I haven't really posted a detailed rundown of my thoughts about this episode since we talked about it so much in the chat, so I figured I'd try to summarize them.
The key takeaways to me are:
- Will Griffith abduct Casca or not, and if so what will happen to her in Falconia?
- The island is jeopardized. Can it recover or is it going to fall apart? Is Danan as good as dead?
- Griffith has been shown to be insolently invulnerable. What will it take to defeat him?
Going about them in order...
Will Griffith abduct Casca or not, and if so what will happen to her in Falconia?
I've said so before, but the abduction scenario isn't my favorite out of all the possible developments there are for Casca. I would prefer for her to have room to grow with her current companions. I've been especially excited about her potential relationships with Farnese, Isidro and Schierke in the past. Not to mention mending things with Guts, obviously.
The only motive for abducting her that makes sense to me is to curtail the boy's escapades. In that context, the one development I find interesting would be for Casca to be the one to trigger the unraveling of Griffith's little fairy tale. She'd come into contact with various people (Charlotte, Sonia, Owen or Raban...) and make an escape, possibly going through the Pandemonium in the process to give us another look into that place. She would be challenged and come out of it stronger. She'd link up with Luka and the girls, and eventually with Rickert and the Bakiraka.
It could make for a great adventure, and the things she would uncover, combined with the seeds of doubt planted into the minds of some of Griffith's allies, would be the beginning of something significant. The downside to this idea, like I mentioned above, is that it wouldn't leave much time for her relationship with the group to develop. There are possible ways to mitigate this, for example Farnese could jump in to stay with her (but then why spare her life?), or she could eventually travel back to her companions with Sonia's help, but that's too far out to consider for now.
The island is jeopardized. Can it recover or is it going to fall apart? Is Danan as good as dead?
The attack on the island is probably the most interesting part of this episode to me, or at least what I'm most curious about. The first thing I'll say is that I'm glad it's not just Grunbeld and some apostle goons showing up to burn the tree. I favored something more original (versus a repeat of Flora's), like a new threat or even a member of the God Hand, and it looks like we're getting it.
It's hard to guess what that black ooze is, but the first thing it evoked to me was the waves of "mega specters" from the Condemnation arc. What sprang into my mind when I read the episode was that Danan's power may have acted like a seal on some sort of ancient evil, and that dispelling this power has unleashed the darkness.
I've seen some people speculate it could be the restless spirits of ancient invaders (that are mentioned in passing), but I don't feel like that would be a serious enough threat. I think there would be a logic to this phenomenon being connected to the destruction of Gaiseric's capital city (especially since the woman's tomb is there), but it occurred halfway across the world, and we know for a fact that the ruins of that city still remained underneath Wyndham.
Still, it may be related to Void's failed plan from a thousand years ago, one way or another. For example we don't know what happened to his previous acolytes, nor what the aftermath of their deaths might have been like. We also still ignore what the remaining steps of the God Hand's plan are, except they won't be very nice. This ties into another question: is this crisis limited to the island? In theory, our heroes still have a lot of things to do there. Whether it's the armor and Hanarr, Schierke learning to use Daimons, Danan tutoring Farnese... It makes me think the island won't just be destroyed.
Instead I wonder whether this is going to be the big crisis, or if it's more like a prelude: something that will escape into the wider world, leaving behind a devastated Skellig. In that second option, this might have been an integral part of the GH's overarching plan. My problem with that however is it just feels too convenient. It just so happens the faraway place Guts traveled to was the key to the bad guys' plan? Meh. Anyway, following that hypothesis, we could still get an apostle clean-up squad in the end, since no magical protection would remain.
Moving on, my last interrogation is whether Griffith did it all by himself, while yawning as Guts huffed and puffed, and picking up Casca. The episode doesn't show him doing anything, but it's clear he expected it to happen. Was his mere presence enough? Did his kindred perhaps coordinate something? I guess we'll see.
Griffith has been shown to be insolently invulnerable. What will it take to defeat him?
As far as Griffith's portrayal goes in these episodes, I personally feel that its execution does it a bigger disservice than people may realize. Obviously, he was never going to be defeated by Guts at this point, nor even really challenged. But still, a character can only be all powerful for so long before it becomes boring. Miura was always very careful in the ways he depicted his powers, it was mysterious and often ambiguous, even when he was overwhelming. I feel like that nuance is sorely lacking here, even if the intent was to show him being "unreachable". In a way it feels like it's either too much or not enough. Even as Femto in volume 3, he didn't let Guts hit him without reacting.
Maybe the next three episodes will alleviate those concerns, we'll see. I don't know whether the Great Gurus will show up, but the Skull Knight should at least attempt something.
Doing a direct continuation feels like a perilous endeavor
Other than that, I guess I can't avoid commenting on the execution of the episode, which leaves to be desired. Like for the two previous issues, the sequence of events is confusing in several places, as is the depiction of various scenes. From Griffith glancing back at the Beast's eye, to Zodd's spinning hand attack, Guts "just going past" him, Farnese and Schierke's disappearing act, Guts not seeing Casca or not caring, stopping his blow or not, an enormous amount of cherry blossoms being blown off by a light breeze...
And of course there's the mystery of how Zodd came by (or why), of why Danan did not immediately detect Griffith's presence while every other elf did, of the Berserk's armor being a total non-issue, or the brands not mattering. Lastly, the dialogue, while very basic, still felt off to me, with Serpico somehow acting like Isidro and Isma's dad among other things.
None of this is particularly surprising, but I think it shows just how much of a challenge it's going to be for Mori and the staff to tell the rest of the story like that. Going back to what I said when the project was first announced, I believe the jury's still out on whether a direct continuation to the manga was the right choice of format for this endeavor. In many ways, the execution on the page is as important if not more than the "plot points", and there's definitely a certain awkwardness in experiencing the story this way. What's sure is that I hope they stick to their guns, tell only what they're sure was Miura's intent, and finish it off as quickly as they can.
Lastly, I keep thinking back to this illustration that Miura had prepared in advance for the Great Berserk Exhibition. Given the timing, it's pretty clear to me that he intended for it to be used in this confrontation with Griffith. What a great reveal that would have been for the series' 30th anniversary! But it seems they won't be using it, maybe for legal reasons, maybe just because it'd be disrespectful to integrate Miura's art into their own. Either way, I can't help thinking that it's such a shame we won't see it in all its glory, within an episode.
The key takeaways to me are:
- Will Griffith abduct Casca or not, and if so what will happen to her in Falconia?
- The island is jeopardized. Can it recover or is it going to fall apart? Is Danan as good as dead?
- Griffith has been shown to be insolently invulnerable. What will it take to defeat him?
Going about them in order...
Will Griffith abduct Casca or not, and if so what will happen to her in Falconia?
I've said so before, but the abduction scenario isn't my favorite out of all the possible developments there are for Casca. I would prefer for her to have room to grow with her current companions. I've been especially excited about her potential relationships with Farnese, Isidro and Schierke in the past. Not to mention mending things with Guts, obviously.
The only motive for abducting her that makes sense to me is to curtail the boy's escapades. In that context, the one development I find interesting would be for Casca to be the one to trigger the unraveling of Griffith's little fairy tale. She'd come into contact with various people (Charlotte, Sonia, Owen or Raban...) and make an escape, possibly going through the Pandemonium in the process to give us another look into that place. She would be challenged and come out of it stronger. She'd link up with Luka and the girls, and eventually with Rickert and the Bakiraka.
It could make for a great adventure, and the things she would uncover, combined with the seeds of doubt planted into the minds of some of Griffith's allies, would be the beginning of something significant. The downside to this idea, like I mentioned above, is that it wouldn't leave much time for her relationship with the group to develop. There are possible ways to mitigate this, for example Farnese could jump in to stay with her (but then why spare her life?), or she could eventually travel back to her companions with Sonia's help, but that's too far out to consider for now.
The island is jeopardized. Can it recover or is it going to fall apart? Is Danan as good as dead?
The attack on the island is probably the most interesting part of this episode to me, or at least what I'm most curious about. The first thing I'll say is that I'm glad it's not just Grunbeld and some apostle goons showing up to burn the tree. I favored something more original (versus a repeat of Flora's), like a new threat or even a member of the God Hand, and it looks like we're getting it.
It's hard to guess what that black ooze is, but the first thing it evoked to me was the waves of "mega specters" from the Condemnation arc. What sprang into my mind when I read the episode was that Danan's power may have acted like a seal on some sort of ancient evil, and that dispelling this power has unleashed the darkness.
I've seen some people speculate it could be the restless spirits of ancient invaders (that are mentioned in passing), but I don't feel like that would be a serious enough threat. I think there would be a logic to this phenomenon being connected to the destruction of Gaiseric's capital city (especially since the woman's tomb is there), but it occurred halfway across the world, and we know for a fact that the ruins of that city still remained underneath Wyndham.
Still, it may be related to Void's failed plan from a thousand years ago, one way or another. For example we don't know what happened to his previous acolytes, nor what the aftermath of their deaths might have been like. We also still ignore what the remaining steps of the God Hand's plan are, except they won't be very nice. This ties into another question: is this crisis limited to the island? In theory, our heroes still have a lot of things to do there. Whether it's the armor and Hanarr, Schierke learning to use Daimons, Danan tutoring Farnese... It makes me think the island won't just be destroyed.
Instead I wonder whether this is going to be the big crisis, or if it's more like a prelude: something that will escape into the wider world, leaving behind a devastated Skellig. In that second option, this might have been an integral part of the GH's overarching plan. My problem with that however is it just feels too convenient. It just so happens the faraway place Guts traveled to was the key to the bad guys' plan? Meh. Anyway, following that hypothesis, we could still get an apostle clean-up squad in the end, since no magical protection would remain.
Moving on, my last interrogation is whether Griffith did it all by himself, while yawning as Guts huffed and puffed, and picking up Casca. The episode doesn't show him doing anything, but it's clear he expected it to happen. Was his mere presence enough? Did his kindred perhaps coordinate something? I guess we'll see.
Griffith has been shown to be insolently invulnerable. What will it take to defeat him?
As far as Griffith's portrayal goes in these episodes, I personally feel that its execution does it a bigger disservice than people may realize. Obviously, he was never going to be defeated by Guts at this point, nor even really challenged. But still, a character can only be all powerful for so long before it becomes boring. Miura was always very careful in the ways he depicted his powers, it was mysterious and often ambiguous, even when he was overwhelming. I feel like that nuance is sorely lacking here, even if the intent was to show him being "unreachable". In a way it feels like it's either too much or not enough. Even as Femto in volume 3, he didn't let Guts hit him without reacting.
Maybe the next three episodes will alleviate those concerns, we'll see. I don't know whether the Great Gurus will show up, but the Skull Knight should at least attempt something.
Doing a direct continuation feels like a perilous endeavor
Other than that, I guess I can't avoid commenting on the execution of the episode, which leaves to be desired. Like for the two previous issues, the sequence of events is confusing in several places, as is the depiction of various scenes. From Griffith glancing back at the Beast's eye, to Zodd's spinning hand attack, Guts "just going past" him, Farnese and Schierke's disappearing act, Guts not seeing Casca or not caring, stopping his blow or not, an enormous amount of cherry blossoms being blown off by a light breeze...
And of course there's the mystery of how Zodd came by (or why), of why Danan did not immediately detect Griffith's presence while every other elf did, of the Berserk's armor being a total non-issue, or the brands not mattering. Lastly, the dialogue, while very basic, still felt off to me, with Serpico somehow acting like Isidro and Isma's dad among other things.
None of this is particularly surprising, but I think it shows just how much of a challenge it's going to be for Mori and the staff to tell the rest of the story like that. Going back to what I said when the project was first announced, I believe the jury's still out on whether a direct continuation to the manga was the right choice of format for this endeavor. In many ways, the execution on the page is as important if not more than the "plot points", and there's definitely a certain awkwardness in experiencing the story this way. What's sure is that I hope they stick to their guns, tell only what they're sure was Miura's intent, and finish it off as quickly as they can.
Lastly, I keep thinking back to this illustration that Miura had prepared in advance for the Great Berserk Exhibition. Given the timing, it's pretty clear to me that he intended for it to be used in this confrontation with Griffith. What a great reveal that would have been for the series' 30th anniversary! But it seems they won't be using it, maybe for legal reasons, maybe just because it'd be disrespectful to integrate Miura's art into their own. Either way, I can't help thinking that it's such a shame we won't see it in all its glory, within an episode.
Anyway, Casca being in Falconia also provides a motive for Guts and crew to head immediately to Falconia. Of course, other motivations could have been introduced as well—like to rescue their son.
And I do think it makes sense that there's something special about Elfhelm's placement and role in the world. Maybe it has to do with ley lines, and this particular place—isolated from the world, surrounded by protection and time displacement, guarded by powerful magic users—is an elaborate web of protection to keep this ancient evil away from the world.
... 
Sonia would basically be the only non-apostle character able to sneak in there.
: "We need to talk... So, about this kid thing... You are EMBARRASSING ME! You're the fucking incarnated one, a god on earth, you're supposed to appear to humanity as their idealized leader! But once a month you basically walk around dressed in a diaper!? We can't have some sacrifice 
, didn't participate in the Eclipse Ceremony, and if more Apostles don't show up this might be so secret the others don't really need to know the details.
