Berserk... we finally got there

[bartholen_v1legacy]

Nearly 15 years

181 chapters

Countless delays and hiatuses.

The Lord of the Rings and Hobbit films.

All the Harry Potter films

The war in Iraq

Almost the entirety of Bleach

All of these things have begun and ended in between, but we finally got there. We finally got there!

Spoiler: In case you're not caught up with the manga

We're finally seeing if Casca's going to be healed or not. Granted, it's not through yet, but at this point it can't be more than 3 chapters ahead. Farnese and Schierke are entering Caska's dreams at the end of the most recent chapter. And I've got a really, really bad feeling about it. With the pace Miura's been moving the plot in the past months I can't expect it to take as long as it would have 10 years ago. Unless he of course cuts back to the Falconia side plot for another 7 chapters, a 1,5-year hiatus and an entire miniseries, but I feel he's finally getting to it.

I feel strange. I don't think I know a single plot point in any franchise I follow that I'd have been waiting for as long, and also expecting to see at some point. I don't count things like "the ending of Harry Potter", since that's just a part of the story, not a very specific plot point toward which the series had been building for half its length. Now that we're finally here it's almost surreal. Comparable perhaps to seeing Daenerys storm King's Landing (the book version obviously) actually happening.

I don't know how much discussion value there is here, more of a PSA to be honest. How do you feel about it, or about the series in general now? It seems the wheel is finally taking its last turn, and we're entering the end phase of the manga.

 

[Erttheking]

I've got a baaaaaaad feeling about this. Didn't the Skull Knight say that what Casca wants and what Guts wants won't necessarily line up? She might fall back into old, Golden Age habits and rejoin the cult of Griffith. It's going strong and world wide now.

 

[Casual Shinji]

Yeah, but this marks another hiatus till sometime in 2017 so... yeah.

But I know how you feel, it's a pretty big moment. It could change/upset so much of the established order.

1) It could utterly destroy Caska, or at the very least put her in a mental state that Guts was in following the Eclipse.
2) This in turn could gravely effect Guts, seeing the woman he loves suffering through rage, fear, and insanity. Knowing he's the one who wanted her memories back instead of leaving her be.
3) The unthinkable could happen and Caska may choose to serve Griffith once she's regained herself. This would likely destroy Guts.

And then there's the obvious risk that confronting Caska's trauma may have on Shierke and Farnese. Even Shierke at one point found herself almost getting shallowed up just by confronting Guts' memory of the Eclipse. And he's the one who was actually able to somewhat fight back during all that. Caska on the otherhand... Yeesh. And then there's Farnese... How the hell is she gonna weather through all of that? I guess the Elven King will be there to supervise the whole deal, but it's undoubtedly going to get awfully messy.

 

[Casual Shinji]

I've got a baaaaaaad feeling about this. Didn't the Skull Knight say that what Casca wants and what Guts wants won't necessarily line up? She might fall back into old, Golden Age habits and rejoin the cult of Griffith. It's going strong and world wide now.

I might be in the market for a bit of bad though. Even ignoring the amount that this series has been on hiatus Berserk has been relatively quiet ever since the Tower of Conviction arc. It might be time for it to get a nice kick in the pants.

Whatever the case, Caska is likely to play a much larger part in the story from now on. It was kinda hinted at when Griffith meets Guts again at Godo's place that Caska can actually hurt him, when no one else on this earth can touch him. Let's say Caska chooses to return to Griffith it might very well be a good thing in disguise. Her being in close proximity to him might effect him as time goes on, and maybe even result in him being unable to keep up his Christ-like visage and exposing his true self to all his human underlings.

 

[Samtemdo8_v1legacy]

...So is this the finale to the entire series? Can I read it right now?

 

[bartholen_v1legacy]

...So is this the finale to the entire series? Can I read it right now?

Faaaaa-ha-ha-haaaaar from it. It merely marks the possible beginning point to what you might call the final act of the story. The manga is still years and at least dozens, probably triple digits worth of chapters away from completion.

I've got a baaaaaaad feeling about this. Didn't the Skull Knight say that what Casca wants and what Guts wants won't necessarily line up? She might fall back into old, Golden Age habits and rejoin the cult of Griffith. It's going strong and world wide now.

Ayup. I don't really see the scene playing out in a "happy" way. There's so many ways it could go wrong:
1) No recovery at all
2) Recovery with her joining Griffith again
3) Full recovery with all her memories, which would send any human character in the story short of Guts into instant suicide or at least catatonic depression.
4) Farnese and Schierke (at this point likely) getting mentally eviscerated by her memories

Her getting all her memories back and being able to cope with it would feel like a copout, and the series has been a long time in a lull in terms of shock moments. They teased a bit with the possible death of Erica, but didn't go through with it. The only "happy" option I could see would be her recovery back to herself, but losing her memory of the Eclipse. Of course this wouldn't really make Guts happy, since she'd remember Griffith as her helpless, noble leader and mentor.

One thing I'm also waiting anxiously for is how she will react to Guts' entourage if she recovers. Will she remember or recognize any of them? Or will she go full Memento?

 

[Samtemdo8_v1legacy]

...So is this the finale to the entire series? Can I read it right now?

Faaaaa-ha-ha-haaaaar from it. It merely marks the possible beginning point to what you might call the final act of the story. The manga is still years and at least dozens, probably triple digits worth of chapters away from completion.

I've got a baaaaaaad feeling about this. Didn't the Skull Knight say that what Casca wants and what Guts wants won't necessarily line up? She might fall back into old, Golden Age habits and rejoin the cult of Griffith. It's going strong and world wide now.

Ayup. I don't really see the scene playing out in a "happy" way. There's so many ways it could go wrong:
1) No recovery at all
2) Recovery with her joining Griffith again
3) Full recovery with all her memories, which would send any human character in the story short of Guts into instant suicide or at least catatonic depression.
4) Farnese and Schierke (at this point likely) getting mentally eviscerated by her memories

Her getting all her memories back and being able to cope with it would feel like a copout, and the series has been a long time in a lull in terms of shock moments. They teased a bit with the possible death of Erica, but didn't go through with it. The only "happy" option I could see would be her recovery back to herself, but losing her memory of the Eclipse. Of course this wouldn't really make Guts happy, since she'd remember Griffith as her helpless, noble leader and mentor.

One thing I'm also waiting anxiously for is how she will react to Guts' entourage if she recovers. Will she remember or recognize any of them? Or will she go full Memento?

What about One Piece? I heard they have at least 2-3 years to go to conclude the whole series?

 

[Saltyk]

So, I need to catch up. Last time I checked in Guts was still cutting his way through a Sea God.

As for the subject of this thread, this could be interesting. But knowing Berserk, it won't be a happy ordeal. Not only because "Holy shitballs, the Eclipse". But we know one thing about this series, you never know how things will turn out.

Also, I do not envy Farnese and Schierke. Casca probably had the worst of it during the Eclipse. Not only because... ahem. But also because even before that would be an emotional roller coaster for her. Betrayed by the man she respected most, forced to watch her friends that she had protected, and that had protected her in turn, die all around her and being utterly powerless to do anything. It was literally Hell. It's the one part I warn potential readers/viewers about the most. I always felt it made perfect sense that Casca would regress and not remember any of it.

The thing that does legitimately worry me is that Casca has been shown reaching out for Griffeth when he resurrected. I fear she might still harbor some sort of respect and feelings for him. And I can see him using her, if she does. Not to mention Casca leaving would probably risk breaking Guts emotionally, considering everything he's done to protect her in the past.

Should she be forced to remember it all? I don't know. Sure, it may not be Casca saying that she wants this, but she's also unlikely to ever come out of her current state on her own. My feelings are mixed. I don't want her to suffer, but I also want her to return to her former self as it's just sad seeing her like this.

I'd be cautious to say this is entering the end game. There are probably no shortage of events before Guts finally gets his chance to cleave Griffeth in half for what he has done.

I expected that Dirty Cop named James Funs to have made a post in here. He loves Berserk.

 

[loa]

And they say HxH takes forever to update...

 

[Casual Shinji]

The thing that does legitimately worry me is that Casca has been shown reaching out for Griffeth when he resurrected. I fear she might still harbor some sort of respect and feelings for him.

I think that was more her internally struggling with unresolved feelings toward him. After all, within the span of like half an hour she went from being at a loss at her lord and savior having been reduced to a crippled, mute shell, to him transforming into a demon and horribly betraying and raping her infront of the other man she loved, amidst the torn remains of her comrads.

When she reaches out you can see the grief and confusion in her face.

 

[Fox12]

They say that once in a thousand years the stars align and a new issue of Beeserk comes out.

Honestly, rereading Berserk, it kind of hurts to see how far the series has fallen. The writing has suffered, the page layout has suffered, and the character development has suffered. The original series was something truly inspired. It was the work of a genius. The current series feels clumsy by comparison. The panels are harder to follow, and Miura doesn't experiment as much as he used to.

Yet I'm still waiting with bated breath. This is the moment fans have waited for. The series really needs something like this. I hope the story is reaching the end game. Im worried, though. The recent story events don't feel like things that can be resolved quickly.

...So is this the finale to the entire series? Can I read it right now?

No. But you may, possibly, get to read it at some point before you die. Go read the Manga until you finish the Golden Age Arc. After the Eclipse. You can stop there and be satisfied. Afterwards, just wait until Miura finishes the story. Or dies. I'm not exaggerating when I call Berserk the best fantasy story ever made, but the writer makes GRRM look like speedy Gonzales.

 

[Dalisclock]

They say that once in a thousand years the stars align and a new issue of Beeserk comes out.

Honestly, rereading Berserk, it kind of hurts to see how far the series has fallen. The writing has suffered, the page layout has suffered, and the character development has suffered. The original series was something truly inspired. It was the work of a genius. The current series feels clumsy by comparison. The panels are harder to follow, and Miura doesn't experiment as much as he used to.

Yet I'm still waiting with bated breath. This is the moment fans have waited for. The series really needs something like this. I hope the story is reaching the end game. Im worried, though. The recent story events don't feel like things that can be resolved quickly.

...So is this the finale to the entire series? Can I read it right now?

No. But you may, possibly, get to read it at some point before you die. Go read the Manga until you finish the Golden Age Arc. After the Eclipse. You can stop there and be satisfied. Afterwards, just wait until Miura finishes the story. Or dies. I'm not exaggerating when I call Berserk the best fantasy story ever made, but the writer makes GRRM look like speedy Gonzales.

So if we've seen the anime(Original Series and/or films), does that mean we can hold off until the manga finishes? Because aside from the....thing that just started recently, both anime attempts pretty much only cover the golden age(and the original made the whole thing an unfinished flashback to boot).

I want to read the manga to find out what happens after the eclipse but I'm hesitant to commit knowing I many never actually see the ending.

 

[Fox12]

They say that once in a thousand years the stars align and a new issue of Beeserk comes out.

Honestly, rereading Berserk, it kind of hurts to see how far the series has fallen. The writing has suffered, the page layout has suffered, and the character development has suffered. The original series was something truly inspired. It was the work of a genius. The current series feels clumsy by comparison. The panels are harder to follow, and Miura doesn't experiment as much as he used to.

Yet I'm still waiting with bated breath. This is the moment fans have waited for. The series really needs something like this. I hope the story is reaching the end game. Im worried, though. The recent story events don't feel like things that can be resolved quickly.

...So is this the finale to the entire series? Can I read it right now?

No. But you may, possibly, get to read it at some point before you die. Go read the Manga until you finish the Golden Age Arc. After the Eclipse. You can stop there and be satisfied. Afterwards, just wait until Miura finishes the story. Or dies. I'm not exaggerating when I call Berserk the best fantasy story ever made, but the writer makes GRRM look like speedy Gonzales.

So if we've seen the anime(Original Series and/or films), does that mean we can hold off until the manga finishes? Because aside from the....thing that just started recently, both anime attempts pretty much only cover the golden age(and the original made the whole thing an unfinished flashback to boot).

I want to read the manga to find out what happens after the eclipse but I'm hesitant to commit knowing I many never actually see the ending.

If you read the manga, I would read until the part where Guts leaves to fight the apostles. There was a ton of content that was cut out. After that, it's up to you. There's some really strong material after the eclipse, so it's not really an issue of quality. Heck, some of the best character don't show up until after the Eclipse. The issue is that there's a very real possibility that Berserk will not be finished. If it is finished, it will probably take many years to get there. The author clearly doesn't want to work on this anymore. The spark is gone, I think. He barely produces content. He wrote an entire short story about a younger version of his main character. He put Berserk on Hiatus so that he could work on an unrelated mini series. These things indicate to me that he's trying to get that old inspiration back. Will it work? Who knows. It hasn't yet. Imagine getting one chapter of Game of Thrones a year. That's basically what it's like to read Berserk. Miura isn't really old, but if he keeps up this pace then I'm not sure how he'll finish it.

I chose to keep reading. I don't regret that decision, but it's sad to know that most of my burning question may never get answered. It's more sad to think that Berserk may simply end up abandoned at some anti-climactic moment. If you were to stop at the Eclipse then at least you stopped at one of the high points of the series.

 

[bartholen_v1legacy]

If you read the manga, I would read until the part where Guts leaves to fight the apostles.

The Lost Children Arc is IMO essential reading in Berserk. It has one of the best antagonists, a rather uncommonly seen theme in fiction overall (the evil of children), Guts at his most conflicted and interesting as a main character, and a fantastic finale and ending.

 

[Fox12]

If you read the manga, I would read until the part where Guts leaves to fight the apostles.

The Lost Children Arc is IMO essential reading in Berserk. It has one of the best antagonists, a rather uncommonly seen theme in fiction overall (the evil of children), Guts at his most conflicted and interesting as a main character, and a fantastic finale and ending.

While I agree that the lost children arc is a piece of genius, it also flows into the next arc. There's a certain finality to Guts leaving at the end of Golden Age. There's a sense of closure that Lost Children lacks.

 

[bastardofmelbourne]

...So is this the finale to the entire series? Can I read it right now?

Hahahahahahahahahahahahahaa no.

You should go read it, though. It's a very good, very long manga. And if you wait until it's finished before starting, you might die of old age.

While I agree that the lost children arc is a piece of genius, it also flows into the next arc. There's a certain finality to Guts leaving at the end of Golden Age. There's a sense of closure that Lost Children lacks.

What? Finality? The Golden Age arc is a twelve-volume prologue. There's absolutely no closure at all, the bad guy wins and gets away with everything he did, everybody else dies or goes insane, and Guts is left walking out the door with all his fancy new protagonist upgrades and his freshly-minted dark and troubled past to get the actual plot going.

The first anime ended like that, and it was awful. It was like "Now Guts goes on a epic, badass revenge quest against a quintet of evil gods and the numberless immortal monsters that serve them! You don't get to see that part, though. We're stopping here. But it's cool, take our word for it."

 

[Samtemdo8_v1legacy]

...So is this the finale to the entire series? Can I read it right now?

Hahahahahahahahahahahahahaa no.

You should go read it, though. It's a very good, very long manga. And if you wait until it's finished before starting, you might die of old age.

While I agree that the lost children arc is a piece of genius, it also flows into the next arc. There's a certain finality to Guts leaving at the end of Golden Age. There's a sense of closure that Lost Children lacks.

What? Finality? The Golden Age arc is a twelve-volume prologue. There's absolutely no closure at all, the bad guy wins and gets away with everything he did, everybody else dies or goes insane, and Guts is left walking out the door with all his fancy new protagonist upgrades and his freshly-minted dark and troubled past to get the actual plot going.

The first anime ended like that, and it was awful. It was like "Now Guts goes on a epic, badass revenge quest against a quintet of evil gods and the numberless immortal monsters that serve them! You don't get to see that part, though. We're stopping here. But it's cool, take our word for it."

Hey.....I read Lone Wolf and Cub in its entirety:

And I consider that to be the greatest Manga ever written and drawn and made.

 

[Ogoid]

What? Finality? The Golden Age arc is a twelve-volume prologue. There's absolutely no closure at all, the bad guy wins and gets away with everything he did, everybody else dies or goes insane, and Guts is left walking out the door with all his fancy new protagonist upgrades and his freshly-minted dark and troubled past to get the actual plot going.

The first anime ended like that, and it was awful. It was like "Now Guts goes on a epic, badass revenge quest against a quintet of evil gods and the numberless immortal monsters that serve them! You don't get to see that part, though. We're stopping here. But it's cool, take our word for it."

I disagree. I think the Golden Age arc, and therefore the original anime as well, work perfectly as the story of Guts' soul-blackening hatred of and lust for revenge on Griffith - it's straight classic Greek tragedy in both of those characters' personal arcs; the actual plot you mention, when one looks at it that way, is interesting but ultimately superfluous.

Of everything that followed it in the manga, the only moment I found nearly as powerful was when Guts confronted Griffith on the Hill of Swords; the way I see it (and this is, of course, simply my personal take on it), at its absolute core Berserk is about a friendship gone sour over tragically petty, meaningless and in the end, completely avoidable reasons. I think that's probably why the further it moved away from the Guts-Griffith relationship, the less interested I found myself.

Hey.....I read Lone Wolf and Cub in its entirety:

*image snip*

And I consider that to be the greatest Manga ever written and drawn and made.

Seconded.

The only one that came even close, in my opinion, was Akira.

 

[Fox12]

...So is this the finale to the entire series? Can I read it right now?

Hahahahahahahahahahahahahaa no.

You should go read it, though. It's a very good, very long manga. And if you wait until it's finished before starting, you might die of old age.

While I agree that the lost children arc is a piece of genius, it also flows into the next arc. There's a certain finality to Guts leaving at the end of Golden Age. There's a sense of closure that Lost Children lacks.

What? Finality? The Golden Age arc is a twelve-volume prologue. There's absolutely no closure at all, the bad guy wins and gets away with everything he did, everybody else dies or goes insane, and Guts is left walking out the door with all his fancy new protagonist upgrades and his freshly-minted dark and troubled past to get the actual plot going.

The first anime ended like that, and it was awful. It was like "Now Guts goes on a epic, badass revenge quest against a quintet of evil gods and the numberless immortal monsters that serve them! You don't get to see that part, though. We're stopping here. But it's cool, take our word for it."

We'll have to disagree here. I always saw the golden age arc as a kind of perfect circle. It brought the core themes more or less to a close. Themes we don't really see explored or expanded in later. It reminds me of Oedipus Rex, where a proud accomplished man struggles against fate, and ultimately fails. I don't think it's any more open ended then when Oedipus gores out his own eyes, and chooses to become a wanderer. Or the conflict between Macbeth and Mcduff. The Golden Age Arc more or less brings the relationship between Guts and Griffith to a close, which is a much stronger place to leave the story then on a boat.

 

[Fox12]

snip.

Seconded.

The only one that came even close, in my opinion, was Akira.

I keep hearing about that series, but for some reason I got the impression that it was episodic. Is there a real plot to it? I guess I'll have to break down and go read it, along with that Junji Ito fella.