mastermistressofdesire:

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mastermistressofdesire:

bthump:

Also related to that last ask but my response was getting way too long so I’ll mention this separately:

I feel like part of my problem with the current lighter tone is that a lot of the darkness, specifically the emotional angst, of Berserk so far was based on the fact that all the main characters are traumatized and have shitty coping mechanisms. Guts Casca and Griffith sure, and also Farnese and Serpico (neglected throughout childhood and coped by burning people alive and terrorizing ppl, and abused by peers and Farnese + weird expectations from his mother and coped by becoming an unfeeling doormat). And none of them have really dealt with it?

Griff transformed into a monster so fine his story has a conclusion, and Casca’s is maybe coming to fruition soon, but Guts’ trauma just transferred from rape and abuse to feeling manpain about Casca’s trauma, which is a huge disservice to both characters if it’s never brought up again and dealt with.

And while Farnese is bettering herself we’ve never really seen her actual issues addressed, and her whole sadism burning ppl alive thing just kind of easily melted away in favour of a new helping someone philosophy. I wished for more internal conflict there, basically, and I hope it’s addressed in the future but for now it seems like a pretty abrupt change and a missed opportunity. And Serpico is still Serpico. He hasn’t changed a whole lot but his issues haven’t negatively impacted anything either.

In the Golden Age all the psychological baggage these characters had contributed to its absolute disaster of a climax. And I’d love, love to see that happen again, esp with Farnese and Serpico adding more shit to the pile, or I’d love to see their issues flare up but have them manage to overcome them now that they’ve grown in a happier, healthier contrast to the Golden Age.

But throughout the Millenium Empire arc all these issues the characters have never really affected them adversely. I’m hoping that now that we’re delving into Casca’s psyche things will start to snowball and we’ll see that these traumas haven’t just been forgotten but only put on hold for a while so this group can be happy and hopeful.

But for now I do miss reading about fucked up characters and the internal and external challenges posed by their issues.

The weird part is actually, that sometimes I think, objectively, the manga hasn’t become lighter since the Golden age. The Lost Children and Tower of Conviction arc were pretty fucked up and even now we’ve had troll rapes, the daka demons ripping out uterus es, people being eaten alive, a lot of really weird ass and perverted monstrosities.

But it’s simply that the fucked up Ness isn’t viscerally gripping anymore.

In the Golden age we we’re first introduced to characters, made to care about them by slowly revealing both their strengths and flaws and slowly, insidiously piling on the foreshadowing and layers of emotional as well as external fuckery.

It felt so dark because we cared about the people it was happening to.

In recent chapters the characters are introduced along with the ‘darkness’ bringing it forward as a part of their plotlines. Even Farnese was introduced as a sadistic pyromaniac first .
Along with the horror which was the heretic related prosecution.

And only much later were we given a glimpse into the character and learnt to retroactively care about her.

I mean ultimately that worked as far as characterisation is concerned. As in I definitely care about Farnese now.

But it does reduce the emotional impact of the should have been traumatic scenes.

These are really good points. I totally agree about the grimdarkness – like I care when the protagonist has a traumatic backstory and it leads to him making unfortunate decisions, I’m less affected emotionally when random npcs are being tortured in two-page spreads for shock value.

+ tbh i don’t think it’s necessarily a mistake to introduce Farnese’s dark side first and then reveal her better nature, bc I do like when writers make you love a former antagonist and I love that about Farnese, but it definitely adds to the differing tones.

And I mean it does make sense to reverse the Golden Age format this way – now instead of beloved characters going dark, we can have dark characters learning to be better. But it really boils down for me to feeling like it’s been too easy I guess. Guts made new friends and now his hound is on a leash and now it’s the Berserk armour’s fault when he tries to murder everyone. Farnese dropped the pyromania and became a protector. And yeah for Farnese it’s been an ongoing journey as she gets braver and more competent and learns new things, and I love that journey, but since deciding to join Guts she’s never had second thoughts or felt sadistic or masochistic urges and more internal conflict for her would’ve been sweet.

But again, that’s assuming that this Guts and Friends story has all been a journey of personal growth and a brighter future, and not just the calm before the storm. So we’ll have to wait and see.

Oh yeah I completely agree with you about, the retroactive characterisation actually being pretty interesting.

That’s what, it works for characters .

But the setting seems to loosing the conflict which would make it more anticipatory and exciting. As you mentioned things seem to be happening too easily, too perfunctory.
The high points seem expected and a foregone conclusion, and the obstacles too easily overcome.

There a vague sort of plot armor around the plot itself for every subplot involving Guts party members.

Griffith’s side of the story is still more interesting because of all the supposition we can do regarding the nature, relationships and back stories of the apostles and what falconia itself stands for AND the fact that there’s piling evidence that emotionless, divine doll Griffith may in fact be our beloved emotional-fuck Griffith afterall.

Like seriously I have no shame in admitting that in comparison I give zero fucks about Guts party or Elfhelm, beyond my investment into the follow-up of Casca and Farnese’s relationship.

I think a part of what I was trying to convey is that Berserk has always been a hugely character driven plot. As such ‘darkness’ of characters is linked to the ‘darkness’ of the plot.

So while the character writing is still quite enjoyable, introducing the character at their point of highest conflict and darkness and gradually resolving that, puts the plot and pacing in a perpetual cycle of falling action which Miura hasn’t yet broken.

Which is why I DO hope that this is actually just the calm before the storm.

Because unless there’s a change to rising action, we lose the excitement or anticipation or build up to any sort of satisfying climax.

Like that’s what the Golden Age did with perfection. It built on itself.

Deconstruction is something I really really enjoy actually but I think it’s being drawn out a little too much.

And Berserk though masterful in it’s quiet moments, has kind of made it’s rep for the drama.

And I want drama.
Like a lot of drama.