Berserk

[The NZA]

So, theyre on vol 32 now, and its being translated; found the scans at demonoid. Cant wait to see where its at right now, the issue titles are on wiki and it sounds eventful.

 

Incidentally, its been said that issue # 83 was purposely dropped from the series, due to something about it being too forward with god or the nature of such in the book at too early a point in the series. If youre interested, the transcript's up here.

[Da Cap'n]

Berserk has to be, with out a doubt, the most intense experience you can have reading comic/comic related material. I just finished vol. 18 (which is current in the states if you're not a bootlegger) and just when I thought I've seen all that this creator can throw at me, he goes and blows my mind... again! This currently is my favorite story in fiction. Move over Spidey, Guts is in the house!

[The NZA]

wait, remind me what goes down in 18...? ive got a vauge idea but i dont wanna spoil. I think im up to vol 31 or so, so its hard to remember.

[Da Cap'n]

I didn't write it cause I didn't wanna spoil either, but basically

some deseased hooker takes her boyfriend to a fuckin' demonic orgy and makes him kiss the snake dick of a goat-headed dude striaght outta 300 and then when he wigs out, she tells everybody to stop fucking and throw him off a cliff!

Holy fucking crap!

Edited August 6, 2007 by Da Cap'n

[whiterasta]

I just finished vol. 18 and just when I thought I've seen all that this creator can throw at me, he goes and blows my mind... again!

Yes. The Conviction arc is my absolute favorite: the introduction of Farnese, the cruel inquisition, Casca taken in by prostitutes, Guts as savior of the people...gotta love it.

 

So, for anyone who happens to be up to date on the bootlegs, have

Guts and co. reached Elf Hell yet?

(Last I remember, he and Zodd were teaming up to fight one of Ganishka's swamis or something).

 

[The NZA]

Had to spoiler tag that, rasta, but nah, theyre still en route as of volume 32, lastest ive read fansubbed. shit's awesome.

[whiterasta]

Had to spoiler tag that, rasta

Oh, I'm sorry, I thought this was 'merica...

[Lycaon]

Oh, I'm sorry, I thought this was 'merica...

 

Technically, its the world wide web.

[Boogie]

Oh man, Im so adicted to this right now. I just bought/read vol. 21 & 22 and I gotta say:

Holy fucking crap!! Griffith is back! (yeah, thats right I like to read the shit without looking about it on internet), and for what i understood Guts its like a foster father to him :P Seeing how the Apostle-Behelit eated the demonic thing... [Hmpf that happens when you go to and orgy (yeah Im looking at you Caska!!) and let everyone have a piece of you. Guts, Griffith, maybe a couple of apostles, and yeah why not the Skull Knight]

 

Just joking.

 

 

Anyway, the only thing that bothers me its when I read that Miura stopped the writing yet again...

[Boogie]

I demmand a Guts emoticon!!

 

something like this one:

[The NZA]

yeah, ill add that, just for us.

 

wait, whered you read Miura stopped writing "again"? shit, that explains why i cant find anything past vol 33 (chapter 298), even from Band of the Hawks...fuck.

 

so yeah, i totally wanna talk/spoil shit, but i dont think anyone else is nearly caught up.

[Boogie]

I've found a very interesting page that meticulously talks about all the possible references that Miura used when he made Berserk. Its really interesting, BUT its in spanish. I could start to translate it... only if someone is interested...

 

In another state of affairs, I have plenty of shit to discuss here, about many things. Im up to book 28 (soon 29... as soon as the comicbook store calls me to said that they have #29) and i wanna get the sit started. Its a shame that this topic only has 3 pages.....

[The NZA]

it is, but Miura's hiatus of sorts has let Dark Horse all but catch up; the lastest fansub (?) ive read was the first 2 chapters of volume 34 (#s 300-301, just like last week, dont know when they were released though) and Dark Horse is on volume 30 or so now, aren't they? i expect this one to gain popularity/heat as its caught up, just needs a bit more press & such than a 10 year old (or so) anime, i guess.

[Panch]

Still my favorite manga/anime!

[Boogie]

Dark Horse's volume 30 is coming out next week, if i remember right. So ok, finally i caught up, 'cos yesterday i bought volume 29.

 

One thing that I've been thinking since I read volume 24...

In the part where everyone is having dinner at Floras place is that something doesnt quite fit in. When they're having all this talk/explanation about the astral world and entities and why Farnese couldnt see Puck in the beginning because she wasnt aware of all of that shit... In the very first volume when we met Puck, we see that a couple of thefts/mercenaries/soldiers or whatever capture him and are in some sort of way torturing him. How is it that they were able to see him. They would have to bee pretty open minded guys, right? I mean for being commoners...

 

 

 

 

And from this post on Im gonna be posting those references that are quite interesting. Lets start with Zodd.

 

For starters the Zodd are a tibetan mastiff dog breed. The Tibetan Mastiff is among the largest breeds. Its double coat is long, and found in a wide variety of colors from solid black to tri-color with the rarest being white.

 

 

Nosferatu.

This name comes from the first movie based on Dracula from Bram Stoker. In the novel it is said that "no sferatus" means No-Dead in rumanian language, but this is false. Since these words dont exist in such language. Stoker found that word whe british writer Emily Gerard wrote Transylvanian Superstitions. It can be possible that Stoker made a mistake because he didnt speak rumanian and use no sferatus, when he was reading "necuratul" (wich means devil) or "Nesuferitul" (insufferable).

Another theory says Nosferatu comes from the Greek definition "Nosoforo", wich means bearer/carrier of evil.

 

Immortal

It is said that Zodd is an immortal. Every time rumors of his dead start to spread, he appears again in battle. Miura nicknamed him like that based on the Robert Zelazny's novel called This Immortal (also known by the name And call me Conrad. From where he took the name of the Godhand)

 

 

Meikira

Is one of the 12 Spiritual Guardians or Divine Warriors of Buddha in Japan. This statue can be found in the Shinyakushi-ji temple in Nara, Japan.

The "human" Zodd looks a lot like Meikira.

 

[The NZA]

yeah, i forget the earlier bits of the series (miura might too, haha) but you're right about the inconsistencies of puck. not sure where you're going with the nosferatu thing, but damn, good find on that statue - there's no way id see that thing and not think akuma zodd!

[Boogie]

Ill say. That first volume has more contradicting shit. For example in the very first page, we see Guts fucking an apostle

(the one who killed Corkus in the Eclipse)

. Now after all the shit that has hapened. Can you imagine that our Guts would use suck a technique to lure and kill an Apostle? Dont think so. More like go swinging the Dragon Slayer and trying to kill it as fast as he can. It just doesnt match with his personality.

 

 

 

Going nowhere with the Zodd thing. Just to start a mini Berserk wiki, with all the info i can gather... And i have a LOT to write here...

Edited July 17, 2009 by Boogie

[The NZA]

its funny, ive thought about that opening and how weird it is years later when you know the full story before it, and i just kinda realize...Ken was a big Conan fan, and that's a famous scene with the witch in The Barbarian, i think it just kinda stuck with him and he wasnt nearly far along enough to not run with it, heh.

 

by all means though, keep posting your findings, im really enjoying em.

[Panch]

Early in the Berserk saga things seemed... loose. I believe that the idea was still in it's infancy and the kinks hadn't been worked out yet (as happens to writers). I can forgive early weirdness cause of that reason. 30 volumes later? Not so much. I have nothing to worry about though, cause Miura just continues to hit it out of the park with each volume. He's thought this thing through so well that I don't even see him letting up any time soon.

[Boogie]

Same here panch. But the only thing that worries me are these constant hiatuses in Miura's writing...

Shit!! I forgot to mention something when talking about Zodd. His sword!!

 

The sword Zodd uses is called RAM DAO. Its a sacrificing sword that its used to cut the heads of animals in rituals.

 

 

 

The very first sword that he uses its another version of the Ram Dao.

 

Edited July 19, 2009 by Boogie

[Boogie]

Today im gonna be writing about the Godhand & the Behelit. Many references here... So lets start.

 

Looks like the big fucking hand comes from the movie Fire & Ice. The hand was designed by Frank Frazetta, who Miura mentions as an inspiration in an interview.

 

Behelit

 

This word comes from Syria and Babylon, and it means Satan. The Jews have a Great Duke in Hell that its called Berith (beherit).He goes around riding a horse and has 26 legions of demons at his commands. If you wanna summon him you need a silver ring.

Te shape of the behelit its taken from various paintings. But primarily inspired by 2 great spanish artists. Pablo Picasso & Salvador Dalí.

 

Salvador Dalí.

From Dalí looks like Miura took the idea that the Behelit was shapen in the form of an egg. In the Metamorphosis of Narcissus we can see a hand holding an egg, just like the hand that holds a behelit.

 

And the on the left of the canvas, we can see Narcissus looking down his reflection and it reminds me when Griffith was transforming into Femto.

 

In another work of Dalí (The Poetry of America and Geopoliticus Child Watching the Birth of the New Man) we can see a man coming out from an egg... Guess who he looks like!

 

 

Pablo Picasso

In some works of Picasso its very common that the eyes, nose and everything else is misshapen.

 

 

The Godhand

For those who doesnt know, the names of the godhand are great sci-fi novels. Ubik, Void, Slan & Conrad.

 

Griffith - Femto

The helmet that Griffith wears (and the different versions) is inspired by the 1974 movie Phantom of the Paradise by Brian De Palma.

 

 

 

We can mention too the obvious reference to Batboy here...

 

Also Femto is an Incubus

An incubus (plural incubi) is a demon in male form supposed to lie upon sleepers, especially women, in order to have sexual intercourse with them, according to a number of mythological and legendary traditions. Its female counterpart is the succubus. An incubus may pursue sexual relations with a woman in order to father a child, as in the legend of Merlin. Some sources indicate that it may be identified by its unnaturally cold penis. Religious tradition holds that repeated intercourse with an incubus or succubus may result in the deterioration of health, or even death.

 

Ubik

 

I took elements from Hellraiser and The Name of the Rose

-Kentaro Miura

 

Butterball is one of the cenobites from Hellraiser. And looks like Ubik.

 

 

Conrad

Here we can see the similarities with H R Giger's work Landscape XVIII (1973).

 

 

 

Void

 

Miura also said that Tim Burton is one of his favourite directors. So we can see that Void looks like a martian from Mars Attack!

 

Then again, he has a couple of details from other characthers fro Hellraiser. Like not having lips and the skin open with wire, like Chatterer.

 

Or having his eyes sewed like butterball when he takes out his glasses.

 

 

Slan

 

In folklore that stems from medieval legend, a succubus (plural succubi) is a demon who takes the form of a highly attractive woman to seduce men in dreams to have sexual intercourse. The attractive part is a modern element, historically succubi are ugly.

 

Slan's corset is very similar to a Giger work (Schranktuer fuer Mia - 1979)

 

 

 

..... Im tired of writing and doing copy-paste....

BTW. Since I mentioned the subject. Do you think that Guts its the rightful owner of the Behelit he has? What I mean is: Do you hes gonna use it in some point of the story (towards the end) to kill Griffith or something like that...

[The NZA]

damn, good post! you're really good at this, Boogie. Its funny cause i saw Hellraiser recently and totally caught those references. Id say Giger plays an obvious part in his design, but Lovecraft is the feel i get from the Berserk universe. Im also curious what he meant by referencing "The Name of the Rose", its a great movie but i can only see it in the church scenes earlier in the series...come to think of it. i think there was a similar priest.

 

I totally never wouldve caught that Femto Phantom thing, but the helmet/look is spot-on. Im surprised the Dali ones arent more obvious, id never have seen that if you didnt point it out though.

 

as for your question:

 

 

I think he owns it so someone else wont. I think he refuses to use it and become one of them, which is why i lean heavily towards the Berserk armor changing him into the next Skull Knight if he lets it keep eating away at him. I think this is kind of inevitable, and the biggest hint i got was the first time Gog saw him in it, he gave this odd, almost sad look to Skull Knight and made a comment akin to "why did you let this happen?"

That's my take, i could be way off. In a recent volume, he had a dreamlike conversation with the armor itself and it hinted at some dark shit, almost like what happened at the eclipse but that itd be directly Guts fault this time if he lost control and his friends fell. I really liked that part, but yeah, i just cant see Guts using a Behelit.

 

[Boogie]

Thanks buddy! I do what I can. Im happy that these kind of things looks interesting to other people too.

I agree with you. I think Miura used The Name of the Rose when he wrote the whole Conviction Arc/Birth Ceremony part. With Father Mozgus and so on... I think I have something on that as well. im gonna post it later.

 

 

I think so too, that Guts is prolly to be the next Skull Knight BUT when they spend the night at Flora's place the first thing he asked when they were alone is how to use the behelit. I know, i know, he did it so he could kill the Godhand. But who knows what will happen if he can summon them...

 

BTW I have a sneaky suspicion with the Godhand-The Hawk of light/Griffith... I know i have no proof to back it up, but for some reason (speacially cos we havent seen a single invocation of the Godhand since Griffith came back) I have this feeling that Griffith/The Hawk of Light and Femto are two separated beings. Anyone else thought about it? Or is it just me?

 

[Boogie]

Ok, since theres no answer to my theory and its Friday, im gonna be writing my mini-wiki. This time im gonna be listing a lot of buildings and places that Miura used in Berserk. Most of them are in Europe (since i dont remember where I heard that the whole world of Berserk its set in a parallel kinda Europe). So lets start.

 

PLACES AROUND THE WORLD PART 1

 

SPAIN

 

Alcázar de Segovia

The Alcázar of Segovia (literally, Segovia Castle) is a stone fortification, located in the old city of Segovia, Spain. Rising out on a rocky crag above the confluence of the rivers Eresma and Clamores near the Guadarrama mountains, it is one of the most distinctive castle-palaces in Spain by virtue of its shape - like the bow of a ship. The Alcázar was originally built as a fortress but has served as a royal palace, a state prison, a Royal Artillery College and a military academy since then.

 

In the manga this castle appeard in the first tankoubon, but its called Koka Castle. Wich its curious because the Coca Castle (no, its not the central HQ for the best soda in the world!) its a real castle and it appears later on...

 

Its weird, because in the anime this castle appears in the last episodes. And its the castle Griffith dreams about.

 

 

Castillo de Coca

(Berserk #7) The Stronghold of Doldrey is inspired by the Coca Castle. This castle is located in Ávila, 34 kilometers from Segóvia. It was build in 1453 by the Bishop Alonso de Fonseca. Its considered to be one of the best castles in Europe.

 

Iglesia de San Martín

(Berserk #24) The church of Enoch Village that its attacked by the trolls and the Ogre is a copy of this church called Church of San Martín. It's in the province of Palencia and it was founded in 1066 by the mother of the king Fernando I (Ferdinand I)

 

Mezquita de Córdoba

(Berserk #29) The Mezquita (Spanish for "mosque") of Córdoba or Cordova is a Roman Catholic cathedral originally built as a mosque in the Andalusian city of Córdoba, Spain. The church that previously stood on this site was confiscated after the Muslim conquest for use as a mosque. It is not clear how much of the original church building remains; it was either replaced or greatly expanded until the building became the second-largest and one of the most renowned mosques in the world. It is regarded as perhaps the most accomplished monument of the Umayyad dynasty of Córdoba. After the Spanish Reconquista, it was returned to its original use as a church, with a Gothic cathedral inserted into the center of the large Moorish building. Today the entire building is used to house the Cathedral of the diocese of Córdoba in Spain.

 

Palacio de la Aljafería

The entrance to the Colonnade Chamber is actually the entrance of another building. The Aljafería Palace is a fortified palace built during the second half of the eleventh century in Zaragoza, as the residence of the Banu Hud dynasty during the era of Abu Jaffar Al-Muqtadir and reflecting the splendor attained by the kingdom of the taifa of Zaragoza at the height of its grandeur. The palace currently contains the Cortes (regional parliament) of the autonomous community of Aragon. The structure holds unique importance in that it is the only conserved testimony of a large building of Spanish Islamic architecture of the era of the Taifas (independent kingdoms).

 

Muralla de Ávila

The great walls that sorround the city of Vritanis resemble to the ones in Avila. The wall's construction startedn in 1090 B.C. and it took 9 years to finish it. The perimeter is 2,5 kilometers long. The walls are 12 meters tall and 3 meters thick.

 

Miura made a calendar in 1998, and you can se one of the gates in it...

 

ITALY

 

Palazzo Zuccari

(Berserk #18) The door inside the tower of Albion is inspired on this one. Its located in Zuccari in Rome. It was bhought in the century XVI by Federico Zuccari, who remodeled it, and now it's known as the "The gate from Hell"

 

Lucca towers

The Vritannis tower is inspired by the roman Lucca towers. Also its good to remember that there was a character named after this.

Both towers belong to churches.

 

Villa Piovene

The Vandmion mannor looks a LOT like this italian palace. Villa Piovene is a Palladian villa built in Lonedo di Lugo, province of Vicenza, northern Italy. The building was commissioned in the 16th century for the aristocratic Piovene family of Venice, their architect believed to have been Andrea Palladio.

 

Villa Gamberaia

When Farnese talks with her brother Manifico, you can see the garden of Villa Gamberaia in Florence.

 

Arnolfo y Del Mangia Towers

This Vritanis tower is an exact copy of this 2 towers.

 

ARNOLFO TOWER

The one on the left belongs to Palazzo Vechio wich means Old Palace. Its located in Florence and its 94 meters tall. Its construction started in 1299 and lasted 15 years.

 

DEL MANGIA TOWER

On the right we have this tower that belongs to Palazzo Publico (public Palace). Its located in Siena and its 102 meters tall. Its construction was designed to be taller than the Arnolfo one, because in that time these 2 cities were rivals.

 

Salone dei Cinquecento

The place where the ball is hold in the Vandimion Manor is a tribute to 2 places. The first one is the Salone Dei Cinquecento, this chamber is INSIDE Palazzo Vechio and has has a length of 52 m (170 ft) and is 23 m (75 ft) broad.

 

 

 

FRANCE

 

Château de Versailles

This is the second place that inspired the Ball scene.

 

Cabaret de L'Enfer

His name means Cabaret from Hell. It was in Paris around 1900. I must say that this one looks a lot more like that door in the Albion Tower. Specially since this one has teeth.

 

Cathedral of Notre-Dame, Reims

Notre-Dame de Reims (Our Lady of Rheims) is the Roman Catholic cathedral of Reims, where the kings of France were once crowned.[1] It replaces an older church, destroyed by a fire in 1211, which was built on the site of the basilica where Clovis was baptized by Saint Remi, bishop of Reims, in AD 496. That original structure had been erected on the site of the Roman baths. As the cathedral it remains the seat of the Archbishop of Reims.

 

It looks a lot like the Wyndam Cathedral, right?

 

Notre Dame, Paris

Notre Dame de Paris ('Our Lady of Paris' in French) is a Gothic cathedral on the eastern half of the Île de la Cité in the fourth arrondissement of Paris, France, with its main entrance to the west. It is the cathedral of the Catholic archdiocese of Paris: that is, it is the church that contains the "cathedra", or official chair, of the Archbishop of Paris, Andre Cardinal Vingt-Trois. Notre Dame de Paris is widely considered one of the finest examples of French Gothic architecture in the world. It was restored and saved from destruction by Eugène Viollet-le-Duc, one of France's most famous architects. The name Notre Dame means "Our Lady" in French, and is frequently used in the names of Catholic church buildings in Francophone countries.

 

 

Thats it for today... It took me hours to do this... Uf! And next week is part two... Enjoy!

[The NZA]

i dont know how you're compiling this, but im so grateful you are, and here as well. i gotta show Sen this.

im in awe that many of these places exist (for the purpose of an ever forthcoming euro backpacking trip, any idea how limited access is to some of these locations?) .

 

some are awe-inspiring, others (the french one with paintings on the top, and the door from hell) again id not for a second while reading the book thought they were based on an existing location. you're crazy-awesome for this, boogie.