Episode 356 part II

Squiddot

The Falcon needs you. You don't need him!
Oof. 9 pages. I guess this is the price we gotta pay for such quick releases. It's a shame we didn't get anything major this episode but at least there's nothing left to attend to now.

Nice fight.
 

Walter

Administrator
Staff member
The mystery of the thicket revealed! :ganishka:

Cool to see Zodd tear into the hydra. I was surprised such a creature required a triple-team of apostles to take down though. Of course, I also didn't realize it could immediately pop a new head.

Too bad about the strange shortness of this episode. From 15 pgs, which was noticeably short last time, to 9 (not including the new title page) is a bit disheartening, given that this is now effectively a HALF length episode.

It's a shame we didn't get anything major this episode but at least there's nothing left to attend to now.

Indeed, but I kind of expected that resolution near the front end of this episode, with more revealed afterwards. I guess that's coming in (3) though.
 
Someone on Reddit said that this is an addition to Episode 356, that's why it's so short. If it's true, it makes sense, maybe YA editors or Miura himself chop those pieces so we don't get hiatuses.

So technically it is still 356, I think. It's going to be less confusing in the volume.
 
:zodd:"AAAARGH HELP ME GRUNBELD"

It's interesting to see the return of the monster types teased at during the blast of the astral world. Since Miura likes to recycle established story elements, I wonder if we'll get to see the headless horseman or the swamp monster as well. I was wondering if they were going to use a type of elemental creature, one which couldn't be captured easily by giants, however the Hydras regeneration ability makes it more than a match for the elite aposltes. This is the first battle where the three of them worked together to take an enemy down.
 

jackson_hurley

even the horses are cut in half!
Bohdan said:
Someone on Reddit said that this is an addition to Episode 356, that's why it's so short. If it's true, it makes sense, maybe YA editors or Miura himself chop those pieces so we don't get hiatuses.

So technically it is still 356, I think. It's going to be less confusing in the volume.

Could make sense indeed. It would put the episode to a total of 24 pages. And since there is no classic title in one of the pages (and we already knew it was gonna be called Jotunn (2)) but some kind of "previously on" page just at the beginning, could mean the case. Meaning we might get another one in june.

Anyways, back to watching the art because it is incredible as always. (I almost got scared for Zodd)
 

Squiddot

The Falcon needs you. You don't need him!
It seemed like the reveal that the hydra regenerates didn't really affect anything in this fight. Zodd's only got so many hands he would have needed Grunbeld to nuke it anyway! Maybe Miura plans to use them again in the story.

Speaking of the hydra, my first thought when i started really looking at its introduction was "there's nothing stopping that thing from devouring those giants right there." But Miura was one step ahead of me, because the very next panel it does just that :ganishka:

That tiny burst of "giant speak" we see is pretty cool too.
 

DANGERDOOOOM

Rest In Peace, Kentaro Miura. We will miss you.
Ah, I see he brought back a Griffith classic. Stabbing people in the eye with his sword.
 

Aazealh

Administrator
Staff member
Walter said:
Cool to see Zodd tear into the hydra. I was surprised such a creature required a triple-team of apostles to take down though. Of course, I also didn't realize it could immediately pop a new head.

Yeah I loved seeing Zodd just into the fray. Seeing him bite into one of the heads kind of reminded me of my cats for some reason. :void:

The fact the heads regrow make sense: it's faithful to the mythological depiction of the hydra. That being said I agree it wasn't a given, and it's interesting to see that a seemingly "random" critter like that requires teamwork from Griffith's lieutenants. A reminder that while they make it look easy, these creatures aren't pushovers.

Walter said:
Too bad about the strange shortness of this episode. From 15 pgs, which was noticeably short last time, to 9 (not including the new title page) is a bit disheartening, given that this is now effectively a HALF length episode.

Yeah it is indeed very short, to the point where the previous episode and this one could have reasonably been a single issue. That might be a compromise in order to maintain the monthly releases.

DANGERDOOOOM said:
Ah, I see he brought back a Griffith classic. Stabbing people in the eye with his sword.

But with a leaping strike! Pretty cool indeed. While this episode was basically just eye candy, I have to say it was premium grade stuff.
 

jackson_hurley

even the horses are cut in half!
Aazealh said:
But with a leaping strike! Pretty cool indeed. While this episode was basically just eye candy, I have to say it was premium grade stuff.

For sure! And that amazing panel where we see Griffith coming in the giant's eye reflection. Feast for the eyes.
 

Kompozinaut

Sylph Sword
DANGERDOOOOM said:
Ah, I see he brought back a Griffith classic. Stabbing people in the eye with his sword.

Said the same thing. "Ah yes, classic Griffith!" It put a smile on my face.

I enjoyed what little we got, but it is a bit concerning just how short this episode is. I would feel better if this was just the second half of Jotunn (1), but with the swift demise of the leader it seems pretty reasonable that this is Jotunn (2) after all. Here's to hoping there's a few missing pages that will come out with the JP release!

I guess as long as Miura is telling the story he wants to tell, the length of the episodes won't really matter. Besides, once compiled into a volume the ending of one episode and the beginning of another is often imperceptible once you're engrossed. I just hope we don't start getting skinny volumes :troll:
 

Walter

Administrator
Staff member
Bohdan said:
Someone on Reddit said that this is an addition to Episode 356, that's why it's so short. If it's true, it makes sense, maybe YA editors or Miura himself chop those pieces so we don't get hiatuses.

So technically it is still 356, I think. It's going to be less confusing in the volume.

It's worth discussing, but far from conclusive. Consider that that episode number was edited by the Korean scanlators. There's a possibility they mistyped it. It's a big enough change in the production (one episode published across 2 months) that I'd rather see the title in Japanese before hanging our hat on this possibility. However, 356 (15 pgs) + "357" (9 pgs) does equate to one large-sized episode (24 pgs). So it's not a crazy thought. Just a whole new ballgame.

In any case, it certainly looks like each release was structured around an episode-ending climax, which is standard with Berserk. But if shorter releases become the status quo, my concern is that if each release builds to a climax in a shorter page count, that could effectively change the way the story is told.

Aazealh said:
While this episode was basically just eye candy, I have to say it was premium grade stuff.

Speaking of "eye candy" check out the juice coming out of the hydra's eye! :beast:
 

Gobolatula

praise be to grail!
There were a lot of great artwork in this episode as always. I enjoyed seeing
Zodd tearing into that hydra.
 
Let's hope that this is somehow one time incident, because pacing would be terrible with more episodes like this. Sure, art is great etc. but it just doesn't work well this way. Hiatuses or not, 9 pages episodes would kill this manga.
 

Walter

Administrator
Staff member
Bohdan said:
Hiatuses or not, 9 pages episodes would kill this manga.

Let's not get ahead of ourselves, man. Not sure how much I can stress that we shouldn't conclude anything yet. We're dealing with scanlations at this point.
 

Aazealh

Administrator
Staff member
Walter said:
It's worth discussing, but far from conclusive. [...] However, 356 (15 pgs) + "357" (9 pgs) does equate to one large-sized episode (24 pgs). So it's not a crazy thought. Just a whole new ballgame.

I've been super busy these past few weeks, so I hadn't actually checked out the title of episode 356. But I just did, and it turns out the way they named it specifically says "part one". Not as in (1) for the first of a series of episodes, but as in the first part of the episode itself. So I actually do think this is really "episode 356, part 2" and not episode 357.
 
Aazealh said:
I've been super busy these past few weeks, so I hadn't actually checked out the title of episode 356. But I just did, and it turns out the way they named it specifically says "part one". Not as in (1) for the first of a series of episodes, but as in the first part of the episode itself. So I actually do think this is really "episode 356, part 2" and not episode 357.

So maybe the thread should be retitled, then?
 

Walter

Administrator
Staff member
Aazealh said:
So I actually do think this is really "episode 356, part 2" and not episode 357.

That's the best case scenario, then. It means the strange brief pacing of the past two releases will be limited to the episodic experience, not the volume experience. I'm fine with that, particularly if it facilitates more regular releases. It's just a shame that it comes with a cost of less to discuss each month (in this case, quite a bit less).
 

jackson_hurley

even the horses are cut in half!
Walter said:
That's the best case scenario, then. It means the strange brief pacing of the past two releases will be limited to the episodic experience, not the volume experience. I'm fine with that, particularly if it facilitates more regular releases. It's just a shame that it comes with a cost of less to discuss each month.

I'm wondering if this is gonna turn into a new kind of standard. Probably not for all the next episodes to come but maybe when one said episode can afford it (like in this case during an action sequence that can be cut in half) to avoid some hyatus? Like Walter said, it could facilitates the releases.
 
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