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One Piece i just think he knows he can give himself some breath on, it's so established that 3 chapters a month instead of 4 isn't gonna hurt anything about it. And Berserk just is what it is at this point. At least the last chapter kinda felt like we are starting to get ready to setup the end game for Guts and crew. I'll be very surprised if Guts survives the totality of this story, but he probably deserves it.
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May 20, 2020 15:26
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I've been kinda waffling on getting the omnibus releases of this, and the art work this chapter reminded me of how crazy amazing Miura is with detail and I probably just should get them because of the sheer art of the thing.
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Oct 23, 2020 18:58
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Sydin posted:I have the first three and the one thing I will say is that while they are beautiful and very high quality, they are also massive. Unless you've got a ton of space I'd only settle for one or two. As a man with a hardcover copy of every Wheel of Time book...duly noted. This is sensible advice.
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Oct 23, 2020 22:18
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Okay yeah my sister gifted me one of these volumes as a christmas gift, and yeah after getting one in my hands went ahead and locked down Vol 1-5 for the Golden Age arc and black swordsman prologue. I don't think I have enough attachment to the stories after the golden age to feel compelled to own them in print, but the quality is so high on that piece of publication I was just wowed.
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Dec 26, 2020 16:38
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I felt like we were expecting one more chapter before the year was out but alas. Given the increasing complexity of what he's presenting, I am okay with the reality it takes months to produce 10 pages. I really just wished we could have gotten to see Guts & Casca properly reunited this year. I just reread the Golden Age arc and his art kind of explodes right around the eclipse into the start of his more current style and it is v good. e: I burned through this again thanks to those deluxe editions and I ended up with a few thoughts. 1) The pacing of the more recent arcs, really isn't bad, but the release schedule made it painful. In hindsight nothing really drags for too long (although I genuinely could have done without much of the sea god arc, beyond the additional party member it just feels kinda like filler on the way to Elf Island). I felt like the elf island arc took forever, but its really that it just took forever to be released. 2) Miura did a great job of foreshadowing and character tidbits even from the very start. All the apostles that Guts chases in the Black Swordswman Arc at the start are all the nasties that did in his best buds in the Band of the Hawk and I didn't really remember that until you line it up all in a go. It really gives me a lot of hope for whatever he has in plan for the finish because it's clear he's had this thing road mapped for a long while. 3) I still have no clue what actually Femto's end goal is as Griffith the Hawk of Light. Whatever that is, his desire for more, probably won't end with the securing of Falconia (which is just about where he's at). 4) As I made my way through this whole thing again, the more convinced I am that the finish won't really be some epic sword battle. Maybe a small bit of one because, but I just don't think at the end of the story between Guts/Casca/Griffith that actually a sword fight will resolve it. His reincarnation was impacted by having the tainted child of Guts/Casca integrated into the reincarnation behelit, and the full moons seem to manifest him as their proper child now that the child was reborn through reincarnation as well (Schierke suggests the spirit is the Elf King, but I think it's p clear the spirit that helps him in the armor is the luminous body of his child). I really wonder if the resolution to this is Griffith choosing again to look away from his longing to be king of everything to realize that he really was longing for true family, which he could have if he gives all this up and becomes his moon child incarnation. Just like Guts, he had what he wanted, but couldn't see it until it was far too late looking beyond the horizion vs what was already there. I wonder if Griffith getting a parallel realization as Guts has is the key to the resolution to the story. I'm not sure what/how he could give up the godhand, but I think before the story is over they have to undo his merging of the worlds. The Godhand explain p clearly that the stronger your bonds, and the stronger your emotional connection to the one who sacrifices you the better a sacrifice you are (greater power etc) which makes me wonder if Guts/Casca resolving their hurt from Griffith and letting him go is actually the key to undoing the power of their brands/weakening Griffith. It always struck me that while he was "completed" as Femto, his ritual wasn't completed, all the sacrifices weren't given as power to his rebirth which somehow makes me think he is not as complete as the other god hand leaving him vulnerable in some way (as Skully Knight has said before, only those that are outside of the current of causality could touch the god hand now. Which I take to mean himself, Guts/Casca). I think I get the feeling that the vulnerability isn't actually physical given Griffiths presentation in the real world post his resurrection. The Notorious ZSB fucked around with this message at 18:56 on Jan 4, 2021 |
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Jan 1, 2021 16:49
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Oh thank goodness, I'd love to hope it'll be a long chapter, but we all know that is a foolish wish at this point in his career.
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Jan 5, 2021 19:10
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Burkion posted:I doubt Griffith ordered it personally but he also allowed it to go on This. The dude is basically an omniscient being that exists outside the scope of actual reality. If he didn't want it to happen he would/could have stopped it. Griffiths fatal flaw is his inability to sever the ties he has truly, he sacrificed the Band, but couldn't just let the apostles eat Guts/Casca. They meant too much and he had to rub it in their face preventing his complete ascension imo.
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Jan 21, 2021 17:36
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Hilario Baldness posted:Anyone think Guts has it in him to kill the moonchild should he find out that the child is Griffith At this point nah. In their first encounter? Probably.
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Jan 31, 2021 17:25
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Wark Say posted:Wasn't the fight with Ganishka basically a behelit-triggered mini-apocalypse? Close enough to. Ganishka was as close to the god hand as an apostle could get it seemed like and did create a mini eclipse that turned him into a super ent.
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Feb 2, 2021 17:12
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Truly the best comeuppance is his own creation turning on him, he chased the castle on the hill got it, to lose it because those below him could no longer allow him to stand on their corpses would be good. Guts and Caska can watch it burn from afar. The fact that the moon child is Griffith tho says to me they're gonna have to have a confrontation. I spoilered some thoughts on the last page about that.
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Feb 4, 2021 23:12
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"Guts has killed the same amount of people as Griffith" - beyond the fact that that seems likely untrue (the leader of a mercenary band is going to have more on his plate than the single mercenary which they've repeatedly shown with the trail of bones to the castle), the reasons for them doing so are vastly different and not equivalent. What in the god drat indeed. Griffith isn't getting a redemptive arc, his form as the restored child of Casca and Guts might get a happy ending, but there is no way that comes without the end of Femto and Griffith's ambitions.
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Feb 11, 2021 17:21
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Yes of course it is valuable to the story that Guts and Griffith are connected in lots of ways beyond their actual on screen relationship. It's what makes them good foils for each other, but it doesn't mean that they are in anyway morally or ethically equivalent actors in the story. The "you lost what you didn't know you already had" theme is a long running on in Berserk, and I have to assume will play a role in the finale.
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Feb 12, 2021 19:14
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The God Hand are fated eternal beings, even if the actual cast of them changes. I don't think there is anyway for any of our characters to completely defeat them or the Idea of Evil to the point where they can't touch the physical world again. Kill one and certainly another will be spun out into the cosmos fated to join them again. The "goal" if there is one beyond Guts and his hatred, has to be to restore the balance they've collapsed and separate the astral and physical worlds again so that humanity isn't subject to every monstrosity they have at their disposal.
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Feb 15, 2021 16:50
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If he truly was fated then he never had a choice in the first place. the illusion of choice is what allowed him to think he had options right up until that moment when he realizes, as Lucasar has posited, that saying "no i don't sacrifice" was never a real choice. Griffith was always going to make that decision because his life had been fated to lead him to it, and was reinforced by those around him. (If you buy that truly fate is in control and humans have no power, which Guts is the clear antagonist to). That is the grey area in Griffith's character, was it fate or was it him that caused the horrible outcome at the eclipse? Did he actually have a choice as Guts tries to tell him or was it all just to get him to the place to be able to join the God Hand like Void told him? Griffith trusts the dark god's promise more than the promise of his friends which seals his fate/decision. The duality of choice vs fate/destiny is a popular story framework, and Miura has done a good job of straddling the line where we can have this debate because his text isn't so clear as to define it one way or the other! imo it's not that Evil Gods don't consider themselves evil, clearly the God Hand do seem to consider themselves aligned with evil, it's that they themselves would not judge or hold themselves to human standards because they are beyond it. The consideration of it is evil for a member of the god hand to do anything, is a pointless debate, because they are beings that don't exist in the mortal realm (bound by its rules and outcomes), outside of time to some degree, and would never frame their actions in that way since to them it doesn't really matter. Void makes a very clear point to talk about fate and the actions needed to capture power, but the god hand never really discuss anything they are doing in moral terms, only in a sort of pragmatic, will this produce the fated outcome we expect? Clearly "good things" happened under their power to create the outcome they wanted (Griffith wouldn't have the band of the hawk without some positives twists of fate nor made it to the eclipse without some good things happening for him and the band), but I doubt they ever consider such actions in the mortal realm under any guide of ethics or good/evil. Those outcomes never bother them however it happens, which is part of why I think we haven't seen them upset at the "good" created by Griffith's falconia, they don't really care about the means as long as it gets them to their destined end. Evil is a concern of the mortal realm not theirs. I think you could easily have a monkey's paw God Hand member who uses their power to create "good" for humans that will lead them to do greater evils and that God Hand member being "good & doing good things" would not really be in conflict with their status or goals. Cause Causality is their big thing, not whether the action is good or bad, but does it mesh with causality to create the outcome they want? Things simply seem to be for the God Hand, they don't really view any of the actions we see through that human moral lens. Perhaps thats why a big part of becoming a member of them is shedding that remaining humanity and sacrificing all your ties to the mortal world vs becoming an apostle where you only need to sacrifice one of your human connections? Griffith was capable of using the egg of the king vs a regular behelit because he was willing to cut all ties to humanity for his dream, not just one of his connections to preserve or empower the search for another human connection. I don't think he'd get to be Femto if he was only willing to give up Guts or a part of the Band of the Hawk to say save Casca etc. e: that got really long winded quick and made me think a lot more about their second duel when Guts leaves. I think it is a big sealed fate moment, even if it isn't as the one poster implied the point at which you can still get a happy ending, Guts staying I don't think would have avoided the eclipse, but it might have been a way for Griffith to say I don't sacrifice which he can't do with how it plays out. poo poo this is so well written. The Notorious ZSB fucked around with this message at 21:19 on Feb 16, 2021 |
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Feb 16, 2021 21:01
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Bisse posted:This is essentially the definition of evil. It is certainly a way for humans & mortals to define evil yes, but for beings that aren't mortal and don't have same desires or concerns? I don't think it's hard to see how they wouldn't consider their actions in mortal terms because they aren't. Why should gods be held to the same reality and guidelines as humans when they don't exist with them, but above/beyond them? The greek gods never were, the monotheistic god never is, pick whatever religion you want, if it has deities they aren't held to the same standards, if any, that humans are. Gods are by definition above human morality otherwise they wouldn't be gods. Bisse posted:Yes. The first loving arc of the drat manga has a villain who uses the behelith, and then chooses not to sacrifice. He is not branded so he is as much bound by fate as Griffith. I'm not saying that Griffith had no choice, we're talking about the narrative that puts him in a position to buy Void's bullshit. Guts shows that choice exists simply by continuing to exist in the interstice. We're talking about the narrative tension in the story which is centrally asking that question and playing it out between Guts and Griffith. I fully expect the story to end on Gut's side that choice is what defines us not fate and that Griffith was wrong. The Skull Knight keeps mentioning his fate with the armor, it's just another layer imo that will shows Gut's "choice" is more powerful than Griffith's "fate". I suspect this is tied to the Skull Knight and what more we'll learn about him. The God Hand act like they're beyond humanity but each of them started their existence as one. I think to your point they aren't really as beyond it as they think they are. The God Hand aren't really as eternal as they were first billed either since we know that only Void is left from the eclipse that consumed his kingdom. Viridiant posted:Yeah anytime someone talks about being beyond human morality I expect them to end their speech with "Mwahahahaha!" The God Hand do end a lot of the exposition with evil cackling so I mean that tracks. The Notorious ZSB fucked around with this message at 21:39 on Feb 16, 2021 |
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Feb 16, 2021 21:25
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Bisse posted:Also sure, let's pick one of the world's most prominent religions, hmmm let's pick, Christianity, which has, let's see: God, Jesus, and Satan: The Literal Embodiment Of Evil, so yeah. Satan is a fallen angel and wasn't held to the same standards as Humans. It is literally his beef.
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Feb 16, 2021 21:52
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I think we aren't even debating? Lucasars point I think was that the God Hand don't really view actions in our lens and that would create some ambiguity about Griffiths Arc for how you want to look at him and what his actions once he joins them mean. It's also a central concept the story has grappled with (where is the line between justified violence in service of the good and simply evil perpetrated for the sake of evil?) Amazing what the word "if" does to a statement. IF X then Y is possible. That doesn't mean I'm asserting X is the absolute. I'm trying to argue that the narrative hasn't been explicit about which version of Griffith's story is true because it is the god damned climax of the story. Griffith having to recognize the choice he made and the harm it caused is important, but Griffith and the narrative haven't settled on the answer to that even if we have. You've decided Griffith had a choice, I agree, but the narrative hasn't settled on that yet. The Notorious ZSB fucked around with this message at 22:10 on Feb 16, 2021 |
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Feb 16, 2021 22:06
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Bisse posted:Jesus loving christ The Notorious ZSB fucked around with this message at 22:16 on Feb 16, 2021 |
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Feb 16, 2021 22:11
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Quaint Quail Quilt posted:Hunter x Hunter, which is on a crazy berserk style hiatus and may have even surpassed it. It wasn't the same after the first big hiatus anyway. No loss, unlike never seeing the end of this would be.
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Mar 2, 2021 23:13
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marshmallow creep posted:I bought a Dreamcast off ebay just to play that game. When I worked at Best Buy i picked it up as it was one of the last clearance dreamcast games. It is not a very good game.
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Mar 15, 2021 19:26
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They've gotten real reasonable (i hate to say go to amazon but the longer they've been on there the cheaper they get). I've been right on the edge of picking up the Hellsing collection since it'll only be 3 volumes and that has similarly impressive art, and they're now like 25 bucks a piece.
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Mar 16, 2021 15:33
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Hilario Baldness posted:I have made the decision to get a Berserk tattoo. What you need is Casca's vision of Guts when she sees him for the first time after being repaired across your back. It would be epic.
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Mar 23, 2021 16:11
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Super Rad posted:I thought it happened when Zodd was trying to keep Skull Knight out of the eclipse? Nah def from revived dream griffith, its what convinces him he should follow his strength since he instantly realizes he doesn't think he has a chance against him, and all Zodd wants is good fights. Can't have em if you're dead.
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Apr 5, 2021 18:37
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Yeah generally speaking how women are treated and handled is poor. I sort of contextualize it that actual human history of a similar social and technological era was similarly nasty to women so perhaps it's just correct world setting. However he does get to make choices about it, and still ran with that. I do think he gets better about women and their power in the story, but yeah it's rough for big stretches. I want to give the story more credit since a lot of the trauma and awful poo poo has over time produced some big redemptive & powerful moments, but they've all come way late in the story.
The Notorious ZSB fucked around with this message at 20:03 on Apr 8, 2021 |
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Apr 8, 2021 20:00
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I am so sad about this. Absolutely gut wrenching for him and his family as well as us his fans. Thankfully he managed to get to Casca's return at least, where we left off is still a hell of a place to go. But it was gorgeous and moving and we'll have to be okay with it ending where it has because there is no way anyone (maybe even his kouhai that helped him) could finish it. An absolute genius level artist to be sure. The Notorious ZSB fucked around with this message at 15:39 on May 20, 2021 |
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May 20, 2021 15:09
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Dark Horse is publishing omnibus Vol 8 (with a slated release date of my birthday). I couldn't help myself and preordered it 
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May 20, 2021 18:28
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DrSunshine posted:What the gently caress, I just saw that Miura died!! I'd long heard about Berserk but was put off by the slow update schedule, so I wanted to leave it until he finished to start reading it. Aw man this sucks. In his memory time to jump on the bandwagon and ride the ride until its done because its amazing.
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May 20, 2021 21:44
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If there is more to come I will trust his assistant's who helped him for years complete chapters to do him justice. It won't be the same, but I'd still take it.
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May 21, 2021 14:55
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Pollyanna posted:I should probably read Berserk now, huh? Yup.
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May 21, 2021 17:21
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Larryb posted:What chapters do the 90’s anime/movies cover and does it leave out/change anything significant from the manga version of said arc? It opens with Snake encounter from the first Volume (chapters 1-8 or 10 maybe), then kinda jumps right into the Golden Age Arc which is Omnibus 2-5. So it skips to my memory the entire slug apostle story (which is p important as a scene setter for what happens at the end of the Golden Age arc with how Behelits operate, and you can see Griffiths slide coming a bit clearer) and some other references to apostles from the eclipse during the black swordsman prologue. It also excises the Skull Knight, who is kinda a big deal. I understand why they did but it leaves the finish to the TV series a little confusing I think because they knew they weren't going to get to do more. The TV series is a really cool self contained story where ruh roh the bad guys won and our hero is in a bad place. The Notorious ZSB fucked around with this message at 19:06 on May 21, 2021 |
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May 21, 2021 18:02
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Ccs posted:In the blu ray they fixed it so that he's doing a gta strut. God drat they had the chance to clean it up for a blu ray and some of that looks....WORSE?
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May 21, 2021 20:00
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97 dub has the best outtakes.Ccs posted:The director and studio are incompetent, to say the least. I agree the Golden Age Arc movies were def better, esp by the third one with the Eclipse it was really sorted out.
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May 21, 2021 21:25
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Larryb posted:Wait, there was a third anime? Was that any better than the previous one? It was a trilogy, imo the CGI stuff is only really kinda jarring in the first film. The third film is really about as good as Miura's art may ever get animated and the CGI stuff is much better integrated and you don't notice as much as they switch between models.
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May 21, 2021 22:03
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lezard_valeth posted:I agree on this and I particularly really liked the 2nd movie. The only issue I had with the 3rd movie is that either the 3D models or the color palette they chose made it look too pretty, I guess? Like I think that the rough artstyle of the 97' anime really worked in it's favour for the depiction of the Eclipse. As a teenager getting to the eclipse was some real mind gently caress blown out your head poo poo to see in a series that was already p graphic. So I get what you mean. I think the whole movie trilogy gets this shine up where the character models are more as they are later in the series, than as they were, which does make it feel a bit prettier. I'll be honest if this is all the story, I think the chances it gets adapted into more animation is p high. It's not like the IP value just evaporated with his death. You know exactly what there is to work with and you could probably do some more film sets like the Golden Age bunch.
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May 21, 2021 22:31
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Talking about the adaptations we do have just kinda hammers home how good the Golden Age Arc writing and character development is. This prb will never be a live action thing, but if it were done at a S1-4 GoT level, the payoff at the end for those that didn't know what they were getting into would be AMAZING. The trilogy movies were very good about that, the 97 TV series was. Thinking about that, it's not at all surprising its the most adapted portion of the story. Also please never do a live action adaptation. e: since i sniped the page LoneStar, howd the sky of faces turn out for you?
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May 24, 2021 21:15
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TheLoneStar posted:Well, I dunno about the ones in the sky, but one in the ground turned into a giant naked lady, so that's all good. Thats another very good quote for posterity. To the bolded thought...  I'd encourage you to revisit the black swordsman chapters after you finish the eclipse...
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May 24, 2021 21:58
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Macksy posted:how big are the pages in these? I have 2 volumes of darkhorse's paperback but the pages are so small it just doesnt do the art justice and I've been waiting for full sized releases. They're big. Easily a full size fantasy novel hardback scale. The prints are gorgeous and plenty big to pore over. There are def some double page spreads that the spine obv is an issue with but that's about it. e: I can take some comparison pictures if anyone wants some for scale
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May 25, 2021 20:28
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TheLoneStar posted:Well, I finished the Conviction Arc, and it really did kind of fall apart at the end. Didn't expect a brand new human(?) Griffith to emerge like that. And Zodd even got to reappear again. A very clumsy joining of Farnese and Serpico. She spent twenty chapters obsessed with despising Guts and wanting him dead, just to change her mind because he's strong and devoted. Really pissed that the cannibal murderer coward got a happy ending after spending the entire arc cowering in fear and selling out others. That aside, I gotta be honest though, things are looking bad. Party just tripled in size and only two of the members can actually fight. Casca gets a pass, but at this point she's not much of a character anymore all the same. With Isidro and Puck, it really feels like the manga has become an action comedy with some sprinkles of angst and gore in-between, and it's really agrivating. You're past the toughest stretch. The conviction arc is def my least favorite out of the bunch, but it has the important return of Griffith so yeah. You gotta remember that karma isn't like a thing in the world of Berserk, mostly the lovely folks get got, but that's not a universal truth that you get whats coming to you. Sometimes the world sucks and lovely outcomes still happen. Guts has been on a tear being successful, so it was inevitable that he would run into something he wasn't immediately successful at (stopping Griffiths rebirth).
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May 26, 2021 18:04
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The full gang arc that follows conviction is also one of my favorites and the arrival of the titular armor is something you don't want to miss.
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May 26, 2021 20:47
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In regards to the other God Hand they seem more like a confederation than any cohesive unit. They're all powerful demi god things, and on some special occasions they get together for a good time, but otherwise they all seem to operate on their own towards their own goals for influencing humanity to terrible actions that will bring about more of their kind (see Slan and the Orgy).
The Notorious ZSB fucked around with this message at 16:55 on May 28, 2021 |
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May 28, 2021 16:50
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