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.

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:

this one might actually be my favourite guts character moment:

Guts finally getting close to moving on and recovering:

sums it tf up:

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

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

and how could I not include this:

Casca

love the concept of casca being invested in the dream:

her proud smile here:

physically lashing out with her sword in a rage:

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

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

Farnese

i love her early black and white thinking tbh:

this is my favourite character establishing moment for farnese:

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

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:

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

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

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

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

I’m including Femto and NGriff:

what an introduction:

getting himself killed for guts:

somehow simultaneously maintaining denial while essentially confessing his feelings:

this:

but especially when paired with this:

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

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

this whole exchange but especially this first panel here:

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:

sorry but this is the coolest moment in anything ever:

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

all of the second duel as well:

of course:

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

fuckin ripping my heart out:

and again:

and again:

i’m gonna keep going like this:

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

and then:

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

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

can you believe:

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

you, of all people:

aaaaaand let’s call it a day w/ this:

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

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!

do you plan to make a big guts meta? if yes how many arcs would it cover. love your metas.

Thank you!

Hmm I sort of do have a plan for a more extensive Guts-centric post, though I don’t think it would be as long as the Griffith one. Though like the Griffith one it would be largely about Guts’ dream and his relationship with Griffith.

And it would probably cover Black Swordsman – right before the Eclipse, with a shorter, more critical section or maybe follow up post on everything from the Eclipse on, because honestly I want to sit down and really hash out exactly how the Eclipse fails to knock down the thematic pins Miura had set up. Like even up to the Wyald chapters he has this perfect set-up going on, and then imo he mostly fails to utilize it during and after the Eclipse, and I keep kind of talking about it on my blog lol but only in broad strokes, I want to dig into it.

BUT that said most of it would be talking about how great Guts’ narrative is in the first two arcs, I wouldn’t let the criticism overwhelm it. And who knows, I might catch more interesting details when I look over everything again with this in mind and end up less critical than expected.

sad thing about black swordsman arc is that i liked what miura was going for in the first place (guts motives for revenge, evil fetus being a metaphor) also they were actually ~deeper~ than emasculating guts. miura making g*tsca happen for the drama ruined it. also it made berserk kinda mediocre lol

Yeah I really feel like the Eclipse just, hugely cheapened just about everything that was interesting about Guts in the Black Swordsman arc by putting all the focus on a) how someone else’s pain affects Guts and b) like you said, the suggested emasculation of Guts watching someone else give his girlfriend an orgasm. And that might be seen as an uncharitable take on the scene lol but Casca’s arousal seriously is the central visual focus, and it’s what the rape scene builds up to, and it remains all about Guts’ feelings, and it’s so simultaneously offensive and just… cheap and boring.

It straight up mystifies me how Miura decided to add g*tsca for more Eclipse drama (ie the rape scene) and somehow didn’t realize that not only does the Eclipse not require any additional drama, but it overwrites the actual drama the Eclipse should’ve had as a personally traumatizing event to Guts. It’s just so frustrating lmao.

Wrt the fetus you can kind of tilt your head and still see it as a symbol for the futility of revenge – in hindsight now it’s more like a haunting reminder of Guts abandoning Casca – but it doesn’t work nearly as well because in the BS arc it’s visually depicted as a representation of like, Guts’ own inner demon – the pathetic monstrousness left when revenge consumes the rest of you.

So you have things like Guts’ nightmare where it’s chasing him which is echoed in his chapter 13 nightmare where it’s Donovan chasing him, and then echoed again in his vision after killing Adonis where it’s Zodd/Donovan/himself. How’s that supposed to work thematically if the fetus is a symbol of a relationship/his humanity lmao? Or the vision Guts had of the fetus with Vargas’ face?

And I mean I love the Beast of Darkness bc i’m easy for evil dark sides lol, but honestly the vibe the fetus had in the BS arc was better, because of that patheticness. It wasn’t cool, it wasn’t powerful, it was just sad, like the Vargas parallels.

Anyway ty for this ask and giving me an opportunity to complain some more, I’m glad you agree.

is it bad that i want guts’ new party to die (well except casca)??? like no offense but i’m so sick of this found family rpg shit and miura has failed to make me care about any of the new characters. also isidro and puck are so damn annoying. i miss old gritty berserk and i also miss miura’s old art style :///

lol no, I know I’d cheer if half the rpg group died. I mean I’m fond of Farnese, Serpico, and Puck when he’s not interacting with Isidro, and it would be ridiculous and terrible if Casca died after everything, but everyone else could be horribly killed off next update and I’d be overjoyed. I’m dying for a dark shake up of Guts’ narrative, and I have virtually no emotional attachment to anyone except the characters I listed.

And even the ones I do like I’d be willing to sacrifice for the sake of more of what I love about Berserk, ie grimdark violence, characters making disastrous choices because that grimdark violence has meaningfully impacted them, and homoeroticism.

The Godhand have always been shady, I mean Griffith and one up them by killing them for killing his precious army .. They cornered him and he was at his most vulnerable I was surprised how fast he was convinced lol. I knew the bastard wanted his “me kingdom ” but damn he didn’t hesitate. Godhand using Griffith to get Guts sounds more plausible honestly Griffith is a puppet.

I’m not really sure what you mean by your first sentence, sorry. Otherwise, idk I think it’s surprising how much convincing it took Griffith to make the sacrifice, like, I would’ve completely understood and still found him sympathetic if he took the Godhand up on their offer instantly lol and instead it took a chapter and a half of manipulative guilt tripping.

Also the Godhand don’t seem to care much about Guts as an enemy so idk if they’re really plotting against him, but calling Griffith is a puppet of the Idea of Evil/Fate/whatever does seem accurate. Maybe even Void too, he seems like he could be scheming something.

what do you think of the 2016 berserk anime?

lol i haven’t watched it. i’ve seen i think the first few episodes from the second season – hill of swords to the fight outside flora’s house iirc – and I feel like that’s more than enough for me.

it brings nothing new to the table as far as i can tell (well, i’ll give them the sexy soulful sax music while guts contemplates griffith’s ass, that was a bold and exciting choice) and everything about it varies from lacklustre to immensely disappointing in execution.

also i respect wanting to adapt a part of berserk that isn’t the golden age but when the fuck am i gonna get to see the black swordsman arc animated??? that should be priority number one i m h o

what would you like to change in berserk? actually im asking how the story would work without using rape as a plot device but also in general (characterization, plot etc.)

Ooh this is an interesting question, ty!

I wouldn’t change either Guts or Griffith’s backstories tbh, I think they’re actually pretty well done, and important to their characters and narratives without being the be all end all. Well, I’d like to make Gennon less of an evil gay stereotype and Donovan less of a scary black man stereotype but yk, other than those details the existence of rape in their backstories isn’t something I’d change.

With Casca… tough call. Her story is all about gendered violence to the point where if you got rid of the rape attempts you’d have to come up with a whole new story for her. But it’s still a shallower and less well-rounded depiction of abuse than either guts or griffith’s backstories, bc it’s so emphatically gendered, like, rather than informing her personality or her choices it’s just framed as being a woman.

So actually I guess for Casca what I’d change is (actually pretty obviously lol) her motivations. She’s not in love with Griffith, she idealizes his dream because she knows he wants to dismantle those power structures that fuck her over and create a place where those w/ power can’t easily abuse their power over others. She hates Guts not because she’s jealous of him (tho she could still be jealous of his emotional closeness with Griffith, like she’d still admire Griffith here even if she’s not in love with him and I like that rival dynamic), but because she recognizes that he could end up destroying Griffith’s dream.

Also I think we can still cut out most of the rape threats she gets while still showing that she has something to fight against. Maybe keep Adon being a gross dick (in all fairness he kind of mirrors Gennon towards Griffith which kind of shows how they’re fighting for the same dream – ie a world where those kinds of dudes are shut down) but have Casca just fighting for her life rather than against rape attempts as she runs from the 100 man fight.

So nothing really changes much until Guts comes back from his vacation. And now Casca is genuinely, genuinely angry and hateful towards him, because he did exactly what she’s been afraid he was going to do – destroyed Griffith’s dream, and her hope for a better future.

Which means they don’t have sex lol, Casca was never into Guts, they began a friendship towards the end of the war but nothing more. And now that Guts has come back Casca is actively hostile to him, though after Guts lets her stab him she probably forgives him a bit bc it’s not like he intended to destroy absolutely everything, and he’s clearly fucked up about it.

Also no suicide attempt.

So their dynamic during the rescue mission is resentful allies, like a throwback to their first three years knowing each other.

Wyald still happens but no attempted rape w/ Casca obviously.

Now when it comes to the Eclipse, I want it to be all about Guts, and I want it to hit the audience over the head with parallels to his childhood. It’s the Eclipse, it doesn’t need to be subtle. Rather than looking wistful when Griffith sacrifices everyone, I want Guts to look betrayed, I want him to look just as sad and horrified as he did when he was 11 and Gambino told him he sold him to Donovan.

Agh I’d hate to lose the creepy silent monster vibe from Femto, but something like a cold, “you’re still alive?” would be v fitting w/ the “you should have died” parallels. Tho idk I’m torn on that.

And ok I said I want it to be all about Guts but I can’t just kill off Casca. But if she’s gonna live the Eclipse needs some serious personal meaning for her too. So maybe her reaction to being sacrificed, knowing it’s for the dream she’s dedicated her life to and in theory she should be willing to give her life for it, and trying to reconcile that with the horrificness of the situation and her desperate desire to survive anyway. So she survives long enough for Femto to show up, because she’s not the third best fighter in the Hawks for nothing, and then…

torture? Femto has monsters hold Guts down and tortures Casca in a way reminiscent of a kid pulling the wings off a fly. She loses an arm, Guts keeps his because he’s too busy being utterly terrified and possibly flashbacking to hack his own arm off in a rage.

Like, one thing about the Eclipse rape, is that if Miura had to have it as a way of emotionally affecting Guts, how the fuck did he manage to draw like two chapters of awful awful shit with Guts being held down by monsters that he’d just watched rape Casca, and completely fail to allude to Guts’ own rape trauma? How. Hooooow it’s mind boggling. It’s absurd.

But you don’t even need the graphic rape for that, like hell, Miura has absolutely adequately set up the correlation between giant monsters Guts is compelled to fight and his own childhood trauma imo to justify Guts having a very emotional traumatic reaction to just being held down and made helpless by monsters after being essentially given to them.

There’s Black Swordsman Guts in a nutshell, and this is exactly what was implied to have caused him to go full traumatized amoral asshole. Before g*tsca was a gleam in Miura’s eye all he had were those parallels to Guts’ childhood trauma – Guts being given away to monsters by someone he trusted – and that’s all he needed.

So anyway, because Casca lives, she has her own reaction to being casually tortured by Femto before being rescued, which is also a replay of her childhood trauma but without the agency of killing her attacker herself with a sword. So her reaction could very well be similar to Guts’ – a desire to kill monsters and get revenge. Maybe she’s lost her idealism wrt the dream, and she’s more cynical now – a better world is impossible, best you can do is survive this one.

She and Guts go their separate ways because they’re barely friends, let alone lovers, and remember 2 brands = big ghost problems.

After this the narrative splits 3 ways between NGriff, Guts, and Casca.

I’m reaching the limits of my creativity lol. So I’m just gonna suggest that Guts gets the behelit, Casca gets the armour and the rpg group, Casca gets the moving on arc and hooks up with Farnese while maybe finding a happy medium between changing the world and lashing out against the world, and Guts succumbs to his inner darkness and gets a highly emotional confrontation with Griffith. Since he has the behelit maybe he uses it upon realizing that Griffith’s heart is still beating for him, bc the emotional conflict is just too much, and sacrifices Griffith to become a Zodd-esque apostle wandering battlefields and fighting for no reason, basically returned to his pre-Griffith state.

It’s probably shorter than 355 chapters too lbr. I’d say NGriff creates Falconia right before the confrontation with Guts, so yk he achieves his dream b4 ironically getting sacrificed. Otherwise his story doesn’t change much. Maybe stronger suggestions that he’s not as unemotional as he looks, to build up to a guts confrontation better.

Like… I’m not a very creative or good writer lol but I feel this general outline could be written in a very good and satisfying way by someone with talent, like Miura.

Do you accept meta requests? ‘Cause I would love to read an analysis of the historical/geographical parallels in Berserk

I definitely take questions and prompts and stuff into consideration and as inspiration, but tbh I think I’d have to disappoint you on this one bc this is way outside my area of expertise. I’m more film studies than history lol, if I tried to write this I’d never be able to do it justice.

I appreciate you asking though, and I hope someone who knows more history than I do does write something like this because it would be interesting to read.

what is your favorite berserk adaptation?

mmm I’d have to go with the 97 anime. I appreciate the ovas and how in one or two ways they actually manage to improve on the source material (i’m thinking griffith going to charlotte after guts leaves) and how despite making terrible adaptation choices they do manage to largely emphasize what i like about the story (ie griffguts) and indicate that despite yk, cutting most of griffith’s character, they do understand him to an extent (eg subtly showing that he’s bullshitting when he says he feels nothing towards gennon by having him back his horse away when gennon touches him).

the anime is different in that I don’t think the creators really like what I like about the manga or have the same understanding of it as me, but it’s also a much more faithful adaptation overall, so by virtue of that it’s still better. everything it changes from the manga is for the worse, but it doesn’t change all that much, and it gets some key moments very right in contrast to the ovas (eg the moment griffith chooses to sacrifice the hawks. the anime did it perfectly by copying the manga exactly, while the ovas made griffith look like a sinister scheming villain lol).

plus in the dub at least (i still haven’t rewatched the sub to that point) griffith lists “love” as one of the feelings he has towards guts that he’s been obsessing over in the torture chamber, and i can’t deny i fuckin love that.

also yk it includes the naked waterfight and griffith’s backstory and motivation.

like i have a lot of nitpicky beefs with the anime and I’d never consider it a legit alternative to the manga lol, but it’s still a pretty good adaptation.

I personally think he‘d love sasha velour but I‘m biased so

lol sorry this ended up being posted a day later

DONR CALL MY QUEEN A STONER

lmao things heating up in the berserk/rpdr modern au fandom

aaaaa I didn‘t want to bother you since you don‘t even watch rpdr I‘m just rambling

no worries! it’s a fun discussion lol even if lots of it goes over my head.

I think he‘d like pearl from season 7, she‘s not as extroverted as other queens but she‘s sassy and her drag style is absolutely stunning

i can only facilitate discussion rather than contribute lol but thoughts, anyone?

i love griffith, guts and griffguts, but sometimes i feel super guilty about it bc of what griffith and guts have done to casca. i can’t even read fluffy stuff with them bc it just feels off mark given canon :/

I mean, that’s like… I was gonna say ‘fair’ but it’s not rly fair to you lol, you shouldn’t feel guilty about liking a good super interesting relationship just bc the mangaka thinks gratuitious rape and rape attempts are gr8 ways to illustrate evil. It makes sense to feel that way, but yk, it sucks.

So like I know it’s easy to say “idc bc it’s fiction” and that probably doesn’t help you because you already know it’s fiction. But I do think it’s good to bear in mind that the only person who has any say in what happens to Casca in the story is Miura, so you shouldn’t feel guilty for enjoying some elements of his story just because he likes to go full grimdark at other times.

Also like, while I personally am fine with just saying “it’s fiction so idgaf, I’ll take what I like and dismiss what I don’t,” it doesn’t work for everyone, but an extra like… point that might help you reconcile liking characters who do terrible things is that these two terrible things in particular are bad and genuinely offensive writing lol.

Like it’s probably easier to say “fuck the Eclipse rape idc” when you see it as hugely gratuitous, offensively depicted, contradictory in some ways to earlier canon***, wholly unnecessary, thematically muddy, and kind of disturbingly downplayed in the future for the sake of depicting NeoGriffith as a morally ambiguous hero of his own story (and Miura has straight up said that NGriff is supposed to be morally ambiguous and heroic depending on your pov lol).

Guts sexually assaulting Casca is also unnecessary (trying to murder her seems like it would be a sufficient illustration of darkness), super misogynist in that we’re still supposed to support Guts afterwards and sympathize with him and his guilt moreso than Casca, not to mention homophobic since it’s all about his (super suggestively described by the hound) feelings for Griffith.

So yk, these things may be canon but they suck and if dismissing them makes me enjoy the story more that seems like the best course of action.

And finally, if none of that helps at all, it’s worth taking into account that these are Griffith and Guts’ magical evil alter egos at work. Canonically Femto is the worst aspects of Griffith, magnified by literal evil, with the rest of him burned or shattered away. The last thing Griffith did as a character was sacrifice the Hawks. Everything else has just been a magically augmented part of him.

Guts’ Beast of Darkness similarly is part of Guts, not all of him, and it’s also given strength by Guts’ existence on the interstice, thanks to the Brand. That’s why Flora’s magic seal of protection on the brand helped like, metaphorically chain it up in Guts’ subconscious.

One of Berserk’s main thematic points is that everyone has an inner darkness in them, it’s part of being human, so it’s not that Guts and Griffith are singled out as extra evil.

As pure unmagical humans, Guts and Griffith are just interesting complicated people, neither saints nor demons, with an intense relationship, and imo there’s plenty of room for fluffy content between them pre-Eclipse, or in an AU. I mean canon has them bond during a naked waterfight lol, you know there are a ton of cute off-screen moments between them just waiting to be depicted in fanworks.

(With the caveat that Miura’s misogyny sometimes still shows through, eg Griffith’s night with Charlotte which is narratively treated as consensual even though she says “no” first (typical bodice ripper shit), or Guts sexually assaulting Casca by grabbing her boob to distract her during an argument which is treated as cute rather than fucked up. But yk, welcome to Berserk. Miura sucks.)

***eg in v brief one thing that bothers me is that in the Black Swordsman arc
it was strongly implied that Guts’ reaction to whatever made him so
angry at Griffith/Femto was paralyzing fear, whereas during the Eclipse
all we see is violent rage

modern au where griffith is a huge fan of RuPaul‘s Drag Race

tbh i’ve seen like a grand total of two episodes in my life lol so someone else is gonna have to contribute to this

but i support this au

i saw the argument that the hound being born from guts’ trauma. i know the stuations are kinda different but do you think the same thing can be said femto as a being? like their traumas showing itself through their dark sides.

ABSOLUTELY

lol i’m actually writing a thing right now that gets into that a little, tho it’ll be a while b4 i can post it

but yeah like femto specifically I would argue is essentially griffith’s guilt and self-loathing personified, just as the beast of darkness is guts’, and those feelings relate back to trauma for both of them.

For Guts it’s Gambino selling him and later telling him he’s cursed and evil and deserved it + the guilt of killing Gambino. This is v strongly visually suggested during his sewer nightmare right before he overhears Griffith’s promrose hall speech. Watches a monster kill gambino, then child!guts, then turns out the monster is himself. Voila. (also the trauma of the eclipse, buried guilt + self loathing wrt abandoning griffith leading to the eclipse, and his black swordsman sadism, traumatizing and killing children, etc, all makes the beast of darkness grow)

For Griffith it’s the guilt of the deaths of everyone who follows him and tbqh the deaths of people he kills too, and his self-loathing wrt “dirtying” himself in pursuit of his dream, so yk there’s trauma there too with Gennon. Also I think there’s a case to be made that the year of torture had a significant contribution to Femto’s existence, even if the psychological trauma of it isn’t rly discussed like the physical trauma is – I mean the mask he was forced to wear is incorporated into Femto’s design, that’s a big sign at least, plus the talk of darkness and feeling numb at the start of his torture chamber monologue which is echoed during his transformation into Femto.

idk basically strong yes imo, and i’m probably gonna come back and revisit this topic in greater detail eventually

i really love your theory about how the behelit Guts carries around might belong to Casca, but do you think it would be likely to see in future that Guts will become some sort of apostle and thus become Griffiths/Femtos “equal” (and thus carry on forth the theme of Guts striving for this equality)? Or might Guts become something Skull Knight is now? Im rambling but id love to hear your rambling/thoughts on this haha

ty! God I really, really want Guts to be shown as Griffith’s equal at some point. I feel like it’s the only way to satisfactorily conclude their whole… thing. Guts letting go of the desire to be Griffith’s equal just isn’t satisfying to me.

But that said I don’t think becoming an apostle is the way to do it. For that literal equality Guts would have to become a Godhand, and unless there’s a 200+ year timeskip after Elfhelm that’s not possible according to the rules of the world. An apostle is a follower of NeoGriff so becoming one wouldn’t make him Griffith’s equal, it would put him back in that position of looking up at him/feeling looked down on.

Ofc one could say that those technical details don’t really matter, what matters is that Griffith succumbed to his superpowered dark side so if Guts does then that’s still equality in a sense, even if he’s a “lesser” monster. But then, he has the armour to represent his dark side, which makes the behelit kind of superfluous now, and it’s been foreshadowed a lot that he’s going to lose himself to the armour at some point.

And since it’s suggested that Skull Knight became a walking skeleton because he succumbed to the amour himself, I think it’s a lot more likely that we’ll get more Skull Knight comparisons and there will at least be a danger of Guts becoming like him – powerful but… lacking humanity I guess, if he doesn’t overcome the armour. And that could potentially lead to ~the beast of darkness~ and ~the hawk of light~ regarding each other as equals in a confrontation.

BUT! What I want more than that is acknowledgement that all these standards of literal equality are essentially a smokescreen obscuring what actually made them equal from the beginning, which is the fact that they both loved each other and they were both emotionally vulnerable w/ the other. So honestly acknowledgement that they’re still hung up on each other despite everything is what would work best here imho.

Guts learns that NGriff failed his test on the Hill of Swords and started getting emotional about Guts again, and NGriff learns that in addition to hate Guts still feels residual love, and guilt and regret etc. Followed by an emotionally charged third duel, their strengths (magic superpower, inner darknesses, fate vs not being beholden to fate, whatever) and weaknesses (emotions, love and regret) equally matched.

hey i haven’t sent you an ask in a long while uuuuuu griffiths thoughts/feelings on guts muscles/strength? we talked abt guts and griffs hair already so this seems fair

lmao yk how last time I said Griffith’s hair was basically the main focus of Guts’ first impression of him? Same is true of Guts’ strength for Griffith.

so yk this is like the perfect complement to that ask.

Griffith can say it’s “interesting” and makes Guts “a valuable soldier” all he wants but l b r here there’s a reason Guts is the first person Griffith has ever said something like this to

and it’s not because Guts is a good soldier.

This is the face of a dude who has spent a lot of time “fondly reminiscing” about that fight.

also

and of course, the piece de resistance

Also like we’ve talked about this a bit when we were talking about kinky headcanons but Griffith is definitely super into the fact that Guts is stronger than him. There’s that Griffith kinking on the idea of being held down bc of the whole relinquishing control thing aspect, and I think there’s also a Guts as protector aspect?

Like yk Griffith can take care of himself, but it’s better with someone you can trust at your side, that’s both one of the major points of Berserk and Griffith and Guts’ relationship specifically. So I think there’s an endearing aspect of Griffith appreciating Guts’ strength because he trusts him w/ it. And you see that in canon w/ yk Griffith asking him to assassinate people and moments like Guts not letting any of Gennon’s men through to Griffith during the Battle of Doldrey, but it also fits so neatly into a potential sexual relationship lol.

Like admiring Guts’ strength goes hand in hand with appreciating how Guts like, cares for him and uses it to help him and in his defense etc, and idk it’s got a sweet sort of bodyguard dynamic feel to it? Anyway the point is Griffith would be into Guts demonstrating his strength during sex in non-kinky ways too, like holding him up and fucking him against a wall.

Also they arm wrestle once while drinking at a tavern or smthn, Guts wins, and they both awkwardly get hard.

eyes on fire by blue foundation rlly reminds me of griff’s attittude towards his enemies

Oh yeah totally, it basically sounds like the theme song of griffith assassinating his way to the throne. ty for the suggestion!

I’m currently sick so I had a lot of time to read your berserk analyses/theories and your blog kinda reminds me of @///qmisato’s (my fav!!) and I just wanted to say that you’re doing an amazing job and I really enjoy seeing your posts!!! xx

Aw I hope you get better soon, and thank you so much, I appreciate you telling me so ❤ I’m glad my blog can keep you a bit entertained while you’re sick.

Wait, Griffith is attracted to women? Where???

don’t ask me lol, I read him as 110% gay

people on reddit saying that griffith being gay would make the story “too simple” is the funniest thing bc they literally reduce griff to a lame villain of purE EVIL that wanted to kill guts and the band of the hawk all along

I don’t even get how that would simplify anything lol, tbqh Griffith (and Guts) being gay would make the story make 50x more sense and also make it more complex.

But I mean we all know that “X can’t be gay that’s too simple/too reductive/you can’t reduce their relationship down to sexual attraction it’s more ~profound~ then that/X is beyond things like sexual orientation but also he’s straight/etc etc” is just badly disguised homophobia anyway.

I’ve just been having feelings about Casca lately that are probs 90% projection. We’ve talked about this before I think the most likely explanation of Casca’s character arc revolving around feelings about the men around her (that therefore must be romantic) is misogyny. But it’s also shitty and #relatable because despite being in an atypically profession for women Casca is a Good Girl. And as someone who was raised to be that way you are pretty much trained to be this way by your parents.

And once we bring in the after effects of multiple traumas and possible
closeted feelings it gets even more complicated because I really did
just throw myself into my relationships, both platonic and romantic. So
basically it’s not good writing but it’s all weird and complicated for
me as someone who relates more and more to her as I get older.

Makes me wish we got more pre-Hawks backstory for Casca, what her family life was like, yk, other than her parents selling her lol, to have more of a foundation for her character.

but like this is legit. idk projecting on media is a time-honoured tradition, and if it makes it more entertaining or meaningful or understandable or w/e then it’s probably the best thing to do lol.

I don’t identify with Casca rly myself (I mean tbqh I almost never relate much to fictional characters on a personal level lol, I have kind of a disconnect there) but it absolutely makes her narrative more interesting to me if eg I read her desire to “give something” to the men in her life sexually as a result of trauma and being rescued/feeling like she owes them, rather than Miura just being a misogynist who thinks its romantic.

like idk exactly where to draw the line between ‘good writing’ and ‘bad but makes a surprising amount of sense if you look at it in a certain way writing’ anyway lol.

(btw I think I saw that you replied to one of my posts a couple times around when you sent these but they don’t show up on my activity page bc tumblr is broken so idk lol)

You’re acting like Casca is being forced to stay with the Hawks , when she could’ve leave anytime she wanted. Victimizing her when she was an equal warrior like the rest of the Hawks until Guts came along, even Corkus said no one could beat her when they assaulted Guts and tried to take his silver coins. She was amongst the best warrior Griffith had they all respected her. Both Guts and Griffith hurt her more especially Griffith since she’s more familiar with him since she knows him longer.

…what is this a response to? Where did I suggest Casca was forced to stay with the Hawks?

The closest thing I can come up with is my tags on this post, which are referring to the fact that Casca is upset because she wants to leave with Guts and now feels like she can’t because of Griffith, and I think that’s pathetic writing that could be vastly improved if Casca was motivated by something other than men.

I mean if we’re talking about Casca’s term as leader of the Hawks, the text insists over and over again that she’s basically forced to lead them bc of her sense of duty and bc everyone just turned to her as their replacement for Griffith – Judeau tells Guts multiple times that leading the Hawks is terrible for her, we see that it drives her to suicide, and when the Hawks learn that Griffith isn’t going to recover they want Casca to keep leading them and Judeau tells them to stfu because they’re asking too much of her.

And I think Miura choosing to emphasize the toll leading takes on Casca emotionally is a shitty writing choice, especially compared to Griffith’s issues with leadership which are all about guilt, vs Casca’s which are all about how difficult it is.

Also like, are you saying I’m victimizing her by pointing out how often she needs to be rescued because she’s always conveniently feverish/on the verge of exhaustion/suicidal/up against someone so strong someone else has to step in/etc? There’s a well-known piece of writing advice: “show, don’t tell.” We’re told that Casca is the third best fighter in the Hawks who can defeat ten men. We’re shown Guts or Griffith rescuing her (or Guts easily defeating her) way, way more often than we’re ever shown her actual fighting skills.

This is a deliberate choice on Miura’s part, to shove Casca into the role of victim as often as possible despite what we’re told of her skills. I’m not dumping on a real woman who has a lot of bad luck lmao, I’m dumping on Miura’s misogynist writing.

Casca was a full character for about 90 chapters, in which she had to be rescued, let’s see… I count eight times: nobleman, guts, ch 15-21 (which could be counted as like 4 separate rescues but i’m being generous here), silat, suicide attempt, wyald, judeau during the eclipse (could be 2 separate times but let’s call it one), skull knight at the eclipse.

Compare it to the number of times we see Casca defeat her enemies
herself in those 90 chapters: Adon at Doldrey, the nobleman (after Griffith throws her a
sword), a few attempted rapists as she’s running from the 100 man fight
(before Judeau and co show up and get the rest for her), and one of the
Bakiraka assassins.

(I counted the nobleman in both categories lol bc Griff threw her a
sword and chopped off his ear first to interrupt the rape attempt, but
Casca finished him off and was also a kid so she gets points for that.
Just fyi.)

Or compare that to Guts, who is a full character throughout the whole 300+ chapters of story, and had to be rescued once when Griffith rode back for him after their first raid, once when Griff leapt in to save him from Zodd, a monster neither of them could actually defeat and it was actually fate that saved their asses, and once when Skull Knight showed up at the Eclipse. Oh, I suppose there was one time Gambino killed an enemy on the battlefield for him when he was like six. And Skull Knight didn’t save him from Slan, but he did save him from the subsequent cave collapse, so let’s be fair and count that too.

Versus an uncountable number of times he defeated his enemies himself.

Or compare it to human Griffith who is a character for about as long as Casca, and has to be rescued once after he’s tortured to the point of helplessness. Maybe twice if you include Zodd killing Wyald while Wyald’s holding him. And even after he’s physically helpless he manages to save the group once himself.

My point being that Miura chooses what to write, and he chose to write a ridiculous amount of situations where Casca needs to be rescued. He chose to make her a victim many many times even though she’s theoretically a highly accomplished warrior, and then he went all in and turned that into her entire character in the 250 chapters post-Golden Age, and I am absolutely gonna criticize that choice.

Finally, I often cite the way the Hawks fully respect and admire Casca as one of my favourite things about her character, and I don’t think I’ve ever suggested that she wasn’t hurt by Griffith and Guts lol, so i’m not sure why you brought those things up.