J. Burden Reviews Berserk: The Golden Age Arc 01 w/ Remus

were kind of offset. So we decided did to do what I had prepared for, went through it, and then this is earlier in the narrative, so you will be listening to it first, but chronologically the next segment is going to be uh, you know, out afterwards, recorded first released second, So a lot of the kind of the rooms is we're going over that will be in the second part. Uh, So don't feel like this is super jumble, just some context there, but yeah, man, I'm glad to have you back on.

this time from the from the past, right. Yeah. I think especially this this part of this story is very close right to my heart, right, So I love talking about it. I love the discussion, and I think it's it's pertinent, you know these days, people people like this and these kinds of pains are are lessons for a reason, you know. So that's why I always say read fucking preserve. Yeah,

one hundred percent. So just a couple of things. Obviously, somewhat similarly to the other episodes, I will be showing select panels this this this book is fairly graphic, right, so there's certain things I can't show every time I put these up, I include a link to where you can read them all for free.

camp followers. She has a relationship with, you know, a character will track for the next couple episodes, and yep, no shock, right, this is Guts.

horribly of the plague, again rendered in somewhat excruciating detail. Right, so quickly, you know, Guts moves into a role you know, as you know, it's sort of a guy in this mercenary company. It's like a squire, you know, yeah, exactly a squire. And we see him somewhat incidentally kill his first man at or witness his first I guess, killing at you know, six or seven.

of it. Right, it's all so emblematic. Right, this kid is born from death. He has been surrounded by his whole life, basically from from from birth to to where he is in the story. Now, it's endless suffering, endless amounts of of the of the just the dark parts

of reality. Right, this is no there's there is no he doesn't get a filter, he doesn't get you know, I mean, so many children, right, at least especially in our our era, right our time, it probably it sort of prides itself on separating children like almost like keeping them in a walled garden, right, And this story does not give this child this luxury, right, he does not have that. He he doesn't have any like you know, we're skimming a bit, right, and that's that's that's good.

But the nature of the relationship that he has to the people who saved him is even that it's like it's there's there's almost no closeness, there's no warmth, the only warmth he ever really experienced. As a child, was with this woman who chose to pick him up in the first place. But she dies, really and she dies traumatically, and he watches it, you know what I mean. He sits there with her, which I think is a beautiful aspect of him. He is a deeply empathetic person already

as a child. Right, he sits with this woman as she's dying, holds her, holds her. Right. Everyone's telling him, don't touch her, you could get sick, and he just doesn't. It doesn't even register for him, right. I love that aspect of Guts as a character. Really, it really shows you early what kind of person he really is, right he he he care Like if he feels a debt to you, he will be there, right, he will be there to foreshadow early and there he is the eponymous Gambino,

our guy, the dad, this kid's father figure. Like look at this, right, corpse is thrown upon him. He freaks out a little bit, and the first reaction that Gambino has is hitting him in the face with the with his with the butt of his spear and going, you're trying to get me killed, right, Like this guy has no mercy, right, complete complete, like completely callous psycho person. Right,

no mercy for a child. He doesn't give a fuck, and that's got his life, that's his upbringing, right, this is his this is his reality is bloodshed, combat, war, and that's all he's ever known and no real closeness, no real warmth. Go ahead, sir, and we get some more sort of autistic artistic excuse me flexing from your throughout this whole arc. Uh.

we will see you know, guts carry forward. So again we're starting to see you know guts and this is foreshadowing for later using an adult sized sword as a kid, the same proportions, right, that he will carry over the rest of the career, that stubbornness and that that need to prove himself absolutely, And again we see guts able to mark Gambino, right, he's he's got heart to him and so he you know, hits him on the chin and.

like a facade of I'm trying to train him. Nah this this guy just likes hurting people, right, and he likes feeling strong, and he likes uh and he and he cannot take being insulted or disrespected in any way right, in a minor way, exactly as soon as this kid lands something which even though it's drawing blood from you, bro, you're a mercenary, like what you can't take that? Are you?

Kidding me, Right, even though he draws blood from from him, this should be a moment of like, damn kid, you're actually like, holy shit, right, but no, it's an immediate, immediate censure. Right. And not only that he gives he marks him for the rest of his life. And this, this is this is Guts his iconic scar across the nose, right, Like this is like part of his face.

is a really pivotal moment. Right here cuts the bridge of his nose, gives him the scar, and he learns. He learns in that moment, right, And I think, I think if I if I'm correct, not long after that is when you see Guts go to sleep with the so or holding the blade, right, Because that's all he has. It's the only thing in his life that won't that that isn't betraying him, that doesn't hurt him for the

things that he does that doesn't that doesn't. And look, anybody out there has that has undergone abuse from a parent's right, I I am lucky enough that or you know, I am. I had a sort of normal childhood, right uh, And many of us out there did. But there are people who had parents like this man that that were that were essentially antagonists in their lives that did not provide any form of real nurturing structure anything like that.

Imagine what kind of fucking piece of shit you have to be to try to compete with your kid as a child. Right, These people exist by the thousand. So this shot, this right here is like this is so heartbreaking, right, Like cold blade is the only thing that this kid has that is just brutal. Right, that's all he can trust, That's all he can rely on. And that's the reason

that he is the way he is. Right. He learns very very early, I don't have anybody but my ability to see myself in the you know, safe in the world. I can't rely on anybody else for that and that is yeah, very hard not not very far in the future. Yes, and this is another another shot like this one right here we will see repeated over and over again. Right.

He genuinely does not feel any obligation through this child whatsoever.

he has joined the mercenary company. Uh, so basically they're charging up into the gap.

shows up and just starts beating him. And Gambido comes to his rescue and we get a lesson, right, he says, you know, this isn't practice. After you've killed someone, move on, watch your back, right. So an interesting characterization moment there. We see Guts disturbed by the fact that he is, you know, he's killed someone, and not only is Gambino telling him to tough it up, but that was not an honorable thing. He snuck up behind this guy and

stabbed him in the back. So getting more characterization of Gambino as well.

can get paid. It's as simple as that, right, And he instills these kinds of values in as much as he can. Like he he tries to make sure that this kid. There is a sense in which Gambino is like deep tough love. He's like this, you know, it's it's by no means would you want a person to treat you like this? Right, But it doesn't change the fact that Gambino is actually, to a degree, trying to prepare this child for the kind of life that he's

going to have to live. Listen, being a mercenary a self sort is not an easy fucking life at all. So he's like, why why the hell am I bringing this kid into this? Like that was his whole point to begin with with with uh with the woman which I I don't remember her name now, I think it's Hi Shu.

they're not right there. There's something going on under the hood there. So Gambino is interesting, but it doesn't change the fact that he's effectively a piece of shit to this kid. Right, It makes no real difference to Guts' experience, but that is what his concern is is, kid, you have to be able to survive or else you're just meat. Like what's the point? Right, And you see it. You see it in Guts. Look at look at his Look

at his demeanor, like that's ten year old. Look at the next Yeah, the next scene right is after the battle will kill you. Yeah, yep.

panels in the history of manga, is this guy. Yeah, so we're gonna have to talk around this, right, Uh, We're gonna have to talk around this. And in the next part you hear us mentioning that that Guts does not like to be touched.

he glorify these acts? Does he make them seem like they're a sick thing that you should want to do. It is always pure victimization of innocence, right, especially this main character, who is also a child by the way, there he is, that's that right after that's yeah what happens. Had been meaning on that walk for a long time, but yes, that's what happens. And not only that. The most important aspect of this not just that this happens

to him. Donovan makes it. Donovan says explicit to Guts, Gambino sold you, yeah, like for three means yeah, why you? Why are you fighting me? You? I paid for this? Right that breaks this child. It's not the act, it's the knowledge that it was sanctioned by the person that this kid relies upon and sees as a father. That is what breaks this kid. He he It takes a long time for Guts to be able to be normal after this. And I wouldn't even say that he's normal.

They would agree, right, yeah, I would say relatively fine, Like he can accept people putting their hand on him, you know what I mean? It takes him forever, But this is why.

goes to confront him. He has his sword in hand, looking at him, and apparently Gambino denies, like at least plays dump right, kind of casting doubt on this, you know, and he believes, at least for now, Gambino had no knowledge of it, right, obviously upset, but seemingly he was going to confront his father, you know, bring some kind of justice. But at least for now, the assumption is

that's not the case. So fast forward a little bit, right, we see, you know, the mercenary company on the move and you know, obviously Donovan over gots his shoulder kind of you know, leering at him, and then you know, the charge is off. Right, So there's sort of this chaotic battle scene skipping through it again, very well illustrated. But as they go to chase some uh, you know,

some of the stragglers, right, some people fleeing. You know, Donovan is is just mashing these guys with the giant axe. All of a sudden, out of nowhere, he gets hit with a crossbow and guts the standing behind him right, obviously, with just murder in his eyes, just looking for revenge. He shoots him, puts him out right and as he's he's got, you know, a bolt in the guy's face, he's dying, his sword over top of him. He basically says, like all rights, who sold me out? He got to

tell me? And he kills right nothing, just cold blooded again something we will see from Guts, you know, manys.

his rage and this stays with him. Right. The reason that I love this arc so much is because this establishes how Guts responds to the world trying to destroy him. It's one way. He picks up a sword and he fights it. He goes for it, and he will kill you. Like right here, he has shown if you have wronged me, there is no moral system, there's no laws, that none of that is going to mean anything to me. I'm going to come for you. Right, Guts has already established it.

He is willing to act outside of sociality. He is willing to be outside of what is considered moral to get the justice that he that he that he that he believes is correct, and any person would agree with him. Right, Like, nobody watches that and goes man, Donovan really should have gone through a trial. Nobody, nobody cares. Right, but that that willingness to go outside of the rules, right, all of that, that, all of this is building into the person that we see him as in the Black Sides

of an arc. Right, But there is yet more, there is yet more to be inflicted upon this boy, because, as I've said many times, so many people, Guts had a hard life. Right.

the cut across the bridge of his nose. But he sees that he's helpless, or he sees that he's delirious. He's he's calling out for help, and he decides to help him. So we skip, you know, two years forward, right, we see now Guts has become a full fledged mercenary, you know, riding a horse still again, right, very young, but at this point he's an accomplished killer. And after the battle he returns back to Gambino, who is you know,

an invalid now, you know, back at camp. Sort of reversal of situations where now Gambino, right, is a dead weight on Guts.

He loves that vallet he Why would a child want not want to feel validation? Right, it all tracks, it's all perfectly. He's a kid, right, But this guy doesn't give a shit. He's in his own world now. He is fully deadbeat, right, he is the Only thing that matters to him is his own victimization, is his own like now I can't be a strong man anymore. Now I can't be the guy I used to be. That's all that matters to Gambino. He doesn't care about Guts.

He doesn't care about what Guts us for him. He doesn't care about the fact that Guts is literally providing for him. To him, it's like that that's just what you should do. This guy is the biggest scumbag dad of all I think in all manga, this guy is

the scumbag dad. I don't think it gets worse than him. Well, and we see him right even as an invalid using his crutches to you know, slap Guts upside the head, turn wine quick enough, exactly get me drunk faster, right, right, So going forward, we see this interaction where he's kind of Gambino is sort of sparring with the other mercenaries again trying to you know, sort of you know, re establish his authority, and back in the the kind of treasure room, right, we see Guts is furious he's been

given a large reward for killing the enemy general. Obviously he's mad that he's you know about the interaction with his father, so is he. He kind of spikes the you know, the the gold on the ground, buries his sword in the you know, in the support to the tent,

and you know, that's the end of it. But it goes back to his tent later kind of in it shot very similarly to both Guts falling sleep with the sword earlier and also the scene with Donovan and towering over top of him in the middle of the night. After this interaction, we see Gambino right with his sword out,

You're seemingly going to kill his dutiful adopted son. So he just right look at again, you're well said, right, sharp teeth, blank eyes, you know, this sort of just motivated by murderous rage, and almost without saying anything, he swings for right. He's just going for it. Guts is obviously disturbed by this. His first thought is he's drunk, and oh, yeah, She'shu. That is the name I had that correct, And he's furious with him, you know, basically saying, like.

kind of thing that would happen. Guy barges into your room in the middle of the nights, he's fucked up, and he just starts dumping all of his problems on you and saying they're because of you. Things like this are hyper common in these kinds of relationships with with extremely dysfunctional people like this, right, Like, this is a you know, despite this being in a in a fantasy you know, uh manga that takes place in medieval times,

these are real interactions between people. This is these are real interpersonal relationships that children have been hurt like this so many times. Right, this is why Berserk has this reputation. The people that have read it, that have given it the time, that have that have not just looked at it as some sort of like torture porn, like a like in the most shallow sense that can look at

these He's doing so much in these panels. There's so much to all the reactions, to the to the to the to the facial you know, responses, this is this, these are he writes them like the real humans, right, And that's the mark of a good author, right, and a mark of a good storyteller. This scene, it's so devastating, like all of this kid's worst anxieties are being confirmed by the only person that he didn't want them to be confirmed by while he's trying to kill him. And

it's like he can't be more candid. He's drunk, you know what I mean. It's not like he's lying. He's saying exactly what he feels, right, And it's the first time that Gambino's really being honest with this kid, and he just uses it to destroy him emotionally so he can kill him. And the result is.

is a story for males. This is about in many ways, so much of what makes it what it is about what it is to be male, you know what I mean, And and how our position in the world is sort of dictated and for us right in many ways, and for much of the history of man. Right now, everybody is a soldier, right, I'm not trying to imply that all males soldiers and that's how it worked. But at the drop of the hat, you would be expected to

be do you know what I'm saying? Like that is our role, that is our job is to potentially die for the greater hole. So this the nature of these things, how Guts respond to them, and not just him, but many of the other characters. Right, there's a reason that this story is so it touches so close to so many guys that read this, right, they feel it. They imagine being this kid. Man, they put themselves in the position of that show. They remember what they were as children,

and they look at this and imagine themselves in this position. Man, imagine being hunted by a bunch of dudes, you know, for a thing you didn't even your dad's trying to kill you. You defend yourself and then these guys are trying to murder you on top of that. Like, this is just horror, horror, horror story. This whole kid's this kid's whole life. It's just like.

the piece doesn't last, right. He he gets up, obviously, he sees the you know, the beautiful sky and as he's sort of stumbling along with this sword again, uh, something we will see often repeated. He's sort of wondering, what's the point of even living anymore? Right, what's the point of living in a world where there's only bad things? But despite that, right, despite the fact that he lives, you know, a horrible life. He's no nothing but kind

of violence and betrayal. When the wolves come around, he can't stop fighting, right, despite the fact that his life is horrible.

are all monumental works. In my opinion, this is like a true a movement A time friend, I was like a It laid up such a powerful foundation for what we're in now. Think about the amount of big sword guys, right, Like, think about all of that. Right, we live in a world that was in many ways, like the the flavor of the water was helped to be created by these stories, right, these aesthetic languages. Four years later, what a beautiful times good.

It's such a spread, bro. I know, I know, I should stop doing this because it's it's probably repetitive to hear, you know, two guys on a podcast say this art's really good. But man, the art's really good. Like, what do you say? Uh, that's part of the story of what Berserk is. It's mirror's drawings. He is like, if Berserk was drawn and written by a lesser artist, I don't think it would have that same cultural impact that it does. It was the esthetic sensibilities of Kantaro Mura

that led it to where it was. It's not just the choices that he made, it's the it's the the fidelity with which he can, he can realize these things. It's the way he frames, it's the way he panels. That is part of the the The entire Monk is a visual feast. You can literally spend more time just looking at the images than reading the dialogue and the plot. It's there's that much packed in and that's part of

the reason. Also why there was this This mouk was done monthly, and part of the reason why it took so long in some places to get finished is because he's doing this ship, you know what I mean. It's yeah, it's like, yeah, if this took three months to make, I wouldn't be surprised. But he was putting these out monthly, so yeah, that tells you also what the workload must be like O.

of the Golden Age. Right. They don't show the I don't think they show the like the stuff when he's a little kid, but it starts basically from here, right, This fight and the whole band of the Hawk, all of that. They're pretty great in some ways. There are problems with them, obviously, but they're pretty great in some ways. And one of the ways that I really really enjoyed that film is the way in which they depict this fight,

because they make Guts seem completely psychotic. If you were, like, if you were to fight somebody who could move like that with that kind of weapons, He's putting you into pieces in seconds. Like it's like, as I've said before, it's like fighting an industrial machine rather than a person. He's hitting you harder than you think he should be able to hit you, and he's doing it too many times. Look at this guy. This guy's massive, and he's like,

what is going on? This is a this is a fifteen year old He outweighs him, probably by two hundred pounds, and he's getting pushed back. Right, this kid is nassy. He is insanely strong, and he's very very good at swordsmanship. He's not just swinging around a big sword, a big heavy sword and hitting people hard. He can swing it with the speed of a lesser weapon. He is not just good, he's excellent. Right, he is extremely dangerous already,

and he's fifteen years old. Right. Yeah, so he works this dude, and there it is.

and Gus just leaves. Right, He's just completely uninterested. Basically sounds gay pretty much.

English words to Japanese people. So I'm just gonna have to get used to it, especially hundred.

He cuts another guy's arm off, but they call back for help right too. Cosca, who will become a character, will see much more from her. But basically, these couple guys have gotten into a situation where they can't handle it, so they're calling for more help. So she, you know, armors up, goes in guts is still you know, staring down you know the rest of the guys, but Costca shoots him just out of a crossbow bull to Yeah, yeah.

like to do the whole irm coscas a girl? How come?

my entire body. It's a grap you know what I mean? If you know how to do it, somebody being strong doesn't make a difference. It's about technique, right, So she can, you know, to a degree? She she like, it's not insane to imagine that a woman would be able to kill people with a fucking weapon, right, It's not. It's not impossible. Well, and to be fair, she is exceptional, Like, yes, exactly,

she's not. This isn't considered like normal. Coska is a exceptional person by every means that there's no other women fighters in the band. Right, obviously put her there because it was cool to have a woman in the story. But I like Casca. I like Coska as a character. I think she's interesting in her own right. Her own little conflict that's going on in her head is interesting.

Her dynamic with Griffith and Guts is interesting. And her position in the band I also think is interesting because she's sort of like a manager administrator, right, She's the one who is She's like the disciplinarian where Griffiths runs the show, right, she Costka is always the person who's reprimanding people. Right, She's the one telling Corcus not to go after Guts in the first place. She's the one who is like, he's gonna do something to you, and

then it happens. She's the one that comes to bail them out. She's like mom, right, and so yeah, you're completely correct. But as as the you know, the fight wraps up, Griffith basically throws a spear into it. He breaks up the fight again. Just a super cool image, very very ominous. Yes, his his design is so masterful. I love his Like the helmet is stull iconic. Right,

this is such a perfectly rendered character. And then I think right after that, right, he takes a helmet off and issue he reveals his luscious locks in his full mane of He basically like you know what I mean?

I'm saying. They are, They are. They couldn't be more different. Guts is, Guts is grunting and and grit and pain and bleeding and fucking scars, and Griffith is untouched, completely calm, all white, never even fucking says anything, just pure like cold, rational serenity. Right, Like he's like Galadrial, you know, he has this distance that gives him a sense of no almost like regions, like like like he feels he feels real, he feels above them. Yeah, and there's the.

save me. The sword isn't working, and he tells him to look at the sword and it's transformed into his severed leg and he says, you know, I'm dead. You killed me and it hurt. And there's this sort of very grim image of Gambino with his his still talking with his neck. Halfway through uh again, we see more

and more of this kind of surreal element. You know, the dog is transformed into the plague stricken vision of his adopted mother and you know, as the the monster bears down on him, right with the face of Donovan, he sees, you know, Gambido and his adopted mother skeletons right saying over and over again, you should have died. So, you know, just again a very grim scene.

Guts is a deeply empathetic and sensitive person. He know, like he's not just because he is hard on the outside, right, because he because he understands I have to shield myself from the world right, his truth, the core of him is the one that feels guilty for killing a man who could not have abused him. More, he feels guilt for the fact that this woman they took him in and then died, even though he had nothing to do

with him. He feels guilty for being this cursed child, despite the fact that there's no real evidence that's the case. It's just the hearsay, the happenstance, the way of the world, and the way people will see him as a result. Right, It's like how being a bastard was or being a fucking albinos In some parts of the world, you know what I mean, they're like, ah, that's fucked up and weird, right, And now all of a sudden, you have a terrible life as a result of something you have no control over,

a complete coin flip. You had nothing to do with it, nothing to do with your personality or who you are. It's just that makes me fucking feel fucked up. So that's the way it is now, right, this kid has to bear that burden, right, And you see, despite his facade or sort of demeanor, the way he carries himself, this still weighs very heavily upon him. He feels it right every second, seemingly there's a reason that he doesn't

let people touch him. So yeah, this is the you know, and again Mirror is not He's not like Miri is is and Berserk is full of subtlety, right, but he's not always relying upon that, sometimes just showing you obviously

this is the case. And to be fair, also this was written in like the early nineties, so this was subtle for them, you know what I mean now by the standards of the medium, especially right exactly the medium and the time, you know, this is this is like, this is like you know, this is this is the most progressive, you know, like it's very like, wow, he's really showing it, you know. But yeah, no, nowadays, right, we look at this and it's like, yeah, no, it's

clear what is happening here? Right, So guts after, you know, we see this vision, uh, we see these sort of vague images of him in bed with a woman, don't know quite who. He wakes up, he is in the Mercenary band. He sees, you know, Griffith, which he obviously remembers, and then Cosca talking and Cosca just walks up to him and smacks him right, says, you know, I wish you die. He's obviously in a lot of pain, and it's confirmed that, you know, Griffith told Costa like, hey,

hop in bed with Guts. He's lost a lot of blood. You need to keep him alive, so, you know, insinuating why she's a little mad at him, and also sort of laying the grounds for their romance later. But as you know, he walks up to Griffith, Griffith hands him his sword, you know, saying like, oh wow, this is really incredible. Two of them start talking. You know, we get some more characterization of the other kind of members of this crew. Right, I'm skipping over for the sake

of time. This is interesting. But basically he says, you know, like we were in the same battle together. And the two of them stand on top of the hill and you know, griff that ask him like, well, why didn't you kill me? And Griffith says something we will hear him say many times, because I want you. Of course, Guts is like, dude, that's pretty gay. Yeah, it is.

There's a reason that so many people identify with Griffith and Guts, right, but Griffith in particular, because Griffith has a like. Griffith has a dream. We all have that, right, I think. I think any one of us that isn't just you know, some sort of like Shudra like fucking Highlich. We all have dreams. We all have uh an ambition or desire that we that we that we want to

strive for. And Griffith exemplifies that extremely well, and he is willing to cooperate with other people to make that happen. He understands that he can't necessarily do it alone, and he will stand on the shoulders of others to do it, but he will do it right. And once he sees guns, he realizes that this guy, this guy is going to be a pivotal part of this. He has this like foresight to understand what he's looking at. So Griffith is a deeply ambitious person. He's a deeply he's a person

who looks to the future. And he's young. Clearly, they're all like the same age ish, right, they're all young people. But Griffith is not like the rest of them, and that's why he runs the show. That's why he's the hawk, right. He has a mind that is operating at another level compared to the people around him. And not just that he is ambitious and all of that stuff, but he's also skilled. He has the ability to back up his will. He's not just guy who has a lot of talk.

He will walk the walk as well. And that is what this last little duel is. It is the solidification that Griffith is not just words. Griffith is for real and Guts learns that as well. Right, he is willing. This fight is fantastic. I love it, right, the saber versus the big sword. Right, it's sick. You're muted, you're muted.

you fight it out. Right, Guts essentially says, if.

This pretty boy doesn't have it. And that is not the case. That is not that spits his own blood in his face. Right, Griffith picks up, and then we get this, We get this first glimpse. We get this first glimpse. Look at his face. That is rapture. That is like like nirvonic joy. And why because Griffith in that moment, it's not a oh, it's a reveal of

Griffith's evil. It's not so simple. That is what Griffith looks like when he knows he is going to win, when he knows he's going to get what he wants. That's the face he makes because he knows that it's checkmate. As soon as this happens, it initiates the sequence of grappling that leads to the the yeah, he dislocates in the arm. Right, gets him perfect, and it's like the Griffith has this moment of like ecstasy, like yes, yes,

I get it. And that really what it shows is the only time that Griffiths will like like crack the perfect facade is when he's getting what he wants. And he shows that like that like glee, almost like childlike glee of like yes, I'm getting what I desire right now.

they're prepared for a battle. Uh you know, everyone is you know on side, right, Guts and Costa everyone, Uh, I'm skipping over a little bit because we have a little bit of a time constraint, but this is still very you know, good characterization.

and comrades. These are the people that he will be willing to for the first time, put his life on the line for because every other time in guts his life, the only time that he really risked his life was for his own sake, right, for his own life or of his own survival. But these people, these are true comrades. Right. In Japanese, there's friend, the word friend tomodachi, right, which is like a friend or acquaintance person that you know, right.

But na kama is like comrade, it's like brother. It means a close bond of true life, like this is a this is a this is we are we are brothers. You know what I'm saying, Like this, we we we we have the same goals, we have the same enemies, we have the same uh uh uh uh loves and hate. We are we are, we are as one line. Right,

that is what that word means. And that's why when he finally attributes that to these people, to the Band of the Hawk, right, this is a completely different world from the world he grew up in, a world where he was it was essentially dog eat dog and at his most vulnerable right now, when he finally has the strength to be on his own, he learns two I guess the best way to put it is like he learns once it's like it's like the Band of the

Hawk teachers. And once he has the strength to live on his own, to survive on his own, he learns that he doesn't have to do you know what I'm saying. He learns that you don't have to go to sleep expecting people are gonna come kill you, you don't have to sleep with a blade, you don't have to do these things. You can live a life in which the people around you are your are people that you can trust to have your back. And that's what he learns

with the band. Right. That's why this, this part of the story is so so so important to this guy because before his life was nothing but suffering. His life was nothing but pain. His life was nothing but hoping that the people around you aren't going to betray you or kill you or try to fucking uh you know, send the Donovan after you. Right, this is the is the other side. It's the it's the it's the heel, right, it's the it's the moment in which a person can

heal finally from from their wounds. And that's why this is so important. That's why I love it so much. It's why everyone loves the Golden Age so much, because you get to see your boy having a nice life for a little bit, you know.

our last discussion. Uh we see there's a counter attack right this the siege has started, you know, the general has launched out, you know, some cavalry to uh you know, to to route this uh surprise attack. And uh yeah, that's where we pick up at our next discussion.

There's been a huge wave of this. It's been kind of very interesting to see the rise of this medium in the West as as a kid who like, man, you know, I was there was a time frame where you would be made fun of if you watch Japanese cartoons even though everybody was still children, you know what I mean, it didn't even make sense. It was like that's childish. It's like, dude, we're eleven years old, what

are you? What are you talking about? Right? So, you know, I was a DBZ watcher and even like Sailor Moon back in the day, right, So to watch the rise of it, to watch become sort of like a firmly implanted within the cultural zeitgeist and become almost like overburnt, Like oversaturated is crazy, right, but berserk is is something that I think is kind of like a It's like an old weathered rock that things you know, like orbit

run or slash around. Right, the water's rise and fall, but this thing stays there, and it's been there for a reason. And I think this arc, in particular, the Golden Age is is the foundation of that mountain, right Like this, this, this is where Mirror shows that he isn't just writing something that is essentially a kind of like a rip off of Fists of the North Star, you know, and instead we're making something that's really considered and willing to go places that most of these things

are not are not willing to go. Yeah.

of a similar position. And so you'll you'll see this dialogue come up from time to time talking about the prevalence of you know, there's a lot of adult material in this right, there's a lot of sexual assault, there's a lot of you know violence, there's a death, yeah, one hundred percent, Like that's to be perfectly blunt about it. Yes, and look like this isn't like a if you even have to say it, it's not like a pro thing.

I don't agree with that even upon reread write as a as Like when I first read this, I was like nineteen right, or actually I was probably seventeen right.

You know, at the time, I was into anime. I liked anime a lot, right like I and I was more into manga even because I early on I read like the some kid at my school brought a shown and jump once in eighth grade and that like that one event, like you know what I mean, Like I read through it and I was like, holy shit, Like in it was like Naruto, Bleach, you you hacker show fuck.

It was just it was like all killer, no filler. Right, So I was like, this is this stuff is way cooler than the stuff that I most of the stuff that I've seen, Right, it was sort of very shocking for young me. Right. So, growing up, I rabbit towards the manga side. I read Berserk, I read or sorry, I read Bleach, I read Nards so as they were coming out, but I had never read anything like Berserk at the time. Right. It was so much more you know, for lack of better words, it was so much more mature.

It was so much more it was considered, it was more even, it was it was more elaborate artistically. It was just it was just it felt like an evolution right of the medium, despite the fact that it came out, you know, it started in the eighties, right, Mirrors just.

get into the you know, the segment we're reading. Two things. One, dude, I have never started a series and gotten more people chimping out at me to continue it now. Part of that is because there was a big gap between episode one and episode two of this series, right. The other part is people really are interested in this topic. So I'm excited about that. But I got a message after the last one came out from a buddy of mine.

He lives here locally, and you know, he's listened to the show every once in a while, and so I got this message at like ten am on a Sunday, says, I'll have you know, I read all of Berserk. It's a bit much, but damn it was really good. And I think that's about the best review I could get, right someone as it gets Yeah, a bit much is a way to put it.

He just wanted to make like a thing about a cool guy who fucking kicks people's asses and slashes them in half with a giant fucking sword, right, because that rules, and at the time, to be fair, right, to be fair to him. Right. It's so funny how he's the water that people are swimming in and they don't even really realize it, right, And not to say that Mirror is some sort of like you know, uh, visionary innovator.

That is not his skill. His skill is like it is fine tune, like like uh, those skills it's not necessarily about like, Wow, he's made something that has changed all of fiction, like you know, something like a like a like a token. He's not doing that, right. What what Mirror was doing, especially at the beginning, was he clearly clearly really liked Fist of the north Star, right, because Berserk is essentially what if Ken Schiro was an asshole?

This is the north Stars. Whole thing is that is that the main character is like he's like he's the ultimate moral guy, right, Like he's like a shit night and shining armor always says the right thing, and he's like pretty much invincible, right, whereas you know in in Berserk, right, despite the fact that you know, Guts is also like a sort of wandering a wandering form of justice. He is his own moral compass, right, and he doesn't follow like a like a sort of like a social ethic. Right.

He's he's very antisocial and he's absolutely effective and super brutal, right, So he has that Canhiro power, but he doesn't have that Canhiro ethical framework. In many ways, I've I've heard I I personally have not read the og Devilman because that's what this stuff is like inspired by just so

everybody understands, right, uh uh. Devil Devilman cry Baby is a recently made Netflix show that is Devil Man like a sort of like a reboot, but the og Devilman is like I'm talking about these are these are things like the way that Astro Boy is part of Japanese you know, like cultural framework. Devil Man is the same thing. It is. It is like an og uh comic book series that everybody knows. So Mirror is a big fan of that, and Devilman also has a sort of Griffith

like character. But those were his inspirations and you can see that, especially in the in the Black Swordsman arc that he kind of just wanted to make something like fits of the North Star. But Golden Age. That's where this really like comes alive, right, you see hints of

it at the end of the Black Swordsman arc. Obviously, the last chapters of Black Swordsmen are like explicitly like he okay, he figured out what he wants to do with this, right, you see femto right, you see the God hand, right, all of that stuff with that last apostle is really interesting. But then it's like, okay, how do we get here? Right, and he gives it to you, and it starts in a way that you know, this is spectacular. I think this is such a good way

to start with. This character is right, like this kid is literally born from a corpse, right, he's he We'll get into that. We'll get into that.

It's not because everybody was out buying fucking anime DVDs. That's not what people do. They go to anime pirate or they go to pirated anime websites, or they go to pirate mango websites and they read them and then if they love it, they buy it, or they fucking go to Japan. They turn people into fucking like cultists. Man,

It's it's like, it's it's worth. That's why they allow it to happen, in my opinion, because I don't think that these companies would have the hardest time going for these these kinds of these kind of websites regardless, I think, yeah, you should probably go read because I'm going to do

my best to not these spoilery. But it's difficult to really talk about the meat of this thing without revealing a lot of aspects of this because a lot of it is like it's in many ways Bzurk is a maximalist, right, But there's so much of the really good stuff is really understated, you know, even just looks things like that right in this in this some dish. But yeah, this kid is clearly in the Black Swordsman Arc. Gots has some issues with other people, right. He really despises being touched,

can't stand it. It doesn't matter who's touching him either, right, he is he doesn't really have very much value for human life at all. He is willing to kill innocence.

Only really one death hurts him in the whole thing, and that's the little girl and her and her and her like old man Dad, he's like traveling and you know he gets attacked by because of the brand, right, he gets attacked and these two people get sort of caught in the crossfire, right, and he he ends up destroying this child's body that gets possessed and it does damage him. He cries about it, I believe, which you never see up to that point, right, he never really

shows that aspect of himself. It's important to.

just this massive battle. Obviously this is sort of paying homage to the historical one hundred Years War, right, this conflict where there are lots of mercenaries running around. Guts himself is the is you know, is a part of

you know, one of these bands. Uh So the battle is again rendered in in gory detail, and then there's this this troop of you know, armed armored knights that come in and instead of right, you know, fighting that with a you know, an actual force, Guts rides out himself, right, and again we see the sort of like very you know, dutifully rendered you know, gore as he kind of cuts them through. Again, a great kind of double spread of

him going into it. I'm not going to go through and scroll through the entire thing, but I will show kind of choice panels that are particularly relevant or interesting as we go through it, and a lot.

you know, get outside of your guard. He just cuts through it and no one expects that. No one expects the he's able to do that. It's considered like superhuman in the universe, which I appreciate. Right, Guts is considered like imagine seeing somebody do that, man, imagine watching somebody cleave with a sword through plate armor that doesn't even make like like what is that's like magic shit? Like what is going on with that? What is that guy taking? Right?

So he is a force? Right this this chapter right what I appreciated, But I just realized that sort of like the the format of this like properly right. This chapter in particular, I love this because it's it's sort of the first time that he gets the first time that you see guts in a in a in a position of of responsibility to a degree, right, this is a a reveal of him after a time has passed.

I do also love the aspect that he's fighting these sort of like something that Japanese authors do a lot, and I think it's it's kind of there's a lot of soul in this. It's sort of it reminds me a lot of like a you know, like sort of like nineteen fifties like greaser sort of sort of like like like street gang called like oh, we're like street sharks, you know what I mean, like that that kind of

ship like snapping at each other. Right. Yeah. The Japs have this thing too with with with you know this this this uh, this unit that they're that the Band of the Hawk is fighting against. Right, they're called like the like black Iron Rams heavy cavalry, right, Like they have like a ton of these. It's like, yeah, tons of them across the Munket, there are tons of them.

I love this. I love this part of It's very typical, especially of Japanese stuff at this time frame in the net because I think this this part was being written in the nineties. Yeah, most of the Golden ages written in the nineties, I believe he was. He was he was fast burning in the nineties, but it's still done significantly. But yeah, I love that he's fighting sort of like this, like they all have there's you know, special ram helmets

and right, they're like they're like they're like a gang. Right.

getting after it with your bros. Right that this is sick and you like your main guy is the coolest guy ever, right, and we we have to talk about Griffith, right, Oh yeah, one hundred percent.

Guts is not meeting Griffith. We are as the audience, is what I meant to say, no, because there's a whole section in which in which, like, okay, there's a battle, Guts beats a guy, Griffith sees him do this, then Guts leaves with the money. Griffith's boys watch him leave, right and they it's Corcus, you know, the like the like he's like the designated like oh.

they can't stand each other. They're kind of vying for, you know, their their position under Griffith, you know that the charismatic leader here, and then we move to actually a pretty interesting scene. So I'm going over this not because it's you know, unimportant, but just because you know, we'll refer back to this a little bit later and get you know, it'll make sense later, right when we go through the kind of rest of this, you know, immediate chapter. Is there anything else you want to cover?

We can, like I said, refer back to this later.

of what berserk is. Berserk is he remember right this man wrote Andrew. Basically everything how how manga works is a little bit more complicated, right. There are other people in the in the place doing all like that, you know, all the shading work, all of like the inking, all of that stuff is done handled by different people. But the line work, the designs, the the the the uh what's it called?

This is where he's figuring out how he wants to make things look in the future. Uh. This arc is like the the the It's where the the cement sets. You know. I love Griffith's design. First of all, the hawk is such a cool idea, right, him being this blonde or so not even he's not even blonde. His hair is white. Right, It's more than that, he like he looks like an elf for Christ's sake, right, he

he doesn't even look like a person. And all of his boys, uh, you know, like almost like revere him the way that they talk about not just Griffith, but also Guts. At this point, right, you know, after when when Cosco is sort of like a dressing him down, you can see that Guts has established himself within the

band of the Hawk, right. He he he has now become, you know, the captain of the Raiders, right, he has a bunch of guys under his command, and he still does reckless things, but he but he like his guys don't even care. They think he's awesome, right, they like, I think it's cool that he does one v ones. Right, They're like, that's sick. We would will go after you anyway, right.

But Casco has problems with that, right, And and the friction is there, and I love that, right, the the the her feeling that he's sort of replacing her, all of the stuff, like all of the fact that all of these characters are clearly people who are right, if you're a mercenary in a band of guys, right, you've you've probably had a pretty interesting or hard life or both. Right, something has brought you to this place that's not like normal. Right.

A lot of these guys are outcasts. They don't have anybody to go back to or any place to go back to. So this is their place, right. So that that conflict between people who don't know where else to go and feel like their place is being sort of usurped. That's that's that's that that provides her interesting character character work, right, And thankfully, Mirror understands understatement. He understands not making everything

be necessarily be said. He understands allowing characters to not like Guts doesn't necessarily say everything he's feeling, right, He most of the time he's conveying all of the things that this guy thinks through looks. You know, so you have to be able to do that well, and you see a lot of that coming out here. I love this stuff. I love I love these chapters in particular. Uh,

it's sort of a coming out for the character. Right, you've seen because again, right, chronologically we're a little bit far and at this point you've seen a lot be overcome from guns, right, Like he seems sort of like he's more maturing more as a person as a man. Right. She gets upset with him cuscom Right, She gets upset with him about like saying like you don't you don't care about your comrades, you don't care about anybody else, Right, you just go in and he's like, no, like that's

he that's what he takes issue with. Rights, we're saying that to him.

These decisions, these choices, these ambitions, these resentments, everything that takes place between these two characters defines everything that happens it's it's beautiful the subtlety of all of it as well, Like especially okay, okay, I know we're trying to not do spoilers, but we have to talk about the way that these two actually come together and nature of how

that defines their relationship. Right, there's a lot like a lot of people talk about Berserk, and the way that they talk about Griffith and Guts is like, you know, they have this very crude sort of like it's gay and it's like listen, dude, just shut the fuck up, right, like get out of here, Like you can do that if you want, but that's that's not what's happening here. Right, Griffith is a Griffith is the kind of person that has a single desire, right, He has a single goal.

He has a as he calls it, a dream. He wants something from the world for whatever reason, which you you know, do see and find out what what why. Griffith you know, pursues what he pursues in the way

that he pursues it. Right. But in initially when they first meet, Griffith has seen Guts in action in combat, right, and this kid is already like he is clearly like this is like meeting Guts would be like meeting a very scary street dog, right, he is hard, like meeting a kid, Like could you imagine meeting a child like them? You know what I mean? It's like it's scary, Like that's like that it's scary. And it's also it's not scary because it's not like the necessarily this kid's gonna

you know what I mean. But it's there's a sense of like, especially if you're your own kids, right, I don't, but everyone who does, right, Any you look at a child, right, any any child that's like hard and that has hard eyes and that looks at you the way that Guts looks at people when he's a child, Right, it's like, what the fuck happened to this kid? Right? There's something clearly here, But whatever it is, it fuels this violence, right.

And the reason for that is myriad, But to put it, to put it simply, it's violence is the only thing that is ever Actually, violence is the only friend that Guts has, right. His sword is his only friend. It's it's the only thing he can really trust. It's the only thing that he knows won't betray him. It's the only thing that he knows he can depend on. Right is the blade. That's why he's so good with it. That's why even here right while Griffith is being knighted,

he's honing his ability to use it. Right, that's all he that's his only real instrument in this world to act upon it, to stop it from acting upon him, right, which has very much happened to him. So when he meets Griffith, who has seen him fight, sees him like again cut through some dude's armer with the fucking sword, which is insane, Right, Griffith season fight and Griffith understands the value of this, being able to bring violence to bear like that season is a tool, right, goes I

could use that. They meet because Griffith, Griffith's men jump him, He kills a couple of them. The fight starts to go bad. Costco goes over to try to stop him, Guts almost kills Cosca. Griffith saves her and shows one why he is the guy that he is. He is an expert swordsman. Like as much as we are going to talk about Griffith's faults right right now, in these panels, you were just you were just contrasting the you know the focuses, right, Griffith is here to get knighted. He is.

He wants the accolades because of where they because of where they will take him in his mind, right, but he earned them with like Griffith isn't just snaking his way through, right, he is actually real. When he fights Gots, he beats him. And that's the proposition. If I beat you in this sword fight, I will own you. You will be mine. It's literally the language that he describes that he uses. Right, you will be mine. And he

loses the fight, right, got is the fight? So that that relationship right, because not only does he lose the fight, then he's then he is introduced into an embraced by this band of warriors. Right. And again, as I said at the beginning, it's manner bund right. This is the This is the desire of all young mentor would agree, is to be embraced by a group of their peers. Right. You want the others to respect you and to value you. Right. I think this is human universal right. And he never

experienced this up until this point. The only way that he experienced any form of value was you know, it was all backhanded. It all came with abuse, right, So finally he meets these people who treat him well for what he can do, and even after hurting him, embrace him. Right, only then does he learn sort of like to become dedicated to others. Right. And now at this point, even in this panel, right, the juxtaposition of them so true, right,

Griffith or Guts, he never stops honing himself. Griffith is now concerned with pageantry, knighthood, social the social dynamic if you if you, if you can you scroll back up for a sec like, uh, or I think yeah, okay. So so while he's been knighted, right, while that's happening the whole time, other nobles who were there before him, right, guys who are already knights, these guys are all talking shit, right,

They're all like, I can't believe this. Right, So this is now the domain that Griffith has to concern himself with. These are the sparrings that he has to go through. These are the knife fights that he has to deal with, whereas Guts remains sort of the the earth. Right, He's like, it's like one goes to the sky, the other one goes to the earth. Right, They are. They are truly like a Yin and Yang situation, the two of them, well.

of the culture, right, enduring pain. But it's not only in that, right, It's it's the character. It's not that he's ugly, it's that he's a he's they're juxtapost right, his hair is he's dark. His skin even is is like like he looks more canned always than Griffith. Right, He's he's rougher. He looks like a person who's has slept outside many, many, many times. And Griffith doesn't. Griffith looks like a princess in from a castle, right, but

he is rough. That's the weird part about Griffith. And that's the part that always like again, just like just like Guts' strength is acknowledged in universe to sort of be monstrous, It's like, what the fuck is that Griffith is also considered like it's like people are like it's like he's not even real, you know what I mean. He seems like unreal. He's like a he's like a character out of myst It's like a like an Arthurian legend or something. Right. Uh. And to that point, something

that I also want to bring up. Sorry, go ahead, go ahead, because I won't forget no, no, not at all.

falls asleep while holding the fucking sword. It's like that is so painful, Like this kid desires closeness so much, so much, right, and he's not getting it from anybody around him, because nobody is there for him for that, for that purpose that he will choose cold and sharp steel, right, anything, Right, it's the only thing that's that's here for me. Right.

To go from that to being somebody who has friendships, has close bonds, that is a tremendous change, right, Like this is like it's like any I don't know anybody who has ever taken in an animal, not necessarily a heavily abused one, but you too, right, those people too, right. They The amount of time and efforts and care that it takes to open that kind of pain up right is really really difficult. But when you do, it's immensely, immensely gratifying and satisfying to sort of like see this

animal learn to trust again. Right, Guts is a similar creature he was. He's like a very abused and straight dog, right, And these people gave him a home, these people gave him something, so he his way of giving back is I don't have anything but my ability to use this weapon. So I'm going to become unbelievably proficient with it. I will push myself as beyond what's possible. And meanwhile, this is what Griffith is concerned with. Griffith's eyes are always

on the horizon. Griffith is always looking to the future. Griffith is holding what he himself is called the egg of the King already, right, we know what this thing is, we do, yeah.

going on. What happens next is that, you know, Griffith and his company are on a hill overlooking a siege and they're talking about Zod, this soldier, you know that, this sort of mythical man. And you know, as the action kind of goes on, we see this keep where the door has been busted in and there are other mercenaries standing around and they're saying, we've sent fifty men in None of them have come back out, and again, right, the the gore is is significant in this, so as we go through.

Guts wants to go in, right despite the fact that these you know, fifty men have been killed, and we see right one of the survivors stumbling out, and it again it's graphic, completely completely hacked. Is one of his arms in half of his side is missing, right, You see his I was gonna say guts, but that's a stupid pun in this context. You see his intestines, right, yeah, one hundred percent, And the last time he says he them, he truly guts from right there, he guts across the room.

So true, so true.

shadow and darkness. There's there's a understanding of of of like uh of of how to build into you know, a visual, visually terrifying thing. Right. That's that's that's his style. He's the best at this. Another thing, you know, I did want to say earlier, Right, this is something that I think is is also a huge part of why Berserk is so popular, uh in the West, is because it is invariably Western in many ways. Obviously it's a manga, but like the entire thing takes takes place in sudo Europe.

All the designs are European designs, right, It's it's uh, you know, people love dark Souls, right, and Dark Souls has a very similar aesthetic language that Berserk does obviously, right, it's very uh visually inspired by it, right, even even the enemies things like that. Right. I love that Miura made that choice to to and it's so lovingly represented

as well. Like you can tell that he enjoys drawing the armor, drawing the the buildings, drawing the spears, drawing the formations, the the you know, the sweeping fields, the green right that that those those aspects of sort of a pre industrial uh Europe, right, you know, almost like like a ghibli type of thing. Right, I think that that sort of same uh uh itch is sort of being scratched a little bit. Except this is includes like hyper violence and stuff and and horror, right especially.

he's naked too. I love that, like every aspect of this is so like he is He is knan you know what I mean. He is not like this is not a thing like the other people that you have been seeing up to this point. Never mind the fact that he's an apostle. Beyond that, right, this is PRIMORTI. This is a primordial Like this dude doesn't he's not bothering wearing armor. He's he's not bothering with any of that.

Look at that, Look at his fingers in that guy's head, right, like beyond even the apostle aspect, though yes, the fingers in the head is apossibly right, it's just the fact that, like this is a zod immediately shows like almost like the chronmagnu and brow sing right like he he establishes him as like an almost primeval man immediately all the hit the subtle like everything. His whole body's cross hatched, right, and that gives the impression that he's covered in hair.

But it's like very fine, you know what I mean, You know, he feels bestial everything. With such an excellent introduction of this character, I love him.

people look like after the fights. Right, So it kind of subtenly establishes that, like you are now walking into a place in which the order of battle is now to your level, right, you are that he can do what you can do, right, And he even kind of his his face suddenly mirrors go Guts is right. They have very similar facial physiognomy. It's just that Zons is like monsterified, right, it's like exaggerated. But they have that same sort of brow that even their hair is similar, right,

same facial sort of shape and stuff. I think Zod is clearly led to me. He's always been a mirror of of Guts. Right, He's like, what if what if Guts was a monster? He would be Zod?

just a normal guy and he goes in. It's just like, look at the violence, the the implication of speed, the weight, everything, how unprepared Guts is even though he's swinging.

little little choices, I I cannot like. I will gush over literally everything in the Monga love. I love reserve it, so so well done. I also don't want to read this. I didn't want to read this because this is this is what it starts like. This, This this part of the arc. This is what it starts with. Right, And we were just talking about love crafting powers, right and Zod in this world is the destiny of mankind controlled by some transcendental entity or law? Is it like the

hand of God hovering above? At least it is true that man has no control even over his own will. Man takes up the sword in order to shield the small wound in his heart, sustained in a far off time beyond remembrance. Man wields that sword so that he may die smiling in some far off time beyond perception. Right, the I love the the the understanding of the blade as the will of how sort of one's willingness to do battle, to fight, to potentially die, to throw themselves

into danger. Right is where they will find who they are. Right, Guts live by this creed. He lives by this this logic, and you find in this fight, so does mister Zod. Yes.

him specifically, and I love this. In Japanese subaroshi, he calls him splendid, superb. That's how he refers to Guts.

through his forearms and we see several things. One, Zod is not human at all because as gut sword is through his forearms and into his chest, he pulls it out.

deal with this? Okay, now there's a monster in front of me, right what Oh and by the way, he's like kind of pissed off because I just got him really bad.

this is white lines on black background. Again, very stylistic something we will say often used to highlight certain things. But we get again the great perspective of Zod, you know, bearing down on our hero. You know, we.

momentum has changed, like Gots is swinging at him. Right, but it bounces off, it just hits his horn and he again gets backhanded through another one of these columns, and as as Zod bears down on him right saying, I won't show you mercy. Is this all you've got? Like, I guess it's fine for human backwards, Yeah, and he lifts him up and it's gonna tear him limb from limb yet again, half again, trying to turn you into meet like all those other guys.

oh fuck, and then they fire at him. It does nothing, and he's like okay, and I love this moment. He just like spurgs out super hard. It's like, how dare you fuck with my one V one? I write a great time and all of you came here and you ruined it. This This dude, Zod is just so key though. Dude, he's so based well and you see him just laying waste nic just he just starts killing everyone, dude, no mercy, mashing him up like it's like it's like watching a

kid destroy by a sand castle. Right, He's just he's just he's just wrecking them all. It's like they're all hearing your plant like nothing, like they're just they're in cloth.

You in the Black Swords and arc You know, Griffith is femto, you know, he's femto, right, So you are expecting Griffith to be just this manipulative fuck the entire time.

about them more as objects for his use or not? Honestly, bro, this doesn't seem this part right, This doesn't seem like, Wow, need to use that guy as my tool so hard. No. I feel like a person who doesn't care about another person beyond tool will not risk their life for them like this, Like in this circumstance, it's one thing to be in a battle, it's another thing to have a fucking monster from myths, bearn down upon you. Right, that's a different level of I'm willing to go in there. Right.

So Griffith shows himself to actually have been a real comrade to these people he cares about. There's a reason that they that that everyone follows Griffith the way that they do. It's because he was actually that guy. You know. He he has his ambitions, but he will also do this, you know, And I think that contrast in Griffith's character is part of what makes him so interesting.

and power of this man or this apostle. Right, yeah, yeah, I have portraits of words, but we see you know, guts and you know, splitting up trying to take this guy down. They are wounding him, right, he is taking hits from you know, now Griffith and goth to gust together, Yeah, to such a point, yes, that they take his arm off. Yeah that that Griffith actually wounds him, cuts his arm off, right, So both of them have shown to be actually capable of wounding this creature.

like I love. Also, one of the sort of subversive aspects of him is how eloquent he is, Like he's speaking in like an old and and proper almost like regal way, right, I love that aspect of He's this big brute that will beat the fuck out of you, but he's also like hyper eloquent and very very dignified when he speaks, and then he sees it and and again right we we we see that he is despite being this kind of like hulking figure, you know, earlier

in the in the fight when he correctly We're not correctly, but he makes a very good guess at what guts next move is. But of course he realizes what this is the egg of the King, not just a bayletpecial one. Yes, yes, he mentions the god man, the god hand rather the crimson balet is something that felix him with the Crimson balets. Yeah, and then he stays laughing.

something great. It's worth going back to. But if that's all there was of Berserk, people might remember it for the art, you know, people might remember it for a few other things.

It's completely serviceable, and especially for its time, it was very good, especially art wise, right, but at this point, right somebody reading it, I don't think there will be some things that might surprise you a little bit, like if you hadn't read it right and never had any exposure to Berserk. And it's not Again, it's not bad, but this arc is what elevates Berserk to something else beyond what it was before, because this puts one from

a visual standpoint. As I've said many times throughout this, right, it just just keeps getting better from here. And Berzerk is one of the best looking manga ever, right, and for many, many, many years it just straight up was basically the best looking manga right. Nowadays, there are a lot of amazing, amazing, amazing artists out there who do

incredible work. It's not necessarily that they look better than It's not a competition per se, but it's like hyper high quality art is not something that is like impossible to find right outside of this right in the same way that it sort of was for its time, and it has inspired so much stuff over the years with its you know, the way that it handled it's setting, its character designs and costume designs, armor designs, weapon designs,

even you know, buildings, just the monsters everything, right, people have been sort of whether you know, the outright copying or being so clearly inspired by it for so long. Like I don't think that there's I think there's a good reason that like for example, a cloud Strife from Final Fantasy seven has a giant fucking sword. I think there's a good you know what I mean, there's a lot of characters out there that they are what they are because of the because of the influence of this

and Black Swordsman. Yeah, I think it establishes like the designs and a lot of those things, but it doesn't have that same soul and heart that comes in everything basically after this up to up to me year's death. And just to be clear also, I have not read a single chapter of Berserk since Mira died because it's I don't it's not. It's not. Even if you're working from his his notes and and you're his very good friend. He told you the story and all of that stuff.

That's cool. What you're drawing is not what he necessarily would have drawn. It's not ever going to look the way he would it would have came out of his mind. To me, it's like a it's like a fan finishing the thing, even though they are also a big mangca. It just doesn't. It doesn't hit the same. It feels wrong to read personally. For me, personally, it doesn't. It does like it just doesn't feel It almost feels like filler,

except I know that it's supposed to be. It's like or or like like you know how the Game of Thrones show not in the same like it's ship now way, but like you understand that after a certain point in the Game of Thrones show that they don't have the books to really take from, so they're working from like a skeleton. Right, it's the same kind of feeling. So I haven't seen past that. I haven't looked past that.

But like up to the point, literally Mirror was drawing some of the best stuff he's ever drawn just before he died. So yeah, the series never gets worse looking it's and it starts here. It starts here. This is where it really pops off. And even in this chapter, right, this odd chapter, like some of these odd panels as you saw, are just incredible, right and now narratively, right,

this moment is really important for many many reasons. Right one, it establishes the whole like you know, bail it the king. Holy shit, like they knew even beforehand, right, like this was like it's almost like this kid was destined to do this, right, Like what is going on exactly in this story? Like what what? What is Griffith? Right? Who you know was he chosen for this right, Like, how how does this work? But uh, yeah that that I

love that fight. I love that fight really really important for the character also to encounter like a wall that he can't surmount, right, to feel the true nature of the world, the fact that there are supernatural problems, and like, how are you going to solve that? Bro? Like, what's your answer going to be to that? And to know because we read the Black Sportsman arc right to know that his answer was I'm just going to get a bigger sword and kill them harder. Is like that what

a what a great solution to that problem? Yeah? Well, and honestly, man like.

and and what was going to happen. I do I I I am glad that that sort of even though he sadly did not get to finish it, it will be finished, you know, and that that work will get finished, right. Like it's almost like if the Sistine Chapel had never been finished, right type saying, It's like you would hope that somebody a friend would want to finish it for the person who had been doing you know, for Michelangelo, right,

that that kind of thing. So yeah, I'm with you on that, but it's it's like I just haven't done. So there's almost a part of me that like almost wants it to be done and then I'll go and just just do it right and just read all of it. Yeah, yeah, right, because it might be another thirty years at this pace. Seriously, man, he was on that boat for so goddamn long, bro, Holy shit, I was concurrent before the boat, so.

something inside so many of us. And you know, the the symbol and the the symbol of Guts as the sufferer, right is a powerful one in our time and we are a time that is uh you know, it's it's hungry, it's it's starving for for meaning and myth and symbol right, ones that that that have real power. Because so much feels, especially now right with the whole like fucking ai slop bullshit, right,

everything so much feels like like ephemeral, like smoke. Right, So when you find something that feels like it's rooted, deeply rooted, uh, it, you know, it's it's worth holding onto, I think, and it's worth celebrating, right, And I think Brazik is one of those things. What's That's why it has the appeal that it has. That's why Guts has the appeal that he has. That's why the story and this especially this part of the story, has the appeal

that it has. We all want comrades, you know, we all want brothers in arms who would fight with us, who would die for us, who we would die for. We all wish to have a goal in mind, many people, and that's something that this touches on. Many people wish to be led. And I don't necessarily think that that is a like a vice. I don't think that's a

sin to wish to be led. Life is difficult and frightening, and it's okay to look to others for some guidance, right, But you know, some people do not wish to be led. They want they have an ambition, they have a desire, and they wish to get there. Right. So some people are willing to help others with their ambition, and that's cool and that's great, right, But what we want and what we desire and having people willing to help us make it happen because we as guts learns through all

of this. You know, like you cannot do it alone, right, You cannot do it alone as much as you would like to. You can't. Even in the Blacks Swordsmanark, right, like the black Storts of Ark is like about that, almost like him like trying to do everything by himself and it almost going catastrophically almost every time, Like he barely survives all of that, right, super injured. This arc shows you what he what he's missing, what he had and what he's missing, and it's something that many of

us desire. And you know, towards the end, no spoiler, right, you understand why Guts, why Guts was has the mentality that he has in the Black Swordsman arc, why his mind is the way that it is. Because when something like this, when when that kind of safeguard for your soul is taken from you in the way that it is, then I think you are well within your rights to have that kind of response, the kind of response that he takes. Well, dude, this has been a ton of fun. Man.

out for Zerk is back. You're welcome again, man, this was a ton of fun. Dude, Thank you so much for coming.