Berserk: it finally happened

bartholen_v1legacy

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I don't even know what to say.

It truly felt like this day would never, ever come.

Like, genuinely.

But after over two decades...

[HEADING=1]She's back, baby![/HEADING]



I'm seriously just shaking. This is probably on par with getting an announcement that both Half-Life 3 and Winds of Winter are getting released next month. It really feels like this is something that just should not ever have come to pass. How could it? For so long Berserk seemed to be another doomed property, another thing that stretched farther than its creator could, and which would remain forever unresolved. Well, there's still no certainty that it won't end up as such, but this is still one hell of a milestone, in the making for over 20 years. Thousands of people have been born, reached adulthood and died in the time it took to get here.

Is this what death feels like? Have I ascended into the afterlife?
Thoughts?
 

Ogoid

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bartholen said:
Thoughts?
Well, that took Miura long enough, didn't it? Christ, I was a teenager when I first heard of Berserk.

As far as the story goes, though... it's not going to end well, that's for sure.
 

Samtemdo8_v1legacy

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And I feel I should get into Beserk now.....until I after I finshed getting into Conan the Barbarain.

And regarding your feelings on the Spoiler, its the same feelings I would get once Luffy and Crew finally discover The One Piece.

So I know that charcater is Gutz love interest and the main antagonist (the white haired prince looking charcater) sort of "killed" her that resulted in her getting her and Gutz' unborn baby's fetus aborted or something to that effect? And does Gutz know about her apperent return to life?
 

Tanis

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Aug 30, 2010
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First we get off the boat, and now this?

Whiny little 'Game of Thrones' fans ain't got nothing on us Berserk fans when it comes to THE WAIT.
 

Samtemdo8_v1legacy

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Tanis said:
First we get off the boat, and now this?

Whiny little 'Game of Thrones' fans ain't got nothing on us Berserk fans when it comes to THE WAIT.
Conan the Barbarian fans are still waiting for THIS to be a movie:

 

Casual Shinji

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As much as I love Berserk, I'm left shrugging at this.

The series has steadily declined in quality since the Tower of Conviction arc, and just because Guts got off the boat and Casca got her personality back doesn't make it any less of a bit shit. Even the way it handled the "salvage mission" feels amateuristic compared to how it portrayed similarly heavy/intricate matters in its earlier years.

I'm only checking up on it occassionally out of obligation, but that's really it. Maybe things will get a bit more interesting and involving now that Casca's back, but I highly doubt it.

They also made Casca's face too childlike, probably because of the change in art style due to going digital. She's supposed to be the same age as Guts, yet her face looks like she's barely 17. I know she lost some bulk over the years due to no longer living the warrior life, but this doesn't decrease her age does it? I mean she looks older during the Golden Age arc. Even her eyebrows got slimmed down. If I didn't know any better, judging just from her face, I'd think she was an elf like Puck.

So yeah, Casca's back, but current Berserk is still shit.
 

gigastar

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Sep 13, 2010
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Might be time to catch up at last.

Then wait in agony for the next chapter.
 

bartholen_v1legacy

A dyslexic man walks into a bra.
Jan 24, 2009
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gigastar said:
Might be time to catch up at last.

Then wait in agony for the next chapter.
As astonishing as it is to say, Berserk has been pretty steady for the past 4 months. While that's not exactly a concrete promise of the schedule improving, I'll take it any day over the fucking year-long hiatuses.
 

gigastar

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bartholen said:
gigastar said:
Might be time to catch up at last.

Then wait in agony for the next chapter.
As astonishing as it is to say, Berserk has been pretty steady for the past 4 months. While that's not exactly a concrete promise of the schedule improving, I'll take it any day over the fucking year-long hiatuses.
Strange that, i recall there was almost a year hiatus before these 4 months of steady releases.
 

Samtemdo8_v1legacy

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bartholen said:
gigastar said:
Might be time to catch up at last.

Then wait in agony for the next chapter.
As astonishing as it is to say, Berserk has been pretty steady for the past 4 months. While that's not exactly a concrete promise of the schedule improving, I'll take it any day over the fucking year-long hiatuses.
So how did Casca came back to life?
 

Casual Shinji

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Samtemdo8 said:
So how did Casca came back to life?
She didn't, she was already alive.

She was "simply" traumatized into retardation, to put it bluntly. Mindbroken.
 

Samtemdo8_v1legacy

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Casual Shinji said:
Samtemdo8 said:
So how did Casca came back to life?
She didn't, she was already alive.

She was "simply" traumatized into retardation, to put it bluntly. Mindbroken.
Because Griffith? basically aborted her and Gutz's unborn child/fetus and mutated into some Cronenberg Abomination to fuck with Gutz because he's that kind of asshole?
 

Chimpzy_v1legacy

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Samtemdo8 said:
Casual Shinji said:
Samtemdo8 said:
So how did Casca came back to life?
She didn't, she was already alive.

She was "simply" traumatized into retardation, to put it bluntly. Mindbroken.
Because Griffith? basically aborted her and Gutz's unborn child/fetus and mutated into some Cronenberg Abomination to fuck with Gutz because he's that kind of asshole?
No, it was because Griffith sold out Gutz, Casca and the entire Band of the Hawk out to be gruesomely slaughtered in a blood sacrifice so he could become the 5th member of the Godhand. Except for Casca, who got the horrible honor of being raped till her mind broke first (he also made Gutz watch, for kicks).
 

Samtemdo8_v1legacy

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Chimpzy said:
Samtemdo8 said:
Casual Shinji said:
Samtemdo8 said:
So how did Casca came back to life?
She didn't, she was already alive.

She was "simply" traumatized into retardation, to put it bluntly. Mindbroken.
Because Griffith? basically aborted her and Gutz's unborn child/fetus and mutated into some Cronenberg Abomination to fuck with Gutz because he's that kind of asshole?
No, it was because Griffith sold out Gutz, Casca and the entire Band of the Hawk out to be gruesomely slaughtered in a blood sacrifice so he could become the 5th member of the Godhand. Except for Casca, who got the horrible honor of being raped till her mind broke first (he also made Gutz watch, for kicks).

Hmm you know maybe she should have stayed dead inside/mindbroken. After that gruesome experiance I feel it should have served as some form of lesson that Gutz should take to heart.

And now he's retribution against Griffith is gonna feel less impactful now that Casca's back to normal.

Unless there was always hints and possibilites that Casca could come back to normal before this new reveal happened?
 

Casual Shinji

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Samtemdo8 said:
Hmm you know maybe she should have stayed dead inside/mindbroken. After that gruesome experiance I feel it should have served as some form of lesson that Gutz should take to heart.
This is sort of suggested throughout the story.

Like someone who isn't able to deal with the trauma of a loved one, Guts hasn't exactly made the best decisions regarding Casca. He goes out to regain Caska's mind, not because it's necessarily the best thing for her, but because he wants the woman he loved back. He's also specifically told that what he wants might not be what she wants.
 

Samtemdo8_v1legacy

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Casual Shinji said:
Samtemdo8 said:
Hmm you know maybe she should have stayed dead inside/mindbroken. After that gruesome experiance I feel it should have served as some form of lesson that Gutz should take to heart.
This is sort of suggested throughout the story.

Like someone who isn't able to deal with the trauma of a loved one, Guts hasn't exactly made the best decisions regarding Casca. He goes out to regain Caska's mind, not because it's necessarily the best thing for her, but because he wants the woman he loved back. He's also specifically told that what he wants might not be what she wants.
Ok I gotta ask and I am being serious here, why is this series called Berserk? And why is the main character named Guts?

That sounds like a name you would give to a parody of character like its the name of a Comedic Parody of any Warrior charcater in anything.
 

TWRule

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Samtemdo8 said:
Ok I gotta ask and I am being serious here, why is this series called Berserk? And why is the main character named Guts?

That sounds like a name you would give to a parody of character like its the name of a Comedic Parody of any Warrior charcater in anything.
I don't know the author's reasons for the series' name, but if I had to speculate:

The series is called "Berzerk" after Guts, who fights without any sense of meaning or desire to continue living (especially prior to his relationship with Casca and the original band of the Hawk) - and later as much out of a need for vengeance as anything. He fights like a "Berzerker" - one who is fiercer in combat thanks to his utter disregard for his own survival. The "Berzerker armor" he gets midway through the series just emphasizes this. In other words, the series is about Guts' search for meaning - for a reason to care about his own life.

As for Guts' name:

The in-universe reasons: I forget if it's ever made clear who named Guts, but I imagine Guts' antagonistic adopted father named him ironically, as a reference to the circumstances surrounding Guts' birth (how he was 'born' from his mother's rotting corpse).

The out-of-universe reason: Miura thought it sounded German and heroic (https://www.reddit.com/r/Berserk/comments/3hd7gf/origin_of_guts_name/).

If I were to add to that, I'd say that in a way it's fitting to the themes of the series, which emphasizes the flesh and blood material physiology of both humans and demons. Emphasizing the viscerally bodily nature of human existence seems like a way into highlighting the need for an answer to the question of the meaning of life (which, as I explained, is what the series is about). By emphasizing the idea that human beings might just be material objects, no different from any other, thus that death is the end, etc., the question of how our lives can be meaningful seems to become more pressing. Of course, the bravery/fortitude of the one seeking meaning (Guts) seems implied too, especially since he has no guarantee that he will ever "find what he's looking for", and it may be that his efforts only amount to senseless suffering.
 

Ogoid

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Re: Guts' name... in one of those coincidences Jung would probably chalk up to synchronicity, there actually existed a Germanic knight with a similar-sounding name who also happened to have a metal prosthetic arm [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/G%C3%B6tz_von_Berlichingen], even though Miura couldn't reasonably be expected to know anything about him.
 

Casual Shinji

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Samtemdo8 said:
Ok I gotta ask and I am being serious here, why is this series called Berserk? And why is the main character named Guts?

That sounds like a name you would give to a parody of character like its the name of a Comedic Parody of any Warrior charcater in anything.
It's called Berserk, because that's kinda the state that Guts is in after what Griffith pulled. There's plenty of panels that show how inhumanly insane with rage and bloodlust Guts gets during combat.

As for why Guts is named 'Guts'... This is a medieval setting where last names are only reserved for nobles, and where the commoners generally have very basic and/or crude names. Griffith is only called 'Griffith', and Caska is only called 'Caska'. It also was very common for someone to be named after their profession (Guts tends to slauther a lot).

Guts' name also stems from him being seen as worthless muck by his adopted father. Another word for guts is offal, which I believe in the olden days was used as an insult, and I assume where the word 'awful' comes from.

When I first heard his name before reading the manga I thought it was similarly a generic badass name, but once I got into the story I realized the name makes perfect sense.