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「飛剣の御旗」 (Hi Ken no Mihata)
“Banner of the Flying Sword”
I guess Berserk wanted to make up for lost time because was the blood ever flowing this week. It was all Griffith—ok, mostly Griffith—this time, as Kushan got its collective ass handed to it, new allies appeared out the woodwork, and the setup for greater carnage was laid out. While I’m one to pass over subpar animation, must admit I had a chuckle at how the Kushan commander looked while impaled—pretty sure poked eyes never look like that. Then there was the decapitating arrows which definitely breach the laws of reality, even if looking pretty damn impressive. Cannot complain too much though, not with all those bodies flying around.
The interesting bit for me though was the new Band of the Hawk itself. Griffith is all but walking irony, treated as the holy guardian deity, yet resurrected off the back of pagan black magic. His band employs men and demons both, and in the Mongol spirit is not adverse to meritocratic absorption of enemy defectors. Part of my interest too stems from Griffith’s aura, a seemingly sinister mix of charisma and magic capable of getting the strongest warriors to bend the knee and spontaneously induce fealty with a few mere words. There is a lot more than kebab Kushan removal at play here, and I’m quite curious seeing just what happens with Griffith’s merry little band going forward. Sonia in particular will be one to watch, mostly because she looks batsh*t insane, but also because I’ve got Mongol on the mind and see some Teb Tengri in the little blondie.
On Gut’s side the revelations continue as well, with Faranese and Serpico now fully accepted—well, tolerated—members of the group. Faranese is serious about wanting to learn the truth at least, a fact not lost on Guts as it proves her worth in the fights to come. Even for me it’s surprising seeing how much Guts has changed from the last season, open to assistance and fully acknowledging his malice cannot be solely controlled by himself any longer. Still had a giggle though at his reminiscing on Casca’s smile—if that is an accurate representation I’m not sure that’s a smile you want to protect. At least Isidro and Puck are around for the intended comic relief, don’t have to feel too bad about laughing at the unintentional.
With three episodes down I’m not particularly sure where Berserk is heading, but it sure has my attention. Guts continues towards Puck’s Alfheim, Griffith is gearing up for a rampage, and the possibility of a second meeting between the two is not out of the question. I honestly do not know yet if I’ll continue blogging Berserk—real life commitments and all that—but I’m seriously considering it. Even if I do not, however, an end post will be in the cards. It would be unfair leaving Berserk without that much at least.
Preview
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— “Even for me it’s surprising seeing how much Guts has changed from the last season, open to assistance and fully acknowledging his malice cannot be solely controlled by himself any longer.”
Yep. Easy for this to get lost in all the Griffith fawning and demon army pawning Kushan troops is that this is “Part II” of what started when Guts got Casca back. In Ep. 13 they lost the possible option (though not really a good lasting solution) of staying at the smith’s house and using the fairy mime. So now Guts is forced to to try and find another solution (which Puck suggests). This time, he’s finally come to terms with the fact he simply cannot do it alone. As bad-ass as he is, he can’t both fight against Griffith and save Casca. Actually, he can’t really just protect/save Casca alone. He need help, and for the first time he truly accepts it. Pretty big character development moment here.
Things are still just getting started, and the story will shift back to more Guts next episode.
— “…which definitely breach the laws of reality”
True, but given how over-the-top fantasy this is (you do have magic, demons, “gods”, etc.), I tend to give this stuff a pass vs. something that is supposedly set in “RL” or near “RL”. YMMV
@Pancakes: Just wondering if you’re anime-only or a manga reader as well.
Mentioned it last week, but anime-only. My reading time is usually occupied by other books unfortunately 😛
The animation hit a new low, honestly it didn’t bother me before , but this episode they didn’t even bother to hide it anymore , I waited for Berserk so long and to think this is what we get …
We watch Berserk for the story vs the animation. The original TV series was not drawn that well, either. I feel it was intentionally drawn that way, even– to not take away from the underlying story.
The deck is being stacked against Guts. Griffith is adding all these super bad ass monsters/warriors and Gut[‘s team is pretty weak (so far). He better go get the Hulk and Thor…
I will avoid giving away spoilers but there is more than meets the eye when it comes to the “decapitating arrows”. I’m sure that it will show what I’m talking about fairly soon in the anime.
Given who was shooting the arrows I can believe it. I’m guessing magic is involved.