Rereading Berserk

[Papasmurf]

Volume 13 wasn't published until he'd already begun the Conviction arc (Elf chapter) iirc. He probably decided it contained too many spoilers, but he still alludes to the Idea as late as volume 24 when Flora suggests that the Godhand serve an even more powerful entity that resides in the depths of the spiritual realm.

 

[Classic Adamas]

How big is Griffith dong

 

[Captain Cadaver]

Read up to the end of Volume 15.

It's nice how the Lost Children portion of the Conviction Arc acts very much as a microcosm of the series' main messages, particularly with the influence Guts has on Jill and the obvious similarities within their background such as having shitty father figures with damaged legs and Jill seeming to have her version of , though this one set on easy mode with how he's an out of shape guy easy to escape from instead of being Rapey Ronnie Coleman. Her and Rosine also have some similarities to Guts and Griffith such as Rosine's belief that she's something different from the other children being somewhat similar to Griffith's grandiose dream as well as her later attitude of the children being replacable being much as how Griffith views the Hawks as loyal subjects and (eventually) sacrificial offerings. It also offers quite a realistic take on a childlike morality and its selfish aspects, as well as presenting a unique take on the morality of Apostles with her still caring for those around her but still being inhuman enough to view them as far from irreplaceable.

The Peekaf fairy tale, along with drawing obviously from the Japanese story of Urashima Taro, seemed to have been set up as foreshadowing for a potential timeskip on Elfhelm. I wonder if Peekaf's role also might have foreshadowed details to do with the Moonlight Boy as well, considering the circumstances of him being changed as well as Miura's last chapter involving him arriving there.

This portion is also underrated in how integral it is for Guts' development with him showing some unwillingness to commit to his mercilessness with Jill involved. I could do without the 4th wall breaks from Puck though as it's a pretty unfitting addition in anything that's not a primarily comedic manga, let alone a psychological dark fantasy.

The reveal of the children playing war and showing their violent actions are learned behaviour from what adults did seems to tie into a lot of Miura's thoughts on inherited sins with how the majority of major characters in the series have some sort of childhood trauma that brought on their character flaws and darkness.

It's also good how the Holy See and their conversation with the villagers alludes to Guts being related to their religion, foreshadowing his confrontation with those such as Mozgus at the end of the Conviction Arc as well as Griffith's reincarnation.

How big is Griffith dong

I didn't see Guts commenting on it when naked Griff was blabbing on about his kingdom, so it's probably still got nothing on the BBC.

 

[Captain Cadaver]

Finished the Lost Children mini-arc.

Azan being moved by misinterpreting Zepek's actions is a good moment in highlighting one of the main themes of the series and this arc in particular when it comes to the outward image and pretenses of people being far from their general motives such as the hatred the villagers show for Guts from not understanding him and something that'll be shown to an even greater degree when 99% of the world starts worshipping Griffith. We also get a display of how analytical Serpico is, building up that there's far more to him than his capricious visage.

The battle between Guts and Rosine has some of the best displays of two aspects of Guts. One is highlighting how he's still not completely heartless with how he missed his chance multiple times to kill her for reasons such as protecting Jill or being off put by her appearance. The one that's a particular highlight for this segment of the story though is his display of physical resolve and sacrificing his body for victory, an obvious highlight being him blocking Rosine's stinger by having it pierce his mouth in order to land a killing blow. Not only is it simply a really cool moment, but an iconic display of the idea that Guts constantly puts himself through physical pain to push forward. It can also be interpreted as him bringing harm to himself for his conviction of revenge, which ties in well to the penance of flagellation that the Holy See put themselves through.
Also, I like how Rosine's attempts at flirting with Guts are juvenile enough to match her age. I'd make a :withheld joke, but since this is set in a medieval universe where age of consent's a far more relative thing as we saw in the Golden Age Arc, it's far from being creepy enough to point out. Going back to what I said about the Rosine/Jill dynamic being similar to Griffith/Guts, Rosine also exclaims about how nobody can have Jill but her like how Griffith viewed Guts as his (and there's also the images that have a homoerotic undertone in both cases).
Rosine realising the truth of her ideology being false at the end is also something that makes this fight far more than a typical action sequence with her being proven that ignoring the suffering around her cannot work and once more links back to Nietzsche with his criticism of the human world/outer world dichotomy that leads to ignoring the suffering of the world (as well as sets up a major idea of the Conviction Arc and characterisation of the Holy See members) Also, this idea that suffering is inescapable links very much to the entirety of Berserk and, viewing this part as a small examination of Guts' journey, makes it apparent there certainly wouldn't have been a happy ending for him.

The exchange between Guts and Jill at the end is a great moment in what it represents for Guts' character. Jill is very much a representation of the past for Guts, so their dialogue of him saying she wouldn't last in his world is both a reminder of focusing on the present when fighting and the hold his past still has over him, something that will play an important role in his development throughout the Conviction Arc. Jill also gets some good development through it in realising she will have to fight her own battles even if of lesser value than those Guts fights. In other words, the main point of the segment is Guts acknowledging he can't forget his past, but must move on from it in order to move forward, and the imagery of the blue sky opening up after his parting with Jill is great imagery for it.

The Lost Children Chapter is an underrated and very important part of the manga in setting up important stimuli that bridge the development Guts will gain between his Black Swordsman and main Conviction Arc selves and acts as a microcosm of displaying the main ideas of the series such as confronting suffering, enduring pain and grey morality of its characters; Guts in particular. It also highlights how Guts is approaching the limits of what he can do on his own with how Puck's elf dust is probably the only reason he lived to even fight Rosine at the end and how he faces overwhelming odds throughout it that set up the need for a party and their help in later arcs. It's far from being as complex as most other arcs in the series, but it's a great representation of the series as a whole and one of the most important parts of the story as far as character development and theme exploration goes. If I were to rate it, it's at least a solid 7/10 if not an 8, let's just say 7.5/10.

Now, onto the main part of the Conviction Arc.

 

[Captain Cadaver]

Read up to the end of Volume 17.

The introduction to the main stage of the Conviction Arc establishes quite a few things well such as Guts questioning the nature and progress of his revenge mission as well as showing how his sins have manifested as the Beast of Darkness, in many ways his true enemy. One parallel that's great is how the full page of him being so distant from Femto mirrors a similar page when Griffith talks about what he considers a friend, pointing towards how a similar drastic turning point in Guts' character arc will soon take place. We also get glimpses to the effect the Lost Children events had on Guts with him opening up enough to call Puck by his name and later on swallows his pride enough to say "Thank you, O great Puck."

With the Holy Iron Chain Knights meeting Guts, it's worth noting how famous the story of Azan must be if Guts heard it as a child despite how much of a backwater band of mercenaries Gambino's group was. The events with Farnese do a great job at establishing the conflict within her in how she uses the Holy See as a way of masking her own flaws and denying her deviant nature, particularly in the possession scene in which it's apparent the actions were her desires but taken to the extreme. Also worth noting that Guts shows some fair level of restraint in not cleaving through her when he decapitates Rape Horse despite him having every right to be wanting payback, further showing how much he's trying to strive more away from his Black Swordsman characterisation. Serpico also gets more shown on him with his opportune attack on Guts highlighting his serious and tactical nature beneath the surface.

Along with building up to Griffith's return, the unified dream of everyone seeing the Hawk of Light isn't only a display of the God Hand's influence, but alludes to the connection of dreams through the multiple layers of the astral realm and links back to the Idea of Evil existing in the world of dreams. The lost chapter very much links into the whole God and humanity narrative of this arc as, with the Idea of Evil and the fate it weaves being a creation of man, it shows that mankind desired a saviour for them and Griffith being placed into that role speaks of both his charisma and the illusion he has over many.

The return to Godo's hut is one of the best parts in the entire manga. Godo continues to show his worth as a father/mentor figure to Guts with his calling out of Guts' hypocrisy helping reshape Guts' view once again, as does Rickert finding his way of moving on from sorrow. This leads to Guts making the right decision of foregoing a vengeance that was purely of his path and instead protecting what fragments still remain, very much making a strong conviction to protect Casca.

Then there's the introduction of Mozgus. Even though it characterises him well in showing how assured of his conviction of faith he is to justify all his actions, it is a bit too on the nose and one-sided as is a lot of the Conviction Arc's take on religion.

 

[Captain Cadaver]

Volume 18:

Silat shows some good development for what's quite the minor character in his cameo with him learning from his arrogance in his fight with Guts and placing value on the lives of the Bakiraka, something that also says much about how the deaths of those seen in the Golden Age impacted him.
The introduction of Isidro prior to this with him going against the typical boy who cries wolf trope works well in opening up the action scene. Isidro is perhaps the only character whose presence in the arc feels forced, however, with him being far less tied to the core narrative involving the Holy See and heretics. The comedic scenes with him and Puck are done somewhat well here...and only here with how overdone they'll be later on. He does help show how Guts views his child self, but in that aspect he's a far less subtle version of Jill.

On the flipside, we also get introduced to Luca and the prostitutes, with Luca being enough of a fleshed out character (both in characterisation and what she shows ) that she's compelling on her own and could've been a major character had Miura wished. It's nice to see her making the most of a bad situation, even if her equal distribution idea sounds a bit too much like communism .

The reveals of Serpico and Farnese's pasts are well done too with Farnese showcasing further how she uses the Holy See as a way of justifying her desires implanted during childhood whereas the burnings had a far more standard case of trauma on Serpico, with it being interesting to contrast how the two took different approaches to trauma.

 

[Captain Cadaver]

Volume 19:

Isidrobi-Wan Kenobi coming through with his use of the high ground . Seriously though, this is one of the few times where Isidro's input will be pretty valuable and it's good to see him act a little selflessly.

I'd also say Luca shows herself to be in many ways a female version of Judeau with more leadership qualities, being able to easily analyse people and see where they need some comfort or advice. On the subject of Golden Age comparisons, Jerome is also somewhat of a more noble version of Corkus, acting as the average Holy Iron Chain Knight and being fairly cynical at times yet outdoing Corkus in displaying quite the admirable side at times. You could also say Farnese reflects aspects of Casca in some ways, both being female warriors but Casca being one through dedication and wanting to show her worth whereas Farnese was elevated to the position through nepotism, which makes their friendship to be all the more interesting. In fact, viewing the arc as a parallel to the Golden Age opens up a lot of interesting points of contrast such as how the Tower of Conviction is both set up to replicate the Eclipse and is linked fairly well to the tower Griffith was kept in (particularly with how both were associated with Gaiseric).

On the subject of characterisation, we also see some subtle development in how despite his rage Guts doesn't berate Isidro after he loses sight of Casca, showing how much more level-headed and accepting of other's faults Guts has become since his meeting with Godo.

Another point to make is the constant use of eyes with the Egg of the Perfect World watching over everything. From what I'm told, it's possibly inspired by the use of eyes on a billboard in the Great Gatsby that symbolises God watching over the actions of the characters, which is very fitting for this arc.

Guts VS Serpico is one of the best fights in the manga with the great display of strategy and skill from Serpico in analysing Guts as well as Guts showing how he can go beyond what Serpico can comprehend. It also can't be ignored how similar Serpico's swordplay is to Griffith's, with Serpico in many ways being a more honest version of Griffith. It also fits when considering his name roughly means serpent in Italian and the link between reptiles and birds

 

[Captain Cadaver]

Volume 20:

The Egg of the Perfect World is easily one of the most interesting Apostles within the manga with its overall selfless goals as well as how it manipulated both factions upon the holy ground to accomplish the God Hand's desires. Luca also displays her uniqueness with her dialogue with Skull Knight. On the subject of which, Skull Knight not only points out how the events at the tower parallel the Eclipse, but also implies that causality isn't quite as predetermined as the God Hand make it out to be.

The action scene of Guts fighting Mozgus' servants is good in showing both Guts' tactics and the value the deformed group find within the Holy See, being easily the most positive light it's shown in and prevents the Nietzschen influence going full by also copying his flawed take on religion.

 

[Captain Cadaver]

Finished Volume 21 the Conviction Arc.

Puck making a Saint Seiya reference is a sign of the way his character will go downhill into a tonally inconsistent 4th wall breaker. The fight with Mozgus is otherwise pretty good though with Guts' declarations about "God" being fitting of one who went through his experiences and there's some irony to the fact he's in many ways a prophet amid blind sheep during this arc.
Luca continues to be a stand out character with her forgiveness of Nina's flaws. Even if a bit too forgiving, it serves as a reminder that there are those who will always support you no matter how far you sink, which is all the more important of a message within Berserk. Her well done maternal role does make the small part of her saying she's not even a main character even more annoying of a nitpick though considering the potential a fleshed out character like her had.

The end of the Conviction Arc is a very well done sequence with the focus on characters prioritising acting over submissiveness to their fate as well as it capturing very well Berserk's core ideas of what it means to be human. Griffith's return is also a major highlight of the arc. Not only does his incarnation and divine wonder drive further in the message of him being an Antichrist figure, but the art at many points such as his eyes make it clear he's still Femto masquerading as the old Griffith. The page of Guts angrily moving towards him before realising Casca is there and ultimately prioritising her safety is also one of the best pieces of sequential art in the manga and easily conveys visually the growth Guts has acquired throughout the arc.
The closing point of the arc ties up the character arcs well with Farnese coming to an understanding on her flaws. Nina and Joachim reconciling seems a little forced, but not too much with their similar attributes and both ultimately surviving their betrayals and persecutions.

Overall, the Conviction Arc does an excellent job exploring ideas such as the titular nature of convictions amongst its cast and the strength of their beliefs, Many of the cast and events offer good parallels and inversions of those within the Golden Age and Eclipse too, along with deeper exploration of the world building. Miura's exploration on ideas of religion, however, are a bit too much of a biased route in highlighting the flaws of it whereas the only major positive displays of it come from Azan and Mozgus' servants. Nevertheless, the Conviction Arc mostly explores its themes well with some great character writing and interesting turns in its plot. If giving it a rating, I'd probably go with a 8/10.

Now, onto the Hawk of the Millenium Empire Arc (I'll avoid calling it Millenium Falcon Arc as that's way too on the nose ).

 

[Captain Cadaver]

Volume 22:

The Guts VS Zodd rematch is a pretty good fight with how it shows Guts' progression as well as Griffith's attempt at moving on from Guts by acquiring his Apostle replacement in the new Band of the Hawk. Even though Griffith's personality is far more blunt than prior, there's still a lot of interest to be found in his character through the effect the demon child has on him and how that relates to Casca.
Beyond what is spelt out to us, there's a few interesting aspects to Serpico's flashback such as how Farnese claiming ownership of him can be compared to Griffith doing the same with Guts. Also, even back then, Freaknese was quite the kink lover . On a more serious note, I do like how it further presents Serpico as hiding his true talents, as well as how this may come from some sort of complex in being a commoner.

 

[Captain Cadaver]

Volume 23:

Guts looking after Casca as well as him forcing himself on her is one of the most complex moments in the series. Obviously, there's conflicting feelings to do with her physically being the attractive woman he remembers but being gone mentally, as well as the Beast of Darkness pointing out the burden she places on him and wanting Guts to give into his own desires with him asserting dominance in the same manner as Femto did. On top of that, the fact that Casca can be compared to a child mentally adds a further layer of torment for Guts due to his own experience facing a real beast of darkness as a child. This leading to Guts further opening up to others when scared at his own darkness also acts as great character development for him.

The events with the New Band of the Hawk do a good job introducing us to what the new key members are all about. Shame we'll never get to see what Sonia's deal is as she was set up to have some magical potential and her later friendship with Schierke may have hinted at facing her being Schierke's endgame. Also pretty terrifying to see Griffith commune with the departed souls when we're fully aware of where they'll end up.

Farnese also shows her development at the end of the volume with her acknowledging her flaws and being far too inexperienced for the situation she signed up for unlike her previous attitude. She's probably the closest member of the group to following the typical traits of the journey into the unknown/threshold crossing part of the hero's journey, making her a useful vessel for the audience with Puck's tenure in that role having expired once the Golden Age fully fleshed out Guts. On the subject of Puck, the Elf Dimension Style joke is already getting overused. RIP the days where Puck was a good character .

 

[Captain Cadaver]

Volume 24:

Isidro's actions continue to show how forced he is with the plot armour he had of surviving against a troll for a fair bit, not to mention the overall light tone of him facing this far stronger otherworldly being seeming a bit off compared to previous displays of such a scene. I will say that I at least appreciate the scene of his frustration at the introduction of Schierke to the party making him seem far more insignificant (other than Puck ruining it with his 4th wall breaking comedy).
It's also pretty noteworthy that Potato Casca is the one to discover the golem's weakness. Perhaps it was due to the magical influence present on her, or maybe another display of some of her instincts still being present.

The explanations of how Berserk's world works is surprisingly late into the manga's serialisation, but makes sense when there was never a good moment to force it into prior. As a whole, Berserk's explanation and ideas of its different realms are very interesting when it comes to things such as the strength of ideas which are prevalent throughout the themes of Berserk as a whole. The same can be said of its display of handling magic in the necessity of envisioning it and appreciating the help provided. A solid step into the more fantastical side of this dark fantasy story.

 

[Captain Cadaver]

Volume 25:

The fight at the church is a fairly good sequence with things such as Miura's creative twist on fantasy creatures like the Ogre and Kelpie as well as more exploration on the magic system with how the Kelpie's power comes from controlling lesser water elementals. On the subject of the magic, the fact the Four Elemental Kings control natural elements and can be summoned to cause damage in the physical realm seems to imply that they were the ones who destroyed Gaiseric's castle rather than the God Hand as initially implied. The only thing going against it would be the branded skulls, but that in itself seems a bit fishy when they were all branded in the same spot rather than randomly like the Band of the Hawk. If true, this would seem to suggest Gaiseric was far more dubious in life than his current skeletal persona.
As far as character moments in this volume, there's a few good ones such as Farnese facing a physical representation of her past and showing how far her desire to help Guts and Casca has changed her, Guts further showing a willingness to accept the aid of others in being a team player for Schierke as well as her emotional support and Serpico being focused enough on the current situation as to not let his disdain for Guts get in the way of protecting Farnese.
The tone and focus of the section could have easily been just a mediocre side quest, but there's enough good character moments and exploration of the world building to make it a good segment. The lighter tone of the aftermath with the priest's apology also works better than it would in most stories due to how much of a change of pace it is from the dark tone you'd expect, particularly when contrasting it to the portrayal of the Holy See in the previous arc.

The events in Qliphoth have some well done, creepy visuals all around it, the peak of which being Berserk's true God Schnoz making his appearance and cementing this section as a 10/10 . There's also some clear influence from Alien with how the newborn trolls burst out of their mother.

 

[Captain Cadaver]

Volume 26:
Slan trolled Guts with troll guts . As for her taunts, with all we know of Behelits, I don't believe Guts would've been able to use it if he wanted and her words were more to anger him. Also, Skull Knight calling her the Whore Princess of the Uterine Sea is the most eloquent and best way a guy's ever labelled someone as a thot . Also, it's good to see Guts further open up by offering words of support to both Isidro and Schierke as well as later rely on the latter's abilities, particularly with him acknowledging he's forming a bond with his party similar to that of the Band of the Hawk and is accepting of them rather than pushing them away in fear.
Along with the obvious reference to Nietsche that'll become extremely relevant soon with the Berserker Armour, Flora's words when Schierke is seeking the Rotting Wood Lord seems to imply there's a 5th element of darkness much as how Japanese philosophy on the elements such as Miyamoto Musashi's Gorin no Sho speak of the Void (no pun intended) element along with those of Fire, Water, Earth and Wind, perhaps hinting at a secret 5th Elemental King. This would help clear up the conflicting accounts of the number of angels in Charlotte and Casca's story of Gaiseric assuming the Kings were the angels present and not the God Hand.

The introduction of the Berserker Armour is great and one of the few cases where a sudden power up is executed well rather than feeling like an asspull, not only does it tie into the core message of Berserk in not letting one's hate and emotions overwhelm them, but is also the personification on the flaws of Guts' philosophy in battle of putting his body in constant risk. In particular, how it morphs to become a representation of the wearer's id and inner darkness showcases its message very well and the struggles Guts has gone through to get to this point make it an earned necessity from both a story and character perspective that needn't require some training arc or additional test to offer the emotional payoff for the audience. Moreover, it's less of a case of strengthening or protecting the wearer and purely possessing them and stopping the pain of their injuries, making it both the most unique and best usage of an out of control transformation in manga.

 

[Captain Cadaver]

Volume 27:

The display of how the Berserker Armour forces bones and muscles back together by piercing them further shows how it's far from a helpful transformation and one that actively serves as a display of how rage leads to destruction of one's self, as does the reveal that Skull Knight was its previous wearer.

The change of point of view to Windham presents a few noteworthy facts and questions. I have to wonder how much time had passed since the start of the arc given how time flows differently in the Astral Realm such as Flora's home. Ganiskha implies it hasn't been long since the Bakiraka confronted Griffith, but it also was long enough that the Kushan could completely conquer Windham. Also, I've got to wonder how Locus managed to pierce both groups of Daka with each side of his lance simultaneously. Maybe he stabbed them one at a time too fast to be seen . The ideas of the Pishacha and the Daka are good though, particularly with how the process of the Daka's creation is a more complex and artificial version of how the trolls are born as well as showcases the flaw in Ganishka's plan of wishing to strive beyond the God Hand despite relying on the power granted by them to do so.

Farnese also further showcases how she's one of the characters whose personality and nature completely changes from her introduction until the end of the series with her desire to learn what she once oppressed.

 

[SSJ2]

Not to derail your thread but why weren't Locus or Grunbeld at the eclipse?

 

[Papasmurf]

Not to derail your thread but why weren't Locus or Grunbeld at the eclipse?

Probably for the same reason Zodd didn't appear, they thought it was a dirty and indulgent spree. Rosine didn't appear either for some reason.

 

[SSJ2]

Zodd technically was there though. And I thought Rosine was seen prior to the eclipse when some of the Hawks were killed.

 

[Captain Cadaver]

Zodd technically was there though. And I thought Rosine was seen prior to the eclipse when some of the Hawks were killed.

She killed the reserve members of the Hawks just prior to it, but she never appeared in one panel of the actual Eclipse, something pretty strange if she was there when Miura used it to further tie in Guts' Apostle foes into his quest for revenge such as the Count killing Pippin. I can imagine Rosine as leaving completely after being threatened by Skull Knight when considering Apostles don't necessarily seem to need to feast on humans and her main goal is to pretend to be an elf rather than fully indulging in eating humans.

As for Locus and Grunbeld, Kenshi's most likely right in that their honourable nature probably gave them a similar attitude to it as Zodd and, unlike him, they weren't anticipating Skull Knight as a reason to act as guards.

 

[Papasmurf]

Zodd technically was there though. And I thought Rosine was seen prior to the eclipse when some of the Hawks were killed.

Rosine wasn't at the actual Eclipse, she just ate the members of Rickert's division along with the Count. Zodd only played the role of the guard for the gate because it was a chance to fight Skully, whom he viewed as a notch above any Apostle.