Maybe you're right? I don't know. Everything is so convoluted that it's hard to remember everything they've messed up in detail.
Episode 377
- Thread starter Walter
- Start date
TheItCrow
Knight without Title
Casca is gone - falls on the floor, depressed
Ship being boarded, friends captured by unknown Kushans - falls on the floor, depressed
Meets Rickert again - falls on the floor, depressed
Gets thrown in a dungeon - sits on the floor, depressed
Brand of Sacrifice that bleeds and vibrates 24/7 due to Fantasia now bleeds and vibrates a little more - shows insane hatred and fighting spirit
Ah yes - peak Berserk.
Ship being boarded, friends captured by unknown Kushans - falls on the floor, depressed
Meets Rickert again - falls on the floor, depressed
Gets thrown in a dungeon - sits on the floor, depressed
Brand of Sacrifice that bleeds and vibrates 24/7 due to Fantasia now bleeds and vibrates a little more - shows insane hatred and fighting spirit
Ah yes - peak Berserk.
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guuuuuuuuts
Excited for the next chapter!
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"Even Puck knows... Or does he?"
Here are my thoughts if anyone's interested:
Positive
- I'm glad Gedfring talked even if it was a nothing burger, at least they haven't 100% written the mages out yet.
- I like the idea of a council where Silat is low ranking and discriminated against more than the idea of Silat and Daiba just training up an army and fighting Griffith. Even if it doesn't make sense it makes slightly more sense than the Bakiraka leading the Kushan/being able to conjure up a formidable force all by themselves.
- The new Kushan character designs work for me.
- I don't mind Rakshas crashing the party, but how I'll really feel about it depends on future episodes. If he pulled up by himself just to try and start a fight and revealed himself instantly, then I'll say it's really stupid and out of character. If he is the first in a wave of other demonic attackers, somehow, then I won't think him revealing himself is too stupid, but I will wonder how these other attackers could also pull up heretofore undetected (maybe the branches?). If he's there to bargain or deliver a message or something then I'll think it's out of character that he'd not be more sneaky, but that may be more interesting than a random ambush fight.
Negative
- Morda flying?? This contradiction was so avoidable it's like they're trolling. You're telling me we had to lose Isma for no reason but this shit flies??
- mfw the Fantasia event continues to not matter, and the Kushans are weathering it just fine bc they're a warring and resilient people or whatever, and "tribal conflicts aren't so different than demons" (they are). They're certainly lucky that that dragon from episode 306 hasn't decided to pay them a visit yet.
- They reuse the exact same stylized panel, the one of the Kushan leaders exclaiming after hearing new information, twice. And it's twice within 4 pages. I don't mind the panel at all, but at least redraw a couple of the poses so it's not exactly the same.
- Finally, Guts and Schierke being sidelined like this. I was thinking about it and there's no comparable stretch of episodes in the whole Manga where Guts does nothing, other than segments like Rickert in Falconia that don't involve him at all. Out of the laundry list of Continuation problems this has got to be the worst. The protagonist is getting hard carried by the plot and everyone else. Not only is he not an active protagonist, he's not even a reactive one at this point cause he's done straight nothing. And most characters don't seem to really care. It looks like maybe Rakshas is snapping him out of it, but as TheItCrOw pointed out that doesn't make much sense.
Positive
- I'm glad Gedfring talked even if it was a nothing burger, at least they haven't 100% written the mages out yet.
- I like the idea of a council where Silat is low ranking and discriminated against more than the idea of Silat and Daiba just training up an army and fighting Griffith. Even if it doesn't make sense it makes slightly more sense than the Bakiraka leading the Kushan/being able to conjure up a formidable force all by themselves.
- The new Kushan character designs work for me.
- I don't mind Rakshas crashing the party, but how I'll really feel about it depends on future episodes. If he pulled up by himself just to try and start a fight and revealed himself instantly, then I'll say it's really stupid and out of character. If he is the first in a wave of other demonic attackers, somehow, then I won't think him revealing himself is too stupid, but I will wonder how these other attackers could also pull up heretofore undetected (maybe the branches?). If he's there to bargain or deliver a message or something then I'll think it's out of character that he'd not be more sneaky, but that may be more interesting than a random ambush fight.
Negative
- Morda flying?? This contradiction was so avoidable it's like they're trolling. You're telling me we had to lose Isma for no reason but this shit flies??
- mfw the Fantasia event continues to not matter, and the Kushans are weathering it just fine bc they're a warring and resilient people or whatever, and "tribal conflicts aren't so different than demons" (they are). They're certainly lucky that that dragon from episode 306 hasn't decided to pay them a visit yet.
- They reuse the exact same stylized panel, the one of the Kushan leaders exclaiming after hearing new information, twice. And it's twice within 4 pages. I don't mind the panel at all, but at least redraw a couple of the poses so it's not exactly the same.
- Finally, Guts and Schierke being sidelined like this. I was thinking about it and there's no comparable stretch of episodes in the whole Manga where Guts does nothing, other than segments like Rickert in Falconia that don't involve him at all. Out of the laundry list of Continuation problems this has got to be the worst. The protagonist is getting hard carried by the plot and everyone else. Not only is he not an active protagonist, he's not even a reactive one at this point cause he's done straight nothing. And most characters don't seem to really care. It looks like maybe Rakshas is snapping him out of it, but as TheItCrOw pointed out that doesn't make much sense.
Before I start this episode review I feel like I have to restate some basics facts that were established by Kentarou Miura.
The reason for it seems to simply be that Mori & team want Silat to have a big human army at his disposal. And so this episode is almost entirely busywork (some would say “filler”) to try and make it seem plausible that he could have one. None of the new Kushan leaders introduced matter in the grand scheme of things, and it’s a real question whether any will survive the next two episodes. That’s why none of them even have names. The only real development is the appearance of Rakshas.
Alright, let’s go over each segment.
Bizarro Isidro & Simpleton Ged
We open with elephants walking in the street and Isidro being scared. He calls them out as monsters and Rickert reassures him that they’re gentle and not dangerous. This depiction of Isidro as a scaredy-cat is completely unfaithful to his character. Isidro can be goofy, but he’s not stupid, and he’s certainly not scared of new and cool things. If anything he’s always the first one to run into danger, so this is quite a mischaracterization.
We move on to Gedflyn giving some speech about how skin color doesn’t matter, they’re all the same and they’re all friends, then going on to say that they’re now all Kushans, and telling the others that the island will live on in their hearts. He also deeply thanks Rickert because they aren’t used to the real world (outside the island) anymore and couldn’t have survived by themselves. Whew. I’m with Molda on that one, this is fucking pathetic.
The talk about all humans being the same and all feels like a poor man’s imitation of the Falconia doctrine, except with all the nuance and clever subtext removed. The cherry on top being that these guys are actually going to war against other humans. But aside from the cognitive dissonance, this is such simplistic, cookie-cutter shit that it feels insulting both to the character and the reader.
Moreover, I shouldn’t need to say this, but magic isn’t something that is limited to specific places, and being used to the astral world would be an incredible advantage for surviving in this new world that is Fantasia, not a hurdle. What he says really does not make any sense whatsoever. Nor does thanking Rickert for saving them, who rightfully replies that he’s got nothing to do with it.
This is just plain weird honestly, like this isn’t the same character that Miura created, and I guess it isn’t. It’s a parody of him, a version that’s been lobotomized in addition to being spiritually castrated.
About Molda flying off...
A note about Molda, who comments that there are no spirits around, then flies off. Does she still have her powers? Or was flying unimpacted by the total loss of magic the magicians experienced? If so, why aren’t they doing it too? Something doesn’t fit. I don’t want to get into the weeds too much, but the logistics of flying on a broom were also not fully laid out by Miura, and to me it’s not a given that Molda should be able to fly in a giant human city like this, where there’s presumably high concentrations of Barytes.
As we leave, Rickert gets saddled with magnifico for some reason. Azan isn’t shown walking off with Farnese, Isidro and Serpico. Guess he’s staying behind with the magicians? It’s not clear. I’m honestly curious about the fate of these characters, I feel like the team might have them drop off the story at any point.
Anyway, Rickert is loitering aimlessly, anguished by the coming war. He feels it’s premature to make a move against Griffith and reflects on how “everyone will be swept away” by what’s to come, which is a weird bit of dialogue for him. It ends with him thinking about Guts. It overall doesn’t feel like a good use of the character, whose actual role in Kushan society seems rather unclear. Oh and not a thought spared for Erika, of course.
The Kurultai and the New Emperor
We move on to the Kurultai, which is the name of a secret, high-level meeting between clan leaders of the Kushan Empire. It’s based on the name of a real type of council between chieftains that took place in ancient Mongolia. Think Genghis Khan and the like.
The Mongol connection isn’t without merit. I’ve always felt that the Kushans’ conquest of Midland, coupled with their structure as an diverse group of clans, was inspired by the Mongol invasion of Europe, or at least that there was some similarity there. However… We are explicitly told that the Kushans are ruled by an emperor, not a khan or khagan. And that ruler, Ganishka, conquered all of his neighboring countries to create his empire. This fact is fundamentally incompatible with what we’re presented with here.
They try to reconcile the two by saying that Ganishka was an authoritarian and didn’t do council meetings, but that just doesn’t work. There was no council. Ganishka ruthlessly conquered everything he could and distrusted anyone. His vassals were just that: vassals. And we even know that before his family seized power, another royal family ruled the country. So this is just a big retcon to justify the fact the Kushan empire still exists and still has a giant army at its disposal.
It’s made more obvious by the fact there’s already a new emperor. Just… how was this decided, given that they’re only doing the council now? He’s clearly not a relative of Ganishka. There was apparently no inner conflict either, and no one challenges his power. So how? Are they doing these grand meetings weekly or something? Do these leaders all live in the city, far away from their respective lands? This is the sort of issue that always arises with the Continuation, and to be blunt I think it reflects their general lack of thoughtfulness. Is it better than Silat just being the top leader for unexplained reasons? I guess so, but not by much. Especially since he seemed very much in control just one episode ago.
Silat has a line, talking to Roderick, where he says that the consensus among the leaders is that Ganishka was defeated because he was a despot and neglected the council. This is flabbergasting to me because, well, an emperor is by definition an autocrat. It’s also amusing that Silat would be the one saying this, given that he should know very well that Ganishka’s defeat wouldn’t have been averted with one more battalion or the advice of another general. But more on that later.
Why the Kushan empire still exists
Before we get to the Kurultai itself (which, spoiler alert, is a big nothingburger), they finally address the elephant in the room. Roderick asks Silat how can the Kushan empire still be standing even though they lost their emperor and then the world was upended. Silat answers that they’ve survived since ancient times, have a lot of experience fighting, and basically concludes with “we won’t kneel before monsters!” From a guy that used to kneel before Ganishka, that’s amusing.
More seriously though, it’s a non-answer that doesn’t make any sense. The idea of the Bakiraka having trained their bodies to an extreme extent and having survived in crazy conditions for centuries, to the point where they could actually endure in Fantasia, was introduced by Miura in volume 33. And it’s great! But it only applies to the Bakiraka, who are unique among the Kushan. It can apply to a small, nimble, ultra specialized force, not to a whole civilisation. That’s also why Silat told Rickert they’d go back to some impregnable hideout in the mountains, not a sprawling city. The whole point was that the Bakiraka are the exception to the rule. Making it so that the entire Kushan empire survived without problem is simply ridiculous.
In the episode, Roderick readily agrees to what Silat says, basically reflecting on how the Kushans have been formidable enemies since ancient times. He even comments on how tough the chieftains look. But… what about other countries? They weren’t pacifists. They waged war too, including against the Kushans. This distinction just doesn’t work, and that’s because the Bakiraka and the Kushans as a whole aren’t interchangeable. Long story short, Mori & team are handwaving all of this away. It’s seemingly just a means to give the good guys a giant army.
You know what really grinds my gears?
On a side note, one of my pet peeves is that they have Silat do this nasal exhalation sound all the time and it’s insufferable. It’s kind of like their “hyo hyo hyo” for Daiba. It’s quite obnoxious.
And while I’m at it, on page 8, they have Roderick talk about “the Great Wave of the Astral World” when he’s questioning Silat about the empire’s survival. It’s odd for Roderick to be using this specific phrase, since we heard it from Gedflyn back on the island and you’d think he’d use something simpler. But more importantly, they misspelled it. They wrote it 大幽海嘯 instead of 大幽界嘯. 幽界 is “astral world”, that’s what the play on words is all about. This typo dramatically changes the meaning of the phrase.
I know this is minor compared to retconning Fantasia, but it’s also not very complicated to just look at the previous occurrence of the word in the manga and then copy it. I don’t know, I find this negligence depressing.
The big fat Kushan meeting
Moving on to the actual council, which takes up half of the episode. Silat is introduced by the new emperor as being the only one who knows about the situation in the West, even though afterwards it’s Daiba who gives a report. Somehow, all these guys are completely unaware of what happened in Midland. As if their tribes, under Ganishka, wouldn’t have been made to contribute to the war effort. Hell, would Ganishka, the Emperor of Terror, even have allowed that… portly gentleman to live?
Anyway, the guy also says Silat is royalty, which I find really puzzling. Maybe Mori & team misunderstood something? Silat is the chief of the Bakiraka, but he’s no king, and while the Bakiraka were said to be loyal to the former royal family before Ganishka’s lineage took over… they weren’t part of said royal family. That’s an insane mistake. In Shet the general reminds Silat that the Bakiraka were of the lowest caste (“no better than slaves”) before becoming exiles…
Daiba says he’s got a feeling the meeting won’t end peacefully, and Silat replies that’s what he’s hoping for. Vaguely foreboding, yet devoid of meaning. They didn’t expect Rakshas’ irruption, so then what? Some guy, identified as “the chieftain of the northern tribe”, since none of them have names, immediately outs Silat as chief of the Bakiraka and sends the others into a pseudo-panic as they clamor for him to be removed. Was that Silat’s hope? Then some other guy, a “general”, argues against it, and the emperor rules that they should all be friends and Silat can stay. And that’s how the Bakiraka’s centuries of struggle ended.
Much ado about nothing
In truth, it's a pointless exchange between paper-thin characters that illustrates a key problem with the Continuation. A lot of effort went into drawing this segment, and yet it’s ultimately of little consequence. It starts making sense if you think about how uneasy this team seems to feel about handling the main characters.
Here they’ve created their own nameless side characters, so it’s much easier to do whatever they want with them, even if it’s to kill them off immediately. And they’ve got good old Roderick, plus Silat and Daiba, who they seem more comfortable taking liberties with. That’s how you get these dense pages filled with dialogue that can be skipped without really missing anything.
What’s striking to me is to compare it to the Falconia meeting in episode 358, which was clearly one of the inspirations for this scene. So much more actual details about things past, present and future. Stuff that mattered, even when it was just fleshing out the world.
This time the Big Kushan Army will win against Griffith, you'll see!!
So anyhow, to understand what went on “in the West”, they ask Daiba to give a report, which has them quite shaken. Silat reflects on how the cunning Daiba completely hid the existence of the Daka, Pishacha and his artificial beherit. That implies the Kushans survived Fantasia just through military might, which is confirmed by an earlier line from the new emperor, saying the only thing they can do against monsters is gather a giant army to fight them.
So again, why did they survive and not Tudor or some other country? No explanation is given, except maybe that the Kushan military is just mightier, somehow. But then, when Silat asks to be named general of that “Great Kushan Army”, he talks about martial prowess but also “black magic”… So what would that be then, if Daiba’s stuff was top secret and too evil to reveal? It’s discrepancies galore. Along the same line of thought is the fact Daiba was Ganishka’s righthand man, and you’d think he wouldn’t be welcomed so openly by the new management, but what do I know.
So with Fantasia being a non-factor, we’re back to countries waging war against each other… but for what reason, again? I mean, Ganishka was an apostle and didn’t want to bow down to someone else, even a member of the God Hand. That’s why he fought. But why do these guys do it? To avenge their honor? To take a stand against “monsters”? It doesn’t seem to be only for defense.
Whatever the reason (spoiler: there’s no actual reason), it’s still hilarious to me that Silat of all people would believe a big army of regular humans could defeat Griffith’s forces. It’s a truly stupid plan. And of course it's built on this idea that Ganishka didn’t feel that he needed all those extra soldiers, so he left them at home. He was only going toe to toe with a member of the God Hand and his army of apostles, after all. No need to go all out! Pure nonsense. Hell, the very fact Ganishka was willing to give the Bakiraka a chance shows that he was pulling all the stops.
On the proper use of visual effects
By the way, when Silat makes his request, there’s a panel of him with white eyes and even a trailing effect as he suddenly gets up… so he can throw himself on his knees at the feet of the emperor. This feels like a parody to me because these effects are meant to be used for cool shit, like Guts powering through enemy blows and then splitting an apostle in half.
In Shet, in volume 22, we have a famous scene of Silat kneeling while some dipshit general is wiping his feet on his head. Silat suddenly gets up and the guy shits his pants, then he grabs an arrow in midflight before leaving. Now that’s fucking cool and that warrants the white eyes treatment. The reverse is not. They are not equivalent just because he moves fast.
Getting to the point
Now we get to the actual development. The guy who’s had it in for Silat the whole time (of course it’d be him) is outraged that he might be given command of the great army (which not unreasonable at all honestly), then gets distressed as spikes slowly pierce through his back. He then “explodes” and sends shrapnel to the people around him, except he doesn’t actually explode, and finally Rakshas comes out of his back through a hole, and he’s in his full apostle form. There’s lots to address here.
The most obvious thing is that Rakshas coming out of that guy’s back shouldn’t be possible given what we know of his powers. He can contort and squeeze himself down to the size of a big ball, but that’s still far too big to fit inside a man, especially since he’s got not just one but two masks with him (more on that in a bit). And he is definitely coming out of the guy, he wasn’t hidden above or below or what have you.
I checked if the victim could have been wearing Rakshas like a shirt under his armor, but nothing indicates it and it makes no sense anyway. Trying to be charitable, I could imagine a new ability we didn’t know about, which would allow him to take the guise of a person for infiltrations, controlling them like puppets. He’d be “wearing their faces”, so to speak, so it’d be somewhat themetically fitting. But honestly, that’s just not at all what the scene conveys.
It plays like a spin on the famous chestburster scene from Alien, and I think it’s what it comes down to. They wanted a shocking, bombastic entrance, and that does the job. Nevermind the fact Rakshas is all about stealth, or that he was screaming at Silat and the others not to look at him when he transformed in episode 340. And who cares about why or how he did it, so long as it makes for a cool moment. I think that’s pretty much the thinking that went into this. We’ll see of course, maybe there’ll be an explanation…
While that’s happening, we also see Daiba detecting “an evil prana”, while Molda and Farnese feel “a disturbance in the Od” (*sigh*). Farnese rushes out thinking she needs “to check it out” while Serpico is left with mouth agape, holding a tea tray. Finally, Guts’ brand also reacts and he’s agitated. So the question is: why didn't they detect Rakshas before? We've never heard of apostles being able to hide their very nature from the Brand or from magicians. Is he special? Did he actually just teleport inside the guy or something? The answer of course is probably that the team felt it was more dramatic to have them react that way as he was coming out, but that's not a valid reason.
Masquerade
By the way, Rakshas emerges with a broken mask. The same one he was wearing in Falconia. Did the mask get broken when the guy exploded without exploding? It doesn’t look like it, but we can’t be sure. Thing is, it would be weird otherwise for Rakshas to keep a broken mask, since that seems to be something he cares about. Furthermore, the mask is actually broken in the wrong places if the idea is that it was damaged by Rickert’s rocket in Falconia. Hell, it’s even missing the notch left by a crossbow bolt during that battle. Does this really matter? I guess not. But it's yet more inconsistencies on top of so many others, and it's tiring.
And that's not all, Rakshas has also got his original mask, which Silat had split in half, on his back. Why? How? Who knows. I guess to better hide his almost invisible weak spot? (I know that doesn't make sense) Or does he have two heads now? I guess we'll get the answer in two weeks. Or not. One thing's for sure: I don't have high expectations.
- Civilisation can’t exist in Fantasia outside of Falconia, which is at the foot of the World Tree and is protected by its giant walls, the Wingstones, and Griffith’s army of apostles. Expansion of Falconia’s zone of influence was planned, but only made possible through magic gateways that allow Griffith to intervene anywhere with haste.
- First Locus, then Raban reflected on how the time of mankind warring against itself is over. That it is now all humans together versus the world.
- Surviving Kushans live in Falconia, and were assimilated in Griffith’s army. Many other countries’ refugees live in the city as well.
- Silat told Rickert they were going to the Bakiraka’s secret mountain hideout, which we saw a representation of.
The reason for it seems to simply be that Mori & team want Silat to have a big human army at his disposal. And so this episode is almost entirely busywork (some would say “filler”) to try and make it seem plausible that he could have one. None of the new Kushan leaders introduced matter in the grand scheme of things, and it’s a real question whether any will survive the next two episodes. That’s why none of them even have names. The only real development is the appearance of Rakshas.
Alright, let’s go over each segment.
Bizarro Isidro & Simpleton Ged
We open with elephants walking in the street and Isidro being scared. He calls them out as monsters and Rickert reassures him that they’re gentle and not dangerous. This depiction of Isidro as a scaredy-cat is completely unfaithful to his character. Isidro can be goofy, but he’s not stupid, and he’s certainly not scared of new and cool things. If anything he’s always the first one to run into danger, so this is quite a mischaracterization.
We move on to Gedflyn giving some speech about how skin color doesn’t matter, they’re all the same and they’re all friends, then going on to say that they’re now all Kushans, and telling the others that the island will live on in their hearts. He also deeply thanks Rickert because they aren’t used to the real world (outside the island) anymore and couldn’t have survived by themselves. Whew. I’m with Molda on that one, this is fucking pathetic.
The talk about all humans being the same and all feels like a poor man’s imitation of the Falconia doctrine, except with all the nuance and clever subtext removed. The cherry on top being that these guys are actually going to war against other humans. But aside from the cognitive dissonance, this is such simplistic, cookie-cutter shit that it feels insulting both to the character and the reader.
Moreover, I shouldn’t need to say this, but magic isn’t something that is limited to specific places, and being used to the astral world would be an incredible advantage for surviving in this new world that is Fantasia, not a hurdle. What he says really does not make any sense whatsoever. Nor does thanking Rickert for saving them, who rightfully replies that he’s got nothing to do with it.
This is just plain weird honestly, like this isn’t the same character that Miura created, and I guess it isn’t. It’s a parody of him, a version that’s been lobotomized in addition to being spiritually castrated.
About Molda flying off...
A note about Molda, who comments that there are no spirits around, then flies off. Does she still have her powers? Or was flying unimpacted by the total loss of magic the magicians experienced? If so, why aren’t they doing it too? Something doesn’t fit. I don’t want to get into the weeds too much, but the logistics of flying on a broom were also not fully laid out by Miura, and to me it’s not a given that Molda should be able to fly in a giant human city like this, where there’s presumably high concentrations of Barytes.
As we leave, Rickert gets saddled with magnifico for some reason. Azan isn’t shown walking off with Farnese, Isidro and Serpico. Guess he’s staying behind with the magicians? It’s not clear. I’m honestly curious about the fate of these characters, I feel like the team might have them drop off the story at any point.
Anyway, Rickert is loitering aimlessly, anguished by the coming war. He feels it’s premature to make a move against Griffith and reflects on how “everyone will be swept away” by what’s to come, which is a weird bit of dialogue for him. It ends with him thinking about Guts. It overall doesn’t feel like a good use of the character, whose actual role in Kushan society seems rather unclear. Oh and not a thought spared for Erika, of course.
The Kurultai and the New Emperor
We move on to the Kurultai, which is the name of a secret, high-level meeting between clan leaders of the Kushan Empire. It’s based on the name of a real type of council between chieftains that took place in ancient Mongolia. Think Genghis Khan and the like.
The Mongol connection isn’t without merit. I’ve always felt that the Kushans’ conquest of Midland, coupled with their structure as an diverse group of clans, was inspired by the Mongol invasion of Europe, or at least that there was some similarity there. However… We are explicitly told that the Kushans are ruled by an emperor, not a khan or khagan. And that ruler, Ganishka, conquered all of his neighboring countries to create his empire. This fact is fundamentally incompatible with what we’re presented with here.
They try to reconcile the two by saying that Ganishka was an authoritarian and didn’t do council meetings, but that just doesn’t work. There was no council. Ganishka ruthlessly conquered everything he could and distrusted anyone. His vassals were just that: vassals. And we even know that before his family seized power, another royal family ruled the country. So this is just a big retcon to justify the fact the Kushan empire still exists and still has a giant army at its disposal.
It’s made more obvious by the fact there’s already a new emperor. Just… how was this decided, given that they’re only doing the council now? He’s clearly not a relative of Ganishka. There was apparently no inner conflict either, and no one challenges his power. So how? Are they doing these grand meetings weekly or something? Do these leaders all live in the city, far away from their respective lands? This is the sort of issue that always arises with the Continuation, and to be blunt I think it reflects their general lack of thoughtfulness. Is it better than Silat just being the top leader for unexplained reasons? I guess so, but not by much. Especially since he seemed very much in control just one episode ago.
Silat has a line, talking to Roderick, where he says that the consensus among the leaders is that Ganishka was defeated because he was a despot and neglected the council. This is flabbergasting to me because, well, an emperor is by definition an autocrat. It’s also amusing that Silat would be the one saying this, given that he should know very well that Ganishka’s defeat wouldn’t have been averted with one more battalion or the advice of another general. But more on that later.
Why the Kushan empire still exists
Before we get to the Kurultai itself (which, spoiler alert, is a big nothingburger), they finally address the elephant in the room. Roderick asks Silat how can the Kushan empire still be standing even though they lost their emperor and then the world was upended. Silat answers that they’ve survived since ancient times, have a lot of experience fighting, and basically concludes with “we won’t kneel before monsters!” From a guy that used to kneel before Ganishka, that’s amusing.
More seriously though, it’s a non-answer that doesn’t make any sense. The idea of the Bakiraka having trained their bodies to an extreme extent and having survived in crazy conditions for centuries, to the point where they could actually endure in Fantasia, was introduced by Miura in volume 33. And it’s great! But it only applies to the Bakiraka, who are unique among the Kushan. It can apply to a small, nimble, ultra specialized force, not to a whole civilisation. That’s also why Silat told Rickert they’d go back to some impregnable hideout in the mountains, not a sprawling city. The whole point was that the Bakiraka are the exception to the rule. Making it so that the entire Kushan empire survived without problem is simply ridiculous.
In the episode, Roderick readily agrees to what Silat says, basically reflecting on how the Kushans have been formidable enemies since ancient times. He even comments on how tough the chieftains look. But… what about other countries? They weren’t pacifists. They waged war too, including against the Kushans. This distinction just doesn’t work, and that’s because the Bakiraka and the Kushans as a whole aren’t interchangeable. Long story short, Mori & team are handwaving all of this away. It’s seemingly just a means to give the good guys a giant army.
You know what really grinds my gears?
On a side note, one of my pet peeves is that they have Silat do this nasal exhalation sound all the time and it’s insufferable. It’s kind of like their “hyo hyo hyo” for Daiba. It’s quite obnoxious.
And while I’m at it, on page 8, they have Roderick talk about “the Great Wave of the Astral World” when he’s questioning Silat about the empire’s survival. It’s odd for Roderick to be using this specific phrase, since we heard it from Gedflyn back on the island and you’d think he’d use something simpler. But more importantly, they misspelled it. They wrote it 大幽海嘯 instead of 大幽界嘯. 幽界 is “astral world”, that’s what the play on words is all about. This typo dramatically changes the meaning of the phrase.
I know this is minor compared to retconning Fantasia, but it’s also not very complicated to just look at the previous occurrence of the word in the manga and then copy it. I don’t know, I find this negligence depressing.
The big fat Kushan meeting
Moving on to the actual council, which takes up half of the episode. Silat is introduced by the new emperor as being the only one who knows about the situation in the West, even though afterwards it’s Daiba who gives a report. Somehow, all these guys are completely unaware of what happened in Midland. As if their tribes, under Ganishka, wouldn’t have been made to contribute to the war effort. Hell, would Ganishka, the Emperor of Terror, even have allowed that… portly gentleman to live?
Anyway, the guy also says Silat is royalty, which I find really puzzling. Maybe Mori & team misunderstood something? Silat is the chief of the Bakiraka, but he’s no king, and while the Bakiraka were said to be loyal to the former royal family before Ganishka’s lineage took over… they weren’t part of said royal family. That’s an insane mistake. In Shet the general reminds Silat that the Bakiraka were of the lowest caste (“no better than slaves”) before becoming exiles…
Daiba says he’s got a feeling the meeting won’t end peacefully, and Silat replies that’s what he’s hoping for. Vaguely foreboding, yet devoid of meaning. They didn’t expect Rakshas’ irruption, so then what? Some guy, identified as “the chieftain of the northern tribe”, since none of them have names, immediately outs Silat as chief of the Bakiraka and sends the others into a pseudo-panic as they clamor for him to be removed. Was that Silat’s hope? Then some other guy, a “general”, argues against it, and the emperor rules that they should all be friends and Silat can stay. And that’s how the Bakiraka’s centuries of struggle ended.
Much ado about nothing
In truth, it's a pointless exchange between paper-thin characters that illustrates a key problem with the Continuation. A lot of effort went into drawing this segment, and yet it’s ultimately of little consequence. It starts making sense if you think about how uneasy this team seems to feel about handling the main characters.
Here they’ve created their own nameless side characters, so it’s much easier to do whatever they want with them, even if it’s to kill them off immediately. And they’ve got good old Roderick, plus Silat and Daiba, who they seem more comfortable taking liberties with. That’s how you get these dense pages filled with dialogue that can be skipped without really missing anything.
What’s striking to me is to compare it to the Falconia meeting in episode 358, which was clearly one of the inspirations for this scene. So much more actual details about things past, present and future. Stuff that mattered, even when it was just fleshing out the world.
This time the Big Kushan Army will win against Griffith, you'll see!!
So anyhow, to understand what went on “in the West”, they ask Daiba to give a report, which has them quite shaken. Silat reflects on how the cunning Daiba completely hid the existence of the Daka, Pishacha and his artificial beherit. That implies the Kushans survived Fantasia just through military might, which is confirmed by an earlier line from the new emperor, saying the only thing they can do against monsters is gather a giant army to fight them.
So again, why did they survive and not Tudor or some other country? No explanation is given, except maybe that the Kushan military is just mightier, somehow. But then, when Silat asks to be named general of that “Great Kushan Army”, he talks about martial prowess but also “black magic”… So what would that be then, if Daiba’s stuff was top secret and too evil to reveal? It’s discrepancies galore. Along the same line of thought is the fact Daiba was Ganishka’s righthand man, and you’d think he wouldn’t be welcomed so openly by the new management, but what do I know.
So with Fantasia being a non-factor, we’re back to countries waging war against each other… but for what reason, again? I mean, Ganishka was an apostle and didn’t want to bow down to someone else, even a member of the God Hand. That’s why he fought. But why do these guys do it? To avenge their honor? To take a stand against “monsters”? It doesn’t seem to be only for defense.
Whatever the reason (spoiler: there’s no actual reason), it’s still hilarious to me that Silat of all people would believe a big army of regular humans could defeat Griffith’s forces. It’s a truly stupid plan. And of course it's built on this idea that Ganishka didn’t feel that he needed all those extra soldiers, so he left them at home. He was only going toe to toe with a member of the God Hand and his army of apostles, after all. No need to go all out! Pure nonsense. Hell, the very fact Ganishka was willing to give the Bakiraka a chance shows that he was pulling all the stops.
On the proper use of visual effects
By the way, when Silat makes his request, there’s a panel of him with white eyes and even a trailing effect as he suddenly gets up… so he can throw himself on his knees at the feet of the emperor. This feels like a parody to me because these effects are meant to be used for cool shit, like Guts powering through enemy blows and then splitting an apostle in half.
In Shet, in volume 22, we have a famous scene of Silat kneeling while some dipshit general is wiping his feet on his head. Silat suddenly gets up and the guy shits his pants, then he grabs an arrow in midflight before leaving. Now that’s fucking cool and that warrants the white eyes treatment. The reverse is not. They are not equivalent just because he moves fast.
Getting to the point
Now we get to the actual development. The guy who’s had it in for Silat the whole time (of course it’d be him) is outraged that he might be given command of the great army (which not unreasonable at all honestly), then gets distressed as spikes slowly pierce through his back. He then “explodes” and sends shrapnel to the people around him, except he doesn’t actually explode, and finally Rakshas comes out of his back through a hole, and he’s in his full apostle form. There’s lots to address here.
The most obvious thing is that Rakshas coming out of that guy’s back shouldn’t be possible given what we know of his powers. He can contort and squeeze himself down to the size of a big ball, but that’s still far too big to fit inside a man, especially since he’s got not just one but two masks with him (more on that in a bit). And he is definitely coming out of the guy, he wasn’t hidden above or below or what have you.
I checked if the victim could have been wearing Rakshas like a shirt under his armor, but nothing indicates it and it makes no sense anyway. Trying to be charitable, I could imagine a new ability we didn’t know about, which would allow him to take the guise of a person for infiltrations, controlling them like puppets. He’d be “wearing their faces”, so to speak, so it’d be somewhat themetically fitting. But honestly, that’s just not at all what the scene conveys.
It plays like a spin on the famous chestburster scene from Alien, and I think it’s what it comes down to. They wanted a shocking, bombastic entrance, and that does the job. Nevermind the fact Rakshas is all about stealth, or that he was screaming at Silat and the others not to look at him when he transformed in episode 340. And who cares about why or how he did it, so long as it makes for a cool moment. I think that’s pretty much the thinking that went into this. We’ll see of course, maybe there’ll be an explanation…
While that’s happening, we also see Daiba detecting “an evil prana”, while Molda and Farnese feel “a disturbance in the Od” (*sigh*). Farnese rushes out thinking she needs “to check it out” while Serpico is left with mouth agape, holding a tea tray. Finally, Guts’ brand also reacts and he’s agitated. So the question is: why didn't they detect Rakshas before? We've never heard of apostles being able to hide their very nature from the Brand or from magicians. Is he special? Did he actually just teleport inside the guy or something? The answer of course is probably that the team felt it was more dramatic to have them react that way as he was coming out, but that's not a valid reason.
Masquerade
By the way, Rakshas emerges with a broken mask. The same one he was wearing in Falconia. Did the mask get broken when the guy exploded without exploding? It doesn’t look like it, but we can’t be sure. Thing is, it would be weird otherwise for Rakshas to keep a broken mask, since that seems to be something he cares about. Furthermore, the mask is actually broken in the wrong places if the idea is that it was damaged by Rickert’s rocket in Falconia. Hell, it’s even missing the notch left by a crossbow bolt during that battle. Does this really matter? I guess not. But it's yet more inconsistencies on top of so many others, and it's tiring.
And that's not all, Rakshas has also got his original mask, which Silat had split in half, on his back. Why? How? Who knows. I guess to better hide his almost invisible weak spot? (I know that doesn't make sense) Or does he have two heads now? I guess we'll get the answer in two weeks. Or not. One thing's for sure: I don't have high expectations.
Another thing with Rakshas I’m confused about is his mask is broken when he first appears, but than in the last panel is complete again?
I also don’t hate how he appears by popping out of the guys’ back. Is it out of character for Rakshas? Probably depending on what he does next. Would it have been better for him to be more stealthy like usual. Yes. I know he hasn’t been shown to be able to do this before and I I know these people are taking too many creative liberties when they could’ve just stuck to how Miura has show his power to work in the past. But I don’t feel like it really harms the story a lot on its own. Still it all adds up to a decline in the enjoyment of the series.
The rest I feel was some terrible world building and a lot of ignorance toward what Miura had established. I guess despite Ganishka having the entire Kushan population at his command he decided to leave an entire portion of his army complete with war elephants behind?
I feel some sort of final big battle with armies will involve a retread of previous battles where Midland forces faced Kushan. Except now there are magicians involved that can somehow still use spells despite previously losing their powers?
I also don’t hate how he appears by popping out of the guys’ back. Is it out of character for Rakshas? Probably depending on what he does next. Would it have been better for him to be more stealthy like usual. Yes. I know he hasn’t been shown to be able to do this before and I I know these people are taking too many creative liberties when they could’ve just stuck to how Miura has show his power to work in the past. But I don’t feel like it really harms the story a lot on its own. Still it all adds up to a decline in the enjoyment of the series.
The rest I feel was some terrible world building and a lot of ignorance toward what Miura had established. I guess despite Ganishka having the entire Kushan population at his command he decided to leave an entire portion of his army complete with war elephants behind?
I feel some sort of final big battle with armies will involve a retread of previous battles where Midland forces faced Kushan. Except now there are magicians involved that can somehow still use spells despite previously losing their powers?
You can't half ass this story and call it "Berserk" like i'm literally in disbelief at how little they are putting in these episodes, i mean Miura was a master at portraying characters without them saying much but you could write an essay about them.
There are so many nuances and little details between and inside every interaction, a LOT of abstract things that only someone obsessed with Berserk can understand and also very importantly what i have hoped at the initial start of the continuation, personal knowledge of the author himself and the way he thinks, so having Mori and the team doing it was a no brainer.
Nonetheless i'm already extremely thankful to the massive story Miura gave us and for me is more than enough. I'd rather re-read Berserk for the nth time than give much though to the continuation which lacks any dedication, like is there anyone there being like "hey, maybe make this a bit better?"
If anything, hope Mori wasn't full of it when he said he had some hidden knowledge, so having that might help someone understand where Miura was heading. Maybe i'm overly negative, idk... Berserk reddit and the discord seem more hopeful with the last episode.
There are so many nuances and little details between and inside every interaction, a LOT of abstract things that only someone obsessed with Berserk can understand and also very importantly what i have hoped at the initial start of the continuation, personal knowledge of the author himself and the way he thinks, so having Mori and the team doing it was a no brainer.
Nonetheless i'm already extremely thankful to the massive story Miura gave us and for me is more than enough. I'd rather re-read Berserk for the nth time than give much though to the continuation which lacks any dedication, like is there anyone there being like "hey, maybe make this a bit better?"
If anything, hope Mori wasn't full of it when he said he had some hidden knowledge, so having that might help someone understand where Miura was heading. Maybe i'm overly negative, idk... Berserk reddit and the discord seem more hopeful with the last episode.
I have a feeling they just saw Rakshas returning and Guts looking enraged again, so they got their needed dopamine dose.
I can tell you that most regulars have a negative view on the continuation overall and this episode in particular. It's just that everyone gets notified when there's a new release, and that attracts a mob of more casual readers, which honestly is the demographic this continuation seems more aimed at. Like Keratos said, they come for their rollercoaster ride for a couple of minutes, say the art is getting better with every episode, and then leave for months until there's a new episode to consume.
I have to say the team continues to improve their art massively. Each panel on its own looks beautifully drawn and they're better at depicting Miura's style I feel.
Just don't look at the panels in order and read the text, that won't do any good
and I guess I'll leave it at that. Don't feel like listing everything wrong with the continuation
Just don't look at the panels in order and read the text, that won't do any good
and I guess I'll leave it at that. Don't feel like listing everything wrong with the continuationThis felt a bit like when Puck and Rickert didn't show any reaction whatsoever in one episode and in the next that weirdness was all "cleared up".
The (questionable) translation I've read has Roderick asking Silat about how they're able to live there in peace. Before being able to answer, Daiba interrupts them because the new Kushan leader is going to start talking. I wonder if this means it'll be explained, but later, or if it's just a "we're aware of what should be happening but since we don't know how to resolve this problem we'll leave it at this acknowledgement". Maybe Puella's translation will shed some light on it
guuuuuuuuts
Excited for the next chapter!
My guess is Guts is now fine again, because his brand bled and made him feel anger. That is my best guess for the next episode. He will appear in time to fight Rakshas before any important characters get hurt. I also think he will be the one to wake Schierke for whatever reason.
Wow. I couldn’t wrap my head around the possibility of him having two different masks at once. Thank you for pointing that out. While I won’t judge the idea too much yet I’ll say the way they depict it is so confusing.
It’s a bizarre choice but could be interesting I suppose. Strange they would show that considering he didn’t use two at once while in apostle form before.
Silat actually answers Roderick's question. He says that they’ve survived since ancient times, have a lot of experience fighting, and basically “won’t kneel before monsters!” That's it. I detail in it my post (which is overly long, I admit).
It's perplexing for sure, as is the rest of the scene.
Sadly, Mori seems less and less reliable as time goes by...
I’d almost prefer they left it a mystery if the answer is that fucking stupid.
On a side note, if they make the situation with Schierke pointless by having Rakshas force Guts into action I think I'll go insane.
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It might be because it has been a while since the last read, but the storytelling seems to be getting worse?
I've reached the point where I now just read to for the ending :/
I've reached the point where I now just read to for the ending :/
The worst thing about this episode for me is the fact that they're using Ganishka as the scapegoat for all the bad things that happened to the Kushan, making him look like a cartoonish villain. Like yeah, we saw him decimate people, destroy villages and cities with his massive army of demonic creatures, but he was mean and dumb because he didn't want to listen to the good Kushan people.
guuuuuuuuts
Excited for the next chapter!
I'm wondering if Griffith shows up in the next episode, will he will have inexplicably brought Caska with him in order to face Guts. Perhaps we will never even see Falconia again now that the battle can be handled directly within the great Kushan city. The whole story might be almost fully resolved if Griffith is found to actually be easily defeatable. Maybe Caska can mortally wound him with her sword or something, saving us from waiting for the next fullmoon. That, or the next episode will take place on a full moon... so many possibilities.
i assume maybe itll just be something like farnese freeing guts or maybe just going to the war room to help fight raskas. then again i thought this chapter was going to be a perspective shift to casca at falconia but i think that isnt going to happen for a few other chapters until the raskas thing is finished. wouldnt make sense to just show him popping out of a dude all menacingly then do a perspective shift.
All things considered, I liked it for what it was. Like always my main problem was pacing. Like how the kushans were handled. I liked seeing Rakshas again, I hope they don't fuck everything up in the next episode, but I'm excited to see what's gonna happen. Although I feel like what will happen is that guts rushes in and kills Rakshas in blind rage while yelling that griffith needs to give casca back or something
Yes, but we both know that's not an explanation. While reading it I was hoping for a "We won't kneel before monsters and we're doing that by doing xyz". That's why I said I'm hoping it's an acknowledgement to the very existence of Fantasia (first time in two years, yay
) and that they're going (trying) to explain it in the next episode. I just hope it's not an explanation similar to why some magic users can't use magic anymore but that'll probably be the extent of itIt’s even more insulting because the entire point is that he was born into a paranoid nightmare that slowly warped him into the terrifying but essentially scared demon king we know.
Not only that, but Silat and Daiba could actually tell the emperor and the others why Ganishka was defeated, but instead it looks like they want the people to believe that he lost because he didn't listen to others. Why? You're going against the same guy that killed your previous emperor, and you could actually give some useful informations about Griffith, so why don't you do it? Why are they instead focusing on Daiba and his army that doesn't even exist anymore? Because that scene was there just to have the whole council shit themselves for the second time in a row, and that's it.
Is being a while since the last time i posted here but since i recently re-read the manga until the last chapter that Miura (may he rest in peace) released i wanted to give my humble opinion on the current chapter.
This chapter is a mess, the plot don't make any sense... are they really telling me that the kushan empire that lost a military campaign recently has the military might to endure the change of the world just by throwing soldiers against the monsters from the astral world that now roam the world like is nothing, they could have at least claimed that they were using their own demon soldierscan't remember their name at this moment in order to defend themselves is not like Daiba couldnt make more of them he does know the process, also they portrait the Kushan empire in a peacefull state even after the merging with the astral world, at least they could have made it look like they were on a state of alert in the city but no the Kushan empire looks more like the setting of an Isekai.
Now regarding Rakshas, I can understand why Rakshas is there after all he is an assassin and i can see him being ordered by Griffith to deal with anyone that may threaten Falconia but this feels forced, how can the Kushan really being thinking on attacking another nation with the current state of the world, and lets not forget about Guts, he has been all Depresso expresso since they left the island and now just because he sensed an apostle he now has a hard on...
I have more complains like how Molda can fly and some of the reactions of certain characters but others already pointed those out... this continuation feels like a fan fiction, they should just make a book or something explaining the ideas that Miura had for the ending of the history and leave it at that.
The only good thing i see about this continuation is that the team had a lot of time to practice and improve their art style, at this point o would rather see them create a new original story than continue with this and that pains me because i had a little hope for the project but every chapter they release makes me realise how much i miss Miura's level of quality.
This chapter is a mess, the plot don't make any sense... are they really telling me that the kushan empire that lost a military campaign recently has the military might to endure the change of the world just by throwing soldiers against the monsters from the astral world that now roam the world like is nothing, they could have at least claimed that they were using their own demon soldiers
Now regarding Rakshas, I can understand why Rakshas is there after all he is an assassin and i can see him being ordered by Griffith to deal with anyone that may threaten Falconia but this feels forced, how can the Kushan really being thinking on attacking another nation with the current state of the world, and lets not forget about Guts, he has been all Depresso expresso since they left the island and now just because he sensed an apostle he now has a hard on...
I have more complains like how Molda can fly and some of the reactions of certain characters but others already pointed those out... this continuation feels like a fan fiction, they should just make a book or something explaining the ideas that Miura had for the ending of the history and leave it at that.
The only good thing i see about this continuation is that the team had a lot of time to practice and improve their art style, at this point o would rather see them create a new original story than continue with this and that pains me because i had a little hope for the project but every chapter they release makes me realise how much i miss Miura's level of quality.