Episode 383

Aazealh

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BERSERK Episode 383 will be published in Young Animal #18, slated to be released on Friday, September 12 in Japan.

DIGITAL STORE: Hakusensha-E (Price: 450円 / $3) — Goes online at 15:00 UTC / 10am ET on September 11.
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This episode is part of the new serialization of Berserk that is being done without Kentarou Miura. It's based on some of the material he left behind as well as what he had told his close ones of the story over the years. Kouji Mori, his best friend and a fellow mangaka, writes and supervises the series while his former assistants draw it under the banner of Studio Gaga.

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Berserk Continuation Episode Summaries:

365: Griffith's presence is felt across the island. Casca runs toward Griffith but begins bleeding and triggering (random) memories.
366: Guts swings at Griffith but cannot land a hit. Schierke detects a maelstrom of power around Griffith. Zodd lands on the island.
367: Danan senses something dark rising from beneath the island. Griffith grabs Casca. The cherry tree loses its blossoms, and the island begins to break apart.
368: Gnawers emerge from the cracks, devouring the island. Roderick prepares the ship to depart. Guts despairs at the loss of Casca.
369: The island begins to sink. The elves vanish (except for Puck and Ivalera).
370: On the Sea Horse, Molda rallies Farnese to help heal the injured. Roderick is worried about Guts. In the ship's hold, Guts despairs his failure.
371: Schierke peeks in Guts' mind but is repelled by the Beast's jaws. Griffith arrives in Falconia with Casca.
372: Casca explores Falconia in a subdued state. Fleeting memories of her past provoke a failed escape attempt. Griffith sends his forces east.
373: Skellig's magicians have lost their powers. Schierke needs everyone for a spell to try to locate Casca. During this, Kushans attack. The Beast taunts Guts.
374: Kushans, led by Silat, take over the Seahorse and bloodlessly capture everyone. They approach Guts with caution. Rickert is with the Kushans.
375: Silat captured the Sea Horse following a prophecy from Daiba. The passengers and crew are taken captive toward the Kushan capital.
376: Guts is locked in a cell. The powerless magic users are given over to Daiba. Silat announces a campaign against Falconia.
377: Silat attends a council with all the Kushan leaders and asks for control of their combined military. Rakshas bursts out from one of the participants.
378: Rakshas sends a shockwave that causes monsters to appear all over the city. Silat lunges at him to engage in battle.
379: Silat telepathically reassures the Kushan people. The monsters are dealt with. Rakshas flees and winds up in front of Guts.
380: Magic users dispel the remaining trolls. Rakshas is killed by Silat, who then throttles Guts in anger that he didn't try to defend himself.
381: Using the Brand as a pretext, Daiba takes charge of Guts and marches him out of the city in a hypnotized state.
382: Guts is marched to and entombed in a mausoleum called a Stupa.
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I think that’s the first time in a dozen episodes where Guts actually tries to walk on his own - without being mind-controlled, chained or dragged. Of course, immediately after the second step he trips again and falls to the ground. He then gets up on his knees before a… I don’t know, a “whoosh” sound appears, and he collapses to the floor again.

He then gets encapsulated by a clam-like being in a procedure that, to me, was reminiscent of Ganishka entering the man-made Behelit in Episode 292, with bubbles rising up and jellyfish-like structures in the background. Whether that's just reusing old motives or it's actually a similar procedure? Who knows.

Edit: The clam-like being is probably reminiscent of a lotus flower (and well, not a clam). A quick search reveals that stupas and Buddhism are often associated with lotus flowers, the latter being a symbol of “purification” and “spiritual awakening”. Well, if that doesn’t sound like a fitting motif for these geniuses, I don’t know what does.

Concerning the art, the close-ups of Guts are awful - he looks like a broken doll from an entirely different manga. Especially that one close-up of him, spanning nearly an entire page, looks like a distorted and cheap copy of Guts seeing the incarnated Griffith for the first time in episode 175 (wouldn't be the first time they try to reuse existing imagery):

2.jpg msedge_wrjG6thThw.png

There are also instances where his muscles look like gummy worms, but alas, that’s the least of their problems. I wouldn’t even mention it if the art quality hadn’t declined again over the past few episodes, where it had actually improved before that and if they stopped trying to evoke old scenes.

msedge_UvZm5u6qZC.png

Anyways, we also get the first shot of Guts thinking about Casca. Well, not entirely - since in both images Griffith is there alongside her. The funny thing is, the image on the right shows a healthy Casca and the old, Golden Age Arc Griffith. Is he really remembering the good times with both of them, as if they’re equals - and as if Griffith didn’t sacrifice them all? I don't get it and it seems ludicrous to me.

Other than that, nothing really happens. It's such a slog to read; so many pages of nothingness.
 
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He then gets encapsulated by a clam-like being in a procedure that, to me, was reminiscent of Ganishka entering the man-made Behelit in Episode 292, with bubbles rising up and jellyfish-like structures in the background. Whether that's just reusing old motives or it's actually a similar procedure? Who knows.

I think it's obvious they're just reusing existing imagery to vaguely evoke Big Things™. It would make no sense whatsoever for this to be like the artificial beherit. Maybe they'll take a page from the Corridor of Dreams next.

The clam-like being is probably reminiscent of a lotus flower (and well, not a clam). A quick search reveals that stupas and Buddhism are often associated with lotus flowers, the latter being a symbol of “purification” and “spiritual awakening.”

Yeah, it's definitely meant to be some sort of monstrous king lotus leaf that then transforms into a clamshell, although that's quite possibly supposed to be metaphorical. It's a journey inside the mind, maaaan.

We also get the first shot of Guts thinking about Casca.

Yes, that is worth noting. Only took them 18 episodes. And yes, it is nonsensical for Griffith to be alongside her, but that's par for the course.
 
Pages upon pages of nothing.

It's so apparent they are using old panels for an (awful) reference.

Also, another delightful addition to my vocabulary this "Anadi Avidya" - why are they trying so hard with the episode names just to mess up this badly every time?

God need to Avidya Kadabra this already:stop:
 
This comes off like a high schooler's grasping attempt at writing something deep. Lots of symbolism, but I doubt it means anything at all.
Aptly put honestly! While I do think there's some level of substance within this episode and what they further hope to do with Guts' character, I feel there's an inherent lack of focus in the narrative with how much of mess it has been. Also just how blatantly predictable and obvious this sort of "exploration of Guts character with him confronting his self" is, It makes such an important "event" look really boring,
 
Also, another delightful addition to my vocabulary this "Anadi Avidya" - why are they trying so hard with the episode names just to mess up this badly every time?

The episode title is 無明無始. It's a made-up phrase meaning "beginninglessness ignorance" or something like that. It's a clumsy attempt at the kind of kanji wordplay Miura used to do, while trying to use buddhist references. Do note that there's no furigana indicating it should be pronounced like in Sanskrit, so there's no reason to do so.

While I do think there's some level of substance within this episode

What substance is there exactly? Because I don't see any.
 
Even after so much hype was created for this episode it still brings no significant new information, and little progress. It starts off pretty strongly (at least compared to an usual continuation chapter) in my opinion but is pretty disappointing when you keep reading further because I expected for something to finally happen (at least I can overdose on copium and say something will happen next chapter). Daiba and Silat don't say anything significant either. It seems like they just try to hype everyone up and sound very deep in chapters while just trying to drag some parts of the manga as long as possible. I do concede that what's happening inside the Stupa is very creative, and hopefully it has an infinitesimal to do with one of Miura's ideas. Also, did anyone else notice that Guts's flashback of Griffith taking Casca away is different than the original scene? Casca's eyes are barely open in the flashback but are closed in the original scene and Griffith is looking a bit more aggressively at Guts compared to the original scene.
 
The whole water thing-y with Guts going deeper and sinking while confronting his self, mirrors Griffith's, when he was broken. I think it's a bit poetic imo.

No, you're thinking of when he literally sinks down to the depths of the ethereal world during the Eclipse, while he's being transformed into Femto. When he's in his prison cell, he reflects on darkness and how Guts is the only thing left that shines brightly, which is amusingly something that would have been fitting for the Stupa and its "complete darkness". Maybe that's what they were trying to pull with that random image of Griffith and Casca from the Golden Age, but since it's randomly inserted in the middle of everything else, it has no power and makes no sense. And well, it also makes no sense in and of itself anyway.

The same goes for Guts "sinking" here: it's in the midst of other arbitrary stuff, and he doesn't confront his self at all. There's no poetry to it whatsoever. It's like @Elk Mooser said, it evokes a high schooler trying (and failing) to be "deep".

It starts off pretty strongly

Yeah you gotta hand it to them for having Guts fall down on the ground twice within the span of 3 pages. :troll:
That's about all they know how to do it seems.

Also, did anyone else notice that Guts's flashback of Griffith taking Casca away is different than the original scene? Casca's eyes are barely open in the flashback but are closed in the original scene and Griffith is looking a bit more aggressively at Guts compared to the original scene.

Honestly I don't think that means anything. They're just not careful with that type of stuff. Don't overthink it, because they sure aren't.
 
It'll be cute to see guts trying to stand up when he'll put his gear back on.

About the episode itself, seriously, once again, the overall content could have been 5 pages.
 
Tsug Enters the Stupa... And then.... AND THEN....!? RRRRRR UUUUUUU READY????!?!?
...
Well, okay, so Tsug fell face first into a mud bath. Meanwhile, Daiba said he's not sure what's going on in there. And then Tsug accidentally got wrapped up in a clam towel. — つづく

Whether you believe it or not, I do open each new episode with a hope that I'll feel a small glimmer of the real Berserk somewhere in these pages—a little nod that feels like something that came from Miura. There's nothing like that here, of course. But in this state of being, I'm like a clam. Deprived of sustenance, yet I can survive for years. Did you know there's a variety of clam that can survive for 500 years? That's how long this Continuation has felt. But somehow I continue to subsist.

I know what they are shooting for in this episode: Tsug is being forced to grapple with his dillemma. This is supposed to feel desperate, overwhelming (he's literally being overwhelmed). And they're trying to do it in a stylistic way that seems like darkness (and/or water) is enveloping him. But the way they've chosen to vizualized it is extremely confusing. It looks like specters similar to the ones we saw in Albion (and the Continuation's gnawers) are gathering along the ceiling of the stupa, and then as it begins to cover Tsug, he perceives it as water. But how much of that is figurative? Probably 100%? If so, then why use two competing visual ideas (shadows and water) if in reality, nothing is actually happening to Tsug? It's all in his head. That's what we're meant to glean from Daiba, right? This is a mental journey. But if that's the case, why add to the confusion of what's happening?

Seeing that only Daiba and Silat are the only tailgaters for Tsug's peyote journey of self-discovery, it really struck home for me how unrealistic it was for Tsug's friends to completely abandon him throughout his crisis. He was the core of their group, and yet no one lifted a finger to stand up for him or help him through this dillemma, to offer him support and defense. One may say: "They were imprisoned by the Kushan, what could they do?" That did seem to be the circumstance at the start of this set of episodes. But later we see they could roam the city freely and without consequence. Thus, yes they could feasibly have visited him in jail. But if they did, we didn't see it. Farnese, despite her devotion to Tsug for years, did nothing to support him. Serpico, who bonded with Tsug over the journey, is only ever focused on Farnese (or delivering towels). Roderick banged on the door of the Sea Horse's hold for a bit, but that's about it. Isidro did the most of the crew, but it was still pathetic, and he seemed more focused on his own angst than being helpful for Guts.

I bring up this abandonment to emphasize how poorly Studio Gaga has built what should be a desperation-filled scenario. Because for all they know, Tsug is being left to die. His friends should have fought for him, putting themselves in harm's way to defend against this outcome. They'd have raised weapons and maybe eventually lost, and their friend would be sealed away. Instead, it doesn't seem like anyone cares about Guts' fate except... Silat, of all people. Who is still here, waiting for whatever slow-cooked version of Tsug he expects to find on the other end of a stupa bake.

Finally, at the end of the episode, Guts finally remembers Casca (finally). But it's within the context of her being taken by Griffith. And he thinks of them both as they were in the Golden Age. Either of these images should have elicited some emotion from Guts (I'll take anything, really). But no, it's nothing. I do feel like this is them indicating where things are headed with Guts and his mental journey. I hope I'm wrong though. Because the framing here makes it seem like Guts is thinking: "Oh no, my old boss and my girlfriend live in the same castle together! My old insecurities are coming back!" I really hope it's not that...
 
Because the framing here makes it seem like Guts is thinking: "Oh no, my old boss and my girlfriend live in the same castle together! My old insecurities are coming back!" I really hope it's not that...
Can you be explain why you think that a bit more, they cant sink that low surely?


Don't know to input a picture, but this panel is just terrible. I dont remember Casca ever looking at Guts directly, during that sequence where Griffith flew off with her, her eyes were shut previously. But here shes staring directly at Guts, but her face is just blank that doesnt convey the gravity of the situation. Is this what you're referring to when you say the framing makes it appear that guts is thinking '"Oh no, my old boss and my girlfriend live in the same castle together! My old insecurities are coming back!"

Feel like they missed a couple of steps their, you know the whole i cant ever forget the last image that my right eye saw, not being referenced,
 
More of nothing, Guts face looks like an Asaro's head...

Let me guess, he's just going to ''face his demons'' in order to power up and be able to defeat griffth.
 
Feel like they missed a couple of steps their, you know the whole i cant ever forget the last image that my right eye saw, not being referenced,
Forgive and forget you know; surely Guts can even still fix Griffith right? Right?

The more I think about that two-image sequence, the less sense it makes to have a smiling, goody-goody Griffith in there as well - it’s just so stupid.
 
Don't know to input a picture, but this panel is just terrible. I dont remember Casca ever looking at Guts directly, during that sequence where Griffith flew off with her, her eyes were shut previously. But here shes staring directly at Guts, but her face is just blank that doesnt convey the gravity of the situation.

Like I said earlier, I think this is just a bad reproduction of their own scene, I wouldn't think too much about it. It could be as simple as them misremembering how they had depicted it. Or maybe they want Casca to be able to remember that moment later on, so they're retconning it in this specific instance where Guts is hallucinating. Think that's insane and stupid? Welcome to the Continuation! :ganishka:

Feel like they missed a couple of steps their, you know the whole i cant ever forget the last image that my right eye saw, not being referenced,

A couple!? That's an euphemism, the whole thing is terrible from start to finish!

Let me guess, he's just going to ''face his demons'' in order to power up and be able to defeat griffth.

Yep.

Having some trouble saying this one out loud.

Yeah these are buddhist concepts that don't translate well into English. They're quite profound. Their use in this context is clumsy at best.
 
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