Episode 379

My God... I just gave it a look... What on earth happened to the art? It seems like someone gave their kid brother a shot at this. Sketchy as hell, and with a lot of reliance on some new type of shading technique that the artist clearly wasn't used to. A lot of digital smearing on this shading too for some reason. About half of it looks fine, art-wise, but then really rookie panels jump out. Maybe they have more than one person doing the drawings on this.

With Miura, it was always worth the wait because the art, the paneling, and the storytelling were really well thought out. I hope someone at Hakusensha is paying attention to what they're doing with this prime IP...
 
ApostleBob said:
My God... I just gave it a look... What on earth happened to the art? It seems like someone gave their kid brother a shot at this. Sketchy as hell, and with a lot of reliance on some new type of shading technique that the artist clearly wasn't used to. A lot of digital smearing on this shading too for some reason.
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If you're talking about the leaks, just know that what you're looking at isn't the original art. Whoever is posting these around has used A.I. to """"""""improve"""""""" the scan quality. Even the previous episodes had some A.I. stuff in them, but it wasn't as bad as it is with this one.
 
Read Chapter 379 in Spanish, had to use a translator. But overall enjoyed the chapter, art looked good and much more dialogue than before which was my biggest gripe with post-miura's chapters.
 
It never ceases to amaze me how clueless they seem to be about the characters and story. You'd think they would be more attentive to it given how heavily they rely on imitating past events... Anyway, each new issue cements the fact this is just a bad fan fiction that's somehow been given an official license. It'll go down in history as a cautionary tale of what not to do after an author's death.

Oh and the color illustration is a two page spread? Weird choice.

ApostleBob said:
Maybe they have more than one person doing the drawings on this.
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Well yeah, it's a group of seven people.
 
Silmaril said:
~20 pages of bad panelling, action and reaction shots, if I wanted to not wait three months for that I could just go read current One Piece weekly
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A Berserk so divorced from Guts does not feels Berserk. And no one has really stepped up fill his shoes. Berserk has been about Guts the struggler for so long that everything else feels very different now. Come think of it, has it been ever that about 2 volumes worth of episodes have been published without any major action of any kind by Guts? Guts in a perpetual BSOD of sorts.
 
Wyld Dreams said:
A Berserk so divorced from Guts does not feels Berserk. And no one has really stepped up fill his shoes. Berserk has been about Guts the struggler for so long that everything else feels very different now. Come think of it, has it been ever that about 2 volumes worth of episodes have been published without any major action of any kind by Guts? Guts in a perpetual BSOD of sorts.
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Off the top of my head, half of volume 33 and almost all of volume 34 are pretty light on Guts but that was a given on account of all the Griffith/Ganishka stuff wrapping up FOTME and him recovering from the Kushan invasion at Vritannis, and he still had more to do then than he does now
 
Wyld Dreams said:
A Berserk so divorced from Guts does not feels Berserk. And no one has really stepped up fill his shoes. Berserk has been about Guts the struggler for so long that everything else feels very different now. Come think of it, has it been ever that about 2 volumes worth of episodes have been published without any major action of any kind by Guts? Guts in a perpetual BSOD of sorts.
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Everyone has a breaking point, thats what i chalked up his current mental state. Where as before he had his rage to turn to, but now feels completely powerless to do anything. Though dissapointed theirs being no showings of his dispair over Casca ( well just obviously assumed).

I assume he will get back into action.

Also in those last 3 panels, is that the beast of darkness.
 
Haddish Meraf said:
Everyone has a breaking point, thats what i chalked up his current mental state. Where as before he had his rage to turn to, but now feels completely powerless to do anything.
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You can be sure Miura would have never depicted Guts like this, even if he had had a breakdown.

Haddish Meraf said:
I assume he will get back into action.
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Well yeah he'd better do that before the end of the story.

Haddish Meraf said:
Also in those last 3 panels, is that the beast of darkness.
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No, it's Rakshas.
 
Haddish Meraf said:
Everyone has a breaking point, thats what i chalked up his current mental state. Where as before he had his rage to turn to, but now feels completely powerless to do anything. Though dissapointed theirs being no showings of his dispair over Casca ( well just obviously assumed).
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There is a way to explore breakdown and there is a way to sideline a character. Miura explored breakdown of Casca in the most effective and perfect way that I could have imagined. He never sidelined Casca even when she was completely broken. The story that Miura wrote is about Guts first and foremost, IMHO. Removing him from the story by this kind of plot device defeats the entire purpose of the work. Guts in continuation is not just broken, he has been forgotten.

Haddish Meraf said:
I assume he will get back into action.
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I believe I say it for everyone, we have been waiting for that for now almost two volumes.
 
Wyld Dreams said:
A Berserk so divorced from Guts does not feels Berserk. And no one has really stepped up fill his shoes. Berserk has been about Guts the struggler for so long that everything else feels very different now. Come think of it, has it been ever that about 2 volumes worth of episodes have been published without any major action of any kind by Guts? Guts in a perpetual BSOD of sorts.
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Yeah, Guts' emotional and psychological journey of struggling to deal with his trauma in the right way, especially as it pertains to his relationship with Casca, is one of the main things about Berserk that appeals to me so much in the first place. That is the story, as far as I'm concerned. Nevermind the shoddy craftsmanship or the complete lack of understanding for the world's mechanics: this being absent is by far the most damning thing about the continuation to me. Guts is a non-character now. Not even a shitty character, he just might as well not be physically present in any of these episodes, which is the greatest cause for me asking "what's even the point?"

Granted, that's not entirely true. He has made it clear that his catatonic moping is all about his sword and its inability to harm Griffith. That's some characterization I guess, but there's not a single explicit thought about Casca. So, it's really dumb characterization that is wholly incongruous with the Guts we had followed for over 300 episodes. Sure, we could infer that that Casca is probably in his mind too, but it's not like it'd be some insurmountable challenge to at least pay a microscopic amount of explicit lip service to that. So I'm left asking "what's even the point?" all the same.

Are they worried that they wouldn't be able to do justice to Guts' despairing thoughts and words over losing Casca again? I think that's likely the case, and it would certainly explain why he hasn't appeared to have a single passing thought about her. But, like, again. What's even the point of continuing to depict plot points in this fleshed out manner if you're not going to continue depicting the story? Pick a lane.
 
Zephyr42 said:
Are they worried that they wouldn't be able to do justice to Guts' despairing thoughts and words over losing Casca again? I think that's likely the case, and it would certainly explain why he hasn't appeared to have a single passing thought about her. But, like, again. What's even the point of continuing to depict plot points in this fleshed out manner if you're not going to continue depicting the story? Pick a lane.
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Perfectly said. I'll only add that even in terms of pure "plot points", what they're depicting is almost entirely divorced from what I believe Miura planned to do with the story. It is a truly worthless endeavor.
 
Oh I know and Im in no rush. I just find them very priceless and interesting. No stress about it here. Just wanted to point out that they're more interesting to read then said episodes. Hah.
 
To the people waiting for Guts to come out of his coma I tell "be careful what you wish for". They already butchered him in the first few episode of the continuation, and I can't imagine this team making justice to his character.
As I previously said "they should just stop it and call it a day"
 
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At this point, I just want to see Casca and Guts find the strength to face and embrace each other. I crave some catharsis; even the thought of a bittersweet conclusion was something I expected, as long as it was crafted with the same depth and nuance that have characterized the portrayals of Casca, Griffith, and Guts. I'm eager to see how Casca confronts her trauma and faces Griffith. However, I'm worried that even this might not be handled well. It's the poetic tragedy of Casca and Guts, along with the emotional investment in their journeys, and Griffith's intricately woven character culminating in his ultimate betrayal, that have stirred the most intense emotions in me throughout the story. The thought of their conclusions being mishandled fills me with anxiety.
 
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Kurosaki posted this on Twitter, drawn by Sugimoto and a new guy called Fujimoto. He says they've apparently recruited one or more people to help with color illustrations. I'm a little surprised it's such a focus for them but I guess they want to free up Sugimoto since he's clearly one of the better artists they have.

Haddish Meraf said:
It's the poetic tragedy of Casca and Guts, along with the emotional investment in their journeys, and Griffith's intricately woven character culminating in his ultimate betrayal, that have stirred the most intense emotions in me throughout the story. The thought of their conclusions being mishandled fills me with anxiety.
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That's understandable, and unfortunately that anxiety is justified and appropriate. Given what we've seen of the Continuation so far, I have no expectation at all that they will be able to deliver a satisfying conclusion to the story. I just don't see how that's possible when even the most basic interactions are botched.
 
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