Episodes 365 & 366

If they actually do that, that will make me suspicious of their intentions. Mori seems like a genuine guy, but others surrounding this project could be posers that are there for money and that’s it. Only time will tell.
I doubt Mori or Studio Gaga have much input over the publication choices of Dark Horse and how Dark Horse will publish Deluxe editions of the manga.
 

Aazealh

Administrator
Staff member
It's the day after the fool moon on the island, is that the case on the outside?

You go on an island with a different flow of time and you enter during a full moon.
You want to go out, on the island there's still the fool moon, on the outside days have passed, what happens when you go out?

Here is what Danan says in episode 364: "A full moon night in the outside world lasts for at least a few days here. Maybe he can stay with us for a while."

Regarding travel in the branches of the World Spiral Tree, we are told that you must not lose sight of the person that can navigate that environment, else you'd be lost. Given the way events unfold in episodes 365 & 366, I don't really see how Zodd could have "just followed" the boy and emerged so long after him.
 

Rhombaad

Video Game Time Traveler
Let’s say, for the sake of argument, that Sonia is, in fact, one step or two behind an overly eager Zodd. Do you think she brought anyone else with her? Any members of the new Band of the Falcon, for instance? Could we be getting round two of Guts vs. Grunbeld? Or do you think it’s just Sonia and Zodd, whose only goal is to retrieve Griffith?
 
Let’s say, for the sake of argument, that Sonia is, in fact, one step or two behind an overly eager Zodd. Do you think she brought anyone else with her? Any members of the new Band of the Falcon, for instance? Could we be getting round two of Guts vs. Grunbeld? Or do you think it’s just Sonia and Zodd, whose only goal is to retrieve Griffith?
With just four episodes left for the Elf Island Chapter, I don’t think we’re going to get any conclusive battles here between Guts and the Band of the Falcon, or have time for a lengthy invasion. Puck’s thoughts on his page in 366 did give me the impression that it’s more than just Zodd coming down on Skellige, but he’s sensed only Zodd before, and his eyes do follow him when he descends. So, for now I’m leaning on it just being Sonia w/ Zodd in tow. He’s the one we know is aware of Griffith’s situation with the child (to whatever extent), so him coming along still keeps that nugget of information a secret from the rest of his army. Sonia can get a greater perspective on the real sides of this conflict and have her reunion with Schierke (in a “moonlit forest”, of all things…). Guts, Griffith, Skull Knight, and Zodd can have their confrontation that will determine the course of the next arc. And maybe we’ll get a surprise or two in-between all that. Maybe.
 
To try to explain this in terms a neuroatypical individual might understand, there is only a given amount of leeway in a story for introducing elements that change the status quo to the point where it directly contradicts previously established facts. If you do it all the time, it's just not a very good story. This is part of the basics of storytelling. Beyond that, if you look at how Miura constructed the story over the years, he was always very deliberate about introducing various things and having them pay off later. From all of that, it is statistically unlikely that what you propose would happen in this case. Anyway, we'll find out soon enough!
Well I do happen to be neuroatypical, so I do sincerely thank you for further explaining what you mean/meant.

And yeah, I agree as a rule of thumb constantly establishing a status quo and then almost immediately subverting it all the time generally doesn’t make for good storytelling.
So I guess the point I was trying to make was that because (as you said yourself) Berserk as a series has rarely ever done a status quo establishment and then an immediate subversion/change to it, it (the series) can still do so occasionally/a couple of times and still remain a good story (and thus not be a “mistake”), and thus could potentially be doing in this instance (if hypothetically it does turn out that Sonia won’t be involved in Zodd’s traversal of the World Tree branches).
 
We've certainly reached a crossroads here.

Part of me is wondering if the lack of things like internal thoughts from Guts is the result of what Mori said in the announcement, that if Miura didn't say it, he wouldn't write it. So perhaps all he knew was "Guts sees Griffith and launches into a frenzied assault". If he wasn't told what Guts was thinking, he didn't write it. If that's the case, I think it highlights a flaw of this whole approach. People are still mixing in "I hope they don't add their own ideas" with their criticisms, but I think the opposite can come with its own downsides. If you don't extrapolate out on some things, what you get is basically an illustrated version of the cliff notes of what would've happened, and to me that's really what this has felt like in some spots. Of course, there's no telling if that's why we're not getting Guts' inner thoughts, but it's something to keep in mind going forward.

I am wondering why the armor didn't activate. We got a panel showing the helmet was creeping up, but no real indication of Guts resisting it. I almost wonder if it was because it's more compelling to see Guts' face during this ordeal? We got the Black Swordsman eye instead, which I don't even remember the last time that happened since the armor kind of replaced that visual. Without knowing what he's thinking it's hard to say. The thing some of you were talking about with Zodd being able to navigate the world tree and if Sonia is around too or not does also have me worried. Introducing a straight plot hole this early would be a bad look for sure if she's not with Zodd. I think we should reserve judgement until we know for sure though.

And yeah, people are already struggling with "what would Miura have done?" I don't think there's much use worrying about that, but the thought will inevitably linger over everything that is to come from this. I can't help but pity Studio Gaga for having to pick Berserk up during this of all sequences, what is probably one of the most significant scenes in all of Berserk. I have a lot of experience reading fan-made continuations of other people's work, so for me it's not so hard to compartmentalize this as something akin to one of those (a retitle would've helped a lot for other people I believe), and just as a manga taken on its own it's really not bad at all, but the sooner you're able to let go of wondering how much better it could've been, the easier it'll be to get something out of this. That's why I'm trying to just appreciate the things I think they did well.
 

Flying Shadow

Shadow Owes its Birth to Light
In general I have a positive impression.. Yes, I don't deny that I felt something different in the way some details were drawn, and also in the way of narration.. I think that's something that could happen.. But I'm happy with the work they've done.. They obviously worked hard to copy the same atmosphere and style of berserk.. Miura was working on episodes 99% and they are only 1%.. In fact, it's a hard job and a heavy legacy, and they won't reach the level of Kentaro Miura's genius.. but It was a good comeback, though.. In my opinion, it's better than nothing.. I wish them success in conveying Miura's ideas as much as possible. And of course I look forward to what's coming.
 

Griffith

With the streak of a tear, Like morning dew
I'd say it's useless to try to analyze the thought process of the "content consumers" part of the readership. The main factor is probably simply that they're happy there's more content to consume (among the other content on their weekly list).

Is that what the people previously critical of the series invariably are? =) I recall you not always loving every decision at first. :griffnotevil:

Of course, I can't recall the specific example! :ganishka:

Another one is that these two episodes are all about ACTION! When you don't look at the big picture and how events have to be set up before there can be a pay off, you end up thinking episodes 360 through 364 sucked and those two new ones are awesome!!! All about the action, finally!!! The same people may be really bummed out when the story goes back to character development. =)

Yeah, when it gets back to the human element it'll be, "Now THEY ruined Berserk!" I mean, will it even be able to return to character development without dialogue? Also, how will it come across? If people aren't buying Guts and Griffith when they're basically mute action figures, how will they handle a heart to heart between Guts and Casca? :???:

I don't think anyone's been "tearing apart" these two episodes in this thread, though.

That's fair, I'm speaking in hyperbole as usual, it's just that the honeymoon ended pretty quickly. =)

Some people are just melancholic because they realize anew what a monumental loss the death of Kentarou Miura has been.

Bingo.

If anything, we rather still have the same kinds of random guys coming in to try and disparage Miura and Berserk based on their misconceptions about the series. The more things change...

See, now you're really talking melancholy. Don't worry, like I said, they'll probably be blaming him anyway not realizing he's gone. :sad:

But Miura (almost certainly) wouldn't have drawn that scene, that's the whole point.

He wouldn't have drawn it that way, but I wouldn't presume to know what Miura would or wouldn't do or could pull off so hastily. Aaz is right that the devil is in the details, and maybe I'm making a distinction without a difference here, but I can't yet hold it against these guys that they can't execute like Miura on their Berserk tribute project. What do we expect? For them to recreate Berserk so well as to show it could truly be done without him? To basically prove him inessential. It's ludicrous. On the other hand, I totally understand people that never wanted this in the first place.

This is what I fear the discussions around Berserk will ultimately devolve into: "Oh, if Miura drew this, you wouldn't have complained!". A convenient cop-out but an invalid response.

Sure, but "Miura wouldn't have drawn it that way!" can be equally as reactionary and beside the point. If this were being sold as Miura's Lost Episodes, which, ok, they arguably are in a roundabout way, I'd see the cause for pointing out every way it doesn't seem authentic, but since I already know and accept this isn't Miura's Berserk, I'm open to accepting it for what it is even if that's inherently, intrinsically lesser.

I mean, unless it turns out to be total dogshit or something. In that case I hated it from the start! =)
 
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Aazealh

Administrator
Staff member
So I guess the point I was trying to make was that because (as you said yourself) Berserk as a series has rarely ever done a status quo establishment and then an immediate subversion/change to it, it (the series) can still do so occasionally/a couple of times and still remain a good story (and thus not be a “mistake”), and thus could potentially be doing in this instance (if hypothetically it does turn out that Sonia won’t be involved in Zodd’s traversal of the World Tree branches).

Your point sounds like this: "Because Miura didn't establish facts and then immediately contradict them in the 32 years he worked on Berserk, if the people who took over his work were to immediately contradict a fact Miura had recently established, it would not seem anomalous to me." We'll have to agree to disagree on the matter.

Part of me is wondering if the lack of things like internal thoughts from Guts is the result of what Mori said in the announcement, that if Miura didn't say it, he wouldn't write it. So perhaps all he knew was "Guts sees Griffith and launches into a frenzied assault". If he wasn't told what Guts was thinking, he didn't write it. If that's the case, I think it highlights a flaw of this whole approach. People are still mixing in "I hope they don't add their own ideas" with their criticisms, but I think the opposite can come with its own downsides. If you don't extrapolate out on some things, what you get is basically an illustrated version of the cliff notes of what would've happened, and to me that's really what this has felt like in some spots. Of course, there's no telling if that's why we're not getting Guts' inner thoughts, but it's something to keep in mind going forward.

Indeed, and that's among the things some of us were apprehensive of when the project was announced. At the end of the day, it's too early to tell with only these two episodes. That said, given that they're presenting this as a direct continuation of the manga, the logical guess would be that they intend to have at least a minimum of dialog in the future, if only just to allow the story to progress forward. I keep saying so but I wish they'd give us a little more information on what to expect.

Is that what the people previously critical of the series invariably are? =)

In my experience, that fits the profile of most people in the category you were referencing, yes.

Yeah, when it gets back to the human element it'll be, "Now THEY ruined Berserk!" I mean, will it even be able to return to character development without dialogue? Also, how will it come across? If people aren't buying Guts and Griffith when they're basically mute action figures, how will they handle a heart to heart between Guts and Casca?

Those are fair questions, but I have no answers for you. We can only wait and see how they handle it.

That's fair, I'm speaking in hyperbole as usual, it's just that the honeymoon ended pretty quickly. =)

I did tell people to temper their expectations. :shrug:

If this were being sold as Miura's Lost Episodes, which, ok, they arguably are in a roundabout way, I'd see the cause for pointing out every way it doesn't seem authentic

Since we're playing Devil's Advocate here: What roundabout way? When they're calling it "Berserk", saying this is episodes 365 and 366 and will be collecting them in volume 42, you cannot in good conscience pretend that people aren't justified in comparing it to what Berserk has been thus far. Which is what everyone is doing, by the way, including most of the people who think it's great ("and even better than before!"). Your retort is that you're personally enlightened enough to completely dissociate the two things in spite of the way it's being presented. Same here, but that only works for people like us. The average reader has no reason to make that effort and may also simply not be able to.
 
Your point sounds like this: "Because Miura didn't establish facts and then immediately contradict them in the 32 years he worked on Berserk, if the people who took over his work were to immediately contradict a fact Miura had recently established, it would not seem anomalous to me." We'll have to agree to disagree on the matter.
No, it doesn’t sound particularly anomalous to me (also I personally wouldn’t call a new plot development/reveal/subversion of a status quo a “contradiction”, but that’s an argument over schematics that distracts from the greater point), especially since the the facts have only been established/claimed by characters who are not narratively omniscient. And Miura himself has previously demonstrated how a character claiming something about a status-quo and then quickly being subverted in some manner can be written well; for example, during Griffith/Femto’s visit to the Hill of Swords, he claims that he has confirmed his heart is still frozen/unmoved/unaffected, but soon after the events of the Hill of Swords concludes, the plot reveals a wrinkle/subversion to that status quo in the form of Griffith/Femto realizing that “his heart” may have been affected by his new corporeal form having been made/merged with the Demon Fetus (and thus what was caused him to act and protect Casca from harm). And I think most would agree that was great bit of writing on Miura’s part. So yes, I could entirely believe that a recently claimed fact from a character could have been planned to have been later subverted/disproved relatively quickly in the story of Berserk.
 
We've certainly reached a crossroads here.

Part of me is wondering if the lack of things like internal thoughts from Guts is the result of what Mori said in the announcement, that if Miura didn't say it, he wouldn't write it. So perhaps all he knew was "Guts sees Griffith and launches into a frenzied assault". If he wasn't told what Guts was thinking, he didn't write it. If that's the case, I think it highlights a flaw of this whole approach. People are still mixing in "I hope they don't add their own ideas" with their criticisms, but I think the opposite can come with its own downsides. If you don't extrapolate out on some things, what you get is basically an illustrated version of the cliff notes of what would've happened, and to me that's really what this has felt like in some spots. Of course, there's no telling if that's why we're not getting Guts' inner thoughts, but it's something to keep in mind going forward.
Yes, I agree with this, though I hope master Miura shared some of his thoughts with Mori about characters' internal dialogue as well. That sort of thing has been a significant part of Berserk for a long time, and I would imagine Miura might have brought up to his friend questions about what kinds of thoughts from the characters would be most intriguing, and sensible, for the readers. But as the old saying goes, we'll have to see. I can't wait for July 8!! :chomp:
 

Aazealh

Administrator
Staff member
And Miura himself has previously demonstrated how a character claiming something about a status-quo and then quickly being subverted in some manner can be written well, for example during Griffith/Femto’s visit to the Hill of Swords

These two cases aren't really comparable. You're trying to add abstractions to make things fit into a common framework that doesn't exist. I don't feel there is any point in continuing this discussion.
 
These two cases aren't really comparable. You're trying to add abstractions to make things fit into a common framework that doesn't exist. I don't feel there is any point in continuing this discussion.
Very well. At the very least I hope I conveyed why I (and potentially others) don’t necessarily feel that if it does turn out that Sonia wasn’t involved with how Zodd was able to traverse the branches of the World Tree, how that isn’t damning evidence (from my own perspective at least) that Mori and Studio Gaga are unable to execute/interpret the plot of the Berserk continuation relatively well.
 
Oh, wow, now that's the heated debate this site used to have when I visited it as a guest from time to time in the past...! I couldn't get the chance to buy the digital version this time, but I will wait for my physical copy... I guess of what I've seen, it looks decent (talking from a manga perspective, from a Berserk perspective, it's not Miura, so it's not really Berserk, then why are them advertised as episodes 365-366, YA? :stop:), reading puella's translation, it also seems like a short set of episodes too... I guess I feel a bit of apathy right now knowing I missed the chance to read it yesterday with everyone like back in episode 364, but as @Griffith pointed out, I guess the overall expectations were huge before leaks and all started appearing, and now that the "truth" has surfaced, the honey moon phase has ended (it ended too fast for me, I want a divorce, but with my bank!)
 
Very well. At the very least I hope I conveyed why I (and potentially others) don’t necessarily feel that if it does turn out that Sonia wasn’t involved with how Zodd was able to traverse the branches of the World Tree, how that isn’t damning evidence (from my own perspective at least) that Mori and Studio Gaga are unable to execute/interpret the plot of the Berserk continuation relatively well.
Personally, I think there are probably a few plausible explanations for Zodd being there. Like, even if he hmself can't navigate the branches, he knows Griffith is the Moonlight Boy and keeps an eye on him constantly, so he follows the MB when he went off to Elfhelm. But personally I have a feeling that not just Sonia but the rest of Griffith's army is arriving at Elfhelm as well...that would really be a "poop hits the fan" moment and might be the sort of thing Miura was building up towards! :schnoz:
 

Aazealh

Administrator
Staff member
At the very least I hope I conveyed why I (and potentially others) don’t necessarily feel that

You've repeated your beliefs a number of times, but they did not become more convincing as you did.

Like, even if he hmself can't navigate the branches, he knows Griffith is the Moonlight Boy and keeps an eye on him constantly, so he follows the MB when he went off to Elfhelm.

We talked about that on the previous page. Zodd is arriving at least a day later if not more. His presence is only being felt now. And he's coming in at exactly the right moment, with Griffith having just regained control. That all seems a bit much for "just followed him there", as I believe we can assume it's the end of the night (or even the morning) in the outside world. Anyway, I've said so a number of times and I guess I'm guilty of indulging these posts but at this point I think it's fine to just wait and see how things develop in episode 367. Personally I expect (hope) Sonia to be involved.
 
Part of me is wondering if the lack of things like internal thoughts from Guts is the result of what Mori said in the announcement, that if Miura didn't say it, he wouldn't write it.
I wondered about the same thing. My approach was thinking about the team making an artistic choice to depict Guts' assault as being driven by pure blinding hatred that doesn't allow neither spoken words nor elaborate thoughts of any kind. Hence there is only screams and the manimal himself.

I am wondering why the armor didn't activate.
In connection to my previous statement it would make sense to me in the following way: The armors Od takes the hatred boiling inside its wearer and channels it into energy to be used by its magical apparatus (I mean it's an item conceived by a Hephaestos-looking dwarf inside a cave). In this special case the "connection" of Guts' beast of darkness and the armour did not form quick enough to be fuel for the armour. Instead, the hatred inside Guts "chooses" not the Armour for its vessel but Guts as he becomes its materialization and personification himself because of the direkt focus point of his entire anger in front of him.
If I spin this idea even further I could imagine it being kind of a key of using the armour as intended by its creator to be able to control how much of ones hatred is being fed to it.
In this scene though Guts seems to have control over nothing. His body's acting on its own while he passively observes what's happening through a veil of anger. The moment he snaps out of this blind rage would in my opinion be when he realizes that there is (again) also Zodd to worsen his day.
 

Aazealh

Administrator
Staff member
the manimal himself


it would make sense to me in the following way: The armors Od takes the hatred boiling inside its wearer and channels it into energy to be used by its magical apparatus (I mean it's an item conceived by a Hephaestos-looking dwarf inside a cave). In this special case the "connection" of Guts' beast of darkness and the armour did not form quick enough to be fuel for the armour. Instead, the hatred inside Guts "chooses" not the Armour for its vessel but Guts as he becomes its materialization and personification himself because of the direkt focus point of his entire anger in front of him.

That's not really how it's shown working in the series. To be honest I think we can simply assume that the depiction of what's happening here is somewhat clumsy, which is why it seems a bit incoherent. At least that's what it looks like to me. And it won't be the last time either.

In my opinion, it's best to take a bird's eye view and look at the broad strokes of what's going on. Guts sees Griffith, the armor immediately springs up but he fights it back and then goes in. Next episode he'll probably be pushed enough that he'll give in, which will end up having serious consequences for him.

If you close your eyes and think of the previous times Miura has drawn events like these, you should be able to reconstitute a version of this in your head that feels completely normal. This is what I expect we'll have to be doing from now on. We're getting story elements that inform us of what Miura roughly planned to do. That's already a huge leap from not knowing what he intended, but the last mile – to imagine how he would have portrayed those events – is for us to walk by ourselves.
 
That's not really how it's shown working in the series.

I respect your opinion as I have just been speculating without any explicit evidence to be found in the manga. However, I especially thought about the situations Guts interacted with the beast of darkness without ever having touched the armour. In some of those situations almost identical mind overtaking moments and interactions between it and Guts have happened. If one would overlay this with what the armour does, it seems that this equipment only emphasizes what is already there - hence the different look from what it was like when Gaiseric wore it. It is in question wether an innocent person without any hatred would be "corrupted" by the armour because it is imbued with internalized darkness or if it 100% depends on the user suffering from PTSD and anger issues.
In my opinion, it's best to take a bird's eye view and look at the broad strokes of what's going on. Guts sees Griffith, the armor immediately springs up but he fights it back and then goes in. Next episode he'll probably be pushed enough that he'll give in, which will end up having serious consequences for him.

I can see this happening. There is just the question why Guts would be able to resist the urge of hatred now if he couldn't when the enemies where somebody absolutely "not Griffith". If anything I would have guessed that after mastering the armour in some way only Griffith would be enough of a trigger for Guts to completely ignore the dangers of the armour, willingly to die as long as he takes the Hawk down.
 
I was thinking the same thing yesterday. If at least Zodd doesn't say anything next episode, I'll just expect the rest of the continuation manga to go along like a mute slideshow of Miura's ideas.
Yeah this would be bad, because the banter between guts and zodd is half the fun. I have a bad feeling we will be in for a rude awakening next episode. Time to re-read reunion on the hill of swords :sad:
 

Aazealh

Administrator
Staff member
I respect your opinion as I have just been speculating without any explicit evidence to be found in the manga. However, I especially thought about the situations Guts interacted with the beast of darkness without ever having touched the armour. In some of those situations almost identical mind overtaking moments and interactions between it and Guts have happened.

The Beast of Darkness is a visual representation of Guts' darkest urges that is on the page for the readers' benefit, but it doesn't "possess" Guts (or overtake his mind) in and of itself. When Guts loses it and bite Casca's breast in volume 23, he does it because he's snapped, but that's still 100% on him. The berserk's armor does however "overtake his mind" because it's a magical item; it clouds his perception and turns his bellicose feelings into a raging fire. Fittingly, the Beast of Darkness is a perfect embodiment of those feelings.

With all that being said, I don't see what you propose as a plausible explanation : "the hatred inside Guts chooses not the Armour for its vessel but Guts as he becomes its materialization and personification himself". Like I said earlier, that doesn't really fit with what we've been told and shown about how the armor works. It's a very dangerous item precisely because you can't just control where you route your hatred, as if assigning power to a spaceship. As soon as you get angry or aggressive, you trigger it. That's the basis behind my response.

It is in question wether an innocent person without any hatred would be "corrupted" by the armour because it is imbued with internalized darkness or if it 100% depends on the user suffering from PTSD and anger issues.

It's not in question actually, it's explained from the beginning that it's like an everlasting fire that latches on aggression. So as far as we know, anyone wearing it would be subject to its effects and would risk turning into a... well, berserk warrior. Of course, it's no coincidence that it ends up on Guts, a man with deep trauma and whose strength partially lies in the rage he feels towards his enemies. It just makes for a good story. :guts:

I can see this happening. There is just the question why Guts would be able to resist the urge of hatred now if he couldn't when the enemies where somebody absolutely "not Griffith".

He's progressively gotten better at "resisting" over time (as we see in his fights), just as the armor's Od has itself gotten stronger. I would speculate that the fact he's not encountering any resistance and is instead just unable to hit Griffith likely contributes to the situation. Like I said, I expect things might evolve quickly in the next episode. We'll see!

Since we're on the topic though, a more important question to me is why we don't see the seal Flora inscribed inside the armor being damaged, since Casca's necklace shattered from a distance. That seal is what keeps Guts' ego intact when the armor is active, as otherwise he would be at risk of permanently losing his mind. That's a rather important detail. It might come into play during episode 367, but it feels like a missed opportunity that we didn't see something in these two episodes.
 

Rhombaad

Video Game Time Traveler

God bless you, sir.

Regarding the scarcity of dialogue so far, I think it’s best to prepare ourselves for its continuation. I can’t imagine the rest of the series being some sort of silent movie version of Berserk, but I think there’s going to be much less dialogue from here on out, unless Miura went into great detail about some of it with Mori (and if Mori remembers that detail). I also think the dialogue we get will be far less dense than Miura’s, for the same reason.

That being said, I expect things to improve as the continuation goes on. I think the art will get better, and the visual storytelling will become less clumsy. Studio Gaga may even address some of the clumsiness we’ve seen when the volume comes out. They did some minor adjustments to episode 364 when volume 41 came out, after all. We’ll just have to wait and see (feels like a new motto we all share these days).
 
The Beast of Darkness is a visual representation of Guts' darkest urges that is on the page for the readers' benefit, but it doesn't "possess" Guts (or overtake his mind) in and of itself. When Guts loses it and bite Casca's breast in volume 23, he does it because he's snapped, but that's still 100% on him. The berserk's armor does however "overtake his mind" because it's a magical item; it clouds his perception and turns his bellicose feelings into a raging fire. Fittingly, the Beast of Darkness is a perfect embodiment of those feelings.
Ok so that is very interesting and I mean it because I never thought about it being 100% Guts. It always seemed to me that, similar to Cascas split personality, Guts' also recieved a split inside his mind, causing the beast to form and take in everything Guts despises in other people aswell as himself. Like real people suffering from split personality sometimes have that "evil grown up" somewhere in the corner of their soul that only comes out to protect the "host". That would mean that the beast would be part of Guts' soul yet with a sort of mind of its own that can erupt being triggered.
And maybe I paraphrased this a bit weird but I never ment the armour overtaking his mind but the beast of hatred using the armour to do so.
But perhaps I got it all wrong in the end and either way I am glad being able to witness the outcome with you all. :cool:


I totally agree with your last statement that it must be absolutely mind boggling for Guts to just not being able to hit the man. He is used to something being harder or just stronger or faster than him but this experience is unprecedented and must add an enormous amount of desperation.
I am really excited to see if the one hair he managed to cut is just an optical emphasis of his powerlessness or if it proves to be of greater significance to Griffith. Maybe even so that he would be kind of disturbed because not even a hair should be able to be cut if he does not allow it. Kind of showing first real signs of Guts becoming somebody moving outside of the waters surface without knowing.
 
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