Berserk

>>160105434
Having just finished Conviction for the first time, I don't know how anyone could call that the best when most of it feels like filler up until the end.

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>>160105680
Do you even know what filler means?

>>160105680
I'm on Lost Children and I'm really enjoying it.
I missed edgy Guts hunting down apostles.

>>160105729
Yeah, which is exactly what the Lost Children garbage was.

>>160105813
How was it filler though?

Do you consider everything that isn't about Guts vs Griffith to be filler?

>>160105867
It has essentially no impact on the story. You could skip it and not miss anything.

>>160105867
>>160105907
Regardless if you guys consider it to be filler or not, that doesn't change the fact that it is just straight up not good.

It is a tie between the Golden Age Arc and the Falcon of the Millenium Empire Arc for me.

>>160105907
But what has an impact on the story in your eyes then? In fact what in your mind is the story of Berserk if not a man fighting supernatural forces?

I'm honestly baffled by this.

Does 1997 pick up at all? I'm 8 episodes in and wanna drop it honestly. Should I continue and then watch the movies? Or just skip both in favor of Redux. I've already read it all.

>>160105961
Saving Caska and going after God Hand.

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>>160105985
Depends on what you define by "pick up." What exactly do you not like?

But yeah the movies might be up your alley in that case. They look better for one. Except for the first, that one's shit.

>>160106011
>saving Casca

You do realise that Casca is barely even a character in her own right at this point, and purely motivation for Guts?

This was never Casca's story. It was always Guts' story and maybe Griffith's. If you don't like that then Berserk is not for you.

>>160106122
Not an argument

>>160106075
The development isn't nearly as good as the manga (as to be expected) so the whole cast feels kind of boring in the anime. Not to mention the fights aren't anything spectacular either so really the only thing I like about 1997 so far is the OST.

>>160106247
Then watch the films. Way better character development and fights.

>>160106396
Cool I'll do that then, thanks

>>160105813
It is not really filler though. Everything Guts does as the black swordsmen is essetntially superfluous since he is just going around, killing apostles and could have been skipped entirely but it is important to show it in order for us to empathise with Guts and understand him. The events of the Lost Children arc are leading up to Guts realization that it was wrong to just leave Caska behind. Btw something being filler is not automatically a bad thing either.

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>>160106463
I honestly love Guts not having Casca around. Or Griffith.

I never felt anything for either of those two characters and I feel like they ruined everything they touched. Griffith is just a faggot and I don't like romance so I automatically don't like Casca.

Lost Children is the patrician's choice.

>>160106463
>Btw something being filler is not automatically a bad thing either.

obviously, but most filler is

>>160106692
Agreed tbqh

Rosine is one of the best Berserk villains simply because it's fucking cool to see the power of an apostle being used by a literal child. Parts of that arc really made my asshole clench in fear.

>>160106463
>Guts realization that it was wrong to just leave Caska behind
Only because Rickert and the retarded girl fucked the job up.
You know why Guts could protect Caska after Godoh's shitty basement got destroyed? Yeah that's right by hunting Apostles and leveling up like crazy.
You know how Guts found an alternative to Godoh's shitty basement after it got destroyed? Yeah that's right, by finding an elf while hunting Apostles.
You know what Guts would've achieved by staying behind babysitting Caska? Clinical depression.

>>160106982
>You know what Guts would've achieved by staying behind babysitting Caska? Clinical depression.

This.
In my opinion she's not even his responsibility. I wouldn't fault a parent for giving a retarded kid up for adoption, and I can't fault Guts either. I'd have left her too in that situation.

Plus Casca wanted to leave Griffith after he was tortured so it's a kind of poetic justice.

>>160105680
Most of conviction is the tower arc which cannot be called filler. It's how Griffith gets reincarnated, how gutts' child dies, how guts' party starts.

>>160105434
Most people on /a/ and elsewhere say that they like the golden age the best. That is the standard opinion.

For me the holy iron chain Knights/the tower arc is hands down the best part of berserk. The ever upping of the ante in the tower, the sense of ever more exciting climax it's just incredible, it's fucking peerless and unmatched in all of manga. Everything from when casca is about to get tortured up until the end of the arc just KEEPS increasing the tension and excitement and sense of urgency. It's fucking exhilarating. For like 2 or 2.5 straight volumes they keep on hoping the ante. No where else is that monotonically increasing tension and excitement , edge of your seat thrill maintained. Incredible structure.
Thematically extremely satisfying to see the take on medieval organised religion as well. Great characters, great bosses, great action, great side character arcs (curly haired prostitute, straight haired prostitute) . Mwah.

>>160105936
Nah lost children is a high tier berserk arc. Not as good as the rest of conviction or the golden age but better than the rest.

>>160105985
none of them do the manga so just read the manga.

Don't complain about watching shitty anime when you could just read the manga.

>>160107235
I already said I read it

>>160106463
Also it is signifucant to properly show guts hunting down and killing apostles. He becomes known as the black swordsman meaning he must actually have been travelling around and killing enough apostles that word gets around. And the audience would not feel the WEIGHT of his struggling if just skipped straight from Griffith event to Griffith event.

The audience benefits from wading through the same brutality guts does as he seeks revenge. It builds pathos.

Berserk would be a more superficial manga if after the eclipse it just showed guts picking up the dragon slayer and saying "I swear I will kill those apostles!" Then the very next chapter it said "2 years later" and showed guts returning back to ricket and finding out casca' gone missing

SAY HOW DOES THE PASSAGE OF DREAMS WORK AGAIN

THAT'S A FUNNY TITLE PASSAGE OF DREAMS

IT IMPLIES THAT CASCA IS GOING THROUGH A SERIES OF DREAMS TO REGAIN HERSELF

WHAT DO YOU THINK THE DREAMS ARE ABOUT

>>160105434
Golden Age

>>160106982
>>160107064
The point is that Guts does not really see it that way. He wants to be with Casca, but he ran away instead of confronting his problems. Regardless of what you think of his decision regarding Casca the Lost Children Arc leading to him changing his mind is character development for the mc and therefore not filler, which was the original point.

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I'll protect you.

I will always protect you.

The dream will not end.

Not until you will it.

>>160107482
Exactly, if you cut out all the details that are technically not necessary or "filler" the series itself would feel meaningless, nothing more than a wikipedia article.

>>160107655
He wants revenge too, so that's not just running away.

>>160107786
He's running away from death, that much is made clear from the beginning.

By the way any chance I can get my hands on good translations of the first few chapters of the series? Madokami is letting me down

>>160107655
I'm only at the Lost Children arc so I gotta ask: how much Casca/Guts romance is there after they re-unite? And how big of a role does Casca play in general?

I feel like I might lose interest if it's a huge thing and I want to be prepared for that.

>>160105434
Everything will be wong until Guts puts his grasses on

>>160108141
Have glasses actually been invented in the Berserk universe? I can't remember.

>>160108170
There is actually an argument to be made that Guts is just mentally traumatized, but being that Berserk is set in a medieval time, it's "demons" and "possession" all the way down.

Not having access to Psychiatrists is a bitch

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Golden Age is the objective correct answer, but Lost Children has some of the best "my god...this shit is fuuuuuuucked...." moments of the whole series.

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One day the light of love

Though it may seem far away

Will Shine Again in your eyes

>>160105434
Lost children for me. Never knew that people on here considered it filler which is weird. Tower of conviction has good characters but it won't make my top 3 for story arcs. Hookers are total bros unless they are into satanism.

>>160108244
That would actually make sense.
And Griffith suffers from histrionic personality disorder.

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Lost Children.

This page is worth the entire arc.

>>160108288
>Golden Age is the objective correct answer, but Lost Children has some of the best "my god...this shit is fuuuuuuucked...." moments of the whole series.

Yeah, Lost Children had that perfect balance of ordinary fantasy and disturbing content. That's why so many people think it's the best Berserk arc; Berserk is all about that uncanny valley between ordinary and terror. It's kind of lost that aspect since the boat unfortunately.

>>160108520
Lost Children reminded me of Junji Ito.

The trees, insect hybrids and the cocoons look like something he would have created.

>>160108500
Yeah I'm looking into the series(long story) - the beginning segment where Guts hitches a ride with the Priest hints at post traumatic stress disorder coupled with dementia. Because of rape.

Note that Guts fights off an "incubus" when hitching a ride with the priest

Now, Guts WAS raped, we know this... but there's a gender component to Berserk lying under the surface. I'd say more but I have to actually analyze Berserk more in depth and if you think taking the events as they are straight up is hard, OH MAN is reading more into them harder.

>>160108758
>there's a gender component to Berserk lying under the surface.

What do you mean by this? I'm genuinely curious. I know sexual trauma is a huge driving force for Guts, Griffith and Casca, but what do you mean by "gender"?

>>160108836
Well - notion of miscarriage, notions of "being a woman in a medieval world isn't really that great." We know that Guts' demons tell him they own him - but when we extend the notion of the demons simply being psychosis, then we can start to view the imagery we see in different ways.

The priest's daughter, for example, is stabbed in the abdomen - right around the womb. The "mark of sacrifice" that brands Guts as doomed in his role - it bleeds.

See what I'm saying?

Give me a couple of days Anon - I'm working on a big mystery of a kind, and Berserk plays a crucial role.

>>160107841
I don't know if at that point cascas mental state has been revealed yet or not, but there's no romance.

I really hate post eclipse casca

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Lost Children is fucking kino, Punished Guts is so much more entertaining. No magcuffins, no lolmagic, just batshit insane and unpredictable murder machine fueled by pure hate.

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>>160109478
That's pretty cool, anon. I'm looking forward to your big mystery.

I'm more interested in the sexual symbolism in Griffith's story though. I mean, I have a theory that every single thing he does after meeting Guts is a direct result of Griffith's impaired psychosexual development, and I have evidence to back this up.

>>160109521
Thanks for letting me know, anon. I know she's retarded. I just don't want the story to be taken over by romance, much less with a retard.

>>160109708
That you do!

I have to catch up with Berserk myself - I JUST got past the Count and the first apperance(chapter wise) of the Godhand. If I find anything big I'll post em in these threads - you seem to be looking at similiar stuff like I am

>>160109831
You've got a lot of good shit still coming for that big mystery of yours. Keep reading my dude.

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>>160109583
Thank you.
Punished Guts >>>>>>> Daddy Guts.

>>160109831
That's like 10 minutes in to the first chapter. You should leave the threads for a while, no?

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>>160109583
I don't think there is an argument to be made against Lost Children being the best arc in the series. It has by far some of the most visceral action sequences in comic book history.

Also, the Winter Journey arc is underappreciated. It's Guts hitting rock bottom again, and, for how short it is, it hits like a freight train.

>>160107482
I agree. It's why I liked the encounter with the Black Dogs - Guts spent a year at Godo's training to fight monsters in case he ran into something like Zodd again, and the hard work pays off when he takes down Wyald (plus he learns the weakness all Apostles seem to share).

Some think it lessens the impact of the Eclipse, but I think of it as the last shining moment for Guts and the Hawks before things go down the drain again.

>>160110485
It's more of a reread for the thematics and imagery, Anon.

ER I MEAN

I SURE HOPE NOTHING BAD HAPPENS TO THESE LOVEABLE ROGUES CALLED THE BAND OF HAWKS

Berserk was and will always be greatness

There is no best arc

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>>160110562

I loved Wyald. Pretty pissed that every Berserk adaptation chose to exclude him.

I also fucking love this scene. Something about the public humiliation just hits me like a ton of bricks. Imagine how much it must have hurt Griffith to have his men (especially Guts) see him like that.

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>>160110562
>>160111838
Wyald is a great fight. Feels good to see Guts' hard work pay off.

>>160112038
>Casca running around half-naked, watching in wonder as her man wrestles with a giant rape demon

I love my male power fantasies desu