@@ghostghost6 I think that would be too obvious, Miura has never been that lazy with writing and plot. I think Zodd is such a prominent character in the plot because he mirrors what Guts would become if he gave into despair. He’s a much better mirror for what a monster version of Guts would be than Femto is.
Yeah and the flowers of oblivion arc is pretty good on its own. It showed us the beginning of the transformation of Guts (the way he said « I’m sorry » for the first time in a while) + that brief moment when Casca regained her sanity. I feel that it would be a blast if somehow this arc get added to an anime adaptation one day.
I really appreciate you making a berserk audio book . Long drives or soon to be long bike rides will be made easy while listening to a story about the great struggler.
I love how you mentioned that Griffith is sending the souls of those people who died directly into the Vortex. I’ve watched video reviews about this arc before and a lot of ppl don’t really seem to realize he was sending good soldiers to hell.
That's what i like about berserk everything is directly getting talled to us but with out getting directly talled to us if you kip a open ear and eye you will understand it
You can almost hear a toilet flushing effect as soon as he gives them their one way ticket into the vortex. Souls to be used and discarded with without a second thought
Outside of Guts, I’d definitely argue she’s the best character in the series. The only characters that come somewhat close to her are Griffith and Jill
@@noahmclaughlin7921 interesting. I don't agree with Jill, but I also don't think her character arch were bad by any means. Just not too notch. Why do you think hers is so good?
@@mickguadagnoli8779 I found her story of wanting to find some sort of escape from her awful life, only to finally accept that it’s best to stay where she is and make the world a better place however she can is really well done and a very good message. It’s not too long, but it’s one of the best executed arcs in the series and it gives her a really good quality to panel ratio (once again, only being beaten by Guts and Farnese). Her dynamics with Puck, Rosine, and especially Guts are really well done and some of the best dynamics in the series. She mirrors both of them in wanting to escape from their misery but she makes the right choice due to prodding from Guts. She’s somewhat of a young female Guts with her abusive lifestyle and a want for exceptance. She’s also very relatable and a good character to follow in the story, while not being boring or too much of a punching bag either. Her final chapter where Guts comforts her and tells her to leave, and her deciding to improve her own world, was one of the best chapters in the entire manga IMO.
Puck got the best character development. he went from a happy-go-lucky mystical fairy elf with feelings to a power-hungry tyrannical dictator onion blob thing
As dissatisfied as Miura-Sensei might be to have left his Magnum Opus unfinished, I am sure that passionate analytical works like yours give him solace.
If you think about the themes of Berserk, in a fucked up way Miura dying and the story going unfinished actually fits perfectly. If Berserk is about carrying on through suffering, well, that's what every reader is gonna have to do whether they like it or not.
@@crazeddemon420 yep, he literally drew the outline first and spent time writing and rewriting the manuscript after the fact.. The last thing he physically wrote was episode 264!.. And seeing how everything pre "conviction arc" and maybe golden age too was made up as he went with the story, not really planning agead and having rough concepts in his mind before finalizing!.. It's amazing the story isn't full of plot holes and inconsistencies, and he's managed to connect things almost seemlessly to the set up of "blackswordsman" arc.. I could be wrong in the fine details of his writing style since he put a lot of effort in referencing or paying homage to his influences like "devil man" "violence jack" or even "star wars", but not much info on this stuff outside of interviews and letters he wrote to fans and news publishers
@@Mateo-oq7ui me too, I hope he wrote a will of some sort; that his family will take control of his story. Maybe he wrote the opposite; taking his work to the grave with him. In the end; both scenarios are fitting
Soldiers usually remember the deeds of other soldiers and the people remember the leaders and give most of them credit or blame. Simply because they wouldn't get to know all the details they would have to put it all at the leaders feet unless they specifically knew the causes or who was involved. Guts was part of a mercenary band with five thousand others and not exactly the most extroverted. I doubt he would be itching to take glory or credit. Even though he killed a hundred men by himself a lot of people would probably say it's bullshit and go on with their day unfortunately.
@@johnnyboy2537 Plus Griffith looks, you know, like Griffith. To a lot of a people, he seems like he stepped right out of the stained glass of a cathedral, so there's quite literally no way people won't remember him.
I don't think the criticisms of Guts using the Berserker Armor as "using magic" which you mention people having are legitimate. It's not like the armor itself is making his muscles stronger, it's that it's removing the limits of his pain, fear, and subconscious so he can truly fight at his 100% potential, and it's not like it's cost-free; Every hit he lands is also a hit on himself effectively, not to mention the obvious toll it takes on his soul to risk indulging the Beast of Darkness. The armor is really the logical conclusion of the fighting style he's always had: "Kill the demon, no matter how much it puts me at risk or how much of a monster I might become." If Guts was "using magic" to fight demons, he would've taken the enchanted axe Schierke tried to give him earlier (which would definitely have been a betrayal of his character). Now, he has to balance the line between staying a virtuous man, or becoming a monster, something that can't be said of any of the other actual magic items everyone else is using. I also don't think him "using magic" is necessarily inappropriate either at this stage in the story -- much like how he's gone from his "I work alone" mindset of Black Swordsman to his JRPG Party of Millennium Falcon, Guts has realized that doing things in a more difficult way is really nothing more than a form of masochism and self-punishment for his feelings of failure to protect those he cared for. But he's got a goal now, this one last chance to protect everyone he cares for, and he'll use any methods necessary to keep them safe. Again, it's a logical progression of his character.
100% Agree. But I'm thinking guts should have taken the magic axe for him to get a fair toe to toe battle with a God Apostle if he really thinks that you must win whatever it takes. .
The people that wanted the series to stay dark basically got their wish with the 97’ anime. To me, that is the definitive “bad ending” of Berserk. There was no Skull Knight or Puck in the series to lead to potentially brighter futures so my only conclusion I have made is that Guts was the only survivor of the Eclipse. Richert is dead because of the absence of Skull Knight and without him, I can only ever imagine if Guts got out of there alive by himself. There is absolutely no way Guts could’ve saved himself and Casca if there was even a chance of saving anyone in that scenario. So on the 0.000001% anyone could’ve made it out, in my head cannon, Guts made it out by himself and Casca died as well as Richert. The Band of The Hawk, 100% wiped out excluding Guts. And with no Puck to potentially put Guts on the right path, Guts will continue his revenge quest till he gets killed. That is my personal head cannon of the 97’ anime anyways. The manga is the “good” ending where Guts, Casca, and Richert are saved by Skull Daddy and then Puck is present so everything unflows as is in the manga.
The people hung up over berserk initial dark tone miss the point of the story it's about overcoming darkness not giving into it , it's about the beauty of life and finding meaning in it dispute the cruelty , it's about starting over after losing your way berserk may have started as a dark fantasy but it changed because guts changed he had character development and evolved to protecting his love instead of selfish revenge so naturally the story evolved with him you can't expect any series to just stay the same forever that's not how stories work .
@@thatoneblackdude3333 Couldn’t agree more. For the people that just wanted it to stay stagnant and never grow past the darkness, the 97’ in my opinion is the definitive way to go for those people. But like you said, it’s entirely missing the point of Berserk as a whole. It’s all about overcoming your trauma even in the worst of circumstances and finding a will to keep on fighting. To keep on struggling and to open yourself up to others even if it’s hard. Cause if even someone like Guts at his worst and darkest point in his life can meet and befriend some like Puck, I believe there’s hope for us all. Berserk is all about continuing on in life and even whenever things get tough, you press on and learn from your experiences. It would’ve never been able to communicate that beautiful message if it lingered in the darkness for it’s entire duration. And even then, the Golden Age wasn’t the darkest and bleakest thing ever. It’s been a much more melancholic series than it has been bleak and depressing. The arcs I’d argue are the most grim are Black Swordsman, End of Golden Age, and Lost Children. Everything else with the exception of Fantasia pretty much has a very consistent melancholic and introspective tone. Where Berserk is a dark and grim world but it isn’t one absent of hope and beauty. Idk. I love Berserk for both it’s darkness and it’s light. You can’t have true Berserk without both, even if one shines brighter or casts darker than the other.
@@NutsorSomethingBerserk exactly berserk is more then the dark theme clinging on to just one aspect of a story is rather reductive and takes away from the truly beautiful and best parts of the story that's why when it's said that miura wanted berserk to end happy I truly believe That because if not what was it all for ? Why have guts develop and go through all these trials and tribulations if none of it matters ? Berserk is about fighting against despair not giving in to it , about fight for and clinging on to hope when the world tells you to give up , to struggle to live in a world that wants you to die and those messages only ring true if it ends up being worth it , berserk is a vary dark series but it's not dark for the sake of being dark it's not a story about nihilism it's not telling you that the world is terrible and nothing matters it's telling you the world is cruel but don't give up keep fighting keep STRUGGLING a happy ending isn't just going to come to you , You have to fight for it and that is what makes berserk special not the grim dark eclipse , not the terrible fucked up shit, not the suffering but it's message to fight against the darkness to fight for the light it's a beautiful story and bogging it down to just being a dark fantasy and saying it growing lighter is a negative is ignoring the true story berserk wants to tell as the creator of this video said berserk isn't torture porn it's not just cruel to be cruel , while stories can start and end in tragedy miura has made it clear that isn't the type of story berserk is .
@@thatoneblackdude3333 Besides, I don’t think Berserk lost it’s darkness or at least it tragic elements that make it a Dark Fantasy. The events of the Eclipse are felt all the way up to chapter 364. It is heartbreaking that Casca and Guts aren’t able to truly interact with one another due to Casca’s trauma she hasn’t fully confronted, it’s incredibly tragic and a cruel joke that the universe is playing on all 3 of them that Guts and Casca’s child dwells inside Griffith and seemingly has no way of being separated. Dooming all of them in a cruel twist of fate. Guts and Casca because they were supposed to be parents and Griffith was the one that corrupted and “took” that opportunity away and for Griffith because he isn’t as “free” as he’d hoped as a sociopathic Godhand member who is only out for his own agenda but has to bend to the moonlight child’s will and see Casca and Guts when a full moon arrives. It is a middle finger to not just Guts and Casca but also Griffith and is just, again, tragic for Guts and Casca. Tragedy isn’t exclusive to just that plotline but also the Berserker Armor basically being a ticking time bomb that’ll get Guts killed if not careful and/or make him lose all of his senses if he’s not careful. Berserk does get lighter but I also believe it gets more tragic as it goes on. That’s why I think Falcon of the Millennium Empire is my personal favorite arc. It’s the arc that makes me feel the natural tone shift of the story the most and it’s the arc that I resonate with on a very emotional level. It starts off pretty much like dark Berserk but naturally bleeds into it’s fantasy elements but like you and I agreed, it always maintains it’s melancholic and tragic tone and themes. Those are ever present in Berserk no matter if it’s light or dark. But Berserk is easily about pressing on even when shit gets tough. And it sucks to see some people not really vibe with that and only wanna dwell in the dark of the series. At least some of those people are the “Griffith did nothing wrong” crowd.
i literally dropped everything as soon as it was up and spent the 4 entire hours uninterrupted watching the premiere. Every single second was worth it. Amazing video
Watching these videos continually reminds me what a tragedy it is that Miura passed away. You really got a feel for what kind of person he was, just based on the themes he wrote about. A cynic would write about a man facing a miserable world, an optimist would write about a man facing a miserable world and surviving in spite of it.
I am entirely convinced skull knight had a very similar thing happen too him as Guts. I think he did sacrifice, and became a monster to fight the monsters. Or... something.
Not gonna be watching this one Loli, but I'll come back soon. I recently bought as much of entire Berserk series that I could (up to the 10th deluxe edition) purely because of your passion for this series and its absolutely amazing so far. It was your videos that caused me to get into this and it has changed the way that I look at storytelling as an art form and I just can't thank you enough for getting me into this. Finished Golden Age last night and just started Lost Children today. I'll come back when I finish Millennium Falcon. Thanks again man!
The scene with guts and casca near the beginning actually made me feel physically sick, not because of the imagery but just because it was just horrible to see guts doing what he did
Its for my money the single darkest moment in the manga right there with the Eclipse and they both feel so viscerally awful for the same reason, we love all of the characters involved but one party is doing something horrific. Seeing Guts hit absolute rock bottom and do that to Casca is one of the most uncomfortable things I have ever seen in a story, I felt disgusted, shocked and above all so unbelievably sad for the both of them. The look on Guts' face as he drops to his knees is the most defeated he has ever looked in the story, even after the Eclipse it wasn't that bad and this event being the catalyst for what allows Guts to understand he cannot continue to take all of this on alone and has to accept help was done perfectly.
I’m a pretty tough dude when it comes to disturbing content in media. But yeah, the “Rip her to shreds. Just like Griffith did.” panel is easily one of the most shocking moments in Berserk for me. Even though I didn’t look nearly as deep as Loli did when I read it, it still shook me. It’s easily up there with The Eclipse and “Adult Attack!” as one of the moment that legit makes me put my hand over my mouth and gets me tearing up a bit.
Honestly, the Berserker armor just seems right for Guts to have. I mean the dude spent 2+ years fighting without much care about whether he lived or died so him being given a set of armor that _literally_ pushes him to keep fighting until the last drop of blood leaves his body is appropriate to me. It also makes it so that the Beast of Darkness has a more permanent presence _with_ Guts that isn't just in his mind, with the armor itself having been re-shaped to have the helmet mimic the Beast's head. No true greater way to show that Guts is now cursed to forever carry his hatred and anger than with a _physical_ manifestation of what those emotions appear to him as.
I personally enjoy how it's a twist on sacrifice. The Apostles, Griffith included sacrificed others to gain power. Their lives ended to sate the new-born Demon's desires. The Berserker Armour, whilst certainly not benevolent in it's purpose, is a sacrifice of the self. Sacrifice a part of yourself to become stronger, not someone else. It's a beautiful contrast between Guts and the Apostles.
Having seen the ending recently. I realize now, the world simply was not ready for the true story that was meant to come. Such genius can only reside in heaven. And so, Miura ascended to write manga in Valhalla
Bull shit I love Berserk I’ve liked this manga for 6 years now and to know that it will never get finished pisses me off. Fuck Miura and togashi and any other writer who makes there loyal fans wait years for chapters because they can die at anytime and leave an amazing story unfinished. I’m saying this because I’m hurt 😔 I’ll never see a true ending to this story even if his assistant finish berserk I’m not sure the ending would come out good.
@@whisperingmoon8840 They most likely won't. At least I don't think so. Japanese people value original works like this too much to just pick it up, and Miura also left REALLLY big shoes to fill.
I just realized the reason guts prefers such a large sword is because he has always used a sword too big for his size, ever since he was a little kid, so thats what hes best with. As he evolves and grows literally physically as well, so does the size of his sword. As in he will always struggle, he doesn't get breaks.
I like what you said about Beserk’s evolution. I get that some love the nihilism and despair that the series was known for. I’m not a personal fan of constant nihilism and angst as that doesn’t sound healthy. While I’ve heard of the horrific ending of the 97 anime, I was baffled that things began to work out for Guts to an extent. He finally found a new family to fight and become a better person. The “lighter” tone that some people hate showed me that people can heal from their trauma. Maybe not completely but they might be willing to let go and move on.
It has a fairly bittersweet ending right now. Endless beach episode of the main crew, with the Merry Band of Hardasses fleeing the Great Griffith bitch-slap.
Without this transition into Guts growing into a better man by finding a genuinely good and healthy reason to keep living despite all the fucked up shit he's gone through and still battles with you wouldn't get panels like the beach scene, which is for me personally one of my favorite moments of any story I have ever seen. Just thinking about that scene and what it represents for Guts makes me choke up.
To me it had to go lighter because of one of the major themes of the manga is trauma. We seen how what happens to people who don't get over the trauma with the Black swordsman, conviction (especially lost children), and a little bit of golden age. I feel like the millennium falcon ark it's the first time we see what happens when someone actually try to work on their trauma and try to be better. Although still not perfect it shows that you're moving forward in life. By simply just doing the same nihilistic things you've been doing from the beginning won't evolve your story and just like what Loli would be exhausting for the reader in the long run
The explanation for Guts dialogue in Berserk: Guts rage was to inform the audience of Guts’s relationship with Casca. Think about it this way the only way known about the story of Berserk at the time was the 1997 anime and the manga. The problem is that the 1997 anime did not make it to past the golden age and the manga was not officially licensed in the US until 2003. Berserk: Guts rage came out 1999 so at that time many people would not be familiar with the story of the series. So the translation and dubbing crew for that game probably felt that they needed the players to know that Guts cares for Casca and made the dialogue inform that as ham fisted as it was.
Just fyi: Farnese shares her name with the italian noble family "Farnese" (Look up Palazzo Farnese in Rome). The connection with the holy see seems obvious. A non anglofonic pronounciation therefore seems equally obvious.
Dude thank you for doing the community a service and completely fixing Berserk 2016/2017 like I can actually understand and follow the story,pacing, and lore so much better now, thank you sir
At first, I was like, "Four hours?" But then I was like, "ONLY four hours?!" Berserk is amazing. Like Conan or Elric, except more so and better. Looking forward to the rest, however it comes out and on whatever platform it appears.
I'm relatively new to berzerk . every time i finish an arc i come here to see these vids and it surprises me each time because i learn about something that i didn't not pay enough attention to during reading, great series brother thanks for sharing your analysis.
this is the definitive piece of companion content to berserk. it's a work of love and I can't applaud you enough. homeboy, this is is incredible work. be proud!
I gotta say, I have to thank Berserk for introducing me to Susumu Hirasawa´s music which is kino af and has become one of my favorite composers/songwriters of all time. Not just his Berserk work but his other works as well.
I'd recommend these songs which are my favorites: - Gemini - Ghost Bridges - Paranesian Circle - Niwashi King - Water Vein - Echoes The list goes on...
now that's quality content right here , the way you merged the game with the timeline is just pure perfection , I'm glad you took your time with this such great work,god bless you man
The way I've always seen the Berserker armor is that, it doesn't actually make you stronger what it does is that because you no longer feel pain it allows your body to fight at 100% of its strength because the thing with the human body is we never fight with 100% strength or else we would actually break our bodies and that's what's happening with guts. He's already superhuman levels of strong but what the armor does is remove the mental blocks that stop the body from using 100% of his strength all the while he is not feeling any pain so he never tries to stop himself from fighting. Which is why in the scenes of him fighting he's covered in blood or his arm gets like bent backwards his body literally can't handle him using that much strength but because the armor will literally pin him back together he will keep fighting until he dies. So really it is all his own strength it's just the armors magic is letting him use 100% of it whereas without it he can never do it because the mind stops us from using 100% of it.
Interesting point for The Sword of the Berserk Game. Puck is played by Liquid Snake (Cam Clarke), who also voiced Leonardo in the 1980s Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles cartoon, as well as Meathook from The Monkey Island series. or he just played the voice of Meathook's tatoo, but I think he did both :).
I think the whole tonal shift in Berserk is good as it's almost like a parallel to Guts changing, even if it's not by his choice. He NEEDS help to protect Casca, which initially he reluctantly accepts, but it changes him for the better, and the tone reflects that.
You know, Farnese and Serpico are italian last names so the pronuntiations are "the japanese ones". It's pretty cool, cause the Farnese family was a very important one in the real world and, get this, very close to the Pope and sort of his "protectors", so to speak. I think their last heir is the King of Spain, now. Anyway, except for a few cases, names are supposed to be read as the Japanese katakana indicate. The exceptions are when you have several consonants together, cause it's imposible, literally, to write things like "guts" with katakana. But anyway, apart from that stuff, yeah, you're suppose to read it as it is and just guess the language that inspires the name. In Schierke's case it's an actual German word (a regional word, I believe), and German is super easy to read: every vowel has one possible reading and that's it. You just look at the spelling and, there you go: it has to be read /ʃiːɐke/.
Since you were talking about voice actors, the guy who voiced puck also has some pretty big roles, like Leonardo in the original TMNT cartoon, liquid snake from metal gear, and Kanedas english voice actor from AKIRA
Earl Boen is the psychologist from the Terminator movies. He also did a fantastic job as Le Chuck in Curse of Monkey Island and thereafter. He was so well loved that they did Tales of Monkey Island with a different voice actor and was petitioned immediately to redub everything with his voice. The man's a legend for what little voice work he's done.
I know it's almost meaningless to this mammoth of a video, but I just wanted to appreciate the fact that Dragon's Dogma music was used throughout this video, truly one of the greatest diamond-in-the rough video games out there. Forever waiting for a sequel.
It's actually pretty crazy how much berserks magic system is based off of real beliefs of witchcraft. The ideas of all the elemental spirits is found in wicca and even less well known beliefs and even concepts found in the astral world paralleling beliefs of higher spiritual planes of existence that humans are interconnected with and can become more attuned to with practice. Miura did his research and created probably the most realistic rendition of magic in manga that i have ever come across. My favorite part is where you bring up that magic is a way which people try to answer the bigger questions of the universe which to me is a very good way to actually summarize a lot of practices of magic. The whole thing with showing that the church is not very different witches also are real ideas that in all religious beliefs magic in some form is practiced even if not in the traditional witchcraft variety. It makes me wonder if Miura in private practiced some form of ceramonial magic because these aren't ideas a observer would just happen to know. Maybe since the east is much more receptive to spiritual beliefs at some point of Miuras research on middle age society he found some interest in it on the way.
In an interview, here's his explanation on why he included magic: "I depicted witch trials during the Conviction arc, so I was going to end up having to do witches and magic. I went in search of lots of reference books on magic, and amongst them was a book written by someone claiming to be a real magician. It sounds shady at first, but there are magic users overseas and they have the authoritative opinions on the subject. I thought I'd faithfully portray the way a real magician conceptualizes magic. In Japan, the game-like magic where you throw fireballs and such is typical, but naturally there's a concept out there in the world of actual "magic." This gets a little off-topic, but I heard this once in some documentary: 'If you want to make a movie that rivals Star Wars, you can't watch Star Wars. Go watch what George Lucas was watching for the purpose of making Star Wars.' Follow what's already been depicted, and you might just end up with an inferior copy."
I’d say the berserker armor isn’t betrayal at all. It doesn’t give him any strength or really anything at all, just taking away his pain. It’s badass to see his strength at a true 100%.
The problem with it or rather the trade off is that as we see in later chapters is that armor has also long term effects on the user as Guts begins to lose vision in his remaining eye and his strength begins to wane to the point where Guts can't really hold the dragonslayer anymore on his own for long periods of time without the armor. I think a better way of seeing the armor is that it taxes your body natural healing process through repeated use of the piercings to keep the wearer's body intact. The amount of trauma taken while wearing the berserker armor causes the body to repair itself over and over to a point where it cannot heal itself fully to point where it once before donning the armor. Guts wasn't really given much choice to don the armor when Scherike was warning him about the potential effects of the armor when he had to fight Grunbeld but honestly I don't think Guts minds because he knows he only task was to protect Casca and once she was safe his next choice (if the story would have continued) was probably to help bring down Griffith but for the good of the world rather than for revenge.
Hopefully, if Berserk gets a good adaptation in the next decade, I hope the English dubbers find a guy that can imitate Michael Bell's voice for Guts. He gets the tired, but strong voice for Guts right.
The guy who voiced him in the movies was really good. It's always weird to see the lips not sync up but he knocked it so out of the park I think he did better than the Japanese actor. If they're going to make one they should bring him back. His entire performance during the second half of the last movie left me speechless.
Holy fuck, I was NOT expecting the Legacy of Kain acknowledgement! Raziel is a such a kickass protagonist and knowing Michael Bell voiced two badasses within the same time frame is such a kickass fun fact. Also, I don't know if it's me but The Elder God in the Soul Reaver games shares a similar role in the plot just like the Idea of Evil. I know it's impossible now but I just felt like Tony Jay's voice would've been fucking perfect for the Idea of Evil when Griffith confronts it.
These long form videos are wonderful when you work 12 hour shifts and no one's particularly concerned with what you're doing so long as you are doing what you're supposed to at least where I work.
I just realize that Guts has been going thought the whole of the Millennium Falcon Arc and Fantasy Arc without doing a single thing for him self doing everything in his power to keep Casca safe, silently and stoically (not true in all regards but you get the point) taking everything in with out saying a single. fucking. word. it is truly a testament to Guts and to his character and another reason to feel sad for him, I hope that if they ever continue the manga that he does something for him self, I don't know what that something is tho. I could keep going but it might be a moot point and I might be imagining things, who know.
Man i love your videos so much, i discovered berserk (1997 tv show) 2 months ago and with you i'm discovering the story. I dont know what will happen, it feels like watching a tv show. The music you choose, the drawings, your tone, all perfect. Thank you for making me discover this insane manga.
This is my personal favorite arc. It starts off incredibly dark with Hilltop of Swords and Guts alone with Casca. But the series lightens up naturally and Guts I think goes through some of the best character development in the entire series. But not only is Guts better than ever, every supporting character (especially Farnese and Schiekere) is fleshed out to the point they stand proudly alongside Guts in my eyes. And while I understand people not liking Griffith’s portions of the story, I loved the emotion it made me feel everytime I saw people revere this man and say he’s a hero. It put me right back in Guts’ shoes during the Eclipse everytime he did a heroic act and made me wanna beat his ass. We as the audience see past his facade of heroism he puts on and see him for the evil monster he is. I very much equate it to the portions of Game of Thrones (when it was good) whenever we’d follow the villain’s perspective of that story and whenever the leads had to bow down and be subservient to people we know are monsters. The introduction of magic too and Schiekere was amazing. Her, Skull Knight, Farnese, Casca, and Guts are my favorite characters in all of Berserk. She brought so much to the series and the world of Berserk as a whole and made it a blast to read. Even though I couldn’t understand always wtf she was saying cause magic systems in japanese media always confuse the shit out of me. (Which is why I couldn’t wait for this video for loli to explain shit to me in idiot language) But yeah. I adore this arc, it’s over arcing story, the characters and how they develop over the course of it, I love it all. Golden Age and Millennium Falcon War are easily my favorite arcs.
For people wondering about the name 'Schierke' I commented this somewhere below: It´s a German/Dutch name: Silke. (Pronounced: SIL-kuh) But the name can also be: Circe (Cheer-kih). The witch from Homeros' 'Illiad'.
Hadn’t made it to this part of the manga yet. I’m blown away at how this can be only the prologue to this arc… also loving the experience of pausing to read most pages and going through the rest as a kind of funny read-along with humorously butchered names and good takes to the chronology and character development spelt out and discussed. Amazing video and series! Can’t wait for the rest you legend
the way i see the use of the armour is Guts always showing the full rage of himself and just the malice he carried. and Armour just releases all the negativity and pain and darkness that became the Beast of Darkness.
Berserk is one of the greatest pieces of literature I have ever had the pleasure of reading. No other story compelled me like this, I feel connected to the characters, because I've seen them grow, I've seen them go through their ordeals, it's really personal, even if they don't exist in the first place. How long until Part 5? - I don't even want to finish this one. These videos are so, soooo good.
"This big dude in all black just slaughtered dozens of trolls in a matter of seconds." If only degenerate sub-human creatures harassing honest, hardworking people were easy to drive away with the power of heavy metal in real life. Berserk really is the greatest fantasy story of our era.
The reason I'm okay with the armor even though it's magic is that it doesn't power him up, it just puts him on the greatest painkiller known to man and holds him together. The rest is all his own strength. That and it's nature as a cursed item keeps the struggle real as it were.
Man I binged all your berserk while I sick with the flu. I had the wildest fever dreams. I know it doesn’t mean much but thank you for the content and your efforts .
I am so excited for this one! 4/10 hours!? This is a longman good! Your other Berserk videos have easily become some of my favorite videos ever and I am excited to add this one to that collection too!
Aside from the awesome visual, I think that the Berserker Amor is a brilliant move by the author. He spends so much time establishing Guts as a character defined by his ability to fight, "The Struggler", and then goes HEY HERES SOME MAGIC ARMOR THAT SLOWLY TAKES AWAY YOUR ABILITY TO FIGHT. Absolutely brilliant.
Dude, thank you for doing these videos. I’ve been reading Berserk as the deluxe volumes have been releasing, and I love sitting down and watching these videos afterwards. It helps me to make connections I didn’t think of at the time, and also in a way feels like discussion with a good friend who shares the passion for the story. Thank you so much!
Hey man, I want to thank you for the series I can’t really afford to buy the series but your breakdown of the series has allowed me to not only experience the series but all the little nuances through it. I really appreciate it.
Amazing job with this, it’s an impressive feat to make something that’s 4 hours long yet I’m half way through watching for the 3rd time! Thanks for this series
Breserk is my favourite manga .Thank you for uploading this masterpiece .. I am going through tough time and the story motivates me to keep moving forward.. Thanks man
Do you guys remember when Serpico was saving this little boy when his mother, accused of heresy was executed? When you later find out that he went through the same shit, it just hits on a diffrent level. Cause back then i was thinking that it's not really in character for Serpico to save a random boy but knowing his backstory it makes perfect sense and makes it so good looking back.
Probably had the best circumstances for watching this video. There barely ever snows in my city, but for some reason, today was the biggest snowfall I've ever seen, so I had the whole day off basically, just grabbed a hot drink, and marathoned this monster of a video. Well done, good sir, made my day
Happy to see you cover the "Sword of the Berserk" Dreamcast game. Funny it was the first Berserk medium to come to the U.S. iirc. And yeah, I consider it canon anyway as both Miura himself wrote the plot set between those arcs you mentioned, and the fact that it doesn't contradict much of the manga at all in my opinion. 🥰
See i dont really find the Berserker Armor to be a problem. It just seems like a natural evolution for Guts. I mean, the guy had pretty much much reached his mental and physical limit at this point. There is no way, no matter how tough, how strong, how iron willed Guts is, that he was going to be able to even hope to defeat The Godhand or the upper echelon of Apostles. I did like how he was able to get so strong on his own and be a force just as a regular human, kinda like Batman. But you can't hope to kill Gods with a with just sheer will and brute force. Also i kind of like how his new friends act like a mental armor for Guts, while the Berserker armor "protects" him physically. And by the way, i said this in a live chat the other day to you, thank you so much for showing me how awesome Berserk is. I initially started off watching the 1997 anime on TH-cam, and only really gave it a chance because i knew how much it inspired FromSoftware games. But after finishing that anime and now having watched all of your videos on Berserk i can definitely say it is one of my favorite things ive ever got to experience. I absolutely love Guts and the story is just incredible, it's VERY rare that i have ever cried at any piece of media. Hell it's happened maybe only about a dozen times in the 22 years ive been alive. And anything than can make me care that much, and invoke that much emotion from me, is forever immortalised in me. So thank you once again man, you've just made me a Berserk lover for life.
I love these videos so damn much, but shrike, quill-photh, & aposTHle are giving me a category 69 migraine Thank you for working so hard to put this out so quickly, especially through all of the shit you’ve had going on the past month or two. You’re a true Floridian hero
Thank you for this content! It's around 6 AM now, but this was well worth it. I finished the manga a while back and this is a great way to revisit the story for the second time.
Oh dude you're just in time as I wanted to revisit this great manga and you did your job great! Waiting for the 2nd act! Daym that shit is good. Berserk is a masterpiece. Thank you Miura.
You know Loli, when you dedicate your time in a passion project, you stay dedicated, this video is like 4 hours and it’s only the first half, your content is so heavily underrated.
I know these take a TON of work, and I really want more... I'd like to express my thanks for a property that I really didn't know very much about outside of something I watched when I was much younger. Berserk has always been that thing from my childhood that I rented that I absolutely should not have watched. I'm older now and your reading has given so much context to it. I eagerly await the next installment
![ILLSLICK - THE KING'S LANDING [Freestyle]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/feIJJnNkTfk/mqdefault.jpg)
"Zod goes off to find Guts and call him a nerd." This basically sums up the whole of Zod and Guts' relationship.
Based Zod is the best character
Zod: hey Guts.
Guts: yeah?
Zod: ur gay lol
You ever hear the one that says Zod might be guts dad
@@ghostghost6 as funny as it would be i think it will ruin Guts background. I prefer to think that he is just a man.
@@ghostghost6 I think that would be too obvious, Miura has never been that lazy with writing and plot. I think Zodd is such a prominent character in the plot because he mirrors what Guts would become if he gave into despair. He’s a much better mirror for what a monster version of Guts would be than Femto is.
Never thought I’d see the Berserk game get covered chronologically in a series breakdown but here we are.
Yeah and the flowers of oblivion arc is pretty good on its own. It showed us the beginning of the transformation of Guts (the way he said « I’m sorry » for the first time in a while) + that brief moment when Casca regained her sanity. I feel that it would be a blast if somehow this arc get added to an anime adaptation one day.
I'd love that too
The dedication.
Guts is such a hero for having killed Lord Ball Sack
Classic Best friend reference 10/10
yeah glad he finally gets along with Sir Piccolo and "Boots with the" Fur Nae Nae
@@robinvmars6191 omg stop I'm bawling in pain and laughter 😂🤣
@@robinvmars6191 Do you mean Best Girl Furnace?
@@racoobi ohhh lmao can't believe that never clicked
I really appreciate you making a berserk audio book . Long drives or soon to be long bike rides will be made easy while listening to a story about the great struggler.
Your comments reminds me of how much i have to pay for petrol
Wait, where are the audiobooks?
@@silent_stalker3687 it's just his berserk videos here one TH-cam .
@@silent_stalker3687 he is referring to the videos man, not actual "audiobooks"
@@yeetyeet486 imagine if they made the series in a audio format, like the old ‘The Shadow’ series…
Berserk is such a good story that a villain named 'Ball Sack' can be taken seriously.
Just spewed coffee all over. You owe me a new keyboard man.
@@xrayexplorer omg
Lmao what
Ok that’s very funny
@@xrayexplorer he he he haw
I love how you mentioned that Griffith is sending the souls of those people who died directly into the Vortex. I’ve watched video reviews about this arc before and a lot of ppl don’t really seem to realize he was sending good soldiers to hell.
I figured that out too
Also people in falconia as well
God I fucking hate Griffith, fuck him
That's what i like about berserk everything is directly getting talled to us but with out getting directly talled to us if you kip a open ear and eye you will understand it
You can almost hear a toilet flushing effect as soon as he gives them their one way ticket into the vortex. Souls to be used and discarded with without a second thought
Farnese has incredible character development.
Outside of Guts, I’d definitely argue she’s the best character in the series. The only characters that come somewhat close to her are Griffith and Jill
@@noahmclaughlin7921 interesting. I don't agree with Jill, but I also don't think her character arch were bad by any means. Just not too notch. Why do you think hers is so good?
@@mickguadagnoli8779 I found her story of wanting to find some sort of escape from her awful life, only to finally accept that it’s best to stay where she is and make the world a better place however she can is really well done and a very good message. It’s not too long, but it’s one of the best executed arcs in the series and it gives her a really good quality to panel ratio (once again, only being beaten by Guts and Farnese). Her dynamics with Puck, Rosine, and especially Guts are really well done and some of the best dynamics in the series. She mirrors both of them in wanting to escape from their misery but she makes the right choice due to prodding from Guts. She’s somewhat of a young female Guts with her abusive lifestyle and a want for exceptance. She’s also very relatable and a good character to follow in the story, while not being boring or too much of a punching bag either. Her final chapter where Guts comforts her and tells her to leave, and her deciding to improve her own world, was one of the best chapters in the entire manga IMO.
She does. Love Farnese so much
Puck got the best character development. he went from a happy-go-lucky mystical fairy elf with feelings to a power-hungry tyrannical dictator onion blob thing
三浦先生亡き今でも、ベルセルクを大好きでいてくれる人がこんなにたくさんいることがすごく嬉しい。
これからも動画投稿応援しています。
We will never let his inspiration leave this world. Greetings fo Germany
As dissatisfied as Miura-Sensei might be to have left his Magnum Opus unfinished,
I am sure that passionate analytical works like yours give him solace.
If you think about the themes of Berserk, in a fucked up way Miura dying and the story going unfinished actually fits perfectly. If Berserk is about carrying on through suffering, well, that's what every reader is gonna have to do whether they like it or not.
still holding out hope that he left an outline for hius assistants to finish his work tbh
@@Mateo-oq7ui it is said he didn't. He didn't have anything written down like that, but had discussed things with his assistants and friends
@@crazeddemon420 yep, he literally drew the outline first and spent time writing and rewriting the manuscript after the fact.. The last thing he physically wrote was episode 264!.. And seeing how everything pre "conviction arc" and maybe golden age too was made up as he went with the story, not really planning agead and having rough concepts in his mind before finalizing!..
It's amazing the story isn't full of plot holes and inconsistencies, and he's managed to connect things almost seemlessly to the set up of "blackswordsman" arc..
I could be wrong in the fine details of his writing style since he put a lot of effort in referencing or paying homage to his influences like "devil man" "violence jack" or even "star wars", but not much info on this stuff outside of interviews and letters he wrote to fans and news publishers
@@Mateo-oq7ui me too, I hope he wrote a will of some sort; that his family will take control of his story. Maybe he wrote the opposite; taking his work to the grave with him. In the end; both scenarios are fitting
I find it strange that everyone in Midland remembers Griffith for ending the 100 year war, but no one remembers Guts, The 100 Man Slayer.
Soldiers usually remember the deeds of other soldiers and the people remember the leaders and give most of them credit or blame. Simply because they wouldn't get to know all the details they would have to put it all at the leaders feet unless they specifically knew the causes or who was involved. Guts was part of a mercenary band with five thousand others and not exactly the most extroverted. I doubt he would be itching to take glory or credit. Even though he killed a hundred men by himself a lot of people would probably say it's bullshit and go on with their day unfortunately.
@@johnnyboy2537 That seems to be a very solid explanation. Spot on.
Isidro and some knights remember
Was the berserker viking on the bridge ever named? (Real life lore)
@@johnnyboy2537 Plus Griffith looks, you know, like Griffith. To a lot of a people, he seems like he stepped right out of the stained glass of a cathedral, so there's quite literally no way people won't remember him.
already finished it. 10/10 video loli. really love that one scene with guts and casca
fax
Bruh
Not wrong
How was this commented 10 hours ago when this video came out 7 hours ago?
@@crunchypudding.9221 it's cuz it was a premiere so you could put comments before the video even came out
I don't think the criticisms of Guts using the Berserker Armor as "using magic" which you mention people having are legitimate. It's not like the armor itself is making his muscles stronger, it's that it's removing the limits of his pain, fear, and subconscious so he can truly fight at his 100% potential, and it's not like it's cost-free; Every hit he lands is also a hit on himself effectively, not to mention the obvious toll it takes on his soul to risk indulging the Beast of Darkness. The armor is really the logical conclusion of the fighting style he's always had: "Kill the demon, no matter how much it puts me at risk or how much of a monster I might become." If Guts was "using magic" to fight demons, he would've taken the enchanted axe Schierke tried to give him earlier (which would definitely have been a betrayal of his character). Now, he has to balance the line between staying a virtuous man, or becoming a monster, something that can't be said of any of the other actual magic items everyone else is using.
I also don't think him "using magic" is necessarily inappropriate either at this stage in the story -- much like how he's gone from his "I work alone" mindset of Black Swordsman to his JRPG Party of Millennium Falcon, Guts has realized that doing things in a more difficult way is really nothing more than a form of masochism and self-punishment for his feelings of failure to protect those he cared for. But he's got a goal now, this one last chance to protect everyone he cares for, and he'll use any methods necessary to keep them safe. Again, it's a logical progression of his character.
I whole heartedly agree.
My thoughts exactly.
100% Agree. But I'm thinking guts should have taken the magic axe for him to get a fair toe to toe battle with a God Apostle if he really thinks that you must win whatever it takes. .
also want to point out that wich each use of armor guts becomes weaker so it would be nice if he had some counter to this with heavy price
I didn't even know people felt this way about the berserk armor, I always thought it fit his character
The people that wanted the series to stay dark basically got their wish with the 97’ anime. To me, that is the definitive “bad ending” of Berserk.
There was no Skull Knight or Puck in the series to lead to potentially brighter futures so my only conclusion I have made is that Guts was the only survivor of the Eclipse. Richert is dead because of the absence of Skull Knight and without him, I can only ever imagine if Guts got out of there alive by himself. There is absolutely no way Guts could’ve saved himself and Casca if there was even a chance of saving anyone in that scenario. So on the 0.000001% anyone could’ve made it out, in my head cannon, Guts made it out by himself and Casca died as well as Richert. The Band of The Hawk, 100% wiped out excluding Guts. And with no Puck to potentially put Guts on the right path, Guts will continue his revenge quest till he gets killed.
That is my personal head cannon of the 97’ anime anyways. The manga is the “good” ending where Guts, Casca, and Richert are saved by Skull Daddy and then Puck is present so everything unflows as is in the manga.
The people hung up over berserk initial dark tone miss the point of the story it's about overcoming darkness not giving into it , it's about the beauty of life and finding meaning in it dispute the cruelty , it's about starting over after losing your way berserk may have started as a dark fantasy but it changed because guts changed he had character development and evolved to protecting his love instead of selfish revenge so naturally the story evolved with him you can't expect any series to just stay the same forever that's not how stories work .
@@thatoneblackdude3333 Couldn’t agree more. For the people that just wanted it to stay stagnant and never grow past the darkness, the 97’ in my opinion is the definitive way to go for those people. But like you said, it’s entirely missing the point of Berserk as a whole. It’s all about overcoming your trauma even in the worst of circumstances and finding a will to keep on fighting. To keep on struggling and to open yourself up to others even if it’s hard. Cause if even someone like Guts at his worst and darkest point in his life can meet and befriend some like Puck, I believe there’s hope for us all.
Berserk is all about continuing on in life and even whenever things get tough, you press on and learn from your experiences.
It would’ve never been able to communicate that beautiful message if it lingered in the darkness for it’s entire duration. And even then, the Golden Age wasn’t the darkest and bleakest thing ever. It’s been a much more melancholic series than it has been bleak and depressing. The arcs I’d argue are the most grim are Black Swordsman, End of Golden Age, and Lost Children. Everything else with the exception of Fantasia pretty much has a very consistent melancholic and introspective tone. Where Berserk is a dark and grim world but it isn’t one absent of hope and beauty.
Idk. I love Berserk for both it’s darkness and it’s light. You can’t have true Berserk without both, even if one shines brighter or casts darker than the other.
@@NutsorSomethingBerserk exactly berserk is more then the dark theme clinging on to just one aspect of a story is rather reductive and takes away from the truly beautiful and best parts of the story that's why when it's said that miura wanted berserk to end happy I truly believe That because if not what was it all for ? Why have guts develop and go through all these trials and tribulations if none of it matters ? Berserk is about fighting against despair not giving in to it , about fight for and clinging on to hope when the world tells you to give up , to struggle to live in a world that wants you to die and those messages only ring true if it ends up being worth it , berserk is a vary dark series but it's not dark for the sake of being dark it's not a story about nihilism it's not telling you that the world is terrible and nothing matters it's telling you the world is cruel but don't give up keep fighting keep STRUGGLING a happy ending isn't just going to come to you , You have to fight for it and that is what makes berserk special not the grim dark eclipse , not the terrible fucked up shit, not the suffering but it's message to fight against the darkness to fight for the light it's a beautiful story and bogging it down to just being a dark fantasy and saying it growing lighter is a negative is ignoring the true story berserk wants to tell as the creator of this video said berserk isn't torture porn it's not just cruel to be cruel , while stories can start and end in tragedy miura has made it clear that isn't the type of story berserk is .
@@thatoneblackdude3333 Besides, I don’t think Berserk lost it’s darkness or at least it tragic elements that make it a Dark Fantasy. The events of the Eclipse are felt all the way up to chapter 364. It is heartbreaking that Casca and Guts aren’t able to truly interact with one another due to Casca’s trauma she hasn’t fully confronted, it’s incredibly tragic and a cruel joke that the universe is playing on all 3 of them that Guts and Casca’s child dwells inside Griffith and seemingly has no way of being separated. Dooming all of them in a cruel twist of fate. Guts and Casca because they were supposed to be parents and Griffith was the one that corrupted and “took” that opportunity away and for Griffith because he isn’t as “free” as he’d hoped as a sociopathic Godhand member who is only out for his own agenda but has to bend to the moonlight child’s will and see Casca and Guts when a full moon arrives. It is a middle finger to not just Guts and Casca but also Griffith and is just, again, tragic for Guts and Casca.
Tragedy isn’t exclusive to just that plotline but also the Berserker Armor basically being a ticking time bomb that’ll get Guts killed if not careful and/or make him lose all of his senses if he’s not careful.
Berserk does get lighter but I also believe it gets more tragic as it goes on. That’s why I think Falcon of the Millennium Empire is my personal favorite arc. It’s the arc that makes me feel the natural tone shift of the story the most and it’s the arc that I resonate with on a very emotional level. It starts off pretty much like dark Berserk but naturally bleeds into it’s fantasy elements but like you and I agreed, it always maintains it’s melancholic and tragic tone and themes. Those are ever present in Berserk no matter if it’s light or dark.
But Berserk is easily about pressing on even when shit gets tough. And it sucks to see some people not really vibe with that and only wanna dwell in the dark of the series.
At least some of those people are the “Griffith did nothing wrong” crowd.
@@thatoneblackdude3333 Sounds like something Frederick Nietzsche had in mind.
i literally dropped everything as soon as it was up and spent the 4 entire hours uninterrupted watching the premiere. Every single second was worth it. Amazing video
We live the same life.
I was not in the premiere, but here I am, finishing 4 hours of berserk after I see it on my feed
same even i was waiting for this upload. next upload may take months tho.
3:23:05 I always appreciated the fact that Slan used Troll guts to troll Guts.
Watching these videos continually reminds me what a tragedy it is that Miura passed away. You really got a feel for what kind of person he was, just based on the themes he wrote about. A cynic would write about a man facing a miserable world, an optimist would write about a man facing a miserable world and surviving in spite of it.
I am entirely convinced skull knight had a very similar thing happen too him as Guts. I think he did sacrifice, and became a monster to fight the monsters. Or... something.
You'll see....
@@JinroTheCorpse not implied, he did.
You can see him wearing the armor in the later chapters in fantasia
Not gonna be watching this one Loli, but I'll come back soon. I recently bought as much of entire Berserk series that I could (up to the 10th deluxe edition) purely because of your passion for this series and its absolutely amazing so far. It was your videos that caused me to get into this and it has changed the way that I look at storytelling as an art form and I just can't thank you enough for getting me into this. Finished Golden Age last night and just started Lost Children today. I'll come back when I finish Millennium Falcon. Thanks again man!
The scene with guts and casca near the beginning actually made me feel physically sick, not because of the imagery but just because it was just horrible to see guts doing what he did
Which one?
Nvm about an hour and half in…. I suppose that counts as near the beginning for a four hour video
Its for my money the single darkest moment in the manga right there with the Eclipse and they both feel so viscerally awful for the same reason, we love all of the characters involved but one party is doing something horrific. Seeing Guts hit absolute rock bottom and do that to Casca is one of the most uncomfortable things I have ever seen in a story, I felt disgusted, shocked and above all so unbelievably sad for the both of them. The look on Guts' face as he drops to his knees is the most defeated he has ever looked in the story, even after the Eclipse it wasn't that bad and this event being the catalyst for what allows Guts to understand he cannot continue to take all of this on alone and has to accept help was done perfectly.
I’m a pretty tough dude when it comes to disturbing content in media. But yeah, the “Rip her to shreds. Just like Griffith did.” panel is easily one of the most shocking moments in Berserk for me. Even though I didn’t look nearly as deep as Loli did when I read it, it still shook me.
It’s easily up there with The Eclipse and “Adult Attack!” as one of the moment that legit makes me put my hand over my mouth and gets me tearing up a bit.
Honestly, the Berserker armor just seems right for Guts to have. I mean the dude spent 2+ years fighting without much care about whether he lived or died so him being given a set of armor that _literally_ pushes him to keep fighting until the last drop of blood leaves his body is appropriate to me. It also makes it so that the Beast of Darkness has a more permanent presence _with_ Guts that isn't just in his mind, with the armor itself having been re-shaped to have the helmet mimic the Beast's head. No true greater way to show that Guts is now cursed to forever carry his hatred and anger than with a _physical_ manifestation of what those emotions appear to him as.
I personally enjoy how it's a twist on sacrifice. The Apostles, Griffith included sacrificed others to gain power. Their lives ended to sate the new-born Demon's desires. The Berserker Armour, whilst certainly not benevolent in it's purpose, is a sacrifice of the self. Sacrifice a part of yourself to become stronger, not someone else. It's a beautiful contrast between Guts and the Apostles.
@@nilo5747 Agreed
4 hours Jesus Christ there's passion but this is on a different level of passion.
capitalize the C in Christ brother
@@one_step_sideways amen
Having seen the ending recently. I realize now, the world simply was not ready for the true story that was meant to come. Such genius can only reside in heaven. And so, Miura ascended to write manga in Valhalla
Odin's finest War Scribe
Bull shit I love Berserk I’ve liked this manga for 6 years now and to know that it will never get finished pisses me off. Fuck Miura and togashi and any other writer who makes there loyal fans wait years for chapters because they can die at anytime and leave an amazing story unfinished. I’m saying this because I’m hurt 😔 I’ll never see a true ending to this story even if his assistant finish berserk I’m not sure the ending would come out good.
@@lordcommon I read that he wanted us to get a happy ending, I hope one day the apprentices can finish it
@@whisperingmoon8840 They most likely won't. At least I don't think so. Japanese people value original works like this too much to just pick it up, and Miura also left REALLLY big shoes to fill.
@@sirbruno95 the only reason I think they might is cause he hired them to do it, but you honestly have a point
This has been something that I've been waiting on for months on end.
Glad to know that the wait was all worth it.
I just realized the reason guts prefers such a large sword is because he has always used a sword too big for his size, ever since he was a little kid, so thats what hes best with. As he evolves and grows literally physically as well, so does the size of his sword. As in he will always struggle, he doesn't get breaks.
I like what you said about Beserk’s evolution. I get that some love the nihilism and despair that the series was known for. I’m not a personal fan of constant nihilism and angst as that doesn’t sound healthy.
While I’ve heard of the horrific ending of the 97 anime, I was baffled that things began to work out for Guts to an extent. He finally found a new family to fight and become a better person.
The “lighter” tone that some people hate showed me that people can heal from their trauma. Maybe not completely but they might be willing to let go and move on.
Exactly these people who complain about the lighter ton are just edgelords who miss the point of the series and the point of the story .
It has a fairly bittersweet ending right now. Endless beach episode of the main crew, with the Merry Band of Hardasses fleeing the Great Griffith bitch-slap.
Without this transition into Guts growing into a better man by finding a genuinely good and healthy reason to keep living despite all the fucked up shit he's gone through and still battles with you wouldn't get panels like the beach scene, which is for me personally one of my favorite moments of any story I have ever seen. Just thinking about that scene and what it represents for Guts makes me choke up.
To me it had to go lighter because of one of the major themes of the manga is trauma. We seen how what happens to people who don't get over the trauma with the Black swordsman, conviction (especially lost children), and a little bit of golden age. I feel like the millennium falcon ark it's the first time we see what happens when someone actually try to work on their trauma and try to be better. Although still not perfect it shows that you're moving forward in life. By simply just doing the same nihilistic things you've been doing from the beginning won't evolve your story and just like what Loli would be exhausting for the reader in the long run
@@quentingray643 Exactly it's called growth and evolution
The explanation for Guts dialogue in Berserk: Guts rage was to inform the audience of Guts’s relationship with Casca. Think about it this way the only way known about the story of Berserk at the time was the 1997 anime and the manga. The problem is that the 1997 anime did not make it to past the golden age and the manga was not officially licensed in the US until 2003. Berserk: Guts rage came out 1999 so at that time many people would not be familiar with the story of the series. So the translation and dubbing crew for that game probably felt that they needed the players to know that Guts cares for Casca and made the dialogue inform that as ham fisted as it was.
i find the whole idea of Skull Knight smiling bashful strangely adorable
Just fyi: Farnese shares her name with the italian noble family "Farnese" (Look up Palazzo Farnese in Rome). The connection with the holy see seems obvious. A non anglofonic pronounciation therefore seems equally obvious.
She cooka da pizza
Italiano presente!
It'sa shame, oh Madone! To hear the pronunciation go down the pisciatoo!
Just realised Palazzo Farnese is only a few paces away from Campo de Fiori, they burned heretics there, famoulsy the monk Giordano Bruno.
Far-neh-zey
These videos remind me how much I loved this series. Berserk helped me get through my dad's death so these videos are truly appreciated.
Dude thank you for doing the community a service and completely fixing Berserk 2016/2017 like I can actually understand and follow the story,pacing, and lore so much better now, thank you sir
That part where guts looking at the group actually made me cry damn man the feels
At first, I was like, "Four hours?"
But then I was like, "ONLY four hours?!"
Berserk is amazing. Like Conan or Elric, except more so and better. Looking forward to the rest, however it comes out and on whatever platform it appears.
exactly. subbed to the oddysee right away
I'm relatively new to berzerk .
every time i finish an arc
i come here to see these vids and it surprises me each time because i learn about something that i didn't not pay enough attention to during reading,
great series brother thanks for sharing your analysis.
Griffith has such a god awful ego. True wickedness in disguised of a truth.
The quality of these videos is just perfect. You’re an absolute treasure of a content creator. Keep up the great work.
this is the definitive piece of companion content to berserk. it's a work of love and I can't applaud you enough. homeboy, this is is incredible work. be proud!
I gotta say, I have to thank Berserk for introducing me to Susumu Hirasawa´s music which is kino af and has become one of my favorite composers/songwriters of all time. Not just his Berserk work but his other works as well.
I'd recommend these songs which are my favorites:
- Gemini
- Ghost Bridges
- Paranesian Circle
- Niwashi King
- Water Vein
- Echoes
The list goes on...
Rotation Lotus 2 is such a banger, sounds like something that should’ve been part of his Berserk OST
No other man has such dedication to Berserk in his reviews. You are a true warrior.
now that's quality content right here , the way you merged the game with the timeline is just pure perfection , I'm glad you took your time with this such great work,god bless you man
The way I've always seen the Berserker armor is that, it doesn't actually make you stronger what it does is that because you no longer feel pain it allows your body to fight at 100% of its strength because the thing with the human body is we never fight with 100% strength or else we would actually break our bodies and that's what's happening with guts. He's already superhuman levels of strong but what the armor does is remove the mental blocks that stop the body from using 100% of his strength all the while he is not feeling any pain so he never tries to stop himself from fighting. Which is why in the scenes of him fighting he's covered in blood or his arm gets like bent backwards his body literally can't handle him using that much strength but because the armor will literally pin him back together he will keep fighting until he dies. So really it is all his own strength it's just the armors magic is letting him use 100% of it whereas without it he can never do it because the mind stops us from using 100% of it.
Yeah great way to put it I always thought of it just putting Guts at his 100% potential
Well it holds up the body and supports it as it is getting destroyed. How the flesh and bone melds with the armor.
2:30:04 that awkward moment when you have to take your half-sister to the ER for 3rd degree burns to her snatch
not as awkward as hiding your "Why" boner the whole time
Damn, that part where Guts steps in to protect Farnese and Casca right as “Forces” started playing in the background was absolutely bone-chilling!
The part where, casca comes back for a few seconds is so sad and sweet
After binging the entire manga, this video series has helped me so much in picking up the tiny details
Interesting point for The Sword of the Berserk Game. Puck is played by Liquid Snake (Cam Clarke), who also voiced Leonardo in the 1980s Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles cartoon, as well as Meathook from The Monkey Island series. or he just played the voice of Meathook's tatoo, but I think he did both :).
Puck, to Guts: BROTHAAAARRRR!
@@1986Hikaru Guts clearly got all the dominant genes.
I think the whole tonal shift in Berserk is good as it's almost like a parallel to Guts changing, even if it's not by his choice. He NEEDS help to protect Casca, which initially he reluctantly accepts, but it changes him for the better, and the tone reflects that.
You know, Farnese and Serpico are italian last names so the pronuntiations are "the japanese ones". It's pretty cool, cause the Farnese family was a very important one in the real world and, get this, very close to the Pope and sort of his "protectors", so to speak. I think their last heir is the King of Spain, now.
Anyway, except for a few cases, names are supposed to be read as the Japanese katakana indicate. The exceptions are when you have several consonants together, cause it's imposible, literally, to write things like "guts" with katakana. But anyway, apart from that stuff, yeah, you're suppose to read it as it is and just guess the language that inspires the name. In Schierke's case it's an actual German word (a regional word, I believe), and German is super easy to read: every vowel has one possible reading and that's it. You just look at the spelling and, there you go: it has to be read /ʃiːɐke/.
Yeah hearing it as Shryke when it's spelled Shierke is literal torture
It´s a German/Dutch name: Silke. (Pronounced: SIL-kuh)
But the name can also be: Circe (Cheer-kih). The witch from Homeros' 'Illiad'.
Since you were talking about voice actors, the guy who voiced puck also has some pretty big roles, like Leonardo in the original TMNT cartoon, liquid snake from metal gear, and Kanedas english voice actor from AKIRA
Dude, you kidding me?
Earl Boen is the psychologist from the Terminator movies. He also did a fantastic job as Le Chuck in Curse of Monkey Island and thereafter. He was so well loved that they did Tales of Monkey Island with a different voice actor and was petitioned immediately to redub everything with his voice. The man's a legend for what little voice work he's done.
He also did the WoW intro narrations. Such a legendary VA
I know it's almost meaningless to this mammoth of a video, but I just wanted to appreciate the fact that Dragon's Dogma music was used throughout this video, truly one of the greatest diamond-in-the rough video games out there. Forever waiting for a sequel.
Can't get over the dubbed game calling Guts "Gutsu" like that is his name, not a quirk of Japanese pronunciation
It's actually pretty crazy how much berserks magic system is based off of real beliefs of witchcraft. The ideas of all the elemental spirits is found in wicca and even less well known beliefs and even concepts found in the astral world paralleling beliefs of higher spiritual planes of existence that humans are interconnected with and can become more attuned to with practice. Miura did his research and created probably the most realistic rendition of magic in manga that i have ever come across. My favorite part is where you bring up that magic is a way which people try to answer the bigger questions of the universe which to me is a very good way to actually summarize a lot of practices of magic. The whole thing with showing that the church is not very different witches also are real ideas that in all religious beliefs magic in some form is practiced even if not in the traditional witchcraft variety. It makes me wonder if Miura in private practiced some form of ceramonial magic because these aren't ideas a observer would just happen to know. Maybe since the east is much more receptive to spiritual beliefs at some point of Miuras research on middle age society he found some interest in it on the way.
In an interview, here's his explanation on why he included magic:
"I depicted witch trials during the Conviction arc, so I was going to end up having to do witches and magic. I went in search of lots of reference books on magic, and amongst them was a book written by someone claiming to be a real magician. It sounds shady at first, but there are magic users overseas and they have the authoritative opinions on the subject. I thought I'd faithfully portray the way a real magician conceptualizes magic. In Japan, the game-like magic where you throw fireballs and such is typical, but naturally there's a concept out there in the world of actual "magic." This gets a little off-topic, but I heard this once in some documentary: 'If you want to make a movie that rivals Star Wars, you can't watch Star Wars. Go watch what George Lucas was watching for the purpose of making Star Wars.' Follow what's already been depicted, and you might just end up with an inferior copy."
Isidro is quite literally the dark souls protagonist, like roll backstab and all.
I’d say the berserker armor isn’t betrayal at all. It doesn’t give him any strength or really anything at all, just taking away his pain. It’s badass to see his strength at a true 100%.
The problem with it or rather the trade off is that as we see in later chapters is that armor has also long term effects on the user as Guts begins to lose vision in his remaining eye and his strength begins to wane to the point where Guts can't really hold the dragonslayer anymore on his own for long periods of time without the armor.
I think a better way of seeing the armor is that it taxes your body natural healing process through repeated use of the piercings to keep the wearer's body intact. The amount of trauma taken while wearing the berserker armor causes the body to repair itself over and over to a point where it cannot heal itself fully to point where it once before donning the armor.
Guts wasn't really given much choice to don the armor when Scherike was warning him about the potential effects of the armor when he had to fight Grunbeld but honestly I don't think Guts minds because he knows he only task was to protect Casca and once she was safe his next choice (if the story would have continued) was probably to help bring down Griffith but for the good of the world rather than for revenge.
Hopefully, if Berserk gets a good adaptation in the next decade, I hope the English dubbers find a guy that can imitate Michael Bell's voice for Guts. He gets the tired, but strong voice for Guts right.
The guy who voiced him in the movies was really good. It's always weird to see the lips not sync up but he knocked it so out of the park I think he did better than the Japanese actor. If they're going to make one they should bring him back. His entire performance during the second half of the last movie left me speechless.
@@johnnyboy2537 no one quite compares to Marc Diraison for me
@@ultramagnus1859 Here's hoping they get MAPPA or Wit Studios for an adaptation
@@johnnyboy2537
MAPPA currently has wayyy too much on their plate. hopefully later on when they’re finished with the upcoming projects.
@@DrunkGnu Implying that MAPPA even makes it. I have a feeling they're running on fumes and they're only hanging on by a thread
Holy fuck, I was NOT expecting the Legacy of Kain acknowledgement! Raziel is a such a kickass protagonist and knowing Michael Bell voiced two badasses within the same time frame is such a kickass fun fact.
Also, I don't know if it's me but The Elder God in the Soul Reaver games shares a similar role in the plot just like the Idea of Evil. I know it's impossible now but I just felt like Tony Jay's voice would've been fucking perfect for the Idea of Evil when Griffith confronts it.
These long form videos are wonderful when you work 12 hour shifts and no one's particularly concerned with what you're doing so long as you are doing what you're supposed to at least where I work.
"Apostle has a silent T. I know. I knew the whole time. Welcome to Hell,"
I frelling love you for this bosmang.
I love how the priest looks at the Guts traveling party and sees the plot of Bug's Life.
I just realize that Guts has been going thought the whole of the Millennium Falcon Arc and Fantasy Arc without doing a single thing for him self doing everything in his power to keep Casca safe, silently and stoically (not true in all regards but you get the point) taking everything in with out saying a single. fucking. word. it is truly a testament to Guts and to his character and another reason to feel sad for him, I hope that if they ever continue the manga that he does something for him self, I don't know what that something is tho. I could keep going but it might be a moot point and I might be imagining things, who know.
Man i love your videos so much, i discovered berserk (1997 tv show) 2 months ago and with you i'm discovering the story.
I dont know what will happen, it feels like watching a tv show.
The music you choose, the drawings, your tone, all perfect.
Thank you for making me discover this insane manga.
This is my personal favorite arc. It starts off incredibly dark with Hilltop of Swords and Guts alone with Casca. But the series lightens up naturally and Guts I think goes through some of the best character development in the entire series. But not only is Guts better than ever, every supporting character (especially Farnese and Schiekere) is fleshed out to the point they stand proudly alongside Guts in my eyes.
And while I understand people not liking Griffith’s portions of the story, I loved the emotion it made me feel everytime I saw people revere this man and say he’s a hero. It put me right back in Guts’ shoes during the Eclipse everytime he did a heroic act and made me wanna beat his ass. We as the audience see past his facade of heroism he puts on and see him for the evil monster he is. I very much equate it to the portions of Game of Thrones (when it was good) whenever we’d follow the villain’s perspective of that story and whenever the leads had to bow down and be subservient to people we know are monsters.
The introduction of magic too and Schiekere was amazing. Her, Skull Knight, Farnese, Casca, and Guts are my favorite characters in all of Berserk. She brought so much to the series and the world of Berserk as a whole and made it a blast to read. Even though I couldn’t understand always wtf she was saying cause magic systems in japanese media always confuse the shit out of me. (Which is why I couldn’t wait for this video for loli to explain shit to me in idiot language)
But yeah. I adore this arc, it’s over arcing story, the characters and how they develop over the course of it, I love it all. Golden Age and Millennium Falcon War are easily my favorite arcs.
"Living for the future is more important than trying to avenge the past"
-puck
For people wondering about the name 'Schierke' I commented this somewhere below:
It´s a German/Dutch name: Silke. (Pronounced: SIL-kuh)
But the name can also be: Circe (Cheer-kih). The witch from Homeros' 'Illiad'.
Hadn’t made it to this part of the manga yet. I’m blown away at how this can be only the prologue to this arc… also loving the experience of pausing to read most pages and going through the rest as a kind of funny read-along with humorously butchered names and good takes to the chronology and character development spelt out and discussed. Amazing video and series! Can’t wait for the rest you legend
the way i see the use of the armour is Guts always showing the full rage of himself and just the malice he carried. and Armour just releases all the negativity and pain and darkness that became the Beast of Darkness.
This is gonna be great, thank you very much for your devotion to Berserk. Your love for this story has made me buy the dark horse 3in1 books.
Berserk is one of the greatest pieces of literature I have ever had the pleasure of reading. No other story compelled me like this, I feel connected to the characters, because I've seen them grow, I've seen them go through their ordeals, it's really personal, even if they don't exist in the first place.
How long until Part 5? - I don't even want to finish this one. These videos are so, soooo good.
"This big dude in all black just slaughtered dozens of trolls in a matter of seconds."
If only degenerate sub-human creatures harassing honest, hardworking people were easy to drive away with the power of heavy metal in real life. Berserk really is the greatest fantasy story of our era.
they are my friend, you just have to continue struggling
What real life situation are you talking about? Is it a metaphor?
You just have to tunnel to the stage and pop in a Slayer CD. Hippies hate aggressive music.
The reason I'm okay with the armor even though it's magic is that it doesn't power him up, it just puts him on the greatest painkiller known to man and holds him together. The rest is all his own strength. That and it's nature as a cursed item keeps the struggle real as it were.
literally watched part 3 of this series yesterday, this has been my favorite way to re-absorb the magic of this series, thank you for this
Imagining Shouta ripping down my front door and asking me if Isidro could be the 8th hokage.
Man I binged all your berserk while I sick with the flu. I had the wildest fever dreams. I know it doesn’t mean much but thank you for the content and your efforts .
I've been coming back to this video almost Daily just for 3:13:00 and 3:15:02.
~Hehe~
I never realized what Griffith was doing with the family’s dead relatives. That “they go to a place that become one” went over my head.
I am so excited for this one! 4/10 hours!? This is a longman good! Your other Berserk videos have easily become some of my favorite videos ever and I am excited to add this one to that collection too!
Aside from the awesome visual, I think that the Berserker Amor is a brilliant move by the author. He spends so much time establishing Guts as a character defined by his ability to fight, "The Struggler", and then goes HEY HERES SOME MAGIC ARMOR THAT SLOWLY TAKES AWAY YOUR ABILITY TO FIGHT. Absolutely brilliant.
Dude, thank you for doing these videos. I’ve been reading Berserk as the deluxe volumes have been releasing, and I love sitting down and watching these videos afterwards. It helps me to make connections I didn’t think of at the time, and also in a way feels like discussion with a good friend who shares the passion for the story. Thank you so much!
The is like the Almightyloli equivalent of seeing the Winds of Winter finally come out
Martin himself said that he finished 3/4 of the book, so Winds will be released between 2023/2027!
Hey man, I want to thank you for the series I can’t really afford to buy the series but your breakdown of the series has allowed me to not only experience the series but all the little nuances through it. I really appreciate it.
Amazing job with this, it’s an impressive feat to make something that’s 4 hours long yet I’m half way through watching for the 3rd time! Thanks for this series
Breserk is my favourite manga .Thank you for uploading this masterpiece .. I am going through tough time and the story motivates me to keep moving forward.. Thanks man
Do you guys remember when Serpico was saving this little boy when his mother, accused of heresy was executed? When you later find out that he went through the same shit, it just hits on a diffrent level. Cause back then i was thinking that it's not really in character for Serpico to save a random boy but knowing his backstory it makes perfect sense and makes it so good looking back.
Probably had the best circumstances for watching this video. There barely ever snows in my city, but for some reason, today was the biggest snowfall I've ever seen, so I had the whole day off basically, just grabbed a hot drink, and marathoned this monster of a video. Well done, good sir, made my day
This was a tasty appetizer, looking forward to the main coarse
so hyped for the new part to come! helps a lot for someone new to the series with comprehension issues this is amazing, thank you!
Man thank you for this content man 🙏🏽
I love Berserk whole heartedly and your videos, your presentation makes me fall in love with the story all over again. Top notch video yet again.
Mr. Loli, thank you for this, even though I already completed berserk, I still love watching these videos. Thank you.
Happy to see you cover the "Sword of the Berserk" Dreamcast game. Funny it was the first Berserk medium to come to the U.S. iirc. And yeah, I consider it canon anyway as both Miura himself wrote the plot set between those arcs you mentioned, and the fact that it doesn't contradict much of the manga at all in my opinion. 🥰
Dude im so glad that i found your channel! So much passion in this content.
Greetings from Germany
See i dont really find the Berserker Armor to be a problem.
It just seems like a natural evolution for Guts.
I mean, the guy had pretty much much reached his mental and physical limit at this point.
There is no way, no matter how tough, how strong, how iron willed Guts is, that he was going to be able to even hope to defeat The Godhand or the upper echelon of Apostles.
I did like how he was able to get so strong on his own and be a force just as a regular human, kinda like Batman.
But you can't hope to kill Gods with a with just sheer will and brute force.
Also i kind of like how his new friends act like a mental armor for Guts, while the Berserker armor "protects" him physically.
And by the way, i said this in a live chat the other day to you, thank you so much for showing me how awesome Berserk is.
I initially started off watching the 1997 anime on TH-cam, and only really gave it a chance because i knew how much it inspired FromSoftware games.
But after finishing that anime and now having watched all of your videos on Berserk i can definitely say it is one of my favorite things ive ever got to experience.
I absolutely love Guts and the story is just incredible, it's VERY rare that i have ever cried at any piece of media.
Hell it's happened maybe only about a dozen times in the 22 years ive been alive.
And anything than can make me care that much, and invoke that much emotion from me, is forever immortalised in me.
So thank you once again man, you've just made me a Berserk lover for life.
I love these videos so damn much, but shrike, quill-photh, & aposTHle are giving me a category 69 migraine
Thank you for working so hard to put this out so quickly, especially through all of the shit you’ve had going on the past month or two. You’re a true Floridian hero
Thank you for this content! It's around 6 AM now, but this was well worth it. I finished the manga a while back and this is a great way to revisit the story for the second time.
Oh dude you're just in time as I wanted to revisit this great manga and you did your job great! Waiting for the 2nd act! Daym that shit is good. Berserk is a masterpiece. Thank you Miura.
I've never read Beserk but your videos really fill that empty part of me to actually read it when I couldn't
You know Loli, when you dedicate your time in a passion project, you stay dedicated, this video is like 4 hours and it’s only the first half, your content is so heavily underrated.
I know these take a TON of work, and I really want more... I'd like to express my thanks for a property that I really didn't know very much about outside of something I watched when I was much younger. Berserk has always been that thing from my childhood that I rented that I absolutely should not have watched. I'm older now and your reading has given so much context to it. I eagerly await the next installment
I love the Ancestor Spirit theme you put in, great choice.
This is an amazing analysis.
It might almost be what the material deserves.
Well done sir. I salute you.