post, well "TOUGH SHIT" too. Here, I'll even throw in a complementary image macro:

DWI.jpg


I'd quote my own posts but I'm sure you can read the thread to find out. :iva:

Ok, I haven't been here in a while so yes, this is a reply to an old post.

Seriously, what is wrong with you?(plural) You seem like such an intelligent bunch most of the time, yet at other times you seem to go with kneejerk reactions just looking for things to flame even if there is no reason. You guys interpretted my words like you wanted them to and followed up with some childish personal attacks. There was never any real negativity in my tone about the big release gaps. Do I hate the fact that the releases are so far in between? Sure, because I'm a big fan and can't wait for the next one to come out because I love it so much ( yes, that is negativity, but not in the way I was made out to be). Do I understand Miura taking so long on them Yes, I am active in the art world myself so I know how creative processes work and how long something can take, especially if you are truly passionate about it. Do I blame him? No, not at all and it wasn't stated in my post. Throwing people under the bus for hating the long release gaps or calling them "bad fans" or not fans at all is just petty elitist bullcrap. If you love something and You have to wait for it a very long time each time, of course you are going to hate the waiting times, it's only human and being passionate. That's all I'm gonna say.

Now, enough of this. No looking for fights, back to the lighthearted intelligent stuff and discussing Berserk. I come here for the many enlightened intelligent discussions about Berserk and I hope they continue.
 

Aazealh

Administrator
Staff member
Shadax said:
Ok, I haven't been here in a while so yes, this is a reply to an old post.

More importantly, it's a "reply" that isn't actually replying to what it's quoting. Looks like you didn't have anything concrete to argue, so you resorted to the good old martyr angle. Honestly, it would have been better for you to pretend it never happened, as I had already forgotten about it myself.

Shadax said:
Seriously, what is wrong with you?(plural) You seem like such an intelligent bunch most of the time, yet at other times you seem to go with kneejerk reactions just looking for things to flame even if there is no reason. You guys interpretted my words like you wanted them to and followed up with some childish personal attacks.

Yeah man, the problem must lie with the community and not with you, right? That's the only logical explanation. Usually such a great bunch, but when we disagree with you, we're suddenly the worst. It's as if... it all hinged on your subjective perception of things?! Well, tell you what: we're always the same. The problem, the varying factor lies with you. The responses you got were very much warranted (and not especially harsh given the context), and no one was any more childish than you were yourself. As for taking liberties in the interpretation of your words, I don't see how. And I don't think you can show me how either.

Shadax said:
There was never any real negativity in my tone about the big release gaps. Do I hate the fact that the releases are so far in between? Sure, because I'm a big fan and can't wait for the next one to come out because I love it so much ( yes, that is negativity, but not in the way I was made out to be). Do I understand Miura taking so long on them Yes, I am active in the art world myself so I know how creative processes work and how long something can take, especially if you are truly passionate about it. Do I blame him? No, not at all and it wasn't stated in my post. Throwing people under the bus for hating the long release gaps or calling them "bad fans" or not fans at all is just petty elitist bullcrap. If you love something and You have to wait for it a very long time each time, of course you are going to hate the waiting times, it's only human and being passionate. That's all I'm gonna say.

Now you're just being dishonest here. Dishonest and ridiculous. Have you even read the post you're quoting? If you have, did you see me take issue with whatever it is you said about being eager for new releases? NOPE. What Walter responded to, and what I picked on in turn, was what you said about certain parts of the story. We vouched for the worth of certain parts of the story that you were harshly criticizing without providing any good reason for it. You're on a forum dedicated to Berserk, and if you know the community the least bit you should have known people would disagree with you and be vocal about it. Needless to say, being disingenuous and trying to change the topic is not the best course of action right now.
 
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