Looks like I'm throwing my lot in with you all (re: The Jarringness of the Panels)

[AionArkhe]

Hello everyone. I first discovered Berserk way back when the Dreamcast game was still a new thing and I found myself wanting to know more. From there, the 90s anime adaptation and then I caught up to that amazingly brief boat ride.

Watching this Continuation has left me feeling disheartened. I gave it a solid chance at first but then quickly became disenchanted when Potato Caska was traded for Potato Guts and from there the character assassinations just became worse and worse.

The worst part of all though has been the absolute chaos that is the panel progression. In a vacuum, the actual style of the panels is adequate for me but I've noticed that it doesn't have anywhere near the flow that Miura's had. It's far more difficult for me to even tell what's supposed to be going on from panel to panel. How are so many places out there completely overlooking this? It's not even close, it has been like going from an experienced fight choreographer to Christopher Nolan who just chop cuts the scenes every second. This even happens in moments when there is no real action happening.

Added to this is that there is far less insight into the characters' thoughts. One of the things that drew me into Berserk was that it gave you an excellent idea of how each character was feeling in any given moment, adding emotional weight to the scene. This is often nowhere to be found in the Continuation and when it happens, it tends to feel out of character anyway - if you can even discern what those thoughts are directed toward in the muddled mess that is the progression between panels.

Miura's own work evolved as time went on and despite some obvious filler, there was a certain charm in seeing this evolution as the artist himself changed over time. Now, this is starting to feel like a fan spin-off except that I'm confident there are plenty of fans out there who could have done better given the same team of artists. I apologize for the ranty introductory post, but I feel the need to vent and admit that you all have been right since the beginning of this mess.

 

[Aazealh]

Hey there AionArkhe, welcome to the forum! I think "disheartened" sums it up for a lot of people. It's a really unfortunate situation. We all gave this project a chance because we all hoped it would provide some closure, some of us just caught on to their bullshit faster than others. I expect that as time goes by, more and more people will come to the same conclusion. But it sucks because it's a stain on Miura's legacy that will not go away...

So no worries about the rant, and I hope you will enjoy the community. Gotta react to this though:

Miura's own work evolved as time went on and despite some obvious filler

...How dare you!! Berserk is all grain, no chaff. There isn't one page I would remove from the story! But I can't think of one page I would keep from the Continuation...

 

[AionArkhe]

Thank you, I actually found this website way back around that same time and perused the information here. Can't remember if it was before or after I dove into the anime, though!

And to tell you the truth, even Bonebeard has grown on me over the years.

 

[lelouch-was-zero]

And to tell you the truth, even Bonebeard has grown on me over the years.

I really should finish my berserk's re-read. I was practically a kid when I finished it and remember, hating the pirate...I don't now obviously.

 

[Masa]

Hello everyone. I first discovered Berserk way back when the Dreamcast game was still a new thing and I found myself wanting to know more. From there, the 90s anime adaptation and then I caught up to that amazingly brief boat ride.

Watching this Continuation has left me feeling disheartened. I gave it a solid chance at first but then quickly became disenchanted when Potato Caska was traded for Potato Guts and from there the character assassinations just became worse and worse.

The worst part of all though has been the absolute chaos that is the panel progression. In a vacuum, the actual style of the panels is adequate for me but I've noticed that it doesn't have anywhere near the flow that Miura's had. It's far more difficult for me to even tell what's supposed to be going on from panel to panel. How are so many places out there completely overlooking this? It's not even close, it has been like going from an experienced fight choreographer to Christopher Nolan who just chop cuts the scenes every second. This even happens in moments when there is no real action happening.

Added to this is that there is far less insight into the characters' thoughts. One of the things that drew me into Berserk was that it gave you an excellent idea of how each character was feeling in any given moment, adding emotional weight to the scene. This is often nowhere to be found in the Continuation and when it happens, it tends to feel out of character anyway - if you can even discern what those thoughts are directed toward in the muddled mess that is the progression between panels.

Miura's own work evolved as time went on and despite some obvious filler, there was a certain charm in seeing this evolution as the artist himself changed over time. Now, this is starting to feel like a fan spin-off except that I'm confident there are plenty of fans out there who could have done better given the same team of artists. I apologize for the ranty introductory post, but I feel the need to vent and admit that you all have been right since the beginning of this mess.

That's one of the major problems with the Continuation: they might be able to ape Miura's art style to a certain extent, but they will never be able to get inside the characters' heads like he did. Most of the time they don't even bother to try. That's why everything feels so hollow and flat.

 

[AionArkhe]

I really should finish my berserk's re-read. I was practically a kid when I finished it and remember, hating the pirate...I don't now obviously.

Little did we know Bonebeard coming back was the good ol' days. I was thinking about doing the same myself, it's been some time since I gave it a complete read and even though it's a bit of a let down seeing Miura's work end where it did, it also somehow "works" in a weird way. The last panel followed by his passing hits way harder in retrospect. The story remains unresolved of course, but... I'm not sure how to describe it.

And the hollowness... yeah. The last chapter in particular was honestly what drove me to register here. I suppose it's my cope? Like why is Guts suddenly so chipper even though he didn't learn anything in the darkness that hadn't already been more or less been established by the Skull Knight and other little tidbits throughout the manga? "You got this because you exist on the interstice!" Guts and the readers already know that, and it didn't mean anything on Elfhelm. Which leads me to believe the Continuation isn't going to go the direction Miura had in mind.

 

[Cyrus Jong]

Little did we know Bonebeard coming back was the good ol' days. I was thinking about doing the same myself, it's been some time since I gave it a complete read and even though it's a bit of a let down seeing Miura's work end where it did, it also somehow "works" in a weird way. The last panel followed by his passing hits way harder in retrospect. The story remains unresolved of course, but... I'm not sure how to describe it.

And the hollowness... yeah. The last chapter in particular was honestly what drove me to register here. I suppose it's my cope? Like why is Guts suddenly so chipper even though he didn't learn anything in the darkness that hadn't already been more or less been established by the Skull Knight and other little tidbits throughout the manga? "You got this because you exist on the interstice!" Guts and the readers already know that, and it didn't mean anything on Elfhelm. Which leads me to believe the Continuation isn't going to go the direction Miura had in mind.

No, no, you just don't get it because you lack media literacy and stuff! Guts was BORN in the Interstice! And that makes him special! And gives him superpowers for some reason, even though he didn't have any before! And that gives him the power-up he'll need to defeat Griffith! Just like in Dragon Ball and Naruto and One Piece and all those other literary masterpieces published by Shonen Jump that I read every week, as well as all the video games I play.

 

[CoffinSister]

No, no, you just don't get it because you lack media literacy and stuff! Guts was BORN in the Interstice! And that makes him special! And gives him superpowers for some reason, even though he didn't have any before! And that gives him the power-up he'll need to defeat Griffith! Just like in Dragon Ball and Naruto and One Piece and all those other literary masterpieces published by Shonen Jump that I read every week, as well as all the video games I play.

Hey man, there're a couple of chapters from like 25 to 30 years ago where if you squint real hard and are really desperate to make recent chapters work, you can see that Miura hinted that Guts was never human and was always inherently qualified to defeat Godhand Griffith. You must be one of those people who always were reading Berserk wrong.

Added to this is that there is far less insight into the characters' thoughts. One of the things that drew me into Berserk was that it gave you an excellent idea of how each character was feeling in any given moment, adding emotional weight to the scene. This is often nowhere to be found in the Continuation and when it happens, it tends to feel out of character anyway - if you can even discern what those thoughts are directed toward in the muddled mess that is the progression between panels.

We're never getting it again. They all have the balls to butcher the story in a way where they never have to speak for any characters beyond maybe butchering The Godhand as a whole in a few poor lines of dialogue. We're never getting a meaningful Guts or Casca inner monologue chapter again.

 

[AionArkhe]

The continuity errors (ironically enough) are endless. I haven't looked into Studio Gaga and when exactly they entered the picture or how they knew Miura, but it kind of feels like they never actually even read the manga.

Yet another issue with where we're at now is that Guts should be physically crippled just as he was right before he got the Berserker armor. His astral wound has gone completely unmentioned and the Berserker armor wasn't quite life support* but it was the only way he was able to function somewhat normally - it's a wound that doesn't heal at all. I'd always assumed that Miura planned on him getting healed at Elfhelm, but that never happened so he's still dealing with a life-threatening injury. Mori could have folded this in as a a piece of the puzzle for how Guts might overcome the God Hand, but even then Guts just doesn't have all the pieces of that puzzle yet.

And this is just Guts. They don't seem to know what to do at all with any of the other characters. Take Rickert, for example. I think we all expected to see a more grown Rickert after Guts' party left Elfhelm, but he's just kinda "there". He's a genius craftsman and his work should be seen among the remaining Kushan because of course it should - it would be incredibly useful and make sense given everything we've seen. Nope. Just a familiar face among the ordinary ranks who's suggestions appear to be noted and ignored.

*Edit - Then again, it could well have literally been keeping him alive especially at this point considering all of the extra damage he sustained while wearing it. There's also a part of me that - speculation follows - would like to think the armor is a vague Darth Vader reference by Miura, considering he clearly enjoyed Star Wars and sprinkled references to it in his work.

 

[Aazealh]

The continuity errors (ironically enough) are endless. I haven't looked into Studio Gaga and when exactly they entered the picture or how they knew Miura, but it kind of feels like they never actually even read the manga.

Studio Gaga was the company Miura created to manage his rights once the series started becoming very popular (in the late 90s). Its name in Japanese literally means "Studio My Drawing". Out of the seven people working under that structure currently, four were long time collaborators of his (worked for him as assistants for 15 years).

That being said, it's important to understand that they contributed little to the actual material. Miura was a perfectionist and did most everything himself. Kurosaki, the person leading the Continuation, famously said that "99% of Berserk was produced by Miura himself". The assistants worked part-time and handled minor background details as well as time consuming menial tasks, such as applying screentones or cleaning pencil marks from the pages.

The move to digital in the years leading to his death was motivated by Miura's desire to make better use of his assistants, as he felt that his own work capacity was waning with age. Digital allowed him to easily touch up their work. His new series Dur-An-Ki was meant to be a sort of training grounds for this system, so that they would have eventually been allowed to contribute more to Berserk, once he felt they were good enough.

Do note, however, that the most they would have ever done is "ink" his drafts. A trivially easier job than actually creating panels from scratch, especially since he'd have cleaned up their work afterwards. Lastly, Dur-An-Ki hadn't been published for almost a year when Miura passed away, perhaps showing that things weren't working as well as he had expected.

Yet another issue with where we're at now is that Guts should be physically crippled just as he was right before he got the Berserker armor. His astral wound has gone completely unmentioned and the Berserker armor wasn't quite life support* but it was the only way he was able to function somewhat normally - it's a wound that doesn't heal at all. I'd always assumed that Miura planned on him getting healed at Elfhelm, but that never happened so he's still dealing with a life-threatening injury. Mori could have folded this in as a a piece of the puzzle for how Guts might overcome the God Hand, but even then Guts just doesn't have all the pieces of that puzzle yet.

Without getting into the details, yes the armor should have been at the center of the crisis on Skellig. It had been repeatedly and strongly foreshadowed. The fact the Continuation simply ignored it was the first clue that something was wrong with it. It didn't make sense, and nothing has made sense since then.

They don't seem to know what to do at all with any of the other characters.

It feels like a foregone conclusion that there will be no real character development until the end. They will all stay stuck as vague caricatures of themselves, and with minimal screen time to boot.

There's also a part of me that - speculation follows - would like to think the armor is a vague Darth Vader reference by Miura, considering he clearly enjoyed Star Wars and sprinkled references to it in his work.

The armor isn't life sustaining, rather wearing it slowly destroys the wearer's senses. But it allows Guts to keep going despite his sorry state (as we see in episode 364), which is kind of a vicious cycle. In that regard I don't think it was inspired by Darth Vader's suit. It's an iteration on the concept of berserkers and what damage relying on an unnatural "performance enhancer" could cause.

 

[AionArkhe]

Hey cheers for that information, especially on the studio. This place remains a goldmine of knowledge on the subject.

Well, I'll probably read the next chapter anyway. Then the one after that. For some morbid reason.

 

[spenzo]

there're a couple of chapters from like 25 to 30 years ago where if you squint real hard and are really desperate to make recent chapters work

It's actually insane how this isn't even an exaggeration, I've seen people say that his pointy ears is a sign (I guess Donovan was also with that logic) and even one instance of a person using THE MOVIES as a hint (the scene where Guts charges at femto and is bypassing his maelstorm slightly and then gets flung away... that one thing that just DOES NOT happen in the manga)

 

[Odeon]

Aaz once told me he would consider making a summary of what Miura mightve planned after the continuation has ended so I'm gonna have a blast reading that in 20 years

 

[CheAkiwara]

Just another two cents of mine but I also have the sneaking suspicion that the reason the continuation episodes take so long to come out too is because they've completely hit their heads on the wall in terms of writing and they have no clue how to continue this mess. Each step they take is another step into a completely unknown chapter for them and so they're probably trying to work around it while also gaslighting themselves that the direction they're taking must have been something Miura would've approved.

 

[Zeality]

Just another two cents of mine but I also have the sneaking suspicion that the reason the continuation episodes take so long to come out too is because they've completely hit their heads on the wall in terms of writing and they have no clue how to continue this mess...

I really don't think they spend that much time thinking about the plot or care whether it is a mess. I expect it is far more likely that if an earlier plot point conflicts with where the story is now headed, they will just pretend the earlier plot point never happened.