Berserk Volume 26: Explosive and Enrapturing

What a way to hook me in! While still trapped, Farnese defends Casca with all she’s got. If you, lie myself, have been eagerly following Farnese’s growth, this moment is indispensable yet entirely expected. Farnese, from the first time she saw Guts again would easily lay down her life for him or his woman. But now, she does it willingly.

Without knowing, Farnese wasn’t trying to follow Guts initially. She was trying to have her new Father Mozgus, someone who tells her how to live. But Farnese soon realizes she must be free on her down, since with Guts she is surrounded by undiluted freedom. And in befriending Casca, and protecting her, she is showing she truly cares for the crew. But before she meets the eyes of death, she is saved by Guts who, when she notices, she drops at the knees of soothingly.

Even if she recognizes he does not love her, Farnese lives for his affections, like how Guts lives for Casca’s. It’s as if the love triangle of Griffith, Guts, and Casca is being recreated again but now with Farnese, Serpico, Guts, and Casca. For Guts, he loves Casca, but she is hesitant for his affections. For Farnese, she loves Guts, but he appreciates her like a sister. For Serpico, he cares for Farnese, but neither are sure where that will lead. For Casca, she shows an attachment to Farnese, like an older sibling or parent who can tell her where to go.

After saving Casca and Farnese, Guts decides to take on the trolls single-handedly. But before he can celebrate his success, he stopped by a member of the God Hand and before he can be finished off he is saved by Skull Knight. Eventually, Guts and his crew are able to escape, and he is able to look at his comrades and see Judeau, Rickert, Casca, and the Band of the Hawk. He has a family again. If you don’t feel the slightest tinge at the heart-strings just yet, I question your ability to feel. But, as usual with Berserk, celebration is only for such a short time, as Schierke’s place is attacked. And as that God Hand member showed, Guts need’s more to defend himself as the threats get more powerful.

Meanwhile, Schierke breaks down from the pressure of the situation. While she is usually the calm member of the group, now that it is personal, she doesn’t know how to cope, never being this vulnerable before. And it’s not just her place being torn down, but the lost of her mother and the responsibility of leading Guts crew. Schierke has been years of life gaining knowledge, and the problem is that she has spent too little time being adjusted to it. But Schierke, getting it together, takes us to the tool Guts will need in battle: the Berserker armor.

In battle, the Berserker armor is stupefying to the eye, frantic, bouncy, and a nice shake-up. Too long has Miura relied on Guts slashing his way through the problems, and the Berserker armor provides not just a creative form of combat, but also dilemma as the more he uses it, the more it breaks him. The Berserker armor essentially makes him feel nothing, and when it comes off, all the blows he was dealt take their blow. A really ingenious way to make every fight more artistic  and intensified.