Episode 355

Aazealh

Administrator
Staff member
Griffith said:
Well, that's definitely interesting and pretty cool that we're getting right to it! Also, I'm amazed how different Casca looks now, it could just be the liveliness of her eyes but it makes her whole face look different.

It's funny, her eyes are the first thing that struck me. I had the same reaction, it makes her face look completely different.

Griffith said:
Also, Casca's first words in about two decades(!) and yet the lamest stuff pleases me: We can now semi-officially retroactively refer to Casca's broken phase as the "Elaine Era." Nice and clean.
:ganishka:

I'm both surprised and amazed that Miura went for it (having her refer to herself as "Elaine", with a furigana that says "I", which is worth noting). It's kind of strange because these people never knew her by that name, but it also conveys in the most effective way possible that she remembers everything. And I guess it tells us something about how she now perceives the state she was in. What a nice hat tip to Luka's gang, too. I have been dreaming of these two meeting again someday (with Casca being a super badass by then), and that's redoubled now.

Now curious to see the rest of the episode...

SleepersWake said:
All this tantalizing blacked-out text! How much is in this little leak? Is it like a random page from the middle with a bunch of panels of dialogue, or is it more like the episode's splash art or something along those lines? Depending on what all it gives away, I look now, or I may (try to) wait a few days longer.

Come on man, we're not going to start describing every leak! Just check the picture or don't! :daiba:
 

DANGERDOOOOM

Rest In Peace, Kentaro Miura. We will miss you.
Now that we know Casca has kept her memories, I really hope she doesn't hold a grudge against Guts for his abandonment of her, plus his attack on her in volume 23. To me that wouldn't be fair for Guts. I'd say he's done his share to amend those hurts since then. Maybe she'll understand that it wasn't him being in total control of himself or his emotions during those times after the eclipse. He was in as much emotional distress as she was, they just dealt with those pains differently. I guess we will have to wait and see.
 
Ack! I gave in - I'll click the spoiler. But only after reviewing the chapters immediately post-eclipse to open myself up to the full weight of what I might see. I want this to hit me like a truck.
*some time later*
Oh lord she remembers. The anticipation is only rising!

Also, I have some thoughts on the art itself:
The Berserk subreddit is full of people complaining about her eyes looking too big. I was honestly taken aback at first too, but upon reflection, it makes perfect sense to have them so large as a way of drawing attention to them. The more angular, almond-like shape the have here (compared to their rounder style from her days as Elaine) serves to demonstrate her lucidity. As westerners, it might look quite exaggerated, but it's totally deliberate. This brings to mind a psychology experiment from 2007 comparing Japanese and American facial expressions. They found that, compared to facial expression in America, facial expressions in Japan rely more on the eyes to convey information and less on the mouth. This might help explain why this stylistic choice is so jarring to some westerners. (NB: I am really not a psychologist.)

citation for the article I mentioned:
Yuki, M., Maddux, W. W., & Masuda, T. (2007). Are the windows to the soul the same in the East and West? Cultural differences in using the eyes and mouth as cues to recognize emotions in Japan and the United States. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 43(2), 303-311.
 
SleepersWake said:
Also, I have some thoughts on the art itself:
The Berserk subreddit is full of people complaining about her eyes looking too big. I was honestly taken aback at first too, but upon reflection, it makes perfect sense to have them so large as a way of drawing attention to them. The more angular, almond-like shape the have here (compared to their rounder style from her days as Elaine) serves to demonstrate her lucidity. As westerners, it might look quite exaggerated, but it's totally deliberate. This brings to mind a psychology experiment from 2007 comparing Japanese and American facial expressions. They found that, compared to facial expression in America, facial expressions in Japan rely more on the eyes to convey information and less on the mouth. This might help explain why this stylistic choice is so jarring to some westerners. (NB: I am really not a psychologist.)

It's not that deep. Miura has been using this art style, since pretty much Falconia now. Bigger eyes, smaller nose, wider face. It's much more modern anime-esque, which doesn't surprise me, as todays series that use that style probably have an influence on him. One thing is sure for me though, the general art style looked at it's best late MF arc.
 
Mangetsu said:
It's not that deep. Miura has been using this art style, since pretty much Falconia now. Bigger eyes, smaller nose, wider face. It's much more modern anime-esque, which doesn't surprise me, as todays series that use that style probably have an influence on him. One thing is sure for me though, the general art style looked at it's best late MF arc.

Agreed, there's a pretty strong aesthetic change with each arc. I think the reason it's "more" apparent with Casca is she had her huge irises that kind of offset the big eyes. But now that she has her more lucid, smaller irises, the change is more noticeable. I'll be interested to see how the art shifts in the next arc, assuming Fantasia isn't the last.
 

Lord Leith

Welcome back Casca
Mangetsu said:
It's not that deep. Miura has been using this art style, since pretty much Falconia now. Bigger eyes, smaller nose, wider face. It's much more modern anime-esque, which doesn't surprise me, as todays series that use that style probably have an influence on him. One thing is sure for me though, the general art style looked at it's best late MF arc.

How much of that would you attest to being a style change for the sake of the arc vs him switching over from pen and paper to digital? Thats often the go to explanation I've heard from people as to why Guts and crew are sometimes off model compared to a couple volumes prior but I have no knowledge on the credence of this. It does seem pretty obvious to me that its switched to digital but Im skeptical on that being the main reason why the style has changed, Im guessing you'd agree that the change is voluntary?
 
Lord Leith said:
How much of that would you attest to being a style change for the sake of the arc vs him switching over from pen and paper to digital? Thats often the go to explanation I've heard from people as to why Guts and crew are sometimes off model compared to a couple volumes prior but I have no knowledge on the credence of this. It does seem pretty obvious to me that its switched to digital but Im skeptical on that being the main reason why the style has changed, Im guessing you'd agree that the change is voluntary?

I doubt that going digital changed his style completely. Atmosphere and surroundings definitely have an effect, but like i said, the art style has been this way pretty much since Falconia. The biggest difference that came with going digital is definitely the use of lines. I think the art style is much more of a mood thing. It changes all the time though with Miura, so who knows when we will see a big change again.
 
Mangetsu said:
It's not that deep. Miura has been using this art style, since pretty much Falconia now. Bigger eyes, smaller nose, wider face. It's much more modern anime-esque, which doesn't surprise me, as todays series that use that style probably have an influence on him. One thing is sure for me though, the general art style looked at it's best late MF arc.

Yeah, to basically restate what I said in the Berserk subreddit, the art has really just been accumulating a bunch of small little changes that all together are noticeable, but it has been happening since episode 338 (July 2015), if not Episode 334 (April 2014). It's just that people didn't notice it initially because it occurred during the Episodes focusing on Rickert (who doesn't appear in the narrative as frequently, so people don't have quite as a fixed/cemented image of his design as they do/did with Guts and co.).
People only really started noticing with Episode 342 because it had been more than three years since Guts and co. had been drawn by Miura. Furthermore, Miura has been drawing everyone’s eyes just slightly larger (and with slightly shorter jawlines), not just Casca, Farnese, and Schierke. I think it’s just less noticeable with the older and/or male characters because their default jawlines are still longer than the standard character design.

Personally, I think the current art style looks fine, it's slightly different than what it was a few years ago but that's par for the course with Berserk. The art of the latter half of the Millennium Falcon Arc (which personally, is my favorite art style period) likewise looked different compared to the very end of the Conviction Arc (which are other fans favorites due to the more scratchy/rough and angular line-work). If it's not to one's personal taste, that's a perfectly fair view to hold, but the numerous comments (in the subreddit) saying Miura's art/skill has "degraded" is unfair IMO (also scan quality/filters can make a bigger difference in image quality than one might realize).
 
Mangetsu said:
It's not that deep. Miura has been using this art style, since pretty much Falconia now. Bigger eyes, smaller nose, wider face. It's much more modern anime-esque, which doesn't surprise me, as todays series that use that style probably have an influence on him. [...]
True - Miura does have a record of doing stuff because he just likes the way it looks, rather than for some crafty reason. But even if Miura was just doing it 'cuz he liked the style, the existence of the large-eyed anime style itself could partly be result of the Japanese emphasis on eyes when it comes to facial expression. (I remember hearing someone better educated on these matters make that connection before, but I don't have a source on-hand.) After all, if you are trying to create a style that plays up a character's expressiveness - which is what cartoons and animation do in general - you exaggerate their expressive features. In Japan, that's mostly the eyes.

Anyway, I don't want to go too far off-topic. Point is, Berserk's current art style with regard to faces is very expressive (in a particularly Japanese way) if you can get over the reduced realism.
 

Lord Leith

Welcome back Casca
SleepersWake said:
I remember hearing someone better educated on these matters make that connection before, but I don't have a source on-hand.) After all, if you are trying to create a style that plays up a character's expressiveness - which is what cartoons and animation do in general - you exaggerate their expressive features. In Japan, that's mostly the eyes.

Maybe Im off base and if I am, someone can correct me for being wrong but from what I know the main reason why manga and anime artwork tends to have such big eyes dates back to Disney being a primary influence on Osamu Tezuka who then popularized the big eye designs in Japan with his own franchises like Astro Boy. Manga and anime had existed before Disney but it wasn't until notable releases like Snow White and Bambi that 1940s/post world war Japan started adopting the convention of big eyes.

NightCrawler said:
Saw this on reddit, concerning the new vs old art style (spoiler):
https://i.imgur.com/OZuYucW.jpg

Both look fine to me, Casca's expression in the original looks more jovial and excited but her expression on the right looks more calm (albeit still happy), its hard to articulate. I do admit that as much as I love Miura's artwork, I do prefer the old art style and this fan edit on the right but to be fair if it was used in the episode itself, it would be too jarring in contrast with how she's looked these passed few episodes so Im glad the left/original one is ultimately what will be collected with said past episodes in a volume.
 

Griffith

With the streak of a tear, Like morning dew
I enjoy these Berserk art deep dives, and am partial to the Conviction and latter Millennium Falcon Arcs art styles myself (early MF is good too, but a transition), so much so I checked out the Berserk reddit thread on the subject (like the first time I've read it besides Wally's posts =), saw that 'shop, and I'm no one to criticize monkeying with Miura's work for fun, but I think essentially clone stamping Casca's, er "Elaine's," pre-awakening face on is missing the point that Miura is apparently attempting to convey a much more dramatic difference here by alluding to what almost seems like a modern interpretation of her physical appearance from the Golden Age (not a bad choice for a new beginning). One can't know for sure until we see more of her, but so far that's two out of two depictions heavily giving off that vibe. Whether it's for the effect of her return or a permanent change (and Griffith had similar permutations before settling into a consistent model, which I think we'll see evolve here too over time) it's clearly intentional and, ya know, the artistry in the artwork and what makes it "alive" rather than just a copy/paste job of her most recent character model. If people want to interpret it literally, think of how different one can look depending on their mood and expression (think Daniel Day Lewis =). Casca's essentially been a different person for years, it actually makes a lot of sense she would look like a different one now.
 

Lord Leith

Welcome back Casca
Griffith said:
I think essentially pasting Casca's pre-awakening face on is missing the point that Miura is apparently attempting to convey a more dramatic difference here by alluding to what almost seems like a modern interpretation of her physical appearance from the Golden Age. One can't know for sure until we see more of her, but so far that's two out of two depictions heavily giving off that vibe.

I agree 100%, like I said, on its own merits I do prefer the edit if only because it caters to the latter Millennium Falcon Arc style that I tend to prefer (although I do think the simpler artwork of the Golden Age has a lot of its own unique charm) but in context to the story, I also suspect that Miura is deliberately making her appear more like she did in the Golden Age, comparing her reawakened state to panels like this results in more similarities than by comparing her to post Eclipse/"Elaine" era depictions so its very likely that Miura is being deliberate with the proportions of her eyes and face. Miura as always knows what he's doing so Im sure that for thematic purposes, its best she looks this way.

Screen_Shot_2018_03_20_at_12_37_26_AM.png
Screen_Shot_2018_03_20_at_12_41_30_AM.png
 
Sareth said:
Fingers crossed that the last page tells the next episode is coming April 27 and not Fall.

Don't want to talk big, but if the series would have gone on hiatus, we would have already seen someone leak it. Happened countless times where people leaked the hiatus announcment instead of panels from the episode itself.
 
Mangetsu said:
Don't want to talk big, but if the series would have gone on hiatus, we would have already seen someone leak it. Happened countless times where people leaked the hiatus announcment instead of panels from the episode itself.

That’s what I suspected but I don’t want to celebrate prematurely.
 

BiQ_

" ... "
Korean scans, pretty early? LINK REMOVED

Edit: last pages...
oh F***ING HELL MY HEART -- NO! --- I guess her reaction is understandable. But it still hurts. I was admittedly starting to think "...it can't be this easy, can it?" - and sure enough, it wasn't.
 

Aazealh

Administrator
Staff member
Pretty straightforward, yet terribly effective episode. Love Casca's expressions, love her new dress courtesy of Danan, and love her new hairstyle! (Didn't I tell you guys? Braids!)
She remembers so much stuff too (everything really). Miura really crammed a lot in there.
Seeing how she associates her trauma with Guts is pretty heart-breaking, but I'm more curious about how it's depicted. Seeing the "Eclipse" (and all it represents) surround Guts is a great effect, but I was surprised at the double page of Griffith's broken body. I guess it implies all of the traumatic events she went through are bottled together.

And by the way, I hope you guys realize how misguided it was to have all this "art talk" over a single panel. An art style evolves continuously, with every single panel, and individual panels aren't the best way to get a feel for it. In the end, I love Casca's new look, I think it's perfect. Whereas that edited thing Nightcrawler posted doesn't actually look like her, from any era.
 

jackson_hurley

even the horses are cut in half!
Wow oh wow! This was incredibly beautifull and tear shedding for an episode! Wow oh wow. I'm glad I was able to get my hands on it after all.

can't wait to see aaz/pualla's summary! (with a huge thank you in advance)
 

Gobolatula

praise be to grail!
This episode was gorgeous. My heart is fucking broken, but it was beautiful. I've been looking forward to Casca being back for over a decade and I was not disappointed.

I was expecting things to be rocky with her return, but GOD DAMN was I taken for a ride with this. I was on the edge of my seat waiting for the long awaited reunion just to have it taken away from me.

This episode really was amazing though. I plan on re-reading it again and again.

Welcome back, Casca! You look beautiful!
 

RaffoBaffo

Ex-Newser of the late Berserk Chronicles
I don't really like the dress [I don't think the Mahou Shoujo look is a..."Casca look". The last time she was in a proper dress she was pretty uncomfortable]. but is coherent with the setting, so, whatever.
BTW, great Episode, great story progression, great art.
The last 3 pages are gold.
Sad for the hiatus, but, well, we are accustomed to this, complaining for it very time is useless.
 
Holy shit, amazing! I love the masterful pacing of the story telling. We get the best dynamics from all the best potential out comes. Casca retains her memories being very interesting, and her of course being greatly conflicted about Guts, which was quite impossible to avoid. All simply being great dynamics to be installed into the story.

Also, all those Casca panels, I have to say, Casca has never looked so absolutely beautiful!!!
 
Absolutely stunning episode! I love how Miura is able to blend dialogue with nonverbal storytelling, telling the audience so much with so little. It's interesting to see her memories of Guts seemingly blended with good memories, yet his physical appearance brings back all her trauma. Gives it a very powerful feel of tragic love. It's apparent that Casca does still love him (never doubted, but thank Christ), but having such a strong association with him and her trauma makes it much more complicated. The spread of Griffith's broken body threw me for a loop. I'll be interested to see the translation!
 

DANGERDOOOOM

Rest In Peace, Kentaro Miura. We will miss you.
AAAGH, that ending! What does it mean!? :ubik:

Casca looks gorgeous! The panel where she is in tears made me smile with joy. 2 page spread after 2 page spread blew me away. Miura really out did himself this round. All of her emotions and her mental state shall be put to the test now that she's confronting Guts. Even though another hiatus is here, I couldn't have been more pleased the way things were left for us to ponder.

I think this would be a good opportunity for our boy :SK: to make his appearance.

Edit:
Also, near the last page as Casca is walking towards Guts, Schierke and Farnese are behind watching, with Schierke smiling, but Farnese doesn't look to happy lol. I don't think she'll ever get rid of her feelings for Guts. Poor Farny
 
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