Newbie Berserk Discussion Thread

[Khelegond]

Most of the things will be answered by a simple search function.

Sarah, so far so good. Wanna know a hint from a not-so-newbie? Read most of the stickies. Reading them all let you know what already has been discussed, what is the common spirit of the community, and what to expect. For once, I know Starnum knows Berserk in many details, and Femto hates stupidity. Then you can fit in. It's not an easy process, but once there...you'll know what to say and definitely what NOT to say.

As for EvaXephon...wow man. Just...wow. No tact whatsoever. Please, be respectfull of the community he have here...you usually have to be quite polite while asking things.

[SarahofBorg]

Well, I honestly don't want to be banned. I want to keep leeching scanlations. That's all that matters to me in the end, really, whether or not I fit in doesn't mean that much to me. I'd rather just stop posting when I know I'm not welcome, which I am perfectly willing to do.
But god knows what'll happen...I have never been so intimidated by a message board.
To be honest, the only real reason I even like this board is Because it's strict, since I don't like having to deal with idiot posters anymore than anyone else does.

If you say I'm doing "so good," you coulda fooled me. So far I feel like I've crashed and burned...anyhow I should stop going OT. PM me if you want to keep discussing this.

[Eldo]

I just want to say, that it's awesome to be a moderator. Why is it? Because you can check people's IP out. That's some abusing of power right there. And also, I could assign blame to people I don't like for delaying 'manga title A chapter X' by adding their name/nick to it, along with their email address! Instead of blaming Femto all the time, I could blame someone else. Not that I will do it, because that will be completely wrong and immature. But yeah, I do know your IP address(es). I mean, I do have the capacity to check them if needed to. Not too sure what I'd do with them anyway.

Now, if you haven't completely read up to the recent chapters of Berserk, I don't think you should be asking any questions. What's to say that it won't be answered in later chapters as the story progresses? And as for character psychology, nobody knows for sure. Can you tell me why a homeless man would kill a random female without taking any money or anything and run away? Can you tell me why serial killers brutally murder people? Unless someone has a psychology degree or some understanding of the human psyche, nobody can say shit with some professional degree of certainty. And even then, you would be a fucking loser for trying to examine characters on paper in a manga instead of a live specimen. Only the author knows for sure why the characters act the way they are.

Starnum was completely tolerant with his answers and response, and I totally support and stand by him. Sorry, but you just spammed your way just to create a thread we ended up fucking hating. Not your best first impression here.

And yes, we have the power to disconnect you from assessing the downloads in this site. That is, if you piss off the wrong people. Not too sure how it would affect the banned people, since the internet is so vast. But anyway, direct all your insults on me. Because more drama means more fun to me.

[SarahofBorg]

Glad I'm on a school computer right now...doh blew my cover ^_^;

[BasouKazuma]

Maybe i should start masking my IP ..... lol. Good one Eldo.

Hopefully this tard has learned his lesson better than i have.

Hmm, i wonder. Should this part of the thread be split into interstice or left here as a warning to future noobs?

[Starnum]

Meh, it doesn't matter. Noobs never pay attention to important stuff like warnings that will keep them from getting flamed. *shrugs*

[frosty]

Uh, hi, you're lucky you didn't start a new thread with that idea in mind, because I would have killed you. Welcome anyway. You should thank your lucky stars for the post limit.

If I had to compare the devil fox with anything, I would say the nine tails in Naruto. It doesn't really look like the Berserk Armour in Berserk, unless I have to force a similarity out of my arse.

I've read the comic you mentioned, and I guess I don't enjoy it as much as you do, it was pretty decent. It does remind me of Devilman.

Hm, I can't be sure if Jim Lee could be compared with Miura, since each artist's has their own strengths and merits. I do love his work on Batman, I hardly read anything with Superman in it. They're both brilliant artists.

I didn't think that the storyline went dead after Femto's ascension to the God Hand. While the story arc Golden Age of the Hawks was awesome, I felt that the aftermath made more for Guts' character development and his goal to eliminate all the apostles in his way. Most people consider the introduction of the witches to be a low point in Berserk, as it becomes more Lord of the Rings type, well, I didn't think so anyway.

Berserk right now has a lot of ground to cover right now, I still feel it has barely reached the middle of the series.

Guess I should be counting my blessing.

Have not read a single page of Naruto. Maybe I should. In Ushio and Tora, the devil fox is a 9 tails too. I don't think Miura was plagiarizing. It's just that in Japan, the Manga business is very competitive. It's not easy to come up with something new and popular at the same time. Look at Evangelion. It brought about a whole new concept while before it was all Gundam lookalikes.

Glad that you've read Ushio and Tora. A pity that you didn't like it. Devilman ? Not my cup of tea.

You've read Jim Lee's Hush too ? I have his books that dates back to Punisher War Journal. I find that his Wolverine in War Journal to be one of the best.

I agree with you about Guts character building after Femto's ascension to the God Hand. It's hard when you are a mere human being challenging the level of apostles. I expect more to come for Guts before he meets Griffith again.

What's your thought about the Skull Knight ?

[FightClub]

Sock 5 proxies = the shizzle. Yeah I'm from Argentina, nope, now I'm from Bolivia, now China, now Germany HAHA! *ban* *ban* *ban* *ban* Cannot stop me *does imp dance*

[jistanidiot]

Meh, it doesn't matter. Noobs never pay attention to important stuff like warnings that will keep them from getting flamed. *shrugs*

Hey i read the warnings. Hopefully I haven't done anything too stupid yet. Yeah it is rare that noobs will do that, but some of us do try to get the feel of a board before jumping right in.

Of course the noob in question is much more of an idiot than I am. Even I pity him.

[psi29a]

No pity should ever be given, fit in or die.

I'm joking of course, I rarely jump on someone's shit for messing up. It is only under extreme circumstances that it ever gets to the point of banning either.

The threat is all it takes for someone to feel like they are walking on broken glass.

Welcome aboard, may your time here be... entertaining.

[SarahofBorg]

I've been thinkin on this one for a while. It makes sense to me, anyway. It's just one dumb theory based on Berserk that makes it interesting to me, even if you don't agree with it, so please don't flame me for it.
OK, here goes.
Isn't it strange that Griffith is so feminine, while Guts is so masculine? I know it makes them opposites, but what does it symbolize?
Griffith is a very feminine, pretty, angelic-looking man. I saw the anime first, so from the beging and with no knowledge of what was to come I honestly thought Griffith was pure good. He seemed devine. He even seemed like a father figure for the entire family of The Hawks.
And Guts seemed evil and cursed from the start. He's got steroid-muscles, feirce eyes and insanely phallic humongous sword, just to make him even more macho. He's demonic.
Looking at Guts and Griffith side by side, without any knowledge of Berserk I would have guessed Griffith was the hero and Guts the villian.

But here's my point. Why is the feminine guy the bad guy, and the macho guy the good guy? Is there some sort of subliminal symbolism here, that being feminine is bad and macho good?
I've asked myself this a lot. The only reason I can think of to use that symbolism, besides that dumb theory, is merely to be unexpected. But that alone doesn't seem accurate enough for me.

[Ayanami]

Don't be worried about flames here Sarah. This thread is for pretty much any theory that you can think of.

All I am going to say about this is that I really don't think what Miura is trying to portray is that being feminine is a bad thing. I think it is just some thing he used to further sharpen the blade that is the eclipse.

[Quest]

obviously guts is a badass. and badasses cannot be girly and gentle and kickass at the same time. its a stereotype.

and obviously guts and griffith are in contention. and people in contention tend to be polar opposites. its another stereotype.

the contention would seem less attractive if its a badass griffith vs a badass guts. then caska would have to be the girly one and that would suck.

[Ayanami]

Stereotypes, really man? Come on Quest, that is just plain weak.

I am shocked to say that Sarah's post was more relevant.

EDIT - Needed to take out the far, because in reality it is not that much more relevant.

[Deathbringer]

Don´t forget that Miura named Griffith "the White Hawk" and the hawk has been used by many countries as a national symbol, depicting power, beauty and independence.
Maybe he wanted to depict that beauty in a more feminine way but that´s where the confusion ends, Griffith is only feminine in his apearance not in his actions.

[Quest]

alls i am saying is that someone has to be the girl parts and someone has to be the boy parts.
if guts were to be the girly one then the title would be 'pansy' not 'berserk'.

[Arresty]

For starters it is very common in Anime for the evil person to be very feminine, but then again it is common for the hero to be feminine, look at the entire Fantasy Series. The Japanese love feminine males what can I say.

Well for more seriousness, I believe Griffith is supposed to seem like the good guy to the outside, that is one of the goals for the godhand. They want people to believe they are working for god, for good, not for evil. By griffith looking like pure good he can draw people under him easily. It adds to the underdog part of the story for guts, since he looks like a monster, and drives fear into people.

[Gaiseric]

alls i am saying is that someone has to be the girl parts and someone has to be the boy parts.
if guts were to be the girly one then the title would be 'pansy' not 'berserk'.

And now I am reminded why I avoid this part of the forum.

[SarahofBorg]

Heh, lighten up. I'm glad some people took me seriously for once, for once I'm not the one saying the dumbest thing in the thread.
And this did lead to some interesting observations, thanks everyone for replying and not ignoring my half-baked insights.

[frosty]

For starters it is very common in Anime for the evil person to be very feminine, but then again it is common for the hero to be feminine, look at the entire Fantasy Series. The Japanese love feminine males what can I say.

Well for more seriousness, I believe Griffith is supposed to seem like the good guy to the outside, that is one of the goals for the godhand. They want people to believe they are working for god, for good, not for evil. By griffith looking like pure good he can draw people under him easily. It adds to the underdog part of the story for guts, since he looks like a monster, and drives fear into people.

Arresty is making a very good point. If you have read enough manga and watch enough anime. Appearences have nothing to do with good or evil. As stated in another one of my post. In Miura's Berserk prototype, you'll see a strong resemblance (hairstyle) between the village girl that Guts saved as compared with Griffith. That could have been what he had in mind for the design of the leads when he concerived Berserk. Hairstyle might be a very minor thing but for most manga artist, the drawings of the leads or good looking characters are more of less the same. The only differences are usually in the hairstyles.

Guts is the anti-hero kinda leadman. Movies like Escape from New York, First Blood, The Last Boy Scout and Lethal Weapon have all got a badass lead. We loved them and there is nothing wrong with that.

[elric le tueur d'amis]

Well,I think that having a girly face helped a lot Griffith in his plans;
even criminals hesitate hurting a child or a woman,griffith gained time thanks to his lies in hard situations but the first reaction of all his opponents(even Guts or Zodd) is to understimate him cause of his face.

[Khelegond]

Hmmm....ok, I don't think Griffith has a girly face. Someone IN THE MANGA said he had a girly face?

I remember some servants saying that his face was fairer than hers, but under any circumstances he can be considered girly. Childish, maybe.

Gatts even say that, that his face is childish but he had cold eyes (when he dislocated his arm).

Judeau has a somewhat girly drawn face and nobody mentions it It's just the way he draw. And I don't think (speaking about the way he's drawn) he looks girly. Of course, not exactly manly, but who cares? The drawing is perfect...and that's what matters...

[Libaax]

Haha Griffith has a face that is very girly that i for a sec thought he was a girl when i saw him for the first time.

His girly face is good for making him look more evil,its something creppy about a guy who looks like a girl being so evil.

His face is good for the manga,much better than his face being very hard and manly like Guts. That would be a clichè a bad guy looking like that. Prolly why the mangaka drawed him like this.

[elric le tueur d'amis]

Childish is true too but he was a really young leader,then it is rather logic;
I don't say here that his look was only good for him(he was desired by many perverts like the chuudan Baron),my meaning is that he used it perfectly to raise fast in power and influence;
for me,the best skill of Griffith is his human comprehension sense(= he is a first grade manipulator),people trust him even when he wants secretly to lead them to their death.

[Libaax]

That is what he do best. He could manipulate anyone.