Berserk Volume 29: Farnese Brings this Volume to Life

Volume twenty-nine starts off with more interactions between Isidro and Schierke and Griffith’s new Band of the Hawk. They end up fighting a pirate, and Schierke is asked by Sonia to join them. It’s interesting to wonder if Schierke would’ve said yes, and how long it would’ve taken for her to be discovered. Of course, she declines, and we get a wholesome interaction between her and Isidro. While I have my issues with both characters, I was really warmed by this section of Berserk.

Another nice moment happens when Schierke’s outfit is stained by a random drinker, causing Guts to knock them out. It’s crazy, but I am much preferring Guts new crew to Judeau, Rickert, and the rest of the Band of the Hawk. Later, the manga illustrates the new Griffith love triangle. Sonia loves Griffith, but Griffith loves Charlotte. Similar to Guts and Schierke as Griffith is far too old for Sonia. Though, I think the connection between Guts and Schierke is far different. And that difference highlights who Griffith and Guts is. Griffith makes Sonia his follower, someone who would cast down their life for him cause it’s the world he created. Whereas with Schierke, she naturally became apart of a crew that included Guts, a man who can feel her pain regarding death. One’s a more fatherly relationship whereas the other is too-culty.

After this, Miura aims his lens at Griffith. I really love Griffith’s lack of emotion. In the Band of the Hawk, Griffith would’ve made Sonia his Rickert, meaning he would’ve not been so formal. He would’ve probably cracked a few jokes here and there, despite being her leader. Now, Griffith is the man he said he always was. Sadistically determined.

We finally get Schierke trying to teach Farnese, and any moment we get with Farnese is just excellent as her character has quickly become my favorite. Tell me one character Miura created with half the subtlety and growth she has. It’s like saying Zuko is not your favorite character in ATLA.

Farnese ends up helping our team by going to her horrible father’s place, which helps to illustrate how far she’s come. The man she has burned bridges for, burn dolls for, now she comes solely to ask him to help her. But, when she arrives, you can clearly see her trauma and problems of her childhood still affect her in the present. Like if Farnese was taught magic by Schierke, she wouldn’t know how to actually use it in the real world. Here, Farnese has been taught to have agency, but she’s never really had to confront her problems head on, which explains her hesitancy.

And it quickly becomes not just hesitancy, but rather re-building her previous self, as she almost lets her father tell her what to do. In other words, control her. She is able to speak again after being told to stay in the mansion in greatly abbreviated words, but to no avail. Now, that she’s in her mansion, she nearly loses herself to the peace, stating outright they don’t need her. But when the truth of her words appears in the form of her valuables she gained on the journey, she surrenders herself to them and won’t let anyone take them away. It’s as if the journey is becoming a child to her, and to leave it feels better as to savor the memories than taint them in a moments notice by saying she was too weak to fight her father. In this way, she is finally running from Guts. But, as said, this hesitation quickly ends and you can see Farnese ask her brother for a ship, to actual consideration, but for a price we will discover later.

And our crew feels this sadness like ourselves. Not to say Berserk couldn’t go on without Farnese, it would just be a much worse manga. Thankfully, the emotion expressed is not only sadness. They are not buying it, that she left and went on with her day. And their suspicions are proven right as Farnese seems to be getting married off again. While he seems well mannered, it’s clear she has much else on her mind. Like the ship.

Then Guts and the crew make their intentions official: they are not giving her up. And Farnese has that same motivation as she is still after the magic she seemingly gave up, trying her best to do it on her own. We then see Farnese open up to Serpico and it’s clear she’s made a mistake and she wants Serpico to fix it, but she won’t ask him to. In her view, she made a rash act due to anxiety and it cost her the family she holds dear, that she spent everything to gain. Farnese is lower than she’s been in a while, since she’s failed at everything. Every step she took are no more than a dream now. We then cut to Farnese’s mother who treats her more like a distant friend than any relative as she wasn’t especially apart of Farnese’s life. She speaks of Farnese’s past as if it was built on wanting love, ignoring everything that got her there. Her father, the church, the burnings. It’s all a child wanting to love, and being long ignored. After this, we see Farnese attend a party of sorts and Serpico, realizing the likely threat Guts poses to Farnese even with his advantages, decides to fight him now. Additionally, this could be Serpico hearing Farnese. She had a family she said, but to him, family could be fighting for those you love. So he’s seeing how far they will go for her. While this volume had it’s slower moments, especially in it’s opening chapters, it really brought itself up towards the latter half. Pretty much anything that includes Farnese seems to bring out the most complex and thorough writing by Miura.