Tag: Anonymous

Hi! Do you have any other ships like Griffith x Guts you love? Like, from movies or books maybe?

madchen replied to your post  “Hi! Do you have any other ships like Griffith x Guts you love? Like,…”

bthump:

I can only think of a couple suggestions lol, and I might’ve been unnecessarily detailed since neither ship is all that obscure and you’ve probably heard of them, but w/e you gave me an excuse to compare them to griffguts lol and I’m taking it. so ty.

The first is Ryokira (manga version especially), which is kind of obvious and often compared to Griffguts since Berserk is partly inspired by Devilman. Both are friends to enemies ships, both involve inner darknesses and divine transformations/reveals, both have very convoluted borderline incestuous resurrection plots lmao, both have a blond in love with his bff and jealous of his bff’s sort-of-not-really girlfriend, both have one character ruining his whole life goal because he fell in love.

Ryokira is nice because it’s canon – even requited canon in the sequels, though you have to read Devilman Lady for that, and that’s a tall order lmao. There’s some fuck shit going on w/ homophobic (and transphobic) concepts of how same-sex attraction and gender intersect in both Devilman and Devilman Lady, but if you can power thru that it’s def worth reading the original manga, and like… worth reading a summary of DL lol.

And the other is H@nnigram from NBC’s H@nnibal!

tbh there are actually a surprising amount of similarities imo:

  • mutual pining
  • friends to enemies
  • betrayal
  • one character begins to succumb to his inner darkness because he wants revenge on the other
  • one character is so in love with the other he destroys his own life and that love is the direct cause of his subsequent imprisonment
  • one character tries to escape his own life-destroying feelings by killing the other and fails (fails way harder than Griffith tbh, who at least partially succeeded)
  • both characters are lonely – one is antisocial, one is very social but hides his true self – and their connection is the only thing that assuages that loneliness for both of them.
  • one character reacts to perceived rejection after letting the other “see” him very badly
  • one character thinks about the other after (and probably during) sex

unlike Griffith H@nnibal is “evil” from the beginning so h@nnigram’s initial friendship has layers of deception and it’s pretty fucked up, and most of the romantic subtext and text happens after they become enemies. However also unlike Griffguts, H@nnigram is canonized at the end, and none of the het love interests last. Plus there’s no sexual assault.

Tbh I actually highly, highly recommend H@nnibal. It’s very weird and surreal with the most fun (imo) self-awarely pretentious bordering on campy tone, and 3 of the 4 main characters end up in same-sex romances. Also like, the Hannigram journey of ever-escalating subtext to absolutely incredible proportions until they finally just admit they’re in love is the most fun I’ve ever had watching a tv show ngl. And at only 3 seasons w/ 13 eps each it doesn’t take too long to get through.

vriska and terezi from homestuck are the
femslash hyper intense it’s complicated and our grief moves allegorical
mountains equivalent to griffguts that everyone whines about wanting
that being said
homestuck is literally a million words long and requires a good
appreciation of detail and meta to get into but its funny and enjoyable
you just have to chill out

oh yeah i’ve seen you mention them a lot in comparison

i
can’t lie i’m never gonna be able to get into homestuck but it’s good
to throw out there for anyone more able to read it than i am lol

Hi! Do you have any other ships like Griffith x Guts you love? Like, from movies or books maybe?

I can only think of a couple suggestions lol, and I might’ve been unnecessarily detailed since neither ship is all that obscure and you’ve probably heard of them, but w/e you gave me an excuse to compare them to griffguts lol and I’m taking it. so ty.

The first is Ryokira (manga version especially), which is kind of obvious and often compared to Griffguts since Berserk is partly inspired by Devilman. Both are friends to enemies ships, both involve inner darknesses and divine transformations/reveals, both have very convoluted borderline incestuous resurrection plots lmao, both have a blond in love with his bff and jealous of his bff’s sort-of-not-really girlfriend, both have one character ruining his whole life goal because he fell in love.

Ryokira is nice because it’s canon – even requited canon in the sequels, though you have to read Devilman Lady for that, and that’s a tall order lmao. There’s some fuck shit going on w/ homophobic (and transphobic) concepts of how same-sex attraction and gender intersect in both Devilman and Devilman Lady, but if you can power thru that it’s def worth reading the original manga, and like… worth reading a summary of DL lol.

And the other is H@nnigram from NBC’s H@nnibal!

tbh there are actually a surprising amount of similarities imo:

  • mutual pining
  • friends to enemies
  • betrayal
  • one character begins to succumb to his inner darkness because he wants revenge on the other
  • one character is so in love with the other he destroys his own life and that love is the direct cause of his subsequent imprisonment
  • one character tries to escape his own life-destroying feelings by killing the other and fails (fails way harder than Griffith tbh, who at least partially succeeded)
  • both characters are lonely – one is antisocial, one is very social but hides his true self – and their connection is the only thing that assuages that loneliness for both of them.
  • one character reacts to perceived rejection after letting the other “see” him very badly
  • one character thinks about the other after (and probably during) sex

unlike Griffith H@nnibal is “evil” from the beginning so h@nnigram’s initial friendship has layers of deception and it’s pretty fucked up, and most of the romantic subtext and text happens after they become enemies. However also unlike Griffguts, H@nnigram is canonized at the end, and none of the het love interests last. Plus there’s no sexual assault.

Tbh I actually highly, highly recommend H@nnibal. It’s very weird and surreal with the most fun (imo) self-awarely pretentious bordering on campy tone, and 3 of the 4 main characters end up in same-sex romances. Also like, the Hannigram journey of ever-escalating subtext to absolutely incredible proportions until they finally just admit they’re in love is the most fun I’ve ever had watching a tv show ngl. And at only 3 seasons w/ 13 eps each it doesn’t take too long to get through.

What do you think is the best way to adapt/be inspired by Berserk without fully ripping it off?? I want to write a story with similar ideas n characteristic of Berserk, but I want to make sure I’m not copying it. Thanks

bthump:

Honestly, ihni where that line is drawn lol, I don’t think I’ll be any help. Sorry, I wish I could give you a good thorough answer, but I‘d just as likely be completely wrong lol and accidentally advise plagiarism or smthn.

I hope you figure it out though and write your thing because any story inspired by some aspects of Berserk is probably worth writing!

@madchen said: berserk is literally an edgy spin off of
devilman and the dark souls franchise is heavily influenced by berserk
for like. a frame of reference. good artists steal etc etc

@griff-guts said:
also to add onto what maddy said which i 100% agree with: the themes of
berserk are rly quite common in literature and other fiction. being
betrayed by a best friend, isolation and loneliness, dreams becoming
destructive, the nature of humanity and evil etc are all big parts of
berserk you can transfer into just about anything. berserk as a story
rly isn’t that revolutionary or original when you strip it down to its
essentials. its the writing, the tone, the characterization tht make it
original

What do you think is the best way to adapt/be inspired by Berserk without fully ripping it off?? I want to write a story with similar ideas n characteristic of Berserk, but I want to make sure I’m not copying it. Thanks

Honestly, ihni where that line is drawn lol, I don’t think I’ll be any help. Sorry, I wish I could give you a good thorough answer, but I‘d just as likely be completely wrong lol and accidentally advise plagiarism or smthn.

I hope you figure it out though and write your thing because any story inspired by some aspects of Berserk is probably worth writing!

honestly before reading berserk i expected g*tsca to be some star crossed lovers shit and griffith to be one dimensional gay villain with one-sided crush. like g*tsca isnt even that good and griffith is really sympathic. this fandom is really straight and have no reading comprehension lol

ikr, it really surprised me how downplayed and non-romantic their relationship was in the manga considering how fandom talks about it. and ofc it’s not even close to subtle about the fact that griffith is guts’ #1 priority and vice versa throughout the Golden Age. I mean, that’s literally the whole point lol, Griffith’s conflict during the GA is Guts vs the dream, and Guts’ conflict post-Eclipse is Griffith vs his humanity.

like the direct source of tension of both of their narratives is in resisting the fact that the other is Their Most Important Thing In Life.

also tbh I think the anime is to blame for a lot of the fandom’s interpretation of g*tsca. It often emphasizes their relationship in a way the manga just didn’t lol. Like eg anime Guts’ ultra romantic “I never want to stop holding you” or w/e the line was complete with Touching Music vs manga Guts’ ‘come with me because I want to fuck more’ complete with Ominous Eclipse Foreshadowing.

I liked your theory about casca using the behelit but it made me worry that it will be guts who uses it and he’ll sacrifice casca to do it (similar to ‘the beast’ wanting him to rape/eat/kill casca so he could be close to griffith) and therefore reduce her to just another pain source AGAIN but idk… I guess their ‘sacrifice’ status helps prevent that but then can either of them use the behelit because of that?

ty! and tbh I don’t think you don’t have to worry about that (unless Miura decides to retcon hard facts).

in addition to the count not being able to sacrifice guts because he doesn’t love guts lol, they point out

image

you can’t mark someone for sacrifice twice.

But yeah there’s nothing saying that someone marked for sacrifice can’t use a behelit themselves, and everyone knowledgeable about these things seems to believe that Guts potentially could use it (like Slan saying “why not make a sacrifice” in the troll cave, eg).

Though I don’t think the behelit is Guts’. Whether Miura was considering it for a while is a possibility, but since the Berserk armour made an appearance and we started getting a lot of “is it yours or are you just carrying it for someone hmmm” moments, I feel like it’s been really unlikely that Guts is ever going to use it. The armour is more his way of letting his inner darkness loose. Which has the handy effect of not being necessarily permanent, but with the ever present threat of becoming permanent. Perfect for a protagonist lol.

Also speaking of the Beast of Darkness telling Guts to assault and murder Casca so he can pursue Griffith, I think that could be another like… factor in Casca using the behelit. Right now she’s the symbol of Guts’ humanity, so if she becomes a monster it makes thematic sense for Guts to follow suit by losing himself to the armour. He could later be brought back by ~the power of friendship~ to demonstrate that despite their quest ending in tragedy and darkness, it was still worthwhile because of the character development and relationships formed along the way.

Ha! I’ve been fretting for ages about how Casca going apostle could work thematically w/ the whole interpersonal relationships as positive influences/power of love and friendship stuff of the last 200 chapters, but there, that totally fits! Then mb Casca could have her own personal narrative rather than continuing to be a symbol of Guts’ humanity.

Why do I have a very strong feeling that from all the great possible endings you’ve suggested in the past and now recently we won’t get one half as satisfying from the author

lol I’m glad you’re into my ideas, ty! and also yeah, ikwym about The Dread too. At least we’ll always have the Golden Age I guess? As far as endings go, “You’re the only one… you’re the only one… who made me forget my dream. I sacrifice.” is flawless so I’ll just pretend that’s the real ending if I need to lol. Or Guts picking up the Count’s behelit and walking sadly out of the castle at the end of the BS arc.

Different anon, but how do you think someone should get started on Tumblr writing Berserk headcannons, blurbs, etc? I’ve been wanting to make another blog just for writing, but I feel like it all be for nothing because it wouldn’t get any attention anyways so no one would really see it to read it. That could just be my self doubt speaking. But if you have any tips on how to get started on Tumblr for writing Berserk please let me know. Thank you 🖤💜

I made a sideblog and just started liveblogging into the void lol. ihni how people found me but eventually followers started to trickle in. Tho like, I liveblogged half of Berserk before I got more than a handful of readers, so perseverence is probably key. Don’t be discouraged if your first few posts don’t get much response.

It probably would’ve helped if I’d followed people first and sought out interaction too lol, so I recommend doing that, replying to people’s posts, reblogging stuff and starting convos, etc. I know I’m more likely to follow people (or regularly scroll through their blogs when I’m bored lol, since I like to keep my dash fairly slow) if I’ve seen them in my notes and interacted with them. And it’s a good way to make friends.

So yeah I guess my advice is just do it, follow people and don’t be shy about interacting with them, and don’t expect to get like hundreds of followers immediately, but give it some time and eventually you’ll get noticed. Build it and they’ll come lol.

Oh also tag your posts. Personally I avoid putting anything that could be even a little controversial in the general Berserk tag lol, but if you tag stuff berserk, or griffguts, or whatever, ppl should see it.

What characters do you want to make it to the end of the series? Like who do you most want to see get a happy ending (or even a not so happy ending)?

C A S C A

I got this pipe dream of Casca using the behelit, being the one to kill NGriff, then ending up an immortal mercenary a la Zodd. (Hey, if the rumours are true about her being named after this book it might be plausible.) It would be a sad happy ending for her – alone, a monster, but like, finally her own sword.

And Casca riding off into the sunset with Farnese as a genuine happy ending is my other pipe dream, so Farnese is another character I’d prefer not to die.

I suppose I’d like Rickert to live too. And I can’t immediately think of a fitting way for Serpico to die, and I like him, so I’ll err on the side of wanting him to survive also.

I’d probably want Puck to live, though I could maybe see killing him off for a huge “shit just got real” moment since he’s the second longest running character in the manga and p much represents positivity lol. But I doubt it.

I’d want Charlotte to outlive NGriff and take over ruling Falconia. With Anna.

I think that’s about it, everyone else I either couldn’t care less if they live or die, or I actively want them to die lol.

On that note, Guts is the character who I probably most want to die. After his whole narrative full of being “the struggler,” refusing to die againt all odds, etc, I’d find it so anticlimatic if he lived happily ever after and died of old age lmao. His story should build to a v meaningful and emotional death imo. Also purposeful – self-sacrifice, dying to take NGriff down with him (lbr the two of them dying together would be gr8), letting NGriff stab him the way he often lets people stab him when he’s upset lol, something like that. It should feel like a choice on his part, a significant and revealing contrast to his struggler thing.

imo the only other fitting cap to his life of refusing to die would be becoming immortal, and I think that would be framed as a sadder ending for him than a meaningful death, since he’d basically be following in Skull Knight’s footsteps in that case, which has always been suggested as a Bad Ending.

Also I want NGriff to either die or live forever haunted by Guts’ memory.

This is all ignoring the ominous afterlife thing, which tbf is a huge thing to ignore, but w/e. I’m not that interested in Berserk’s afterlife, idc whether my faves go to the nice whirlpool or the mean whirlpool. (Tho honestly the happiest ending of all as far as I’m concerned would be Casca and Farnese living happily ever after while Guts and Griffith end up dragging each other to hell and ~becoming one~ so if afterlives feature heavily at the end let’s do that. hey it’d be a fitting end to all the equals shit too. you’re truly equal when you’re just a big mass of souls melding together.)

(I mean theoretically ending up in heaven together works too but I feel like there are too many hoops to jump through to justify that lol. just as long as they aren’t in separate afterlife pools.)

Any thoughts on the chapters about Cascas mind and her restoration?

Oh, lots.

Off the top of my head I find them fairly disappointing. I feel like Miura’s really half-assing this glimpse into Casca’s psyche – eg we got a few scattered Golden Age scenes from Casca’s perspective, but they didn’t bring anything new to the table, we didn’t learn anything about Casca that wasn’t already obvious. The chapter full of dick monsters was ridiculous lol, and the whole concept of piecing Casca together like gluing together a broken doll is like, kind of cliche and super shallow? Again, we’re not learning anything about Casca, we’re just montaging through a dumb dream quest.

On the other hand this sequence does have good points. I loved Farnese w/ tiny Casca. The fact that Farnese is now v intimately familiar with Casca’s whole life, seeing through her eyes and feeling her feelings, is interesting from a shippy standpoint even if canon does nothing with it. I liked that dog Guts just fucked right off and got destructive to everyone around him when pterodactyl Femto showed up, to the point where they were worried he’d smash Casca. Gives me hope lmao. The portrayal of the Eclipse was remarkably restrained so I applaud Miura for that lol. And of course I loved that Casca’s heart is covered in ominous despair thorns, and that shit got dark as soon as Casca saw Guts after waking up.

Like it’s not enough to make me super confident that g*tsca isn’t gonna happen, but it was enough to make me fistpump lol.

I have mixed feelings about the fetus showing up. On the one hand, I fucking hate that fetus and every glimpse of it fills me with dread. On the other hand, the fact that it symbolizes Casca’s heart backs up my wild reach-y theory that she might sacrifice it lol.

I have seized on the fact that Danann 180ed from ‘get lost Guts Casca’s scared of you’ to ‘wear this dress and go see Guts right now’ and I completely believe that Danann is plotting something and Casca going into despair as soon as she sees Guts (who has a behelit on him js js) was planned.

Actually here’s my post full of plot-focused theorizing if you’re interested.

Also my immediate reactions to recent chapters are here

Tbh I wouldn’t mind switching Guts’ current rpg squad with Rickert, Erica and Silat. They’re wayyyyy more interesting to me atm. Rickert is probably the only child character I can stand lol

(This is the anon who talked about replacing the rpg squad lmao)
Actually you know what, I’d be so happy if Guts’ group was made up of
Farnese, Serpico, Puck, Silat, and Rickert. That’s it lol. I’m not even
gonna complain about Casca bc I don’t think she’s going anywhere 

Honestly same, this would be a rly fun lineup (well, lose Erica, but i think you did in your 2nd message lol). I’d love to see Silat and Guts interact more especially tbh, I think they’d be entertaining reluctant allies.

Do you think Griffith had some sort of mental disorder?? I think that he could’ve had borderline personality disorder and maybe something else.

lol the problem here is that idk a thing about psychology in general or bpd specifically. I feel like answering this question/trying to diagnose him based on the wiki article and what may or may not be the current diagnostic criteria I found on google would be doing a disservice to actual ppl with bpd.

So I’ll just say from my media-focused perspective that imo Griffith’s behaviour, emotions, reactions, etc, all make perfect sense to me based on what we’re told and shown about the setting, about his past, about how he deals with his emotions (ie he doesn’t), etc. I don’t feel like further explanation is required, and his more “extreme” behaviour/emotional responses seem to be a result of either his feelings for Guts or specific extreme situations (eg feeling responsible for a kid’s death, torture), and discussed as anomalies rather than patterns (but Griffith, so calm and composed, always gets impulsive when it comes to you!), so I personally don’t headcanon him with any personality or mental disorders. Well, give or take ptsd lol.

But at the same time there are people who have bpd or are otherwise personally familiar with it who see Griffith as borderline, so I’m sure it’s a v legit and reasonable reading/extrapolation of his character.

lol so tl;dr, idk enough about mental health so i don’t incorporate it into my own reading of his character, basically, and I don’t feel like I’m missing anything, but i def think there’s room to incorporate it into your interpretation of him.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Do you think Miura’s happy ending is gonna include romance for Guts?? I can’t imagine him living happily ever after with Casca (if that happens it would just be unbelievable), but like Farnese has a crush on him so I’m just wondering if anything is gonna come out of that? Honestly I just want Farnese to be happy lol I love her

tbh it doesn’t seem likely to me. Farnese’s “crush” on Guts is compared to Casca’s on Griffith, which isn’t a promising prelude to romance lol, and to me it seems like Farnese herself doesn’t really consider it a genuine romantic thing so much as admiration bc he shattered her worldview and changed her life.

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But yeah I feel you about wanting Farnese to be happy. I want her to become like a full-fledged witch – she genuinely loves helping people, and we know she’s never been happier than when protecting Casca and feeling like she can contribute something unique, and imo it’d be great to see that aspect of her character growth focused on, whether she ends up in a relationship or not.

As for Guts + romance I think it’s either Casca or bust (wherein bust = an emotional and somewhat suggestive climax w/ Griffith lbr), and I’ve got my fingers crossed hard for the latter.

I know this is a stupid ass question, but if Guts, Casca, and Griffith lived in the modern work. (Like 2018 rn) what kind of relationship would they have with each other, what jobs would they have, and what would their clothing style be like it? I can’t help, but think they’d be fairly different in a modern world.

not a stupid question at all, I’ve seen a lot of gr8 modern au concepts and idk it’s fun to think about

Personally tho I am super not creative lol so I kind of really suck at this kind of thing. I want to like, think of stuff that’s exactly the same as canon but modern, but when there are no modern equivalents (like swinging a sword? wtf can guts do today that fills the same niche?) i’m at a loss lol, and then it all falls apart.

I can throw out some ideas though. Like I think Guts will always be casual as fuck, t-shirt and jeans style. Casca would appear well put together but only bc she’s got a good grasp of basics and classics, idt she’d follow fashion. Griffith would be meticulously dressed to fit whatever niche he’s trying to rise up into.

Though in a modern au Griffith presumably wouldn’t’ve been getting people killed since he was a kid and therefore he might not be nearly as driven to succeed at something as he is in canon, and therefore he might channel his urge to change the world into something a little more chill, like volunteering.

But then again maybe he still feels the need to push himself bc it’s ultimately a way for him to justify his existence bc he hates himself, and he can still hate himself without blood on his hands, so he could end up like, working his whole life to succeed, going to a top university on a scholarship, studying law or something.

Either way he’d follow fashion and look the part.

Also like, would Casca still be doing something “masculine”? I mean ngl I like to picture her as a carpenter or something, v blue collar, biceps, jeans and a tool belt. that might be a little self indulgent of me tho lol, but yk what, idc, it’s good. Would she still idolize Griffith? Did Griffith still help her in some way when they were kids?

Guts… lol idk, mma fighting? personal trainer? trucker? maybe driving is his zen. stunt driver? some kind of sport?

Also it’s hard to figure out how they’d know each other lol since they’re all such different people. I remember thinking of au ideas once with @yesgabsstuff and @mastermistressofdesire where the concept was that they all met in group therapy lol, which lbr is probably the most fitting way to update berserk’s setting bc god knows they all need it, and it’s an idea I’m still p fond of. Like it’s nice to imagine them in a world where they can actually constructively deal with their many many issues lol.

Though I mentioned volunteer work, so maybe Griffith runs a non-profit w/ Casca as his right hand woman, and he gets Guts to volunteer his time or skills for a money raising campaign or smthn thru a bet.

Or hey they’re all gay, maybe in a modern au they’re less repressed and they meet at pride or the local gay bar.

Or maybe the Hawks are a softball team. or it’s a college au and they’re a dnd group lol. (the idea of evil as the gm. a terrible gm that completely railroads the plot and creeps everyone out.) (tho i really can’t imagine any of them getting into dnd lol)

Anyway yeah I can’t rly come up with anything more coherent than this lol, there are too many possibilities.

if other ppl want to jump in and add ideas plz do

Thank you for your opinion on who would be dom and who would be sub. I said dom!griffith sub!Guts just because of the fact that Griffith is a natural born leader and I feel like he’d want to be in control. Also, because of his Possessiveness over Guts. I mean I think it could go either way with Griffith being the dom or Guts being the dom in the sexual relationship. I do think they’d switch every blue moon. I don’t think I explained very well 😂😂 but those are my thoughts. Btw I love ur blog

thank you! and yeah that’s totally fair! We might have slightly different interpretations of Griffith, but that’s just cause he’s a really complex interesting character and there’s a ton of room for emphasizing different aspects of his personality and stuff.

also just as an aside, for like, non-bdsm sexual scenarios I can really easily see Griffith taking the lead, especially at first, because he’s so used to being in control etc. so for me a lot of it depends on like, the scenario, how established their relationship is, etc.

what are your favourite character moments?

oh man. ok i’m sorry this is honestly a terrible answer, i got really carried away when it came to griffith lol.

i have a more thoughtful, meta-y answer to a similar question here and i’m linking it to sort of compensate for just answering this with a picspam lol.

under a cut bc it’s long.

Guts:

standing up w/ like 50 broken bones and marching up a staircase with his giant sword to try to kill his ex bc he said he’s beneath his notice:

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this one might actually be my favourite guts character moment:

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Guts finally getting close to moving on and recovering:

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sums it tf up:

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i wanted one moment that shows guts’ like, tender, caretaker side, and this is the most painful:

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a purely self-indulgent choice bc i love that “he’s back” feeling so much lol:

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and how could I not include this:

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Casca

love the concept of casca being invested in the dream:

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her proud smile here:

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physically lashing out with her sword in a rage:

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in a good au casca went on to lead the still-undefeated band of the hawks:

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sure it’s ruined two pages later, but man i love her attempt at a last stand:

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Farnese

i love her early black and white thinking tbh:

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this is my favourite character establishing moment for farnese:

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stabbing a demon tiger in the eye is probably my fave farnese moment overall:

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Serpico

I love this early moment where he tells a dude he doesn’t even know his tragic life story while vaguely hitting on him and makes him uncomfortable:

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like he’s a weird but enjoyable combination of diplomatic and offputting:

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preventing guts from getting himself killed the same night he tried to kill him himself:

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And finally a more dramatic, serious moment because the first three moments there rly don’t do him justice and I love his backstory:

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Griffith (I will try to show restraint but I could spam almost every panel he’s in honestly)

I’m including Femto and NGriff:

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what an introduction:

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getting himself killed for guts:

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somehow simultaneously maintaining denial while essentially confessing his feelings:

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this:

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but especially when paired with this:

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there’s a lot to love about this scene but this is the best moment imo:

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every single second of chapter 17 but let’s sum it up with this:

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this whole exchange but especially this first panel here:

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he just heard that he’s achieved one of the most important steps on the way to his dream and this is what he fucking does:

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sorry but this is the coolest moment in anything ever:

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again literally all of tombstone of flame really but let’s go with this moment in particular:

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all of the second duel as well:

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of course:

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obviously the whole monologue but it always comes back to this:

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fuckin ripping my heart out:

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and again:

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and again:

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i’m gonna keep going like this:

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The Moment Of Despair Is The Touch Of Guts’ Hand:

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and then:

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i’m sorry i really did mean to be more restrained than this lmao:

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the entire moment of the sacrifice but i’m picking this panel to illustrate it:

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can you believe:

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OBVIOUSLY but this also includes Griffith blaming it on the fetus because that is so in character:

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you, of all people:

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aaaaaand let’s call it a day w/ this:

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Do you ship dom!Guts x sub!Griffith or dom!Griffith x sub!Guts??? For me it’s the latter, but I wanted your opinion on the matter. Thank you

i’m the opposite lol, for me it’s the former.

I actually have a giant headcanony post on it here if you’re interested in the long self-indulgent explanation focusing on how I feel like it fits with the characters yadda yadda yadda

but i mean lbr ultimately it really just boils down to personal preference and the fact that I like reversing the assumed/social/etc power dynamic when it comes to sex and romance, whether that’s bdsm-y or purely emotional or whatever, and since Griffith tends to have more power by default (hawk commander, promoted to nobility, guts looking up at him and striving to be his equal, eventual demigod) I like the idea of reversing that when it comes to emotional + sexual feelings for Guts.

Plus canon has this moment which is basically whatiloveinaship.jpg

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Hard not to take that and run with it.

Also if you want to share your perspective I’m interested in what appeals to you about dom!Griff/sub!Guts!