Schierke taking meaningful action to try and locate Casca. That's in-character and feasible within the laws of the world right?
Remembering Casca's existence and trying to locate her seems like it would be in character for Schierke, sure. However the way it's portrayed and explained is not convincing as far as the magical framework of the series goes
(I go over it briefly here). There are several mistakes in the scene, and beyond that is the question of whether Schierke could track someone's Od halfway across the world in such a manner while the Great Gurus doze off.
As you noted yourself, her explanation about gathering people's consciousness feels like a transparent excuse for the attack and not something with any real basis in the rules of magic as established. In short, I don't think Miura would have done things like that. I also don't think a fancy ritual was necessary to figure out where Griffith headed back to, as previously noted in the thread.
Tying Guts' complete failure to touch Griffith back to the Beast of Darkness struggle. Yes, they're not very good at depicting Guts' emotions right now and are basically avoiding writing him at all. But at a high level, I would expect this plot point to be resuming now, Miura or otherwise, so it's good to see they're making the narrative connection.
Showing that the Beast of Darkness exists and factors in the equation is good, yes. But what's more important is getting the interactions right, which
really isn't the case here. I don't think there's value in just checking a box whenever a core element of the story shows up, as if featuring it at all was an achievement. What matters is for the scenes to be meaningful and consistent, and for the characters to develop, which doesn't happen here as you mention yourself. The beast is reduced to a caricature and even the dialogue they paraphrase from volume 26 isn't quite right (e.g. ゆだねよ).
The Kushan invasion clearly serves as a catalyst to tie the main cast into the story moving "east" with Griffith.
Ah yes, the great Kushan adventure everyone has been waiting for. Forget Casca and Falconia, we're going east! Do you think they'll just sail the other way around to globe to get there?
![Ivalera :iva: :iva:](/forum/styles/default/xenforo/smilies/berserk/Ivalera.gif)
Sorry, I'm kidding a bit, but personally I'm more guarded about what this will amount to. We'll see!
The art quality of the episode for the most part was pretty good. Compared to that first episode after publication resumed I feel it's night and day. Kurosaki (assuming he does the bulk of work) has come a long way and is still gaining confidence each release? Yes, it's unlikely there will ever be the sheer genius creativity Miura had in his conceptual thinking and panel composition ever again, but we knew that. The art is still way beyond most series out there.
Actually, for what it's worth, I thought it was quite bad for this episode compared to the previous one. But that's subjective I guess. Still, I don't think the art is "better than most series" unless we're scraping the bottom of the barrel. It's very detailed, for sure, as a remnant of Miura's art style. But that doesn't automatically make it good. This is art course 101 stuff.
Anyway, speaking for myself, the art isn't what I'm concerned about at all. I have no expectations in that regard, but by extension it's also not something that, by itself, can bring me any satisfaction. There's a lot of nice fan art of Berserk out there, including some nicer than this. I can't speak for others, but it's the story elements from Miura that I personally care about from this endeavor.
For every episode of this continuation so far what I've seen is a heartfelt attempt by the team to do their absolute best to continue their mentor's work, but with the impossible task of matching the writing of a once-in-a-generation genius.
Doing one's best isn't a substitute for doing a good job. Personally, I care about the result on the page and what it means for Berserk and Miura's legacy. And I can't say that it's good.
The woman who "fixed" the Christ painting was also doing her best.
I saw some prior points that people thought Kurosaki was "disrespecting" Miura in a tweet but from what I've seen that tweet existed solely to show how grateful they are to Mori. Have any Japanese fans interpreted it as disrespectful?
It's a bit weird to be bringing that up 2 months later and in a different thread, but that might explain why you're missing the point. Yes, that tweet is disrespectful towards Miura, including in Japanese, and that's because it's not his tone that's the issue but the content of what he says: that "Miura was nothing more than a coauthor for Berserk". That's disrespectful in any language because it's a falsehood, and the fact it was a hyperbole and that he was just sucking up to Mori isn't an excuse at all. It's rewriting history to try and appear more legitimate, which is distasteful. That doesn't mean Kurosaki is evil at heart, but words have meaning and what people say matters.
You may then ask "then well why do it?" Because they knew otherwise they'd leave the world with an eternal "What if?" "What if Studio Gaga had done a continuation? Could they have pulled it off?" We live in the timeline where we get to find out that answer, and I'm glad. And in the end if everyone agrees "this wasn't a good way to end Berserk" - so be it. Miura's legacy will be eternal regardless of how good this continuation turns out to be. But at least we'll have an answer.
I mean, to each their own, but I get no satisfaction from getting the answer "no" to the question "would this do Berserk justice?" I would have taken Mori at this word had he said that he didn't feel it would meet Miura's standards for the series, and preferred to go for another less risky format. Choices were made and it wasn't just "do I reveal what I know or not?"
As for what consequences it will have on Miura's legacy, that's an open question. To say nothing negative can possibly come out of this project would be delusional and has already been proven wrong as far as I'm concerned. This is really more a matter of what someone is personally willing to accept and overlook. Clearly it doesn't bother you... Good for you! But as you can see, that's not everyone's case.
I think you guys are reading the new chapters wrong. The fine details and life that Miura's hand granted to the pages is gone. Expecting the same will lead to nothing but disappointment.
You should read them like this:
-Guts is at his lowest point
-Kushan arrive
I get the point you're trying to make (and which I've myself made many times since the project was announced), but this is a discussion thread dedicated to this specific episode, on a discussion forum dedicated to Berserk. Guts has been "at his lowest point" for 5 episodes now, so by this logic there's simply nothing to say about episode 373 save for "Kushans, I guess?
![Judo Shrug :shrug: :shrug:](/forum/styles/default/xenforo/smilies/berserk/judo-shrug.gif)
"... In which case I would direct you to
my first reaction to it, where it's not clear to me whether it's worthwhile to follow the continuation like this.
It's a real take that I agree with, but any actual discussion requires looking at the details, otherwise there's nothing to say. Variations of "the art's getting better at least" and "could be worse", aside from being debatable, aren't enough to sustain a conversation.