So I want to talk about the waterfall scene in the Golden Age a little.
Okay so first, so why the hell would I be analyzing something like this?
I think this scene says SO MUCH about both Guts’ and Casca’s personality and struggle. More than you maybe think, by just displaying gestures and facial expressions.
(one reason why I love Berserk, by the way)
So what happens here is that Casca realizes that Guts obviously cares enough for her to get himself hurt:
Casca is not used to this kind of care.
She always wanted Griffith’s praise and acknowledgement, be something important to him. She was always ignored and deprived of it.
And during the waterfall scene (to a degree this also happens during the 100 man slayer scene), Guts shows up and gives her just that; Because he would notwant to get hurt if she didn’t matter to him.
Now, let’s let’s look at it from Guts’ perspective:
Remember how Guts was always trying to get praise from Gambino? How he always considered Griffith a friend, until that one faithful day when he heard Griffith’s fountain speech?
Guts too always wanted his approval, and hearing that made him feel like a pawn (which eventually pressured him to leave the hawks later on in the first place).
He felt like he did not matter as much to Griffith as he maybe thought, as proven by this page:
In other words: Guts and Casca are literally the same.
I can really relate to both of them honestly.
So what’s going here is both them realizing that they are worthy to matter to someone. They are doing that simultaneously.
Look at Gut’s confused look when Casca suddenly grasps his hand gently.
And as Casca says those words Guts realizes that he in fact also matters a lot to Casca; And Casca is fully aware of what he’s done for her as well.
Up until then, Guts always denied that Casca may even like him, as revealed by the conversation he had with Judeau.
He thought it was impossible for her to like him that much because her place was next to Griffith. Or so he thought.
And as Casca tells him he is a fool, I can only imagine what she must have felt: suddenly, after all the deprivation, the stress and the hardship, there is someone who cares, who acknowledges her, who’s trying for her. And releasing these emotions first unleashes strong pain, followed by a healing relief. For the both of them, too.
Guts is extremely confused by this. He first doesn’t know what to do. It looks like he’s still processing it, as if asking himself… perhaps:
“Why is she calling me that?” …or “ What makes her say that?” …or perhaps also a “Does she care for me that much?”
The next best thing that comes to his mind is to what appears to be a return of her hug…
…and also to wipe her tears away.
He clearly didn’t like seeing her cry and wanted to give her comfort.
He gets a little more… confident in the next page, starting to kiss her forehead, then literally kissing her tears away.
I hope I do not have to point how damn cute that is, or do I? Imagine the big bulky boi getting all softboi on that vulnerable lil Casca. Oh my lawd.
Casca on the other hand is letting him in, letting him care for her. She seems to enjoy it. I think she really needed someone to be at her side at this point.
But then, Casca wants a REAL kiss from the guy. Guts face expression is all: “OH GOD NOT SO FAST! This isnt supposed to happen!”
Then in the next panel Casca perhaps has wondered if she went too far. And for Guts, as he is looking at her, it looks like he’s thinking something like,
“So that’show it really is?”
And then of course, the final kiss.
As you can probably tell by the way I have explained this, both struggle with feelings of not being worthy and found comfort in themselves.
They struggle getting closer because they both have been hurt. Seeing them open up to each other with their gentle expressions and gestures is adorable.
What a goddamn tragedy too. Jesus Christ.
Thanks @midnight-in-town for inspiring me to finally make this post happen!
Just one more of those posts where I’m amazed by how far authors can go with symbolism, parallels and the like.
I didn’t notice it just now, but I felt like mentioning it because I miss updates + it’s also motivated by a post I’ve seen about not being fond of how Miura-sensei handles sex (as in, artistically speaking) in Berserk and, while I definitely respect that opinion, it reminded me that I wanted to write this for a while.
So, nsfw post ahead! I don’t mean to speak about context for once, but simply about how the way Sensei chose to draw the two moments actually illustrates just as well in what these two dynamics differ.
Where do I start? Maybe by the fact that Griffith/Charlotte opens the 9th volume while Guts/Casca ends it, which is definitely not a coincidence. And also the settings: super stormy night with Griffith slipping undetected in Charlotte’s room vs sunny day in the forest near a waterfall for Gustca.
As for how it all begins: as soon as Griffith shows up, Charlotte hugs him and starts crying about all the many things that happened recently and he’s still so damn shook by what Guts pulled on him that he jumps onto the occasion to reinsure himself that his dream can still be achieved/seek some comfort and
that’s the result: she’s very surprised and he just went “to hell with it”, with both their eyes wide opened as they kiss, full of disbelief.
In comparison, for Casca and Guts the discussion leads to a fight because #confrontation and #confused-feelings and while it also ends with Casca crying on Guts…
…unlike Charlotte and Griffith, the first kiss comes from a mutual desire, not at all unexpected and fully committing to the moment (= their eyes are closed).
Coming up next, we have foreplay: still in a hurry for Griffith, to show in what state of mind he was, and with Charlotte barely registering what’s going on…
even going as far as to utter a slightly hesitating “no” before they reach the bed
vs Guts and Casca taking a lot more time and undressing each other first.
This leads to one of my favorite contrasting parts, just after Charlotte says “no” and is pushed on the bed, we get this…
whereas Guts noticed how Casca, too, was afraid
but it’s followed by 4 pages of her explaining why with Guts listening to her and…
providing comfort. Of course, the two dynamics aren’t the same at all, but still, it’s worth mentioning because I’m sure it’s a part of the mirror effect.
(slightly more below)
I could go on with how the whole Griffith/Charlotte sex scene is cut by a few moments showing the Band of Hawk, or even the maid who caught them, when the moment is never interrupted for Guts and Casca.
Also, the act of penetration itself is just like the very first kiss for both couples: without warning and rather rough, considering Charlotte’s expression, with Griffith thinking intently about Guts the whole time, which emphasizes on the angsty atmosphere of the whole scene…
vs Guts at least warning ahead the first time, even if him too will have a flashback about when he was raped as a child, but with their second time flowing in continuity with the whole moment ‘till they reach climax together.
Also let’s talk about the following:
vs
Because where Charlotte being most likely in some pain does nothing to stop Griffith’s pace, Casca’s expression triggers an intense stress for Guts, bringing him back to his own trauma (also eased in my opinion by the fact that he’s taking her from behind at that moment, which is exactly what happened to him).
Speaking of which it’s interesting to point out that, while Casca and Guts both get to do some introspection (first Casca about her feelings and then Guts about the fact he was abused as a child), which brings them even closer, Griffith is fully haunted by Guts’ departure but does not utter a word about it, just like we do not get any thought at all from Charlotte.
Similarly, while Guts is having a breakdown about his past and Casca manages to comfort him just like he did with her at the beginning
Charlotte doesn’t even know how much Griffith is angsting over Guts’ departure and as such he doesn’t really find the comfort he was looking for.
This is overall illustrated by when the two couples climax…
(I don’t think I need to point out in what these two scenes are so opposed) and also by how the two moments end…
even if I have to mention that Griffith was considerate enough to leave a flower for Charlotte after he spent a large part of the night probably crying as she slept (which is actually really sad & I’m not being ironic: the flower was a nice touch).
That being said the flower itself is contrasting with Guts asking Casca to leave with him once they’ll have freed Griffith (I know, it’s vol10): there is a wish for a future together for Gutsca, meanwhile Griffith leaving a flower for Charlotte is more akin to “thanks for that one night together (maybe there’ll be others)”.
There may be more that I haven’t mentioned but you get the idea. 🙂
Overall I think a point I really wanted to make was that, yes, Miura-sensei is always extremely explicit and detailed when he draws and it doesn’t always please everyone on the matter of nsfw (not that it has to, obviously).
That being said, personally I really enjoy that the man is so skilled that, even if he’s being vividly graphic all the time (as in he draws naked characters on plenty of different occasions and it’s always with a lot of visible anatomical details), he can still easily show a lot of contrast between
a moment that’s about sex for the sake of reinsurance, with two characters being in fact disconnected and one of them hurting
and another that’s about emotional lovemaking after two characters realized that they were in love with each other.
So I disagree that being graphic in both the beautiful and horrifying, awkward or disgusting moments is not differentiating enough. The Griffith/Charlotte and Gutsca sex scenes, albeit both explicit in the exact same way (we see the same body parts + foreplay, penetration and climax), are in fact completely different.
It’s a matter of context too obviously, since the 4 characters and their dynamics are vastly different, but still I believe that nsfw material can be used to make a point and I like the different ranges of just “how” in Berserk.
I cannot talk much for Goblin Slayer as I have not read/seen it yet, but I think I can talk for Berserk:
You only see those rape scenes on certain occasions. They usually appear as a motif of sexual perversion (Eclipse, heretic’s Cave at tower of conviction, Qliphot, that one kushan Daka factory using human pregnant women) in a doomsday kind of scenario. And it’s mostly done to give the story a push forward, scarring and traumatizing the characters and giving them a motivation or drive.
There surely are some personal reasons why Miura chose this way of story-telling and kept it through most of
the story (but I don’t want to dig into this and I hope he is all well if not I’ll spam him with lovely fan letters and good vibes)
It’s reason why Guts went on his 2 year apostle killing spree:
I also think the things that happened to Farnese while she was taken hostage by Guts, the things she witnessed at Tower of Conviction and Qliphot all together enabled Farnese to become a witch in the first place:
The “Daka Factory” made Silat question whether it is a good idea to follow a a king that lies beyond their understanding (one who resorts to using pregnant women to create hell spawn, I might add):
And later on Silat already makes this point very clear when asked to join the neo band of the hawk:
It’s a (prettyy fucked up) narrative tool, so to say. But also very effective because firstly, it is so shocking and secondly, the timing of these events fit into the overall narrative and development of each character.
Thank you for writing this.
I understand that people are upset with the rape scenes and find them questionable. But at the same time, as questionable as it is, Berserk wouldn’t be the same story without it (and I know this is going to be a controversial thing to say).
Yes, using rape to shock and upset the audience can be a bit of a cheap trick, but that’s kind of the point, to shock and upset both the audience and the characters. Femto/Griffith is considered as villanous as he is because he’s a rapist, as much as people complain that it objectifies Casca*, people wouldn’t hate him as much without it.
Honestly, reading through Berserk every single character who is a rapist has also been depicted as FUCKING EVIL (Wyald, Femto, the trolls, Ganishka, etc.) so it’s not like Miura is glorifying such actions. You could argue until the cows come home about wether or not rape should be depicted and even used as part of some character’s characterization, but IMO at the end of the day Berserk has been mature rated from the start, if you can’t handle sexual content then perhaps you shouldn’t read it.
(* – that’s not to say it isn’t a valid complaint)
Some other works literature, movies or games would only include explicit
scenes merely for shock value or PR (I’ve heard people saying that
Goblin Slayer does just that, but what can I say!)
Berserk has explicit and triggering content, but it makes it meaningful in the way the story is told. E.g. lets just point out how Guts was abused by Donovan and therefore WILL mercilessly beat up or kill anyone crossing his path who dares touching the weak (Though I also have to point out he is not actively pursuing that goal).
This experience of his is used as motivation that is showing throughout the manga in a very strong and effective way. It gives him a depth and also ambiguity – because he is not actively pursuing as goal – that not many protagonists have, at least those I’ve seen/read about.
I mean when the PROTAGONIST literally saves women from rape ON MULTIPLE OCCASIONS (Casca/Adon, Casca/Farnese/Women from Enoch in Trollcave) it’s really really unlikely that the author endorses rape in any kind of way. (But I like that he also puts a reminder to not become the very thing you are fighting against *cough* winter journey *cough*)
While I understand people being upset about Berserk’s upsetting imagery (I was too when i first read the explicit parts), I think it’s art to write these things and give them a proper meaning and symbolism; it makes Berserk the masterpiece that it is.
This is so very important.
I’m sorry if what I’m about to say sounds kinda unrelated to this discussion @bscully, but Berserk has a real notoriety in the manga world and honestly, I thank Sensei for steadily going with the upsetting imagery in spite of this!
(under the cut, because possibly slightly out of topic)
Anyone who likes manga has at least heard of the series and generally of the Eclipse, since it’s the most shocking/horrible part (I have had dozens of discussions that turned out like this) and, because it’s shocking but also because Berserk was often referred to as a masterpiece, more than a few manga fans went to read the Eclipse without the context of the previous 12 volumes.
Well, guess what? Obviously these guys came out disappointed and full of the criticisms you were talking about above (”this is disgusting”, “glorifying rape”, “couldn’t he have drawn/done this with more taste?”, etc).
But that’s the thing, context matters in every series and even more in Berserk, which is why as you said so well, “Berserk has explicit and triggering content, but it makes it meaningful in the way the story is told“ and that shows through all the examples you mentioned.
I don’t know, maybe it’s just me, but if I go read a love confession between two characters I barely know/haven’t followed the story of, the emotional affect is 100% lost on me compared to if I’ve been following their dynamic for a few or a lot of volumes.
Same for lovemaking/sex scenes being taken in or out of context, with or without knowing the characters and all that they went through before finally reaching that point with each other (for example, that’s how you can establish a real comparison between the Griffith/Charlotte and Guts/Casca sex scenes in the same volume => again, something Sensei made on purpose, without a doubt; whereas the two scenes just probably resonate similarly if you check them without knowing the context or the characters).
And so, if this is how it works for beautiful and emotional moments, why shouldn’t it also work for absolutely horrifying and shocking parts like the Eclipse (but also Guts’ chidhood, the lost children arc, Qliphoth, Wyald, Ganishka, etc)?
So yes, Miura-sensei goes with upsetting imagery often in Berserk, it’s been a thing since the beginning although (as Anon pointed out) it’s hardly ever the same tone several times in a row. That fact is why the series doesn’t have to be for everyone and there is no issue with saying one wouldn’t enjoy it. However, for the ones who go check the worst scenes regardless, without the whole context, and who obviously get the wrong idea, seriously what’s the point?
It took me two years to start Berserk between the first time it was recommended to me and when I actually gave it a try, because first thing I did was to go to google image to check and I immediately closed the browser because “what the hell?! too violent!” => that’s missing the context.
Now it’s one of the best series (amidst manga, comics, novels, books, everything) I have ever read and honestly I’m glad circumstances made me give it another chance.
Miura-sensei knows what he is doing: it doesn’t have to be for everyone, but honestly, criticism is only legitimate with context.
That moment when you finally found someone in your life instead of trusting inanimate objects
the mirrored arcs of guts and casca and how they focus on their roles as weapons and soldiers and tools for powerful men. and how those roles have betrayed them and fitted them so badly. more and more so as they grow older and their personalities and beliefs start bursting out at the seams. they’re people. grouchy complicated loving people who in every respect are more than what they were meant to be. and who have so much more to be.
midnight-in-town 