It oftens shows up in a few key scenes throughout berserk and I never really thought much of it. But when you examine this more closely you find out some interesting things:
As you can probably tell, the tree is healthy state and growing (except during his birth perhaps) throughout the golden age arc:
During Lost Children Arc the tree he rested under was outright possessed. Guts himself was pretty much a Lost Child back then too:
What’s also interesting: he is literally fighting the tree in Lost
Children. During Golden age, you usually find him resting against it or
taking shelter below it. Is that a metaphor for Guts fighting
against his own nature…?
And I absolutely love how the tree is normal, but all shrivelled up and dead when Farny joins Guts and Puck (very fitting to Guts’ mental state at the time!!!).
And considering all this, this page becomes even more intriguing:
Is it just me or is the tree a metaphor for Guts’ state of mental health…?
Not really a post, but dorky-chan and I were discussing about this at some point this summer and wondering about if Tanaka wouldn’t actually end up being a reference to a famous Japanese samurai of the 1800s-1900s.
Think about it: Queen Victoria, John Brown, Arthur Conan Doyle, even probably Othello (Ronald Knox => Father Knox’s decalogue; Grell Sutcliff => Sutcliff being the name of a real serial killer), etc, most of them are references.
So when it comes to Tanaka who’s incredibly strong in both sword
and physical fighting style
when he’s also quite old, it wouldn’t be so far-fetched to think that he may be a reference to a historical Japanese figure, especially when the second half of the 1800s was the switch between the Edo and Meiji eras.
And also especially since his name “Tanaka” is in fact extremely… common for a last name in Japan (think “Tanaka Taro”).
I’m unfortunately really not good at history, even less so with Japan’s history, so I am not very knowledgeable about any historical figure Tanaka could represent. Some of you might though (I’m thinking @banana-that-dislikes-carrot and @hitsugikuro in particular maybe, since both of you offered great inputs about Japan’s situation when Claudia was the Watchdog? [x][x]).
Something to think about in any case. He’s just way too mysterious, just like his very first mistress.
Thank you for the tag,
So, I can’t really think of any Japanese Samurai Off the top of my head who left Japan, even though Commador Perry ended Satoku in 1854, it was still difficult to leave Japan but not as difficult as before. (Japan is an island and you need-a boat to get anywhere Off the island, so by having a boat the easier it is to leave)
But here are a few official chances that “Tanaka” may have come,
1862- First Japanese Embassy to Europe 38 Japanese Samurai and Officials toured Europe to make trade agreements. Many in this Delegation would become major leaders in the Meiji Era, but I did not find anything about anyone staying behind. This is 4 years before Claudia died, so if someone did break away from this delegation then the timing would fit, Vincent would be 11 years old and that would be early enough to give Tanaka a history with Vincent. A long stretch of Identifying a historical person would be 柴田 剛中 (Shibata Takenaka, later Sadataro.)
Picture of Shibata in Perussia.
Shibata was the leader of the delegation, he was responsible for negotiating trade agreements and military training agreements. Shibata could speak English so When he visited London Shibata met with Queen Victoria and received a pair of Binoculars from her. The real Shibata did not stay in England, but this is Kuroshitsuji, anything can happen. Regarding Military and Fighting skill, he was not affiliated with any Samurai Clan (He was orphaned at age 10) but since he became an official it can be assumed that he was part of a Samurai Class and had some sort of training.
Fun fact; the Shibata Clan that was dissolved in the early Edo period had a family crest that looked like this:
Two birds, Kinda like Tanaka’s Sword.
Which parallels the Phantomhive Crest.
I can’t find an official source linking Shibata Takenaka to the Shibata Clan though. Also too bad I couldn’t find a better picture of the tsuba of his sword.
Also, regarding his name ( 柴田 剛中 )by taking away the 柴 & 剛 from his name and you would get (田中 )Tanaka. I don’t think this is the most reliable reason (LOL) but out of everyone in the delegation, his name is the closest to 田中 Tanaka.
If we are looking for a historical figure that can reflect Tanaka I would like to recommend Shibata. Unfortunately, I cannot think of a historical reason why he would stay and help Claudia, but I think he would be a good historical base.
But~ Shibata Also brought 3 retainers/relatives with him on his trip, The 3 retainers were not included on the official delegation so their names were never publically released. One who has been named (But I still can’t find his name lol) and the other two were never named for “Privacy”.(Alternatively, the word can be translated to Espionage) SO, Tanaka could also be one of the two who was never named. They could have been ninja or samurai from the Shibata clan who was the secret service to the delegation, protecting them from outside harm. Their names were never disclosed so I can’t figure out who they were, what they were doing and if they came back with him.
But random musing, I hope Yana would someday confirm if he is based on a Real Figure. She has mentioned that the visual of Tanaka is based off on Shunji Fujimura;
@midnight-in-town I hope I was able to answer your question! Feel free to ask me for sources and more detail!
FUN FACT: By 1884 there were 264 Japanese Citizens who were officials and students in the UK.
I just love how this quote from Touka in the Tokyo Ghoul Days novel played out in the whole series.
All that fortitude, sheer will, faith, resolve and strength paid off. Throughout all the pain she and everyone suffered, the whole living while losing things mentality was broken! She just wanted to live a normal life with everyone away from the constant cycle of pain, war and bloodshed between humans and ghouls due to the tragic nature of the world. And she was finally able to reach the happiness she never thought possible.She was finally able to gain her wish of living a normal life as a ghoul with humans, and all her loved ones.😭👏
Not really a post, but dorky-chan and I were discussing about this at some point this summer and wondering about if Tanaka wouldn’t actually end up being a reference to a famous Japanese samurai of the 1800s-1900s.
Think about it: Queen Victoria, John Brown, Arthur Conan Doyle, even probably Othello (Ronald Knox => Father Knox’s decalogue; Grell Sutcliff => Sutcliff being the name of a real serial killer), etc, most of them are references.
So when it comes to Tanaka who’s incredibly strong in both sword
and physical fighting style
when he’s also quite old, it wouldn’t be so far-fetched to think that he may be a reference to a historical Japanese figure, especially when the second half of the 1800s was the switch between the Edo and Meiji eras.
And also especially since his name “Tanaka” is in fact extremely… common for a last name in Japan (think “Tanaka Taro”).
I’m unfortunately really not good at history, even less so with Japan’s history, so I am not very knowledgeable about any historical figure Tanaka could represent. Some of you might though (I’m thinking @banana-that-dislikes-carrot and @hitsugikuro in particular maybe, since both of you offered great inputs about Japan’s situation when Claudia was the Watchdog? [x][x]).
Something to think about in any case. He’s just way too mysterious, just like his very first mistress.
midnight-in-town 