Episode 368

Goat

Foolish king
I know this may be a noob-ish and offtopic question, but how do you guys know this arc will end in 2-3 episodes? Is this a well known information or pure speculation?
 

Aazealh

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I know this may be a noob-ish and offtopic question, but how do you guys know this arc will end in 2-3 episodes? Is this a well known information or pure speculation?

When the continuation was announced, they said they would publish 6 episodes and then that the Elf island chapter would end, and that after that a new arc would begin, seemingly indicating that the Fantasia arc would end as well. This means episode 370 will mark the end of the chapter.
 
I was kind of let down when I first read this episode, I felt like all the plot points are happening in the lamest possible way; Griffith just yanks Casca away and leaves without Guts even fighting Zodd, and the island is getting destroyed by a mindless blob, rather than everyone showing off their skills against apostles (and some getting gruesomely killed in the process), which I was hoping for. Could still have had the blob too, with apostles fighting the Elfhelm folks and the blob devouring both.

After reading through the whole elf island arc again though (for the first time since release), I kinda got my optimism and hope for the future back. Even the Albion-like blob could be interesting, since we've never seen how magic users/spirits interact with it. I don't know. Maybe it's just because it was so fucking good reading it all in one go, but even the new episodes didn't feel TOO bad. They do stick out like a sore thumb, but at least they don't stick out like a sore middle finger.

Also, I think Griffith has time stop powers. At least that's my best explanation for what's happening, why Farnese and Schierke are holding Casca, then suddenly Griffith is holding Casca while Farnese and Schierke are falling down holding each other. Why Guts charges at Griffith intending to cleave him with full force, then is suddenly surprised to see him holding Casca. Every time Griffith has seemed "displaced", ie. when Guts first attacks him here, or back when the Kushans tried to shoot him with a volley of arrows. Not so sure it fits perfectly with Guts's sword seemingly phasing through Griffith, but that could just be iffy depiction. Kinda like when Goku is just standing still while the Ginyu Force's attacks go through him, but he's actually moving at super speed. =)
 
Maybe Skull Knight is not too keen on taking another swipe at Femto just yet after what happen on Ganishka.

Still not an excuse for all the great Gurus being absent.
 
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Aazealh

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Maybe Skull Knight is not too keen on taking another swipe at Femto just yet after what happen on Ganishka.

I can't really see that being the case. Like I said in my post, opposing the God Hand is pretty much all he cares about, and it's not like waiting until later would help him. The clock's ticking. The bad guys are winning and opportunities like this can be counted on one hand.

The fact he appears completely separately from the scene only to passively comment on what's going on is a clear sign to me that Mori didn't involve him simply because he didn't know what he would have done. It's one of the many ways in which this project feels compromised, but it's also pretty much unavoidable since the team likely doesn't have much to go on.

Unfortunately I feel like these sorts of incongruities will only worsen as the project goes along. That's why I hope they keep it as short as possible. Inherently, it can only get less authentic over time, especially as the stuff they fudge accumulates and starts catching up to them.
 
I guess there's still a fleeting chance he could... I dunno... teleport himself up to Griffith with his cool sword and take the token once-per-massive-convergence-event pot shot at him still (and maybe save Casca while he's at it...). 0.00001% chance of that happening at best though.

My joke head-canon will be that he's still too embarrassed after the astral merge oopsie to try anything.
 

Walter

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Aazealh nailed many more inconsistencies than I even considered. But the merrow one was particularly funny, to me...

So the merrows warned Roderick and his men of impending danger. Understandable, since they're in close proximity. But Isma's mom forgot to warn her own daughter? Maybe she dropped the seashell? I doubt merrows have pockets, after all. But even if that shell gets used in the next episode, the timing of its usage has already been rendered awkward. ("Isma, are you okay?!" "No mom, this is fucked up!" "Right... I forgot about the shell thing.")

That is of course small fish compared to other inconsistencies, but at this point, I think we can start to see the outline of what to expect from future episodes. All of these awkward feeling moments are inherent to the fundamental challenge that Studio Gaga accepted to make this continuation happen.

Why didn't SK intervene with Griffith, despite this being a likely junction of time—or at least take a swipe at Zodd? Because Miura never detailed it.

Why hasn't Danan done anything at all, despite her being the sovereign of this land? Because Miura never mentioned it.

Why are the gurus apparently still asleep? Because they weren't part of the scene that Miura conveyed to Mori.

Why did they draw around an inevitable (if inconsequential) confrontation between Farnese and Schierke protecting Casca from Griffith? Because Miura didn't explain it to Mori.

I'm not blaming Miura or Mori for not knowing the answers to these. Why should Miura have detailed every little thing in advance? By his own admission, it's not how he worked. However, would any of these have been factors with Miura in the driver's seat? I think yes, they absolutely would have. How events went down would have differed, even if they converged on the similar conclusion of the island falling apart.

These character portrayals don't feel natural because the story is being assembled from remembered scraps, and Studio Gaga aren't fabricating substantial material beyond what they were told by Mori. I think it's safe to say this is going to stay a bit confusing and will feel wobbly right until the very end.
 
Even if they had the whole story written from start to end, they would still need to deal with the storytelling (both written and visual storytelling), which was what Miura excelled the most (apart from his awesome artwork).
Yes, he did. Then the assistants "inked" the panels he had drafted, and once they were done he did some final modifications to harmonize their art and make sure everything looked tight.
Thanks for the info.
Then that explains why Duranki was arguably on par with Berserk.
 
It's a catch 22 really. Nobody wants them adding ideas that weren't from Miura, but Miura didn't tell Mori every last thing assumedly. Because they have chosen to do this as a manga rather than a written summary the depiction of events doesn't leave the wiggle room for things not described to still happen. As a result, you run into characters not acting how you feel like they should and other weirdness like Schierke and Farnese disappearing.

I think the only way this would've felt more "natural" is if they took the details Mori remembered and used them as an outline to build off of, filling in gaps with things it's probably safe to assume would have happened (Skull Knight attacking Griffith, the Gurus doing anything at all, etc.) and making Berserk "their own" in a way. That would probably make for a more cohesive feeling story, but I doubt anyone would want them to do that (Mori himself included), so we are left with the awkward compromise we are getting.

A nice extra in the volume release would be some commentary from the team about what exactly they knew and how they used that in their depiction, but I don't think we'll get that sort of transparency unfortunately.
 

Aazealh

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It's a catch 22 really. Nobody wants them adding ideas that weren't from Miura, but Miura didn't tell Mori every last thing assumedly.

There's no need to assume, the official announcement described what it is they're basing this on, and it's not in-depth conversations about "every last thing". Not to mention that Miura managed a lot of details episode by episode. And that by his own admission, Mori doesn't remember everything clearly. That's why doing this in manga form is risky, as you point out.

I think the only way this would've felt more "natural" is if they took the details Mori remembered and used them as an outline to build off of, filling in gaps with things it's probably safe to assume would have happened (Skull Knight attacking Griffith, the Gurus doing anything at all, etc.) and making Berserk "their own" in a way.

I think the problem is they're doing this anyway (filling in gaps with things they think are safe to assume would have happened). But while they're filling those gaps in ways they believe are as minimally intrusive as possible, it does still end up denaturing the story. As does omitting things. It is indeed a "damned if you do, damned if you don't" situation, and there's no silver bullet for it. But the thing is.... No one forced them to do it like this. And as fans of Kentarou Miura's work, we are entitled (if not duty-bound) to point out that it's a fundamentally flawed endeavor.

A nice extra in the volume release would be some commentary from the team about what exactly they knew and how they used that in their depiction, but I don't think we'll get that sort of transparency unfortunately.

It would be nice indeed, but I also doubt we're going to get anything of the sort. In part because the six episodes we're getting until the end of the Elf island chapter were likely based on comments that fit in two or three sentences. Something like: "Guts can't even scratch Griffith, who then takes off with an unconscious Casca, and bam, the island starts crumbling as waves of evil ooze spirits come out of the ground."
 
I think the problem is they're doing this anyway (filling in gaps with things they think are safe to assume would have happened). But while they're filling those gaps in ways they believe are as minimally intrusive as possible, it does still end up denaturing the story. As does omitting things. It is indeed a "damned if you do, damned if you don't" situation, and there's no silver bullet for it. But the thing is.... No one forced them to do it like this. And as fans of Kentarou Miura's work, we are entitled (if not duty-bound) to point out that it's a fundamentally flawed endeavor.
I think it's like you've said. By creating this connective tissue that achieves the bare minimum for story cohesion (and even then not always), they end up excluding the possibility of other things happening outside of what we see. It creates head scratching moments like Skull Knight not taking the opportunity to do anything about Griffith even though that seemed like the whole reason he was there. It why I agree that this whole approach just seems really flawed. If they're unwilling to take larger creative liberties to make things feel more coherent, then doing this as a manga in the first place seems wrong.
 
I agree or course that scenes and characters are poorly portrayed due to a lack of information.

I’m just stuck in the idea that Skull Knight would try something else to harm Femto without the boy being present this time around.

Even if Miura was in the drivers seat. What would or could he have done differently this time that we haven’t already seen before?

I know it’s his entire mission to destroy the god hand. But he’d be pretty foolish to go at it like Guts after what happen.

I would’ve loved to see him square up with another god hand member.

It’s a bit foolish of me to ponder because only Miura’s creative genius would do a scene like that justice.

I hope that he’ll do more besides exposition dump to characters on what they need to do next. Maybe Miura better detailed a fight with him in the next arc.
 
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Aazealh

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Even if Miura was in the drivers seat. What would or could he have done differently this time that we haven’t already seen before?

Of course it's hard to say exactly how Miura would have approached the scene given the many possibilities, but I think there are enough specifics here that even a relatively "standard" encounter could have been interesting.

Among which are the fact that last time, Femto expected him, while this time he's got Casca in his arms (hands full, can't counter), or that he's in an environment he has less control over because he just turned back. And besides just taking a shot at him, SK could have tried to prevent the abduction or something. What's hard to believe is that he came only to not intervene at all.

I know it’s his entire mission to destroy the god hand. But he’d be pretty foolish to go at it like Guts after what happen.

Was doing nothing the best course of action in your opinion? What will be different next time?
 
Last time Femto expected him, this time he's got Casca in his arms (hands full, can't counter) and is in an environment he has less control over because he just turned back? And I mean, besides just taking a shot at him, he could have tried to prevent the abduction or something. What's hard to believe is that he came only to not intervene at all.



Was doing nothing the best course of action in your opinion? What will be different next time?
You’re right. Femto was in full control and expecting him him last time.

He could’ve prevented the abduction just like he prevented the death of Casca and Guts during the eclipse. Probably with much less resistance this time even.

I was only looking at it only from a point of harming Griffith. But there’s more at stake than that here. Narrow minded on my part.

Of course doing nothing is not in character for Skull Knight. Nor is it the best option in this situation. Unless he had a huge mojo drop from what happen on Ganishka.

I hope there is some fighting next time. Likely with the boy involved to create some stakes. I think in a podcast you said that it’d be pretty lame if Femto is invulnerable up until the last second only for him to immediately die when his kryptonite weakness is discovered. I agree.
 

Griffith

With the streak of a tear, Like morning dew
You’re right. Femto was in full control and expecting him him last time.

He could’ve prevented the abduction just like he prevented the death of Casca and Guts during the eclipse. Probably with much less resistance this time even.

While I agree it only makes sense for Skull Knight to take a shot a Griffith in this situation (perhaps he was so humiliated last time he learned his lesson =), I also don't think he likely could have stopped him from doing what he intended to do. Like, even if Skully wrested Casca away from him momentarily I doubt Femto was just going to give up and fly away at that point as if escape is his main goal here. Plus, at the Eclipse they were pretty indifferent to what happened to Guts and Casca once they were done with them, and Femto explicitly stopped his attack. The lesson where Griffith is concerned, as always, until further notice, is:



It would have been interesting to see how Skull Knight changed tactics going forward, like some kind of trap spell where he uses the God Hand's own abilities to trigger some sort of defensive retaliation that turns it back on them etc, perhaps allowing him to use that special sword of his.
 

RaffoBaffo

Ex-Newser of the late Berserk Chronicles
Regarding the Armor of the SK, Kurosaki replied on Twitter, apparently the error was not there, but in Episode 363.
Well, it's not the first time for this particular error.
tl;dr, the armor of the SK is still canonically broken.
 

Walter

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Regarding the Armor of the SK, Kurosaki replied on Twitter, apparently the error was not there, but in Episode 363.
Well, it's not the first time for this particular error.
tl;dr, the armor of the SK is still canonically broken.
Would you mind linking to it? Makes sense to source it directly.

On a list of problems with the continuation, SK’s spike ranks pretty low. But it's obvious and something you can point to, so I understand why it keeps coming up. However, just saying 363 was in error doesn't really simplify things. And I think it's become pretty convoluted to follow.

  • Volume 26: Breaks when he tosses it at Slan
  • Volume 28: Fixed
  • Volume 34: Fixed
  • Volume 41 (ep 360): Broken
  • Volume 41 (ep 363): Fixed, presumably by Hanarr
  • Volume 41 poster (side B): Fixed
  • Volume 42 (ep 368): Broken

So when was it broken? If it was supposed to have been broken ever since he threw it at Slan, that's problematic. If it's a recent thing, occurring after the worlds merged, then it was never explained, and has been treated inconsistently, leading to further confusion.
 
This episode seemed on par with the rest in terms of execution, so the things that were positive are still positive and the negative still negative.

I find it strange that we get a lot of these panels with secondary characters and with a pinch of Guts not doing much of anything sandwiched in between. Seems to me the most powerful point of view for the reader is Guts’, if not for any other reasons as that he literally is the one closest to the cataclysm. They seem very scared of writing any sort of dialogue for Guts, and that fear speaks in their favor. They understand how essential Guts’ voice is and it is one thing to make Isidro sound like Isidro (a highlight of the episode is him talking back to Skullknight), but to make Guts be Guts seems an almost impossible endeavor without Miura. But even if they don’t want to show what Guts is thinking or even what he would say in this situation, we have the next best thing which would be Schierke and Farnese talking about it and indirectly telling us about Guts’ desperate struggle, or maybe contact the Gurus?

The highlight of this episode for me is definitely the scenes with Roderick and his men in the shore of Elfhelm. It’s exciting not by how much it advances the story but how cohesive it is and it is also one of the few times that shows how excellent studio Gaga’s story telling has the potential to be. I really enjoyed how they tied what I thought had been a sort of mood setting throwaway panel of the mermaids sensing Femto arrive in 365 to the events happening 3 episodes later, this of course is not a mind blowing thing but before this the story telling seemed very linear. The following panels show the actual epic scale of the event that is falling upon Elfhelm. We see beautiful wide shots of the shore and even an eagle view of the whole island, also the commotion of the sailors reflects this feeling of a grand panic well. They even got a good Magnifico gag that added to the tension and seriousness of it all. Finally, Roderick is not only well drawn but faithfully portrayed and just cements himself further as a great leader and reliable friend to Guts and Co.

Overall, these episodes are a welcome thing to come back to each month, obviously I no longer wait for a Berserk episode with baited breath. I am amazed at how much they are able to do, even if it is not enough sometimes, hopefully they get better and have the care and love for Berserk we all do.
 
Given that it was consistently fixed until 360, it almost seems like it being broken again for three episodes was the mistake, and Miura fixed it starting in 363. Skull Knight didn't appear for a looooong time after volume 34, so it's within reason to think that when it came time to draw him again, Miura mistakenly grabbed an older image of him with the spike still broken off to use as reference, only to later realize he'd drawn it as fixed in SK's previous appearances and course correct. Had he lived to the publishing of volume 41, there may have been some adjusted art to fix the continuity issue.

Perhaps whatever model sheet Studio Gaga is using for reference for SK has the spike broken still, and as a result Kurosaki is assuming it being fixed in 363 was the error when really it's the other way around?
 
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Walter

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Given that it was consistently fixed until 360, it almost seems like it being broken again for three episodes was the mistake, and Miura fixed it starting in 363. Perhaps whatever model sheet they were using for reference for SK had it broken still, and as a result he's assuming it being fixed in 363 was the error when really it's the other way around?
It's more complicated. The Volume 41 poster, which was finalized by Studio Gaga after Miura's passing, also showed the spike fixed. So it's not just 363 that's in error.

I don't particularly care either way. I don't expect a grand explanation about the spike being broken, but the back and forth has drawn attention to it. So I just want to know which it's really supposed to be.
 

Griffith

With the streak of a tear, Like morning dew
I don't particularly care either way. I don't expect a grand explanation about the spike being broken, but the back and forth has drawn attention to it. So I just want to know which it's really supposed to be.

Skull Knight's Spike is the new Schrodinger's Cat! Is it broken or not broken? Until we know it's both!

It's interesting, because I would default to the interpretation that it's fixed since that's Miura's last word on it, but it's switched before, though not so prominently if I recall (I'm not going to reread the relevant episodes at work; that's posting time =), so it could really be an oversight, or that Miura intended to reveal Hanarr fixed it and didn't bother telling anyone (a possible example of how fraught this information is). Anyway, I'd be really curious to get confirmation on the confirmation, like did Miura actively confirm it was a mistake, going around the office yelling, "Oh goddamn, the fucking spike again! I knew I should have just randomly introduced the skullarang!" Or is that only their, and possibly just Kurosaki's, understanding of the situation?

Otherwise, I'd like to imagine it's the new anti-God Hand weapon I was talking about before: Schrodinger's Spike! He'll confront Void with it intact, then halfway through their encounter Void will comment that it's missing, and that's when Skully reveals, "It's been lodged in the center of your brain for some time, wise one." :badbone: :void:KYAAAA!!
 
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Aazealh

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Given that it was consistently fixed until 360, it almost seems like it being broken again for three episodes was the mistake, and Miura fixed it starting in 363.

The Skull Knight literally acquiesces to go see Hanarr because he should get his armor fixed. Then they go there and it gets fixed. There's no mystery here. The only error is in episode 368.
 

Walter

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I'm waiting for a screen of the DM.
Well originally you had said this was Kurosaki saying this on Twitter, which I took to mean it was publicly confirmed. But now you’ve clarified that it was in a private Twitter conversation, something that can’t be corroborated. A screenshot of a DM from someone we don’t know isn’t exactly solid ground to stand on, I’m afraid. Certainly not enough to say that Miura was the one in the wrong for fixing it and not Studio Gaga in this past episode. Given that SK said he wanted to visit Hanarr in 361 in part to repair his armor, and voila, after Hanarr’s scene the spike is fixed, it seems clear to me what happened.

So this was all a big waste of time.
 
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