Hello Berserk fans! Have been lurking for a while until I decided to start posting.
This was a nice and very special episode to me as it marked the first episode I had to wait for since reading through the series a couple months ago. It has been a great ride so far!!
It's nice to see the merrows and Isma again, I thought Isma would part ways with the crew after finally meeting her mother at the end of the Sea God episodes.
I agree with much that has been voiced already. This episode does a good job at reminding the readers the most important threads in the story so far, like Casca's recovery, the Elf King and Elfhelm, the pain that Guts has been enduring and a quick flash of Griffith. Even skull knight and the beast of darkness made a cameo appearance during some of Guts's thoughts as well.
Now to a few more thoughts on the "shooting star" part that was presented as the climax of the episode and the moonlight boy:
1. The first thing that came to my mind when noticing the branches at the moon, and then seeing them further with the boy on top, was the Ganishka-tree. I know there is an ongoing theory here that asserts that it was Zodd's silhouette that appeared on episode 238 if I recall correctly... With that in mind I think it's interesting to note that there was no Ganishka-tree nor where the astral world so merged with the physical world at that part of the story, which lends credence with the thought that maybe the boy might have really needed Zodd's help to get there at that point, also assuming the boy and Griffith share the same body, which is part of the theory that I'm vaguely recurring right now.
2. This has also been said before, but even though Schierke opens a new and interesting possibility with the moonlight boy being the Storm flower king or some related elf, I agree with the sentiment that we as readers have knowledge enough to almost disregard that possibility. Needless to say, most of the information we have right now on the boy points to him being Guts and Casca's son, able to assume form only on full moon nights and likely sharing his body with Griffith/Femto.
JezzaX said:
I wouldn't assume they would be using the same method as the boy, but since he's someone other than SK that now has a fast method of moving around, maybe there could be something at Skellig for the group to achieve something similar? Not entirely likely, but not entirely impossible.
Gaahl said:
I definitely think that they will leave Skellig by some other means than by ship. So far, Miura has never repeated himself in this manga. Another long trip over the ocean would seem a bit redundant, so I doubt it will happen. And if it happens, it will either be very short, or even more dangerous than the encounter with the sea god.
But I don't want to think too much about how they leave Skellig yet, they haven't even arrived and that arrival is the single most anticipated event since... well ever.
Well, it's too early to think about the trip back, but it's something cool to speculate about.
Although Schierke presents possibilities of fast travel by the Elf King and maybe other denizens of Elfhelm, I think when they get to Skellig it would be a great opportunity to showcase some exotic flying creatures from the astral realm. These creatures could possibly have been tamed and used by the human witches and mages to get to Skellig or fly to other locations (for some reason I have trouble thinking that most of the humans who presently inhabit Elfhelm are native there).
Anyway, they could be used by Guts and his group to fly back to the mainland when they finish their business in Elfhelm.
Now what those creatures could be? Who knows, the sky is the limit for Miura now that Fantasia has been laid.
Griffins like we see depicted on Falconia's walls or the one figuratively depicted on volume 21? Giant eagles perhaps? The feather of Serpico's feather-sword originally came from a mystical Eagle according to Schierke, iirc.
Even if this just amounts to some wild speculation in the future, I agree with the sentiment that the travel back will or at least should be a faster one and in a different way than to go by ship again, like it has been for years now. That would also mean that the group would likely part ways with Roderick and Magnifico at that point.
Now I remember, its always been right before my eyes, cause DH actually does this too, occasionally anyway, as far as I remember. (For instance I clearly remember "retribution/conviction ARC" --> "Lost children CHAPTER" --> "EPISODE blah blah")
