Manga: Berserk

[bagandscalpel]

I totally can't stand having her around anymore.. whenever in combat, she has absaloutly no perssonality other than pointing at where to attack, and now she's even got worse...
fusing with our dear gutts? filthing his badassness with magical powers?
what's the deal about that?

One of gutts main point in the entire story was that Gutts was diffrent from the rest of them, he didn't use magical items to fight (armor aside, which was more of a handicap than a weapon, at least by gutts eyes), he used his revenge and willpower to push further.

and now, he's gone all magical and stuff with the witch.

Alright, before you demean Schrieke any further, that whole "fusion" event was just a FREAK ACCIDENT; it wasn't even permanent. There was only one spell cast during that time. On top of all that, against the Kundalini, a being comprised completely of magic, there was barely any chance for Guts to take it down without magical aid of his own (even with the Berserk armor activated, he still couldn't jump on water).

If you're going to have a beef with character, make it Magnifico, or something; someone who actually HASN'T contributed to the group's survival or created a killing spree

[Death BOO Z]

Magnifico is Farernze's fiancee, right?
I have no quarrl with him, a decent guy. He ust got stuck in a situation well over his head, but he seems to be taking it fine, he knows that he should take care of the rear, and make sure not to make any troubles... I think he knows that everything that's going on is far out of his fighting skill leauge, but he stays thier for farenze, which makes him kinda cool.

yes, I know that Gutts couldn't have taken care of the water element by himself, but i still hate this fusion thing... one of my favorite parts in berserk (later arcs) is when the witch gives everybody a magic item, and only gutts refuses the axe, making point that he doesn't belong to the witch and won't take no shit from her. Gutts fights the war his own way, it's perssonal for him.

besides, I've always hated the witch girl, she's too smart for her age, and far too annoying, as most young child genius charecters are. the only worthwhile times we saw her was when she was acting human and displayed some depth of charecter other than pointing her stick at people and bossing them around.

in a completly diffrent matter, is it wrong that everytime i read a few berserk chapters i get the need to re-read everything from scratch?
I need more hard copy books of Berserk...

[Augury]

Magnifico is Farnese's brother - the light curly haired guy who keeps screaming "hiii" when bad guys appear. Her fiancee is the dark haird one ... Roderick? I think.

[mage]

What is Griffith trying to do with his new Band of the Hawk? He's now one of the most powerful beings in existance. Does he really need some chump apostles that barely compare to him to do his dirty work? I guess he must REALLY want to fulfill that dream of owning his own country.

[Shinji Ikari]

It has becoming quite obvious what his goal is. It is to be king, in control of a country (or the world even). He needs people who follow him because without people, there can be no country. So in way, he still needs to look like some kind of a hero, which he apparently does in some parts of the land.

And the apostles are far from weak as we have seen. Gutts needs something as target practice until he can take on Griffith, that's the apostles duty :P

I agree with Shrieke being annoying, I really don't like her at all. But she is important and she helps out a lot (kicking and screaming all the way).

And even though this is Gutts fight, he needs to cut himself some slack, because keeping it up will get him killed. He needs to get some major ass healing on Pucks home-island, otherwise he won't be strong enough to face Griffith. And he needs more rage, which he will get once Caska gets her memories back and becomes emotionally damaged for life.

Edit: Griffith might be strong, but his worldy body is not nearly as strong as his astral body.

[Stoopider]

Yup. Either his own country or conquering the world. Whatever. :P

Actually. If you look at it from the perspective of the common civilians, Griffith is a hero to everyone. The White Hawk, prophecised to be the Next King of Midland or something. He's a hero to everyone, their savior from the evil Kushan Empire.

From the perspective of the civilians, you can probably say that Gutts is actually a bad guy. Misunderstood badguy. Hance, he is the Black Hawk.

[Shinji Ikari]

Yup, everyone who knows of Gutts see him as a renegade soldier of the former Hawks Army. And for those who doesn't know him, well, as he is not really hiding the fact that he is trying to stop the five gods, he is making himself the enemy of a lot of people. Including the kushan army since he see everyone around him as obstacles worthy of nothing but his blade.

[kAi]

Everything Griffiths does is for his dream to have his own country. The reason he's going about it the way he is, is that he needs people to follow him and trust him. So, after helping all these people through war methods people begin to follow him. He even has the trust of the pope. He already has Charlotte so once the first part is complete and he has a castle and land, he'll then marry Charlotte which will make it complete. Guts is the thorn in the side of this. If it wasn't for his goal why become a God Hand, and come back to the real world?

Actually not many people would know Guts as a former Hawks soldier only a few, Owen being one of them. Most people just know him as the Black Swordsmen, the one in the phophercies.

[samsonlonghair]

It's got to be killing Gutts to see Griffith for a second then being drug away to elf island.

I'm so addicted to the Berserk manga. I buy it the same day the translations from Dark Horse are available. Despite the fact that I've already read scanlations, I already have the next volume on pre-order.

I just read the prototype for the first time last night. Wow, that was almost as bad as everyone said. How sad. It's a good thing that the story has changed so much.

[Shinji Ikari]

What I am dying to see though is how surprised and baffled Griffith will be once he sees the new improved Gutts I hope that when those chaps come out, there will be some flashbacks of Griffith telling Charlotte what he believes a true friend is and how he actually used to see Gutts as his only rival and obstacle.

[bagandscalpel]

What I am dying to see though is how surprised and baffled Griffith will be once he sees the new improved Gutts I hope that when those chaps come out, there will be some flashbacks of Griffith telling Charlotte what he believes a true friend is and how he actually used to see Gutts as his only rival and obstacle.

Hard to say, but I don't think that Griffith's the type to get "surprised and baffled," moreso now than before, when he was just a mortal.

Also, the past seems to be of no importance to Griffith anymore than Guts is to him, now, which is not too much... Think this was already shown during that period he was Femto and interacted with Guts.

[kAi]

At the moment I really want to see Guts getting some healing time, he's been injured for quite some time now, even before Vritannis with the ethereal wound Slan gave to him back in the troll cave. He should be all healed up at Elfheim, with all the fairy's dust shit, or some good healers or something there.

The whole point to Griffiths meeting Guts on the snow field where the swords were, was to see if he had the same affect on him that made him forget his dream some what.

[masamuneehs]

Griffith won't be moved very much by Gutts' new power or anything like that. Griffith sees Gutts as his property, as a tool. He struggled to "sacrifice"/brand Gutts during the Eclipse, because part of him saw Gutts as a friend, representing that other people are important to him. But in the end his ambition and greed for achieving his dream won out, and the rest is a bloody history.

I like how Gutts has been assembling a team of supporters. The one thing I do not like, as mentioned a few chapters back, is how much space they all take up in the manga. When it was just Gutts and Puck, a panel or two every page with Puck's silly comments was fine, it even served as comic relief.
Now we have Isi, Schiernek( sp?), her fairy, Serpico, Crusader Girl (always forget her name) and retarded Caska, not to mention two recent Noble tag-a-longs who I trust won't be around much longer. And as much as I love the man, I question how much time and physical space Miura is giving to these secondary characters.

The worst part is that I like almost all of Gutts' new crew. The two nobles suck though, and I'm convinced they're just there for some plot scheme. Isi cracks me up, and a real and genuine "kid" (Schiernke is too mature, Caska doesn't count) is a really nice element to bring to the group. Caska I tolerate since I know she's going to do something awesome eventually and because she's the third leg of the plot tripod (Gutts' revenge, Griffith's dream, Caska's love). Serpico is just awesome. I love the "beady little eyes" characters. Plus he's funny, a serious asset in battle, and keeps you on your toes since you know he's still looking for a chance to betray Gutts. The Witch/Crusader girl can get on my nerves at times, but she's regaining her fighting ability and I liked her backstory. She also serves as the envoy from the rich class into Gutts' struggle, which is exactly why I think there's no room for the other two noble guys...

Schiernke. When she got introduced and it became apparent that she was joining the group, my immediate reaction was, "Not another character!" Despite this, I really have grown to like her. She's the female most in touch with her emotions, despite being just a kid, and her attraction to Gutts is a pretty awesome plot element, bordering on the taboo. She's also let Miura draw some of the most beautiful pages in the entire manga with her magic. Her "sheltered rural" reactions to the cities and people there is also new for the manga, and I like that kind of social commentary.

And I personally think the "tactics" that have accompanied Schiernke's entry into the group have been a good thing. Gutts is still only one man, and one fixed in a certain kind of fighting style. It would be impossible (and repetitive) for him to get to Griffith with just that approach. Schiernke's knowledge and help have been crucial, especially for him to keep control of himself with the Berserker Armor on. Without her Gutts would probably have cut down all of his comrades (the possible exception being Caska), and where would we be now? Gutts roaming aimlessly while Griffith takes more control of the world.

The magic, aside from offering some beautiful pages, has also provided a new counterbalance to the "evil magic" of the Behelit, the Godhands and the Eclipse. It is quite possible that this is the entry of the foil for "the Idea of God" in the manga's plot. I don't think it's going to get to the Holy/Meteor level of importance, but it'll be there.

I, btw, think that Miura is going somewhere with this "forming of the groups" thing. The kind of friendships and bonds between them are growing stronger, and they will be a factor in the final battle (assuming they make it that far...). One of the themes of Berserk is "that which is given freely and that which is taken forcibly", Gutts' friendship with Griffith, Griffith's abuse of this friendship, Gutts' group freely consenting to follow him and Griffith's graceful coercion, allies coming to him out of necessity. There's a very serious contrast between Griffith's Band and Gutts'. And in the end, as Gutts himself is living proof of, that which is given freely will be greater than whatever Griffith can coerce and manipulate.

Gutts can't make it on his own, he just can't. He failed at the Eclipse, he'd fail if he was all alone at the final battle now. His counting on his new friends will be the thing that saves him, as it already has in recent volumes. (and does this mean that Serpico and Isidoro will die? .... only Miura knows...)

well, think that was about all of my Berserk posting for a little while. I know I repeated some things from earlier posts, but this break time has let me form fuller thoughts on the whole thing. Damn I love this manga!

[bagandscalpel]

^ Alas, if you truly have the love for the manga that your lengthy post implies you do, then you'd remember that the Guts' Team now includes AZAN through sheer coincidence

[Stoopider]

It's somewhat nearly similar to his old band of the hawk, but I think this group is better. More unique.

It's like Muira's finally going deeper into the group and not only Gutts anymore.

[Shinji Ikari]

I think this Story is kind of unique. I mean, how common is it to make a story about something, building it up from scratch and making it really emotional, then just drop it all. All the characters, they all just died, only to build something bigger, now that is so awesome.

And the characters, oh how great they were. I mean, I only had a few favourites; Judea, Pippin, Rickert and Caska (couting her since she now is a vege).

[Stoopider]

I thought they were a good team the old band of the hawks. But not unique enough. Couldn't really tell whether Pippin was truly a great warrior or even the whiney guy whatsisname. All you could tell that they were pretty good fighters, but don't know how evenly matched are they versus the new Gatts team.

[samsonlonghair]

The old Band of the Haw rocked. Judeau kicked more ass than an ass-kicking team of ass kickers doing some ass-kicking on overtime.

I think the whiney guy you mean is Corkus.

[Stoopider]

I think the whiney guy you mean is Corkus.

Yup Thanks.

I was wondering how

Azan v Pippin ,
Judea v Serpico.
Rickerts v Isidoro

This would be a great fighting standoff!

[Shinji Ikari]

The new guys would win due to magic, but Judea would certainly win against Serpico because He'd just throw his knives and down Serpico would go.

Rickert was raised around battle and knows how to fight, he could take Isidoro if you ask me.