Tag: b

murdersounds:

guts’ nightmare of being a hypocritical monster despite his own traumas and ptsd involving real monsters and abusers (zodd/gambino) just after assassinating julius & adonis.

he’s wanting comfort after this event so badly after doing this atrocious deed for his friend, (he really seeks him out for comfort too—look how wrecked and upset he is—) but ultimately gets the equivalent of salty boiling water thrown on him after hearing griffith’s hot air speech.

man guts has been through some shit and a lot of it’s so subtle it worries me that ppl who haven’t known abuse in any form can’t understand berserk or really sympathize with … well … any of the characters tbh, unless they’re fantastically empathetic? but most fans seem to be macho fanboys and seem to miss the point entirely lmao

I see Guts overhearing the Promrose Speech and Griffith asking “do you think I’m cruel” as basically the exact same moment for each dude, and it’s so fucking depressing.

Like, AU where they got that reassurance from each other instead of getting shut down and turning to stupid dreams plz.

xiyyh
mentioned you on a post “i’d like your thoughts on this please! i’d forgotten about this…”

@bthump my sincere apologies for not seeing this earlier—that week was hectic af! but i love your thoughts here, thank you! very intriguing analysis as usual. i hadn’t thought of what you said about guts recklessness being a form of self harm but it very much is.

INTERESTINGLY though, as i’m rewatching some berserk ‘97 … it seems to be the place he got an arrow wound after julius’ assassination, just before hearing griffith’s speech that was the catalyst for everything falling apart ��

!!!

nice, might switch my headcanon to that. it works perfectly really, as the point where everything leading to the black swordsman arc began, not just because he overheard the speech but also because of the state of mind he was in when he overheard it having just killed a kid, ie

image

so yk, it ties the whole becoming the monstery asshole he was already afraid of being back then thing together. full circle. or something.

flooracle
replied to your post “flooracle
replied to your post “flooracle
replied to your post …”

sent one, hope it works well if not I’ll just try differently!I’d die to see bits of daily apostle life tbh (or even some of the humans tbh, Mule, Sonia, Jarif) and same wrt that finale.. the world breaking part was just kinda high fantasy stuff and/or maybe a ‘bright and good’ parallel to the conviction arc ending.. but the character implications.. yeah

http://hero.wikia.com/wiki/Grunbeld_Arcbeast

in case anyone else is interested.

and yeah same i’m all about the characters at the end of the day

flooracle
replied to your post “flooracle
replied to your post “flooracle
replied to your post …”

Yes that would be great!! Tbh I hope the next few chapters will have some hawks interactions and not just battle stuff

Right on! The faceoff against Gennon was def more satisfying considering everything, then the millennium arc ending is good imo but almost feels too big, if not for an emotional part like that..

Of course! Idk if links embed here in the replies (like for preventing bots) so I could send them w the message function or w/e works best for you!

i think it’s only asks that won’t let you send links, either replying or messaging should work.

yeah if we’re going back to Griffith’s narrative I’d love to see more relationships and emotional stuff than just monster fights, and more revealing glimpses into the apostles lives would be fantastic.

and ikwym, I think the final confrontation between griffith and ascended ganeshka was interesting, but mostly in like a metaphorical way and because it made me really interested in the possibility of getting into what it means for NGriff to be “the absolute, without equal,” ie, the inherent isolation and loneliness that we saw with Ganeshka. I don’t actually care all that much about like… the actual literal breaking the world open plot stuff lol.

flooracle
replied to your post “flooracle
replied to your post “Why do you feel Grunbeld would turn…”

100% agreed on the new hawks! Tbh I like their parts of the arc most.. ch194 where Mule is introduced to most of em and Grunbeld saves the kids from being eaten, 250 when Sonia and Irvine talk, 277 where Grunbeld & Locus go for a walk and wish luck to Zodd before he goes to battle AND Sonia gives advice and calls him Mr Black Lion, details like Mule squiring for Locus later etc.. lov that they develop their relationships, just wish there were more bits like these :’)
The part abt Ganishka
and Gennon is brilliant tbh!! First thing I thought after is how they
both see Griffith as much more important than he sees them.. like for
ex. When it happens, Griffith & Ganishka don’t meet as emperor vs
emperor but as godhand and apostle… Their own parallels are rly
interesting, so I like all the au variants a lot, thank you!!

Also I have some summaries for the Grunbeld novel that tell the basic
plot & stuff. I hope it gets an English ver soon

yeah I love all those moments. plus the way the apostles are given so much relatable humanity gives me a lot of hope for where the narrative is going, both because it def makes it less likely we’re headed for a plain old guts + co vs griffith + co, and because giving Griffith’s monster side of the narrative all the humanity makes me hope we’re going to get some more monstrousness out of Guts’ human side of the narrative to balance it out.

ty! and yeah that’s a good point – both G+G are obsessed with Griffith, but to Griffith they’re obstacles. I mean I think Gennon did have a huge affect on him, but he had his (really satisfying) moment of triumph when he looked down on him and told him he didn’t matter. Then with Ganeshka he follows that through, because he’s an untouchable god compared to him, but also reverses it, because at the end right before Griffith destroys him, they have a moment of connection.

btw would you happen to have a link to the Grunbeld novel summaries?

flooracle
replied to your post “Why do you feel Grunbeld would turn Griffith down? Are they all human…”

Definitely agree tbh there was sth very off about him saying he wanted to prove his loyalty (at Floras) when he’s been serving NG for.. years(??).. Rly feels like performing duty as you said, and feeling like hes not performing it well enough.

Ive only read summaries of the novel and some chapter bits (and he’s great tbh!!) this all fits, while what the new band of the hawk does fits w his ethos, idt he has it in him to dedicate himself to a leader anymore.
Also re: the novel…
the circumstances that led him to seek the falcon of light (besides
being apostle) kinda puts Griffith secondary, or at least it comes off
like that. But unlike seeking a leader (not) hes been looking for
friends and seems to be rly close to many other hawks.

Wrt the modern au: great!! Au Irvine is such a specific presence fhdhhdh
I can almost see him and his acoustic guitar. Also what are Ganishka
and Griffith to each other here? :“)

thanks for the extra info about grunbeld, this is p interesting. at some point i need to find what i can of his story and check it out.

i love that bit about grunbeld being close to the other hawks. it’s so interesting to have a band of the hawk 2.0 that isn’t just like, an evil twisted monster version of the former, but actually has the same sense of forged bonds and camraderie and the fact that they’re also monsters is like, neither here nor there lol.

but i love everything to do with giving the apostles more character depth and humanity.

also wrt Ganeshka, yk I think it depends what you want to emphasize. tbh my immediate thought was maybe merging his character with Gennon in a modern au. I feel like Ganeshka is meant to be kind of similar in part to highlight NGriff’s invulnerability. He’s got the magic apostle lust for him thing going on, he threatens him in a similar “i won’t kill you, i’ll capture you” with creepy insinuations, he has the unbeatable army – but unlike Gennon he’s never actually a threat.

So you could turn the ganeshka storyline into more of a power fantasy revenge story in a modern au, if you’re keeping the whole idea of a conflict.

But then (especially for this particular idea in which Griffith is stupid and sad after a stupid break up with Guts) it might be better to emphasize the way Griffith and Ganeshka are parallels – loneliness and isolation, feeling apart from the rest of humanity, anger and monstrousness stemming from fear, etc. In which case maybe you’d skip straight to ascended Ganeshka in a modern au and make it a one-off, weirdly revealing encounter with a stranger or something. Or make him a fictional person in something Griffith is watching/reading that makes him do some projecting.

I would honestly be ok with Miura killing off everyone in Guts’ rpg group rn cuz tbh this whole happy happy fun times vibes isn’t the Berserk I fell in love with. Everything is going way too well for Guts rn so I hope Casca fucks some shit up. The only person I’d be sad about dying is Farnese but if Miura killed her off I’d get it

yeah i get this feeling. and like, if given a choice between guts getting over revenge/griffith and moving on and living happily ever after vs everyone dying, i would definitely take the latter lol.

but i doubt v much that miura’s gonna kill everyone off, and tbf he doesn’t actually need to for berserk to get darker again, so I’d be more than happy if casca fucks shit up and only/mostly just the minor rpg group characters die. As long as something negative (that can’t be immediately reversed or fixed or solved) happens soon and we lose the lighthearted tone. but i think that’s pretty likely.

Why do you feel Grunbeld would turn Griffith down? Are they all human in this au? (I can’t into any apostles/Griff in canon because his Godhand charm powers are… unsettling) This idea is really cool though, thank you for talking abt these characters (and getting them accurately imo)! ^^

ty! and lol yk idk, it was just my immediate thought. Maybe because of the core apostles he seems a little more above the hype? he seemed kind of disdainful about being sent after flora, and he’s got that noble knight thing going on but it seems less personal/emotional than locus’ loyalty to griffith. i guess i get the impression that he’s following griffith more because of duty than any particular attachment to griffith, unlike the other apostles who are all personally obsessed.

but i feel like i get him least out of all the apostles, which is funny bc he’s the one with a spinoff story, but yk i haven’t read it so he’s still a mystery to me lol.

I was mainly thinking modern au where the apostles are just dudes griffith does some terrible rebounding with after his (temporary in this version) break up with guts. yk zodd is guts 2.0 but more violent/less restrained, irvine is a nerd who spends weeks alone at a time, raksas is probably a serial killer, etc. But ngl I could definitely get behind straight up canon NeoGriffith/various apostles. ikwym about the godhand charm powers but tbh the idea of an army of monsters basically instinctively compelled to desire griffith works for me lol, it’s an inherently fucked up concept so it kinda fits.

griffithsgaymom:

tbf i think zodd would be capable of being romantic wrt griffithbut it’s obviously not the same since he’s actively placing griffith in a pedastal and only sees him as a divine being or really hot if this is modern au lmao. on the other hand he would absolutely fuck griffith hard on his hands and knees every time, no exceptions.

suddenly i’m considering a modern au where the cool apostles are all part of a rebound disaster sex tour after griffith and guts break up

imo

zodd is a stoic service top type (and ia definitely puts him on a pedestal)

locus is more the lovey dovey romantic one who thinks they’re dating after one night

idk why but i feel like grunbeld would turn griffith down

raksas is an actually scary sadist type but griffith returns multiple times for reasons he refuses to examine

irvine is casual chill hookups once a month

actually this could also be canon

in the tags when i reblogged that bottom panel

i was gonna say something about how guts and griffith watching wyald being dragged to hell together makes me really crave the ending where they drag each other down to hell

but then i looked up the panel and turns out it’s placed after that, while they’re staring at wyald’s human form

so now i’m also craving the ending where guts goes beast of darkness, they confront each other, and we/they get glimpses of their nearly lost humanity in stark contrast to their current selves

that panel just feels like half of a full circle to me for some reason, yk? the two of them looking on at a man who became a monster, like this has potential to be a real ~moment~ on re-read after the story’s over

madchen
replied to your post “asia do you have. any dirty talk hcs?”

i never really thought bc griffith being ashamed bc of that but like yeah it makes sense that he would feel bad and dirty for expressing genuine sexual attraction lmao. maybe even feel that he should feel emasculated or something bc of it?
also yea guts blurts shit out all the
time when he can’t hold it in. he asks griff if he can kiss him a lot

yeah I mean I don’t think it’s necessary or anything to be ic, but I’m kinda into the idea of Griffith being confident and seductive and sexy etc, just as good in bed as he is doing everything else, and then one day something relatively innocuous suddenly brings all these repressed feelings out and he asks if Guts thinks he’s [insecurity] and Guts is completely blindsided

It’s that contrast between the surface and the glimpses underneath that I just want to apply to everything lol.

Also nice, Guts asking Griff if he can kiss him is a++

chaoticgaygriffith:

bthump:

chaoticgaygriffith:

bthump:

@raseng0th I erred on the side of not reblogging your post just because I don’t want a giant unblockable slur on my blog lol, but yeah ia with the other commenters, I’ve seen that translation referred to a lot, mainly in the context of translators adding slurs which aren’t there in the original, so I assume the homophobia is a fan addition.

Here’s the official translation if you’re interested and don’t have it handy:

image

in the original he says てめェらバケモン共 which basically means “you (fucking) monsters,” 

てめェら being the male, vulgar plural version of “you,” and バケモン共 being the plural of “monster”

lmao seriously? i was at least kind of assuming the word used might be one that’s sometimes aimed derisively at lgbt people in particular (yk kind of the way “freaks” is in english, where it doesn’t automatically have that connotation but maybe moreso than something super generic like “asshole” would) so yk it’d be an offensive reach-y translation but not completely invented.

guess not, yikes

(i wonder if the context of ganeshka just having asked if guts is one of griffith’s captains has anything to do with that. like an attempt to cram in a no-homo)

@raseng0th there’s a solid answer for you

to be fair idk if this word is used against lgbt people in japan, it might be?? but it’s otherwise a pretty standard word for monsters and generally creatures (yōkai) who have undergone a transformation in japanese mythology (known also as obake). so the only thing that really stands out to me here is that guts is being rude

and god i wouldn’t be surprised if you were right about that lol

oh hm yeah if it’s used for monsters specifically then i could see that being the case, i was assuming it was a v generic intensifier you could tack onto anything

but still if it’s related to monsters and guts is currently talking about monsters then come the fuck on scanlators

chaoticgaygriffith:

bthump:

@raseng0th I erred on the side of not reblogging your post just because I don’t want a giant unblockable slur on my blog lol, but yeah ia with the other commenters, I’ve seen that translation referred to a lot, mainly in the context of translators adding slurs which aren’t there in the original, so I assume the homophobia is a fan addition.

Here’s the official translation if you’re interested and don’t have it handy:

image

in the original he says てめェらバケモン共 which basically means “you (fucking) monsters,” 

てめェら being the male, vulgar plural version of “you,” and バケモン共 being the plural of “monster”

lmao seriously? i was at least kind of assuming the word used might be one that’s sometimes aimed derisively at lgbt people in particular (yk kind of the way “freaks” is in english, where it doesn’t automatically have that connotation but maybe moreso than something super generic like “asshole” would) so yk it’d be an offensive reach-y translation but not completely invented.

guess not, yikes

(i wonder if the context of ganeshka just having asked if guts is one of griffith’s captains has anything to do with that. like an attempt to cram in a no-homo)

@raseng0th there’s a solid answer for you

yesgabsstuff
replied to your post “@raseng0th I erred on the side of not reblogging your post just…”

Jesus I just saw the wrong translation. That’s so awful.

yeah, i mean i can’t get too mad at the scanlation specifically bc the dark horse version has corkus throw around the f slur at least once that i recall (i mean i assume that at least was an anti-gay insult in the orig but yk the casual jokey context seems to ask for a less intense word there js), but honestly it’s kind of hilarious how bad and just ooc that dialogue is regardless

like every time i see one of the old scanlations it becomes a little clearer to me why i feel like i’m reading a different story than half the fandom.

@raseng0th I erred on the side of not reblogging your post just because I don’t want a giant unblockable slur on my blog lol, but yeah ia with the other commenters, I’ve seen that translation referred to a lot, mainly in the context of translators adding slurs which aren’t there in the original, so I assume the homophobia is a fan addition.

Here’s the official translation if you’re interested and don’t have it handy:

image

bscully:

Volume 16:

12 volumes later:

We yet have to see keeping his own promise to himself:

I think that is fulfilling his promise to himself. I always saw that statement of Guts’ as ominous, especially considering the pointed shot of the behelit in the full thing.

image

He is what he is, and what he is is a dude getting a little too monstrous for comfort. His inner beast is part of who he is, and Guts reasserting his revenge quest “I will make my way to him” strengthens it.

very similar to this from the black swordsman arc:

image
image

“You and I got nothin in common” is blatant denial, immediately undercut by Guts continuing on his monstrous revenge quest. He’ll do it with his own flesh and blood, but that doesn’t actually make him much different than the revenge-obsessed ghosts trying to possess him.

chaoticgaygriffith:

chaoticgaygriffith:

there’s something to be said about how this turns into a “men vs women” type of conversation where griffith takes men’s side with his bullshit dream spiel and pretends like it’s this profound thing women will never understand

and by that i mean that it comes off as trying too hard, the same way him talking about what a ‘friend’ is to him comes off as trying too hard. before i was a little hesitant to believe that griffith feels forced into masculine roles rather than choosing to take them bc it’s the fastest way to achieving what he’s trying to achieve, but after re-examining this scene i think i feel a little differently about that

#other ppl’s meta #totally it’s posturing – more for himself than charlotte too #the image that goes with the dream which is (how does this always fit so perfectly) an attempt at a heteronormative masculine ideal #the men are like this stuff fits that so well as does charlotte suggesting ‘family or a sweetheart’ which ofc sums up what griffith #is torn between (‘family’ if you don’t want to be saccharine and include the rest of the hawks he sacrifices) and what guts ends up #abandoning for /his/ dream

@bthump what you said here, “more for himself than charlotte,” that’s exactly what i mean, somehow it didn’t register to me, until today, that the part of this where he puts up a masculine facade is ALSO for himself, and not just for charlotte. you know, when i think @yesgabsstuff and i talked about how griffith would be more feminine without all this bullshit weighing on him, i said i didn’t think his choice to present and act more masculine was one he made out of fear. and i still think that, to an extent, but there’s no denying that he felt forced into that masculine role bc …………… it’s so tightly woven together with his dream. and since it’s something he has to do for the sake of his dream, then fear also has to be involved, even if in a sort of roundabout way. that is to say, i don’t think griffith is afraid of like, getting punched or called a faggot if he wears a dress or w/e. but i think there’s no denying that he is afraid of letting this image falter, and that’s what this is really about

I feel this tbh, like imo Griffith wouldn’t really have a visceral fear for his physical safety, he’s been the best w/ a sword since he was like 10 from all appearances lol, and honestly I feel like as a peasant mercenary with the force of personality he has he would in theory be able to get away with some gnc presentation and attraction to men if all he wanted was to fight and make money. Same way Casca could lead the Hawks even though she’s a woman in the world of Berserk lol.

but his fear of failure is a major aspect – he needs the correct image while climbing higher in society, to achieve his dream.

and also i think he needs the dream to justify hiding behind the image, which is partly what i get out of that speech to charlotte. it reads to me like he’s justifying his dream to himself as worthwhile in and of itself, in a contrast to how he justifies it to himself in the river w/ casca a few chapters later, as something he owes the dead.

idk it all goes into how his dream is a defense mechanism from his self loathing and a way to justify his existence, but he doesn’t think of it that way 99% of the time, he has to see it as inherently worthwhile to avoid acknowledging the actual reason (self-loathing) he’s pursuing it.

and some of that self loathing is guilt, some is a belief of his inherent worthlessness, but some is also connected to his sexuality, both in his traumatic experience with Gennon after which he called himself dirty, and his love for Guts, which is especially shown through how Guts is pitted against his dream and how Guts “made him weak” and his feelings for him led to him losing everything. Griffith’s feelings for Guts are connected to his belief of his inherent worthlessness, because they exist in opposition to his dream. (this is thematic moreso than literal)

So part of his reason for pursing the dream is to bury those parts of himself – like it goes both ways, basically, imo. He has to be a heteronormative masculine ideal for the sake of the dream, but he obsesses over the dream partly as a way to bury the parts of himself that aren’t that ideal?

um i feel like this doesn’t really make sense lol sorry. it’s hard to explain how my brain makes connections sometimes.

I feel like people are so unnecessarily harsh with the post-golden age arcs. All the things that make golden age so great weren’t brought to fruition until really close to the end, and there’s so much groundwork for something similar with the current story. The mysterious behelit, NeoGriffith’s rule, the parallels that keep forming between Guts and former Griffith… plus I’m excited to see how Miura handles Casca now that he has more experience writing Decent Female Characters.

Yeah this is v fair. Right now I feel like I’m on the cusp of either being extremely happy or extremely unhappy with the story depending on what happens with Guts’ narrative now wrt Casca, and I’m kind of in hope for the best prepare for the worst mode, so I can be fairly negative at times for sure.

Yk I oscillate between “what if everything I dislike about the current story is clever build up to an awesome and exciting twist that’ll make it all worthwhile” and “what if everything I dislike about the current story is just Berserk now” lol. Plus my Casca feelings are a mixture of hope and dread, because while Miura does seem to have gotten better in some ways with writing women, and I really like Farnese, dude’s got a long way to go before I trust him with Casca at all lol.

But ia, depending on what happens and where the story goes the current arc could end up being very satisfying, and I definitely have a few hopeful theories I’ve got my fingers crossed for.

At the same time though ngl the golden age definitely had like, way more elements that appealed to me on a personal level throughout, so no matter what it’ll probably always be my fave that other arcs can’t quite compete with. I can’t deny that I’m def v biased lol.

does guts ever refer to anyone in the current rpg group as a friend

i re-read my reply to that ask and it kind of struck me that guts distancing himself from them emotionally because he’s afraid of losing them/killing them could be similar to griffith distancing himself from the hawks. promrose hall speech.

i mean this is based on 2 extrapolations lol (guts distances himself from current group, griffith distanced himself bc he leads them to their deaths a lot) so it’s tenuous and i wouldn’t be surprised if i was wrong and we do see guts calling them his friends and i’ve just forgotten

or maybe ‘companions’ which i know he calls them is close enough to count anyway

but i do wonder if he kind of kept his raised standards for friendship after hearing that speech lol, and eventually for v similar reasons

reading ur interpretations and meta sometimes makes me really sad because youre pointing out soooo many parallels and facts that so many fans willfully ignore or just dont catch on to!!!!!! on the other hand im super glad i found your blog because otherwise i wouldnt be as invested in berserk, its a huge and long story and my attention span is small, so its great to read recaps from you!!

aaaaa thank you for the lovely message, I’m so glad you enjoy reading my thoughts and I appreciate you saying so ❤

and yeah ikwym, Berserk isn’t exactly the easiest story to get through or get into lol, so I’m v glad I could help you keep your interest in it up too!

I’m always gonna be pissed at Miura for making Isidro an annoying sidekick for Guts. I wish Miura would have went for a more father/son type of bond with them (although I feel that’s actually what he might have been going for in the beginning, but at this point it’s totally gone imo). There was a lot of potential there but now Isidro is really just so pointless in my eyes and it makes me kinda sad. I just feel like Miura could do so much more with his characters :/

yeah, big mood. I’ve kind of got some mixed feelings because I hate Isidro and I don’t want him to have more importance lol, and I dislike parenthood narratives in general, but it’s still so true that Guts could’ve had much more meaningful relationships with everyone in the rpg group, and it’s kind of glaring to me that he doesn’t.

idk I keep wondering if it’s just because I’m biased towards the golden age lol, if I’m willfully downplaying significant moments between Guts and his new group, or if the interesting aspects are there but subtle and I’m just failing to appreciate it, but idk I mean I’ve read the latter stuff twice or more recently and Guts’ new relationships leave me cold. imo the most interesting relationships in Guts’ narrative are between Farnese and Casca, Farnese and Serpico, and Schierke and Farnese. The one relationship Guts has to anyone that I feel any emotion about is Guts and Puck’s friendship, and that’s been almost dropped completely lol.

Like, I feel more genuine warmth and love between Guts and various random background raiders than Guts and anyone in the rpg group lol.

And I think it does actually make sense for that to be the case from a character standpoint – Guts deliberately keeping them at a distance because he’s been burned before when he lost people he cares about, because he doesn’t trust himself not to turn on them, because he still intends to drop them eventually and return to his revenge quest, etc – but if it is purposeful then I wish I could be shown that from Guts’ perspective. And not just through the Beast taunting him while he’s unconscious (eg ”make them precious to you, it’s all the more to lose”).

I want more moments of self-reflection and telling emotion from Guts, basically. Like, I would’ve loved to see, say, Guts starting to push Isidro too hard during swordfight training and then realizing what he’s doing with a bit of horror and ending it early. Or maybe Guts himself drawing a comparison between Farnese wanting to be useful and Casca wanting to be Griffith’s sword and being a little perturbed. Or in a positive direction, maybe include a scene on the boat where Guts thanks Serpico for stopping him from challenging Zodd with some similar language to the old staircase conversation. Or a million other possible examples of showing what Guts’ current relationships mean to him that I just feel we don’t really get.

yk what’s great about berserk

it’s not just the story of two dudes obsessed with each other and trying to deal w/ that obsession in various stupid ways

it’s the story about a dude whose every plot relevant decision is based on how he thinks another dude feels about him

joining the hawks? dedicating his sword to him and feeling at home? deciding to leave the hawks? deciding to stay again but too late? war declaration followed by a three year monster murder spree? deciding to try really hard to get over his obsession and take casca to elfhelm?

like, when it comes right down to it, griffith’s feelings are the really important ones. they’re the feelings that drive the plot, because guts’ every fucking decision is made based on what he thinks those feelings are. that’s why the golden age revolved around them, and that’s why the current big mystery is “how does neogriffith really feel?”

from back in the black swordsman arc:

image

to the current decision he’s still on:

image

and that’s another reason I think NGriff’s beating heart is going to become very relevant to Guts eventually. it’s what berserk is about.

like the ~academic~ way of putting this is that
Berserk is the story of a man’s desire for interpersonal connection due to his abusive childhood, but that keeps coming back to Griffith. He’s the connection Guts wants and later doesn’t want to want. The true light every other light is measured up to.

So yk Berserk is a story about a dude whose motivation is almost solely based around another guy’s apparent feelings or lack thereof for him.

do 97 anime guts comes off as less interesting to you? idk if its cuz of cutting his childhood trauma or anime not being good about expressions lol. maybe im being too harsh about the anime but anime guts is maybe closer to the dudebro interpretation.

yeah i feel this tbh. I haven’t watched the anime in its entirety for years but just from checking out a few scenes and episodes here and there i def get this impression, and I think it’s largely because of the character design/animation? like yeah cutting his rape trauma prob doesn’t help but I’m aware of that so it doesn’t affect my take on the character, but i’m still way less fond of anime guts than manga guts.

idk he just comes across as angrier, even when he has no real reason to be during the golden age, yk the happiest time of his life. his default expressions strike me as kind of dour and he doesn’t have that warmth i get in the manga ime.

like just to illustrate this w/ a minor example i picked at random (i was actually gonna look at the rooftop scene from the scene after but i didn’t actually mind the vibe guts gave off there):

image
image
image
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doesn’t really have the same vibe, yk?

and i mean yeah you can cherry pick examples, like i mentioned there are scenes in the anime that i think they depicted pretty well, but this does seem to be a recurring problem i have w/ guts in particular, as far as I’ve seen.

i’ve pointed this one out b4 but

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idk maybe it’s the angle of the eyebrows more than anything lol. he always just looks low key pissed off.

griff-guts:

it’s so much more interesting for skull knight to be essentially using guts for his own means and only allying with him because they share a common enemy and guts has a sort of “in” to the god hand through griffith than for him to help guts because he likes him on any personal level lol why do people want skull knight to be a total “good guy” with no ulterior motives. like would someone who truly cares about guts well being would let guts have the berserker armour?? nah sis he needs guts to be as strong as possible to serve his own goals like it isn’t rocket science

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gimme the payoff miura

It’d actually be pretty cool if we got more moments between Guts and Serpico. It kinda surprises me that there haven’t been more tbh, they’re the closest in age rn in the new squad, and there are some similarities between Serpico and Griffith. Also Serpico’s personality balances out well with Guts’ personality imo. Maybe we’ll get some development in the future?

ia, I think Guts and Serpico have a lot of potential for an interesting relationship dynamic, parallels, contrasts, both wrt their relationships and each other as individuals. Yk in the conviction arc serpico and farnese had some griffguts vibes (well everyone in the conviction arc did lol), they both have abusive childhoods that involved taking care of a parent and eventually killing them, they’re actually both relatively chill people but guts has a force of personality and a drive that serpico doesn’t have, idk there’s a lot of interesting comparisons to make imo.

tbh their relationship feels way shallower than it could, but honestly I feel the same way about most aspects of guts’ narrative from the millenium falcon arc on. so I’d love to see more development, but I’m not like counting on it lol.

(maybe it’s purposefully shallow to show that Guts isn’t really fully connecting with anyone in his new group. like guts and serpico dueled but… guts doesn’t really give a fuck. serpico saved guts from zodd but guts doesn’t really reflect on that or care. anything interesting between them is from serpico’s point of view, eg reflecting on how being around guts has changed him. guts just gets his bland little ‘hey thanks for the help you guys’ moment in elfhelm and that’s about it.

i’d like to think that’s a purposeful contrast to guts’ actual meaningful relationships of the golden age lol, buuuuuuut yeah right lol, that’s wishful thinking. miura’s just halfassing it.

it’s like guts going to get farnese back from her family. it’s nice, it makes me happy that guts values farnese, but what does that mean for guts? how does his relationship with farnese, or serpico, or schierke, or isidro, etc, make him feel? he likes them, he wants to protect them, but how do they fit in to his complex inner life? i can come up with a million ways griffith and the hawks reflected and refracted guts’ childhood for instance, but not the rpg group.

maybe the difference is that guts is now fulfilling gambino/griffith’s role. he’s switched from needer of attention to distant giver of attention. there are parallels there in theory, yk farnese’s admiration, teaching isidro to fight, casca/shizu similarities potentially, serpico comparing guts to fire/blazing inferno that is griffith, blah blah blah. but they also… don’t seem to emotionally affect guts much. like damn imagine if guts himself was making a comparison between himself and gambino and fearing his own potential to be a shitty abusive life ruiner. instead that all gets channeled into the beast of darkness stuff, easily blamed on a magic suit of armour, without a hint of awareness on guts’ part of the potential parallels there.

uhhhh i went off on a weird tangent, sorry lol.)

murdersounds:

i’d like your thoughts on this please! i’d forgotten about this singular instance of guts clawing at his skin in the black swordsman arc. i have my own ideas, but i don’t have time to thoroughly analyze them right now with all the packing and moving—but basically—(and tumblr somehow didn’t save my previous wall of text about this) i’m assuming, that this is guts either/or/a bit of both;

1. guts dealing with his internalized grieving and rage, coupled with sleep deprivation, and even more sleep deprivation and rage driven by survivors guilt. not to mention all the tough guy posturing and denial of his true nature, he needs to stay angry. he wants to keep that anger burning at 1000% because anything less, i don’t think he’d be able to justify. his guilt is overwhelming. griffith does this for much the same reasons imo (compounded by his other awful reasons of course) … guilt over the fallen, while he/they remain/s “clean”/alive. lots of other parallels and reasons i’m sure too. maybe the physical pain feels better than the mental anguish, which guts clearly isn’t able to parse yet.

2. is it this particular scar though? the ellipses are definitely suggesting that looking at that scar triggers something within him. does anyone know what scar this is from, in particular? or could it just be a memory of seeing griffith’s own self-harm scars, giving him this idea even? miura might not have even written griffith’s self mutilation into the story yet though, who knows. maybe this is his way of showing characters dealing with trauma and ptsd in terrible ways.

if i weren’t in the middle of moving i’d look into it myself, but alas, i’m out of time. this scene is very intriguing, though. and please take my half baked analyses with a grain of salt, i often miss very basic stuff because i tend to hyper-focus on details rather than broad ideas … but i didn’t want to forget this.

Totally agree with #1. I think it’s partly guilt over the Eclipse (or whatever Miura was imagining this far back, but as early as Guts blatantly comparing himself to Vargas we know he lost loved ones), but also guilt over the people he gets killed just existing around them while ghosts show up to fuck with him every night lol, which we see in the 2nd chapter when he tells himself he doesn’t care what happens to the people he travels with, then they die and he’s sad.

Yk, he tells himself other people don’t matter because they’re weak (”If someone can’t live their life the way they please… they might as well die.”) but the self-harm is a v quick way of showing the audience that Guts doesn’t actually believe that, and he kinda hates himself for trying to convince himself of it.

Just like Griffith saying “I don’t feel responsible for my comrades who’ve lost their lives under my command. I guess… because they chose to fight. It’s just the way I am.” while he’s simultaneously tearing his arms open lol.

I think #2 is really interesting and something I never noticed actually. ihni where Guts got that scar, and since Miura never drew Griffith with si scars on his arm I doubt it’s actually a memory of Griffith, tho that concept is amazing and I’m about to just adopt it as headcanon regardless.

One thing that just occurred to me wrt that scar is that Guts looking at it before self harming over it ties Guts’ self harm to, yk, swinging his sword at giant monsters and groups of a hundred men. Miura maybe suggesting it’s all variations of self-harm? And foreshadowing Guts’ particular style of fighting, ie leap into danger, get his ass kicked, and maneuver himself close enough to exploit a big monster’s weakness.

prettykitten123
replied to your post “madchen
replied to your post “I was just thinking that, during…”

Idky but the idea of Griffith just glaring at Guts for 15 minutes was just so funny to me. I can Imagine Casca after a while deciding to play the mediator between them
If that doesn’t work and they end up
sitting in that room for a whole day, I can imagine someone just trying
to bribe them into talking with food(they’ve been in there all day, prob
starving at this point) but Griffith still wouldn’t care. He could be
five seconds away from passing out from hunger and still wont talk to
Guts

yeah if she locked them in a room together she should be prepared to step in lol, they need all the help they can get

also lol hopefully guts would at least be mature enough to start the ball rolling before that point. but idk, he’s also stupid and stubborn