Tag: ask

which apostle would hate guts the most?

this is actually a p tough question, hmmm

Of the current core cast of apostles I think he’d be fairly indifferent to Grunbeld, Locus and Irvine. They’re honourable killer types just doing their thing. He’d hate them only as much as he hates any given apostle, and less than most I think.

Raksas I think he’d hate a bit more, because Raksas is a gleeful dick who likes to fuck with people before killing them and if Guts had to fight him I think he’d get annoyed with his hiding in the shadows being creepy thing. Also if he ever found out somehow that Raksas promised to kill Griffith he’d hate him more because I think Guts would feel proprietary towards Griffith’s death lol. I can see Guts as the type of in-love-deep-down-enemy who’s like, “the only one allowed to kill you is me.” Maybe not at this point in the narrative while he’s trying to shake those feelings, but if he ever backslid, yk.

I think Zodd wins though because they have a history. I actually think he respects Zodd as an enemy, but Zodd’s gotten between him and NeoGriff a few times and is the apostle Guts has seen carrying him around, and Zodd gave him the cryptic Eclipse prophecy multiple times, and Zodd saved his ass a few times too so that he’d be around for the Eclipse and I could see Guts resenting that. Plus they’re sort of designated counterparts and Zodd is his NeoBand replacement which I could also see him resenting. Especially if he sees his own potential to become a monster reflected in Zodd.

Though the bantering familiarity they kinda sorta had when they fought Ganeshka is a point against that actually…

So idk, either Zodd or Raksas I guess lol.

Do you find the word of “Griffith apologist” annoying?

You mean like, people throwing around the phrase as an accusation or insult? bc if so yeah lol. I try to avoid a lot of Berserk fandom other than my awesome little tumblr circle here so I don’t see it happen a lot thankfully. It seems like it’s mostly an accusation thrown at Griffith fans by people who are bad at nuance, compartmentalization and/or the concept of fiction and therefore believe everyone else is too, and so they think if someone likes Griffith as a character and/or empathizes with him then they must support all of his choices and actions.

Idk if it’s meant to include Femto’s actions or not lol, but either way it’s a meaningless buzzwordy phrase that doesn’t describe any kind of Griffith fan I’ve ever seen.

am i the only one who thinks when griff became femto that he didnt lose his humanity, but rather succumbed to the darker side of it? like berserk is all about how evil and negative emotions are so Natural that god itself is the manifestation of the collective subconscious pain of humanity. i think ppl dont kno what being apathetic means bc femto is petty, spiteful(black swords arc)& reps the worst of griff’s emotions like how the beast is for guts. -“fate just happens” nonnie

Nah I’ve talked w/ ppl about this plenty and tbh it hink it’s pretty straightforwardly said in canon so I definitely agree with you.

I do think there’s a bit of… idk semantic confusion bc in Berserk becoming a godhand/apostle is literally described as burying your human heart and tbf I know sometimes I word it as losing his humanity or trading it in bc the official translation also sometimes does.

But within context it’s pretty obviously less about literally losing your humanity and more about giving in to your ~dark side~ which is very human. I mean like you said, everything about the spirit world in Berserk and magic etc is driven by humanity’s subconscious will, there’s nothing actually inhuman anywhere.

We can see this coming through loud and clear as early as like, volume 3 when Puck taunts the Count about being extremely human even as an apostle.

So yeah I pretty much interpret Femto as the darkest part of Griffith that was like, given magic powers, cool wings and free reign while the rest of his personality was burned away and/or frozen. And yeah exactly, same with the hound and Guts, totally agree.

Also lol do ppl call Femto apathetic? Dude is anything but, he’s sooo petty lol, to the point where it’s genuinely hilarious to me in the Black Swordsman arc. Tho tbf if they’re referring to NeoGriffith more i could see that, he seems different from Femto in that he’s way more chill and serene.

Another thing that has dampened my enthusiasm for the series is that i feel like miura spoiled his own universe a bit too much? Like he tried to repair the damage by not publishing the idea of evil chapter but at this point most people have read it and we know gods plan,even its nature,why griffith was chosen etc. we have seen gods and all fantasy creatures and at this point theres isnt much left to explore/explain. Earlier berserk had a sense of mystery and looming darkness to it that (cont’d)

i really loved and now its p much gone. the only thing i really look
forward to anymore is an emotional resolve/final confrontation between
griffith and guts and just to see how they’ll both end up (basically the
ending) and it looks like that will take god knows how many years to
get to.

Yeah that’s fair.

tbh I never really considered how Berserk would feel without the Idea of Evil chapter, but you have a good point. Though I feel like either way, that sense of looming darkness is kind of canceled out by learning so much about the positive/good aspects of like, the spirit world – good witches, guardian spirits, Elfhelm, etc. And ia I do miss that aspect of earlier Berserk. Mystery and looming darkness is a really good way of describing it. I can’t say I regret having the IoE chapter out there myself because I’m greedy for spoilers lol, but I can see how it diminishes the sense of intrigue we’d otherwise have about Griffith’s narrative and the Godhand.

I’m still invested in enough of the characters that I’m definitely hooked – Casca coming back, whatever Rickert and Silat are doing, Griffith’s emotional ambiguity, Guts’ hound trying to break free, hopefully some interesting conflict for Farnese and/or Serpico that doesn’t involve Farnese dying, Schierke and Sonia meeting again, and ofc the GriffGuts confrontation… but yeah it’s like, less about the atmospheric and emotionally intense journey now and more about waiting for something to happen lol.

every time i read or rewatch berserk i always i have the same realization over again which is: griffith was like .. in love with guts. and vice versa. like its right there in text

god ikr. i always remember it as more subtle than it is lol. but i mean i feel i can write a Serious Analysis that includes the phrase “this is Guts repressing the realization that Griffith is in love with him” for example and it’s just like, yeah, true, that’s not reachy or wishful thinking at all.

Your posts are really perfect the way they are, don’t you dare listen to haters!

Ty Anon this is super nice ❤ No worries, fandomy arguments don’t really faze me much.

tbh it does kind of suck that Berserk is so utterly polarizing that it makes it hard to like, lightly talk about it without 50 disclaimers and clarifications, but c’est la vie. I’ve done pretty well by staying out of tags and being upfront about what I’m about lol, so it’s not a big deal to me. tbh I blame Miura for making it super extra edgy more than fans who have a strong negative reaction to Griffith bc of the Eclipse, though I do wish ppl could chill at fans who have different reactions to a flawed story and redirect that ire at the writer.

Also tbf tone is hard on the internet so my op probably came across as more serious than intended. I’m used to preaching to the choir so I didn’t expect anyone to take it as a serious complaint or accusation tbh, though that was probably naive of me.

feel free to ignore this or take ur time or w/e but im suddenly filled with the pressing need to ask: what thoughts do you have on the infamous “you swing that way/my sword or my ass scene”?

The first thing that springs to mind to say about it is that I literally, 100% being honest and not exaggerating, cannot conceive of a writer writing that into their story and intending the characters to be straight bffs lmao

Like it’s the scene where they properly meet for the first time, and it’s not even innuendo, it’s straight up “are you gay? do you want to fuck me? okay sure if you win you can” and Griffith pointedly denying none of it. If that’s how you choose to introduce your characters’ relationship I just don’t believe that all the subsequent homoeroticism is accidental.

Also a good thing about those exchanges? Prime the audience to read the first duel as a sex scene. Like I’m sorry but Guts saying “you can have whatever you want, my sword or my ass” and then surprising Griffith by um taking his sword into his mouth? Pretty dang suggestive.

(Also Griffith winning by seizing Guts’ arm in a hold and then dislocating it = he’s a power bottom. Sorry that’s just basic literary analysis.)

More seriously I think it’s interesting and simultaneously kind of heartwarming and tragic that the first thing Guts does is project his rape trauma on Griffith but then quickly comes to wholly trust, admire and love him. It’s another indication that living with the Hawks and Griff for 3 years has really helped heal him emotionally, and another relatively minor thing that adds a little more weight to the Eclipse, at least in theory (seems a bit thin to say it was purposeful on Miura’s part but it works).

how do u think griff and guts get together during the therapy au (if they do?)

tbh I don’t really have any solid detailed ideas here. I can say that if I was reading it I’d want this au to still have a misunderstanding and stupid “breakup” and I think my preference would be for Griffith to downward spiral somehow (not like a torture chamber, but idk risky behaviour, stupid decisions, dropping out of uni, that kinda thing) after Guts leaves to find himself, and for them to get together after Guts comes back and finds him miserable and self destructive. Like, re-do the Golden Age but fate isn’t a thing and gods aren’t a thing and Griffith still has a tongue so Guts has his revelation that he shouldn’t’ve left and instead of summoning gods they figure their shit out and then make out.

Also I’m gonna tag @yesgabsstuff and @mastermistressofdesire and also if anyone else wants to get in on this plz do bc frankly I am not creative enough to contribute much to entertaining au ideas lol. My style is like, ok well here’s what happened in canon so let’s do the exact same thing but slightly different bc of circumstances.

I’m probably the only person that hates Charlotte not because of Griffith has non to do with him, but she didn’t even ask him how he can talk, etc. Then I think about it is either Griffith or being locked up, also why hasn’t she been bothered with falconia when is midland originally?? I hope her royalty ass gets concerned for her kingdom at least since Griffith isn’t going to be nice once he marries her.

Well tbh I have my issues with how Charlotte is written since I think she’s too passive and two dimensional at the moment (though I have hope for her in the future bc there’s plenty of room for her to grow and she has shown some depth before, eg spearheading the plot to rescue Griffith) but I think these points in particular are a little unfair.

When the first thing your boyfriend does when he shows up again after 2 years is fly you out of a tower with the help of a cool monster idk if I’d think to question his recovery either. It’s even possible she asked off-screen, but not important for the reader to see because imo it’s pretty easy to assume that “magic” is a reasonable explanation when this is a dude who performs miracles.

And as for Charlotte ruling her kingdom, I mean, this is fantasy middle ages in Berserk, aka a world hardly known for granting women a lot of power. I don’t think Charlotte was ever expected to actually take control of a kingdom – she was supposed to get married to someone who would do that. And from her point of view she’s marrying the literal saviour of the world, declared divine by the highest religious authority, regular performer of miracles, who magically created the best damn kingdom the world’s ever seen. I don’t think she’d feel the need to vy for control when by all accounts Griffith is doing a bang up job.

Like idk she’s boring to me too, but her choices and reactions all make sense to me since she’s a sheltered princess without a lot of life experience, so I can’t really direct any ire at her. I just wish she was written to be a little more dynamic I guess, and I can totally see why her passivity would grate on you. Here’s hoping she does something interesting in the future.

Oh and lastly I don’t think there’s any reason to believe Griffith wouldn’t continue being blandly nice after marrying her. Why do you think that would change?

do u have any modern au ideas? like… what would these weirdos be like in world without many swords

tbh the more epic and fucked up a canon is the more charming i find chill modern aus, so i think my faves are aus where they’re basically normal. a little fucked up and weird and dramatic maybe, but like, when guts and griffith have a dramatic break up no one turns into a demon, they just downward spiral like ordinary people do and spend a while hating each other and making things awkward for their mutual friends.

also i think in a modern au guts should still have some kind of thing he does. if not swinging a sword then maybe a trade his shitty adopted father taught him, or a hobby he spends most of his downtime on (working out, sports, idk).

Also tradesman Casca – maybe she’s a welder or carpenter or mechanic or something. Sry I love her buff arms too much not to give her a physical job, and the class issues are important to the story so they’re all blue collar.

except Griffith who’s a grad student.

then casca could meet farnese by chance and have a whirlwind cliche class-differences romance that ends with them running off together (serpico tags along, eventually finds a dude of his own (Farnese’s surprisingly understanding fiancee Roderick?), and they’re all gay bffs who room together in an improbably nice new york apartment. who wouldn’t watch this sitcom? guts and griffith are recurring characters in a dramatic on again off again relationship.)

lol idk this devolved quickly. creativity is not my strong suit. i have another related ask tho so gimme a sec and i’ll cosign that idea too

alright 6 8 and 9 for griff? or pick and choose >:]

Hugging headcanon 

He’s always the one hugging someone to comfort them, never the one needing comfort. So he’ll hug Casca after she thinks he’s dead to reassure her, but he’ll twist out of her arms when she’s trying to comfort him in the river.

But deep down, somewhere he won’t admit to himself, he really, really wants to be wrapped in Guts’ big arms. Like letting Guts hold him and letting himself feel comforted would be one of the highest relationship achievements to unlock.

Post-torture, when Guts did get to hug him and hold him a few times, Griffith would’ve pushed him away if he could and a tiny part of him was glad he couldn’t.

Sex headcanon

Because I think it fits him on a meta-level, I think if Griff has sex-related trauma it’s more about feeling objectified and used rather than say sexual position. So he’d switch but wants to be the one in control regardless. With Guts he’d definitely lean towards power bottoming, and he’d lavish praise on Guts, talk about how gorgeous he is, etc. Guts wants to be looked-at and Griffith wants to do the looking so I think they’d be rly compatible from the start. But I also think it’s kind of a burden to him to always feel the need to be in control so there’s another related high-level relationship achievement to unlock in some happily ever after au.

Also doing this one for NeoGriff because I feel like there’s a significant change:

NeoGriff otoh would have sex solely to please his partner. What with the whole “the desired” thing, he would just become whatever his partner wanted him to be, because the only reason he’d be having sex anyway is to further his goal. So Charlotte gets this ready-made fantasy object who doesn’t give a fuck but is really good at pretending to, and so does anyone else he might ever end up getting laid by, for whatever goal-related reason. He’s still in control no matter what he’s doing what with being a god and all, but it’s all dictated by the other’s desires.

Other than Guts who is still the eternal exception.

General physical contact headcanon

Guts’ rare casual touches make his heart skip several beats and get warm and fuzzy. like look at this look right after:

that hand on his shoulder is like a heating pad in a -40 blizzard.

Okay, one more: Guts, 4, 20, thoughts on social media.

Driving headcanon 

I think modern AU Guts would actually be a pretty chill driver. He might enjoy going for drives in a zen way, like he likes doing sword drills when he’s thinking too much. Traffic jams would rly piss him off though. He needs to feel like he’s doing something, not just sitting around and waiting. Also I think he’d go on night drives when he can’t sleep.

Relationship with/thoughts on _____ headcanon 

lmao he wouldn’t have a clue. Griffith would be a social media god, and Guts would just be like, why the fuck. He only cares about validation from a few specific people he knows irl so likes and comments would mean nothing to him. Maybe he’d be subscribed to a few youtube channels about gym workouts or something, if that counts.

Also he might have an instagram account solely because Griffith made him make one to follow him with.

oh also while I’m at it

yesgabsstuff said:
Griffith’s English VA
spoke to my soul. All of his show tune choices were theme-on-point. But I
had never actually thought about what Griffith the person would be
like. And the cooking thing makes sense. I feel like the Hawks made fun
of him gently for being fussy with cooking but always loved the results. 

same lol, the outtakes are worth watching for many reasons but especially his showtunes.
also maybe they take turns cooking for the rest, and everyone looks forward to Griffith’s night. And misses it when he moves up in the world and starts living away from the Band.

now im aware this isnt exactly how that meme works but maybe the meme Could inspire some (slides 5$ across the table) Farnesca Thoughts?

I’m always down to talk Farnesca!

Ok so assume Casca comes back, nothing awful happens, and they’re hanging out taking a well-deserved break in Elfhelm.

Farnese would start out extremely awkward around Casca because she was her babysitter and very familiar with her as the regressed traumatized shell. But she wouldn’t avoid her – at first she’d keep trying to take care of her in some ways. She’d bring her her meals while she’s first recovering from the mentally exhausting process of coming back and being whole again. Maybe she’d ask if Casca wants help brushing her hair, eg.

Casca… hmmm I can see her feeling vulnerable and, whether she remembers what happened in her regressed state or not, associating very positive feelings with Farnese. So while she might say she can do it herself, maybe even snap a little if Farnese is hovering, she’d follow up with something like, “but you can stay if you want.”

Anyway that would continue, Farnese would try to be her attendent and start being her friend. Casca would probably be the first one to open up to her, offering some fond yet sad reminiscing about the past. How she used to be a mercinary captain, what it felt like to wield a sword, dealing with Corkus – nothing about Griff and v little about Guts. Farnese would share parts of her own life, and they’d grow closer.

Casca would start doing sword drills and physical exercises to recover her physicality, and she’d start teaching Farnese some basics as she goes.

Idk I don’t want to do a play-by-play of their entire possible relationship span, but as far as early dynamics go as they tentatively grow closer, this seems like a good start.

Also I think Casca would make the first move. Probably after some serious emotional catharsis – magical therapy is one thing, actually talking to someone is another – and if it’s an attempt on her part to once again find another person to latch on to and shift her identity around, it could mean interesting things for their relationship as it progresses and they have to deal with some underlying unhealthy aspects. I always prefer complications to pure perfect relationships so I think it’d be interesting to explore, especially with Farnese as a caretaker type and Casca as a protective warrior type, kind of relying on each other for their sense of selves.

Especially since, well, they’ve both got histories of that – Casca with Griffith and then Guts, and Farnese with Serpico.

If that is the case though they could have a realization and work through it. Or they could just roll with it and still have a gr8 interesting relationship even if it’s not picture-perfect and they both see themselves as the protector of the other (Casca physically, becoming another sword, and Farnese emotionally, guarding Casca’s heart).

Or they could mitigate the potential unhealthiness by, you know, having other healthy relationships and friends and not solely relying on just one person for that feeling of validation. Casca and Guts could still be friends, and they’ve got the whole posse, and Farnese has Serpico and Schierke and everyone else too.

Lots of good + interesting possibilities, basically.

ty for asking!

14, Serpico

Dancing headcanon

Okay I’m gonna say that Serpico dreaded balls and dances, not because he hated dancing with Farnese but because they had a tendency to lead to awkward moments and lots of duels.

But as of now in the story he finds himself missing them and thinking of them fondly. They were awkward and weird and troublesome but he misses that us-against-the-world feeling when he was with Farnese among all the other nobles.

8 and 12 for farneze?

8. Sex headcanon

She’s mostly a top (and dom with the right parnter) but can switch. She can let loose and get rough but it’s very partner dependant – the thing she most wants to do is make her partner melt into a puddle of pleasure. She wouldn’t start having sex until after she learned a few lessons about being considerate and taking joy and pride in helping others (yk bc she’s still a virgin in canon afaik) and I’m js that would def help make her a gr8 top and/or dom. Her sadistic urges haven’t gone away entirely but I’d say they’re mitigated by care for the other person and rather than solely getting off on like burning someone or flogging someone she could definitely get off on making the other person feel overwhelming pleasure.

The masochism seemed like a manifestation of guilt and shame to me so now that she’s more comfortable with herself that’s probably neither here nor there.

12. Jewelry headcanon

She was indifferent to it when she lived among nobles and had like chests full of it, though I imagine she had a few pieces given to her by her mother and father that she treasured more than the rest.

When she ran away to pursue Guts she occasionally found herself missing the luxury and finery. But when she returned to the Vandimion estate for those two days or so when she was arranging for a ship, she realized how heavy it weighed on her and missed the lightness of the men’s clothes she’d been wearing.

Griffith; 15, 2.

15. Singing headcanon

as much as i’d like to say he’s basically his english va and breaks out into song at every possible opportunity, i’m actually going to say that he can’t carry a tune. at all. he’s happy to sit back and listen to other people sing folksongs around the campfire when judeau breaks out the lute or whatever, but he never joins in. people think it’s because he’s just that little bit aloof but it’s because he knows he’ll embarrass himself.

idk whether it’s better for neogriff to now magically have a gr8 singing voice that he still never uses, or to continue to be woefully out of tune.

2. Cooking headcanon

He can cook. Before he got a study full of books he was adequate at throwing together a stew over a campfire the way most mercinaries probably are. Now he’s an expert on which spices go together and knows all the theory about optimal cooking times and how to get your dough to rise and flavour combinations etc, but never has to cook anymore.

NeoGriff retained all the theory and now that other ppl do the cooking he’s become a food critic.

Serpico 7 :3

I think he’d be a passively receptive kisser for the most part. I hc him as gay and I think he’d go for that type of dude Miura likes to write as side characters – yk like Roderick and Luca’s soldier bf who i s2g he tried hitting on – the kind of good-hearted trustworthy action-oriented type who knows what they want, and Serpico would go with whatever flow and rhythm they set.

what do u think would’ve happened if griff had won the second duel? that scene is completely brutal btw

ikr, their internal monologues slay me every time

If Griff won without killing Guts or permanently maiming him I think the tragedy would be subtle and quiet but there.

Guts would give up his attempt to be Griffith’s equal. I think on one level he’d actually still be glad that Griffith fought to keep him, but he would stop thinking of himself as a potential friend and equal, and start thinking of himself as truly lesser. Consequently he would grow distant. He might feel restless and stuck since now he’s made the choice to leave the Band once and been unable to. At any rate, he and Griffith would absolutely lose their camraderie.

Guts would no longer be the person who treats Griffith irreverently, disobeys orders, has waterfights, etc. Griffith would be up on a pedestal now, totally unreachable, and that would be reflected in Guts’ attitude towards him. He’d still admire him (though he’d probably still feel some resentment too), but he’d treat him like a leader and figurehead, not a person anymore.

Good ending: Griffith eventually breaks, does stuff like… idk starts pushing Guts’ boundaries, gives him more commands that keep him close (promotion to bodyguard?), tries to force conversation etc, eventually Guts feels backed into a corner and they have a confrontation and finally manage to talk and grow.
OR Griffith does something stupid and irrational for him again and Guts finally manages to have an uninterrupted conversation with him about it.

Bad ending: Griffith lets the distance grow, resigns himself to it, throws himself into political machinations, loses touch with the Band in general now that he’s among nobility, maintains only a working relationship with his former Hawk commanders, gets everything he thought he wanted and ends up miserable without knowing why.

If Griffith just killed Guts then I think, if I had to settle on one outcome, he’d suppress his emotions harder than he’s ever suppressed anything before, continue on like normal, grow distant from the Band who would probably be pretty disturbed by this reaction, marry Charlotte, and one day have a complete breakdown.

I’m kind of into the idea of Griffith achieving his dream at a cost he can’t bear ngl.

This isn’t really relevant to this blog so feel free to ignore it buuut favorite ships besides Griffguts?

Everything about Berserk is relevant here 😀

Casca/Farnese is the main one tbh, I genuinely think based on their feelings now, when Casca comes back properly (assuming Bad Shit doesn’t happen which is a huge impossible assumption but still) they could easily transition into a tentative, positive relationship. lbr right now Farnese is the only person who’s earned Casca’s trust and affection, and helping Casca has helped Farnese grow as a person so it would feel fitting if Casca continued helping Farnese grow except maybe by like, teaching her the sword or something once she doesn’t need a babysitter. Also this which is too damn real.

Also I semi-seriously ship a lot of minor characters.

  • Jill/Rosine because duh. Also they have some teenage f/f version of guts/griff vibes.
  • Charlotte/Anna bc lbr here Anna is the only person who genuinely loves her
  • Jill/Theresia by virtue of being two kids with close relationships to apostles that Guts hung out with and traumatized, they have a lot they could bond over
  • Schierke/Sonia bc they’re the same and clearly mutually crushing based on their one afternoon together and also another solid potential Guts/Griff parallel
  • @jyuanka suggested Serpico/Silat to me once and I hopped completely on board because Serpico desperately needs a boyfriend and I feel like his chill go-with-the-flow thing would actually really complement Silat’s prideful obsessiveness, plus they’re both like, intelligent and practical and cautious about things and idk I just think they’d click.

now if we’re talking sexy encounters and one night stands rather than actual relationship potential i want to add:

  • slan/farnese. slan taunting farnese about her sadistic tendencies. farnese driving her silver dagger into her and slan calling it foreplay. okay honestly slan/any woman ever. honestly, slan. give me the lesbian fanservice miura.
  • guts/serpico. serpico needs to get laid, serpico has interesting mixed feelings towards guts, serpico thinks about how guts’ intensity (heat) has affected him, serpico feeling a little lost while farnese is so busy with others, serpico’s obviously into manly soldier types, and guts needs to have sex with a slim blond dude he keeps dueling and then feel maudlin and weird about it.

okay i’ll stop here lol. ty for the question this was fun.

Favorite and least favorite things about berserk?

favourite:

tbh I have to go with the tragedy of Guts and Griffith’s relationship throughout the Golden Age. I genuinely love so much about Berserk, after the Golden Age too, and the other characters, but honestly that arc is the best, most personally appealing tragedy I’ve ever read. Like ‘dude who’s got his life planned out perfectly and then falls in love with another dude and fucks it all up’ is my absolute favourite plot already, but then add Griffith’s guilt issues, his total divorce from his own emotions, the misunderstanding that’s built up so well on a strong foundation of character, Guts’ own complex issues, the way it’s a tragedy built on miscommunication that actually works and doesn’t feel cheap, etc.

But most of all I love how well Guts and Griffith suit and complement each other before everything goes to hell. Reading the Golden Age is like watching 2 dudes walking together down a road full of turns and forks, and there’s a hundred possible paths they could take that lead to happy destinations, but they keep choosing the turns that lead to the pit full of tigers. And you know exactly why they choose the paths they choose, it makes perfect sense based on what you know about them, which just makes the inevitable tragic end that much better. There is nothing I find more entertaining in fiction than watching characters make mistakes and understanding perfectly why they’re making those mistakes.

Like “I sacrifice” is an emotional climax so satisfying that it makes me want a cigarette.

least favourite:

the rampant misogyny tbh, among all the other shit that offends me. But if I had to pick one more specific thing as my least favourite, it would be the way Casca is sexually assaulted multiple times because Guts and Griffith want to fuck each other but can’t bc the writer won’t let them so they both assault her instead while staring directly at/thinking about how they want to be closer to the other. There are other aspects of Berserk that I’d say are more offensive, but this particular one wins because it’s so integral to the characters, the relationships between them, and the plot in general that you can’t just go ‘welp that was awful’ and then pretend it didn’t happen.