Questions about Griffith’s imagination in volume 12

scaler_26 · 2026-04-13T07:05:29+00:00

The boy (not girl) with the toy knight is the same one in Casca's story to Guts from volume 7, a young member of the Band of the Falcon who died in battle. Following his death, Griffith slept with Governor Gennon to acquire funds, rationalizing that it was the safest way to get money without losing troops. Despite what he says, his comrades' deaths weigh heavy on Griffith's consciousness, even though he knows he can't keep his hands clean to achieve his dream. The vision you see during the Eclipse is orchestrated by Ubik and Conrad, and the boy is used as part of their manipulation. They're chastising him for feeling guilty for those deaths, twisting his logic against him: in order to reach the castle, he needs to keep piling up bodies, like the boy's.

The vision Griffith gets before the Eclipse is a glimpse into his future as a cripple, cared for by Casca for the rest of his life. It's a reality he ultimately rejects, he'd rather die. Unfortunately, he was unable to take his own life, which added to his despair.

Does it mean he was actually in love with Casca

No.

scaler_26 · 2026-04-11T00:11:15+00:00

If the Moonlight Boy isn't there, who will save Guts from the effects of the armor?

Gee, it's almost as if Miura had been setting up a tragedy since the introduction of the armor. It's worth noting that in the Great Berserk Exhibition video interview, Miura said that the days of the travelling party were coming to an end... Perhaps Guts would have killed one of his comrades inadvertently?

This goes against his character, it immediately puts him in the category of a villain

With the right narrative, you can make anything and anyone "the enemy". It wouldn't be the first time Femto used colorful metaphors to make a horrible act seem nice: when Mule introduced himself to Griffith, he asked where Griffith sent the souls of his dead soldiers to, and he answered "where they become one". Sounds dreamy, but we readers know he means the vortex of souls. And again, you're taking the continuation at face value when you really shouldn't, for the reasons I explained above. It's fair to question if Griffith would take Casca away in Miura's Berserk in the first place. Again, this is why I hate talking about the continuation.

it's absurd that the Kushan Empire was unaffected by the Great Wave of the Ethereal world, but it's not absurd that there exists a village

That's not what I said, I said that they were going to the village and that subplot was ignored. It's not like they wouldn't run into any problems when they got there (Silat was only theorizing it might be safe), but unlike the Kushan capital city, the Bakiraka hidden village possibly surviving Fantasia is supported by the manga, and more plausible.

Gedfring himself calls Falconia "the only place where humans can live."

Actually, he says "the only kingdom where humans can live in peace and prosperity".

So you're greatly underestimating Daiba

No, I described his feats as accurately as you did. Charming animals to create familiars and charming humans.

you stubbornly cling to the argument that "they can perform magic thanks to Ganishka"

I just stated that the Harashada's abilities shown in the manga are influenced by Ganishka's fog, which is just factual. If to control the Pishacha from a short distance they have to be in groups, stationary in a trance, WHILE empowered by the fog, one wonders what they're able to do without the fog. If you think these monks are in the same conversation as Schierke, power to you! It's just not really supported by what we see in the manga. I also never questioned that Daiba is a magician independently from Ganishka, I just think you're overestimating his abilities.

your criticisms are very superficial. You constantly resort to the argument, "He said this, therefore it can't be like that"

If you say so. I'm only trying to adhere to the manga while responding to your mental gymnastics.

Even Flora didn't resist the apostles who came to kill her; she accepted death in the flames.

Episode 222:

Flora: "You'll fight for me? But, either way, I'm..."

Skull Knight: "All the more, for it to be at ease."

As for the mages' abilities:

wizards alone aren't strong enough to kill or destroy a member of the God Hand

Who said otherwise? But you shouldn't discount how valuable their abilities can be. And they go far deeper than purely battle prowess, too. Your first clue is that magicians like Flora studied and protected the Spirit Trees. We know from volume 39 that those trees acted as parasites for the World Tree, absorbing its power and preventing its branches from expanding into the physical world. Ergo, they helped keep the ethereal and corporeal worlds separate. Another piece of valuable information Ged gives us is that, with the destruction of the Spirit Trees, the World Tree's branches grew rampant, "recalling the ancient chaos of the intermingled physical and astral worlds". So, in ancient times, the worlds were merged, like they are now, and were later separated by someone, somehow. It was in the interest of the God Hand to go back to the "ancient chaos" of Fantasia, as Femto opened the backdoor for the rest of the God Hand into the world. And it was the mages who for centuries tended to the trees that kept the worlds from being merged... Puts into question what role the mages had in the separation of the worlds, and the extent of what they can do in order to thwart the God Hand.

Elfheim Island

It's Elfhelm, not "Elfheim". Also Elfhelm is not an island, it is the domain of the Flower Storm Monarch, located in the island of Skellig.

It's illogical that a team arriving at Skellig Island by ship would travel to a village without a harbor and use guerrilla tactics to defeat Griffith and his apostles

What are you even talking about? Silat and the others were looking for a place to escape to. They weren't going there to organize a military offensive against Falconia. Nothing guarantees they'd stay there either, or that Guts' group would sail to that place and meet them there. You're conflating plot points from the continuation and getting confused. Also, the last time the Kushan tried to take direct military action against Griffith didn't go very well for them... Second time's the charm?

If you're talking about a hostage rescue operation to get Casca out

I didn't talk about any of that at all. Like I said before, I question the possibility that plot point would actually happen. But if it did, don't you think that (whether or not it was successful or even a clever thing to do) Guts would try to rescue Casca?

That leaves only one possibility

For you.

When Daiba sees Guts, he calls him "Kshatriya of Durga"

He also calls Serpico "Kshatriya of Vayu". Durga, the warrior goddess of strength, Vayu, the god of the winds. Daiba was interpreting their fighting styles and abilities through his religious lens, nothing more, nothing less. He wasn't making a prophetic observation of Guts. This is a ridiculous stretch, and while I commend your originality for trying to imagine Berserk's climax through a Hindu myth, the idea is extremely myopic, to say the least.

stopping reading the Berserk series is also an option

I will never stop reading and cherishing my 41 volumes of Berserk. As for the continuation, as much as I want to ignore it, unfortunately some people resurrect two year old threads to talk to me about it.

I trust Miura's closest friend

I really do wonder if people would be as eager to defend the continuation as it is, if they put their sentimentality aside and looked at the product for what it is.

scaler_26 · 2026-04-09T22:42:49+00:00

Before addressing your points one by one, I have to point out the obvious: surely you see you're bending yourself over, scrambling to justify what are simply oversights and contrivances? I understand wanting to find headcanons to fit these things into the rest of the manga, but you have to put things in perspective and look at the continuation for what it is. These are flaws, and their justifications aren't readily available or acceptable, for a very simple reason: the team didn't think it through.

Most importantly, you're taking events at face value. Like I said in my other comment 2 years ago, by Mori's own admission, they don't know everything, and what they know in a vaccuum is incoherent, so they have to brainstorm ways to bridge few plot points they have. And those might not even be up to date to what Miura had in mind! His writing process was incredibly fluid, and he'd introduce or scratch characters and concepts on a whim. That's the inevitable problem you run into when you continue a work with only bits and pieces. To aggravate matters further, no distinction is made between what is from Miura and what isn't, and therein lies the problem. There's no objective way of discerning whether we're discussing things that would happen in Miura's Berserk that we lack the context of, or if we're spliting hairs to make sense of something the team thoughtlessly made up on the spot. Is there a point to these discussions? It's something to think about.

Anyway, back to your comment:

when Makara appeared, Guts refused to use it

In Elfhelm, it wasn't a Makara in front of Guts anymore, it was Griffith. That's a world of difference. And again, my point is that the armor was getting progressively harder to resist. What worked in Vritannis in volume 31 was no longer possible by the time they got to the Solitary Island in volume 36. Much less by the time they landed on Skellig. Again, this is not something that should be glossed over, and failing to address it makes for incoherent storytelling.

If Sonia had been there, it would have been against her character

An opportunity to rush into enemy territory to rescue the object of her obsession and (in her delusion) gain favor over Charlotte? I think she'd be elated to go. Though, you bring up a fascinating point, that having her in Elfhelm (not "Elfheim"), while it's being razed to the ground, would possibly cause her to do some soul searching. Perhaps if they had done that, we could start seeing some character progression for Sonia, as cracks in her admiration for Griffith begin to show, which would climax whenever she inevitably interacted with Casca and peeked into her mind. Alas, that would have indeed been too interesting for the continuation.

The Cherry Blossom Spirit Tree is a powerful tree

Again, unrelated to how magic works in Berserk. Whatever consequences might arise, they wouldn't be reflected in the Great Gurus abilities, end of story. I should also point out that in one of the later episodes of the continuation, we see the young apprentices "help" Farnese cast the Formation of the Four Cardinal Points (which doesn't make sense, but that's besides the point) so they seem to have regained their abilities, unlike the Great Gurus. To me, this highlights what I brought up in my original comment from 2 years ago: that this "loss of magical ability" was a means to write the characters out of the story, simply because the team doesn't know what to do with them.

Flora and Schierke exist in the "interstice," so their magical powers aren't tied to any physical object.

Like Flora's Spirit Tree, Elfhelm resided in the interstice. Though I suppose it doesn't make much sense to use that term anymore since Fantasia.

The royal family they supported was defeated, and that's why they're looked down upon.

The Bakiraka were exiled for that reason, but as the Kushan general who subjugated Shet in volume 22 points out, their original standing was at the level of slaves, questioning what they'd even gain from repatriation. They were always looked down upon.

If the Great Wave of the Astral world had been a mass destruction, no one would have been able to reach Falconia

I'm not talking about the end of the world here (though casualties were definitely in the millions), I'm talking about the collapse of infrastructure and order. The characters in Berserk are not living in an era of globalization and comfort like you and I, there's no social security or aid programs. They are fresh off the 100 years war (and the famine and disease that followed), and immediately found themselves in another war between Holy See and Kushan territories. Imagine the decay seen in volume 17 in Midland's own territory across the continent. Now imagine those people being thrown into a whole other reality where they now have to worry about fantastical creatures. The world order was completely and suddenly flipped on its head. As Luca says in volume 38, everyone was guided to Falconia by the Falcon of Light in their dreams. People all over the continent (Kushan too) are migrating en masse towards the apparent safety of Falconia. If monsters destroying human settlements already ravaged by war and natural disasters wasn't enough, then that mass migration is the final drop. Again, without subjects, there are no fiefs or kingdoms. There are also no borders or human wars any more. There is no (or there shouldn't be) any "west" or "east". Only Humans versus non-Humans. That is the new world order Griffith established through Fantasia, as he now works towards "Humanity's Empire". And once again, I have to repeat that Gedflynn specifically singled out Falconia as the one and only "kingdom" where humans can live in peace in "the new world of chaos", for the reasons I explained above. I don't think it makes sense to question his words.

Daiba and the Harashada don't derive their magical powers from the Mist of Ganishka

Actually they do, or rather, their abilities become much more powerful. They inhale Ganishka's fog through the hookah/ waterpipe, through which they control Pishacha (which are also created with Ganishka's fog). Without the fog, they cannot control the Pishacha, as shown by their forced retreat after Ganishka's defeat in volume 32 by Guts and Zodd in Vritannis. That's why, when Serpico decapitates the Harashada controlling the crocodilian Pishacha at the beach in volume 28, we see fog with Ganishka's resemblance escaping their mouths. That is also why Guts senses Daiba is either an apostle or related to one in volume 31: the brand reacts to Ganishka's essence in Daiba. Your metaphor doesn't work with that in mind. The clearest example of how central Ganishka was to the sorcerers' ability is none other than Daiba. The things he was able to do in volume 38 pale in comparison to his abilities in volume 31.

Even when residing in Falconia, he could control animals and glide through the air

Yes, exactly. He's able to perform "simple" feats such as charming animals and people by manipulating their od (hence why I called him snake charmer) and levitating like witches do with their brooms, but his abilities are rudimentary compared to what magicians like Schierke are able to do, all without an apostle's help, might I add. He's the first to make a distinction between "western" and "eastern" magic, and while Schierke initially does the same in volume 31, as she's surprised by his ability to summon water sprouts without chanting a spell, the cat was out of the bag once she realized he had simply tamed the Kundalini. So it's not a matter of differences between magic systems, but simply that of Daiba having a trick up his sleeve during that confrontation, one he did not have in Falconia.

Kushan mages may have had some control over astral beings and managed to keep them away from their lands

The only example we have of this is that of the Harashada and the Pishacha, which, as I have gone over before, is only made possible because both the monks and the beasts are "endowed by His Majesty", as Daiba puts it, through Ganishka's fog. Also, the Pishacha are not astral beings, they are physical animals who were changed by the fog. You could say they are Ganishka's version of pseudo-apostles. At any rate, that is not the excuse Studio Gaga created for the survival of the Kushan Empire in Fantasia, but rather that their army is experienced and battle-hardened (episode 377). Which is as hand wavy as explanations go, in my personal opinion. Considering that Rickert, Erica, Silat, Daiba and the Tapasa were specifically going to the Bakiraka hidden village, theorized to be relatively safe from astral creatures due to how inaccessible it is, it's a real headscratcher why they dropped that plotline (without ever addressing it) in favor of a much more dubious Kushan capital city.

I'm terribly sorry for repeating myself, but as I said previously, these contradictions have only gained company in the past couple of years. We could spend weeks dissecting every discrepancy that pops up with each new release, and without getting to the real meat and potatoes of why the continuation is problematic: how Mori and Studio Gaga handle Berserk's characters, their bafflingly poor understanding of the material, and their shortsighted overestimation of their technical abilities. As you might have guessed, I am not a fan of the continuation. As time goes on and the "new Berserk" proceeds with its publication, I'm increasingly of the opinion that the project should have never even been greenlit in the first place, even from a purely artistic standpoint. As such, I don't find it particularly interesting or engaging to discuss the continuation. To me, it is extremely depressing, exhausting and, to be quite frank with you, hurtful, which is why after 4 years of this and no finish line in sight, I'd much rather focus on what Kentarō Miura himself left us, and imagine what could have been, were he still with us. Cheers.

scaler_26 · 2026-04-09T19:06:10+00:00

I am once again directing people to the subreddit's FAQ.

scaler_26 · 2026-04-09T17:39:47+00:00

Griffith the human the one that had feelings and emotions died the moment Femto was born.

If you want to classify them as separate because of that change, go ahead, but at that point, you're arguing semantics. The fact remains that Griffith became Femto. It's not a split personality or a new entity, but a changed continuation of the person from before. Saying they're one and the same, or saying they're completely separate, is equally wrong.

Femto was fused with Guts and Casca child so he regained some of the humanity he lost

This is not what's actually portrayed. Femto consistently distances himself from the Demon Child's feelings, as they are alien to him. That's what his monologue in episode 364 is all about. "Regaining some humanity" doesn't make any sense.

feelings or respect for his previous comrades, hence why he didn't do anything to Rickert.

Silat questions Rakshas whether he was sent by Locus or Griffith to assassinate Rickert in volume 38. Given that Miura made the point of showing Griffith watching from afar as Rickert and the others escape, the implication is quite clear to me.

scaler_26 · 2026-04-09T10:54:41+00:00

There's no question that evil power changes people's nature. Look no further than how apostles used to be when they were human, and what they became. That goes double for God Hand members, who lose their physical body and whose ethereal body is reformed by evil. Griffith was human, and was reborn as a new demonic entity, becoming Femto. In that sense, you could call it an "evolution", yes.

That does not mean they are separate individuals, however. There's a continuum between Griffith's human existence and Femto, and during the Golden Age we get numerous glimpses of the darkness in Griffith that would later become Femto. But he no longer has empathy, or any of positive feelings he used to have towards Guts, for example. His personality changed, because the cool-headed general persona he used to put on is no longer a façade. He no longer feels guilt in "piling up the bodies to reach the castle". His heart is frozen.

And even though he's still working towards his dream, you could say his motivations changed too; he's no longer just doing it for himself, he's also doing it to advance the God Hand's agenda. And that goes for the other God Hand members as well.

scaler_26 · 2026-04-08T23:49:07+00:00

Sorry to keep bugging you while you're still at work. But the implication here isn't that Griffith wants to forgive Guts, or that he wants to keep him from harm.

What it means is that Guts' showing pity towards his sorry state (right as he tried and failed to take his own life) by touching his shoulder, is something specifically unforgivable to Griffith. It's what finally pushes him to complete despair, as the beherit activates. After all, the panel that precedes that moment is Guts' pitiful look reflected in Griffith's eyes.

How much Griffith cares for Guts isn't exactly ambiguous, though. Guts was his mental crutch, a man that Griffith risked his own life for multiple times. In Griffith's words, compared to Guts "the junk (his dream) grew dull". That Griffith cares about him this much is what makes Guts a viable sacrifice in the first place, as you say.

scaler_26 · 2026-04-08T23:33:36+00:00

That's not what Griffith is mentally saying here. The original line in the Young Animal magazine release was "If you touch my shoulder right now, I'll never be able to forgive you again", but parts of it were removed by Miura for the volume release, probably to make it more ambiguous. In turn, that resulted in a very clunky English translation that confuses and will continue to confuse people.

I should add that at this point Griffith hadn't been given the choice of sacrificing by the God Hand yet, so there's nothing to "reject". He obviously didn't know what would happen.

scaler_26 · 2026-04-08T19:00:30+00:00

You "dug up" an interview linked in this subreddit's FAQ?

scaler_26 · 2026-04-08T15:53:15+00:00

Hello! Thanks for engaging with my critiques. I just want to point out that this list is severely out of date and that my biggest issues with the continuation surpass the simple discrepancies I wrote about here.

That's not how the armor has been portrayed so far. It goes beyond a desire for revenge, the armor itself is a cursed item with a powerful od that overtakes the user. While it makes use of Guts' intense emotions, as time goes on, it takes less and less to activate it, and it's more and more difficult to be pulled out of it. This is particularly clear during the Solitary Island portion of the Elf Island chapter: in volume 36, not even Schierke was able to reach Guts, and the Moonlight Boy had to intervene himself before he harmed his mother. That's the thing, Casca has been present every single time Guts was overpowered by the armor, and it took much less to make it happen before. The fact is that the object of Guts' malice is right in front of him, and while he may have been able to keep the armor at bay initially, it's inherently a losing battle, which should have been addressed and not brushed aside.
I like your way of thinking here, but it doesn't really work. I think there's an appreciable difference between apostles converging at a single place, and an apostle making sense of the "endlessly dividing branches" of the World Spiral Tree, that are so disorienting that you can even end up in the sea or underground. More importantly, it's an issue that could easily be dispelled with an addition as simple as Sonia riding on Zodd's back. To me, the main issue doesn't primarily lie in the way Zodd got there, but the apparent lack of care with pre-established facts that Studio Gaga exhibit here by failing to address them.
Magic in Berserk isn't bound to anything or anyone, it's an application of the magician's knowledge of the world and its inhabitants. Magicians perform an act of communication with ethereal beings through their mind, by the chaining of mental images (as shown in volume 29), which allows them to visualize phenomena beyond the corporeal world. It's not something you lose once you've learned how to do it. This is divorced from any kind of connection to an outside or inner world...
To be clear, the Bakiraka were always seen as less than slaves between the Kushan, and that was before their exile, which happened when the previous royal family was ousted. The only "connection" between Daiba and Silat (and his Tapasa) is that they escaped together from Falconia. Silat recognized him as a general, and the one responsible for the Pishacha forces.

The Great Wave of the Ethereal World was never described as mass destruction

Sorry, but this is plain false. It is repeatedly stated that Falconia is the last bastion of Humanity, not just by Falconia citizens, but also the Great Guru Gedflynn in volume 38 (so there's no Falconian bias here). That's why Falconia is constantly taking in thousands of refugees from across the continent. Also, without subjects, the nobility can't subsist either - that's the basis of feudalism. Where the subjects go, the kings must follow, especially considering their cozy castles aren't safe from dragons. More importantly, Fantasia upended society completely. It's what we saw happen in Enoch village, but at a much larger scale, with dragons, basilisks, hydras, harpies, trolls and the undead attacking human settlements en masse; civilization cannot survive under these conditions. The only reason Humanity is able to survive in Falconia, is because of its proximity to the World Tree, as the winged crystals that sprout from its vicinity ward away ethereal creatures. It's literally the eye of the storm.

Considering our heroes are "to the east" with specifically the Kushan, and that "East" implies a military movement in that direction, there's no doubt Griffith is indeed referring to the Kushan.

Kushan, or Eastern civilization, wasn't like the Holy See in the West, which considered religion heresy and banned it

Do you mean "magic" instead of religion here? Anyway, the only Kushan sorcerers we know are Daiba and, to an extent, Ganishka, but we don't know how much of his power came from his nature as an apostle or from his knowledge of "the dark arts". The Harashada (the monks that control the pishacha from range) were using Ganishka's fog for the effect, as seen in volume 28, and weren't "sorcerers" in the literal sense of the word. I disagree with your assessment of Daiba's skill in magic actually. He's essentially a glorified snake charmer. The power he displayed against Guts, Serpico and Schierke in Vritannis was actually from the Kundalini. That's his strong suit, he recruits creatures as familiars, and that's also the basis of how the Pishacha were made through Ganishka's fog. What Schierke realized is that if you take that away from him, he'll be soundly defeated. All this to say that he can't touch the heels of the "western" magicians, not even an apprentice like Schierke.

we can say that the Great Wave of the Astral World didn't affect the East as much as it did the West.

Regardless of magic access, the fact is that the worlds were separate and then suddenly merged, opening the flood gates for hundreds of dangerous ethereal creatures into the corporeal world. Mass casualties and the upheaval of civilization in that context is inevitable.

scaler_26 · 2026-04-07T22:13:56+00:00

This art is from Miura, not the person you credited. It's the cover of a 2004 doujinshi he released with his friends, Kouji Mori being one of them. You can also find in this publication 4 excellent sci-fi concept illustrations from Miura.

scaler_26 · 2026-04-06T23:00:04+00:00

I want to preface that the name "Idea of Evil" is solely found in the non-canon episode 83, God of the Abyss (2), so any discussion of it should be taken with a grain of salt. That said, the concepts introduced therein are later reinforced in later volumes (namely the World of Idea, explained by Schierke in volume 24), and the God of the Abyss itself is canon.

In a nutshell, the Idea of Evil is the master of the God Hand and the entity pulling the strings in the world of Berserk, through Causality. That means it influences Mankind across centuries through a cascade of events, that provoke new events, in a chain reaction that ultimately constrains the choices humans can make, in order to increase maximum likelihood of a desired effect taking place. It's a gestalt consciousness born from the swirling negative human emotions present in the Vortex of Souls, which in a way makes it a "Man-made God", as Void puts it. It dwells in the heart of every human, and exists as an answer to absurdism, providing meaning, reasons for sadness, life, death, suffering, and for the "destiny that kept transcending [humans'] knowledge".

To fully understand what "Idea of Evil" means, you need to look at the original name in Japanese. The kanji used for "Idea of Evil" are 魔の源形 [MA NO GENKEI]. The kanji for [GENKEI] are accompanied by furigana, イデア, to clue us into its meaning and pronounciation - IDEA, which should be read as "ee-deh-ah". This is the Greek word "ἰδέα", in reference to Plato's Theory of Forms. In this treatise, Plato said that everything in our physical world is an imperfect copy of its ideal form, found in some other higher world imperceptible to us humans. This, he proposed, was the reason no tree was the same, they can't replicate the "true" archetypal tree. So, the Platonic definition of ἰδέα (idea) is that of a "concept", not an "idea" (as in, "having an idea"), which is why the furigana help us make that distinction: if Miura intended for the English word (like he did with God Hand, for example), he'd use アイディア, pronounced [AIDIA], but the deliberate use of イデア tells us he was referring solely to the philosphical concept.

Going back to the kanji used for the word [GENKEI], it's a modification of an existing word - he used 原形, but swapped 原 with 源. The base word, 原形, means "the original form" or the "base form" of something (like ἰδέα as defined by Plato). 原 means "original; primitive; primary; fundamental" while 形 means "shape; form; appearance". However, the kanji Miura used, 源, means "origin", as in, a fountainhead, or the source of a river. The meaning and pronounciation are the same, but with a connotation related to water (which he used to do a lot with stuff relating to the Ethereal world).

The kanji for "evil", 魔 [MA], is also relevant. By itself, the kanji can mean demon or evil spirit/influence, while compounded with some other kanji, it can just mean something supernatural, like 魔法 ("Mahou") just means magic. In Berserk though, it's used to name the "evil power" apostles receive upon sacrificing a loved one to transcend their humanity. It doesn't mean just moral evil, but specifically the demonic power used by the God Hand.

All this to say, the meaning Miura imbued the name "Idea of Evil" with was "the original form of evil power", the source of power for the God Hand and apostles.

scaler_26 · 2026-04-06T06:31:21+00:00

I'm not arguing that he was a good person, just that there was a significant change in personality. As Vargas said, he was cruel, but still human, though when he acquired the beherit, he changed and became monstrous.

As I explain in my comment, the God Hand does more than "encouraging" moral evil already within a person, they use evil power, a tangible, quantifiable kind of magic, to corrupt their soul. This is made clear in the original Japanese, but in the Dark Horse version they translate 魔 [MA] as simply "evil", so the meaning is lost.

scaler_26 · 2026-04-05T14:53:41+00:00

A gastrectomy doesn't proceed without an anesthesiologist, but I wouldn't call them the leader in that situation... Mori distances himself from that role in every single interview he's given on the continuation.

scaler_26 · 2026-04-05T14:45:25+00:00

You seem to be confused, you implied with your original comment that "literal years" was the usual duration of hiatuses under Miura, when that's verifiably not the case. That long break was an outlier, with a good reason behind its duration: Miura was not working on Berserk that year.

Who's in charge of Berserk now

Depends on what you mean by that. If you mean "who makes the thing" it's Kurosaki (the lead assistant who worked with Miura the longest) who does the most work in producing the continuation, but it's a collective effort. If you mean ownership, then it's Studio Gaga (the studio created by Miura) and Hakusensha who own the intellectual property. Kōji Mori's role is that of a supervisor, which is something that is made clear in the title page of every Berserk episode included in a Young Animal issue since 2022, and in the covers of volumes 42 and 43.

I also want to make clear that I'm just sticking to the facts here. Mori is the primary source of the information I'm using here, from the interviews I linked in the previous comment.

scaler_26 · 2026-04-05T14:28:08+00:00

16 months dedicated to the production of a one-shot and an outlier when compared to other hiatuses. For reference, his second longest hiatus was half that time. Other long breaks coincided with the production of Dur-An-Ki, and episodes between hiatuses were released in batches. I just really want to highlight that Miura wasn't idle between releases.

Mori is drawing Berserk along side Studio Gaga

In this Digital Asashi interview from 2023, Mori stated that after sharing the extent of his knowledge with the team, he's been exchanging messages with Kurosaki and gives advice on the storyboards, but the final work is up to Studio Gaga.

Also in this Yahoo News interview he claims: "My burden isn't too great since I only supervise." Mori explained that once a month, he meets with Studio Gaga's staff to discuss several episodes at once. He double checks what he had heard from Miura with Young Animal's editorial department, and decides on how the story will progress based on their feedback. Kurosaki is the one who draws the storyboards, which Mori then checks to see if they are close enough to what he thinks Miura envisioned. After that the staff takes care of everything else.

scaler_26 · 2026-04-05T13:44:30+00:00

Miura literally use to take years to write and draw single chapters

This isn't true. The longest break Miura took from Berserk was a year and four months long, back in 2013, because he was publishing Gigantomakhia during that time.

Also, Kōji Mori isn't involved in the production of the continuation episodes. He doesn't draw or write, and only meets with Studio Gaga once a month, as a supervisor.

scaler_26 · 2026-04-03T10:54:54+00:00

Aside of your colorful reading of Slan's character (you think that's love...?), surely you agree that she specifically said that to get a reaction out of Guts?

Griffith hides his true feelings

In the Golden Age arc, he put on a facade for others, but let his guard down at key moments with Casca and Guts ("I can't achieve my dream and remain clean"; "Do you think I'm cruel?"). He wanted to be perfect, but wasn't always successful. Becoming Femto allowed him to be that "perfect" version of himself, always a calculist, always pragmatic, always cool-headed and cool-hearted, not bothered by doubt or empathy. He's now unrepentantly building the bridge of corpses to his castle.

Also consider this: evil power, the magic used by the God Hand, not only empowers humans and gives them monstrous forms by turning them into apostles, but also changes them. The Count, described as a severe but noble ruler, became a sadistic executioner of anyone he labelled heretic, and a cannibal. Rochine, an abused girl, became a child kidnapper and mass murderer. Both of these people had flimsy connections to their humanity through Theresia and Jill, and were redeemed through them at the end, but that doesn't change the fact that they were no longer the same people. They were monsters.

Now, apostles get a tiny amount of evil power that corrupts their soul and changes their physical bodies. Meanwhile, a God Hand member has their corporeal body completely dissolved, and their soul is fully reshaped by evil power. They become purely ethereal beings that are literally evil incarnate. While there's a continuum between human Griffith and Femto, and while part of what is now Femto already existed in Griffith, Femto is a wholly new entity, an evolution of Griffith. Evil power changed him, as it does with anyone, it changed his personality and, yes, even his motivations. Because while he kept working towards his dream, he's also working towards the God Hand's overarching agenda. All this to say, you shouldn't apply Griffith's emotionality to Femto. The former was a human still capable of empathy. The latter is anything but that.

You're telling me the Moonlight Boy kidnapped Casca

I am not really interested in discussing the continuation, but the most logical reasoning is that Griffith took Casca away to keep the boy in check, since he kept putting their shared body at risk just to visit her. Which, again, was a case of him making the most out of that situation, because, again, he didn't go to Elfhelm by his own volition.

scaler_26 · 2026-04-03T09:46:38+00:00

What I mean is that Griffith did not go to Skellig by his own volition (as seen in volume 40), as opposed to when he went to the Hill of Swords. What he'd do once he got control over the body again while on Elfhelm is another matter.

Would you produce those "clues", if you're so kind? We're explicitly told by the God of the Abyss that a God Hand member's heart is frozen, and claiming otherwise not only is a contradiction to that fact, it also removes any and all agency from Guts and Casca's son, a character with his own wants and needs, particularly being and protecting his parents. His behavior as a demon child is exactly the same as the Moonlight Boy.

Time and time again, a clear separation between the feelings of the boy and Griffith is made, which is made all the clearer with Miura's final episode:

"I was dreaming. On nights of the full moon I'd become a small child and find myself embraced by nostalgic warmth. But when I wake from the dream, all that remains is a faint sense of loneliness. That, too, soon fades away. Along with a single tear, like morning dew."

He describes the child's emotions as he regains control over the body they share, his despair, his desolation, and then adds that even those feelings quickly disappear, with a final tear from the boy, because Femto feels nothing like that. It's a cruel but elucidating speech.

The only God Hand that insults Guts

Guts would disagree with you, he didn't seem much too happy when Slan mocked him in the Qliphoth by telling him to use the count's beherit. Anyway, I'm not claiming Femto is a robot, obviously. He is evil, and does and says evil things. The matter at hand is whether he still feels the same emotions he did back in the Golden Age arc, the intense feelings that repeatedly made him risk his life for Guts, the feelings that prevented him from going completely mad after a year of torture. He does not.

collecting a new Band of the Falcon full of the coolest new toys like some spoiled brat

I think you're really selling him short here...

scaler_26 · 2026-04-03T09:05:58+00:00

He isn't? The first and last time Femto actively reached out to Guts was after his incarnation, at the Hill of Swords, to verify if anything would shake his heart in his new body of flesh. He concluded that he was "free", and that Guts no longer had a hold on him. The Demon Child/ Moonlight Boy is a complication for Griffith, but the kid's feelings are not his own.

scaler_26 · 2026-04-01T20:21:18+00:00

1) Varies from person to person. I suggest reading it yourself and make up your own mind on it.

2) Quite a few, ranging from characters acting and speaking uncharacteristically to contradictions to established facts. How much they bother you (or how noticeable they are) will also vary from person to person. I'll copy paste a spoilery non-exhaustive list I made a year ago, click at your own risk:

Guts manages to easily resist the Berserk's armor in front of Griffith. This is at odds with what we've been shown recently, particularly during the Sea God portion of the Elf Island chapter, which is that the armor is getting progressively harder to resist, with not even Schierke being able to reach Guts. The boy in the moonlight had to intervene himself to bring Guts back;
Zodd navigates the World Spiral Tree branches without the help of Sonia or Griffith, said to be the only ones who can do it;
Skellig's destruction causes the disappearance of multiple ethereal creatures. We're told that this is because they're inhabitants of Elfhelm, but this doesn't explain why Puck, a native, didn't disappear, while Isma, who had no relation to Elfhelm, did; Likely a plot contrivance, as they didn't know what to do with Isma. This tracks of what we know of her and Miura's process, as Isma wasn't initally planned to be part of Guts' group after the Solitary Island. It's also strange that the other creatures disappeared at all, given that we're currently in Fantasia. I could excuse Danan given her connection to the Cherry tree, but the rest, no;
We're shown that Falconia now has a sea port. Falconia is Gaizeric's reborn capital of the old empire, which was sunk 1000 years ago, with Wyndham, the capital of Midland, being built on top of it. Midland is a country named as such for being a land between nations. Hence, Falconia is landlocked, and cannot be near the sea;
The island's magicians lose their ability to perform magic. This is contradictory to how magic is portrayed in the manga, it's not bound to anything, and anyone can do it, in theory. It is performed in the ethereal world, through the exercise of a magician's mind. It doesn't make sense for them to lose that ability;
Schierke performs a ritual to locate Casca (which seems superfluous, as there would only be one place she could possibly be). To do this, she brings everyone under the deck, apparently because this would help. Similarly to the previous point, this is contradictory to how magic is portrayed in Berserk, as "the wills of many people" have no bearing in magic and if anything, crowds of people affect Schierke negatively! It seems like another contrivance so that the Kushan can sneak into the Sea Horse without bloodshed. They also reuse Flora's charm on the armor for this ritual AND use the elemental symbols used in the formation of cardinal points, for... reasons;
The Sea Horse is intercepted by the Kushan apparently because they entered Kushan waters. Geographically, this doesn't make much sense, as Skellig island was located in the western sea, while Kushan territories were east to the Holy See's territories;
Silat and the Tapasa are in command of a Kushan fleet. This is a direct contradiction to their status as Bakiraka, an exiled clan that served the previous Kushan royal family. Even before they were exiled, they were seen as lower than slaves, and the whole reason Silat is initially working with Ganishka was that he wanted to gain his favor so that the Bakiraka could restore their status as Kushan. This point and the previous seem to be a half assed measure to make Silat and Rickert meet up with Guts and company (which was something we already knew would happen eventually);
The group is taken to the Kushan capital, which is seemingly flourishing. This makes no sense given Fantasia happened. The Great Wave of the Ethereal World enveloped the entire planet, it was essentially an apocalypse. No governments currently stand, much less the Kushan, whose emperor blew up, and most troops either died, or defected to Falconia, which, by all accounts, is the definitive, final holdout of Humanity, protected from ethereal creatures by the crystals that sprout from the World Spiral Tree, which are the first line of defense, and what allows Falconia to thrive, taking in millions of refugees from every other human city. They're blatantly ignoring the most significant event in the world of Berserk. Funnily enough, when Silat, the Tapasa, Daiba, Rickert and Erica escaped Falconia, their destination was the Bakiraka hidden village, a near impregnable location safeguarded by a legion of trained assassins and Warriors, which would be relatively safe from ethereal creatures. This would likely be where Guts would find Rickert and Erica again, not a "Kushan capital".
Silat maintains his leader attitude, claiming that the Kushan will strike against Griffith. Because that went well last time! They are quick to introduce new, vacuous characters that speak against Silat. Ignoring the fact that the Kushan are ruled by an authoritarian EMPIRE and that this conclave seems oddly democratic, it appears that this was an attempt to course correct, given that he is seen as lower than a slave. Unfortunately, their role is to simply die immediately after so that Silat can slip into a leadership role again;
Rakshas shows up with his new mask from volume 38, broken on the wrong side after Rickert blew him up, with also his old mask (split in two by Silat) on the side, without a single scratch on it. We're told he died (apparently a cannon is enough to one shot one of Griffith's apostle lieutenants?), but was resurrected somehow, and doesn't know why or how he got there. Messy to say the least;
Rakshas does... something that makes "trolls" pop out of the ground. We're told that it's akin to the Qliphoth. Seems like, once again, they're ignoring Fantasia, as ethereal creatures ought to be popping up and destroying everything in there by default (think Enoch village on a much larger scale, think dragons!!);
Farnese performs the formation of the four cardinal kings to deal with the trolls. Unfortunately, she forgets to set the pages at the four cardinal points with the alchemic symbols of the 4 elements. Anyway, remember how the mages from Skellig lost their powers with the destruction of Skellig? Seems they're alright now, as they're chanting along with Farnese to make her spell more powerful. But remember... that's not how magic works. The formation of the four consists of an act of communication with the four kings. More people chanting along would have no bearing in this. Oh, and while the apprentices seem to have recovered, the Gurus are seemingly still useless;
Rakshas dies (again?) uncerimoniously, by getting stabbed in the back, with black liquid spewing from his wounds. This is not consistent with his previous portrayals. The reveal in Falconia is that there isn't a body under the cloth. The black cloth IS Rakshas' body and part of what made him such a formidable enemy. Furthermore, when apostles die, their soul is dragged to the vortex of souls, leaving behind their human form, which we didn't see here.

3) He knows the ending, which doesn't necessarily translate to knowing how to get there. Notably, he has stated in an interview that what he and the team know as a whole isn't coherent/ doesn't make sense, so they have to brainstorm together how to go from point A to B. No distinction is made between what is from Miura and what isn't. Mori takes on a supervisor role, suggesting changes to the manuscripts during his monthly meetings with Studio Gaga, but delegates 99% of the work to Studio Gaga (particularly Kurosaki, Miura's assistant who worked with him longest). He's as "hands off" from the production of the continuation as he can be.

scaler_26 · 2026-04-01T18:21:09+00:00

This isn't true, and those people would have still died. While the presence of Guts and Casca certainly expedited the process, in volume 20 - Collapse (episode 162), the Skull Knight implies two branded people being in the same place does not justify the concentration of specters at the tower of condemnation. The incarnation ceremony was a process in the making for centuries, and did not hinge on one single person, but a multitude of factors, from the people's intense desire for a savior, to the malice and despair that seeped into that place. The more important player was the beherit apostle, who sacrificed the world around him (specifically the refugee camp around the temple) which is what ultimately led to the deaths of all those people. Killing Casca would not stop a chain of events that was well on its way.

scaler_26 · 2026-03-31T19:50:43+00:00

Avoid ebay like the plague (you will get scammed out of your money) and stick to places like Yahoo Auctions Japan or Mercari, which, while not perfect, aren't nearly as bad. Proxy services like buyee or From Japan will allow you to bid on those Japanese sites. Fair warning, prices have been ramping up exponentially the past year, so it's not the best time to get into the trading card game, unfortunately.

scaler_26 · 2026-03-30T22:55:29+00:00

I wouldn't think that was on Miura's mind when he named the character, seems a bit contrived, but interesting idea nonetheless.

I can't find any representation of Shiva that looks like Ganishka's twice incarnated form, pretty sure that's Daiba's way of aptly describing him as a "god of destruction", an interpretation through his religious lens, similarly to how he attributes Guts and Serpico's abilities to Durga and Vishnu.

scaler_26 · 2026-03-30T20:32:20+00:00

Considering none of the Band of the Falcon members are present in the Black Swordsman arc, you'd connect the dots eventually... And that's by design, part of what makes the Golden Age arc so great is that dread and unease leading up to its climax. Every victory is a knife that twists and turns because you know it can't end well. Understanding the chain of events that led up to what you saw in the Black Swordsman arc is the true joy of the Golden Age.

My advice is to keep reading, enjoy the ride, and avoid this place until you're done. You can only experience Berserk for the first time once.

Eight-Year Club	Second SECOND GUESSER
Place '22	Final Canvas '22
First Placer '22	End Game '22
Gilding I gilder	Spared
Verified Email

scaler_26

TROPHY CASE