#but if the parallel world stuff isn’t real i hope we’ll know sooner rather than later bc gotcha storytelling can be pretty rough

[lurkingshan]

There’s another possible explanation that occurred to me for Cir hiding things, Jin calling him a liar, that high school flashback not being from Cir’s original world (which is what I would expect a genre story to be showing us at this point), and the relative lack of genre trappings in the beginning of the story. Which is that none of this parallel world stuff is real, and Cirrus is making it up as a way to get close to Phukan.

MAME does love writing characters who push boundaries in ways that are over the line and then finding a way to make them redeemable. And she hasn’t done a genre story before. So if Cirrus is making it up, the real mystery here is why on earth he would do that rather than just approaching Phu in a normal way. What would be the reason??

[bthump]

What do you think about the point in the story we are at now? Would you say you like the direction Miura is going in or not? What are the things you dislike about Berserk as it is now?

lol this is hard to answer because it’s so heavily dependent on what happens next. I think we’re at a point where everything could start coming together in a way that really appeals to me or where everything could just fall apart and I’ll have to accept that this is no longer a story I’m particularly interested in.

Though I am slightly leaning towards the former right now, whether that’s based on real evidence or mostly blind optimism I’m not entirely sure lol.

Basically I think it’ll depend on a) whether Moonlight Boy becomes a major motivational plot point or turns out to be more of a red herring or brief inciting factor in the shift to a new arc, and b) whether Guts and the rpg group overcome the imminent challenge they’ll face thanks to their personal growth and friendship or whether it’ll fuck them up.

But the reasons I’m feeling tentatively optimistic right now are:

all the foreshadowing re Guts losing himself to the armour and wreaking some havok, which has to happen at some point lbr

fetus as the focal point of Casca’s traumatic memories and symbolizing her thorn-covered heart, which to me screams sacrifice material, which would be the only thing that could make it time sharing Griffith’s body interesting to me (ie what happens to Griffith if it’s sacrificed?)

I’m gonna link this post because I’m still mostly feeling the basics of this theory, ie Skull Knight and Elfhelm in cahoots plotting to use the behelit to entrap the godhand, at Guts and Casca’s expense. Plus another possible way for Moonlight Boy to come to nothing is if it’s a manipulation of Danann’s.

I think Guts is purposefully being written as emotionally distanced from the rpg group, which is a good sign for the power of friendship not saving him yet, and there are also aspects of Guts+rpg group that parallel Griffith+Hawks in the golden age (eg Farnese’s feelings for Guts being paralleled to Casca’s feelings for Griffith, Guts gaining followers who compare him to fire, etc) which also gives me hope that tragedy will strike.

Miura’s little bait and switch wrt Guts and Casca’s relationship that honestly felt like gentle mockery of people who wanted them to immediately get together lol. Yk Casca getting sent out in a pretty dress to meet Guts complete with romantic double page spread and having a breakdown, then changing into pants and cutting her hair and saying how much better it is, and not being able to look at Guts now.

Also more recently, Guts at a loss now that he’s brought Casca’s sanity back and it didn’t actually solve any of his issues. “The hell do I do now?” “You have reached the end of your journey. It is not always a happy thing.” I’ve been worried for a while that Guts’ complex issues have been dropped and we’re meant to see him taking Casca to Elfhelm as him genuinely growing past them, and that one moment was such a huge relief when I read it lol. It really suggests to me that this sidequest was always about Guts trying to find a distraction to avoid dealing with his actual issues (fear/trauma, insecurity, love/hate feelings for Griffith, regret, etc), and those are going to make a return sooner rather than later.

Miura implying in interviews that we’re not all that close to the end, so there’ll probably be at least one more arc after Elfhelm, which gives me more hope that this whole rpg arc will lead to some amount of narrative-shaking tragedy and we’ll get some interesting stuff after.

this parallel with the climax of the Millenium Falcon arc and my firm belief that it has to come full circle.

other stuff like complex apostle characters, the lost chapter worldbuilding, schierke suggesting that her elemental guardians are holy see angels alongside implications that holy see angels are the godhand. Basically my hopes for worldbuilding that doesn’t boil down to good spirit world vs evil spirit world.

all the little suggestions that NGriff isn’t as emotionless as he’d like to be that have nothing to do with a demon fetus giving a shit about its parents

So I guess my answer is that I do like the direction I hope Miura’s going in, but there’s also enough counter evidence that I may be wrong about that direction.

So some of the things I dislike about Berserk now are:

Moonlight Boy and the Fear that he will derail everything and the plot will soon revolve around, idk, Guts and Casca trying to free their kid’s soul bringing them closer together or some awful shit like that.

Moonlight Boy and the Fear that Miura is actually going to ignore the absolutely incredible foundation he wrote in the Golden Age to support the hints of Griffith’s current capacity for emotion in favour of pinning it all on a magic baby.

I have some lowkey fears that Guts “bleeding” for Casca is gonna be a thing, largely based on me recently re-reading the scene where Farnese gets upset about everything Guts has done for her while bathing her. Like yk, maybe Casca will remember Guts saving her and warm up to him... tho in all honesty I can’t actually think of an example of Guts being the one to save her post-Eclipse lmao, he fucks it up every time. Maybe when he first put on the armour and killed an apostle in front of her or w/e, yk. Some shit like that. Like I can come up with 50 counter arguments but those only work if you accept the basic premise that Berserk will be good, yk?

The fear that we are meant to understand that Guts has overcome most of his flaws throughout the Millenium Falcon/Fantasia arcs and will get a big moment to demonstrate that and overcome the armour or save Casca or whatever.

And less speculatively and more generally, like many people I’m not a fan of the current art style, I think the larger cast on Guts’ side is causing some poor writing and not helping the pacing issues (and tbh I think Berserk is paced fairly well up until the boat stuff), I don’t like the lighter more comedic tone right now bc I got into Berserk for the grimdark vibe and tragedy and characters succumbing to their fatal flaws and making huge mistakes and I miss that a lot. I’m not saying Berserk can’t be light and funny and campy but I prefer that Black Swordsman or Conviction Arc style where it’s offset by a lot of fucked up shit, or Golden Age style where there’s an underlying sense of dread bc we already know shit’s going to go wrong, yk? If shit does get dark soon I might end up being a lot less critical of the current tone on re-read tbf.

So basically to sum up:

hopes: tragedy, character flaws that haven’t been dealt with yet coming home to roost, Moonlight Boy becomes a non-issue.

fears: power of friendship staves off tragedy, slower gtsca romance, moonbaby affects plot and emotions, guts’ flaws get brushed under the rug instead of fucking him over

I can argue that the former makes a lot more sense than the latter, but I’ve been burned a lot in my life and I know a lot of fans would argue the latter makes more sense than the former so yk, everyone has their biases including me and idk how blinded I am by those biases lol.

Anyway ty for asking!

[starstuffandalotofcoffee]

Defenders Write-up

It was a super busy week so here’s my write-up at last.

Overall: good! I like these characters a lot (Iron Fist excepted) and even when I’ve been frustrated with the plot (DD S2, the back half of Luke Cage) I’ve wanted more - my frustration has been “why can’t this awesome character get better writing and more of a story” and not “why can’t this end sooner.”

Pacing was still definitely a problem; if you have 8 episodes taking the better part of 3 to get together is kind of a drag. Setting it over a very short timeline was a good idea but it took too long to start and then the last two episodes could have used more time to breathe.

So...overall, let’s talk good, bad, and meh. Spoilers, obviously.

Good:

Nice job reintroducing us to the characters, especially Jessica and Luke who we last saw over a year ago. I’m hoping this also means we’ll get more crossover in their shows. I know it’s probably a mess for scheduling but the fact is one of the fundamental great things about comics universes is that heroes pop in and out of each other’s lives all the time and if you aren’t using that you should have stuck with standalone. Even an ADR-ed phone call or two would be fine. But: I feel this did a good job with bringing in the side characters and later setting up some known comics team-ups (Misty and Colleen specifically).

The villains. Moving away from random ninjas to the actual five players was a nice parallel for the team-up of the Defenders, and, frankly, one of the few things Iron First did right with Bakuto. I wish we’d had more time with The Hand (I really would have liked them to have either added another episode or maybe cut down the first two episodes for a flashback episode into their life over the years) but Alexandra was awesome and Madam Gao DEFINITELY survived, right?

The boardroom was the only fight that had that ‘hallway scene’/Crispus Attucks vibe (Jessica Jones was never about fight choreography, and Iron Fist wasn’t, you know, good) but it was a lot of fun and having it in a bright corporate setting instead of a dingy building was pretty great.

The character chemistry was better than I’d thought. Jessica is great with everyone, and somehow Luke and Danny worked which is weird since Iron Fist was pretty universally criticized, and Mike Coulter caught a little flak as Luke for being somewhat overly stoic (I felt it worked personally and Luke Cage’s issues were more the backstory arc). Matt and Luke are wary of each other in a way that makes sense (namely, Matt lied his ass off about both Elektra and Stick and then proceeded to sort of take charge; also as the only anonymous one he’s asking for some special treatment; Luke is in many ways a better leader for the group but isn’t as invested in a broad sense of justice but rather helping individuals).

Dialogue was also surprisingly good - the shows themselves were again uneven, with some great stuff and some cheesy stuff (highlights: basically all of Jessica Jones, DD season 1′s Nelson v. Murdock and Foggy and Matt in general, every damn word out of Mahershala Ali’s mouth in Luke Cage; lowlights: some of Luke and Reva’s stuff, a lot of DD season 2 especially with the Stick and Elektra stuff which is weird because Matt and Elektra work pretty well together but their dialogue is terrible, a lot of Iron Fist). Everything between Alexandra and basically anyone was pure fucking gold, but really almost all the conversations worked. Standouts include Luke’s contempt for Danny’s privilege and anything Misty or Jessica said.

The whole plot coming together initially was pretty great if it hadn’t taken 3 FUCKING EPISODES OUT OF AN 8 EPISODE SERIES.

The hooks for the next seasons of the show are all pretty strong, even for Danny for whom I don’t particularly want an s2 at all. In particular, as someone who read Waid’s run on Daredevil I’m excited; Luke seems to actually have his life reasonably together and I want him to win this time (that’s the other thing - Daredevil and Jessica got to win against the enemy in their season 1s and Luke went to jail, which is probably accurate social commentary but I just want him to get a win against Mariah); Jessica is still a mess but slowly making progress (also: more Malcolm please).

Bad

Pacing oh my god why is this so hard

The fact that the next show in this world is Punisher which I do not want. I mean, he was good in season 2 of Daredevil but I like that this world’s heroes are refreshingly devoid of that particular sort of toxic masculinity. All are genuinely interested in community service, even Danny the thundering dumbass.

That’s really the only thing that was egregiously bad honestly.

Meh

(lots of meh)

The death scene led to a great reveal but speaking for myself...I didn’t buy it. It’s comics.

There wasn’t enough time for side characters other than Misty, Claire, and Colleen, who to be fair are basically the best side characters (also, Stick, who I always found really annoying but was supposed to be). I get that there wouldn’t be, but Trish and Malcolm are some of my favorite characters, we didn’t even get to see other Luke Cage minor characters like Bobby Fish though he got a shout out, Hogarth was minimally involved despite having direct ties to two characters and indirect ties to a third, and while Karen I’m sure will show up in The Punisher I do want to see more of Foggy.

I still don’t entirely get what the fuck a Black Sky is which seems like a problem. I mean...just a good fighter, right? Also why other than drama reasons would Murakami refer to a Black Sky as such and not the translation of the words in Japanese? See, this is why we needed a Hand flashback.

I’ve given up my fight on overhead trains at this point since a. the 125th street 1 train is in Harlem near the water so I could see Luke ending up there; b. Jessica goes all over in her investigations so maybe she’s not in Manhattan, and c. Chinatown is near the bridges. However, the scene in which the heroes were on the subway was 100% on the PATH train to Jersey, and as I mentioned, Season 1 of fucking Mr. Robot, a tiny show no one knew about at the time and which I still need to catch up on, managed to film on a real-ass subway so I don’t know what the problem was here.

I also feel like we never got a great feel of the cosmic Hand vs. Chaste battle, since Iron Fist wasn’t very good nor was the Hand part of S2 Daredevil. Kind of a bad place to drop the ball, kids. However, as mentioned, the villains were sufficiently well-played to carry it and I’m pretty glad the Hand is no longer the threat since the local fights were way more interesting anyway.