Well, as we expected after the last episode, Silat is now the leader of the Kushan empire. Not just that, but he plans to fight Falconia's forces head-on. I can't emphasize enough how much of a departure this is from what Miura had set up. We were told there weren't battles between humans anymore in this new world, and that no country remained functional besides Falconia. The remnants of Ganishka's armies had been incorporated by the Band of the Falcon, and Silat's plan was to hole up in the Bakiraka's old mountain hideout, located in a nigh impregnable spot somewhere in the Western countries.
The scenario we're presented with here goes directly against all of that and more. I know I shouldn't be surprised anymore at this point, but it's still disappointing after all their promises. It also feels quite disrespectful towards Miura himself, given that this project was supposed to be faithful to his vision. I guess a positive aspect of this episode is that we're moving along at a decent pace. By now I've resigned myself to the fact the continuation won't tell us much of anything about what Miura had planned, except maybe in its final moments, so it's become an exercise in endurance. Just got to wait it out, and the less of it there is, the better.
Only two things of import occur in this episode: Schierke reappears to help Guts, and Silat reveals a battle is coming. The rest is busywork to fill up pages. Leaving it at that wouldn't be very fun though, would it? So I will go over each segment and give my impressions.
The color illustration
The episode opens with a color illustration showing Guts and Puck overlooking the city. It's fine for what it is, but it's worth noting that it's pure fiction even within the continuation itself, which is a bit odd even for a project chock full of oddities. Taking artistic liberties is fine but there's a point where it diverges so much it becomes weird. The last one was also like that, it showed Sonia and Erika having a stroll with the group in Elfhelm. I guess these are essentially just marketing material and not meant to be viewed as part of the story. Not sure it's the best use of resources, but what do I know.
A word on the city, which we see is sprawling and shows no sign of having been impacted by Fantasia. It also has the wrong architecture. Like people mentioned in the previous thread, it's based on Constantinople (or at least its main structure is based on the Hagia Sophia), while Berserk's Kushans were always clearly inspired by mythological India. Just one more strange choice (and departure from Miura's vision) to add to the list.
The title is of the usual clunky sort ("Rippling water surface and shadow of war fire"), nothing new except it's always striking to me how different these are from Miura's own titles. I just wonder what the reasoning is for them, if there is one. Clearly whoever's writing them isn't trying to emulate Miura's style at all.
Guts & Schierke
The opening shows Guts caught in an astral stream of sorts, as if he were in his body of light. Then Schierke materializes out of thin air, yet has the "umbilical cord" that attaches her to her corporeal body, which makes no sense. That tether is vital and limits how she can move, so appearing and disappearing like that completely misses the point of it. Anyway, she grabs his finger and then he's seemingly awake in the real world.
This is a puzzling sequence. It's clearly based on past instances of Schierke pulling Guts' ego out of the armor's influence, but is applied to... what exactly? His crippling depression? My first guess upon seeing this is that she came back from Falconia through the World Tree and either tries to lead him there to see Casca or shows him something about her, which will be the spark to get him out of his current condition. Now because he seemingly wakes up right away in the cell, one might think Schierke didn't succeed and will have to try again. That's one possibility. Another is that she already did everything but we'll only see it in the next episode, basically like what they did with the Kushan attack of the Sea Horse. Regardless of how they do it, it seems a foregone conclusion that it's how he'll get out of his rut.
Why is Guts locked up?
We cut to Rickert protesting to Silat about Guts' treatment. On its face, it doesn't make sense to keep Guts in a dungeon cell given that he's catatonic, especially without the armor on. Shouldn't he rather be in a hospital? This echoes Roderick's weird frenzy about Guts on the ship, which made no sense at the time... but at least then he was wearing the armor.
Beyond that, even the idea that Guts is specifically dangerous because of the armor isn't something Silat should know. Daiba faced him in Vritannis, but he didn't know how the armor worked. He recognized that Guts was using "the power of madness", but from his perspective the group worked together and outsmarted him. It's not from his "fortune-telling" either, since it just said a "chained beast" would come (so they brought chains aboard, which still makes no sense). Speaking of, I don't expect that newfound ability to ever be mentioned again.
As for Silat himself, he only ever experienced Guts as a coolheaded warrior. By the way, referring to him as the Black Swordsman doesn't make sense, like I mentioned in the last episode thread. Silat has no way of knowing that nickname, whereas after their battle in volume 9, he pointedly asked him his name and said he would remember it. He does finally acknowledge it here, but that's how he should have been calling him from the beginning. Anyway, Silat just tells Rickert that he knows about Guts and how dangerous he is, and locking him up is for the best. Given that everyone else is free, I guess it's assumed they're harmless? This says a lot about whoever's writing these episodes and how they perceive the characters (all useless except Guts).
Perfunctory worry about Schierke
There's some trepidation about Schierke's state, which is amusing given the situation. She started her ritual in a room with a giant sigil on the floor, incense burners with runes at the cardinal points, and we were told her ritual required everybody's consciousness to be with her (evocative of Son Goku's Genki Dama). Since then they've moved her to a completely different location, and while some of the people from the ship are back in the same room as her, they were transported there separately. The ritual as it was established has been completely and utterly disrupted. But of course, none of that matters at all, and Ivalera's worry is just the team going through the motions and filling up pages.
Side note: They keep saying Schierke went "too deep" in the astral world, but that doesn't really make sense. Wasn't she looking for Casca? Then shouldn't she have rather gone far across the globe (in corporeal world terms), not deep into the World Tree? That's its own challenge and I'm not sure it'd be really feasible in a body of light, but they did say she was trying to find Casca... I'm curious about whether her ritual will yield something beyond just that.
Retconning Daiba
On the topic of things that don't matter: Silat's meaningless comments about the island, which are only notable in that they make him sound like he doesn't know the world has dramatically changed (while he had a frontrow seat at the epicenter when Ganishka was split open). More significant is Daiba's portrayal. He suddenly knows about astral projection and understands that Schierke can keep Guts sane when he's using the armor. This is stuff he had no idea about until this episode. He was puzzled by Schierke's magic in Vritannis and perceived it as a different form of magic altogether, whereas she figured out what he was doing once she saw the Kundalini, and that's how he was beat. The continuation team "retconned" his abilities to give him a new stature.
It's too bad, because what made Daiba a great character in Berserk is that he's cunning and quite capable despite only having a partial understanding of magic compared to someone like Schierke. One might deride him as a glorified snake charmer, but he's gotten a lot of value out of his skills, including against a major apostle like Rakshas when he uses rats and snakes to save Erika. This resourcefulness is what made him interesting to me, and I looked forward to what new tricks he'd pull out of his basket further down the line. Whatever Miura had in store for him isn't going to happen anymore, obviously, so the question now is what will they be doing with him.
Daiba & Skellig's magic users
My guess is... not a whole lot. As expected, he's taking charge of the island's magic users, who have been reduced to mere shadows of themselves. It could have been worse: they weren't thoroughly humiliated, merely placed under his authority without any agency. It's still an absolute travesty that someone like Daiba would be put on the same level as the Great Gurus (somewhat symbolized by him sitting among them), but I've long since made my peace with the fact they wouldn't play any major part in the Continuation. An ever-depressing realization, given what Miura had teased about them.
Maybe they'll be used to cast the formation of the four cardinal points during a big battle or something stupid like that. Or who knows, they'll be used to control some Pishacha like low level Kushan casters, nevermind the fact Ganishka is dead.
That would be insane but I can't just disregard the possibility at this point. Of course the same goes for Daiba himself. They might have him use rats again, or if they're crazy they'll just get him a new Kundalini (ugh). Anything else, anything novel, would be very interesting as it could be from Miura, but I'm not holding my breath.
Speaking of the Kundalini, in this episode they have Daiba say he fought the group "on equal terms", while the truth is he was beaten and barely survived, then Ganishka himself appeared and was beaten too. Way to rewrite history. He also says the Daka and Pishacha were the Kushan army's main force, but that's not true at all. They were a special corps that he commanded, but the main force was the gigantic human army that attacked Vritannis the next day, led by Ganishka in person. This is all very clear in the story so it's a weird mistake to make.
It's worth noting that Daiba is shown coveting Guts' power here, and seems to have taken charge of the magicians partly so he could use him as a pawn. Will that plot thread go anywhere? I'm not holding my breath.
Hanarr lives!
Of note in the wide angle shot when they arrive in Schierke's room is the fact we see Hanarr is alive and well, standing between the Volvaba and Ged's goat (lol). We'd pondered whether that would be the case, and it's now confirmed that he's the 3rd survivor (no G-Virus in sight though) alongside Puck & Ivalera. Needless to say, his survival makes no more sense than theirs in a context where every other elf vanished, including the Merrows who had nothing to do with the island. Hanarr only remains because he's a named character, and the logical deduction is that he'll have something important to do, like tweak the berserk's armor or the Dragon Slayer.
Will it actually happen? I would say it's likely but, like for the Great Gurus, I'm personally very cautious with my expectations here. It'll be great if we see something novel that might have come from Miura, but given how the Continuation has gone so far, a blatant rehash of a past scene is a clear possibility. Repeating past stuff has been the team's modus operandi from the beginning and it's become hard to ignore at this point, even for small stuff like Yoni randomly eating an apple (because he had an apple in that one scene in episode 360).
Silat & Roderick
Roderick runs after Silat to ask him what will be expected of them in exchange for guaranteeing their safety. Silat shuts him down, telling him they're just refugees now and their journey is over. All that's asked is they respect the local customs and follow the law. I've seen a few posts acting as if Silat gives an explanation for how the ship got there, but he doesn't. He says their ship was carried there by "rough seas" or "raging waves", but the Japanese word used (荒波) also means "hardships". It's just an attempt at wordplay while telling Roderick to leave him alone, not something delivered like an explanation. As I mentioned for the previous episode, there is no viable explanation for how they got displaced halfway across the world, and I don't think it will be addressed in the future.
Anyway, after that exchange, Daiba convinces Silat that these people have something to offer. He makes mentions of the changes the world has undergone (finally an acknowledgement of Fantasia!) and namedrops causality, essentially saying they were brought together or a reason. I've got a couple of remarks here. The first is that Daiba had never mentioned causality before and it feels unnatural for him to talk about it like that. I guess it's part of his retcon package, but it stuck out to me so I wanted to mention it.
The second thing is that I find it hard to believe Silat would have dismissed these people as unimportant, mere refugees with no bigger role to play. He took extraordinary action to capture the Sea Horse as soon as it showed up, it's filled with magicians and a group of people who defeated not only Daiba but Ganishka (granted, with Zodd's help), they've had direct contact with his enemy... and if anything, Guts' mere presence should have gotten him curious. Now I know this is somewhat pointless to dwell on because the entire situation (Silat as leader of the Kushan empire) is nonsensical, but I feel like I have to point out that even within the specific context of the Continuation his portrayal is inconsistent from one scene to the next.
Rickert & Puck
There have been a lot of comments on the encounter between Puck and Rickert and for good reason. Puck is not only depicted as if he doesn't remember who Rickert is, but also literally turns his head and ignores him when he asks about Casca. It's just mindboggling. Puck remembered Rickert in volume 17, after not having seen him for over two years. It's been less time than that since they parted in volume 22. And for him to just not acknowledge a question about Guts or Casca is just... well, it's not like him at all.
As I mentioned earlier in the thread, this was done as a way to avoid any meaningful interaction between them, so it'd be useless to try and rationalize it. It's just presented as fact that Puck forgets people or events, even though that never actually happens in the series. There's only one occurrence when he forgot about Magnifico's harebrained plan to overtake Elfhelm in volume 39, but he immediately remembers it when prompted.
Anyway, this was sadly not a big surprise. Puck's depiction in the Continuation has been abysmal almost from the get-go, with him not reacting to his hometown (and his brothers) being destroyed, to Guts' or Casca's situation, or really to much of anything. And to be clear, to not show him reacting would be one thing, but to show him explicitly not reacting, meaning staring blank-faced like a psychopath, is another entirely. Elves are innately empathic and it is simply diametrically opposed to what has defined his character since volume 1.
Another perplexing thing in this scene is Rickert's immediate deduction that Griffith must be behind Casca's absence and Guts' state. Not that it matters but it could be due to literally anything else and he doesn't have any explicit reason to conclude it's Griffith's fault. Even better is him wondering why oh why would Griffith do something like this. Yeah I mean he's such an upstanding guy, right? Why would he do bad things to Guts and Casca, it's really unthinkable!
No one mentioned this, but Erika is strangely nowhere to be seen. Does she still exist? Will she play any role beyond showing up as a background character? It's anyone's guess.
Watch out Griffith, the Kushans are coming!
And now we finally get to the episode's big reveal: Silat is amassing troops to wage war against Griffith and Falconia. To punctuate this revelation, we're shown a big illustration with Sonia at the foreground, smiling at the reader. Not exactly a fearsome depiction of the Band of the Falcon.
Silat says that Griffith is exterminating astral creatures partly because they pose a threat to him due to their nature as "beings outside of his own principles". This is a rather clumsy way to word it, as these aren't Griffith's principles. What was said previously (in this case by SK in volume 28) was that "The Falcon is now something that is outside the principles of the corporeal world. There is not a single one who threatens him in the human world. It's like if a character in a tale defied its creator, it can never happen."
Still, it's an interesting tidbit that confirms something I've thought for a long time, so I got to wonder whether it's something Mori might have gotten from Miura. Unfortunately, it's immediately taken in a stupid direction, with Silat saying it's why the Elf Island was destroyed (Then why was he skeptical earlier? Why did he dismiss these people at first?) and that they (the Kushans) are the next target (that's what Griffith's "East" comment was about in episode 372). That makes me think the team just copied that talk from volume 28 without giving it much thought.
One thing I have to point out is that the island wasn't destroyed by Griffith, but by an unknown phenomenon (well, it really was just copied from volume 21) that appeared out of nowhere and disappeared without explanation once the deed was done. It's safe to assume Griffith's presence provoked it in some way, but he's not shown doing anything or even acknowledging it. This really feels to me like Mori & team are trying to have their cake and eat it too, with Griffith being responsible without having taken any action. It's nothing new, except I guess that it confirms the "gnawers" were just a plot device pulled out of a hat to destroy the island. Did Miura even plan for it to be destroyed? Honestly I've never been less sure of it.
This time it's different... or not
As for the Kushans being next... Really, Silat? You and a bunch of regular-ass Kushan soldiers are "outside of the principles of the world" and therefore a danger to Griffith? Since when? The Bakiraka could never lay a hand on Griffith (not in St Albion, not in Shet), and Silat saw first hand that "no arrow can pierce him". He's got absolutely no reason to be confident here. Furthermore, gathering a Kushan army to go against Griffith.... I mean... It's been tried before, you know? And it failed miserably.
Ganishka had more men, he had demon troops, and hell, Silat and the Bakiraka themselves were working for him. On top of that he moved early, before Femto was even incarnated, and still he lost utterly. In fact his sole purpose for existing was to lose, to transform himself out of desperation, and to get popped like a balloon. Ganishka and the Kushan empire were very much within the principles of the corporeal world, they were straight up pawns that played their part in the grand plan with clockwork precision.
The truth is, the real Silat as depicted by Miura would never do any of this, but I feel silly saying it because this entire situation wouldn't exist to begin with. Silat wouldn't be leading the Kushan empire and the Kushan empire wouldn't exist anymore, having been ravaged like the rest of the world when Fantasia came to be. A city like the one depicted here should be in ruins, with monsters roaming around (if not trolls and harpies, then Naga, Preta or Karura) while the few hypothetical survivors would struggle to make it one day to the next.
Honestly, creating a Kushan equivalent of Falconia so that the two factions can have a big battle just feels so unimaginative... Is this really what they decided to do the Continuation for? They're going against everything Miura had set up, only to serve us rehashed events. Way to honor his memory...
Preemptive apostle attack?
Needless to say, a full frontal battle doesn't make sense to me in this context. Griffith's apostles could tear through any human army, and while the Bakiraka are formidable fighters, they're not suited for standard warfare and still wouldn't be a match for apostles in a regular fight. Daiba's abilities are too limited (unless he's somehow become superpowered), Skellig's magicians are powerless, and astral creatures have been shown to not pose too much of a threat to the demon soldiers either.
We'll see how it goes but honestly, it seems likely to me that a group of apostles will lead a preemptive attack on the Kushans, sending them in disarray, and that Guts will step in to save the day. It's the perfect opportunity for his comeback. How that will be portrayed remains to be seen. I still expect a rehash of the Guts vs Grunbeld fight, and knowing these guys, they might repeat the Rakshas fight as well... that is, unless they decide to pretend he died when Rickert escaped. Once that's out of the way, the path should be mostly clear for the final confrontation.
There's a bunch of things that remain to be addressed however, starting with Casca. I think Miura intended for her to escape by her own means, finding help with Luka's group (girl power!) and probably having an encounter with Charlotte and possibly Sonia, which might have opened their eyes a tiny little bit. That would have been a way for her to reclaim her agency and settle her problems on her own before being reunited with Guts. I don't expect a hundredth of what was planned to be featured in the Continuation, but they'll still need to address her situation at some point.
There's also the matter of the God Hand as well as unresolved elements like the Skull Knight's backstory. When or how that is addressed – or whether it will be at all – is anyone's guess. Either way, the Continuation is now on a clear trajectory towards the ending, with seemingly only a few more stops along the way.
The scenario we're presented with here goes directly against all of that and more. I know I shouldn't be surprised anymore at this point, but it's still disappointing after all their promises. It also feels quite disrespectful towards Miura himself, given that this project was supposed to be faithful to his vision. I guess a positive aspect of this episode is that we're moving along at a decent pace. By now I've resigned myself to the fact the continuation won't tell us much of anything about what Miura had planned, except maybe in its final moments, so it's become an exercise in endurance. Just got to wait it out, and the less of it there is, the better.
Only two things of import occur in this episode: Schierke reappears to help Guts, and Silat reveals a battle is coming. The rest is busywork to fill up pages. Leaving it at that wouldn't be very fun though, would it? So I will go over each segment and give my impressions.
The color illustration
The episode opens with a color illustration showing Guts and Puck overlooking the city. It's fine for what it is, but it's worth noting that it's pure fiction even within the continuation itself, which is a bit odd even for a project chock full of oddities. Taking artistic liberties is fine but there's a point where it diverges so much it becomes weird. The last one was also like that, it showed Sonia and Erika having a stroll with the group in Elfhelm. I guess these are essentially just marketing material and not meant to be viewed as part of the story. Not sure it's the best use of resources, but what do I know.
A word on the city, which we see is sprawling and shows no sign of having been impacted by Fantasia. It also has the wrong architecture. Like people mentioned in the previous thread, it's based on Constantinople (or at least its main structure is based on the Hagia Sophia), while Berserk's Kushans were always clearly inspired by mythological India. Just one more strange choice (and departure from Miura's vision) to add to the list.
The title is of the usual clunky sort ("Rippling water surface and shadow of war fire"), nothing new except it's always striking to me how different these are from Miura's own titles. I just wonder what the reasoning is for them, if there is one. Clearly whoever's writing them isn't trying to emulate Miura's style at all.
Guts & Schierke
The opening shows Guts caught in an astral stream of sorts, as if he were in his body of light. Then Schierke materializes out of thin air, yet has the "umbilical cord" that attaches her to her corporeal body, which makes no sense. That tether is vital and limits how she can move, so appearing and disappearing like that completely misses the point of it. Anyway, she grabs his finger and then he's seemingly awake in the real world.
This is a puzzling sequence. It's clearly based on past instances of Schierke pulling Guts' ego out of the armor's influence, but is applied to... what exactly? His crippling depression? My first guess upon seeing this is that she came back from Falconia through the World Tree and either tries to lead him there to see Casca or shows him something about her, which will be the spark to get him out of his current condition. Now because he seemingly wakes up right away in the cell, one might think Schierke didn't succeed and will have to try again. That's one possibility. Another is that she already did everything but we'll only see it in the next episode, basically like what they did with the Kushan attack of the Sea Horse. Regardless of how they do it, it seems a foregone conclusion that it's how he'll get out of his rut.
Why is Guts locked up?
We cut to Rickert protesting to Silat about Guts' treatment. On its face, it doesn't make sense to keep Guts in a dungeon cell given that he's catatonic, especially without the armor on. Shouldn't he rather be in a hospital? This echoes Roderick's weird frenzy about Guts on the ship, which made no sense at the time... but at least then he was wearing the armor.
Beyond that, even the idea that Guts is specifically dangerous because of the armor isn't something Silat should know. Daiba faced him in Vritannis, but he didn't know how the armor worked. He recognized that Guts was using "the power of madness", but from his perspective the group worked together and outsmarted him. It's not from his "fortune-telling" either, since it just said a "chained beast" would come (so they brought chains aboard, which still makes no sense). Speaking of, I don't expect that newfound ability to ever be mentioned again.
As for Silat himself, he only ever experienced Guts as a coolheaded warrior. By the way, referring to him as the Black Swordsman doesn't make sense, like I mentioned in the last episode thread. Silat has no way of knowing that nickname, whereas after their battle in volume 9, he pointedly asked him his name and said he would remember it. He does finally acknowledge it here, but that's how he should have been calling him from the beginning. Anyway, Silat just tells Rickert that he knows about Guts and how dangerous he is, and locking him up is for the best. Given that everyone else is free, I guess it's assumed they're harmless? This says a lot about whoever's writing these episodes and how they perceive the characters (all useless except Guts).
Perfunctory worry about Schierke
There's some trepidation about Schierke's state, which is amusing given the situation. She started her ritual in a room with a giant sigil on the floor, incense burners with runes at the cardinal points, and we were told her ritual required everybody's consciousness to be with her (evocative of Son Goku's Genki Dama). Since then they've moved her to a completely different location, and while some of the people from the ship are back in the same room as her, they were transported there separately. The ritual as it was established has been completely and utterly disrupted. But of course, none of that matters at all, and Ivalera's worry is just the team going through the motions and filling up pages.
Side note: They keep saying Schierke went "too deep" in the astral world, but that doesn't really make sense. Wasn't she looking for Casca? Then shouldn't she have rather gone far across the globe (in corporeal world terms), not deep into the World Tree? That's its own challenge and I'm not sure it'd be really feasible in a body of light, but they did say she was trying to find Casca... I'm curious about whether her ritual will yield something beyond just that.
Retconning Daiba
On the topic of things that don't matter: Silat's meaningless comments about the island, which are only notable in that they make him sound like he doesn't know the world has dramatically changed (while he had a frontrow seat at the epicenter when Ganishka was split open). More significant is Daiba's portrayal. He suddenly knows about astral projection and understands that Schierke can keep Guts sane when he's using the armor. This is stuff he had no idea about until this episode. He was puzzled by Schierke's magic in Vritannis and perceived it as a different form of magic altogether, whereas she figured out what he was doing once she saw the Kundalini, and that's how he was beat. The continuation team "retconned" his abilities to give him a new stature.
It's too bad, because what made Daiba a great character in Berserk is that he's cunning and quite capable despite only having a partial understanding of magic compared to someone like Schierke. One might deride him as a glorified snake charmer, but he's gotten a lot of value out of his skills, including against a major apostle like Rakshas when he uses rats and snakes to save Erika. This resourcefulness is what made him interesting to me, and I looked forward to what new tricks he'd pull out of his basket further down the line. Whatever Miura had in store for him isn't going to happen anymore, obviously, so the question now is what will they be doing with him.
Daiba & Skellig's magic users
My guess is... not a whole lot. As expected, he's taking charge of the island's magic users, who have been reduced to mere shadows of themselves. It could have been worse: they weren't thoroughly humiliated, merely placed under his authority without any agency. It's still an absolute travesty that someone like Daiba would be put on the same level as the Great Gurus (somewhat symbolized by him sitting among them), but I've long since made my peace with the fact they wouldn't play any major part in the Continuation. An ever-depressing realization, given what Miura had teased about them.
Maybe they'll be used to cast the formation of the four cardinal points during a big battle or something stupid like that. Or who knows, they'll be used to control some Pishacha like low level Kushan casters, nevermind the fact Ganishka is dead.
Speaking of the Kundalini, in this episode they have Daiba say he fought the group "on equal terms", while the truth is he was beaten and barely survived, then Ganishka himself appeared and was beaten too. Way to rewrite history. He also says the Daka and Pishacha were the Kushan army's main force, but that's not true at all. They were a special corps that he commanded, but the main force was the gigantic human army that attacked Vritannis the next day, led by Ganishka in person. This is all very clear in the story so it's a weird mistake to make.
It's worth noting that Daiba is shown coveting Guts' power here, and seems to have taken charge of the magicians partly so he could use him as a pawn. Will that plot thread go anywhere? I'm not holding my breath.
Hanarr lives!
Of note in the wide angle shot when they arrive in Schierke's room is the fact we see Hanarr is alive and well, standing between the Volvaba and Ged's goat (lol). We'd pondered whether that would be the case, and it's now confirmed that he's the 3rd survivor (no G-Virus in sight though) alongside Puck & Ivalera. Needless to say, his survival makes no more sense than theirs in a context where every other elf vanished, including the Merrows who had nothing to do with the island. Hanarr only remains because he's a named character, and the logical deduction is that he'll have something important to do, like tweak the berserk's armor or the Dragon Slayer.
Will it actually happen? I would say it's likely but, like for the Great Gurus, I'm personally very cautious with my expectations here. It'll be great if we see something novel that might have come from Miura, but given how the Continuation has gone so far, a blatant rehash of a past scene is a clear possibility. Repeating past stuff has been the team's modus operandi from the beginning and it's become hard to ignore at this point, even for small stuff like Yoni randomly eating an apple (because he had an apple in that one scene in episode 360).
Silat & Roderick
Roderick runs after Silat to ask him what will be expected of them in exchange for guaranteeing their safety. Silat shuts him down, telling him they're just refugees now and their journey is over. All that's asked is they respect the local customs and follow the law. I've seen a few posts acting as if Silat gives an explanation for how the ship got there, but he doesn't. He says their ship was carried there by "rough seas" or "raging waves", but the Japanese word used (荒波) also means "hardships". It's just an attempt at wordplay while telling Roderick to leave him alone, not something delivered like an explanation. As I mentioned for the previous episode, there is no viable explanation for how they got displaced halfway across the world, and I don't think it will be addressed in the future.
Anyway, after that exchange, Daiba convinces Silat that these people have something to offer. He makes mentions of the changes the world has undergone (finally an acknowledgement of Fantasia!) and namedrops causality, essentially saying they were brought together or a reason. I've got a couple of remarks here. The first is that Daiba had never mentioned causality before and it feels unnatural for him to talk about it like that. I guess it's part of his retcon package, but it stuck out to me so I wanted to mention it.
The second thing is that I find it hard to believe Silat would have dismissed these people as unimportant, mere refugees with no bigger role to play. He took extraordinary action to capture the Sea Horse as soon as it showed up, it's filled with magicians and a group of people who defeated not only Daiba but Ganishka (granted, with Zodd's help), they've had direct contact with his enemy... and if anything, Guts' mere presence should have gotten him curious. Now I know this is somewhat pointless to dwell on because the entire situation (Silat as leader of the Kushan empire) is nonsensical, but I feel like I have to point out that even within the specific context of the Continuation his portrayal is inconsistent from one scene to the next.
Rickert & Puck
There have been a lot of comments on the encounter between Puck and Rickert and for good reason. Puck is not only depicted as if he doesn't remember who Rickert is, but also literally turns his head and ignores him when he asks about Casca. It's just mindboggling. Puck remembered Rickert in volume 17, after not having seen him for over two years. It's been less time than that since they parted in volume 22. And for him to just not acknowledge a question about Guts or Casca is just... well, it's not like him at all.
As I mentioned earlier in the thread, this was done as a way to avoid any meaningful interaction between them, so it'd be useless to try and rationalize it. It's just presented as fact that Puck forgets people or events, even though that never actually happens in the series. There's only one occurrence when he forgot about Magnifico's harebrained plan to overtake Elfhelm in volume 39, but he immediately remembers it when prompted.
Anyway, this was sadly not a big surprise. Puck's depiction in the Continuation has been abysmal almost from the get-go, with him not reacting to his hometown (and his brothers) being destroyed, to Guts' or Casca's situation, or really to much of anything. And to be clear, to not show him reacting would be one thing, but to show him explicitly not reacting, meaning staring blank-faced like a psychopath, is another entirely. Elves are innately empathic and it is simply diametrically opposed to what has defined his character since volume 1.
Another perplexing thing in this scene is Rickert's immediate deduction that Griffith must be behind Casca's absence and Guts' state. Not that it matters but it could be due to literally anything else and he doesn't have any explicit reason to conclude it's Griffith's fault. Even better is him wondering why oh why would Griffith do something like this. Yeah I mean he's such an upstanding guy, right? Why would he do bad things to Guts and Casca, it's really unthinkable!
No one mentioned this, but Erika is strangely nowhere to be seen. Does she still exist? Will she play any role beyond showing up as a background character? It's anyone's guess.
Watch out Griffith, the Kushans are coming!
And now we finally get to the episode's big reveal: Silat is amassing troops to wage war against Griffith and Falconia. To punctuate this revelation, we're shown a big illustration with Sonia at the foreground, smiling at the reader. Not exactly a fearsome depiction of the Band of the Falcon.
Silat says that Griffith is exterminating astral creatures partly because they pose a threat to him due to their nature as "beings outside of his own principles". This is a rather clumsy way to word it, as these aren't Griffith's principles. What was said previously (in this case by SK in volume 28) was that "The Falcon is now something that is outside the principles of the corporeal world. There is not a single one who threatens him in the human world. It's like if a character in a tale defied its creator, it can never happen."
Still, it's an interesting tidbit that confirms something I've thought for a long time, so I got to wonder whether it's something Mori might have gotten from Miura. Unfortunately, it's immediately taken in a stupid direction, with Silat saying it's why the Elf Island was destroyed (Then why was he skeptical earlier? Why did he dismiss these people at first?) and that they (the Kushans) are the next target (that's what Griffith's "East" comment was about in episode 372). That makes me think the team just copied that talk from volume 28 without giving it much thought.
One thing I have to point out is that the island wasn't destroyed by Griffith, but by an unknown phenomenon (well, it really was just copied from volume 21) that appeared out of nowhere and disappeared without explanation once the deed was done. It's safe to assume Griffith's presence provoked it in some way, but he's not shown doing anything or even acknowledging it. This really feels to me like Mori & team are trying to have their cake and eat it too, with Griffith being responsible without having taken any action. It's nothing new, except I guess that it confirms the "gnawers" were just a plot device pulled out of a hat to destroy the island. Did Miura even plan for it to be destroyed? Honestly I've never been less sure of it.
This time it's different... or not
As for the Kushans being next... Really, Silat? You and a bunch of regular-ass Kushan soldiers are "outside of the principles of the world" and therefore a danger to Griffith? Since when? The Bakiraka could never lay a hand on Griffith (not in St Albion, not in Shet), and Silat saw first hand that "no arrow can pierce him". He's got absolutely no reason to be confident here. Furthermore, gathering a Kushan army to go against Griffith.... I mean... It's been tried before, you know? And it failed miserably.
Ganishka had more men, he had demon troops, and hell, Silat and the Bakiraka themselves were working for him. On top of that he moved early, before Femto was even incarnated, and still he lost utterly. In fact his sole purpose for existing was to lose, to transform himself out of desperation, and to get popped like a balloon. Ganishka and the Kushan empire were very much within the principles of the corporeal world, they were straight up pawns that played their part in the grand plan with clockwork precision.
The truth is, the real Silat as depicted by Miura would never do any of this, but I feel silly saying it because this entire situation wouldn't exist to begin with. Silat wouldn't be leading the Kushan empire and the Kushan empire wouldn't exist anymore, having been ravaged like the rest of the world when Fantasia came to be. A city like the one depicted here should be in ruins, with monsters roaming around (if not trolls and harpies, then Naga, Preta or Karura) while the few hypothetical survivors would struggle to make it one day to the next.
Honestly, creating a Kushan equivalent of Falconia so that the two factions can have a big battle just feels so unimaginative... Is this really what they decided to do the Continuation for? They're going against everything Miura had set up, only to serve us rehashed events. Way to honor his memory...
Preemptive apostle attack?
Needless to say, a full frontal battle doesn't make sense to me in this context. Griffith's apostles could tear through any human army, and while the Bakiraka are formidable fighters, they're not suited for standard warfare and still wouldn't be a match for apostles in a regular fight. Daiba's abilities are too limited (unless he's somehow become superpowered), Skellig's magicians are powerless, and astral creatures have been shown to not pose too much of a threat to the demon soldiers either.
We'll see how it goes but honestly, it seems likely to me that a group of apostles will lead a preemptive attack on the Kushans, sending them in disarray, and that Guts will step in to save the day. It's the perfect opportunity for his comeback. How that will be portrayed remains to be seen. I still expect a rehash of the Guts vs Grunbeld fight, and knowing these guys, they might repeat the Rakshas fight as well... that is, unless they decide to pretend he died when Rickert escaped. Once that's out of the way, the path should be mostly clear for the final confrontation.
There's a bunch of things that remain to be addressed however, starting with Casca. I think Miura intended for her to escape by her own means, finding help with Luka's group (girl power!) and probably having an encounter with Charlotte and possibly Sonia, which might have opened their eyes a tiny little bit. That would have been a way for her to reclaim her agency and settle her problems on her own before being reunited with Guts. I don't expect a hundredth of what was planned to be featured in the Continuation, but they'll still need to address her situation at some point.
There's also the matter of the God Hand as well as unresolved elements like the Skull Knight's backstory. When or how that is addressed – or whether it will be at all – is anyone's guess. Either way, the Continuation is now on a clear trajectory towards the ending, with seemingly only a few more stops along the way.
