I've seen a lot of different takes on Lost Children, everywhere from "Garbage" to "Peak Berserk". So, what's your opinion?
I noticed a lot of the "negative takes" seemed to sprout up the second it was all but confirmed that Lost Children wouldn't be adapted in the most recent Berserk anime. Almost as if people were trying to justify its absence...
Dude, I've seen people saying that both the Black Swordsman Arc and the Lost Children Chapter are filler.You know I remember hearing some bullshit like: "Berserk is genius, I recommend it at least until volume 13.... after that the volumes are not as good."
Basically saying: "Read Berserk until volume 13, it's the perfect ending. The rest is filler."
Where are y’all finding these posers lol? I believe y’all, but I haven’t seen such brain dead takes even on the Berserk Reddit.The Lost Children chapter is peak Berserk in my opinion.
While it's seen as the "darkest" by many, I also think is beautiful, even if by a short span of time ; that final page Jill and Rosine at the final page is one my favorites and it is wonderful.
Dude, I've seen people saying that both the Black Swordsman Arc and the Lost Children Chapter are filler.
I really don't know what the hell is wrong with those people.
It was exactly at that subredditWhere are y’all finding these posers lol? I believe y’all, but I haven’t seen such brain dead takes even on the Berserk Reddit.
Wow, that's ridiculous. I enjoy the filler bits for what they are, and I get why Wyald, SK, etc. were left out, but no way were the Adon episodes better than that stuff lol. I just enjoyed more Mike Pollock.there was a guy who was adamant the two half-episodes of filler with Adon from the 97 series were better than all the stuff from the manga that they had not adapted.
reading this sentence reminded me of a conversation that my boyfriend and i had recently- he told me there's a scene/panel with a bunch of dead bodies and one of them looks like jill. i guess it's theorized she died because of this? i don't know much about itThe ending with Jill is a really touching one for me but I honestly wish that Miura planned to have her show up sometime in the future just to make sure she's fine and she managed to survive and have a decent life
I love the artstyle, and that we see how far Guts is willing to go, the monstruous look he has multiple times and in general it's a great return to Black Swordsman Arc "territory", after writing the Golden Age with all it encompasses (I think that back when Miura wrote BS he hadn't fully figured out Guts and Griffith's backstory... for some reason I have the notion that back in the day he hadn't even planned to have Casca at all but I don't know if it's true or not, could anyone confirm that?)
I guess it's not my favourite part of Berserk simply because I don't particularly enjoy to see Guts in that mental / physical / psychological state, I prefer him during Golden Age and after the "Cracks in the Blade" / "Fragile Flame" episodes, but I get the appeal that it has.
reading this sentence reminded me of a conversation that my boyfriend and i had recently- he told me there's a scene/panel with a bunch of dead bodies and one of them looks like jill. i guess it's theorized she died because of this? i don't know much about it
This is all well-documented from the many interviews Miura has given over the years. He had indeed not conceived of Casca when he started writing the story, her and the other key members of the Band of the Falcon came to be when he decided to do the lengthy flashback that would explain Guts' current state and what set him on his quest for revenge.
That's an understandable sentiment, although seeing Guts like that is also inevitable, since you couldn't enjoy his return to sanity without having first witnessed his descent into darkness. The entirety of Berserk (from its very title) revolves around the axle that is the character of the Black Swordsman. But the takeaway should be that even in those bleakest moments, he stayed human.
As for what's "peak" Berserk, I personally find it a meaningless question. The greatest strength of this story is that Miura continuously made it evolve. It was never static and didn't repeat itself. So each part of the story is different, but they also naturally complement each other and build on top of what was previously established.
Like maybe, similar to Luca, show her and her mom in Falconia? I don't care what happened to her dad, but maybe those two make it to the "perfect" city of Falconia, given their village was ravaged by Rosine's carnivorous wasp elves for how long? I think it could have acted like a good epilogue to the story we got from her in Lost Children.The ending with Jill is a really touching one for me but I honestly wish that Miura planned to have her show up sometime in the future just to make sure she's fine and she managed to survive and have a decent life
Berserk always had this quality too it where it somehow felt like it was just getting started no matter how far you get. I loathe the alternate timeline where Miura stuck to the formula BS set up where Guts just went from town to town fighting apostle-of-the-week villains on loop forever like it easily could have been. I think what makes lost children memorable in people's minds is because it's the last time that sort of story is told (discounting the DC game).As for what's "peak" Berserk, I personally find it a meaningless question. The greatest strength of this story is that Miura continuously made it evolve. It was never static and didn't repeat itself. So each part of the story is different, but they also naturally complement each other and build on top of what was previously established.
There's a subset of fans who would have liked nothing more than for all of Guts' new companions to die horribly and for him to go back to being a self-destructive rage machine haunting the night. Between parts of Berserk's fanbase and SNK's fans, it seems like a lot of manga readers want their protags to just be emotionless killing machines without feelings.Maybe one other reason why I don't enjoy it that much is that a lot of people (especially on places like Reddit or larger communities) call Lost Children "peak" because of Guts' brutality, dishumanization and his edge are at a max here... as if that was the best he ever has been or Berserk has to offer. A lot of words are thrown around, "peak", "chad", "based" but that's just really superficial and I think that a lot of people (probably not everyone though, besides everyone has different tastes) that think Guts' and Berserk's "peak" are in Lost Children tend to do so because of this.
Like maybe, similar to Luca, show her and her mom in Falconia? I don't care what happened to her dad, but maybe those two make it to the "perfect" city of Falconia, given their village was ravaged by Rosine's carnivorous wasp elves for how long? I think it could have acted like a good epilogue to the story we got from her in Lost Children.
Thanks for confirming that! Could you share where or in which interview did Miura address that?
Maybe one other reason why I don't enjoy it that much is that a lot of people (especially on places like Reddit or larger communities) call Lost Children "peak" because of Guts' brutality, dishumanization and his edge are at a max here... as if that was the best he ever has been or Berserk has to offer.
I loathe the alternate timeline where Miura stuck to the formula BS set up where Guts just went from town to town fighting apostle-of-the-week villains on loop forever like it easily could have been.
There's a subset of fans who would have liked nothing more than for all of Guts' new companions to die horribly and for him to go back to being a self-destructive rage machine haunting the night.
Yes, the Berserk that exists doesn't actually follow a formula, even early on, you're right. There are really only three "black swordsman" stories that follow the set up I laid out, and lost children itself serves as a transition out of that period of Guts' life, as he refocuses his priorities shortly after. I just think it would have been an easy thing for a manga of that era to do. A large part of FOTNS was Kenshiro traveling from place to place and fighting local gangs, or fighting the henchmen of the current antagonist, who are harassing the locals. Jojo, also from that era, even in its later iterations still does a "Stand battle of the week" formula until it is time to face off with the main antagonist. Heck, there is a popular series right now called "Demon Slayer" where the main character just fights X number of evil demon henchman until it becomes time to fight the big bad. Berserk easily could've gone the same way if Miura wasn't so creative. I don't mean to make too fine a point about this, I just think it speaks to how good of a writer Miura was.That was never a "formula", though. It establishes Guts' life as the Black Swordsman, who ceaselessly hunts apostles even as he is hunted and hounded every night, but narratively it has a clear beginning and an end (the confrontation with the God Hand). You can't really top that showdown, nor does the reader come out of it thinking Guts just needs to kill 10 more apostles before he can beat Femto.
Berserk had the misfortune of getting popular with a certain subset of people, probably through a million YouTube analysis videos and reddit posts. It became the go-to "mature" manga for people to feel smug about reading, without actually absorbing the material (hence a lot of the bizarre misconceptions people have about things). You've repeatedly indicated you don't want us dwelling on dumb fans though, so I'll leave it there.I would challenge the idea that someone is a fan of Berserk if their sole interest in it basically lies in daydreaming that it would be something it's not (and never was).
I also had some ideas of hoe Theresia could've been used later, though they weren't things I would've expected to actually happen. I wouldn't mind if you made that thread.That would be good enough to keep me at peace
Even though having an open ending has its own poetic beauty.
Actually, I have a pretty crazy theory on how Theresia might have come back in Berserk's story and it would have involved Jill as well, having both come back in a lot more crucial role towards the end. I was actually writing it down here but it ended up being too long so maybe I will make a post about it in Speculation Nation / Character Cove section of the forum since I'd like to discuss it extensively but not by derailing your post!