Episode 370
- Thread starter Aazealh
- Start date
He's supposed to be shaken because the sword "failed" him by not hitting Griffith.
I think what we're seeing is 'Berserk' slowly but surely becoming a shonen manga. And it's horrifying, to be frank.
I was optimistic for the first 2 or 3 episodes and thought the small sample size was magnifiying any issues therein.
This however has been a pretty horrific run IMO.
I mean the story is about Guts Casca and Griffith. It is the engine driving the entire story... for the first time in ages, the story is addressing this directly. All 3 characters together again after countless years... and what should be one of Guts' ultimate nightmares playing out before his eyes, Griffith taking Casca away and all he can talk about is his sword?
The focus should be all on the loss of Casca, period. Nothing else should be addressed before that. Nothing matters more to Guts than Casca.
But even if I'm wrong, and his powerlessness against the Femto is exactly what Miura would've emphasized, the whole thing is undercut by the fact he didnt use the armor. Even more than all Guts' gained experience and skill as a warrior, the armor should be his trump card and he didn't use it. So it completely changes how I view his performance in that fight against Femto, and it should for Guts as well. He would know that he wasn't using every tool at his disposal. It just totally shatters my immersion in the emotion of the scene If he had used the armor to its full effect, Beast of Darkness fully unleashed and he still couldn't do anything, MAYBE his powerlessness before the Femto should be further emphasized, but never before the loss of Casca, and certainly not to the point where it hasn't even been addressed.
I personally find this shockingly incompetent story telling and I'm very disappointed. While this is not an easy place for the new team to pick-up after Miura in many ways, the difficulty lies in the magnitude of the moment rather than anything. Everything in these episodes should be orbiting around Guts grief in loss of Casca. The handling of this moment is as egregious as the Berserk movie trilogy where they cut the Bonfire of Dreams. This should be a landmark moment for the series and they've completely mangled it. If I accepted this as canon it'd really hurt my love for Guts as a character.
This however has been a pretty horrific run IMO.
I mean the story is about Guts Casca and Griffith. It is the engine driving the entire story... for the first time in ages, the story is addressing this directly. All 3 characters together again after countless years... and what should be one of Guts' ultimate nightmares playing out before his eyes, Griffith taking Casca away and all he can talk about is his sword?
The focus should be all on the loss of Casca, period. Nothing else should be addressed before that. Nothing matters more to Guts than Casca.
But even if I'm wrong, and his powerlessness against the Femto is exactly what Miura would've emphasized, the whole thing is undercut by the fact he didnt use the armor. Even more than all Guts' gained experience and skill as a warrior, the armor should be his trump card and he didn't use it. So it completely changes how I view his performance in that fight against Femto, and it should for Guts as well. He would know that he wasn't using every tool at his disposal. It just totally shatters my immersion in the emotion of the scene If he had used the armor to its full effect, Beast of Darkness fully unleashed and he still couldn't do anything, MAYBE his powerlessness before the Femto should be further emphasized, but never before the loss of Casca, and certainly not to the point where it hasn't even been addressed.
I personally find this shockingly incompetent story telling and I'm very disappointed. While this is not an easy place for the new team to pick-up after Miura in many ways, the difficulty lies in the magnitude of the moment rather than anything. Everything in these episodes should be orbiting around Guts grief in loss of Casca. The handling of this moment is as egregious as the Berserk movie trilogy where they cut the Bonfire of Dreams. This should be a landmark moment for the series and they've completely mangled it. If I accepted this as canon it'd really hurt my love for Guts as a character.
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I agree with everybody about Guts' focus on his sword and not at Casca being kidnapped. Even if this is ultimately supposed to be Guts acknowledging that defeating Griffith won't be as easy as cutting him down, I still feel that we could have snuck some acknowledgement of Casca's abduction in there. I looks even worst when you have Farnese and Schrieke looking affected by the abduction and their powerlessness to stop it but the man she loves is all boo hoo my sword. The thing is this can only get worst when the Berserk armor's starts to really take a toll on his body. He's already going blind and not being able to hold his sword. I wonder if Guts is going to retire from the sword at the end anyway he might not have a choice.
Guts not thinking about the boy either is a weird oversight but I guess this could all be a later revelation. With Casca being abducted, eventually he would have to wonder why did Griffith take her. He hadn't been interested in either of them before and now he makes off with Casca. He'd have to wonder about the boy's place in this too of course. Which comes in with whether Guts will figure out the connection between Griffith and the boy or if this is something Casca will fill them in on when they reunite (whenever that is).
On some other things though with the Island destroyed where exactly is Rodrick and the Sea Horse going. They obviously would have to go back to the mainland (unless there is some other magic island they can go to) but their choices would be Falconia or make a home in one of the abandoned human villages. Given that they are all mages I'm sure they could create a little village of their own even with all the dragons and ogres and stuff. But what if they do go to Falconia?
Farnese helping Molda heal the survivors was a good way to get her to feel a little better by doing something useful but I feel that's only going to be a temporary distraction. With Casca gone not only is Farnese upset at her inability to save her but she's also lost both her purpose and the one she consistently hangs out with. Farnese will have to find a new dynamic among the group now. Schrieke is an obvious choice; so is Serpico since he's always around her anyway so maybe they could be a twosome again, but different from what they were before. Maybe her and Molda could also bond and start a friendship if she sticks around. I guess this could also be Farnese focusing on physical healing magic in the mean time while she figures out how to learn mind healing.
You know the way Farnese and Schrieke cried about not being able to do anything when Serpico asked about Guts and Casca makes it seem like Casca died from the Gnawers attack or something. I guess they'll get filled in later.
Guts not thinking about the boy either is a weird oversight but I guess this could all be a later revelation. With Casca being abducted, eventually he would have to wonder why did Griffith take her. He hadn't been interested in either of them before and now he makes off with Casca. He'd have to wonder about the boy's place in this too of course. Which comes in with whether Guts will figure out the connection between Griffith and the boy or if this is something Casca will fill them in on when they reunite (whenever that is).
On some other things though with the Island destroyed where exactly is Rodrick and the Sea Horse going. They obviously would have to go back to the mainland (unless there is some other magic island they can go to) but their choices would be Falconia or make a home in one of the abandoned human villages. Given that they are all mages I'm sure they could create a little village of their own even with all the dragons and ogres and stuff. But what if they do go to Falconia?
Farnese helping Molda heal the survivors was a good way to get her to feel a little better by doing something useful but I feel that's only going to be a temporary distraction. With Casca gone not only is Farnese upset at her inability to save her but she's also lost both her purpose and the one she consistently hangs out with. Farnese will have to find a new dynamic among the group now. Schrieke is an obvious choice; so is Serpico since he's always around her anyway so maybe they could be a twosome again, but different from what they were before. Maybe her and Molda could also bond and start a friendship if she sticks around. I guess this could also be Farnese focusing on physical healing magic in the mean time while she figures out how to learn mind healing.
You know the way Farnese and Schrieke cried about not being able to do anything when Serpico asked about Guts and Casca makes it seem like Casca died from the Gnawers attack or something. I guess they'll get filled in later.
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Will he? I think lots of things that have been established in episodes before Miuras death are sadly now Null and Void (heh) and that could perhaps include Guts going blind.
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I guess I'm expected to make these big recap posts now, but I have to say, I do not enjoy writing them.
So I hope y'all at least get some enjoyment out of it!
Artwork
The art is still very uneven, likely due to the different styles of the six people working on it. There are a few panels where the characters look fine. Farnese has one, Molda a couple, Schierke also... But there's a bunch more where they don't look so good. I am honestly not at all interested in nitpicking on it so I won't say more, except to point out this panel where Farnese appears to be scratching her face with her eyes rolled back because I find it funny.
Itchy. Tasty.
That aside, I recognize the efforts that are made as far as the composition and paneling goes, even though it's lacking. I also think the color page is nice (with the exception of Isidro), although having the Kelpie there is odd. And I appreciate that they have Puck refer to Serpico as Picorin (even though it's been ages since he last did) and that they continued the little joke between Ivalera and Molda. I'm not sure either really fits the context, but I do appreciate the effort.
The real issues are with the story, characters and dialogue of course. Where to begin... Guts is apparently in such a state that he won't move by himself and is making five people transport him onboard the Sea Horse. They could have chosen to have him unconscious, but no, he's just self-pitying so hard he won't move, like a protester playing dead weight and having to be carried out by cops.
Guts and his sword
The fact Guts is blaming his sword for his failure to hit Griffith seems insane to me. He certainly has a special connection to the sword, and it's meant to be a metaphor for his fighting prowess (it's "an extension of him"), but I think it falls short and feels painfully literal. It's so small-minded and unlike the character that I'm quite shocked they went in that direction. It reminds me of a French proverb: "à mauvais ouvrier, point de bon outil". It means that a bad craftsman will always find an excuse for his shoddy work, the most common being to blame his tools. That's what Guts is sounding like here.
Now to be clear: I understand the intent. If you zoom out and summarize it as "Guts having a crisis of confidence and doubting his own abilities", you can see how they reached this scenario. It makes sense for him to be in a bad place after failing to do anything against Griffith. It's a given. The problem is that I don't think Miura would have done it like that at all.
A big part of it is the dialogue, which is simply not good. I've noticed that in the continuation so far they tend to repeat words in the same episode and it's really brutal here with Guts. It's not at all how Miura wrote, so it's very discordant. More generally, the lack of nuance for all important characters is impossible to overlook and contributes to lessening them. No dialogue would be better than bad dialogue.
Selective memory
I also have issues with the scenes they chose to focus on. Astonishingly, none of them feature his actual, current and iconic sword, the Dragon Slayer. They're all from the Golden Age, and while three of them are at least iconic shots (up on the remparts, aftermath of hundred men fight, bonfire of dreams), for the most part they're not moments where he relied on the sword and nothing else. Thematically it's just completely empty.
It's really baffling to me, to the point where I've been half-seriously wondering if they weren't chosen because the "Golden Age Memorial Edition" is currently being broadcast on TV. And what adds insult to injury is the fact Casca was present in two of these scenes but isn't featured here, almost like she's been erased from his mind.
Of course what's extra-ironic is that the sword in question actually broke during a key moment and almost cost him his life. If Zodd hadn't helped, Guts would have died against Boskone. Indeed, there are a few examples of Guts' sword failing him before he found the Dragon Slayer (against Wyald, then against the bulldog apostle), which led me to make this little edit for a joke.
Scenes where the Dragon Slayer played an important role for Guts are plentiful (including in relation to protecting Casca!), and a flashback to his Black Swordsman era, before he met Puck, would have been great to emphasize how he only had that to rely on for a while. But I don't think there's much point in thinking about swapping memories, because frankly the current scenario in its entirety feels wrong to me.
Just a last point: Guts says he trusted no one but his sword... Ok. Before he met the Band of the Falcon or after the Eclipse, in periods where he was a loner, sure. But in recent years for example he's had his companions, and he did trust them. We actually see that in the series, it's an important part of his character development. The way he's depicted in this episode clumsily goes against it by presenting him as a rather superficial and completely self-absorbed person. It dumbs him down to a parody of himself where his biggest concern after a cataclysmic event is "why sword no work no more", sparing no thought whatsoever to his beloved or to his other companions.
Casca who?
I guess something to wonder about is whether this is really the end of the chapter (and possibly arc). Young Animal said there would be six episodes until it was over, and this is the sixth, so presumably, yes. One could imagine that the double issue ended up counting as one, but frankly that'd be a little weird, and besides the hiatus until December does seem to indicate this was it.
"But what of Schierke going to see Guts, you might ask. What of him reflecting on Casca's abduction?! Surely that won't be skipped over!" My answer to this is: I won't be surprised in the least if it isn't addressed. Just like many other things (e.g. Puck & Ivalera) haven't been so far. They could very well just skip ahead. In fact, if we're honest, the time for him to lament Casca's fate is almost past already. And indeed, maybe the team would reply that it's already been done in episode 368.
Will they touch on it in the future? Well... I guess? All I can say is that I hope so.
I don't want to retread on what I said previously (so check my other posts), but obviously, Casca should be at the top of Guts' mind right now. And I don't think it would be impossible for him to bemoan his own powerlessness while also worrying about her and blaming himself for her abduction. In fact I'm dead certain it's exactly what he would do. Much like the Skull Knight referred to himself as a foolish king, I think Guts would reflect on all of his efforts as futile and amounting to nothing.
Another factor that didn't come into play here is the Beast of Darkness. Whether defanged or urging him to fight on, one would think that in such a moment, this embodiment of his inner demons would come forward. Maybe it was too delicate and complex for the team to handle, unfortunately. Then there's the matter of the boy, which should also be a big deal to Guts on its own, even if he doesn't put two and two together yet. All of this should probably be crossing his mind.
The Heroic Roderick
The weirdness of Guts' scene is exacerbated by Roderick's needless agitation, where he's acting like Guts is standing on a ledge and about to jump. I said so earlier in the thread, but to me it kind of seems like Mori put some of his own grief following Miura's death into the scene. Being almost catatonic because "the only one you trusted" has let you down and locking yourself into a room to be alone while someone bangs on the door and tells you not to do anything rash... That sounds like what someone might do if their soulmate died suddenly.
Speaking of, would Guts lock himself into a room to mope? Does anyone think that fits his character? And why can't Roderick enter that room exactly? It's a storage room on a sailing ship and there appears to be no lock on the door nor anything barring it (page 13). Beyond that, why is Roderick so worried anyway? He wasn't there for the confrontation and he didn't see Casca get abducted. I guess maybe Farnese is supposed to have told him? Or is he just worried because Guts is so fragile in general that he needs special care? It's not clear... and doesn't really matter in the end because, again, the entire sequence feels wrong.
Like Walter suggested to me, it might just have been inserted there to add tension into the scene, but if so, it failed big time. And don't tell me about the possibility that he'd go berserk with the armor activating. If it didn't activate as he fought Griffith and saw him grab off Casca, it's not going to activate now. Especially since sadness isn't what fuels the armor's Od, it's fighting spirit, the thing Guts now seems completely devoid of. This fact also makes Molda's comments to Schierke about the armor seem rather out of place, not to mention that she shouldn't be all that knowledgeable about it (unlike Schierke herself!).
Molda and the others
Other than the end with Guts, the one scene that matters in this episode is the interaction between Molda and the others. In my opinion, pretty much everything is wrong with it. Molda's a teenage witch apprentice, but she's somehow taken charge (at least partly) of the situation for some reason. As a reminder, everyone on the island is a magic user, with many students but also a whole bunch of teachers, each with their own specialties. Not all of these magicians were wounded (in fact, none of them exhibit any actual wounds), and we saw last episode that the four Great Gurus as well as the Volvaba (Molda's teacher) were alright.
So why is Molda running around and grabbing Farnese off? The answer of course is because it's convenient. She's just there to fill a given role so that Schierke can go see Guts and we can learn that Farnese is now a healer. In the process, she's bossing around Farnese, Schierke and even Serpico, who, lest we forget, could probably snap her neck before she'd notice if he wanted to. But he's reduced to a caricature of his affable façade here, turned into the most simplified and unnuanced understanding of his character.
Same for Farnese, who's weeping helplessly like back in volume 23 before snapping to attention. Same for Isidro, who's by himself and looks hurt and resentful like in Enoch. In fact, I have to point out the panel on page 10 where Schierke runs past him and gives him a very weird side glance. It looks almost snidely, but I'm going to guess it's just poor execution. Now to be clear, I don't think it's out of place for these characters to be shocked and sad or to blame themselves after what happened. But the way it's depicted simply doesn't do them justice. It even applies to Molda herself, whose abrasive personality as a bored teenager on an island where nothing ever happens probably wouldn't be the same once the island gets destroyed...
Farnese learned healing magic... when?
Anyway, what's really bothering me is the line about Farnese's magic. It's implying Farnese learned healing magic from Danan offscreen and is now a special healer. As a reminder, in episode 360 Farnese asks whether she could learn healing magic and "especially the way to heal the mind". This is of course so that she can help Casca. Danan, a specialist of the matter, agrees, but we never see them even start practicing. That same day continues until the boy arrives at the end of episode 363.
In episode 364, we see the boy spend what looks like a single day with the group, and Farnese isn't shown practicing with Danan in the many panels depicting their group activities. We're also told that a full moon outside can last "at least a few days" on the island, so if we're super generous, we can assume that she started training off the page, even though we're shown no flashbacks. But would a day or two be enough to make Farnese, who started learning magic only 3 months prior, a special healing magician? Someone uniquely suited to tend to physical wounds even though she wanted to focus on the mind? And why isn't Molda asking Puck and Ivalera to help? I mean elves are the best at it, right?
It doesn't hold up very well. I think that's what Mori meant when he said he wouldn't do the parts he doesn't know about. The problem is that the result feels like it's pretty far off from what Miura might have done. For example, you know what would have been interesting, if we assume that Farnese did learn from Danan? To have her go to Guts instead of Schierke. To tell her master that she can handle it with her new skills, since it's made clear he's got some sort of psychological or emotional trauma. But this kind of meaningful character development seems off the table now.
Conclusion
This brings us to the conclusion, which is that none of this really matters. To me, this episode solidified the fact the continuation project should only be considered from the highest possible perspective if what one cares about is Miura's intent for the rest of the series. This isn't even a knock against Mori and the staff, because we always knew that continuing the story would be an impossibly difficult task, especially in the midst of a major turning point. But it's a reaffirmation that the format they've chosen (or that was imposed on them) doesn't fit the resources they have at their disposal.
In short, after these six episodes, all I can say is that this isn't Berserk. It feels closer to a weird adaptation from a third-hand source, more akin to the Golden Age movies than the manga. The details we see on the page feel in large part inauthentic and can't really be trusted. And I can't help but wonder just how much leeway Mori is allowing himself in order to skip past the parts he doesn't know about. For example, were the merrows really meant to disappear along with Danan, or was that just a convenient way to get Isma out of the picture? I can't say for sure.
I really do wish we would get an idea of exactly what Miura's actual words were that this was based on. I have a feeling people would be surprised by how sparse it'd be. "Guts keeps attacking but can't do anything to Griffith, who flies off with Casca. Then the gnawers appear and after a night of struggle the island gets mostly destroyed. With Elfhelm gone, Danan disappears. Guts is left deeply affected by what happened." Probably something like that. Not much more.
Of course, I'll keep following the publication because, well, I'm ride or die for Berserk.
But I really do wish they would add a subtitle to differentiate the continuation from the real Berserk, because, man, the comparison is embarrassing. I've said it before, but the real work for us will start after it's all said and done, to try and extract the parts that matter from the chaff and speculate on that basis.
So I hope y'all at least get some enjoyment out of it!
Artwork
The art is still very uneven, likely due to the different styles of the six people working on it. There are a few panels where the characters look fine. Farnese has one, Molda a couple, Schierke also... But there's a bunch more where they don't look so good. I am honestly not at all interested in nitpicking on it so I won't say more, except to point out this panel where Farnese appears to be scratching her face with her eyes rolled back because I find it funny.
Itchy. Tasty.
That aside, I recognize the efforts that are made as far as the composition and paneling goes, even though it's lacking. I also think the color page is nice (with the exception of Isidro), although having the Kelpie there is odd. And I appreciate that they have Puck refer to Serpico as Picorin (even though it's been ages since he last did) and that they continued the little joke between Ivalera and Molda. I'm not sure either really fits the context, but I do appreciate the effort.
The real issues are with the story, characters and dialogue of course. Where to begin... Guts is apparently in such a state that he won't move by himself and is making five people transport him onboard the Sea Horse. They could have chosen to have him unconscious, but no, he's just self-pitying so hard he won't move, like a protester playing dead weight and having to be carried out by cops.
Guts and his sword
The fact Guts is blaming his sword for his failure to hit Griffith seems insane to me. He certainly has a special connection to the sword, and it's meant to be a metaphor for his fighting prowess (it's "an extension of him"), but I think it falls short and feels painfully literal. It's so small-minded and unlike the character that I'm quite shocked they went in that direction. It reminds me of a French proverb: "à mauvais ouvrier, point de bon outil". It means that a bad craftsman will always find an excuse for his shoddy work, the most common being to blame his tools. That's what Guts is sounding like here.
Now to be clear: I understand the intent. If you zoom out and summarize it as "Guts having a crisis of confidence and doubting his own abilities", you can see how they reached this scenario. It makes sense for him to be in a bad place after failing to do anything against Griffith. It's a given. The problem is that I don't think Miura would have done it like that at all.
A big part of it is the dialogue, which is simply not good. I've noticed that in the continuation so far they tend to repeat words in the same episode and it's really brutal here with Guts. It's not at all how Miura wrote, so it's very discordant. More generally, the lack of nuance for all important characters is impossible to overlook and contributes to lessening them. No dialogue would be better than bad dialogue.
Selective memory
I also have issues with the scenes they chose to focus on. Astonishingly, none of them feature his actual, current and iconic sword, the Dragon Slayer. They're all from the Golden Age, and while three of them are at least iconic shots (up on the remparts, aftermath of hundred men fight, bonfire of dreams), for the most part they're not moments where he relied on the sword and nothing else. Thematically it's just completely empty.
It's really baffling to me, to the point where I've been half-seriously wondering if they weren't chosen because the "Golden Age Memorial Edition" is currently being broadcast on TV. And what adds insult to injury is the fact Casca was present in two of these scenes but isn't featured here, almost like she's been erased from his mind.
Of course what's extra-ironic is that the sword in question actually broke during a key moment and almost cost him his life. If Zodd hadn't helped, Guts would have died against Boskone. Indeed, there are a few examples of Guts' sword failing him before he found the Dragon Slayer (against Wyald, then against the bulldog apostle), which led me to make this little edit for a joke.
Scenes where the Dragon Slayer played an important role for Guts are plentiful (including in relation to protecting Casca!), and a flashback to his Black Swordsman era, before he met Puck, would have been great to emphasize how he only had that to rely on for a while. But I don't think there's much point in thinking about swapping memories, because frankly the current scenario in its entirety feels wrong to me.
Just a last point: Guts says he trusted no one but his sword... Ok. Before he met the Band of the Falcon or after the Eclipse, in periods where he was a loner, sure. But in recent years for example he's had his companions, and he did trust them. We actually see that in the series, it's an important part of his character development. The way he's depicted in this episode clumsily goes against it by presenting him as a rather superficial and completely self-absorbed person. It dumbs him down to a parody of himself where his biggest concern after a cataclysmic event is "why sword no work no more", sparing no thought whatsoever to his beloved or to his other companions.
Casca who?
I guess something to wonder about is whether this is really the end of the chapter (and possibly arc). Young Animal said there would be six episodes until it was over, and this is the sixth, so presumably, yes. One could imagine that the double issue ended up counting as one, but frankly that'd be a little weird, and besides the hiatus until December does seem to indicate this was it.
"But what of Schierke going to see Guts, you might ask. What of him reflecting on Casca's abduction?! Surely that won't be skipped over!" My answer to this is: I won't be surprised in the least if it isn't addressed. Just like many other things (e.g. Puck & Ivalera) haven't been so far. They could very well just skip ahead. In fact, if we're honest, the time for him to lament Casca's fate is almost past already. And indeed, maybe the team would reply that it's already been done in episode 368.
I don't want to retread on what I said previously (so check my other posts), but obviously, Casca should be at the top of Guts' mind right now. And I don't think it would be impossible for him to bemoan his own powerlessness while also worrying about her and blaming himself for her abduction. In fact I'm dead certain it's exactly what he would do. Much like the Skull Knight referred to himself as a foolish king, I think Guts would reflect on all of his efforts as futile and amounting to nothing.
Another factor that didn't come into play here is the Beast of Darkness. Whether defanged or urging him to fight on, one would think that in such a moment, this embodiment of his inner demons would come forward. Maybe it was too delicate and complex for the team to handle, unfortunately. Then there's the matter of the boy, which should also be a big deal to Guts on its own, even if he doesn't put two and two together yet. All of this should probably be crossing his mind.
The Heroic Roderick
The weirdness of Guts' scene is exacerbated by Roderick's needless agitation, where he's acting like Guts is standing on a ledge and about to jump. I said so earlier in the thread, but to me it kind of seems like Mori put some of his own grief following Miura's death into the scene. Being almost catatonic because "the only one you trusted" has let you down and locking yourself into a room to be alone while someone bangs on the door and tells you not to do anything rash... That sounds like what someone might do if their soulmate died suddenly.
Speaking of, would Guts lock himself into a room to mope? Does anyone think that fits his character? And why can't Roderick enter that room exactly? It's a storage room on a sailing ship and there appears to be no lock on the door nor anything barring it (page 13). Beyond that, why is Roderick so worried anyway? He wasn't there for the confrontation and he didn't see Casca get abducted. I guess maybe Farnese is supposed to have told him? Or is he just worried because Guts is so fragile in general that he needs special care? It's not clear... and doesn't really matter in the end because, again, the entire sequence feels wrong.
Like Walter suggested to me, it might just have been inserted there to add tension into the scene, but if so, it failed big time. And don't tell me about the possibility that he'd go berserk with the armor activating. If it didn't activate as he fought Griffith and saw him grab off Casca, it's not going to activate now. Especially since sadness isn't what fuels the armor's Od, it's fighting spirit, the thing Guts now seems completely devoid of. This fact also makes Molda's comments to Schierke about the armor seem rather out of place, not to mention that she shouldn't be all that knowledgeable about it (unlike Schierke herself!).
Molda and the others
Other than the end with Guts, the one scene that matters in this episode is the interaction between Molda and the others. In my opinion, pretty much everything is wrong with it. Molda's a teenage witch apprentice, but she's somehow taken charge (at least partly) of the situation for some reason. As a reminder, everyone on the island is a magic user, with many students but also a whole bunch of teachers, each with their own specialties. Not all of these magicians were wounded (in fact, none of them exhibit any actual wounds), and we saw last episode that the four Great Gurus as well as the Volvaba (Molda's teacher) were alright.
So why is Molda running around and grabbing Farnese off? The answer of course is because it's convenient. She's just there to fill a given role so that Schierke can go see Guts and we can learn that Farnese is now a healer. In the process, she's bossing around Farnese, Schierke and even Serpico, who, lest we forget, could probably snap her neck before she'd notice if he wanted to. But he's reduced to a caricature of his affable façade here, turned into the most simplified and unnuanced understanding of his character.
Same for Farnese, who's weeping helplessly like back in volume 23 before snapping to attention. Same for Isidro, who's by himself and looks hurt and resentful like in Enoch. In fact, I have to point out the panel on page 10 where Schierke runs past him and gives him a very weird side glance. It looks almost snidely, but I'm going to guess it's just poor execution. Now to be clear, I don't think it's out of place for these characters to be shocked and sad or to blame themselves after what happened. But the way it's depicted simply doesn't do them justice. It even applies to Molda herself, whose abrasive personality as a bored teenager on an island where nothing ever happens probably wouldn't be the same once the island gets destroyed...
Farnese learned healing magic... when?
Anyway, what's really bothering me is the line about Farnese's magic. It's implying Farnese learned healing magic from Danan offscreen and is now a special healer. As a reminder, in episode 360 Farnese asks whether she could learn healing magic and "especially the way to heal the mind". This is of course so that she can help Casca. Danan, a specialist of the matter, agrees, but we never see them even start practicing. That same day continues until the boy arrives at the end of episode 363.
In episode 364, we see the boy spend what looks like a single day with the group, and Farnese isn't shown practicing with Danan in the many panels depicting their group activities. We're also told that a full moon outside can last "at least a few days" on the island, so if we're super generous, we can assume that she started training off the page, even though we're shown no flashbacks. But would a day or two be enough to make Farnese, who started learning magic only 3 months prior, a special healing magician? Someone uniquely suited to tend to physical wounds even though she wanted to focus on the mind? And why isn't Molda asking Puck and Ivalera to help? I mean elves are the best at it, right?
It doesn't hold up very well. I think that's what Mori meant when he said he wouldn't do the parts he doesn't know about. The problem is that the result feels like it's pretty far off from what Miura might have done. For example, you know what would have been interesting, if we assume that Farnese did learn from Danan? To have her go to Guts instead of Schierke. To tell her master that she can handle it with her new skills, since it's made clear he's got some sort of psychological or emotional trauma. But this kind of meaningful character development seems off the table now.
Conclusion
This brings us to the conclusion, which is that none of this really matters. To me, this episode solidified the fact the continuation project should only be considered from the highest possible perspective if what one cares about is Miura's intent for the rest of the series. This isn't even a knock against Mori and the staff, because we always knew that continuing the story would be an impossibly difficult task, especially in the midst of a major turning point. But it's a reaffirmation that the format they've chosen (or that was imposed on them) doesn't fit the resources they have at their disposal.
In short, after these six episodes, all I can say is that this isn't Berserk. It feels closer to a weird adaptation from a third-hand source, more akin to the Golden Age movies than the manga. The details we see on the page feel in large part inauthentic and can't really be trusted. And I can't help but wonder just how much leeway Mori is allowing himself in order to skip past the parts he doesn't know about. For example, were the merrows really meant to disappear along with Danan, or was that just a convenient way to get Isma out of the picture? I can't say for sure.
I really do wish we would get an idea of exactly what Miura's actual words were that this was based on. I have a feeling people would be surprised by how sparse it'd be. "Guts keeps attacking but can't do anything to Griffith, who flies off with Casca. Then the gnawers appear and after a night of struggle the island gets mostly destroyed. With Elfhelm gone, Danan disappears. Guts is left deeply affected by what happened." Probably something like that. Not much more.
Of course, I'll keep following the publication because, well, I'm ride or die for Berserk.
But I really do wish they would add a subtitle to differentiate the continuation from the real Berserk, because, man, the comparison is embarrassing. I've said it before, but the real work for us will start after it's all said and done, to try and extract the parts that matter from the chaff and speculate on that basis.
Goat
Foolish king
That whole sequence is incredibly poorly executed and infuriating for me.
Well written.Conclusion
Of course, I'll keep following the publication because, well, I'm ride or die for Berserk.
If anything, I feel like these 6 episodes would be 25 if miura was alive. It's massively condensed and based of a few sentences, like you've suggested. It is what it is, Mori is doing his best. Berserk ended with 364. This is just a bonus
Griffith
With the streak of a tear, Like morning dew
I've felt like both that and the opposite are true, that there would have been many more episodes of material to cover the events on the island before that part of the story concluded, and yet the amount of information they conveyed in these episodes Miura could have easily done in a couple. Basically, it's super truncated, and not only are they stretching what little they have but it also takes them a lot longer to communicate certain ideas or convey what's happening and they end up doing it redundantly, if effectively at all, e.g. "Guts can't hit Griffith." Basically, what takes them pages or a whole episode to say he could've done in a panel or two in many cases. I'm not complaining as much as acknowledging how economical and dense Miura's material was. Compare 364 to all the episodes after and it's night and day.
Miura could stuff a whole volume in an episode and it didn't feel rushed or hard to follow. Studio Gaga somehow simultaneously feels like they're dragging things out a ton while also sprinting through them at break-neck speed such that we can barely process what's happening. It's really something.
DANGERDOOOOM
Rest In Peace, Kentaro Miura. We will miss you.
This is really sad, truly. This is the first time since I have discovered this series 13 years ago, that I had no idea about an episode release until a week later.
Dang... I haven't read it yet, but this made me feel like the magic has left me
*Edit* Just finished reading. This episode doesn't make any sense and left me unsatisfied with how the storytelling has been going so far.
I'm ready for Mori to just give us a giant summary on what he remembers of Miura's ending and skip this odd continuation.
Dang... I haven't read it yet, but this made me feel like the magic has left me
*Edit* Just finished reading. This episode doesn't make any sense and left me unsatisfied with how the storytelling has been going so far.
I'm ready for Mori to just give us a giant summary on what he remembers of Miura's ending and skip this odd continuation.
Late, but on the topic of the monologue regarding Guts' sword if you want to steelman it you could make the case that even as far back as his mercenary days his sword was the representation of his ability to physically affect the world. Not necessarily successfully and it's certainly broken before, re: Wyald, going through the Eclipse with a broken sword etc. but in the sense that what he did had some kind of meaning. His presence allowed him to last through part of the Eclipse, kill apostles etc. he had autonomy in cutting off his arm even if it'd have been futile if Skull Knight didn't drop in. On the Hill of Swords he could physically contest Zodd. Even when he couldn't affect the outcome, he could affect the process and retain agency. His struggling is what got Casca to the point where she could be healed in the first place.
In the current situation though his presence didn't affect a thing. If he'd sat down through the entirety of Elfhelm's sinking nothing would really change. Not even his survival is up to him since the blobs just melted on contact with the sea anyway. The way things went down on the isle robbed Guts of agency and Griffith neither verbally nor physically acknowledging him is a way of emphasizing the complete disempowerment of what took place. Neither his sword, his physical strength, his change in attitude or his group affected what happened. When Guts bemoans that he lost all he ever had, Guts is facing a crisis of his own inability to affect anything with the Dragonslayer as the representation of that since even when he had nothing else he could still physically affect the world and his own survival via his sword - not so here. Guts reacts differently to this defeat compared to others because it nullifies everything he worked for up to this point and when faced with that nullification nothing he did had any impact.
Of course, this is all wishful thinking and doesn't excuse not even referencing Casca anyway. We've no way of knowing what Miura was going for and if the suddenness and relative silence of what took place was even his intent or just a coincidence because that's just the format going forward. There being six episodes, like @Griffith pointed out is a very different thing when we're talking a Miura episodes dense with dialogue or a Continuation episode where dialogue's a luxury.
Also I'm not especially convinced of the capacity for detail when as @Aazealh pointed out both for this episode and the very first one the Continuation team looks to have figured out that Miura used flashback panels to place emphasis and tie emotional beats together, but not why, so we've got Casca seeing Griffith and flashing back to the Sea God and Guts reminiscing about either his sword (if taken literally) or his capacity to influence the world (if you really want to push it) and only painting in choice Golden Age panels before he even had the Dragonslayer.
In the current situation though his presence didn't affect a thing. If he'd sat down through the entirety of Elfhelm's sinking nothing would really change. Not even his survival is up to him since the blobs just melted on contact with the sea anyway. The way things went down on the isle robbed Guts of agency and Griffith neither verbally nor physically acknowledging him is a way of emphasizing the complete disempowerment of what took place. Neither his sword, his physical strength, his change in attitude or his group affected what happened. When Guts bemoans that he lost all he ever had, Guts is facing a crisis of his own inability to affect anything with the Dragonslayer as the representation of that since even when he had nothing else he could still physically affect the world and his own survival via his sword - not so here. Guts reacts differently to this defeat compared to others because it nullifies everything he worked for up to this point and when faced with that nullification nothing he did had any impact.
Of course, this is all wishful thinking and doesn't excuse not even referencing Casca anyway. We've no way of knowing what Miura was going for and if the suddenness and relative silence of what took place was even his intent or just a coincidence because that's just the format going forward. There being six episodes, like @Griffith pointed out is a very different thing when we're talking a Miura episodes dense with dialogue or a Continuation episode where dialogue's a luxury.
Also I'm not especially convinced of the capacity for detail when as @Aazealh pointed out both for this episode and the very first one the Continuation team looks to have figured out that Miura used flashback panels to place emphasis and tie emotional beats together, but not why, so we've got Casca seeing Griffith and flashing back to the Sea God and Guts reminiscing about either his sword (if taken literally) or his capacity to influence the world (if you really want to push it) and only painting in choice Golden Age panels before he even had the Dragonslayer.
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He doesn't say anything like that. See Puella's translation for reference. Trying to analyze or rationalize things based on shitty translations is a waste of time.
There's no way Miura planned a complete absence of dialogue. Just look at episode 364. Mori simply didn't know what to have them say or think.
When fantranslations produce dialogue better suited to coping analysis than the real thing. Lots of laugh. Makes no difference to the steelman I'm presenting though, the intent is the same. He's bemoaning that when he didn't trust anything he could trust his sword, his way of affecting physical reality, but in this case he couldn't struggle or affect anything, be it killing Griffith, saving Casca or even saving his own life.
But yes, the main thing is that there's no way to consider the silence of the clash a deliberate choice when the current team avoids dialogue like a disease by default, so if there was some kind of artistic point then it's impossible to know and more likely isn't there. That and the flashback panels are random Golden Age snippets that suggest nothing. The only thing to clue us in that it may have been intended to be sudden is the idea that Miura only planned 6 more episodes for Fantasia, but the density of a Miura episode and a Continuation one is night and day and there's 0 way of knowing if Fantasia would always end like this or if the end of Fantasia and the start of the next story were squeezed together.
I think it makes a pretty big difference, actually. The continuation being lackluster is no reason to entertain mistranslations that are akin to fan fiction. Otherwise you might as well go all the way and rewrite the dialogue —or even the whole scene.
And to be honest, I don't find your rationalization above to be very convincing. Given the way episode 370 is illustrated and worded, what Mori was going for seems quite simple. It's really just that Guts is shaken to his core by the fact he couldn't hurt Griffith with his sword, and he's seemingly unable to consider that maybe it's because he's a supernatural being with immense power.
Trying to make it about Guts' ability "to affect physical reality" really does just feel like an attempt to cope with how poorly executed the sequence is. Besides, he affected reality just fine when it came to the scenery. He did some pretty heavy landscaping.
That's just what Mori decided to do. First off, nothing says Miura would have ended the Elf island chapter after exactly six more episodes (they likely would have said so if he had planned to), and second, I really doubt he would have closed the Fantasia arc with just a single chapter.
Oh, 100%. There's a reason I ended my post by saying that nothing in either how the scene is framed in particular or the way the Continuation is handled at large makes me think that what I'm presenting is likelier than what's going on on the face of it, only that these are the respects in which the situation is different from his past failures and so can lead to a breakdown similar in form to what we got. The futility of affecting Casca's abduction or Elfhelm's destruction in even minor ways while not even being responsible for his own survival is what produces a different reaction to even say, the Eclipse, where he could at least resist and fight Apostles. That is a character beat that I could see Miura exploring. Though yes, the boughs of Elfhelm'd probs disagree on his uselessness.Trying to make it about Guts' ability "to affect physical reality" really does just feel like an attempt to cope with how poorly executed the sequence is. Besides, he affected reality just fine when it came to the scenery. He did some pretty heavy landscaping.
I might've missed it, but as I understood it Mori'd said that when Miura passed away there were six episodes until the end of the chapter and he was keeping to that. If it was entirely his spontaneous pick to go for six episodes or he never even said that at all, then all this flies out of the window, since not only the fight or Guts' depression but the entire structure of how things went down might as well bear no resemblance to what Miura had in mind.
Nope. When the continuation was announced, Young Animal's editing department said that six episodes would be published until the end of the Fantasia arc/Elf Island chapter, and that a new arc would begin after that. Mori himself didn't comment on the matter.
Cheers for the clarification, then the whole structure of what's gone on and how it's paced even in terms of page count flies out the window.
Seeing guts like that ,broken. I think that it may open the behelit which is with him. Or maybe it's for Farnese she is broken too. (I think that the behelit is more for Guts) . And there is a countdown on the website of Berserk with a behelit that coincides with the release of the next episode, I think it is related. Guts is broken, his sword seems useless, he feels weak. The conditions are met for the behelit to call the god hands. Even after the first meet with Femto after Eclipse, he wasn't like that.
. I think that it may open the behelit which is with him. Or maybe it's for Farnese she is broken too. (I think that the behelit is more for Guts) . And there is a countdown on the website of Berserk with a behelit that coincides with the release of the next episode, I think it is related. Guts is broken, his sword seems useless, he feels weak. The conditions are met for the behelit to call the god hands. Even after the first meet with Femto after Eclipse, he wasn't like that.
Seeing guts like that ,broken
Neither Guts nor Farnese will use the beherit. It wouldn't make sense and that's not how it works anyway.
The countdown is on the website for the 2012 movie trilogy's new edit as a TV series, called the "memorial edition". It's unrelated.
Ehh, this episode was just plain bad, 369 (or 368?) and Gaga's debut were miles better in comparison. I mean, Guts suffering is somewhat expected, but it's handed very poorly now, the dialogue is just ineffective in so many levels. Same as the Guts companions dialogues, they are just so simple it makes me wonder what were they thinking. I honestly never gave Miura that much credit for dialogue, but I will always apologize for that now; Ois-chottos aside, Miura was a genius storyteller, there's no question about it, and thus, (maybe I will tire everyone repeating it, lol) he was Berserk, no one can do even a close rendition of it, it's simply impossible... Now I'm sad again, but still, I'll keep supporting the manga for obvious reasons, (thank you, BBVA, my greatest ally) but I don't really approve it as much as before, it's just getting worse and worse.
I have been lurking in these forums for years, most notably when I was reading Berserk for the very first time and was stranded not long after on the infamous boat ride to Elfhelm. It was a welcome pastime listening to the awesome podcast with Walter and the rest of the SK.net crew - coping with the hiatuses of that time, however little did I know that we would lose the genius mangaka of our time Kentaro Miura so soon.
With the announcement of the continuation, I was torn, like the wilting leaves in autumn - a sense of excitement to see more of Guts and his companions, and on the other hand a sense of dread, putting an unsightly blemish on Miura's legacy.
The latest episode was the final straw that made me register on here and at least join the struggle with the rest of you - to whatever end awaits Berserk.
I don't believe there is much more to say about the latest episode - as I share the criticism most have pointed out - especially how Guts seems to not have grown one iota since his tribulations from the Golden Age - felt like a bolt through the chest, just shy of mortally wounding my eagerness to read on.
That being said, most pages - even though the art struck some fine moments - left me with the feeling that these characters are very alien lookalikes to their original counterparts, close but very distant. Most of the time mute or not knowing what to say or think, which to a degree is I suppose expected, but I wouldn't have wagered it to be this dire.
I suppose what's left is to lower one's expectations, buckle up, and hopefully not ending up at the lowest pits of the Tower of Rebirth...
With the announcement of the continuation, I was torn, like the wilting leaves in autumn - a sense of excitement to see more of Guts and his companions, and on the other hand a sense of dread, putting an unsightly blemish on Miura's legacy.
The latest episode was the final straw that made me register on here and at least join the struggle with the rest of you - to whatever end awaits Berserk.
I don't believe there is much more to say about the latest episode - as I share the criticism most have pointed out - especially how Guts seems to not have grown one iota since his tribulations from the Golden Age - felt like a bolt through the chest, just shy of mortally wounding my eagerness to read on.
That being said, most pages - even though the art struck some fine moments - left me with the feeling that these characters are very alien lookalikes to their original counterparts, close but very distant. Most of the time mute or not knowing what to say or think, which to a degree is I suppose expected, but I wouldn't have wagered it to be this dire.
I suppose what's left is to lower one's expectations, buckle up, and hopefully not ending up at the lowest pits of the Tower of Rebirth...