mostly berserk meta. i'm into berserk mainly for griffguts and i'm a huge fan of griffith.
Honestly I like most of them lol, Berserk has a lot of fun and enjoyable tertiary characters.
If I had to list a few faves, maybe: Anna, Zodd, Theresia, Silat, Rosine, Irvine, Raksas, Gaston, Luca, tbh I liked Nina too for being a ridiculous walking disaster, Gambino actually – not as a person obviously but I think he’s p well-written as an abusive parent, can I count ascended Ganeshka lol?, and I’ll stop there.
Yeah assuming Casca both opens the behelit and then does actually make a sacrifice, I’m bracing for it to be Farnese even though that would be really disappointing and the last thing Berserk needs is fewer female characters going forward lol. But she does seem like the obvious candidate.
On the other hand my alternate theory is that she could sacrifice whatever entity counts as her fetus, whether it’s the demon fetus incorporated into NGriff or the Moonlight Boy or both or whatever. Most sacrifices we’ve seen have been parent/child, and we just saw the fetus as Casca’s metaphorical heart during the quest to put her back together. The fragile heart being what you bury when you sacrifice someone who is “part of your soul.” Plus it would have the added benefit of totally crushing that burgeoning hope for a family vibe and making Guts extra sad. Yk, it wouldn’t just be sacrificing the fetus, it would be sacrificing the concept of a happily ever after in a way.
Idk that’s probably wishful thinking, lbr it would be too perfect for me to ever happen lol. But I really want it.
Also I dig the idea of someone sacrificing Griffith (idk whether it would be possible but it should be) but if Casca’s gonna open the behelit it’s probably going to happen like, right now, and if she sacrifices Griffith then Berserk is over and I feel like that would be a really sudden ending lol.
GRIFFITH.
lol tbh I’ve been overthinking this question which is why it took me a while to answer. Like, weighing pros and cons, does the Eclipse rape count as bad character writing for Griffith/Femto/NGriff or does it at least make sense as long as you accept Miura’s premise that people’s inner darknesses are gonna be rapists 99% of the time, or is it a mistake that reflects on the character writing because of the weird tonal issues it raises with NGriff’s narrative? Like, is it a flaw more because it disaligns the way the author wants to portray Griffith vs the way the audience responds to Griffith? How is that weighted against Guts losing so much of what made him interesting through sometimes good, sometimes poor character development? If it’s believable character development is becoming less interesting still a flaw or just like, my opinion man?
And honestly fuck all that, idc. Griffith is the best written character because his highs are higher and more consistent and I find his lows easier to ignore bc they’re wrapped up in other bad writing, and there’s no way to give an objective answer to this anyway so I might as well let my opinions fly and gush for a while.
I just love his narrative.
From his first appearance as Femto taunting Guts by saying he’s beneath his notice to the hints that he certainly didn’t always feel that way to the first flashback of Griffith telling Guts he’s “the first person I’ve ever spoken to like this,” he’s introduced in such an interesting, intriguing way. Then in the Golden Age the way his apparent easy superiority and confidence eventually gives way to the reveal that he’s a giant mess of insecurities and guilt – and the way this reveal sheds so much interesting light on everything that came before, like his dream speech to Charlotte, his “I will choose the place where you die” speech to Guts, risking his life to save Guts, asking Guts to assassinate Julius, etc.
And the way all these apparent contradictions manage to come together to perfectly depict a man who hides behind an image so well that he believes the act himself, except in occasional moments of vulnerability when the truth seeps out.
Like there are so many interesting subtleties to dig into and so many contradictions to navigate but at the same time this one page tells you everything you really need to know to understand him:
This is a dude who will prostitute himself to a pedophile to prevent as many deaths as possible and then the next morning claim he doesn’t feel responsible for those deaths.
He will bury his guilt so hard that his reaction to a kid’s convenient death is triumphant delight, and then fret about killing hired goons and ask if Guts thinks he’s cruel, because Charlotte/his dream reinforces his image – his conviction – and Guts/love unravels it.
Also like, in general it’s fantastic how our impression of Griffith begins with the impression he leaves on everyone:
and then that is like, turned over and examined in the way Miura does, by showing how fucked up you have to be to embody a cool fictional archetype. (Incidentally I love how he does this with Guts’ antiheroism too. Like, hey turns out you gotta have a pretty fucked up life to become a cool monster fighting badass. tho even so Griffith’s is a little better imo because we spend more time with the image before revealing what’s underneath, whereas Guts didn’t even get a full chapter of tricking the audience into thinking he’s just a surly badass b4 the cracks started appearing.)
THEN his feelings for Guts come into it and complicate everything and we’re shown that there’s an internal war in Griffith between Guts and the dream that Griffith himself doesn’t even seem to realize until it’s too late. Which is just delightful bc god knows my favourite literary device is dramatic irony and idk if knowing more about Griffith’s inner conflicts than Griffith himself understands counts but damn it’s fun. And the moment when he does finally acknowledge it (”as he shines so glaring within me… the junk grows dull.”) is just intensely satisfying because we’ve been waiting for it since at least Casca’s “it’s as if… as if…” in chapter 18.
And the way everything cumulates so utterly perfectly in the sacrifice. Everything we see, everything in Griffith’s narrative, every moment leads directly to “I sacrifice,” and it all fits together immaculately. The dream as a defense mechanism, guilt, shame, emotional denial, “take all the frightening and sad things and cast them into the fire,” his desperate search for like, absolution, the way in the build up to the eclipse he’s stripped of everything he ever relied on as a defense, fucking love as the determining factor
the fact that he’s not sacrificing guts because he values the dream more, he’s sacrificing guts because he values guts more. like that’s just so fucking good, come on.
Honestly, Femto and NeoGriffith are both great as symbols too – Femto as everything Griffith was ashamed of but without the shame; NGriff as pure conviction, as the perfect image with none of the driving guilt. I can’t exactly say they’re great characters since the whole point of them is that they’re not fleshed out or relatable or understandable as humans one can empathize with, but they’re great conceptually. It’s cool to see the fully fleshed out, contradictory Griffith and then see him divided and carved up into representational aspects of himself.
Also the few hints of more are super satisfying with the full weight of Griffith’s human narrative behind them – Femto letting Guts escape, the unfrozen heartbeat, you know what I’m about.
And idk at the end of the day with Griffith Miura successfully (IMO) depicted a dude who would choose to sacrifice a group of people I really liked and become a demon for the greater good, for petty reasons, and out of fear of his own feelings, all at the same time, and make me empathize with that decision, and that seems like it would be hard to do. I mean granted, I’m in the minority when it comes to empathizing with him, but idk I can only answer this from my perspective lol.
Anyway to wrap this up I’m plugging this thing again because really could I have ever given any answer other than “the dude whose character arc I wrote over fifteen thousand words about”?
madchen replied to your post “Hi! Do you have any other ships like Griffith x Guts you love? Like,…”
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
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:
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.
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
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!
Awesome, I’m glad 🙂 and again like, feel free to link me so I can check it out when you have some stuff posted!
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.
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
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.
hard same. I’d love to see one of those significant haircut moments for her, a sort of ‘casca’s back’ thing. yk assuming disaster doesn’t happen.
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.
a+ content. guts not even rly bored, just staring off into space and idly running a hand thru griffith’s hair.
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.
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.)
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.
(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.
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.
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
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)
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.
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.
There’s always a chance. I mean I don’t think he’s going to go yes homo, but I definitely think there’s a strong possibility that Guts is gonna die single and thinking about Griffith.
I am trying to brace myself for disappointment ofc. I mean you’re right, the rpg group constantly succeeding in all they do and never having actual problems narrative has been going on for 150 chapters now so banking on the results of their quest being tragedy (ie Casca gets her mind back, proceeds to fuck shit completely up) is, yk, not a sure thing. the power of friendship could come through again and Guts and Casca could reunite happily, and if that happens I’ll finally give up on my optimism lol.
But til then I think there’s a good chance that all this awful harem vibe shit is a prelude to tragedy and disillusionment (not that that makes it better, but yk at least it would mean it ends), and the narrative is going to refocus back onto Guts and Griffith’s unconcluded story. That’s p much what I mean by suggestive climax – Guts and Griffith confronting each other at the climax of the story, emotions running high, allusions to their emotionally intimate history and the way they’re each still “the only one,” “the true light” for the other despite both trying so so hard to cut the other out lol.
Yk, finally dealing with the shit they’re avoiding by focusing on a kingdom/forcing Casca’s mind back, and cathartically reconciling the fact that they’re simultaneously fated enemies and true lights. Probably right before one or the other dies.
here have some optimistic picspam under the cut:
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
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.
Yeah like I think the scenes are framed to make the reader wonder whether Locus or Griffith sent Raksas after Rickert. SInce it’s supposed to be ambiguous it could be either.
Idk if I think it would be out of character for Locus tbh. Grunbeld is the apostle we saw with a distinct honourable streak, while Locus’ thing seems to be more like, hardcore loyalty lol, so I could potentially see him doing something underhanded if it was for Griffith.
But yeah he does still have that knight in shining armour image that assassinations don’t quite fit. Then again so did Griffith lol. So idk I could see it either way.
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.
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.
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!
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.
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.
you're the only one 