I hadn’t but I have now, and yeah, I definitely see the similarities there. The perfect image vs something very different going on inside. Also ouch, what a depressing poem, ty for mentioning it!
all this time and i’m still in hope for the best, prepare for the worst mode, agh this is so frustrating
(lol @ reusing a bunch of images from casca’s life we’ve already seen
in our journey thru her mind. also my god i hate the art so much rn
lol. casca’s face deserves better.)
and idk how to feel about
downplaying the fetus/moonlight boy now lol, with way more memories
alotted to guts, since apparently “there’s someone i want to meet” is
repeated towards the end here, and the one saving grace of that fetus
was the hope that casca wanted to meet it, instead of guts (or griffith
for that matter).
also danann calling guts to show up psychically which then proceeds to trigger casca seems weird and fishy to me? but idk maybe it reads as less weird in context, plus i don’t trust elfhelm so.
and i’m extremely wary about guts triggering her because he reminds her of the eclipse, rather than because he assaulted her himself. those dreamy half-remembered memories sure are convenient
on the other hand they’re also convenient for this delayed reaction happening just in time for guts’ arrival. meaning there’s a reason guts had to show up first before casca remembered the eclipse.
this chapter seems to be playing up g*tsca for the sake of sweeping the rug out from under the readers at the end when casca sees him and shit starts going down, but is that leading to actual Shit Going Down or is that leading to, idk, farnese jumping in and calming her down before nobly stepping aside so they can have a tearful reunion, or guts like, saving the day by Being There For Her For Once??
i s2g miura knows exactly what the best case and worse case scenarios are (tho he probably thinks they’re reversed) and he’s taunting me personally. like i’m sorry but ivalera joking that schierke woke up the “final boss”? just plain and simple teasing about schierke’s crush on guts or also ominous foreshadowing? casca’s last clear memory is rescuing griffith, which explains why tortured griffith is one of the final images, but why make that her last clear memory, why give that a full page at the end of the chapter right before the picture of the tree that looks visually similar to the darkness in her heart unless perhaps… a parallel?
But even if that’s the case is Casca going to use the behelit in Guts’ pouch or is Guts going to get another chance to Not Fuck It Up This Time?
I’m feeling like the odds are getting higher that after a moment of emotional peril Guts comforts her, promises to stay with her, and they live happily ever after until NeoGriffith arrives to fuck shit up versus shit actually going down and Casca graduating into a secondary antagonist role. And the odds of anything in between happening, like eg Casca rejecting Guts romantically and healing while becoming close friends with Farnese, are feeling extremely slim after this. Like, imo we’re in for either g*tsca or the “tragic” opposite of g*tsca after how it’s been played up here, not “let’s just be friends.”
Also there’s a strong chance I’m just in the denial stage rn. But like I’ve been salivating over the idea of all three Golden Age protags being enemies with their own clashing goals by the end of the series for a while now and as long as that’s still a possibility I’m going to continue to keep hope alive.
to this on the very next page, in subsequent panels, leaving nothing out
this ship has no chill ever
that last ask took me a while to answer because i digressed into a rant about the depiction of the rape scene in the middle of it and then decided that an answer to an ask was not rly the place for that
but yk what it deserves to be ranted about so here’s a new place for it, tw graphic descriptions of rape
I re-read the Eclipse fairly recently without
skipping or skimming the rape scene for the first time in ages, and jesus everything about it makes me feel
like Miura drew it with one hand and very little intellectual effort or
subtlety, and it makes me very reluctant to give him credit for any
nuance of characterization there lol.
Like I am admittedly very biased
because the way he depicted it visually makes me want to throw up on
him, but like if he wanted me to give it as much analytical consideration as I
give most of the rest of Berserk he shouldn’t’ve drawn it like he was
tracing porn (some of the fucking angles holy shit), he shouldn’t’ve emphasized Casca’s physical arousal as much as, and
as graphically as, and as pornographically as possible for absolutely
no reason other than presumably to make Guts feel worse and to turn on
his readers/himself, since the emotional/psychological ramifications of a
victim becoming aroused during rape sure as fuck weren’t explored, thoughtfully or otherwise, and he shouldn’t’ve made it all about Guts’ feelings of rage and betrayal while
destroying Casca’s character for 20 real life years.
Literally her last
words from what, 1997ish til 2017 were to tell Guts not to watch her have an orgasm, and
it was all from Guts’ perspective and all about his feelings, not Casca’s feelings at all. Frankly every
reference to the rape and depiction of Casca’s trauma from now until
the end of Berserk could be careful and thoughtful and extremely
well-written and considerate and it wouldn’t even begin to make up for the actual scene itself.
Like I can’t read this digression into what frankly reads like cuckold fetish rape porn and treat it like it’s worthy of deep thought lol. If other people read it and have interesting takes and readings I’m all for it, but for myself I’m just incapable of seeing anything deeper than “this is what it means to be evil. This is what it means to be human,” which frankly isn’t that deep, Miura, and definitely wasn’t worth subjecting me to this shit.
This seems like it’s a response to something I’ve said, but I’m not sure what. But yeah I don’t really disagree I guess, I think that could definitely be part of it, at least in theory.
In practice tbh I have my doubts that Miura put any more thought into it than symbol of humanity’s evil + jealousy + emasculating Guts, based on the actual depiction of the scene. Femto does give Casca the evil stare, but to me that seemed like an echo of those jealous looks we saw him shooting Casca and Guts at times pre-Eclipse.
But yeah this is a perfectly reasonable idea imo. If Femto is a monstrous expression of Griffith’s negative feelings it stands to reason that anger over Casca urging Guts to leave might be part of it.
ngl while my “official” take is that the dream started out as a stupid kid’s fantasy and snowballed horrifically and gained deeper significance as a coping mechanism/escape after the kid’s death and gennon (i’m pretty sure we’ve had some conversations about this ages ago lol), every time I read the scene where he saves Casca I’m like, nope there’s gotta be something else going on there.
He just lays everything out so plainly (”does being born of the nobility mean you’ve been chosen by god?” “if you have something to protect, take up that sword,” “you know how to fight already, don’t you?” “you might die you know,”) that it’s like, there’s no way the kid’s death and gennon was his wake-up call to how shitty the world is, everything’s already in place right here.
Like I guess it can’t be more than headcanon because if there was more to his story I’m sure Ubik would’ve said something while he was fucking with him to make the sacrifice, but chapter 16 like, establishes all of Griffith’s motivations/attitude towards nobility/making sure everyone follows him of their own choice/etc, which really seems to indicate that the kid’s death and gennon wasn’t the beginning of his bitterness re: people’s lives being bought and sold by nobles and his guilt re: ppl dying for his dream. It’s just like, an example.
cut for leaked 355 page spoilers tho yk, beware the ask too, hope you have these tags blacklisted, etc
Honestly I’m not sure what to think based on that leaked page. Since last chapter had the ominous heart covered in thorns going on and now we’ve got Casca thanking Farnese and Schierke for taking care of her I’m feeling like yeah maybe you’ve got the right idea and maybe thanks to Farnese being awesome and caring for her Casca is already well on the road to dealing with everything?
tbh I am absolutely full of mixed feelings about this potential outcome lol, so I guess I’ll just wait til we have the whole chapter before I make any judgement calls. If the focus stays on Farnese helping Casca and Guts gets nothing this could be good. But I mean, just based on one page it’s impossible to tell whether those thorns are going to make themselves known in some other way. Guess we’ll wait and see.
ooh i love this, ty! tbh i’m feeling it from guts’ pov because the irony/hope of “hold me in your beating heart” and “carry me close like the tear drops in your eyes” is too good to resist. but it works from griffith’s too.
yk i think guts is supposed to seem chill and confident and generally changed in a positive way after his year long vacation but since every moment that emphasizes his cool chill attitude makes me want to punch him i’m not 100% certain lol
like i generally take as read that guts leaving the hawks is one of those things that’s overall bad but had some positive effects, like guts being more confident and cool, since yk the moments that indicate that are things the target audience of dudes would generally agree is cool, like calmly grabbing casca’s tit while she’s yelling at him and then saying, ‘come with me’ in a nonchalant non-commital way, or like telling casca she’s too naked and distracting during the wyald fight, or constantly being a smartass dick during the competition, that kinda thing.
but then again since i generally argue that leaving the hawks was a bad decision, maybe those moments are actually meant to be off-putting. like i don’t really think so, if i was a betting person i’d place money on miura thinking they make guts cooler, but i kind of want to believe.
I dont agree with this tbh. Guts leaving the hawks was a good thing. One of the most difficult and traumatic experiences is gaining independence and discovering your own way i life. The hawks were a home for guts but learning to leave to find his own way was special for me. I used to think that him leaving was sort of “cool” and used to set the whole tough lone wolf trope, but because of how guts felt inferior to his peers, and especially griffith, leaving the hawks was the most endearing action he couldve done. Its not played for a trope or for a demographic but rather to show the journey of a man who wants to be someone he can love. Ik ur a hige guts x griffith fan and i see the obvious undertones and interactions but when i see how guts feels when he seew his own journey next to griffiths i cant blame him for leaving.
I respect your opinion and I don’t mean to reblog this just to be like ‘nah you’re wrong’ because like, I do think Miura was trying to convey both good and bad effects of Guts leaving. Like I said, though I personally think that Guts’ more confident and independent attitude is shown in insufferable ways, I feel like Miura intended it to be a positive change for him.
And in general the idea of someone leaving a place to be more independent is a perfectly valuable and potentially a very positive narrative depending on the circumstances, and I don’t want to suggest that if you found Guts’ decision to leave the Hawks to be valuable then you’re wrong, there are plenty of reasons to appreciate it.
But, because this is one of those readings that tends to inform a lot of my other posts and meta etc, I just want to kind of explain where I’m coming from and what I mean by “mistake.”
It’s not a mistake you can blame Guts for at all, because his reasons for leaving are perfectly understandable and sympathetic, but it’s a decision Guts made based on misinformation (from Griffith’s stupid speech) and his own issues – largely desperately wanting to be loved and respected and believing all too easily that he isn’t thanks to his fucked up childhood.
And like this is also something Griffith shoulders blame for, for being an emotionally obtuse idiot who doesn’t recognize his own feelings until he’s spent a year in a dungeon. But again, like Guts’ issues, I find this sympathetic and understandable too.
(And like, while yeah I obviously ship them lol, this isn’t necessarily shippy, it’s kind of just a fact of Berserk that it, and the Golden Age especially, revolves around Guts and Griffith’s relationship, platonic or otherwise. Guts chose to leave because he wanted to be Griffith’s friend – before overhearing the speech he didn’t feel inadequate at all.)
Basically it’s not a mistake in the sense that Guts should’ve known better or that Guts choosing to leave was stupid and reflects badly on him, it’s a mistake because if Guts and Griffith were less terrible at communication Guts wouldn’t’ve wanted to leave in the first place, and once he realizes that he left because of misinformation he feels a lot of regret.
I think I’m going to write a full post on this soon because it would be nice to have something to link back to when I casually throw the idea that Guts leaving was a mistake out there, because I know it’s actually pretty controversial in fandom as a whole. So if you’re interested in my further thoughts with more like, textual evidence lol, I’ll get on that, and if not then no worries and I’m more than happy to agree to disagree 🙂
I would love to see a post on this. I always love seeing different takes on berserk and i do understand where ur coming from and it would clear up ur opinion because ur right it does sound controversial at face value.
Awesome, in that case I’ll tag you when I post it. And ftr I get where you’re coming from too, like tbh I always find Guts’ speech about sparks and how his sword is a part of him really moving eg, and I don’t want to dismiss that side of Guts leaving the Hawks, just like, complicate it a bit lol.
yk i think guts is supposed to seem chill and confident and generally changed in a positive way after his year long vacation but since every moment that emphasizes his cool chill attitude makes me want to punch him i’m not 100% certain lol
like i generally take as read that guts leaving the hawks is one of those things that’s overall bad but had some positive effects, like guts being more confident and cool, since yk the moments that indicate that are things the target audience of dudes would generally agree is cool, like calmly grabbing casca’s tit while she’s yelling at him and then saying, ‘come with me’ in a nonchalant non-commital way, or like telling casca she’s too naked and distracting during the wyald fight, or constantly being a smartass dick during the competition, that kinda thing.
but then again since i generally argue that leaving the hawks was a bad decision, maybe those moments are actually meant to be off-putting. like i don’t really think so, if i was a betting person i’d place money on miura thinking they make guts cooler, but i kind of want to believe.
I dont agree with this tbh. Guts leaving the hawks was a good thing. One of the most difficult and traumatic experiences is gaining independence and discovering your own way i life. The hawks were a home for guts but learning to leave to find his own way was special for me. I used to think that him leaving was sort of “cool” and used to set the whole tough lone wolf trope, but because of how guts felt inferior to his peers, and especially griffith, leaving the hawks was the most endearing action he couldve done. Its not played for a trope or for a demographic but rather to show the journey of a man who wants to be someone he can love. Ik ur a hige guts x griffith fan and i see the obvious undertones and interactions but when i see how guts feels when he seew his own journey next to griffiths i cant blame him for leaving.
I respect your opinion and I don’t mean to reblog this just to be like ‘nah you’re wrong’ because like, I do think Miura was trying to convey both good and bad effects of Guts leaving. Like I said, though I personally think that Guts’ more confident and independent attitude is shown in insufferable ways, I feel like Miura intended it to be a positive change for him.
And in general the idea of someone leaving a place to be more independent is a perfectly valuable and potentially a very positive narrative depending on the circumstances, and I don’t want to suggest that if you found Guts’ decision to leave the Hawks to be valuable then you’re wrong, there are plenty of reasons to appreciate it.
But, because this is one of those readings that tends to inform a lot of my other posts and meta etc, I just want to kind of explain where I’m coming from and what I mean by “mistake.”
It’s not a mistake you can blame Guts for at all, because his reasons for leaving are perfectly understandable and sympathetic, but it’s a decision Guts made based on misinformation (from Griffith’s stupid speech) and his own issues – largely desperately wanting to be loved and respected and believing all too easily that he isn’t thanks to his fucked up childhood.
And like this is also something Griffith shoulders blame for, for being an emotionally obtuse idiot who doesn’t recognize his own feelings until he’s spent a year in a dungeon. But again, like Guts’ issues, I find this sympathetic and understandable too.
(And like, while yeah I obviously ship them lol, this isn’t necessarily shippy, it’s kind of just a fact of Berserk that it, and the Golden Age especially, revolves around Guts and Griffith’s relationship, platonic or otherwise. Guts chose to leave because he wanted to be Griffith’s friend – before overhearing the speech he didn’t feel inadequate at all.)
Basically it’s not a mistake in the sense that Guts should’ve known better or that Guts choosing to leave was stupid and reflects badly on him, it’s a mistake because if Guts and Griffith were less terrible at communication Guts wouldn’t’ve wanted to leave in the first place, and once he realizes that he left because of misinformation he feels a lot of regret.
I think I’m going to write a full post on this soon because it would be nice to have something to link back to when I casually throw the idea that Guts leaving was a mistake out there, because I know it’s actually pretty controversial in fandom as a whole. So if you’re interested in my further thoughts with more like, textual evidence lol, I’ll get on that, and if not then no worries and I’m more than happy to agree to disagree 🙂
iiiiiii just realized that we were talking about two different metal bands with berserk inpsired music earlier lmao, for some reason i was thinking we were talking about different albums by the same band idk. in my defense they both have beast in their name.
i guess i’d heard of beast in black before but they’re not really my style of music and didn’t get into them, and battle beast is entirely new to me but i’m kind of into their sound?
oh same they feel posturing to me but who knows what miura meant
this is the problem with berserk there are so many thing that cpuld be interpreted as valid through through a certain critical lens but its absolutely up in the air or no way it was deliberate on his part. casca reliance on men for her sense of self and integrity as a woman is a good example, but miura probably hust doesnt know that women can exist outside of men. lol.
yeah exactly. idk berserk is such a weird combination of Actually That Deep and just Miura being a shitty dude that it can be rly hard to figure out where to draw the line
Like with Guts’ behaviour, it would make sense if it was supposed to be seen as negative because, like, part of the point of Berserk is establishing that Guts swinging his sword by himself instead of being with people affects him negatively, but that’s just not the vibe I get from those moments lol. Your Casca example is perfect too, like her narrative would make more sense and fit the whole vibe of the pre-Eclipse sequence if latching onto Guts in place of Griffith was meant to be seen as a mistake, but yeah I don’t think that’s purposeful.
I’d love to believe Miura’s just subtle and it’s all purposeful, but lol nothing about how he writes women and men and women interacting makes me want to give him the benefit of the doubt.
No, I want to believe he wouldn’t do that to such a beloved character
m2 but my faith levels aren’t high 😦
like idk it’s a given that the fetus is going to get a lot of focus unfortunately, the only question i guess is whether there’ll be any spotlight left over for actual interesting things that have something to do with casca’s actual character rather than a generalized motherhood thing
you're the only one 