| Berserk #5: Requited Desires |
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| Tuesday, 20 May 2008 | |
 Guts' departure from the Band of the Hawk leads to Griffith making a rare error of judgement that quickly comes back to haunt him - and without their master tactician or their leading warrior, the Band end up on the run. Will learning of his former friend's fate be enough to bring Guts back to the fold, or is his determination to live his own life too strong..?18 - Tombstone of Flames Griffith seems to have succumbed to the poison that's been slipped to him. The reaction is immediate - a lockdown of the castle, while the assassin is searched for. Guts is ahead of them, though, and the killer doesn't make it far past the castle gate - but the conspirators behind him are still at large, and starting to worry about their on safety. And so they should be - within hours of Griffith's "death", the castle is ablaze, the conspirators - including the Queen - are trapped and facing a fiery fate. And watching them, staring them in the eye from a safe distance, is Griffith himself: he didn't start the "war" that the nobles decided to wage with him, but he's going to finish it...   19 - Separation With his job of protecting Griffith done, Guts wants to be on his way - but Caska seems equally determined to stop him. Unable to persuade him to stay herself, she turns to the one man who might be able to: Griffith. When they had first met and fought against each other, Griffith considered that he'd won Guts' life & soul - and he's not about to let his property up and leave without first proving his strength one more time...   20 - Sparks Finally out on his own, Guts has been making a living as a prize fighter - and given his skills, experience, and frankly worryingly large sword, he's been making a decent living out of it. But figuring out his destiny and his personal dream is what he really left the Band of the Hawk for, and he hasn't been so successful at that - is fighting all he really wants to do with his life, or is there something more for him? After spending some time with the blacksmith who made his sword, Guts hears that the Band of the Hawk, now under Caska's leadership, are now on the run. The news about his former comrades is enough to pique his curiosity, and he heads for the region where they were last spotted...   21 - Confession Guts reaches the Band's location just in time to join them in battle against their attackers - the reward on the groups' head is so large that all and sundry have been coming after them, but this time, with Guts on their side, there are no problems in dealing with them, and with the battle over Guts' welcome is as warm as it could possibly be. Guts then learns what had happened - of Griffith's arrest for treason shortly after Guts had left, of how the Midland army had tried to wipe out the Band in a sneak attack, and of how they've been on the run ever since - and of how they've so far been unable to rescue their former leader. Nowm, with Guts back, they may just have a chance. Back in Midland, meanwhile, Griffith is still paying for his moment of pleasure with the Princess in the most painful ways imaginable...   From hero to zero in no time flat - Griffith's infuence at the royal court of Midland is probably at its height in episode 18, where some clever manipulation allows him to uncover those who are plotting to kill him and do unto them first. Guts plays a key role in that - Griffith himself can't be seen to kill, but Guts is more than capable of dealing with the plotters without leaving enough evidence for the killings to be traced back to Griffith. But with that job done, it's time for Guts to go his own way - and that's where it all starts to go wrong. Griffith is so used to having his own way, of knowing that the men under his command will never challenge him, that seeing Guts up and leave on him, without intending to give so much as a word of his intentions, strikes right to the core of who he is. It's the internal pain that causes that leads him to Princess Charlotte's bedroom for a very ill-advised dalliance - and that in turn leads to the Band of the Hawk becoming fugitives, and to Griffith spending a lot of time under the tender care of the Court torturer. Treason carries a heavy price, after all, and while the King will see Griffith die, given his way, he's planning on the process taking a very slow and painful few years. Guts is oblivious to all of this, of course - he's off doing his own thing, honing his skills and living something of an ordinary life, until a passing trader lets the details slip. With that, it's back to the Band to mount a rescue mission - his loyalty is still intact, even if his life goals have changed. I suppose the whole episode amounts to: what is more important to him, loyalty to a person or loyalty to a dream? The truth is that Guts himself has yet to figure that one out. Knowing from episode one what Griffith will turn into, though, it's hard to feel any sympathy for his predicament, and I can't help but think it's the torture that's being inflicted on him now that will lead him to become so callous towards Midland and its people later. He's reaping what he sowed, though - it's just a shame his band never saw him for what he was. Guts, on the other hand, had been doing his dirty work for a while before he left the Band, and should really know better - he's on the verge of the point where loyalty becomes stupidity, and showing no signs of slowing down to think about what he's doing. I suppose that's one aspect of Bersek's appeal - knowing what's coming, and seeing how the events of episode one came to be as the story unfolds. While the series no doubt has a strong following, though, it's never managed to get its hooks into me - the characters don't appeal, the story is simplistic, and parts of the series are padded out with inconsequential battles, and they all combine to make sure that I just don't have a whole lot of interest in it. I seem to be in the minority, though. If you enjoy blood & guts (and Guts, presumably), them you'll get more out of this than I have. At the moment, though, I'm just hoping volume six pulls something good out of the hat to close the series with.  |
