I have already read Berserk some years back when I was practically retarded. I remember actions that take place, but not the context behind those actions. I remember a lot of the characters but not their motivations, feelings, philosophy etc. This is pretty much a fresh read, except I know who will and won’t die.
Chapters 1-3
Guts seems to be a coper. He wants to be nihilistic and almost is, but not quite. He tells Puck “I hate elves, I want to crush you” and yet he stomps next to Puck instead of actually crushing him.
He denies the ride offer from the priest at first, but later accepts it saying he doesn’t care about what happens to the priest anyways. But the fact is, he hesitated as he didn’t want to involve the “weak” priest in his battle. He ends up doing it, and to me it almost seems like he forced himself to do it so as to prove to himself that he doesn’t care. This could be false of course, maybe he is just plain selfish, and honestly I would love for him to be selfish, it’d be a breath of fresh air for an MC who are usually moralfags.
The priest tells him about a nephew of his who went off and died an unnamed soldier in battle, calling him foolish and saying he could’ve started a family and been happy. Guts says he wasn’t foolish but fortunate to be able to do whatever he wanted to do with his life. From the perspective of a man who has a death mark which causes demons to constantly haunt him, even a fools freedom feels fortunate. Neither the priest nor guts are wrong in this case.
Guts has an interesting dream sequence where he is haunted by an eyeball looking demon. He is in a tight space surrounded by walls. As he tries to run away his feet are pierced by spikes on the ground. The wall most likely signifies his fear of the loss of freedom he experienced. In such a space, there is only one way to run, and that is forward, even if it means being constantly pierced by spikes. Not sure what to make of the fact that he’s naked in the dream. I guess he just feels vulnerable.
I like the apostles so far. Both the snake apostle and the one using religion use human authority to enforce their will upon their victims, rather than doing it directly. The snake gets the mayor of the city he rules to traffic humans to him, and the other one uses priests to sentence “heretics” to death. But just last chapter we met a wholesome, wise priest. To me this is the author saying he isn’t attacking any specific kind of authority, just authority as a concept. There may be well-meaning priests out there, but the potential for a priest to be corrupted exists. Human’s aren’t algorithms, they have feelings and can’t be objective, they can never be trusted with authority, and authority is bound to be corrupt. And as long as corrupt authority exists, all authority, both well-meaning and malicious is a threat. We are better off without any priests, “good“ or “bad”. Really this is just my own belief, but since I am able to bend the narrative of the story so that it fits my belief, I will choose to interpret the story that way. I wonder if there’s going to be nuance behind some apostles or if they’re all just going to be bloodthirsty creatures.
Current character rankings:
1. Guts
2. Snake baron
3. Count
4. Puck
5. Vargas
6. Village priest
Chapters 1-3
Guts seems to be a coper. He wants to be nihilistic and almost is, but not quite. He tells Puck “I hate elves, I want to crush you” and yet he stomps next to Puck instead of actually crushing him.
He denies the ride offer from the priest at first, but later accepts it saying he doesn’t care about what happens to the priest anyways. But the fact is, he hesitated as he didn’t want to involve the “weak” priest in his battle. He ends up doing it, and to me it almost seems like he forced himself to do it so as to prove to himself that he doesn’t care. This could be false of course, maybe he is just plain selfish, and honestly I would love for him to be selfish, it’d be a breath of fresh air for an MC who are usually moralfags.
The priest tells him about a nephew of his who went off and died an unnamed soldier in battle, calling him foolish and saying he could’ve started a family and been happy. Guts says he wasn’t foolish but fortunate to be able to do whatever he wanted to do with his life. From the perspective of a man who has a death mark which causes demons to constantly haunt him, even a fools freedom feels fortunate. Neither the priest nor guts are wrong in this case.
Guts has an interesting dream sequence where he is haunted by an eyeball looking demon. He is in a tight space surrounded by walls. As he tries to run away his feet are pierced by spikes on the ground. The wall most likely signifies his fear of the loss of freedom he experienced. In such a space, there is only one way to run, and that is forward, even if it means being constantly pierced by spikes. Not sure what to make of the fact that he’s naked in the dream. I guess he just feels vulnerable.
I like the apostles so far. Both the snake apostle and the one using religion use human authority to enforce their will upon their victims, rather than doing it directly. The snake gets the mayor of the city he rules to traffic humans to him, and the other one uses priests to sentence “heretics” to death. But just last chapter we met a wholesome, wise priest. To me this is the author saying he isn’t attacking any specific kind of authority, just authority as a concept. There may be well-meaning priests out there, but the potential for a priest to be corrupted exists. Human’s aren’t algorithms, they have feelings and can’t be objective, they can never be trusted with authority, and authority is bound to be corrupt. And as long as corrupt authority exists, all authority, both well-meaning and malicious is a threat. We are better off without any priests, “good“ or “bad”. Really this is just my own belief, but since I am able to bend the narrative of the story so that it fits my belief, I will choose to interpret the story that way. I wonder if there’s going to be nuance behind some apostles or if they’re all just going to be bloodthirsty creatures.
Current character rankings:
1. Guts
2. Snake baron
3. Count
4. Puck
5. Vargas
6. Village priest
