Berserk

Now up through 27. Man, poor Flora. Too Cool to Live indeed. I'm very interested in these benevolent elemental "angels," as they prove not everything in the Astral World is hostile to humanity. And Ganishka... eew.

Sorry for triple-posting.

Yeah, Ganishka sets the bar of Card-Carrying Villain pretty damn high. >.>

With the introduction of the Element Kings I'm thinking back to the statement that Griffith's ascension to the Godhand "tipped the balance" in favor of evil - is it possible that the Godhand and Element Kings had been canceling each other out until then, maybe?

Well it isn't explicitly stated anywhere. It is just an extrapolation on why a fifth Godhand starts an "age of darkness." That implies that there was a age before "that" where things wern't quite so bad.

There are four elemental Lords and there were four Godhand. However, the Godhand seem to be far more active than the Lords who only seem to help when summoned. The Godhand have to be summoned as well but they actively influence casualty to skew things their way while the Lords don't seem to do squat. So you can't really call them evil but you can't call them good either. There isn't any kind of force we can call "good" in the Berserk universe except maybe the church and that is very arguable. The beings that aren't interested in rapemurdering people seem to be neutral and aloof. That doesn't mean they can't be helpful but you got to seek them out like Guts is now seeking to find the elf king.

edited 19th Jan '18 5:47:52 PM by DocJamore

Unless we bring up Greyhawk's Elemental Evil, elementals in fiction seem to be mostly neutral in nature. While a magic user like Shierke might invoke their name for her spells, it's also likely that they might answer the summons of a less moral witch.

Schierke called the Element Kings benevolent, at least. She also said the the Holy See worships them as archangels, though most ordinary people aren't aware of the connection.

Up through v30. A lot of 29 and 30 were exposition on the political state of the setting, and while that was interesting to learn it got dull after a while. The Kushan attack begins at the end of 30 though!

Also, wow, even with a field advantage Serpico got steamrolled lol.

Oh, and Azan's alive, yay!

edited 22nd Jan '18 2:35:16 PM by HamburgerTime

Sorry for triple-posting but I'm up through 33 now. The Beast of the End has arrived...

By the way, you didn't talk about Schierke. What do you think of her?

She's definitely a valuable asset. I felt so bad for her when Flora died. Her weakness seems rather similar to Guts' with the Berserker Armor - her powerful techniques cause het to "lose herself."

in the magic, the moment, she owns it, she better never let it go, she only gets one shot, do not miss the chance to blow, cause opportunity comes once in a lifetime...

He was playing in the beginning, the mood all changed, he's been chewed up and spit out and whisked off-stage...

I kinda like the creepy inverted Revelation thing they've got going here. The people of Midland think they're getting Jesus, complete with him fighting an Obviously Evil opponent referred to as a "beast," but little to they know the true Antichrist is closer to home...

Inverted nothing, that's almost exactly how the Bible describes things going down in the End Times: a charismatic leader whom everyone loves appears, working miracles, appearing to be the Messiah... but is actually the Devil in human form, come to bring ruin to the world.

edited 24th Jan '18 4:22:49 PM by DarkHunter

Except with this one there's an extra "fake" Antichrist for the real one to fight to gain the trust of the people.

The war is over. The Emperor falls, the Hawk ascends. The world's reason ends; utopia(?) rises.

Yeah I finished the Millennium Falcon arc. Quitting for today.

Berserk 353 is up!

It's ERASERHEAD BABY!

Oh, so there really is a regular schudule now. Flora ex machina! And we meet again with the baby…

Alright so I started reading Berserk where I left off again. Been too long since I put my read through on hold.

Starting Volume 24.

I am now caught up to the official English releases. Man v38 was epic. Rickert is a badass and teams up with the ex-Kushans, Team Griffith takes its first casualty (hasta la bye-bye Raksas!) and we finally, finally reach Elfheim.

So I read Volume 24 yesterday. I've played enough SMT to know how this "humanity's collective unconscious," stuff works. Plus Schierke, she seems interesting. Also I hear that legendary scene where we get a title drop is not too far off, I'm excited just thinking about it.

Completely caught up now! The dreamscape sequence is amazing. All those cameos...

Spoilers out. It's been 22 years...

CASCA. IS. BACK.

Oh shit.

And no hiatus!