Episode 362

Aazealh

Administrator
Staff member
Holy shit....the urge to click is so intense. Should I follow WillofT's advice??? I'm going to hold out as long as I can and hope I don't get spoiled.

The initial reactions seem REALLY good and it's "Freaky" huh?? so pumped!

I do think you should hold out until the official release! And yes, it is certainly one of the most significant episodes in the entire series. Reminds me of episode 304.
 
the Young Animal will officially be available in 7 hours

Since it will be the first time I buy it I don't know a thing. Do you know if the digital edition of YA can be translated (at least the Berserk episode), for example, using the Google translator for websites in other languages (I don't know if it downloads a PDF or what)? I'd like to read something along the pages. If not, for a better understanding, I'll wait until some of you comment anything. Thanks!
 

Aazealh

Administrator
Staff member
Since it will be the first time I buy it I don't know a thing. Do you know if the digital edition of YA can be translated (at least the Berserk episode), for example, using the Google translator for websites in other languages (I don't know if it downloads a PDF or what)? I'd like to read something along the pages. If not, for a better understanding, I'll wait until some of you comment anything. Thanks!

They're pictures, so a text translator won't work on them. That said, maybe something like Google Lens would work? I've never tried it so I'm not sure. Anyway, I will try to have a detailed summary available quickly. And for what it's worth it also seems to be a very visual episode.
 
I do think you should hold out until the official release! And yes, it is certainly one of the most significant episodes in the entire series. Reminds me of episode 304.

You've got to be fucking kidding me :rickert:. This is NOT helping me avoid spoilers... But ive decided I'm 100% not going to! Closing down all sites that could even possibly show me anything on this. I'll see you all tomorrow so discuss this monumental episode!
 

Aazealh

Administrator
Staff member
You've got to be fucking kidding me :rickert:. This is NOT helping me avoid spoilers... But ive decided I'm 100% not going to! Closing down all sites that could even possibly show me anything on this. I'll see you all tomorrow so discuss this monumental episode!

I'm proud of you! :guts:

Meanwhile, here's a preliminary translation of the last page, which I believe is significant: "What you saw was the end of the foolish king. The beginning of a dead man’s endless wandering of the night."
 

Aazealh

Administrator
Staff member
It's available right now! Go for it!

Now for some thoughts... We're seeing the end of Gaiseric. And presumably that of his lover, who died in his arms... And of course we see the first God Hand, who Void seemed to lead, just like he leads the current one. Biggest revelation of the episode by far! There were four other members before the ones we know. Many questions remain however. Is there a recurring cycle, with each member being born every 216 years like what we've known so far? Or were those five all reborn at the same time, creating the original God Hand, but were then almost annihilated, with only Void surviving?

What we're shown is clearly an Occultation ceremony, however... there's one important thing to notice. There is no Black Sun. Rather, what looms over the background is the Vortex of Souls. Visually strikingly similar. Makes me wonder if Eclipse ceremonies like the one we saw for Griffith are "mirrors" of that original one... Not unlike how his Incarnation ceremony was a mirror of the Eclipse. Either way, those serpentine tentacles are quite horrifying, making for an apt scenery. Not easy to match the eldritch setting of the Eclipse we're all familiar with, but I think Miura managed to do it.

Other details to notice: there is no "hand" landmark in that image, which to me reinforces the idea that these five were all reborn together, in what was perhaps a very unique ceremony. I wonder for example if it used a beherit, or if beherits even existed back then. We do see however monsters that appear to be apostles. That implies that a God Hand had existed for a while, and that beherits were already in circulation for years. Unless they were also created another way... They do come out of between the tentacles, which is unusual and unlike how it went at Femto's ceremony. Hard to say at this point.

Now of course one of the big questions that remains is who was Void? We still don't know. Someone close to Gaiseric? It's interesting that the woman was branded and present at the final moment. Was he very close to both of them? Or was it just the entire capital city that was branded, and them along with everyone else? Still, it looks like it's just the two of them in the actual ceremony... And the woman was branded on the shoulder, unlike the skulls at the bottom of the pit in volume 10.

Like I said earlier, on the last page, the Skull Knight tells Guts: "What you saw was the end of the foolish king. The beginning of a dead man’s endless wandering of the night." What's interesting about this is that in Japanese the nuance of the line implies he only realized he was foolish at the very end. As usual Miura chooses his words exquisitely well.
 

Walter

Administrator
Staff member
A landmark episode, delivering on things we've been talking about for more than 20 years.

We're seeing the "eclipse" that Gaiseric endured that led him on his journey of revenge, and it seems quite in parallel with Guts' own experience. Void seems to be his Femto, as expected. The branded woman was his Casca, but she didn't make it. Check out her necklace -- that half-moon on top of what looks like Danan. Very exciting.

Guys... is it Danan?
 

Atocas

Voice in the Void
It truly has been a great episode, Miura still manages to surprise me with not only the story moving forward, but also his continued creativity when it comes to scenery and detail.

And the first God Hand, who Void seemed to lead

The first thing that came to my mind when I read through it was actually that this scene is supposed to mimic Femto looking at Guts during the Eclipse, making this event perhaps Void's own ascension from mortal to God Hand, which would also explain why Gaiseric's "lover" (Her attire surely makes her look like the possible Queen of his kingdom) bears a randomly inflicted brand.

To go into even more speculation, this could have maybe even been a woman that not only Gaiseric, but also Void had some amount of feelings for, if I follow my narrative that she was - or was part of - the sacrifice for Void to become a God Hand.

Then again, I might be way off, but I'm all the more hyped for some explanations of the man himself next episode.
 
I just read it, and I managed to avoid any spoilers/leaks!

WHAT AN EPISODE, it was honestly even better and even more imporant than I expected it to be.
Episodes like that really make it feel like we're getting closer and closer to the finale. :daiba:
 
The second two page spread of the woman, look at the background. Branded city.

Yes! Great find! It's just vague enough to be in the background that you won't notice it unless you're looking closely.

This brings up so many questions. Was this "Eclipse" moment mirroring Griffith's Eclipse where the "Queen" is Casca and the Band of the Hawk represents Gaiseric's fallen kingdom? And how does all of this relate to the branded bodies at the bottom of the Tower of Rebirth? Are they all just the citizens of the kingdom that were branded and sacrificed for Void's ascension?

Best episode of the arc so far imo.
 
Amazing episode loved it , i think his lover died and he goes Berserker and kills the other god hands , But how does he knows about slan did he watch her before she became god hand so many questions :SK:
 

Aazealh

Administrator
Staff member
The branded woman was his Casca, but she didn't make it. Check out her necklace -- that half-moon on top of what looks like Danan. Very exciting.

Guys... is it Danan?

The physical resemblance between them (not to mention that giant elf queen necklace) made me wonder as well... Can't quite say... It would be odd for Danan to be branded, and to have lived in a distant city, far away from her tree... Makes me think this was someone else, plus the fact this woman apparently died. But honestly, who knows at this point? It could make sense in some ways, with the uniting of two "kingdoms" and whatnot.

The second two page spread of the woman, look at the background. Branded city.

Oh damn, nice catch! Makes sense, and it's just like what happened during the Incarnation ceremony. Remember what the Skull Knight said at the time: "this is a once in a thousand years event". Indeed...
 
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I just read it, and I managed to avoid any spoilers/leaks!

WHAT AN EPISODE, it was honestly even better and even more imporant than I expected it to be.
Episodes like that really make it feel like we're getting closer and closer to the finale. :daiba:

You're going to jinx it! But I agree, I have the same feeling, or maybe it's only hope.
 

Aazealh

Administrator
Staff member
The first thing that came to my mind when I read through it was actually that this scene is supposed to mimic Femto looking at Guts during the Eclipse, making this event perhaps Void's own ascension from mortal to God Hand, which would also explain why Gaiseric's "lover" (Her attire surely makes her look like the possible Queen of his kingdom) bears a randomly inflicted brand.

To go into even more speculation, this could have maybe even been a woman that not only Gaiseric, but also Void had some amount of feelings for, if I follow my narrative that she was - or was part of - the sacrifice for Void to become a God Hand.

Well there are several possibilities at play here. We see that the entire city was branded, and we know from volume 10 that a bunch of dead bodies there had been branded on the forehead. Does that mean every single person in that giant city was branded? It could be, especially if five members of the God Hand were reborn at once. That would be an event of a magnitude never encountered until now. Still, the woman intrigues me. We technically don't see her being there in the ceremony, we only see her in Gaiseric's arms afterwards, during the second vision. Given that the city is shown in the background and not the otherworldly spectacle of the Vortex of Souls, it's clear Gaiseric was back in the corporeal world.

So... maybe she wasn't directly in there with him. Still, my first thoughts were also that Void must have been close to both of them. Could have been an unrequited lover for example (let's say Gaiseric's brother), or even more crazy, their son. :isidro: However I'm not sure that really fits Void's character. He and the Skull Knight don't seem related by blood, or at least that's not the impression I've ever gotten from them. So I think I still lean more towards them being close friends, with Void as a human being perhaps Gaiseric's closest advisor and a gifted tactician/magician or something like that. Someone who also cared dearly for the kingdom, but had other ideas about how it should be ruled. Just food for thought!

P.S. Is she the model for the woman effigy on his horse?
 

Gobolatula

praise be to grail!
This one. Holy shit. I've been waiting so long to see something like this. Fantastic episode.

My first thought when seeing the old God Hand was, "They can be killed." What awesome designs on those guys, though. Seriously.
 
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