I’d like to start with something positive: there isn’t a lot of text in this episode. Unfortunately, it’s still too much text because it sucks nevertheless. Silat’s dialogue is frankly ridiculous. His various thoughts and feelings are not just completely inconsistent but also seemingly without any coherent motive. He comes across like he’s mentally ill.
Daiba’s lines at the end are confusing in typical Continuation fashion, where most readers won’t know who’s speaking, and they’ve got this faux dramatic flair that’s straight out of a telenovela, that tries to imitates the poignancy of Berserk without ever coming close either in style or substance. Same with grandiose names like “the end of the world” that are thrown around to manufacture excitement about those boring-ass goings-on.
Empty shells
As for Isidro, he appears to be there only so he can go “Uh? Wut’s dat?”, giving Daiba an excuse to deliver an explanation… that serves no real purpose. Oh it’s an old forgotten tomb? Who could have guessed!
Anyway, it’s nothing new but Isidro’s reduced to a face in the crowd with no agency. Hard to believe it was the same character who knocked Daiba off his high horse in Vritannis.
Then there’s Azan, who’s now there while he wasn’t shown in episode 381. No doubt they had simply forgotten to include him, but isn’t it just too sloppy? Don’t they care about continuity at all? What’s funny is he’s got nothing to do, so his presence doesn’t matter at all anyway. One would assume he’ll have something to do next episode and that’s why they reinserted him in there, but with the Continuation I wouldn’t even bet on it.
Lastly I have to mention Puck, who gets a spotlight at the end. Guts goes inside, Puck turns around (towards what??), then looks straight ahead and says: "Guts". Then stays there, mouth agape, as the doors close. I guess it’s better than all those previous scenes where he was completely emotionless and even seemed to show disdain as Guts was publicly humiliated, but… not by much. He’s really just providing generic reaction shots and not showing any genuine emotion, which is a complete travesty of his character.
An ancient forgotten place… really?
It’s pretty funny to me that this is supposed to be a forgotten place and “the end of the world” when it’s just a day’s walk from the “capital city” (and they're not going very fast, it's even debatable whether Daiba could walk that distance at all). A smart author would have depicted an arduous journey lasting weeks in the same amount of pages if not fewer. Not here though, they’ll be back to the palace in time for dinner.
The looks of the place are also puzzling. The vegetation makes it look like it’s been abandoned for hundreds of years, but the corpses (some sprawled on the ground) are in too good a state for that. Or are there no insects in the Continuation, much like there’s no tigers or other wildlife? And let’s not mention astral creatures, since Fantasia has been retconned away.
Also, how did that tree ever grow atop the Stūpa? Its roots are exposed and only reach the soil at their very extremities. This is not the way trees grow, it’s just not possible. And those old dead roots should be as stiff as stone, unable to swiftly twist aside like what’s shown when Daiba does his little trick. Speaking of, that lightning/electrical effect that accompanies it makes no sense, but that’s par for the course.
Om-Om-Om... Om!!!!
It’s embarrassing how little the Continuation team understands about the material they’re reusing. The symbols Daiba is shown speaking in front of the tree are clearly copied from volume 31, when he was creating water tornados. The problem is they don’t understand what it represents: a variation of the symbol for the sacred sound Om (which Miura deliberately modified so it wouldn’t be exactly like the real one).
Here they have him chain three of them in succession and then do a weird exclamation with a sound effect, which is antinomic to the very idea of sounding an “Om” equivalent. It continues their string of embarrassing blunders with this new Kushan stuff they concocted even though nothing called for it (of which the previous one was calling Daiba’s goons Brahmin). It never ceases to amaze me, considering that the Kushan empire should not even exist anymore.
Knuckleheadery
The Bakiraka weren’t invited and followed of their own volition, but the Tapasa have to open these apparently immensely heavy doors, and they strain to do so. So… What was Daiba’s plan? To have the soldiers pile on to try to get them open? It doesn’t seem like it’d have been enough. This is another classic case of the Continuation team not thinking things through at all.
Also, those massive slabs of stone that were so hard to open just automatically and effortlessly close back behind Guts, as if they were mounted on springs. So stupid. Are the monks supposed to be closing them using their newfound powers? Because if so it's not clear, and then why even show the Tapasa at work at all? Either have them be magical doors that open on Daiba’s command or have the Tapasa lift a fallen stone slab or something, but don’t mix and match notions that are contradictory.
Can’t stop, won’t stop (humiliating Guts)
So Guts has been hypnotized into a zombie-like trance and displays no agency or consciousness. Yet we still get treated to scenes of him stopping in his tracks, guards getting nervous and pushing him violently (wouldn't that risk waking him up from the trance?), then later using lances to force him forward… Even though he takes the last steps by himself, still hypnotized… And then finally he turns back and gives a dramatic look towards the reader while still in that state.
It doesn’t make any sense and is just there to further humiliate him, because it’s apparently the only thing the Continuation team can think of to do with his character. If you’d told me this when volume 42 came out, even though I already had no hope left by then, I think I would have had a hard time believing it.
They’ve turned his character into a pathetic joke, to the point where Silat’s extremely violent and completely uncharacteristic spite towards him feels like an expression of the Continuation team’s resentment towards Berserk, if not even towards Miura himself. There’s something very unhealthy about it. And the worst part: it’s not over yet! After being locked in the Sea Horse’s hold, then thrown into a jail cell, Guts is being secluded in yet another place. Truly an incredible development.
Coming next: more of the same?
So what's next? Will he face his demons (his impotent sword) in there? Will he encounter a supernatural being or experience a life changing event? Or maybe… is he just going to wallow some more in his self-inflicted misery? I wanted to put in a laughing emoticon here but I’m not going to pretend this is even remotely funny to me. Hopefully this nightmare ends soon, and I mean that in every sense of the word.
The Continuation is going to go down in history as the most infamous, the most disrespectful treatment of a departed author’s work. With volume 43’s release being imminent, I hope the rest of the fan base (meaning the people who buy the manga) wakes up and stops supporting this abomination, because financial pressure is probably the only thing that’ll get through to Hakusensha.
Fans of Berserk, beware!
I want to end this post with a warning to fellow fans of Berserk. Be vigilant. Do not get used to this bastardized continuation to the story, to these deformed, mutilated versions of the characters. Don't let them ruin your perception of Berserk, the real Berserk that Kentarou Miura created. I say that because I think with enough exposure over enough time, the Continuation really could twist someone’s perception of the series.
And that’s really what we must fight back against desperately at this point. Because the worst thing we could do is allow these people to tarnish, if not erase Miura’s legacy. Clearly his former associates aren’t helping secure it, they're working against it, so it falls to us to keep the torch burning and stave off the darkness. We must be stalwart in accomplishing this goal because there will be no one else to do it if we fail.
Daiba’s lines at the end are confusing in typical Continuation fashion, where most readers won’t know who’s speaking, and they’ve got this faux dramatic flair that’s straight out of a telenovela, that tries to imitates the poignancy of Berserk without ever coming close either in style or substance. Same with grandiose names like “the end of the world” that are thrown around to manufacture excitement about those boring-ass goings-on.
Empty shells
As for Isidro, he appears to be there only so he can go “Uh? Wut’s dat?”, giving Daiba an excuse to deliver an explanation… that serves no real purpose. Oh it’s an old forgotten tomb? Who could have guessed!
Anyway, it’s nothing new but Isidro’s reduced to a face in the crowd with no agency. Hard to believe it was the same character who knocked Daiba off his high horse in Vritannis.Then there’s Azan, who’s now there while he wasn’t shown in episode 381. No doubt they had simply forgotten to include him, but isn’t it just too sloppy? Don’t they care about continuity at all? What’s funny is he’s got nothing to do, so his presence doesn’t matter at all anyway. One would assume he’ll have something to do next episode and that’s why they reinserted him in there, but with the Continuation I wouldn’t even bet on it.
Lastly I have to mention Puck, who gets a spotlight at the end. Guts goes inside, Puck turns around (towards what??), then looks straight ahead and says: "Guts". Then stays there, mouth agape, as the doors close. I guess it’s better than all those previous scenes where he was completely emotionless and even seemed to show disdain as Guts was publicly humiliated, but… not by much. He’s really just providing generic reaction shots and not showing any genuine emotion, which is a complete travesty of his character.
An ancient forgotten place… really?
It’s pretty funny to me that this is supposed to be a forgotten place and “the end of the world” when it’s just a day’s walk from the “capital city” (and they're not going very fast, it's even debatable whether Daiba could walk that distance at all). A smart author would have depicted an arduous journey lasting weeks in the same amount of pages if not fewer. Not here though, they’ll be back to the palace in time for dinner.
The looks of the place are also puzzling. The vegetation makes it look like it’s been abandoned for hundreds of years, but the corpses (some sprawled on the ground) are in too good a state for that. Or are there no insects in the Continuation, much like there’s no tigers or other wildlife? And let’s not mention astral creatures, since Fantasia has been retconned away.
Also, how did that tree ever grow atop the Stūpa? Its roots are exposed and only reach the soil at their very extremities. This is not the way trees grow, it’s just not possible. And those old dead roots should be as stiff as stone, unable to swiftly twist aside like what’s shown when Daiba does his little trick. Speaking of, that lightning/electrical effect that accompanies it makes no sense, but that’s par for the course.
Om-Om-Om... Om!!!!
It’s embarrassing how little the Continuation team understands about the material they’re reusing. The symbols Daiba is shown speaking in front of the tree are clearly copied from volume 31, when he was creating water tornados. The problem is they don’t understand what it represents: a variation of the symbol for the sacred sound Om (which Miura deliberately modified so it wouldn’t be exactly like the real one).
Here they have him chain three of them in succession and then do a weird exclamation with a sound effect, which is antinomic to the very idea of sounding an “Om” equivalent. It continues their string of embarrassing blunders with this new Kushan stuff they concocted even though nothing called for it (of which the previous one was calling Daiba’s goons Brahmin). It never ceases to amaze me, considering that the Kushan empire should not even exist anymore.
Knuckleheadery
The Bakiraka weren’t invited and followed of their own volition, but the Tapasa have to open these apparently immensely heavy doors, and they strain to do so. So… What was Daiba’s plan? To have the soldiers pile on to try to get them open? It doesn’t seem like it’d have been enough. This is another classic case of the Continuation team not thinking things through at all.
Also, those massive slabs of stone that were so hard to open just automatically and effortlessly close back behind Guts, as if they were mounted on springs. So stupid. Are the monks supposed to be closing them using their newfound powers? Because if so it's not clear, and then why even show the Tapasa at work at all? Either have them be magical doors that open on Daiba’s command or have the Tapasa lift a fallen stone slab or something, but don’t mix and match notions that are contradictory.
Can’t stop, won’t stop (humiliating Guts)
So Guts has been hypnotized into a zombie-like trance and displays no agency or consciousness. Yet we still get treated to scenes of him stopping in his tracks, guards getting nervous and pushing him violently (wouldn't that risk waking him up from the trance?), then later using lances to force him forward… Even though he takes the last steps by himself, still hypnotized… And then finally he turns back and gives a dramatic look towards the reader while still in that state.
It doesn’t make any sense and is just there to further humiliate him, because it’s apparently the only thing the Continuation team can think of to do with his character. If you’d told me this when volume 42 came out, even though I already had no hope left by then, I think I would have had a hard time believing it.
They’ve turned his character into a pathetic joke, to the point where Silat’s extremely violent and completely uncharacteristic spite towards him feels like an expression of the Continuation team’s resentment towards Berserk, if not even towards Miura himself. There’s something very unhealthy about it. And the worst part: it’s not over yet! After being locked in the Sea Horse’s hold, then thrown into a jail cell, Guts is being secluded in yet another place. Truly an incredible development.
Coming next: more of the same?
So what's next? Will he face his demons (his impotent sword) in there? Will he encounter a supernatural being or experience a life changing event? Or maybe… is he just going to wallow some more in his self-inflicted misery? I wanted to put in a laughing emoticon here but I’m not going to pretend this is even remotely funny to me. Hopefully this nightmare ends soon, and I mean that in every sense of the word.
The Continuation is going to go down in history as the most infamous, the most disrespectful treatment of a departed author’s work. With volume 43’s release being imminent, I hope the rest of the fan base (meaning the people who buy the manga) wakes up and stops supporting this abomination, because financial pressure is probably the only thing that’ll get through to Hakusensha.
Fans of Berserk, beware!
I want to end this post with a warning to fellow fans of Berserk. Be vigilant. Do not get used to this bastardized continuation to the story, to these deformed, mutilated versions of the characters. Don't let them ruin your perception of Berserk, the real Berserk that Kentarou Miura created. I say that because I think with enough exposure over enough time, the Continuation really could twist someone’s perception of the series.
And that’s really what we must fight back against desperately at this point. Because the worst thing we could do is allow these people to tarnish, if not erase Miura’s legacy. Clearly his former associates aren’t helping secure it, they're working against it, so it falls to us to keep the torch burning and stave off the darkness. We must be stalwart in accomplishing this goal because there will be no one else to do it if we fail.
