Your reaction to the Great Eclipse

[The Herald]

I was thinking, while watching the last bit of Berserk Abridged by hbi2k, how everyone must have had quite the experience while watching the end of the Berserk anime or reading books 12 and 13 of the manga. I would like to hear your stories, and I'm sure others would too. My own experience is in the Berserk Abridged thread so I won't bother posting it twice.

[Aetherfukz]

Upon reading the thread title I thought you meant what our reaction would be if we would really experience a great eclipse, because then the answer would have simply been "I'd fucking piss my pants!".

Anyway, regarding the viewer/reader experience: I've seen the anime before starting the manga so the eclipse in the manga wasn't really shocking me. But the anime, man oh man. All I kept thinking was: Well up till now Berserk is was a really brutal and violent anime, but this is seriously fucked up. The graphical violence was really hardcore with all the demon munching and feasting on the flesh.

But what really took my gut was the last moments of Judeau. As probably everybody else, I really really liked him throughout the story. When he heroically saved Caska with his own body I kinda knew he was dying in a short amount of time. But man, never have I been touched more by a death scene than his. The few seconds viewed through his point of view, thinking "are these my last words?", and then seeing him gliding(?) to the ground... damn. I took a big gulp and may have even shed a tear.

Seeing his last moments through his very own eyes was so fucking intense for me, that all the horror of the eclipse around them didn't really matter anymore. THIS WAS IT. This was the most brutal moment for me in Berserk. And the most human one.

Sheer brilliance from the author too, of course.

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[hbi2k]

I've never identified with a fictional character as strongly as I identified with Guts while watching the last scene of the anime. I mean, I WAS Guts. I was literally in the exact same situation-- watching the most terrible thing in the world happen to these people I'd come to care about, powerless to stop it, powerless to even look away. I might as well have been pinned to the ground right there next to him. And when he hacked off his own arm... fucked up, man. Fucked up. Powerful stuff.

[Starnum]

Ah yeah, I totally know how you feel man. Like I said before, my reaction was pretty similar to a lot of the things that have already been said. I was completely shocked and amazed by what happened. Despite the first episode (which I had pretty much forgotten about by that point, cuz I watched the series over a prolonged period of time), and the whole Zodd thing, I just totally didn’t see it coming. It was a surreal experience, and it definitely had its tear jerking moments (R.I.P. Judeau). For the most part though it totally stunned me. I was completely zombified for, I don’t even know how much time passed (hour or two maybe), before I came to my senses and came to terms with what had happened. I actually thought that was the end of it all, but once I finally started talking again, my friend assured me that the story continued on in the manga. I was pretty psyched to hear that, even though I’m a big fan of tragedies, which Berserk definitely is. After that I began my quest to obtain and read the manga, and here we are.

[Artezul]

The Berserk anime was a real mind-fuck when it came to the Eclipse. There was no foreshadowing about it aside from cameo appearances by Zodd, and the ominous purpose of the Behelit. There was no rhyme or reason as to why these people, who've put so much on the line, were to be massacred. It was a horrible way to go, akin to pointless death.

Judeau was a shame. For a side character with few (but crucial) moments of dialogue, he left a deep impression. A very memorable death.

[The Prince]

You're right that shit did come out of no where. With a few exceptions, Berserk up to that point was not a supernatural type story, and pretty much held true to medievil feudal type warfare. So the abrupt scenery of the eclipse was a huge mind-fuck for everybody.

Miura made the events especially disturbing and hard hitting in the way he set the last two epeisodes up. Throughout the story line, Berserk was very character driven, with a lot of time spent investing in character development. Where even side characters had enough of presence that drew the reader/viewer to them.

Therefore after investing hours and hours of getting to know these people, watching them all get devoured in the most violent and disturbing of circumstances in a matter of a few seconds, one after the other, was particularly impactful. Not to mention the ending of the anime provided no closure whatsoever.

[hbi2k]

I think the most disturbing thing about the Eclipse to me was how deep it took you inside Griffith's head. I mean, anyone who was paying attention to the first episode and Zodd's periodic appearances (or, naturally, the Slug Count and Snake Baron arcs if you read the manga first) knew that something effed up was coming at the end, although I doubt anyone had any idea just HOW effed up it was going to be. But the thing of it is, Griffith willingly massacred all these people who loved and trusted and admired him-- he's Hitler, Mussolini, and Pol Pot all rolled into one-- and yet, you understood him. You understood the thought process behind it, the ideas that let him justify such a horrible act to himself. And you understood what would make people follow a man like that. There were some very disturbing truths about human nature at work here, and confronting those truths in such an immediate and visceral way is not a comfortable experience.

As soon as the God Hand offered him the choice, you knew what his decision was going to be. He couldn't have made any other decision and still have been true to his character as it was established in the entire series up to this point. And yet, you knew that if he had been offered that same choice at any other point in the series, there was a pretty good chance he might have made a different decision. The God Hand offered him a devil's bargain at his absolute weakest moment, at the height of his despair. It makes you think about the times in your life when YOU felt at the absolute end of everything and wonder if, under the right (or wrong) circumstances, you might not also be capable of such a thing. The underlying theme of the Eclipse (and the scenes in the manga in which would-be apostles such as the Slug Count are offered a similar choice) seems to be that, in the final reckoning, you're only as good as you are on the worst day of your life. And that, more than anything in the way of violence and gore, is the disturbing thing to me about the Eclipse.

[FightClub]

Funny thing is, the first time I saw Berserk, it was the Anime, and it was in Spanish, alright. (I don't speak a lick of spanish) so here I am going through the entire anime making up words for everyone as I'm going along. I loved it so much that I actually watched the entire thing. By time I got to the eclipse, I had no clue what the fuck was going on. But the whole thing got me pretty pumped, action wise, guts going crazy and murdering everything while his comrades get cut down. Him cleaving off his own arm to attempt and rescue Caska. Directly after that I started researching where to get the manga, and finally found EG, my life has never been the same. The ending sort've pissed me off, as I didn't see a conclusion, but I wasn't disappointed with what occured during the ending, it was all very badass, very Berserk, and kept me attentive until I could learn out what was -really- going on.

[The Herald]

Everything hit me really hard during the Eclipse. The part that always stuck out for me was how Casca was always in charge of herself and the situation, but then that was all ripped away, and by the man she loved for years no less. It may have been over kill by that point, but it was more evidence of how Guts was a much better man than Griffith. Griffith took Casca because he was vindictive and jealous. Guts was still trying to save her while she was being violated by another man, who he trusted himself, even resorting to cut off his own arm to rectify the situation. And before that watching everyone die, all you could hope for was that Guts could survive like he always had. In the end it was Guts all on his own, just like it had always been, since he was born. It was inevitable that he was going to be alone again, but the way his story was interwoven with the other characters the only way for him to leave them, or for them to leave him, was through a huge climax just like the eclipse. I wish it had never happened because then Casca wouldn't be crazy, and Judeau wouldn't be dead, and Guts wouldn't be chased around everywhere by apostles, but then Berserk wouldn't work. It's sad and powerful and horrible, but being so is genius in storytelling because of the character development. Considering Berserk can get men to cry is a feat all on its own.

Personally I was so traumatized by the end of the anime it took me months to finally rent it again, and even then I was shaking while I watched it. A year later I finally found the mangas in Japanese at a convention and worked out that there was story after the eclipse. I was unfortunate enough to be the only person into anime and the like other than my little brother that I knew, and he was even more useless than me at finding things. So, finally, after three years I find the mangas in English and get some closure on Gut's story. Well, mostly anyways, Berserk isn't over yet.

[Dagda Mor]

The anime may have the twist come out of left field to a greater degree, but the manga is even worse, I think. The scene where Guts is running through the woods, with flashes of his memories- that is the part where I truly cried a little.

[DrPepperPro]

The main thing I kept thinking while watching the last 2 episodes was: how the hell can they wrap up the anime back to what was happening in the first episode. At the time I didn't know of the manga. Also the version I watched was an older one with no opening or ending, so it didn't have the small little conclusion with Gattsu leaving with the dragon slayer at the end. So since there was no conclusion at all I was left only to think about the last lines Slan said. What I thought was that Berserk was an anime not meant to have some nice conclusion, but it was meant to make the viewer think about human nature and all that stuff. Of course I found out later of the manga.
I sometimes wish I could erase all my memory of reading/watching Berserk, so I could re-watch and read again. Although the more you read/watch it, it seems to get better, there was something special (for me at least) about watching it the first time.

[Lara Skadi]

as almost everyone here, all the festival thing was a shock. except for the 1st ep, zodd n the behelit, berserk wasnt exactly a fantasy story, so one just woudnt expect monsters coming from nowhere and devouring everyone - all those guys you grew to love so much! - and it all in such a twist! wasnt it enough to have our (we readers/watchers can consider ourselves a part of it) dreams broken and life going sad ways? and also, seing griffith chosing to do tht to them and raping casca just didnt sound right (ok, it would sound worse if he said "no! i'll sacrifice myself because I love them!", especially in that miserable condition of his). No wonder why Casca went insane...

i first saw the anime and, even though cutting lots of stuffs n important characters to fit the enshorted plot, it seemed to me to be more sentimental than the manga. also, the manga gives you some idea of what's going to happen sometime in the future (but not exactly how), so it was really more surprising to me to see everything collapsing all of a sudden and again suddenly - the end. I remember myself standing up n all i could say was "what??!! wtf... oh, shit!! but how... what??" and then watching the first ep again
i got my hands on the manga later then - and got desperate since the translations to portuguese (my mother language) stopped at the volume 21 (yep, right when griffith appears again in front of guts, riding Zodd). oh, thank god i have a new source now u.u'

PS.: I wonder if Casca's going to remember this episode as "yesterday" when she regains her sanity or not. I'd enjoy a lot to see her going mad (not literaly, please. we had enough of it already) like guts did (running, screaming n yatayata). Though i think she will be astonished first and laaater she will cry a lot...

[elric le tueur d'amis]

Griffith took Casca because he was vindictive and jealous.

I don't agree with you on that point : for me Griffith took her because he wanted to test his powers, to prove to himself that he could do whatever came to his screwed mind, he probably had the desire to fuck Casca way before the eclipse but never saw it as something useful to his dream (a devoted virgin Casca was more in his interest), the transformation in Femto made him an evil god so his instincts were multiplied (if Judeau had survived to this point instead of Casca, he would have raped then killed him ).

In general my reaction to the eclipse wasn't that intense,first because I only read the manga and because I distancied myself from the massacre happening, it wasn't really different or more awful in my mind than the battles of the 100 years war (the fact that monsters instead of soldiers were fighting the hawks and the fact that the hawks were losing badly aren't that significative : Griffith even found a solution to that, he replaced them by the upgraded versions, the apostles).
Griffith's choice then transformation and Guts' berserk state interested me a lot more at first read.

[Lara Skadi]

The Herald wrote:
Griffith took Casca because he was vindictive and jealous.

Griffith took her because he wanted to test his powers

well, both are right imo. he's like a child with a new toy - n was a lot surprised by that (the scene in wich he's starring at his own new hands). n, for the spoiled child he was, everything was running out of his hands. even casca, who used to crawl under his feet, was in a superior position than his - n much worse, with guts. noway he wasnt jealous of guts n her (do you remeber his eyes looking at them *frightening* before the eclipse n during the rape??). also, who'd have a better way to hurt him (guts) back better than him?

nway, it's getting out of the topic...

[TheDrizzit]

http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap080504.html

Heeheehee Raaaawwwwwrrr!!!!!!

[Istvan]

http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap080504.html

Heeheehee Raaaawwwwwrrr!!!!!!

For some reason, all the blood and dead bodies have been removed from this picture. Who went and censored it?

[DrPepperPro]

http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap080504.html

Heeheehee Raaaawwwwwrrr!!!!!!

For some reason, all the blood and dead bodies have been removed from this picture. Who went and censored it?

censored manga version, everything looks like this: