Hangout Berserk General Discussion Thread

[Dragonzair]

Well, since downloads until the latest are available online, I suppose it's alright for me to talk about the latest happenings.

I'm getting really excited about each chapter, basically. The artwork's getting better every year. That's very visible if you compare how Guts looked in the first chapter with the recent chapter now.

I can't wait to see where their next journey takes them. Although, I really want to see Puck's homeland...

For those who are still new to Berserk, and are members at NF, you can request for the volumes in packs right here:
http://forums.narutofan.com/showthread.php?t=85633

EDIT BY GOLD KNIGHT: Also, Berserk is available at mIRC.  That's where I got my volumes ^_^

Oh, please try to use spoiler tags because not everybody here may be up to date on the latest volume, like me.

And what Berserk is about is basically hardcore fantasy, with a lot of monsters and actually some very mature themes.  The art's pretty good - I agree with DZ that it's gotten much better since the first volume.  Guts is a wandering swordsman, with a huge sword and a cannon for a left hand, who's been branded with a demonic mark so that he's always having to fend off spirits at night.  You learn about his tragic past early on in Berserk while he was with the mercenary group called Band of the Hawk and well, the story takes off after that.  Later on in the series, Berserk begins to incorporate a lot of the elements that we all enjoy from a traditional RPG, which is when I really started liking it. - GK

Discuss away!

^_^;;;

For those who have no idea what to say...post your favourite characters! Fanarts are greatly appreciated too!

Edit AlbatorBis: K let's try to keep things ordered before they get ectic. I'm going to do something similar of what we have at EG for Berserk. So I renamed this thread as "General Discussion", meaning you should talk about Berserk, the manga evolution and past chapters here. If you feel like opening a topic for some special chapter (like the Lost one) please do so, just title it right. Same for fanarts or favourite characters, polls, etc...You should discuss NEW stuffs in the latest chapter thread that I should update depending on what we have (just raws or Edited Manga).

 

[SchmoDawg]

Re: Berserk Discussion Thread

Spoiler: recent events in Berserk

I wonder whats gonna happen with shreike (little witch girl) getting trapped in the Berserker Armor when Guts loses his mind, I wonder how they are gonna get out with no one to call them back. And when the hell is Caska gonna talk again?????

Felt like this one needed spoiler tagging - GK

 

[Gold Knight]

Re: Berserk Discussion Thread

I'm enjoying Berserk, but it was hard for me to get through some parts because of all the violence, especially to women. The art can be both beautiful and horrifying.

There's a lot of rape in it for example. I was wondering if it could be considered gratuitious violence, but realized later on that it was all kind of preparing the reader for what happened to a particular character, so I suppose it all became essential to the story. I could deal with it then, but I still think some scenes hurt the appeal of the story. Like Serpico said himself at one point, he was getting sick of all the demons and whatnot.

But I think even Miura himself realized that he was overdoing it, and lately in recent volumes the story has become a little more easier to read, more like a traditional RPG, and I do really like it right now.

I've got to say something here though, Zodd is the best looking monster I've seen in a manga so far, and I absolutely love the Skull Knight. Puck's got a very fairy-like appearance and like he said himself (lol), he was pretty needed for the comedy relief in the series and later on he does a better job of it. I suppose my favorite character is Guts though.

EDIT: Okay, caught up to the latest chapter, and I've gotta say I've got a lot of respect for Schierke. Tough kid and awesome magic-user, I love her.

Volumes 28-31, it was impossible for me to stop reading - I really got caught up into the story. Berserk has gotten SO much better, both in story and art, that it made reading the first 15 volumes more than worth it. But I kind of think it's crazy how long it took the manga-ka to finally get to establishing what I'm guessing will be the main group of heroes from this point on to the end of the series.

This is kind of a surprise, but Berserk is one manga I feel like the mangaka just keep getting and getting better with every chapter now. That's pretty impressive, considering how involved the first few storyarcs were and how much work it must have taken to do 30 volumes! I'll definitely continue to follow this one

Next chapter's not out until March 28th though T_T

 

[Dragonzair]

Re: Berserk Discussion Thread

ShmoDawg:

Spoiler

I know! I love that little witch so much and I'm worried about what's going to happen to her in the next chapter!

I'm not to fond of Farnese's 'fiancee'. XD Forgot his name. But Manifico, her brother, is hilarious. XD Such a coward! XD And when are they reaching Puck's home??

Now they're going to go at sea, I'm really excited to know what monsters Miura's gonna put in this time.

GK: Joe told me that the chapter's coming out today?? XD I saw a preview!!! Somewhere in skullknight.org

 

[Gold Knight]

Re: Berserk Discussion Thread

I double-checked and Evil Genius' Edited Manga of Chapter 270 said that chapter 271 wouldn't be out until March 27th. And Volume 30 comes out on March 28th.

Spoiler: Chapter 271 Predictions

I can't wait to see what Guts will do against that Kultan sorceror - although I'm betting Schierke will probably help, stuck as she is in the Berserker armor.

Spoiler: Oh, and DZ...

Btw, DZ, it's Roderick ( Farnese's fiancee ) and I like him better than Manifico

 

[walkie]

Re: Berserk Discussion Thread

i really enjoyed berserk until it becomes like a tale...i mean when a magican and a thief and other people strted to involve and they became a team, it just lost it's older taste...

 

[Gold Knight]

Re: Berserk Discussion Thread

Hehe, I was wondering if some people felt that way. I guess it's all a matter of taste - Berserk was extremely chaotic early on, that's for sure, more than it is now. Though even now it's still more wild than a lot of stories I see.

But I'm glad it's toned down somewhat. At the same time I can appreciate the tremendous sense of danger and excitement that the early stories gave the series - I sure as heck don't expect anybody in that series to get out of any battle completely unscathed now.

Don't forget also that most of the first 13 volumes were centered around a flashback about a band that we knew wouldn't exist as it used to be now - so Miura had plenty of freedom to do what he wanted to do with that group because readers were expecting something to happen, there wouldn't be SO much shock. Looking back on it, it was pretty clever writing.

But the group we have now, I don't think will be as abused, because fans by now are tired of seeing bad endings.

 

[Dragonzair]

Re: Berserk Discussion Thread

^ I agree with GK. It's an easier read once it got toned down, and the stories are getting even mroe interesting, even without the monster rape and all.

And it gets really cool with the team as well, because jsut having one person doing the same thing over and over again, gets boring. Gutts attacking people without an explanation also gets boring as you have no idea what he;s doing. But now, it gets more detailed with the storyline, whihc is why I loved it. XD

But then it all goes down to different tastes, as GK said. The main reason why I loved Berserk: fairy tail-esque plot, in a way. XD Action was good, but give me any fairy tale, and I'll absorb it in no time.

 

[Gold Knight]

Re: Berserk Discussion Thread

Agreed, I love to see character interaction and I definitely can understand Guts' feelings when he enters battle now. Everything from volume 14 onward has been pretty awesome.

The only volume I really liked in the first 13 volumes was when Guts fought Zodd for the first time (volume 5). But the detailed art of the castles and the battling of the armies also kept me going.

I was also pretty curious as to how and why Griffith betrayed Guts.

Oh and DZ, I did some research on Berserk, and the 'Lost Chapter' you mentioned is Chapter 83, 'God of the Abyss Part 2,' which was intentionally left out of Volume 13 by the author's own decision.

If you go back to Volume 13 and read Chapter 82 ( or the third chapter of that volume ), you'll see:

Spoiler: Chapter 82

Griffith, just before he was "reborn" as Femto, you see him subconsciously falling through an abyss (I think it was his astral form) and seeing stuff like scattered visions of monsters and monsters eating humans, then seeing a rain of Behelits, and then finally a huge monstrosity.

I think what Chapter 83, or the 'Lost Chapter,' was going to elaborate on was how Behelits related to the world, why they were made, what the 'God of the Abyss' was trying to do. Miura decided that it was too much information and didn't include it with the volume.

 

[siegfried]

Re: Berserk Discussion Thread

i really enjoyed berserk until it becomes like a tale...i mean when a magican and a thief and other people strted to involve and they became a team, it just lost it's older taste...

I cant agree more.man who needs a stupid thieve.they are burden to him.I guess mangaka didn't want to keep the plot repeating ,but it is too much frp like now.mangaka should find other solutions.

and that berserker armor thing is too cliche.we started to see things like that too much.guts will manage to overcome it in future chapters,I will bet my money on this.

 

[Gold Knight]

Re: Berserk Discussion Thread

I think it was the only option though. Casca obviously needed more people around to keep her out of trouble. And to keep her safe away from Guts' berserking state when it happens. This way Guts can be both close to Casca AND feel like he won't hurt her.

But I'll make a prediction here -

Spoiler: When they get to Elfheim

I think something pretty violent will happen - maybe the brand comes back in full force - where Guts will have to leave the group again to keep them safe from everything. He'll have to be "Berserked' most of the time and I think you will see a return to old story elements for a while.

By the way, I just watched the first episode of Berserk and can't believe they aren't including Puck in the anime. That was pretty stupid.

 

[shoked]

Re: Berserk Discussion Thread

to be honest i have the manga but i havent read it but i need to since the anime end so soon and sadnot too much but ....thats hard...the girl that you love in your face being...come on...

anyway i want to say more about it but i need to read the manga to talk about it.

 

[Gold Knight]

Re: Berserk Discussion Thread

I heard about that, the anime ending on such a bad tone.

Trust me, the manga is much better, it sounds like. The anime's ending coincided with the ending of volume 13. There's 31 volumes now, so the anime only covered a little of the story.

EDIT: Just read Chapter 271 !

Spoiler

That was an awesome scene where Schierke was able to open Guts' eyes.

I really liked this chapter, but damn, Guts' helmet really makes him look like Batman now there at the end ( just take the jaws out and he's Batman in armor... heh ). I've always felt like Guts gave off that Batman vibe the entire series so... hmm...

Well the battle's not over yet, that sorceror is still there. Can't wait until next chapter.

 

[Dragonzair]

Re: Berserk Discussion Thread

Just read the new chapter from GK as well!

Spoiler

It's probably just me, but I'm totally enjoying how the drawings actually looked like they've improved. XD That page where Roderick and Isidro were wet from the sea water and all. Frikkin awesome. Isidro looked cool. XD

Seems like Shierke's a really strong character. XD I have a feeling there'd be a point where she's probably knocked down or unconcious and she's not able to help Gutts. Then he'd actually go into Berserk mode, and nothing can help him recover and stuff.

About the Batman thing. XD That's kinda freaky now you've mentioned it. *is not much of a DC fan* And I can't help but think of Casca becoming Batwoman soon. XD

GK: About your prediction. I can see that happening too. x_x I don't want it to happen. I actually felt the sadness when he left the hawks for a while. XD

 

[Gold Knight]

Re: Berserk Discussion Thread

XD

Well, I have an announcement to make here - I've made a Berserk board. Here's 3 reasons why:

1) Berserk is an awesome Seinen manga and I've noticed that its popularity is really skyrocketing these days with manga readers at both NF and MH.

2) Evil Genius, its primary Edited Manga group at the moment, has a presence here at MH.

and 3) We have enough moderators to keep up with it now. (Namely me, njt, and Dragonzair, and Tanuki-dono is reading it as well if not caught up yet.)

Have fun!

 

[Dragonzair]

Re: Berserk Discussion Thread

Didn't know Taylor was into Berserk. XD

This is good then. ^_^ It'll get more attention, too. XD Hopefully soon, we'll do the same for Vagabond and Blade of the Immortal, huh, Ken-chan? XD

 

[EvilSniffles]

Re: Berserk Discussion Thread

GK, if you watched the anime you should realized that it was the 1st part of the manga before this arc with crazy casca, the same goes for the game except it takes off some part after the anime. anime==the chaoitc manga till he becomes free. and the manga is what it is now.

 

[AlbatorBis]

Re: Berserk Discussion Thread

To be more accurate, the anime cover the arc refered as the "Golden Age" and end with the Eclipse. The anime also skip some sick moments from the Golden Age, like the Black Dogs pursuit (and in my opinion one of the best fights in Berserk, Guts Vs the leader of the Black Dogs, Wlidad or something like that).

So considering Miura art I would say the manga is better. I wish they would do a "Berserk Ultimate" Hellsing style, now that would be worthwhile...At least I found the soundtrack of the anime to be pretty damn good.

 

[Gold Knight]

Re: Berserk Discussion Thread

I only watched the first episode but I did gather lately through conversation that it was all about the Golden Age. I wonder if they're planning to do a new Berserk anime later on.

Guess it makes sense they'd exclude Puck, though I'm pretty shocked that they decided to end the anime with the ending of the Golden Age, because that wasn't a very nice way to end it on.

 

[AlbatorBis]

Re: Berserk Discussion Thread

The anime got me into Berserk the manga, and I don't know why they did the anime that way, or stop it so early. For non-readers it doesn't make that much difference, but they miss on all the later implications in Guts character and all the persons surrounding him.
A lot of people might consider the relation of Guts/Band of the Hawks as central in the Guts psyche if looking at the anime only, but it's possibly not entirely true: if this was true it mean that Guts has been sucked in the maelstrom of fate, but it's been established that he's one of the rare being that live outside fate. So even if it's admitted that his encounters with the Hawks got him where he is now, it was probably just something he had to go through to realize his own destiny OUTSIDE the flow of fate.
Erh...just meant to say, go read the manga, there's much more there.