Notes for Berserk chapters 291 -

For my notes on chapters 278 - 290, see here.
For chapters 301 - see here

Berserk 291 (Volume 33: Millenium Falcon Arc, Chapter of Falconia: ?)
Released 11th November 2007

Midland. Amidst the desecration, hope stirs. Griffith appears like a dream. Will he - like most dreams - prove too good to be true?

Night and day are set in stark opposition to each other in this rigidly structured chapter. Night contains oppression, decay and the dream of a new dawn, the "True Dawn" - which sounds ominous enough on its own without the mindless reverence with which the children of Midland recount their vision of it to the surviving Midland nobles (including Lord Raban and Minister Foss). They all sit about a campfire in the ruins of Midland, waiting for morning. Morning comes in a single evocative drawing of five panels, the passing from night to day that brings...Griffith - and the possible salvation of Midland. The transition is incremental but the contrast could not be more obvious.

The pope is in high spirits but oddly enough Charlotte isn't, and Sonia (possibly reading the thoughts of Lord Owen) is also subdued. Locus sets about explaining to Mule why their forces are still small - a matter of politics - but he also says that none of it is going to matter anyway. The dawn he is anticipating is not the one the mortals of the world are expecting...

This is a fairly wordy chapter and I can see why it took longer than usual to translate. The drawings are better than ever - if such a thing is possible.

Berserk 292 (Volume 33: Millenium Falcon Arc, Chapter of Falconia: Mist of Death)
Released 19th November 2007

From meticulous structure to nebulous obscurity: this chapter puts the spotlight on the demon Emperor and what he plans to do to overcome Griffith. Once again this is a question of balance and contrast: in this case with the previous chapter where Griffith is confident, ordered, and working to a plan; here the Emperor is ruffled, emotional, and acting from instinct. It remains to be seen whether he is playing into Griffith's hands, but from what has been translated here, it looks that way. In fact, everything seems to be going exactly as Griffith said it would, with the appearance of the mist and the towering devil - but when it comes down to it, what the devil's going on?

One of the reasons Berserk holds so many people in thrall (besides the obvious action adventure storyline and the superb drawing) ) is that the world in which the story is set remains, after thirty-three volumes, a Very Mysterious Place. For english readers, confused by a multiplicity of conflicting english translations and by Miura's habit of dropping interesting clues and misleading speculations, there are as many different interpretations as there are fans. This chapter offers yet more thoughts on the nature of the apostles.

The graphic panels assail us with the grotesque as well as the absurdly funny, and the Emperor himself manages to look pathetic and intimidating at the same time. The Emperor has been wounded - it appears Gatts and Zodd hit a nerve after all. It's hard to see how the Emperor is going to pull off his miracle. However, Griffith sacrificed all of the people gathered at the Tower of Retribution for his reincarnation, and now it appears the Emperor is sacrificing the lives of his armies in an attempt to achieve the same end...

Berserk 293 (Volume 33: Millenium Falcon Arc, Chapter of Falconia: The Silent Dark)
Released February 2008

Lord Raban is moving through the city once the mist has drawn back. He has come to collect the survivors among the inhabitants, but he gets more than he bargained for: the shed armor skins of the Kushan army, rooms full of naked women... but here Raban shows himself to be a man of initiative. The women, like the other survivors in the Midland capital, have followed the instructions given to them by the dream. An outcome in Griffith's favour now seems inevitable - the dream is fate, and fate cannot be escaped. But there's something oddly chilling about those armoured feminine faces with their vacant stares, standing behind Raban like an army of innocent angels.

The drawings of the city are detailed and realistic, designed to show the eerie emptiness wrought by the mist, just as the survivors see it when they emerge from their hiding-holes like terrified rats. This chapter easily conveys the sense of the urgency Raban and his men feel about getting these people out of the city. The honest and straightforward Raban has taken on the responsibility and the role of a protector very naturally. He's a perfect tool for Griffith, since in his heart he wants to believe that good will triumph - there's no duplicity in the man whatsoever.

Berserk 294 (Volume 33: Millenium Falcon Arc, Chapter of Falconia: Exodus)
Released March 2008

Raban's plan looks about to come unstuck... and the consequences promise to be bloody (don't they always)? But Griffith has anticipated this too, and has sent assistance. The intricate armour of the marching column and the nobles at its head has been drawn with the usual impressive attention to detail. Raban looks quite dashing in his borrowed Kushan helm.

This chapter is once again focused upon the role of fate, the central guiding force in Berserk. The prophetic dream is continuing to prove accurate, with everything playing out according to a grand design - but whose design, exactly? Talk of the various aspects and levels of Griffith's dream (the literal and the metaphorical) take up most of this dialogue-oriented chapter. The 'New World' is much spoken of and anticipated, but no one seems to know exactly what it is meant to be.

This instalment covers an even shorter period than the chapter before it - from one side of the gate to the other. The three-way conversation between Silat, Jaris and Minister Foss is interesting, but most interesting of all is Silat's rejection of the offer Jaris makes. Silat has no way of knowing it, but the terms he uses to frame his reply make him sound just like Gatts - a lone voice of reason amidst the blind followers of fate. Raban appears stunned that anyone could question Griffith's integrity. But Silat was there at the Tower of Retribution when Griffith was reincarnated, and he knows that whatever the White Hawk is, he isn't human. "Do you want to trust this New World to him?" he asks, raising a question that no one else seems to have considered.

Berserk 295 (Volume 33: Millenium Falcon Arc, Chapter of Falconia: End-God)
Released March 2008

There is an impending sense of a crisis coming to a head in this chapter, with all the chaos of hell about to be unleashed upon the world. The Emperor emerges from his transition a changed man, and the capital of Midland quakes in fear of him... literally.

The drawings concentrate on the reactions of all the participants and their own indvidual contemplation of the future. They all look stunned, as well they might. Only Griffith seems pleased, but there is a smug hint of malevolence in his expression. It is indeed a pivotal moment.

Are we coming to the end of a story arc here, or at least to the end of the Falconia Chapter? We first became aware that the spirit world was converging with the real world when the discussions between Flora and Shierke took place back in the forest tree (volume 24). At the time, Shierke named Griffith the 5th angel incarnate, the hawk of the apocalypse. Miura is at his most confusing during these explications, but we get none of those here, just Sonia's simple observation that 'this is it'. With the exception of the surprised Kushan troops, there is very little dialogue at all - the scene building is done almost entirely with wide shots and wide eyes.

But Gatts isn't here. Given this is his story, I would have expected - at the very least - to see him around at the end of the world...

Berserk 296 (Volume 33: Millenium Falcon Arc, Chapter of Falconia, Thundering Heavens)
Released May 2008

The point of view is split in this chapter, between Gatts on the ship and Griffith's people facing the Emperor - or whatever he has become. Pak is about to go fishing with his behelit as bait, but the thing starts showing signs of distress, and it isn't related to becoming fishfood. The more magically inclined/inflicted people (Gatts, Caska, Shierke) notice immediately that something is wrong, but even Shierke can't say more than that it feels as though the world is being ripped apart.

The views of the Emperor emphasize his towering height and his total disconnection from the mortal world, and the drawings here show some powerful changes in perspective. What might it be like to face the physical incarnation of one's god, totally helpless at his feet, and he so totally oblivious... There is a mindless, automaton quality to the Emperor's behaviour. The Kushan army is having a very bad day... "Crimson flowers", murmurs the Emperor with a child-like surprise and delight as he crushes everything underfoot. Trapped inside the city, there is nowhere for anyone to run.

Berserk 297 (Volume 33: Millenium Falcon Arc, Chapter of Falconia, The Blind Giant God)

The Emperor is aware something is not right - with himself. As he continues, he wonders why he is all alone. Where is everyone? Will this need, this self-doubt, be the tool Griffith uses to destroy him? We're about to find out, because Griffith is finally moving into action. The panels darken in reflection of the essentials of the confrontation - light and dark, black and white - where Griffith's brilliance can be more fully displayed. The Emperor's multiple faces begin to form more distinctly into one, but Griffith's symmetry is still an impressive contrast to his chaos.

And then - well, we'll have to wait and see.

The next issue (#298) has no release date listed.

Berserk 298 (Volume 34: Millenium Falcon Arc, Chapter of Falconia: Unleash Your Demons)
Released 25th October 2008

The battle is joined here in an obvious way, and the main flaw of this chapter is that it is ultimately too predictable. The drawing is beautifully detailed and the scale of the threat is conveyed effectively, but it is still quite easy to see what is going to happen. The human component of Griffith's army are effectively sidelined as the demons reveal their true forms and take the field. My main complaint about the demon army (and one that goes all the way back to volume 12) is that aside from Zodd and some of the more important Apostle commanders, the majority of the Apostles are simply amorphous, tentacled blobs with spiky appendages and way too many crooked teeth - all of which has the effect of making them seem far more ridiculous than menacing.

Berserk 299 (Volume 34: Millenium Falcon Arc, Chapter of Falconia, Inhuman Battleground).
Released 14th November 2008

More of the same here, but while the battleground is being overrun with gnashing teeth and skewered eyeballs, an uncomfortable truth is slowly dawning over the dim-witted collection of people who have gathered to follow Griffith. It is easy to see why Gatts is always so ready to give up on these fools, who are so desperate for security and protection that they blind themselves to the bleeding obvious... And lo! and behold, they've just discovered that - shock, horror - the so-called demon warriors are actually, well, demons. Sonia sums them up perfectly with one single word (though she is applying it for a different reason), in a way that reveals a power she probably wasn't aware that she possessed.

Berserk 300 (Volume 34: Millenium Falcon Arc, Chapter of Falconia, Sorceress of the Hawk)

Damn... we almost got rid of Sonia, and from the discussions on some of the Berserk forums it seems I am not the only person who doesn't like her as a character. Arvin reveals his true form, and - in what seems like part of the plan all along - the mortal component of the army is brought into the battle. Thanks in part to Sonia's outburst, they behave with complete obediance to the Hawk's wishes, even managing to become inspired in the process.

This page updated 6th December 2008
All images shown here are copyright to Kentaro Miura, english translation courtesy of Evil-Genius.us