yeah everything from the golden age is my absolute fave ever. miura went through quite a few art styles even just in that one arc and they were all flawless and charming in their own way. now … i don’t wanna talk about it
q: how do you feel about the art in the millenium falcon arc?
Q-2. Griffith has a record I feel screwing things up what if all this
time ruling a kingdom wasn’t what he truely wanted now he’s just not
going to mess himself and the neo band of the hawk but millions of
people. Another sacrifice he’s petty asf.
I like to think NeoGriffith is bored (if he’s even capable of feeling boredom) though not because he particularly enjoys and misses battles. imo as a human Griffith would’ve seen them as part of his path to his dream but I doubt he took particular enjoyment in fighting so much as seeing it as a necessary evil, considering things he did specifically to avoid fighting more than absolutely necessary.
Though now that you mention it, the fact that he reminisced about how great his fight with Guts was is interesting in this context. What was great about that (other than Guts in general and the way it wasn’t a fight to the death) is probs the fact that they were nearly equally matched. So yk if he’s bored I’d say it’s more because he’s essentially alone and without equals.
tbh tho I feel like we have very different views of Griffith. he didn’t make the first sacrifice out of pettiness and I’m not sure what you mean by sacrificing millions of people? That seems very unlikely to me. Also I don’t think Zodd is likely to turn on him, he has an established thing about being loyal to the strongest person around, and even before the Eclipse he was acting like a fate enforcer by taking out Wyald when he was threatening Griffith. Like idk maybe he’d betray ngriff, he has his own reasons for doing stuff, but something would have to change for that to happen I think.
ia yeah like he overheard it, idek if he made the connection but if he did then the only powerlessness he could have felt imo is the inability to stop guts from leaving again. obviously not in a controlling way, but in like a sad, gay way
yeah like, based on when we see his eyes open he may have overheard casca mention promrose but we don’t know for sure, we know he overheard her say ‘if you’re griffith’s friend and equal‘ so theoretically he could’ve made the connection, but regardless it doesn’t really matter from a narrative perspective because there’s no indication that griffith knows what they’re talking about
like from a character perspective i think it can work – i remember you had a good explanation actually for what he’d be thinking, how it would just remind him of how fucked up his body is now, etc. but the narrative just completely ignoring the possibility of griffith putting two and two together works so much better for my point lol
and thinking about them objectively when all you wanna do is cry
a little post about Rosine, the “villain” of the arch of lost children and its parallels with Griffith, a little introduction about Rosine
Rosine is basically Peter Pan with all its dark nuances in the world of Berserk since it has all the qualities and of course that part of the story is about the escape of reality:
Rosine goes out; frees and kidnaps other children, and gets each of them to buy in their dream and vision of what the world really is like, see her as the Queen of the Elves, and accept the total freedom that she offers them (which validates her own choice ). But his new themes do not make sense to his friends. There is no true sense of attachment. All are disposable and replaceable, because you can use them and create more when you want, because there will always be a lot of desperate children, as I said before, it is a satire to the original “lost children” who look for the charismatic figure of Peter Pan to take them to a world but of course in Berserk there is no such thing
In this case, Jill is like the “Wendy” in this story
That’s why I’m not surprised that Rosine’s interactions have a romantic middle tone with Jilll after all is very consisten
I miss quite a lot because Miura gave this apostle to make the parallel with Griffith in so many ways.
The kingdom of the elves of Rosine and the kingdom of Griffith Falconia are both fantasies that help people escape from their cruelt realities
Its initial shape is beautiful and attracts anyone
Repressed feelings
Refusing to face reality and falling into despair and using the Behelit
What I want to mention is that NeoGriffith supposedly no longer has feelings for Guts
But then Rosine comes to mind, despite being Apostol, her feelings for Jill were remarkable and the worst thing is that not only did she keep them, now that Jill grew up they became half romantic and of course I think it is clear that Jill was the only one In part, he forgot that horrible reality of abuse and clear his dream of living with the elves, how ironic was Jill’s single essence that destroyed all his escapist fantasy because Rosine really loved her friend more than her “kingdom of elves ”
which makes me ask “Griffith in I seriously abandon everything I felt for Guts?
Since I’m focusing on Casca for the review, right now I can not even speculate only that it left me thinking, Rosine’s death when her humanity had returned to her was a sad thing..
Although like Wendy our dear Jill grew a lot thanks to this experience and now can face reality.
All this makes me wonder what will happen to Guts after the final encounter with Griffith?
There is much more to say about the parallels of Griffith and Rosine but those are enough since I just wanted to make a small comment and I think it came out very long, I hope you liked it until next time.
me just rambling about this thing i’m writing lol
so i was like ‘oh shit the fact that griffith overheard casca mentioning promrose hall before telling guts to leave ruins everything, oh no, i’m going to have to go real fucking deep now to make this work, like i guess now griffith hallucinating his dream afterwards is like a role reversal because he knows guts overheard his dream speech and only left to be his friend and equal and now he feels powerless without a dream compared to guts with a dream so he’s symbolically still pursuing his dream so he can keep guts as his friend and equal, but oh shit now you can argue it’s all about power and that griffith’s despair stems from his powerlessness and it’ll be a cold day in hell before i argue that, and besides contextually calling it a role reversal is flimsy as fuck, shit how do i make this work shit shit shit this just straight up doesn’t fit oh no am i wrong about everything do i need to delete this whole thing and give up???’
then i re-read the scene in question and we only see griffith overhearing everything AFTER casca mentions promrose hall and the focus of the moment from griffith’s pov is entirely about guts leaving again and not the dream-related whys behind it
(like yeah for guts’ narrative those whys are extremely important which is why they’re there, but for griffith’s narrative they don’t matter a damn bit. granted griffith does overhear “if you’re griffith’s friend and equal you have to go” but what’s repeated when he starts hallucinating because of it is “even if it’s alone. you have to go,” which directly tells us which part of that statement matters to griffith in that moment)
and this should be a lesson to me not to write while i’m at work, overtired and unable to actually look shit up when i need to
i love that guts just assumed skull knight’s mention of “the eclipse” was a metaphor lmao
ah yes that scene where griffith was like “do you think that i’m cruel” and guts was like “not at all don’t be ridiculous” and kissed his forehead and they hugged and walked back to their room(s?) with their arms around each other
one of my favourite parts of berserk along with the time guts told griffith that he overheard his conversation with the princess and is worried that griffith doesn’t think guts is his friend and then griffith reassures him and confesses he loves guts and they kiss
〜はず means something like “should be,” “must be,” “ought to be” etc. as in “the store should be open right now.” added to a past tense verb, it means that you are sure something happened in the past. but spoken directly to guts like this, it’s like griffith is saying “didn’t i tell you?” “i told you, didn’t i?” even though it’s not really a question. it’s a (bitter) reminder.
# hmm would ‘i thought i told you then’ a la the 2nd duel be a fair translation? # translation info # i mean if the dh translator used different wording it’s probably not exactly the same but as a recurring theme (casca also says it # when reminding guts that griffith is only human) im intrigued # i say recurring theme but it’d be more a reference back for the sake of contrast i figure since the 2 instances i mentioned are about griff # being obsessed with guts not the dream @bthump
yep!! if the 1997 anime can be trusted, right before the second duel griffith says
あの時言ったはずだ
and when she attacks guts, casca also says
いつか言ったはずだ
which is also translated as “i thought i told you!! back then!!”
〜はず means something like “should be,” “must be,” “ought to be” etc. as in “the store should be open right now.” added to a past tense verb, it means that you are sure something happened in the past. but spoken directly to guts like this, it’s like griffith is saying “didn’t i tell you?” “i told you, didn’t i?” even though it’s not really a question. it’s a (bitter) reminder.
You should have known. This is the man I am. You, of all people.
“you, of all people” is a really powerful translation imo but the literal translation would be “just you” which i think ………….. is noteworthy
yesss like this line absolutely refers back to the fact that griffith let guts (and only guts) in to see the darker sides of his rise to the throne, and specifically tombstone of flame, and guts telling him his cruelty is a part of the path to his dream, and what griffith believed guts’ reason for leaving was etc, and it’s nice when learning more about the literal dialogue only solidifies my interpretation
anyway everything from dreams to ascending to godhood are smokescreens
love is the true equalizer between them
and that’s why despite the fact that the odds of guts becoming femto/neogriffith’s literal equal as in ascending to another plane of existence and being as powerful as him are approximately -10000, i still have hope that the whole equals thing is gonna come full circle in a satisfying way
… Ultimately to be born, and to then simply live for no better reason … I can’t abide such a lifestyle.
boring translation note: ～てしまう has two meanings. one is the meaning of finishing something, so, for example, you’ll use it when you say you’ve finished reading a book. the other is the meaning of either doing something bad/regrettable accidentally or something bad/regrettable happening on its own. basically, it means you fucked up, so you’ll use it when saying “sorry, i forgot my homework” and such.
here, griffith uses it with the verb 生まれる (umareru; to be born). “ultimately to be born” is an interesting translation choice, but it’s one i understand considering how small those speech bubbles are. but what griffith is really saying is something along the lines of “since you were already born,” as in, since you were unfortunately brought into this world against your will, you might as well live, for the sake of living. but this is either a mouthful or sounds weird in english (which is often the case with japanese), so i feel like the translation team did what they could.
this being in reference to whether griffith sent an assassin after rickert is extra interesting.
rickert: griffith wouldn’t have me assassinated… but griffith isn’t even human anymore… and even back when he was he did some shady shit… and he sacrificed the rest of the band… but still…
just the fact that that the narrative is reminding us thru rickert’s musing that griffith did indeed care about the band a whole lot when the subject is neogriffith and his feelings towards rickert now is good shit
like clearly rickert here is erring on the side of ‘yeah he probably did send raksas after me’ so there’s no reason for him to maintain that little bit of doubt at the end unless it’s relevant. and it’s not relevant to rickert’s decision making or actions soooo
idk this is just a long way of saying ambiguity is only worthwhile if the truth is (at least somewhat) unexpected.
i always forget that rickert was a unit commander in the hawks
why the portrait of neogriff at the end of chapter 250, after all the discussion of loneliness, is one of my faves:
miura’s visual depiction of isolation, loneliness, and alienation is consistent af and if this doesn’t lead somewhere i’ll eat my hat
you're the only one 