so yeah.....i just caught up to Berserk today, and honestly.....i'm dissapointed, because i think the last few arcs sucked (in comparison to the band of the hawk arcs and prior).....i really just don't like the additions to the cast, the little girl, the mildly annoying boy, the useless woman, then the usless womans servant who for some odd reason beleived he was a match for Gutts, and not to mention the addition of another fairy....nah, actually i like that one, that's probably the only "new" character i like......it's just not working for me, i pray they all die, but what do ya'll think??

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I stopped reading it when the new characters were added....it changed into a fairy tale thing.......i don't like it anymore

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Life, what would it be without so much wrongs and rights?


Star Trek XI http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rZiR-NETDr0

YES...exactly, i was like wtf?,.....the whole dark, dramatic, tragic, angstness of it which made me like it to begin with, just dissappeared......like i really just wanna drop it.....it was a chore for me to read those last arcs......but at the same time if they all end up dieing, i think the manga can get back on track, so i dont know....

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Yes the story is different now but I don't think that that means it is starting to suck. Its like comparing the blackswordsman story arcs to the band of the hawk arc. They are different times in not just Gutts' life but also in the world at large. So of course things are going to be different and they should be. If the whole story was just Gutts following his single minded search for revenge by himself the story would just get far to repeatitive and boring.

The story is being set up to show that not only the characters but the world at large are changing slowly. The darkness and horror of the blackswordsman arc is blending with the somewhat more peaceful normal world from the band of the hawk arc as Griffith gets closer to attaining his dream. If you've read all the current chapters you should know we are at the dawn of this new world, so I can see things getting dark again soon on that side of things anyway.

As for the new characters many of them besides the witch girl were introduced shortly after the band of the hawk arc finished so its not like they are entirely new. And I for one am enjoying how these characters are developing. Given how the band of the hawk arc finished it wouldn't suprise me if a few of the characters do die along the way. Especially considering how the scope of the story is growing.

I got a bit iffy of the series at volume 24 but by 26 I was right back into the series and in terms of development anyway I think the series is getting better and better.

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A Petaluma man showed his gal a trick
He took a needle full of cocaine and shot it in his prick
They say he got the gangrene the pain it wouldn't stop
And when he took a hot bath that night his pecker floated to the top

i agree with everyone but how could gatsu beat griffth? he was in the another world. he came here to fullfil his dream. very reasonable. automaticly he need an army, right? zodd and other monsters are on his side.there is no way gatsu would kill griffth. if gatsu go the other world and kill griffth. that would be stupid. or any power-up would kill series. vol3-12 were shounen with many characters and stupid sword-fights. vol28-?? are same. serpico and farnase are great characters. i agree frigging witch and annoying boy are useless. but gatsu need s companions. griftth didnt even bother himself to kill gatsu. read vol 2 again if you want to remember.
sorry for my bad english.

Personbot well done.If the whole story was just Gutts following his single minded search for revenge by himself the story would just get far to repeatitive and boring.

like he said. berserk is now shounen like vol 3-12. its going to get dark again. this is not some meaningless-violence manga. berserk is also very deep.

This is still a good series we just have to be a bit patient but I think there will be alot of interesting things to come. That evil guy that griffith is supposed to defeat is very powerful in fact I am not even exactly sure how or why he has that much power. It makes me think that he could possibly rule the world but of course we can all assume that griffith will somehow beat him. It just makes for a great battle before griffith can reach his dream.

I don't mind the change... it's a good way not to make the story to repetetive!
The only thing I hate is the fact that there are now all these fairy tale creaturs like goblins, ogres, kappas and what not...

I think that the story isn't going to go back to being evil and gloomy until caska gets her memory back. Until then we just have to put up with the childrens book that berserk has become.

I'm just glad to know that the writer has no problem killing characters, and I won't be surprised to see the servent die...

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Feed Me!

i think the pace the story is going is pretty good actually. cause when i think about how ridiculous the story would become if they just had Gut's think about just getting revenge all the time his character would end up being crap...... especially like some other character i know off.... *cough, cough*Sasuke*cough, cough*. and honestly i don't want to see something like that happen to him. a story can't run on angst and dark stuff alone to make it epic. it's just only a portion of it.
plus i find the addition of the new characters pretty good too, they all have their strong points. and it's looking like it might end up well worth it having them too since Griffith's got his own new companions too.
it's like personbot said the way the story is flowing is allowing the world in the story to show it's changes. and that by far is what makes the story so special. not a lot of manga out there take time to let us discover it's world and it's changes so easily.
also it didn't turn fairy tale or anything at all either, it was a fantasy to begin with. the creatures that we've been introduced to have been part of fantasy worlds all along. it's only natural that they would pop up in the story. i mean why wouldn't they any way if we have demons like the Apostles that pop up then more earthly like monsters and such should be part of the world too. in fact their introduction only broadens the worlds history and existence, with it's creatures.

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Well its most definitely not as dark as in the earlier arcs. But I don't think thats a bad thing, variation is what keeps. a long manga as this one interesting.

At first glance I would agree with you, but I think that you may be viewing things a bit superficially. The problem you have with the new arcs isn't so much the characters as it is how they have fit into the story so far. But, I don't think Miura is failing.

First, consider how Miura writes. This story can be divided up into large arcs, each containing smaller sub-arcs, if you will. The last two stories that you might consider arcs would fall into the sub-arc category, with the previous big arc ending when Griffith reappeared. If you look at the story this way, then you'll see that each big arc starts with "ill omens," develops at first with a (relatively) lighter tone, and then gets darker. Right now, the big arc we are currently in is nowhere near over, so there is a chance for it to get quite a bit darker again.

Secondly, you have to consider the subtleties of how the characters were used. When I saw the interraction between our you little witch Schierke and the priest from the town being attacked by trolls, at first I rolled my eyes. Then I realized something. Miura was telling us a political view point which is likely his own. Consider that up until that point the church could only be viewed as an evil entity; it blinded people, it hurt people, it used people. But Schierke's message is saying that it's not the religion that's evil, but the power that men wield under the banner of religion.

And finally, let us not forget what's going on here. Midland and the rest of this crazy world are facing an apocalyptic event here -- and Guts' party is the unlikely ragtag group of saviors. Part of the reason for the light tone is that Griffiths group is made of devils pretending to be saviors while Guts' group is made of the real saviors, with neither party behaving in an outwardly evil way. Remember that Griffith is scheming and that Guts, as unlikely a hero as he may be, is the world's only true hope.

I think that once you put it into that perspective, the last couple arcs don't seem quite so bad. The only question becomes, how will it end?

And I do believe that it will end at the end of the next big arc (NOT the current big arc, which we are more than halfway through). So we may also get some "calm before the storm" feelings.

This one really caught my attention, the starting arcs were just phenomenal, the death's were so tragic I wasn't sure what my expression should have been. Especially when Griffith decided his betrayal was the easiest way of attaining his dream since he had lost his light, it was sure a depressing time indeed; although, some of the new characters are somewhat interesting, such as Ishidono, he may be yet a kid bit I really hope he turns out to be a better swordsman then even the Berserker , also the witch has a WMD, I seriously lol'ed forever over that, if anyone remembers while she was trying to find the spirit in the port city while escaping.

Honestly I think these last few arcs have been interesting though, with Guts' demon side trying to influence him on giving up all hope and abandon his current companions. Although he had no memory of that dream on the ship. It's kinda still depressing watching Guts gaze at Caska with the intent of love I kinda hope she does come to her former self, it would definitely make the coming arcs a little more interesting in my opinion.

So for the new, I honestly don't think there THAT bad, although not nearly as good as the beginning arcs, just because of the pure emotion in Guts over the sacrifice, I think I honestly had a tear welling up too .

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