#ship: gtsca
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gtsca's writing is genuinely so fucking weird to me like guts becomes the biggest dick imaginable every time he interacts with her once their "romantic" relationship starts. do the writers legit want us to root for them
Yeah as genuine romance/true love it's not sold at all imo and feels very half assed.
I like to think it was written to feel less like true love and more like two friends hooking up for kinda bad reasons that turns out to be a mistake, but idk what the intent was really.
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Ok the Gutsca scene. The reason it parallels so heavily with the scene of Griffith in the lake isn't because it's all about Griffith, it's to illustrate how Griffith failed to grow as a person where Guts and Casca succeed through their mutual love for each other. Griffith in the lake is actively repressing his pain and trauma while putting on a persona and masking his true feelings from Casca and not accepting her help. Not only that but Griffith never fully shows his true self to anyone. 1/?
He shows it to Guts somewhat and Casca see's it in the lake scene but other than that they're always subjected to Griffith's persona and not the real man underneath making their connections to him not completely genuine. Whereas Guts and Casca's relationship is built on them opening up to each and letting themselves be fully vulnerable with each other, giving them both what they've truly wanted for their entire lives. A genuine connection and bond with another person who fully accepts them 2/?
Despite their flaws and traumatic pasts. And they both grow in the wounds chapters because they do let themselves be fully vulnerable, Casca pours out all of her emotions, insecurities and hang ups while Guts opens up about something he's repressed his entire life. There's no personas, no masks. Just a genuine connection or trust, honesty and acceptance between two people who have never truly had that before. With Guts accepting his vulnerability rather than hiding it like Griffith did
I disagree. Casca gets Griffith's persona so to her Guts' vulnerability is an improvement, but Guts gets Griffith's real self, and Griffith revealing his true self to Guts is a hugely significant theme of the Golden Age. Like it's the whole point of Tombstone of Flame, and it's the lynchpin of their entire friendship, from day one when Casca starts internally freaking out about how Griffith is acting so differently around Guts. He's still in denial about some things even to himself, but Guts gets the most genuine version of him Griffith has to offer, and that gets pretty genuine by the end of the war. Here's my detailed take if you care enough to read a long essay lol, here's a less detailed take on the idealization of Griffith and how it affects his relationship with Guts, and another take that discusses Griffith and all of the Hawks as well as Guts.
And here are some of my counterpoints re: your reading of Guts and Casca's relationship:
Guts and Casca's relationship can be seen as one of many mistakes leading to the Golden Age tragedy
Guts and Casca's relationship isn't great in the four days between fucking and Eclipse
Guts and Casca's relationship is built on an emotional imbalance that informs the trajectory of their relationship post-Eclipse
The stark flaws of Guts and Casca's relationship
How Guts and Casca only work in the absence of Griffith
It's possible that Miura intended for Guts and Casca to be a very positive, healing, and emotionally honest relationship and just failed to depict that very well, but tbh I doubt that. I don't want to go searching for links, you can find them in my 'interviews' tag generally anyway, but he has said that he had Guts and Casca get together for the sake of more Eclipse drama, only had Casca survive the Eclipse so Guts wouldn't be able to move on, and has described them as eternally in the stage before falling in love. None of that definitively means that Guts and Casca's relationship was meant to be heavily flawed from the start, but it does indicate that they're not meant to be a healthy happily ever after relationship so it lends weight to the flaws imo.
My take is that they're two friends hooking up with some sweet moments to sell the new relationship feelings, but ultimately doomed to failure even without the Eclipse, in part because they're not emotionally on the same page, and in part because while Casca may have been able to shift her feelings from Griffith to Guts, Guts never had any intention of moving on from Griffith himself - the whole point of his dream journey was to be his bff. Casca was one step on the road to that goal.
Anyway yeah, feel free to check these posts out if you're interested, and if not we'll have to agree to disagree here.
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Do you think Guts should take care of Casca? I'm not talking about when he attacked her, because in that case, I think that his protection is compensation.
I think the narrative answer is yes. Godo and Rickert both tell him so before Guts leaves for 2-3 years, and a consequence of Guts abandoning Casca is Griffith's resurrection, plus Guts getting so fucked up in the interim that he assaults her when he does choose to take care of her.
Also the narrative suggests that protecting Casca helps Guts grow as a person.
That said, my own personal opinion is no because I find it boring lol.
Also it's worth mentioning when it comes to this topic that according to resident narrative voice Luca, "The power to protect someone and the power to be with someone are different." Guts can and should protect Casca according to the story, but that doesn't necessarily mean he can (or should) be with her in any other capacity.
Thanks for the ask!
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Why do you think Guts tells Casca she's the only one whose touch didn't bother him from the beginning? That was one of the main takeaways from the "Now you belong to me" scene, imo - that Guts was so dazzled by Griffith that he didn't mind being touched so intimately. Do you think it's a retcon on Miura's part? Do you think Guts is lying? What's the deal with that line?
Honestly imo it's probably a convenient retcon to make Casca and Guts seem more positive and plasuibly romantic, for the sake of more tragedy with the Eclipse.
But I do think you can make sense of it taking Guts' denial into consideration, and it makes thematic sense. Like he has sex with Casca after letting her stab him while denying that he should feel responsible for Griffith's capture and torture, in an echo of chapter 2, where Black Swordsman Guts let the zombie kid stab him and then delivered an evil monologue about how he's not responsible because everyone else is weak.
Point being that Guts is denying his own very obvious guilt here and trying to bury it, and sex with Casca helps that along. "Don't think about those things right now. All you need is to feel alive." He tells this to Casca but it applies to his own mentality as well.
And, very interestingly imo, consistently he's only able to be with Casca when he's denying or downplaying the significance of his relationship with Griffith.
So it does make sense to me that while he's trying to bury his guilt for driving Griffith into a torture chamber and essentially downplay his and Griffith's relationship, he thinks of Casca as the one person whose touch he could bear, and conveniently forgets Griffith's touch in this moment.
Also you could make a case that it highlights Guts' gay repression. We know for a fact that the reason he was okay with Casca's touch after his nightmare in chapter 13 isn't because they have a magical bond, it's entirely because she's a woman, not a man. It's an implicit, maybe accidental but appropriate statement that attraction may not actually matter here. Regardless of who he's attracted to, men are associated with trauma, and women are not, therefore he can have sex with a woman like Casca, but can't consider it with a man.
(He flashbacked anyway thanks to their position but I think it's fair to say that Guts didn't expect that to happen with her, while if he was with a man he probably would expect to be reminded of his childhood trauma. So the point stands.)
Both those explanations together add up to: would prefer to fuck Griffith but still in denial so can't.
Thanks for the ask!
#ask#a#b#enisywrites#ship: gtsca#ship: griffguts#theme: repression#theme: guilt#scene: pre rescue#theme: homoeroticism#theme: sexuality
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hello! what do you think Skull Knight meant when he said your wish may not be her wish referring to casca?
I think there's room for a few theories here, but my theory of choice is that Skull Knight is referring to Guts' wish to settle down and stop pursuing revenge through a relationship with Casca.
I think that's definitely one of Guts' motivations for taking her to Elfhelm, and it's something that's teased throughout the Millenium Falcon arc with shit like Guts, Casca and moonbaby looking like a family, eg.
I don't think Guts was consciously thinking he was going to give up on revenge entirely, but after NGriff ditched him and then when he heard he could bring Casca back I think his priorities shifted in a way, and he was at least subconsciously hoping that if he brought Casca back he would find a sense of fulfillment in a relationship with her, and be able to let his obsession with Griffith go, like he alludes to in chapter 345 with his internal "I've come this far by letting go of my obsession with Griffith," thought. And like Godo suggests when he tells Guts he should've immersed himself in sorrow with the remaining Hawks instead of running off to kill things.
But oops Casca doesn't want to fuck him, so that's a bust. Skull Knight's "You've come to the end of your journey. It is not always a happy thing," when Guts is on the cliff swinging his sword and being pissy about Casca's trauma could serve as a conclusion to his warning about Casca's wish not being Guts' wish, if we go with this reading.
Of course I'd argue that Guts distracting himself from Griffith with Casca was always a pipe dream doomed to fail regardless of Casca's trauma cockblocking him, especially considering his breakdown over his sword rather than her right now lol, but yeah I think this is one way of understanding that foreshadowing that fits with the overall story.
Other theories I've seen are that Casca won't want to pursue his wish of revenge with him (kinda moot now probably), or that Casca will join Griffith (not looking likely to me either). Prior to the recent development with her kidnapping I was hoping that it alluded to her using the behelit and going ham in her own wave of righteous violence, but lol that didn't work out. So yeah, my money's on it just being a reference to her being too traumatized to look at Guts.
Thanks for the ask!
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hi bthump! I just recently binged berserk and stumbled onto all your writings - really loving working through all your analyses!! thank you for all that you do!
I had a question that I've been trying to turn over in my head, what do you think about Guts' feelings towards Casca? To me, the way I read the story its always seemed that Griffith (since GA fr sure) has been the sole person that Guts has 100% romantically+ platonically loved in that soulmate kind of way. Sure, casca is very important to guts as a friend, comrade, fellow survivor of all they've been through, but i have trouble really reading guts feelings towards her as truly romantic... I do think Casca herself caught real feelings for guts, but in all their scenes together I kind of read Guts interactions with her as him processing.. his own trauma in a way? like take whole cave thing, where they even kiss and have sex; when i think of that scene i really think of it less as, casca and guts getting Together as a couple. but rather two friends sharing their traumas together in a mutually healing sort of way. the fact that they do get physically intimate together doesn't necessarily mean that guts actually is in love with her I believe. like I think that whole scene just touches on that trope of how lots of men are Only able to bare themselves emotionally/share their traumas through physical intimacy— usually with a woman.
And especially right now as it stands in the story I definitely think that guts doesn't see her romantically at all... and the sole reason guts feels strongly about getting her memory back isn't because he's hoping to get his "lover" back but rather simply feels like he wants to do right by his close friend and comrade, especially how particularly horrible and traumatic the eclipse was for her.
am i being delusional!!
Thanks for the ask! lol yeah I definitely agree with you.
I don't think Guts is in love with Casca, and I think that's pretty apparent in how he behaves throughout the story. Their sex scene definitely had a friends hooking up vibe to me, and they're probably meant to have potential as a couple in theory, but in practice it's totally unrealized.
In case you're interested, I'm gonna link you some posts I've written on the subject of their relationship rather than get into it in detail, because I have a big backlog on this topic lol.
The constrast between Guts and Judeau's feelings towards Casca and how Guts' and Casca's relationship contains some unbalanced feelings and emotional misunderstandings
What Judeau orchestrating their relationship suggests about it
The sex scene as repression
The sex scene as rebounding from Griffith
How you can read Guts and Casca's relationship is a misstep for the characters
How their relationship fails to affect Guts
A list of reasons Guts has for taking Casca to Elfhelm that doesn't include true love
A list of Guts' bad behaviour towards Casca that points away from true love
Thoughts on the scene where Roderick asks about their relationship
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I would like to know your opinion about this comment that I found on yt
"the amount of suffering Guts had to go through while dragging Casca alongside him when she was in her regressed state as Elaine is true love and compassion"
my opinion is: l m a o
actually yk what, I've had a salty post in my back pocket for a long time about how shitty Guts is to Casca, and maybe it's finally time to post something like it.
So.
Was it true love when Guts ditched her with Rickert in a cave for two years like so?
Was it true love when Guts had to debate with himself for a night before choosing to temporarily abandon his revenge quest to rescue Casca, seriously considering abandoning her to die, and only resolving to save her specifically when he draws the parallel between ditching her and ditching Griffith?
Was it true love when, when faced with the choice between rescuing her from getting burned alive and trying to find and kill Griffith/Femto, he chose the latter and Isidro had to rescue her instead?
Was it true love when, upon returning to Godo's with Casca, Guts internally insinuated that he was planning to abandon her again?
Was it true love when Guts only decided to stick with Casca after the cave was destroyed leaving him no choice, AND NGriff refused to give him the time of day leaving him strangely dejected?
Was it true love when his subconscious called into question why he considers her precious?
Was it true love when he was tempted to assault Casca to get closer to Griffith?
Was it true love when he gave into that temptation? (And no, he wasn’t possessed.)
[I don’t think we need pics of the assault scene, but chapter 189/190 for reference.]
Was it true love when he kept succumbing to the armour and regularly needed two magic children to snap him out of it so he wouldn't kill her?
Was it true love when Guts’ subconscious described Casca as a warm light in comparison to Griffith’s “true light?”
Was it true love when Casca’s impression of Guts, as shown to us in her dream world, is someone who would destroy her in his single-minded focus on revenge against Femto?
Was it true love when Guts bemoaned not being able to land a hit on Griffith instead of Griffith kidnapping Casca?
And this is just post-Eclipse, that’s not getting into stuff like
Guts inviting Casca along on his dream journey with the caveat of: maybe you’ll just get in my way but let’s see how it goes because I want to fuck you a lot.
Casca miserable and upset when Guts insists on fighting Wyald alone, indicating that yeah she probably would’ve gotten in the way of his “fight stronger and stronger enemies” dream even if she hadn’t gone insane.
Guts choosing to stay with Griffith right before the Eclipse while talking to Judeau, before Casca decides she wants to stay and without consulting her about the change of plans first.
Casca’s feelings for Griffith making a comeback as soon as they go on the rescue mission and Guts getting pissy about it but recognizing his own feelings for Griffith as even more intense.
Guts looking down at all the apostles attacking the Band, including Casca, during the Eclipse, and deciding his best course of action is to continue trying to rescue Griffith.
Judeau basically needing to smush Guts and Casca’s faces together like barbies to get them to bone.
The sex being described as licking wounds.
etc etc etc
So yeah, long story short my opinion is that that person is ignoring a whole pile of negative shit to call Guts’ escort mission a sign of true love. When the alternative is leaving her to get killed by ghosts in the middle of a field somewhere like, what else is he supposed to do? I hope they don’t think Guts is so shitty of a person that he would’ve abandoned her if he wasn’t in love with her. I mean granted, he was approaching being that shitty during his Black Swordsman rampage (see that point about his internal debate in chapter 130) but yk, he wants to be better than that.
Like imo he’d’ve taken Casca on the escort mission even if he still hated her just as much as he did back in his first three years with the Hawks, simply bc she’s his comrade, same way he rescued her in chapter 15/16.
Incidentally here, have this semi-related list of reasons Guts had for taking Casca to Elfhelm, none of which include true love.
Thanks for the ask!
#ask#anonymous#a#b#ship: gtsca#arc: mf#posting this now because i got another ask that relates to it that i also want to post today
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I found an article(?) on the topic "10 Most Stubborn Anime Couples".
In second place are Guts and Casca. They write about them that Casca and Guts are the veritable blueprint for and excellent tsundere-tsundere couple. They are constantly at odds, from the battlefield to the camp to their consultations with Griffith. It makes the times when they cut through the tension and level with each other all the more poignant, and even intimate. Guts and Casca disagree with battle strategy all the time, and Guts isn't the best communicator. The two of them have completely different motives, though they both love and follow Griffith. But despite all their conflict, they understand each other in a way that no other can. And their sweet moments are the purest, most honest emotional beats in the entire series.
Interesting to hear your opinion on this. 🚨IMPORTANT🚨 This is no one's meta. This is just an article from the site (for technical reasons I can’t copy the link). I DON'T WANT to set you or anyone else against the author of this top. Also, I don't want to blame you for thinking these two are a bad couple or anything. Sorry to bother you!
lol I'm sorry if recent somewhat bizarre drama has made you feel like that disclaimer is necessary, but I definitely wouldn't worry about it when it comes to actual published clickbait articles.
Anyway I'm not going to search out this article and read it for myself but yeah, as I'm sure you can guess, I disagree with that take based on how you describe it.
I assume they're talking about the anime specifically rather than the manga, and it's somewhat more accurate to the anime where the writers gave them extra tsundere style interactions to build up their relationship, romanticized the sex scene more than it is in the manga, and cut the story off before Guts left Casca in a cave in addition to cutting out their moments of strife and disconnection during the rescue, but even despite that I disagree that their "sweet" moments are the "purest" and "most honest" emotional beats.
The anime definitely put in the work to make Guts and Casca's relationship seem more romantic than it comes across in the manga so I can't really disagree that their sweet moments are meant to be genuine in the anime, but for me, Griffith's torture chamber monologue, despair, and moment of sacrifice, and Guts' moments of self-reflection on the rooftop after Zodd and right before the Eclipse still beat the romance in terms of moments of cathartic pure emotional honesty.
Even in the anime it's ultimately a subplot to the main plot of Guts and Griffith's relationship, and that relationship still gets the most intensely satisfying emotional beats.
Thanks for the ask!
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It’s clear that Guts irrevocably loves Casca, and holds a deep intrinsic trust for her. This has been the case since their first meeting. During golden age Guts was Casca’s one ticket out of a life of pining and living for a man and dream who had never given her a second thought. With Guts she had experienced camaraderie and understanding, and each were mutually fascinated by the other, their loyalty and motivations and their ways of thinking because in each other were they only able to find someone who would stare back. Mutual recognition forged their relationship and so they loved each other. Ignoring that they loved each other, perhaps even love each other now makes Guts’ character development post-eclipse entirely void. There is no humanity in Guts without Casca. I don’t think arguing about this from a 30 year old manga is what Miura would want for his masterpiece like don’t y’all ever get tired of squinting your eyes and deliberately ignoring parts of your favorite story just to push an agenda?
I debated just ignoring this like I usually do lol but I already had a functional answer written up in response to someone else's ask, so I figured what the hell, I'll post it first and link you to it.
voila
So like, speaking of ignoring parts of your favourite story just to push an agenda, it's convenient that you've forgotten all those incredibly unromantic, often downright cold and cruel moments that aren’t very compatible with irrevocable love.
But also since I'm answering this anyway I might as well add: Not only are their feelings for each other never described in terms of love throughout the entire manga (despite some incorrect scanlations you may have seen), but Guts' feelings for Casca are being deliberately portrayed as ambiguous. There's a reason we cut away after Roderick asks who Casca is to Guts, and it's because we don't know. We're not meant to know, yet. Guts’ relationship with Casca is far from loving, and I would argue his feelings are much more complex and darker than love.
And I don’t think Guts has to be/have been in love with Casca for his character development to make sense lol. That development started with Puck, post-Eclipse, and it started with Griffith in the Golden Age. It has continued with a whole entourage of characters, and since he let himself get possessed and nearly killed Casca, then nearly assaulted her sans possession afterwards, before letting them join him, I think they’re just as if not more important to his character development. Protecting Casca is one facet of what drives his character right now, and he doesn’t have to be in love with her to want to do that - frankly I fully believe she could be replaced with any of the Hawks and he’d be doing the exact same thing right now (aside from the assault) because first and foremost, as detailed to us in chapter 130, described by Guts in chapter 94, and often shown in how he thinks of her in her commander role, she represents the Hawks to him.
Oh and lastly as a sidenote, I assume you’re calling Guts not freaking out when he woke up with her in chapter 13 “deep intrinsic trust,” but that was textually because she’s a woman rather than a man, not because of some magic spiritual connection he has with her specifically. It’s actually pretty homoerotically suggestive, especially considering he’s also cool with Griffith’s touch in the very next chapter.
And then there’s what Miura has to say on the subject in interviews, such as:
“The point I had to pay attention to was making sure the flow of the story wasn't completely severed with the Eclipse. That's why I spared Casca. If she had died and the serialization had continued for a long time, I feared the reason for revenge would become something of the past; and if Guts were to establish new relationships, then his incentive would waver. It may seem calculating and unpleasant, but it's because Casca's by his side that he can never forget the Eclipse.”
“I actually hadn't planned for Guts and Casca to get together, you know – it just occurred to me partway through that it'd be more dramatic that way.”
Neither of which suggests to me that he ever intended to write a straightforward romance. Casca is there for added drama and she’s there so Guts can’t forget the eclipse (underlining the Beast of Darkness’ suggestion that she’s precious because she’s the wound Griffith left, incidentally).
I've never said Guts doesn't have positive feelings for her, but so far their relationship hasn’t been an epic, or even a realistic and sweet, romance, and it doesn’t have to be for Guts’ character to make perfect sense.
#ask#anonymous#a#b#ship: gtsca#also the whole point of the golden age is that griffith does 'stare back' at guts and guts just failed to see it bc of low self esteem and#the mutual flaws of the characters and it's kind of telling that right now casca literally is incapable of looking at guts lol#but if you want more on that subject you can read like anything on my blog beyond whatever post brought you here#also don't you think it's kinda tacky to bring up what you think miura would've wanted to complain about someone's meta blog lol
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How do you think Casca feels about Guts now after everything that has happened?
Do you have any predictions on what will happen between Guts, Casca, and Griffith now?
Well we know for sure that she's still traumatized and scared of him. And I don't think it's just because he was at the Eclipse - he's scary on his own merits in a very beast-of-darkness-way from her point of view:
Look at the highlights on his face that suggest the Beast of Darkness' zig-zag eyes.
Here he's shown in Berserk's specific visual language to denote an object of fear - shadowy silhouette, glowing eye. Plus he's clearly associated with the rest of the monsters of the Eclipse. Considering Casca flashes back to them a lot whenever she's being sexually assaulted, I'm very much inclined to take this as a reference to Guts sexually assaulting her and therefore Casca's mind viewing him as yet another monster.
So I think it's something that's going to have to be confronted, and personally I don't think it's likely to be overcome. Guts' reaction to Casca being unable to look at him has been mostly disappointment and boredom, rather than despair or regret or desperation. I think you can make a comparison, from Guts' point of view, to Casca yelling at him in the Golden Age lol - it follows the same pattern: Casca makes him feel bad, he goes and swings his sword aimlessly while stewing about it. It’s about how she makes him feel, not about their relationship.
And especially after those last few chapters, the emphasis is so thoroughly on Guts' sword and his own sense of inadequacy rather than Casca, like, it's stark in how unromantic it is lol. And yeah, Miura isn't writing it now, but it illustrates where Miura put his emphasis while discussing it with his friend, and it's certainly not on Guts and Casca's relationship.
The romantic fake-outs just after Casca woke up are also a strong sign imo - Casca gets all blushy, Danann pushes their romance specifically by putting Casca in a fancy dress, they prepare for a romantic meeting under a giant cherry tree... then Casca passes out because Guts subconsciously scares the shit out of her, and she immediately proceeds to get a haircut and put some pants on, and it's so pointedly stated that it's better lol:
This was Miura teasing the shipping contingent of fans, and denying them. And yeah, based again on the narrative emphasis on Guts' sword right after Casca's been kidnapped by Griffith lmao I don't really think that's very likely to change. Guts' goal isn't to win Casca back, it's to hit a god with a sword. Casca didn't even seem to care all that much that looking at Guts makes her faint even though she does presumably still harbour some romantic feelings for Guts - it wasn't treated as a tragedy, they weren’t portrayed as tragically star-crossed lovers in the few chapters between Casca’s sanity returning and the kidnapping. It just felt like a logical consequence of Guts’ actions that he has to deal with now.
SO anyway all that said, I don't really have any solid predictions lol. I don't think we're going the romantic happily ever after route. My main prediction that Guts and Griffith will die together remains unchanged. Casca's kidnapping was a giant curveball for me and I have no idea where that's going lol, but I suspect Guts is probably going to go full beast of darkness, lose himself in the armour, rampage around trying to kill Griffith, and likely at the very least traumatize Casca more if not kill her, or nearly kill her himself, a la dog!Guts in Casca's dreamscape. I've still got faint hope that Casca will use the behelit if like, the full extent of her memory restoration is delayed until she's near it again. I anticipated it being a downer end of act 2 style moment rather than an actual climactic moment, but there's still room for the latter.
I also think that the whole power of friendship bs is substantially less likely to be a major factor now - we got hints of that with Guts thanking the dudes for sticking with him, Farnese vowing that she'll save Casca from the darkness, all that, but considering it just lead to everyone being useless when Griffith showed up to kidnap Casca, and now useless with Guts having a dumb breakdown over his sword, in hindsight it honestly feels like set-up for a darker mood shift now. Dashed hope, kinda thing. And we still have Guts going feral to look forward to, so that could easily shake out as more dashed hope.
So yeah, no real concrete predictions, but this is the vibe I'm feeling right now. Guts and Casca are probably pretty over as a thing - maybe they get a moment of reflection over tragic potential for happiness lost or whatever at the climax, but I really don't anticipate a happily ever after for them. I would like Guts and Griffith to have a moment of emotional catharsis before one or both die, and I do completely think one or both will die. And the other will live miserably ever after. Frankly I think the happiest ending for both of them is dying together lol - Guts "struggling" on and living is kind of thematically negative to an extent, thanks to Skull Knight and Zodd the Immortal's examples, and thanks to Guts' own monstrousness as he declares his desire to live in the Black Swordsman arc and the way he’s directly compared to apostles for it... for Guts surviving and living on to be a happy ending, thematically, he'd have to decide to put down his sword for good, and I just don't see that as an ending based on the set-up we've gotten so far. It would require a hell of an amount of character development in probably a relatively short amount of time lol.
What I think is more likely is Guts confronting Griffith in a non-physical way, eschewing his sword for that specifically (this current sword crisis could be a good starting point for that), and dying with him in an emotionally satisfying way. Then if Casca's still alive and a monster she wanders the earth in a bittersweet way, if she's alive and human maybe she gets a decently happy ending, if she's dead then she's dead.
Thanks for the ask!
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Is it just me or was it a bit strange that Guts' first reaction to Casca being kidnapped after regaining her memories was simply 'oh shit icb i couldn't hit griffith'? His sword is obviously what he's relied on all his life as he explained in his monologue, but come on man
Yeah lol ia. I think it makes sense thematically but emotionally it feels bizarre. We just spent 200 chapters on the fix Casca quest, often emphasizing Guts' personal growth as a result of that quest, often teasing Guts and Casca romantically (the family moment on the beach, the dress, roderick asking who casca is to him and the reader not getting to see his answer, guts' protector of the branded girl shit, etc etc), so to completely ignore that in favour of Guts moping over his sword feels like either awkward writing, or a deliberate bait and switch to me, and possibly both.
Like maybe Miura would've made it feel less weird, showing Guts sad about Casca but more upset about his sword. Or maybe the point is to shock the reader with a surprising emotional response and it's going to be a major facet of the story going forward - turns out Guts' personal growth didn't really change him all that much, he's still more obsessed with his sword than Casca just like Casca accused him of after they slept together, and it's a big neon sign that there's no gtsca endgame in sight.
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I saw someone using the comparison of Casca to Guts' sword, and him being focused on his sword in the recent chapter is him being distraught over Casca as well?
Do you think that was a purposeful parallel? Or was it just not done very well?
Yeah I've seen that take, and I very much doubt that's the intent. If it is it's very poorly done lol, since there's no connection to Casca given here - understanding it would rely on a one-off metaphor used on one page over 300 chapters and 20 years previously, which is fine for huge Berserk nerds like us, but Berserk has to appeal to casual fans too.
Plus that reading kind of relies on Guts like... thinking in metaphor? Which is silly lol. Like I suppose the point could be that he's suppressing his feelings for Casca by focusing on his sword instead, while that earlier metaphor is the key that tells us that deep down it's really about Casca, but why would he suppress his feelings about Casca? He's supposed to care for her, saving her has been his textual motivation for 100 chapters, so why would his feelings be subconscious and buried behind layers of metaphor? And why would the narrative use a metaphor instead of showing Guts' feelings directly, when again, he's supposed to care about Casca?
And another explanation could be that he's deflecting because he doesn't want to fall into his real quote unquote emotional spiral that will unleash the Beast of Darkness, but that requires believing Guts has considered that and has a ridiculous and very ooc amount of emotional control and that the best way to convey this is to have him think in metaphors lol. So yk, it's also very silly. Plus based on the image of the chains snapping, Beast of Darkness is getting into gear anyway.
So basically the simplest and most plausible explanation here is that Guts is just really upset about his sword/his sense of inadequacy compared to Griffith, moreso than Casca's well-being.
And to be fair all of that has a lot of build up behind it - Guts' attachment to his sword, his need to prove himself against Griffith, and his dismissal of Casca in favour of both of those two motivations as seen when he abandons her to Black Swordsman around.
(Though to be perfectly fair, it could also be awkward writing here - maybe Miura would've given a nod to Guts being concerned for Casca, but the current team will only portray the really significant stuff that Miura told Mori about, so the focus is on his sword and Casca gets totally ignored instead of acknowledged. Or the pacing is awful and we'll see her mentioned in the next chapters.)
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Thoughts about the the “miura portrays gu/ts/ca as very right and almost holy” sentence? (I censored the ship name in case)
Who said that lol
I've answered something along these lines not too long ago, so I'll link you to that post.
But yeah, long story short, big disagree. I think Miura was deliberately portraying it as a quite mundane, quite flawed relationship that had some potential which never got realized, and ended up more negative than positive overall.
And thanks for censoring the ship name! I always try to avoid my negative takes on the ship coming up in searches for them, so it's appreciated.
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I go back and forth on whether Guts and Casca were going to be together by the end, but what makes me doubt it is the line about the power to protect someone being different than the power to be with them. What stops me from really getting on the gutsca train is, while I have no doubt Guts loves her, he never seems to be present or fulfilled with *just* Casca. It's a theme with Guts of not seeing what he has in the present but when it keeps happening over and over again even after supposedly
learning your lesson, is it really meant to be? When you need the people around you to keep scolding you into prioritizing your girlfriend? Guts can protect Casca but does he have the ability to focus only on her? The beast certainly had some doubts. We already know Guts was still planning on chasing after Griffith again after Casca was healed.
Ayyy I actually wrote a post on that line, if you're interested and haven't read it. Though I did kind of end it on a wishy-washy note because I put it in the main Berserk tag lol, fair warning.
So yeah I totally agree with you. Guts never really prioritizes Casca - even when he decides to put his revenge quest on hold to take her to Elfhelm, he has to be left with virtually no choice, and he only makes that choice after moping about how NeoGriffith has "deserted" him lol.
And throughout the Millenium Falcon arc Farnese is pointedly painted as a better alternative for Casca than Guts, someone who can actually be with her in a way Guts can't, partially because Casca is scared of him, but also because again, Guts just doesn't prioritize her the same way. You're right, he still intends for the Casca sidequest to be an interlude in his revenge quest, not an actual destination. His focus is always on fighting monsters first, protecting Casca second even when the narrative is calling him ~protector of the branded girl~ lol.
Even at the docks, when he makes his decision to get on a boat instead of fighting Zodd, motivated apparently in part by Casca’s scared baby noises, to make that decision he has to a) be on the verge of collapse b) be outnumbered about a hundred to one, and c) have Serpico step between him and Zodd to remind him not to be a suicidal idiot. Casca barely figures in.
At most I think you could argue that he might hope restoring Casca's mind and returning a piece of his idylic past to himself will assuage his own bloodlust and turn him into the kind of person who can "be with" Casca, but we see that that's definitely not the case when Casca's still afraid of him and he's back swinging his sword and feeling restless again, wondering what he's going to do now.
#other ppl's meta#thanks for the ask!#anonymous#ask#a#b#theme: speculation#character: guts#ship: gtsca#theme: revenge
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What changes would you make to Gutsca to make the ship good romantically in your opinion?
honestly I'd probably always hate it no matter what. I can count the het ships I've enjoyed on one hand, and when they're opposite an amazing gay ship there's no chance. I don't pretend to be unbiased lol.
But yk, speaking more objectively, in terms of what I think makes a good romance... this actually depends on what exactly you mean lol. Like, a good romance as in genuinely romantic, or a good romance as in good writing in the context of a romantic relationship?
Because if it's the former then... there'd need to be more build up during the Golden Age first of all, like the anime tried to do. Man so much would have to change lol. Guts shouldn't need Judeau to shove him at Casca, they can still fuck in a moment of intense vulnerability but Guts probably shouldn't choke her during his flashback. Guts should start at least considering dropping his dream, rather than just inviting Casca along. He should not abandon her in a cave for two years to go seek revenge, so like, there’d need to be some external reason for Guts to leave her behind. Maybe if they’re together in Godo’s cave the brand powers are too strong and still attract ghosts, for instance. Guts can still be disappointed he can’t continue pursuing revenge when the cave collapses, but he should also be like, evidently tender and loving towards Casca, rather than treating her like an annoying obligation. No assault, obviously. Casca should not be scared of him. etc etc. Like, A LOT of the emotional content of the story would have to change, imo.
And I’m not saying romances can’t be dark or fucked up, but man, not in the ‘this woman is an annoying burden to me while I pine for my demonic bff, I sure hope when she becomes sane again everything will just work out and I’ll magically be content’ kinda way lol. Like if we’re not going for healthy romance but just intensity of feeling, maybe Guts can still assault her and terrify her but make it about his lust for her rather than Griffith. Maybe Guts can be desperate to restore her mind overtly because he is intensely in love with her, rather than because she’s the last feeble flame connecting him to his idyllic past. Maybe he can hate insane!Casca because he doesn’t consider her to be the Casca he loves but more a disturbing facimile. Yk, that kind of thing. It can be fucked up, but Guts’ feelings for her should be intense rather than like an afterthought lol.
If we’re talking good writing in the context of a romantic relationship, then honestly I don’t think much would have to change, except that it should eventually be textual that Guts was taking Casca to Elfhelm as a distraction from his complicated feelings and he should have to confront the fact that he viewed Casca as an idealized object who would fix him if her sanity came back rather than as a subjective person with her own needs.
Also Casca’s waterfall speech shouldn’t state that she was lying about caring about Griffith’s dream or her life as a mercenary because her only motivation was being in love with Griffith, and she shouldn’t have been uncomplicatedly eager to ditch the Hawks to run off with Guts at the drop of a hat. And she shouldn’t be feminized as she becomes a love interest to Guts. I don’t want to rewrite the whole story so I guess keep the post-Eclipse insanity despite it being awful writing.
And of course end it with them not getting together. Honestly I do think Guts and Casca’s relationship is mostly well-written in the story as long as it’s not meant to be seen as a good happily ever after for them. Whether by accident or design it works pretty well as a sad hook-up that had no real viable future to it even if the Eclipse hadn’t happened, and even as a relationship that specifically highlights a lot of Guts’ flaws post-Eclipse.
Thanks for the question, I hope this kind of answers it!
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Miura is so 🤪 for having 95% of gutsca conversations with each other to be about them figuring out how to get Griffith to love them AND having Guts ultimate motivation for staying with Casca to be about Griffith. Get you a man who can write the best written hetero romance of all time.
lol to be fair to Miura I don't think he was trying to write the romance of the century, I feel like he was trying to write a realistic, likely doomed hookup between friends with some positives and a lot of negatives. What's wild to me is all the fans who read it and go "wow true love."
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