Berserk Chapter 359 Discussion
- Thread starter DaoistCloudySky
- Start date
- #20
I knew Miura would have Caska immediately show off her fighting skills once she was back, just couldn't figure out how. He could've been more creative with it, but it also could've been way worse (apostles attacking Elf Island or something like that).
All of Caska's interactions with the group (minus Guts, at the end) felt really forced and inorganic. It's like the author needed her to talk to each other major character but couldn't bother coming up with a meaningful conversation topic or interesting situation to put them in, so just had her stand up and thank each one while they complimented her looks and talked about the past. Again, lacked imagination.
The 4th wall-breaking jokes were awful, as usual. I wish the author would stop treating Puck as comic relief, but I guess this ship has sailed long ago. I miss playful yet emotional and insightful Puck from the Black Swordsman arc, where his character complemented that of Guts. I actually started reading the manga more because of him than because of Guts. Now, look how they massacred my boy...
All in all a pretty "meh" chapter. Let's see what happens now.YES I didnt know how to put this into words ty. it feels so off omg. she doesnt even feel like casca just a casca bot with pre programmed dialogue LMFAO
- #22
AnotherGuy said:
To me, it would've been better not to do it at all, just let her fight when she actually needs to, instead of showing off to a crowd. We'd been waiting for so many years, what are a few more months compared to that?
Speaking as someone who has actually trained in swordfighting (two years of Italian longsword), that would be silly. Even within the storyline, Casca hasn't been herself for well over a year. In those circumstances, the first thing she'd want to do would be to see if she still has her old skills. Swordfighting is a big part of her personal identity, and was one of the few things she was completely confident in. Of course she would be anxious to know if she retained it, not to mention she probably needed the confidence boost to help her feel like her old self again. And I'd bet that everyone does it - I stopped taking lessons in piano and violin decades ago, but if I happen to pass by a piano or violin that's open to the public to try out, you can bet I'm going to play it a bit to see if I can still do it.
Additionally, since skills do get rusty if not used and swords are weighted differently, waiting until an actual battle for her to test out the new sword and her skills would be unrealistic. You want to test out a sword and get used to its weight and handling, and again, if it's a passion, you're not going to want to wait to do that. You don't want to find out in the middle of a heated battle that the sword is shorter than the one you're used to and therefore parries differently or you don't have as much reach. When I finished my beginner's course and moved to the advanced one, I switched from a Cold Steel practice sword to a Pentti, which is balanced differently (the Cold Steel is weighted equally throughout the sword, while the Pentti has a center of balance closer to the pommel and is longer). It only took a day of practicing with it to get used to the difference, but it did feel weird and uncomfortable at first, and that's not something you want to find out in the middle of a fight when you could easily (and probably want to) try it out beforehand.
All good points, but I didn't mean that she shouldn't train at all. She totally should. It's insane to think that she wouldn't be rusty after all these years. I just don't think that this should have been her moment to "wow" everyone in the party, by fighting dummies. That was very anticlimatic to say the least. Let her do some rehab, training by herself, have some light sparring maybe, but let her actual first show of skill be in a situation with real stakes, where it would be actually meaningful story-wise.
Imagine the party is in a fight against a large group of monsters. Everyone knows Caska can fight, but they're probably not expecting much from her. They've seen her training, she can definetely swing a sword, but it's still just Elaine. She's a frail woman, how good could she actually be? Everyone thinks she's gonna be together with the group, fighting the stragglers that run away from Guts, like everyone else. Imagine then that, instead, she runs straight towards the crowd of monsters and starts fighting like crazy, cutting them down one after another the same way Guts does, to everyone's amazement. Let het save someone, or something like that.
That's the kind of moment I wanted and that I feel she deserved. We'd waited too long for her return to see her showing off her skills by sparring with dummies. Compared to what I described (and expected) her fight in this chapter felt cheap and hollow. It should've been such an important moment for her, for the story and for us, but it had absolutey zero emotional weight behind it. That's my point.
- #25
On the other hand, this is just becoming so ominous. There's SK watching from a distance which just can't be good. Then even more unsettling than that, in my opinion, is Casca falling down and seeing all the monsters, and Guts' shadow illuminated among them, christ. I feel like Miura skipped the outcome of the previous PTSD episode simply to make it seem like it was false alarm, to build up even more whatever's gonna go down. I just feel like something big will happen, and it won't be good. But for the time being, I'm glad Casca is back.
P.S. To Be Continued in the end?? Please let there be a new chapter in September :(