flooracle
replied to your post “Hi! I have read an opinion ‘bout Locus sending Raksas for Rickert…”

I think that if he did it, he retaliated a direct attack on God (more or less) because of his knightly code, not despite.

yeah i could see it tbh. His loyalty to Griffith def seems like his highest priority and if he did it it comes across as a demanding satisfaction kind of thing lol. Also kinda mirrors Guts being all too happy to assassinate Julius after he slapped Griffith (not that guts has a knightly code, but yk)

@seisans said: i honestly love how many references berserk has it’s like a treasure hunt

ikr, from things like star wars to ridiculously obscure stuff like random pulp fantasy novels. idk if this is an intentional ref but knowing some other weird things miura references it wouldn’t even surprise me that much lol.

Since fics have been mentioned recently in was wondering (don’t know if you’re really the right one to ask as you haven’t directly mentioned actually reading them) where is popular to post them? I’m working on a berserk fic but i havent written or posted fan fiction in about 4/5 years haha and they were also for far more popular fandoms

ngl it’s awesome to hear that new ppl are writing Berserk fic, it’s such a tiny fandom lol.

As far as I know the best place to post it would be

https://archiveofourown.org/

and here’s the berserk section if you want to check it out

Though you should definitely request an invite asap bc they have a waiting list to make an account. For me it took about a month.

(also if anyone has any other suggestions about where to post fic plz jump in, but I don’t think there are any like, hopping berserk fic archives out there or anything lol)

Anon who sent about shierke and farnese, tbh you’re right I am too harsh I just wish their was one female character who didn’t seem entirely motivated by a crush most of the time lmao I would hope shierke would grow out of it as she grew up but I don’t really see there being another time skip to allow that and yeah just please have some regression of farnese for a bit from just ‘perfectly healthy and stable’ just so she can work on it properly and get more in depth about her change of heart

Yeah I srsly feel you, as much as I love some of Berserk’s female characters they all have that layer of disappointment bc they all have to be motivated by their feelings for men. Recently it struck me that even the Queen of Midland was motivated by being in love with Julius rather than just being a conservative asshole ffs lmao.

I’d absolutely LOVE to see everyone’s issues come back to haunt them if Casca’s restoration turns out to be disastrous – I feel like that could have a sort of regression-style effect on both Guts and Farnese at least – but I’m not holding my breath for Farnese lol, it feels like a pipe dream now.

Okay, but can we go back to the AU Guts where he buys Griffith hella tea. Like just imagine Guts going into a tea shop and being so overwhelmed by how many flavors of tea they have. “Oolong is a thing? Rooibos tea? What is half this shit?” He ends up buying like 15 teas just to be safe. I imagine Griffith would really appreciateGuts for listening to what he likes, but feels bad because he doesn’t like half the flavors he got. Griffith still drinks most of them. Guts ends up finishing up thetea

ngl i’d read this fic.

also yk I think Griffith would be a little overwhelmed @ guts going out of his way just to do something nice for him too, at least if this is early on in their relationship. I see Griffith as v like… he feels like all affection/respect/love/whatever he gets has to be won or earned, is given as a response to what he can do for them. so Guts just doing something nice for him bc he’s thinking about him would rly surprise him.

What do you mean by ‘suggestive climax’ of Guts and Griffith? (you mentioned it in your answer to the Farnese/Guts ask). And do you really think there’s an actual chance Miura won’t go all nohomo on us in the end? Cause I’m dreading Guts settling down with Casca as an ending and that would be just so….meh story-wise. But also, Miura’s been so focused on Guts forming a new family with his new group lately and doing the weird harem thing while they were on the ship which was disturbing as fUCK

There’s always a chance. I mean I don’t think he’s going to go yes homo, but I definitely think there’s a strong possibility that Guts is gonna die single and thinking about Griffith.

I am trying to brace myself for disappointment ofc. I mean you’re right, the rpg group constantly succeeding in all they do and never having actual problems narrative has been going on for 150 chapters now so banking on the results of their quest being tragedy (ie Casca gets her mind back, proceeds to fuck shit completely up) is, yk, not a sure thing. the power of friendship could come through again and Guts and Casca could reunite happily, and if that happens I’ll finally give up on my optimism lol.

But til then I think there’s a good chance that all this awful harem vibe shit is a prelude to tragedy and disillusionment (not that that makes it better, but yk at least it would mean it ends), and the narrative is going to refocus back onto Guts and Griffith’s unconcluded story. That’s p much what I mean by suggestive climax – Guts and Griffith confronting each other at the climax of the story, emotions running high, allusions to their emotionally intimate history and the way they’re each still “the only one,” “the true light” for the other despite both trying so so hard to cut the other out lol.

Yk, finally dealing with the shit they’re avoiding by focusing on a kingdom/forcing Casca’s mind back, and cathartically reconciling the fact that they’re simultaneously fated enemies and true lights. Probably right before one or the other dies.

here have some optimistic picspam under the cut:

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madchen
replied to your post “madchen
replied to your post “Heyyy Modern AU anon!! Thanks for…”

he can wear suits and slacks and stuff i just think it’s criminal that theres next to no griffith in dresses/skirt content bc hed look incredible wtf…
guts likes it be Thighs

strong agree

@yesgabsstuff said:
Omg lady cop Casca 

she would look so good in the uniform so i’m ok with this. also i think there’d be good potenital there for her to get disillusioned. corruption, maintaining of the status quo, etc.

1. Griffith as some kind of politician in an AU as it would bring up moral dilemmas and a need to marry for public appearances rather than love and 2. Gruff guts and casca are true goth/jock/prep solidarity with griffith being prep/goth casca being jock/prep and guts being goth/jock thanks for listening to my pointless rambles

lol ty for sending them, they’re fun!

1. yeah i think politics is an easy shoe-in for a modern au griffith career choice. depressing, but v fitting.

2. lmao you’re not wrong

I really hate Schierke as a character like… her crush on guts is so yawn to me because like everyone has one at this point and it’s just causing her to be selfish and childish like wanting to keep the ability to control the armour/beast and help guts to herself rather than teach the rest of the group to help is stupid and I feel goes against everything she’s been taught about being a witch and kind of working for the world seperate from the world and also with farnese even though I like her1/2

2/2 I just feel like any kind of character development she could have
had was just quickly glazed over like she went from someone who got off
on watching people get burnt to death and wanting to torture serpico for
‘fun’ or whatever to this simpering woman who’s working on bettering
herself way too fast I wish her journey was explored more and not just
kind of put as if she met guts and suddenly all her problems were solved
and she’s just perfectly good other than a little weak and scared now

Idk I agree with most of this but I think you’re being a little harsh.

Like it’s been a while since I re-read any of the later chapters but I never really got the impression that Schierke was keeping her ability to help Guts to herself, more that she’s just… the only person in the RPG group proficient enough w/ magic to help keep the armour at bay. Like Farnese is still a beginner and no one else knows any magic, so there’s nothing they can really do. (Also I’m kind of loling at calling Schierke childish, like, she is a child.)

But otherwise I pretty much agree, there’s nothing I particularly like about Schierke and her crush is annoying and offputting.

Also wrt Farnese, describing her as “simpering” makes no sense at all. The word means coquettish in an affected, ingratiating way, and that is basically the opposite of Farnese’s character lol, both as an enemy and as an ally.

But other than that I mean yeah I do agree that her character development was not well written. I like both antagonist Farnese and ally Farnese but it’s hard to see them as the same character, because Miura really like, did not show how one became the other lol.

It might be believable that after having her religious faith shattered she’d latch onto Guts as something new to believe in, as an emotional crutch, but it’s never depicted that way really – deciding to follow Guts has been 100% positive for her, while religion was 100% negative and evil, even though they’re both presumably filling the same emotional niche for her. (And if they’re not basically the same drive pointed at different objects of belief, God vs Guts, then Farnese’s sudden switch from religion to Guts is actually super weird and nonsensical, so either way it’s not well done.)

Like, her black and white, us vs them, pure vs impure, etc, thinking should still have been an issue, at least at the start of her time with the rpg group, even if the subjects of that thinking have changed. Or if Miura wanted that type of thinking shattered with her religious faith, she should have had difficulty adjusting to seeing the world in shades of grey. Her related buried guilt and self-doubt should also not have just conveniently disappeared, aside from one vague attempt at an apology for burning witches alive to Flora lol.

(Man now that I mention it it would’ve been fantastic to see Farnese struggling with letting go of her pure vs impure thinking and more slowly accepting that everyone is greyscale, and finding self-acceptance in that too. What a missed opportunity.)

Something else that would’ve been good is showing that Farnese dedicating herself to taking care of Casca, learning magic, etc, is a continuation of her tendency to like, violently throw herself into things. “become the storm yourself,” that life philosophy. Like if she was overeager to an off-putting, borderline unhealthy extent. Or if she wholeheartedly devoted herself to taking care of Casca because of her guilt issues, but again in a not-wholly-positive, overcompensating way.

I think this is a basic problem with Guts’ entire side of the narrative actually lol. It’s too damn good. Everyone is bettered by hanging out with him, plain and simple. Not even two steps forward, one step back – everyone just happily grows as a person on his stupid journey. Farnese replacing God with Guts causes no problems for her or anyone else, because Guts is just a good person to build your entire life around, when imo there should be some critique there wrt the concept of building your life around anything or anyone. The problem isn’t what you’re worshipping, it’s that you’re worshipping, but idk if Miura sees it that way.

Tho I still have hope that this apparent sense that Guts is just the fucking bees knees who changes everyone around him for the better could be subverted. I mean we’re about to get the payoff of his whole quest, and he’s just been compared to Griffith again specifically wrt how Farnese feels about him vs how Casca felt about Griffith, which is promising. Like, Golden Age Griffith was the same wrt everyone around him growing and being happy bc of his ~conviction~ and the feeling that they’re all going places, it’s something Guts comments on when he first meets the Hawks lol, and we all know how that turned out.

But even if that is the case it doesn’t really fix the 150ish chapters of Farnese’s super quick, super positive character growth lol. Idk it’s a disappointment to me too. I still like “both” Farneses, but I really feel like Miura half-assed the hell out of her development.

anyway ty for the asks and sorry for being a bit nitpicky, i mostly agree with you, just my contrary streak kicks in if i think some crit is unfair lol.

Hi! I have read an opinion ’bout Locus sending Raksas for Rickert because he was so indulged by Rickert’s slap. I could hardly imagine it. Because Locus such a “knight in shining armour” not a coward one.

Yeah like I think the scenes are framed to make the reader wonder whether Locus or Griffith sent Raksas after Rickert. SInce it’s supposed to be ambiguous it could be either.

Idk if I think it would be out of character for Locus tbh. Grunbeld is the apostle we saw with a distinct honourable streak, while Locus’ thing seems to be more like, hardcore loyalty lol, so I could potentially see him doing something underhanded if it was for Griffith.

But yeah he does still have that knight in shining armour image that assassinations don’t quite fit. Then again so did Griffith lol. So idk I could see it either way.

Have you heard of Phantom of Paradise? Because visually he’s basically Femto. And the story of Phantom is also based on Faust and it parallels a bit to the whole sacrifice thing/selling your soul to the devil (though in Faust the devil comes when you’re happy, not in despair, like in Berserk)

yes actually, I saw it like a million years ago, and lmao as soon as I saw the movie title in my notes I was like “Femto!”

I don’t remember much about the plot though other than it being like a mashup of phantom of the opera, faust, with maybe a little dorian grey mixed in iirc? Idk it seems like a fitting comparison, even tho the femto mask dude and the dude who sold his soul are 2 different guys.

Modern AU Griffith knows how to braid extremely well. He is very fond of fishtail braids, French braid, Dutch braid, and cornrows. After learning that Griffith has a liking for tea, Guts bought him 100 dollars worth of tea because he didn’t quite know which flavor he liked. Poor Guys didn’t know that there was a lot more than green tea and chamomile. Casca once shaved the side of her head after a guy made a comment about how short hair was ugly on women. She became sort of like an icon after.

These are all fantastic, ty!

Lol Casca would be that amount of petty and honestly #relatable. and lol Guts trying hard to spoil Griffith with no finesse is adorable.

I allude to how the monsters Guts fights are reminiscent of his childhood trauma a lot, so I decided to finally illustrate it.

under a cut for length and for images implying sexual assault/csa

glowing/monstrous eye(s) in a dark background, reaching hands:

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and Gambino gets similar visual treatment after telling Guts he sold him, neatly showing how Gambino’s betrayal compounds Guts’ trauma:

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glowing/monstrous eyes and reaching hands in nightmare form:

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in flashback form:

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and in monster form:

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this could be an interesting early version from his nightmare in chapter 2:

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Skull Knight also gets this imagery:

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and i’m ngl his consistently glowing eyes as a design choice make me highly suspicious lol:

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here’s Guts’ vision in the sewer before promrose, the imagery depressingly contextualizing the self-loathing he feels:

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more giant hands emphasizing helplessness:

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And Guts himself gets a lot of this imagery ofc:

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plus you can argue the design of the beast of darkness incorporates the bright eyes on a dark background motif:

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Also it’s worth noting that while this imagery comes from Guts’ trauma, Miura uses it to illustrate fear in general from other characters’ points of view too:

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and I’d argue this is the point of the stylization of Ganeshka’s backstory of extreme paranoia:

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Berserk is Guts’ story after all and it makes sense to expand his own motifs to illustrate fear as a concept in general imo.

oddly Femto does not get this imagery very often at all. In fact this is the only instance I can think of that comes close:

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Usually he’s stylized as monstrous by totally removing his face and just portraying the mask, or his face is shown in full. Now I could see an argument that his design automatically incorporates bright eyes in a dark background due to the black helmet:

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But it’s really not emphasized, like even when we get five thousand closeups of his staring eyes during the rape scene, they don’t pop against a dark background, they’re not the brightest things in the panel like other monsters’ eyes:

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So idk. Maybe the stylization of the mask, the way his face can disappear within it like so

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is meant to be reminiscent of the more mundane and natural way Miura has of making someone/thing look intimidating, ie shadowing their eyes. Or maybe it was more important to him to be able to draw Femto as either monstrous (no face) or unnervingly human (fully visible human face) with little in between.

Anyway that’s just an aside, the only point of this post is to illustrate some recurring concepts and show how the imagery ties Guts’ urge to fight monsters back to his childhood trauma.

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I mean it’s not exactly a hard sell lol, but I’m just like a big fan of
the recurring stylized imagery and I think it’s a great touch.

madchen
replied to your post “Heyyy Modern AU anon!! Thanks for answering and yeah I totally see…”

griffith wear knits and boots
high pony tail

occasional skirt

nice! also sorry i keep adding this stuff to your comments lol but i’m getting all invested in this nonexistent character arc of modern au griffith making peace w/ himself and dropping the conformity act and going full somewhat fem house husband

also speaking of hair now i’m thinking modern griffith w/ his long perfect hair as like, the one thing he just can’t bring himself to change to be more conventional and masc in whatever career path he’s taking.

Heyyy Modern AU anon!! Thanks for answering and yeah I totally see Guts as doing a job that’s more Physical, like a construction worker or even a logging job. Griffith I’ve always imagined him doing something in the medical field. Possibly pharmacologist or some sort of medical scientist. But before he starts his job I can imagine him doing some volunteer work in college. Also, sense Casca demands respect from her peers, I can imagine it’d be a job in law enforcement or in the justice system.

Part two) I think you’re right aboutGuts being casual as fuck,
but I feel like he does have a few nice outfits stored in the back of
his closet.  For Casca, I think it’d depend on the day and situation.
But it’d be kind of androgynous, but still kind of feminine. For
Griffith, I’m seeing a lot of grey, white, and black clothes. I think
he’d wear a lot of things like turtlenecks, slacks, sweaters, button
ups, and plain t shirts. Maybe a few that have a cause he supports. Idk
how’d they’d meet

Hi again! Ooh yeah these thoughts are all gr8. I’ve never thought of Griffith in
sciences/medicine before but that’s a really interesting
concept. I could see him obsessing over research now that you bring up that whole area of things? And yeah agree for Casca and Guts, both of those job ideas seem
like they’d be good fits. I like the idea of Casca as a blue collar
worker but you’re right I could see her aiming for something that gives her more power and respect.

And yeah all those style concepts work for me. I don’t have much to add bc honestly I know 0 about fashion/style lol, but it makes sense, and like yeah I could see Guts with a few suits and collared shirts for special occasions. Especially after he meets Griffith he might try a bit harder on dates eg lol.

Ty for sharing your ideas!

are interested in schierke as a character? i thought i would like her but i dont really care now lol. i only like serpico and farnese in guts’ new friend group.

No, I’m really not interested or invested in her at all tbh. The most interesting thing about her to me was her brief friendship w/ Sonia, and only because it’s one of like a million berserk relationships that kind of parallels griffguts.

I’m with you, Farnese and Serpico are the only newer characters I really like on Guts’ side of the narrative. But like, they’re the only characters with layers and dark backstories and moral greys, which is what I’m here for, so.

Idk why, but for some reason I feel like Isidro might use the behelit. I have no evidence to back this up, but I think it’d be a cool twist. His character has kind of just been “there” for me. I don’t really feel anything towards him. I guess I kind of just want Miura to make me interested in him lmao. I know Casca is probs gonna use it, but still. A part of me just wants Isidro to step it up, if that makes sense. This isn’t really a question but I’m curious about your thoughts on Isidro

Well that would be one way to make Isidro interesting to me lol. bc same, I really don’t care about him at all. I’m mostly just kind of annoyed whenever he’s on the page lol, I’ve never been much of a fan of kid characters in general and Isidro really has nothing going for him imo.

I think like… idk my prediction is that his mermaid crush is going to die and he’s going to grow up a little because of it, but it’s not a concept I’m all that into lol, it just seems like a logical direction for the story to go. It would be a lot more fun to see Isidro go villainous lol, and he does have that whole “ambition” thing going on. I think the natural end to his storyline would actually be giving up adventuring and settling down though, after his whole conversation with that old dude during the troll fight.

Miura did (sigh) mention Isidro/Schierke as an obvious potential relationship, which is super uninteresting to me but also I don’t really care about either of them so yk, whatever. My biggest hope is just that Isidro doesn’t suck up too much screen time lol, and there’s no focus on any potential romance there – if it happens let it be a random aside in the epilogue or smthn.

seisans
replied to your post “madchen
replied to your post “madchen
replied to your post “I know…”

i really think this is the true ending

honestly tho. griffith’s narrative is 110% about the dream vs guts and if that’s not still the case i’ll eat my hat. it’s what it’s all building towards.

@yesgabsstuff said:
Omg Guts is so a stunt
driver or some other bullshit job where he could actually hurt himself.
His whole arc is realizing that while he’s not getting drunk and
getting into fights with strangers at bars he’s still self destructive
with ~love~ in his life. 

yeah i feel like any job guts has in a modern au should be something physical that also takes skill, something he can do as a mental distraction, and something that can potentially be self destructive lol.

@jaeger-der-nacht said:
May I add that I can imagine Guts very well as a kendo teacher in modern au? 

Ooh yeah I like this idea. Something physical and skilled, that preserves his fighting ability, plus I think he would be a good teacher. (we see him w/ isidro i guess, and that seems to be going well).

what were your first impressions of the characters when you read berserk? also how different was the story from what you expected?

This is a little hard to answer lol because my first experience w/ Berserk was watching the anime while v stoned like 8 years ago and then reading a confusing scanlation up to a little after the hill of swords i think, so I don’t remember much, but by the time I re-read it and got super into it 2 years ago I already knew the plot and characters etc.

When I watched the anime I remember being v surprised at Griffith’s backstory, and appreciative that at least it wasn’t only women dealing with sexual violence. I wasn’t surprised by g*tsca, but I was disappointed. I definitely shipped griffguts from the start, and at times I was like “holy shit is it canon?” like during Casca and Guts’ conversation in the cave. And the Eclipse took me completely by surprise lol, I was like “…huh. ok, that seems like a pointlessly grimdark way to end this show.” Then I read the manga and it made more sense there.

Griffith was always my fave lol. I also liked Casca but was deeply suspicious of her role the whole time which prevented me from enjoying her as much as I could’ve, since every time she was on screen I was waiting for no homo romance or a rape attempt, and lbr I got a lot of both. I remember the 2 episodes around the 100 man fight and Casca running away from rapists were what prevented me from rewatching the show ever again lol, both bc of the sexual violence and bc they were so fucking slow paced. Every time I was like, hmm I should watch Berserk again I’d remember those eps and be like, enh.

It was definitely more character and relationship driven than I
expected, and way gayer. I thought I was getting into nothing more
interesting than big sword swoosh swoosh but then it turned out to be
all about complex characters and stuff. I was really surprised by how engaged I was and how willing I was to watch like 6 episodes a night.

As for when I re-read it more recently, after not thinking much about the canon for nearly a decade:

I’d forgotten how much of a dick Guts was during the Black Swordsman arc and I rolled my eyes at him a lot, but he grew on me super quick and by the end of the BS arc I was like “oh yeah now I remember why I love him so much.” I was really really fond of Guts throughout the whole manga, way more than I expected to be.

I was constantly taken aback by how blatant and direct the story was about Griffith prioritizing Guts over his dream, Griffith’s feelings for Guts, Guts being entirely motivated by wanting to be closer to Griffith, Griffith throwing his life away because Guts left, Griffith being broken by Guts leaving not once but twice, Guts regretting leaving the Hawks because by leaving he threw away what he left to get, Guts being torn between Griffith and Casca post-Eclipse, etc etc etc.

Like somehow I had the impression that Berserk was subtle about all of this and you had to read between the lines to pick it up but lol no, characters often just state all this directly, over and over.

Hmm what else. I was pleasantly surprised by how downplayed g*tsca felt. I think this is from reading a scanlation before, which translates all their shit as romantically as humanly possible, while the official translation never even uses the word “love.”

The “the instant I saw him I’d forgotten my urge to kill” page absolutely killed me lol. I was writing occasional notes as I read it bc sometimes I like to type out my reactions/thoughts etc while I’m getting into something for the first time, and this is what I wrote there:

little blacksmith girl: let’s all live together here!
guts: remembers griffith and his pretty hair
interesting to think of guts as a parallel to pre-eclipse griffith when griffith IS his ambition. i hope that doesn’t make casca his weakness. i feel like she’s a wild card that could make shit interesting and different when she gets her mind back or could ruin any potential fun guts/griffith emotional shit.
i want his hate for griffith to be his ambition and his love/hope for him/his former self to be his weakness. that’s how i’d do it anyway

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT THE NEXT FUCKING PAGE AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA
“just as I got her back… no in the middle of swinging my sword to get her back… I… saw him… The way he appeared before me… he wasn’t a demon. He looked so human. As if he’d been stolen from the past, the way he used to be. The instant I saw him… I’d forgotten my urge to kill.”
AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA
ch177 page 20 like holy fuck i see god

And in general I was surprised by how much I got into it. Like I read the manga and then re-read it to liveblog it here a couple months later lmao, and now I can’t shut up about it. I was definitely not expecting it to become a major fandom for me. I only read it again because I heard they finally got off the boat, but then it kind of hit me upside the head with thoughts and emotional investment lol.