Berserk the Manga Re-read Thread Vol. 1 (Spoilers) 9/25/08 - 10/2/08

SaiyajinNoOuji

I'm still better than you
Walter said:
Nope, that doesn't work either for a variety of reasons. First of all, Guts certainly wasn't the Black Swordsman during the Eclipse. Also, both the Baron and the Count are surprised when they finally see Guts' brand. Check vols 1-2 again. As for this being the first time they'd ever heard of him, the Baron specifically says "So you are the Black Swordsman, the one hunting us Apostles..." And I'd mention another thing, but it's a spoiler for vol 26. Point being - all apostles are surprised Guts is still around and they don't know he's the Black Swordsman..

As for how many Apostles he may have killed during the Eclipse, I counted them all in the Kill Roster. It's ~14 on-screen. Of course, they could have just regenerated so who knows. For the purposes of making sure I covered all angles, I included anything that even remotely looked like a kill shot.
Which is pretty funny considering you would think they would remember anyone escaping from the event. Its not like its a common occurrence! =\/
 

Walter

Administrator
Staff member
SaiyajinNoOuji-Trading Cards said:
Which is pretty funny considering you would think they would remember anyone escaping from the event. Its not like its a common occurrence! =\/
They don't remember because they were hopped up on Hawks blood, bone and marrow. Don't come between an apostle and his munchies.

But let's not deviate from the thread too much. There'll be plenty of time to structure a well-laid out Apostle-feasting-on-human-flesh joke for the Vol 12-13 threads over the next 12-13 weeks  :carcus:
 
Very true,

One last thing I can think of for discussing this volume. Our introduction to the Apostles seems to seal that they are deeply affected by their transformation into becoming Demonspawn. The Snake Baron and Count Caterpillar (or is it a snail---we'll find out next issue I suppose) are both cannibals. This is, presumably, not behavior that they engaged in while humans.

Yet, the Count is also engaging in the persecution of heretics for its own sake. One may want to speculate as to how much an Apostle's personality changes and whether we're meant to think they're changed, changed partially, or totally. This will be a question, I think, we'll have to revisit.
 

Walter

Administrator
Staff member
willowhugger said:
Yet, the Count is also engaging in the persecution of heretics for its own sake.  One may want to speculate as to how much an Apostle's personality changes and whether we're meant to think they're changed, changed partially, or totally.  This will be a question, I think, we'll have to revisit.
Yeah there's actually specific evidence on the change in an Apostle's personality in volume 3, as explained by Ubik and Conrad. It's one of my favorite lines in the series. But we'll get there.
ubikON.gif
                       
conradON.GIF
  :chomp:
 

Walter

Administrator
Staff member
willowhugger said:
Now on a purely emotional note, what's people's opinions of the manga in re-reading it just for fun's sake and interest?
I think it's better than I even remembered, honestly. I used to not like these early volumes, but I'm really enjoying them now. Miura had to accomplish a lot here, and he does it well - if at a much faster pace than Im really used to in Berserk :guts:
 
Yeah, I really enjoyed this manga and its the one I am able to re-read the most. The others are part of a much longer story arc but the Snake Baron storyline is a self-contained storyline (along with the Brand) that is simple and to the point yet still wholly satisfying. I sort of miss short stories in Berserk.

Not that I'm complaining about the awesome longer arcs. Berserk would not be what it is without them.
 
I have not had the time to re-read vol 1 yet, but I will try to keep up with these threads even if I won't be posting much (due to lack of time) but I was curious what Walter thinks of the DH translation once he recieves his copy. Is it ok overall or is there a particular line or word somewhere that is so far off that DH/english only readers might want to be aware of?
 

Rhombaad

Video Game Time Traveler
A.C said:
I have not had the time to re-read vol 1 yet, but I will try to keep up with these threads even if I won't be posting much (due to lack of time) but I was curious what Walter thinks of the DH translation once he recieves his copy. Is it ok overall or is there a particular line or word somewhere that is so far off that DH/english only readers might want to be aware of?

Jason DeAngelis translated the first three Dark Horse volumes and since then they've been translated by Duane Johnson.  Jason's translations aren't as accurate as Duane's are ("grooviness" aside), with "Causality" being translated as "Fate" in the third volume, for example.  Also, there are several spelling/grammatical errors present in the first volume (starting on page 4, no less).  Other than that, they're not too far off, from what I remember; I reread the series a couple of months ago.
 
Finally had time to read the first volume again. I don't really have anything to add that hasn't already been covered but I found Guts' comment on death a little contradictory. After the Priest tells the story of his nephew Guts says in the DH translation:

"He died doing what he wanted, no matter what, right? I bet he was happy."

Then Guts goes on to say:

"Of course, once you die, that's it. Nothing comes after that, nothing at all."

Assuming the translation is correct, isn't it a bit odd for Guts to say this when he has seen so many spirits of dead people roaming around and attack him?
 

Oburi

All praise Grail
Wow I loved reading this thread. Props willowhugger. Walters synopsis was very close to my thoughts, right down to the Frank Frazetta page, which I had hadn't heard before, but I always thought that. I'd also like to mention something about the panels on the first few pages.

After Guts kills that first apostle and he's entering the town you see a shot of a poor, starving, cripple beggar sitting in the muddy street and in the panel beside that is a noble knight in full armor striding past, not even noticing the beggar. It sets the tone of Berserk so well. This is world with politics, and the inhabitants are both rich and poor. You get the sense that this is a complicated place and it adds to the realism of the manga. There isn't a lot of manga that does that, and Muira just stuck that in there on page 6 like it's no big deal. Genius!
 
Top Bottom