How’s it going Multiversity Readers? This week, Zodd arrives earlier than expected as I review the episodes “Sword and the Wind” and “Zodd the Immortal”. These episodes treat us to back-to-back turning point moments and the introduction of a ton of new characters. There’s plenty for us to break down so let’s dive in.
1. “The Hundred Years’-ish War”
Much of the Golden Age Arc of “Berserk,” and therefore the anime series, focuses around a war between two European-style kingdoms: Midland and Tuder. The war has lasted for a hundred years and sees Midland nearly fall to the invading Tudor army. They are rescued by a rogue mercenary band, our esteemed Hawks, and we see the tide of the war turn as the Hawks are able to overcome seemingly impossible odds. The war is clearly an allusion to the Hundred Years’ War between France and England. What makes this interesting is that France, in our story Midland, has one stand-out historical character. A young leader, who emerges from common birth, able to inspire her warriors to achieve victory against all odds. I’m not saying Joan of Arc was a closet demon, or that Griffith is a saint. I just think it’s another layer onto Griffith’s mystery. What happens to this man, a seeming saint, to make him into our series villain?
2. Sir Griffith
Speaking of our white haired hero, in “Sword and the Wind,” we see Griffith rewarded for the Band of the Hawks successes on the battlefield by being knighted by the King of Midland. It’s interesting to see that even Corkus knows this move is one of desperation on the part of the King. Both he and the nobility at the ceremony realize that the writing is on the wall for the Kingdom’s knights, and Griffith, despite being a commoner, is gaining the King’s confidence. While Corkus sees this as the prime opportunity to line his pockets and have easy access to women, Casca sees it as an added responsibility for the Hawks. She is prepared to uphold the dignity of the status while Corsus ready to reap its rewards. My favorite part of all is Guts skipping the ceremony completely to train. These episodes really begin to show Guts’ struggle to find purpose beyond bloodshed, but it’s truly all he knows.
3. My Family’s Secret Technique
These two episodes introduce us to some new villains, from the too-friendly-to-young boys Gennon to the Dick Tracy-esque mobster-looking General Boscgon. However, the one that really gets under my skin is General Adon Coborlwitz. It’s not his fault that he happens to hit one of my anime watching nerves, but nonetheless he drives me mad. In “Sword and the Wind,” we see him employ one of his family’s secret techniques passed down through generations, a troupe we see often in anime. Usually, they don’t involve sacrificing a number of your own men to run away and save your own ass, but that’s not the part that gets to me either. No, it’s that his famous secret fleeing technique is known as Bakuretsu Funsai, which according to Google Translate comes out to something like Crushing Explosion. However, that’s not what he calls it. The 300-year-old tradition passed down through the noble houses of England is a Japanese technique, as are all of his others that he pulls out throughout the series. Translation is never easy, nor is it ever perfect, but some shows do it better than others. Ronin Warriors translates all of its specialty named techniques with some being lost in translation. Bleach doesn’t rename any of its moves, leaving them in their native Japanese, Spanish, or German in the anime which at least feels consistent. Berserk takes the half and half approach of Inuyasha, renaming some things and leaving others in Japanese which just feels jarring in the moment and takes you out of the experience. At least Inuyasha was set in feudal Japan, not medieval France…
4. Kneel Before Zod(d)
Zodd plays a major role in the series despite having his role significantly lessened from the manga–so much so that he will be the inspiration for both of my next thoughts. We see Zodd introduced in the aptly named episode “Zodd the Immortal” through the secondary characters exchanging folk tales about a mysterious warrior who has been fighting for over 100 years, who can defeat any warrior, and despite reports of his death, always seems to be in the next battle. Shockingly, we see that these stories pale in comparison to the actual Zodd. We see him toss Guts around like a ragdoll, brag about his 300 years of combat, and even reattach his own arm after Griffith cuts it off. I’ll pause here to just note that anyone who responds to having their arm cut off by picking up that arm and beating you with it is a true badass in my book. Zodd represents the evil that is lurking in the world, right bellow the surface. Other than the first episode, which takes place years in the future chronologically, and the opening credits, we don’t see anything supernatural other than the behelit in the series thus far. Even the behelit is written off as a creepy trinket, not something sinister. When Guts sees Zodd, he is terrified. We see him almost unable to fight when faced with even Zodd’s human form, and can barely grasp what is happening as Zodd changes into his true demonic self. This is a sharp contrast to his handling of the Baron in the first episode. Against Zodd, Guts is clearly the prey, however against the Baron he is clearly the predator. It again foreshadows that something significant is going to happen to change Guts’ fate. Luckily, Zodd gives us a few clues.
5. The Egg of the King
Zodd spares Guts and Grifith once he sees the behelit around Griffith’s neck. Zodd then lets Guts in on some details that Grittifh left out about the so-called Egg of the King. Remember that Griffith claims he was told that whoever possesses it is destined to rule the world in exchange for his flesh and blood, a self-sacrifice that Griffith is more than willing to make to achieve his dream. Zodd tells Guts that when Griffith’s ambition crumbles, that it will mean a death for him that he cannot escape. Zodd explains that it is Guts and Griffith’s bond that will lead to Guts’ doom, some real subtle foreshadowing here. This again leads us to the question of fate versus self determination. Griffith prides himself on carving his own destiny, but is seemingly playing a bit part in a tragedy of demonic design. Guts is struggling to find his role in the world, only to be told the path is on to find freedom that leads to his foretold death. Is there even free will? Is the struggle to free oneself from destiny simply destiny playing itself out? This is where the streamlining of characters ends up hurting the anime. Here we seem to have a clear answer from Zodd: man cannot stand in the way of destiny. However, his counterpart of the Skull Knight, who insists that destiny can and must be changed, has been removed. I challenge you to question Zodd’s interpretation anyway even if the anime seems to have its thumb on the scale.
