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Berserk |OT| - Big men, bigger swords, OFF THE BOAT - Berserk #344 24/6/2016

Morning commute read...WHAT THE FUCK IS GOING ON?!!!!!!! This shit is fucking bonkers what the fuck!!!!!!!I'm just reading this wit a contorted face. It's like in the end of Evangelion when Shinji sees Asuka being eaten HOLY FUCK!!!!
 

Tizoc

Member
I think berserk is much better in that regard :p

End of Evangelion was so much wut I just fast forwarded through it.
Also it grossed me out, eugh.
 
I think berserk is much better in that regard :p

End of Evangelion was so much wut I just fast forwarded through it.
Also it grossed me out, eugh.
Oh they don't even compare. That's just how crazy my face ended up being. I'll write up a proper reaction post when I get to a computer. God fucking damn.
 
So I was pretty much reading Volume 13 on a public train next to a random woman fighting the urge to react like this:
Star-Trek.gif

tumblr_mi8mwc5Cfe1rdxswoo1_500.gif

That was the craziest thing I have ever read. The carnage, bloodshed and grotesque imagery was on over drive. Somebody really needs to ask Miura how many mouths an organism needs to have cause holy shit the demon designs were crazy. It answered a lot of questions that I was wondering about when I started reading this. What the fuck is Femto anyway?
If those four uber demons are the God Hand then it looks like the world is fucked. I still have to finish 13 and 14 after work, but it looks like with the Eclipse it leads to the world being over ran with demons cause there weren't a lot of them outside of a couple, those being the more powerful ones before it. And I really really...like really feel so bad for Caska cause holy fuck she didn't deserve that shit.
 

Azuran

Banned
lmao this place just became as good as every 999 and Danganronpa thread.

I love it when people don't spoil themselves with huge twists. The reactions are always so good.
 
Wait, Jaded did you read Golden Age first?
I was actually reading it from the very beginning but then I got into a conversation with Veelk and he told me to stop reading it when I was in the middle of volume two and just go straight into Golden Age.
lmao this place just became as good as every 999 and Danganronpa thread.

I love it when people don't spoil themselves with huge twists. The reactions are always so good.
I'm actually quite sure Guts wishes he was just in a Danganronpa game, seems easier to deal with. At least with that you don't have to worry about
watching demons explode out of your friends head or the love of your life getting raped in front of you by the godlike vessel of your best friend.
And the fucking demon design, the fucking God Hand, like fucking seriously. I love how I can boil one of them down to being Rated X Morrigan.
 

Veelk

Banned
Now that he's been all caught up, I can post this thing. I managed to convince him that the griffith spoiler was that he was crippled and living with caska.

0phk1se.jpg
 

Veelk

Banned
Jaded, here's that post I made a while back that analyzes what I think Griffith's mind process was.

http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showpost.php?p=132927920&postcount=937

And I believed you. Mother of God. Eat a dick lol.

This is what I do to people. When a friend was reading ASOIAF, I managed to get him excited for when Ned and Jon would meet up at the wall once he found out that he was going to be tried as a traitor and then given the opportunity to leave for the wall.

And then I talked about the way the War would end
once Rob had the Freys back on his side
.

I'm evil and I love it.
 

Veelk

Banned
If it makes you feel better Jaded, the demon that killed Corkus is the one that got murderboned by guts in the first chapter

Another reason why I think it's better to start with the Golden Age. By the time the Golden Age has ended, you realize that Guts just isn't the kind of guy to sleep around, let alone legitimately have sex with something he hates with the burning fury of a thousand supernovas. His having sex with that female demon is just bizarre in retrospect and doesn't fit his character.
 
If it makes you feel better Jaded, the demon that killed Corkus is the one that got murderboned by guts in the first chapter
I did make that realization while I was in the bathroom this morning.
Jaded, here's that post I made a while back that analyzes what I think Griffith's mind process was.

http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showpost.php?p=132927920&postcount=937



This is what I do to people. When a friend was reading ASOIAF, I managed to get him excited for when Ned and Jon would meet up at the wall once he found out that he was going to be tried as a traitor and then given the opportunity to leave for the wall.

And then I talked about the way the War would end
once Rob had the Freys back on his side
.

I'm evil and I love it.
This must have been you when he found out the truth:
cartman-tears.gif
 

Azuran

Banned
Another reason why I think it's better to start with the Golden Age. By the time the Golden Age has ended, you realize that Guts just isn't the kind of guy to sleep around, let alone legitimately have sex with something he hates with the burning fury of a thousand supernovas. His having sex with that female demon is just bizarre in retrospect and doesn't fit his character.

Yeah there's weird stuff in the first few volumes but I still wouldn't advised anyone to skip them. Part of the experience is seeing Guts being a complete and utter asshole to everyone especially to Puck, and most of that happens in the first few volumes.

It also makes the moment where he accepts him as his friend a little bit more heartwarming (and that's a lot in this type of story)
 

Veelk

Banned
This must have been you when he found out the truth:
I prefer to think of myself as the more sophisticated Mason Verger when I'm in a tear drinking mood.

Like so.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jvGThfu20Hk

Yeah there's weird stuff in the first few volumes but I still wouldn't advised anyone to skip them. Part of the experience is seeing Guts being a complete and utter asshole to everyone especially to Puck, and most of that happens in the first few volumes.

It also makes the moment where he accepts him as his friend a little bit more heartwarming (and that's a lot in this type of story)

I don't advise him to skip them, just read the Golden Age first, and then the first 3 volumes. The story just works better chronologically imo.
 
I prefer to think of myself as the more sophisticated Mason Verger when I'm in a tear drinking mood.

Like so.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jvGThfu20Hk



I don't advise him to skip them, just read the Golden Age first, and then the first 3 volumes. The story just works better chronologically imo.
Oddly fitting for this thread. Yeah I do have to go back and reread those actually cause it put a lot of stuff in perspective and I don't have to wonder why Guts constantly walks around with one eye open anymore. And yeah now I do not blame Guts for being an asshole all the god damn time now, he has his reasons. While we're on that subject why the hell would Guts even allow that female demon to even touch him? He snaps at anyone and anything when it comes to physical touch.
 
At least it's not as weird as Miura's original one shot prototype, where Guts is a devil may care sarcastic rogue like Yusuke Urameshi or something.
 
Doesn't Devilman have a gory as fuck OVA or something? I really need to either read or watch Fist of the North Star.

Yeah it does, since Devilman is gory as hell. Actually when you read Devilman, you can see just how much Miura draws inspiration from it, particularly when it comes to creature designs (Go Nagai was making fucked up human/animal hybrids and putting mouths where genitals are supposed to be long before Miura) the tragic romance, and the relationship between the hotblooded black haired lead and the androgynous white haired antagonist/co-protagonist. Hell there's even some times in Berserk where the pages and drawings resemble Devilman pages. Berserk is the better manga, mainly due to the scope of the scope of the story and the depth of the characters (Devilman is petty old) but it owes alot to it just the same.
 
Yeah it does, since Devilman is gory as hell. Actually when you read Devilman, you can see just how much Miura draws inspiration from it, particularly when it comes to creature designs (Go Nagai was making fucked up human/animal hybrids and putting mouths where genitals are supposed to be long before Miura) the tragic romance, and the relationship between the hotblooded black haired lead and the androgynous white haired antagonist/co-protagonist. Hell there's even some times in Berserk where the pages and drawings resemble Devilman pages. Berserk is the better manga, mainly due to the scope of the scope of the story and the depth of the characters (Devilman is petty old) but it owes alot to it just the same.
I keep forgetting Go Nagai of Cutie Honey and Mazinger fame made Devilman...was Nagai smoking something during this time frame? Since I'm quite sure the Devilman OVA is 80's or early 90's I'm quite sure it's excessive. I should watch it sometime.
Just starting to read that big ass Veelk post. Anybody here think that Griffith is more or less a sociopath acting human? I mean he does "feel" things, but he has seemed to be quite confused by his actual emotions. He loves Caska and Guts, but never really knows how to act on it. He toyed around with Charlotte mainly to use her as a political chess piece and when everything regarding Guts didn't go his way he just snaps and rapes her. There is probably another chance that Femto is just his split personality really cause some of the shit the Griffith does is weird. Dude can be friendly one minute and detached the next. He's only really been an actual person to two people being Guts and Caska. The rest he just toys around with people.
 

Moaradin

Member
Oddly fitting for this thread. Yeah I do have to go back and reread those actually cause it put a lot of stuff in perspective and I don't have to wonder why Guts constantly walks around with one eye open anymore. And yeah now I do not blame Guts for being an asshole all the god damn time now, he has his reasons. While we're on that subject why the hell would Guts even allow that female demon to even touch him? He snaps at anyone and anything when it comes to physical touch.

The early berserk chapters are a little rough and Miura probably didn't have it all figured out by then. There was a huge gap between the first few volumes and by the time Golden Age ended. Everything got so much better during Golden Age. Should be pretty interesting to go back to those earlier chapters lol
 
The early berserk chapters are a little rough and Miura probably didn't have it all figured out by then. There was a huge gap between the first few volumes and by the time Golden Age ended. Everything got so much better during Golden Age. Should be pretty interesting to go back to those earlier chapters lol
This is true. They felt like two different stories almost and Golden Age makes Guts a thousand times more likable. At first I read the first volume and continued with it for the body count and gorn. By the time I was done with Golden Age it was because I liked the characters.
 

Veelk

Banned
The good thing is that Gut's being horrible is completely earned. In a way, he's reverted back to the person he was at the Golden Age beginning, after he ran away from Gambino's mercenary band. He didn't trust anyone then, and was bitterly hostile. Pippin had to literally drag him kicking and screaming into their inner circle of friendship, or else Guts would have just remained distant.

The reason Guts was as hostile as he was was because Gambino betrayed him in such a dark way. Griffith now did the same, but worse. Every time poor Guts lets someone in, they shred his heart and he goes into a very dark place. And people die, so it's unfortunate for everyone involved.
 
The good thing is that Gut's being horrible is completely earned. In a way, he's reverted back to the person he was at the Golden Age beginning, after he ran away from Gambino's mercenary band. He didn't trust anyone then, and was bitterly hostile. Pippin had to literally drag him kicking and screaming into their inner circle of friendship, or else Guts would have just remained distant.

The reason Guts was as hostile as he was was because Gambino betrayed him in such a dark way. Griffith now did the same, but worse. Every time poor Guts lets someone in, they shred his heart and he goes into a very dark place. And people die, so it's unfortunate for everyone involved.
So Guts essentially has Jack Bauer Syndrome? But I will agree it did feel pretty earned after seeing his childhood his behavior made perfect sense, including his name, since he was born from a carcass and has been covered in guts since the day he was born. Tossing what Gambino did to him, just cause he could was just fucked up.
 

Veelk

Banned
So Guts essentially has Jack Bauer Syndrome?

I feel like no character in Berserk can be fairly reduced to any single trope or whatever.

But yeah, sure. He's a guy who shouldn't have people he cares about (and he knows it) but it makes him sad, lonely, angry and generally mentally distressed.

Friends. Can't live with them, is a homocidal maniac without them.
 
I feel like no character in Berserk can be fairly reduced to any single trope or whatever.

But yeah, sure. He's a guy who shouldn't have people he cares about (and he knows it) but it makes him sad, lonely, angry and generally mentally distressed.

Friends. Can't live with them, is a homocidal maniac without them.
And then he gets his body count tripling power up whenever something bad happens to them ala Jack Bauer. All joking aside Guts actually is a fairly complex character. He has his own code, it's warped as fuck but he adheres to it. You don't get on what's left of his good side easily, that's for damn sure. I finished volume 14 and Caska was made to suffer wasn't she? I'm also getting that weird urge that
the demon baby that fell out of her and crossed over to the other side is going to appear again.
 

Veelk

Banned
And then he gets his body count tripling power up whenever something bad happens to them ala Jack Bauer. All joking aside Guts actually is a fairly complex character. He has his own code, it's warped as fuck but he adheres to it. You don't get on what's left of his good side easily, that's for damn sure. I finished volume 14 and Caska was made to suffer wasn't she? I'm also getting that weird urge that
the demon baby that fell out of her and crossed over to the other side is going to appear again.

As a matter of fact, you'll spot the demon baby when you reread Volumes 1-3. Gonna be totally a different experience now.

Also, this is a minor spoiler, but it relates to gut's character change. Whereas he is a complete beligerant asshole during the first 3 volumes, even there it's indicated that he's not all darkness underneath. I don't recommend reading the spoiler, but since you'll be done pretty fast with the volumes anyway, it's not as big a deal if you do.

After the first arc is over, the little girl blames Guts for basically everything that happened. She yells at him, screaming how she hates him. Now, if Guts wasn't atleast a little affected by the evil persona he now puts on, he wouldn't make this face at the end

http://i.imgur.com/aWwCUl1.png
 
As a matter of fact, you'll spot the demon baby when you reread Volumes 1-3. Gonna be totally a different experience now.

Also, this is a minor spoiler, but it relates to gut's character change. Whereas he is a complete beligerant asshole during the first 3 volumes, even there it's indicated that he's not all darkness underneath. I don't recommend reading the spoiler, but since you'll be done pretty fast with the volumes anyway, it's not as big a deal if you do.

After the first arc is over, the little girl blames Guts for basically everything that happened. She yells at him, screaming how she hates him. Now, if Guts wasn't atleast a little affected by the evil persona he now puts on, he wouldn't make this face at the end

http://i.imgur.com/aWwCUl1.png
Damn, if he was all bad he wouldn't have rescued Puck, but he did. Granted he might feel like he owes something to Faeries since he's only alive because of their healing fairy dust. Still can't believe fucking Skull Knight is a good guy. How is the anime dub? I'm going to eventually start watching it.
 

Moaradin

Member
Berserk dub is pretty great. One of the better ones from that time. They keep mostly the same cast for the Berserk movies, which is nice. The Japanese version got entirely new actors.
 

Veelk

Banned
I wish they'd do a proper berserk adaptation ala Hellsing Ultimate OVA's. The OVA's aren't perfectly perfect but they captured the spirit of the art into animation. The normal anime tried to do the Golden Age justice, but couldn't do it in 26 episodes with a low animation budget. With the movies, they had the animations (arguably), but not the time to let the story breathe as it should.

If we had something like the Hellsing Ultimate OVA, it'd be super slow going, but we would have the Berserk we need at the quality it deserves.
 

Jarnet87

Member
Great, I'll probably watch both. I almost need to see that epic act of depravity animated...I needs it.

The anime series is well done and has great music. I started with the series on thanksgiving last year abd got hooked right away. Watched all the episodes and started reading the manga. I'll probably revisit the anime series again when I have another long break.
 
I wish they'd do a proper berserk adaptation ala Hellsing Ultimate OVA's. The OVA's aren't perfectly perfect but they captured the spirit of the art into animation. The normal anime tried to do the Golden Age justice, but couldn't do it in 26 episodes with a low animation budget. With the movies, they had the animations (arguably), but not the time to let the story breathe as it should.

If we had something like the Hellsing Ultimate OVA, it'd be super slow going, but we would have the Berserk we need at the quality it deserves.
Sadly nothing is ever done perfectly. I have the same complaints with the Guyver series, that's never going to get a good anime. I think that's why I'm going to give both a run through. I think they're not sure if the market is there for a full fledged show...besides it's Berserk, can probably only be done properly as an OVA anyway. Dude killed 10 people in 5 pages or some shit in volume 1.
 
As a matter of fact, you'll spot the demon baby when you reread Volumes 1-3. Gonna be totally a different experience now.

Also, this is a minor spoiler, but it relates to gut's character change. Whereas he is a complete beligerant asshole during the first 3 volumes, even there it's indicated that he's not all darkness underneath. I don't recommend reading the spoiler, but since you'll be done pretty fast with the volumes anyway, it's not as big a deal if you do.

After the first arc is over, the little girl blames Guts for basically everything that happened. She yells at him, screaming how she hates him. Now, if Guts wasn't atleast a little affected by the evil persona he now puts on, he wouldn't make this face at the end

http://i.imgur.com/aWwCUl1.png

We can see hints this even earlier, when Guts and Puck meet up with wagon girl and her father. When the girl gets possessed and kills her father, Guts has a look of horror on his face as he flashes back to how innocent she was before and freezes enough to get stabbed. When he snaps out of it and kills her, he's trying not to vomit as he fights the demons around him, and finally reverts to bestial flailing to survive. In the end, he's leaning against his sword glancing at her, and Puck attempts to console him which he quickly rebukes with his "people who are weak die." The demons of the forest taunt him, which he responds by firing his arm cannon in an act of defiance, while at the same time having a face of childlike terror and desperation/hysteria in his eyes. Puck doesn't even criticize him, he just looks around sadly at the kind of life guts has to live.

It's a fantastic sequence, even in the earlier, "rougher" chapters.
 
We can see hints this even earlier, when Guts and Puck meet up with wagon girl and her father. When the girl gets possessed and kills her father, Guts has a look of horror on his face as he flashes back to how innocent she was before and freezes enough to get stabbed. When he snaps out of it and kills her, he's trying not to vomit as he fights the demons around him, and finally reverts to bestial flailing to survive. In the end, he's leaning against his sword glancing at her, and Puck attempts to console him which he quickly rebukes with his "people who are weak die." The demons of the forest taunt him, which he responds by firing his arm cannon in an act of defiance, while at the same time having a face of childlike terror and desperation/hysteria in his eyes. Puck doesn't even criticize him, he just looks around sadly at the kind of life guts has to live.

It's a fantastic sequence, even in the earlier, "rougher" chapters.
Yep...I really have to start from the beginning again. I almost forgot how fucked up that sequence was.
 

Veelk

Banned
We can see hints this even earlier, when Guts and Puck meet up with wagon girl and her father. When the girl gets possessed and kills her father, Guts has a look of horror on his face as he flashes back to how innocent she was before and freezes enough to get stabbed. When he snaps out of it and kills her, he's trying not to vomit as he fights the demons around him, and finally reverts to bestial flailing to survive. In the end, he's leaning against his sword glancing at her, and Puck attempts to console him which he quickly rebukes with his "people who are weak die." The demons of the forest taunt him, which he responds by firing his arm cannon in an act of defiance, while at the same time having a face of childlike terror and desperation/hysteria in his eyes. Puck doesn't even criticize him, he just looks around sadly at the kind of life guts has to live.

It's a fantastic sequence, even in the earlier, "rougher" chapters.

I suppose that's true. Yet another parallel between Griffith and Guts, I suppose. In order to not deal with his guilt over the pain and suffering he causes, Griffith tries to put on a holier-than-thou persona of being above something as petty as human morality. Guts was pretty happy being an honest guy, for the most part, but in his traumatic state, whenever he sees tragedy, he puts on this nihilistic air where he likes to pretend nothing matters.
It makes the whole call out scene way later when he revisits the blacksmith even more legitimate.


Jaded, I'm curious. How do you feel about each character now that it's all over. You had Griffith pegged as your boy, your husbando. What now? How do you view Caska? Guts?
 
I love a good villain so I'm still enamored by Griffith. Makes me want to reread all of Golden Age knowing what Griffith devolves or well I guess evolves into. Really puts his air of noble bullshit into perspective especially with how he tries to just make everybody his pawn that he doesn't care about, yet meanwhile he cares about them. He seems to use rousing speeches to mask his actual feelings. Guts grew on me a lot actually seeing how he actually used to be and seeing that he can form bonds of friendship. Guts is still simpler than Griffith, but he's complex in his own way. I like Caska a lot still, but I really just feel sorry for her. She got so much strength through her worship of Griffith, but now whatever strength she had is gone and I honestly hope she finds a way to remember what she used to have and was. Now she just seems like a feral creature and I really feel sorry for her.
 

Mr Git

Member
I wish they'd do a proper berserk adaptation ala Hellsing Ultimate OVA's. The OVA's aren't perfectly perfect but they captured the spirit of the art into animation. The normal anime tried to do the Golden Age justice, but couldn't do it in 26 episodes with a low animation budget. With the movies, they had the animations (arguably), but not the time to let the story breathe as it should.

If we had something like the Hellsing Ultimate OVA, it'd be super slow going, but we would have the Berserk we need at the quality it deserves.

I would love this but Hellsing Ultimate took so long I can't imagine how long we'd be waiting for a Berserk version. I'm just looking forward to seeing something other than Golden Age animated - as much as I love it, there's just so much more I'd love to see.
 
I like how both the manga and anime take the time necessary to show you just how depraved the men are before Guts kills them. You almost actually have to read the manga first because the anime shows you Griffith as Femto before you even see Griffith the man.
 
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