I am going to reply this paragraph by paragraph so that it doesn't get confusing.
This is a long post so i will address just some of the things i disagreed about after reading your well written post. This is of course just my view:
Berserk was always guts's story. The struggle of man against the inevitable. Guts's story was always about a straight forward guy , a simpleton who despite his lack of "qualities", "status" and "luck" found a way to survive and at the same time was always controlled by the "fate" he so viciously fought against throughout the manga.He survived despite everything and despite having "seemingly" no connection to the forces which created and governed Griffith fate. And yet, at the same time we see throughout the manga time and time again how Guts is fighting a losing battle, he cannot win no matter what he does, it's the wheel of fate.The slew of causalities as you wrote it have governed both Guts and Griffith lives, in a way it was made to look as if Guts was just a pawn in Griffith's string, and despite all of that till this day we don't know where Gut's ultimate end and fate lies, it was a mystery established from the early parts of the manga. The "rise of deus ex machina" in his character as you wrote it, isn't that. The whole point of his character is his constant struggle for survival, beating certain death, continuing to live without knowing what are the things that allow him to survive these impossible situations, what truly "governs" his fate.
I never stated that this story isn't about Guts. Yes, it is his tale. He is the main character of the manga. However, that was not the argument I tried to make; my main problem with the manga is the "bag of tricks" Guts' entire character seems to work with. It isn't about surviving against impossible odds anymore. It's about the constant survival against impossible odds and opponents who can end his life with silly ease, but simply choose not to on ridiculous whims. It's this constant cycle of, '
manga has introduced a villain, now let's wait for Guts to respond in a tried and recycled fashion' and he always wins.
If a character keeps on beating ridiculous odds all the time, what's the point of any agents' offering hurdles? The man has become a gimmick in his own manga. It has become so predictable now as when an arc starts I already know beforehand that Guts will get through in a savage, blood-spattering frenzy that looks really silly now. The very first time Guts' survived was because Femto chose not to kill him. He didn't survive on his own merit. It was because Femto let him. Hence, his own journey began because Griffith chose to let him live in hell. He didn't kill Casca because of the child. So, both his reasons had logic behind it that was revealed years ahead in the narrative scheme. How can you tell me that it is not poor writing?
We knew that these lesser gods governed fates. Void's speech taught us as much. The deliberation was on Femto's part now. He chose to deliberate, and we were left hanging for god knows how long. It's just poor writing. Femto juggling fates make sense; this is what the story is built upon. In fact, Griffith's fate is what turned this story into a plot. As I explained, you take Griffith out of the equation and the whole thing just falls apart. You cannot really compare Guts' fates to Griffith's. Both are very different ball games.
Guts is one of the most scarred characters in manga history, he was tortured from the beginning, used as a soldier as a child, mentally and physically tortured throughout his life, lost everything he had after gaining a semblance of a family with the band of the hawk as well as his loved one at the eclipse. He lost his best friend- turned enemy, he's gone almost mad in his quest for revenge, harboring growing hate that eats him from within, and was on the verge of turning into the "monster" he fought against several times throughout the story. He was never the perfect guy, the good guy who always wins like Naruto, but completely the opposite; we've witnessed a man's slow decent into madness, a man whose body had been brutalized beyond repair; he lost his arm, eye and part of his mind in that scene which you described as nonsense - a scene which was the culmination of the whole "Golden age arc" and the basis for the story that was established in chapter one. If you want, we'll discuss why that scene was so important but i won't expand in this post.
I wouldn't say the most, but that would just be my own opinion. I respectfully disagree with this. I find Sasuke and Nagato from Naruto to have far terrible pasts and lives compared to Guts. Heck, I find Griffith's year long torture to be far more harrowing than what Guts' faced. Whilst I do understand his attachment to hawk, I cannot fathom the
extent of his attachment to the people he merely knew for about two years. This much attachment to people whom he knew for such a short span of time is neither realistic nor understandable. And that's why Guts' irks me. His character is hyperbolic. It's exaggerated rather than grounded in reality.
Such friendships are forged over several years, not two. Keep that in mind that he had to fight hard to get into the band during his first year, despite Griffith's favour. No one trusted him. They belittled and humiliated him. It was Griffith that stepped in to aid him repeatedly. I have never understood why he has laid claim over hawk. They were never his men. They were Griffith's and they were fully willing to sacrifice themselves for his dream. They stated so many times. Why stake your claim over such men that had pledged their allegiances to another and were willing to end their lives to become his stepping stones from the very beginning?
Why forget the times when Griffith saved his life more than once by putting his own and the lives of his troops in danger? There are two sides to every coin. Sure, Guts' thinks that they got betrayed, but what about Griffith's acts of mercy towards him? Even when he was a man near death, Griffith's quick thinking still saved them in the dungeons. How can he forget all those acts? Why fight for people that were never his family? Why start a quest for vengeance that is built upon blossoming friendships rather than years of trust and love? We know from Casca's confession that when she was saved, Griffith already had troops. Most probably the formations of his hawk. He knew them for years. How can he climb this pedestal all on its own? It's an anathema to me. Everything he does is just so ... overblown that it appears nonsensical as a whole.
I don't know what part are you in the manga but the Berserker armor is anything but what you described; it's a cursed item that is eating up whatever's left of Gat's ravaged body with every use. Gut's physical state is in its worst its ever been and he continues to amass injuries and damage, both mentally and physically with each "victory". Just like the Behelit, that armor will play a crucial part in what's to come.
That Behelit is the most significant item within the plot, and it's clear that Miura has kept it in order to use it perhaps at the most crucial point - whenever that may be. It's another mystery established from the start that casts its shadow on the story. SK's and the Baby's roles as well as Griffith's extent of his powers, knowledge and "sight" will probably be addressed by Miura when the time is right. Gut's "inner demon" is a representation of his hate, his darkest desires and thoughts, it's represented as a hound, because it calls back to when Casca called Guts a "rabid dog"; Miura had always intended to depict Guts that way.
I have read 270 chapters so far with a few summaries of the coming arcs. And so far, it doesn't seem all that promising. I am well aware of the items. Yes, it is cursed. I believe I did state so as well. If I didn't then the mistake lies on my part. My issue again is with the sudden '
popping up' of the item at such a convenient time when Griffith had sent in his apostles to end the witch's life. For someone who controls the threads of fates, he never saw this coming? That is why I called it contrived because it just is as the author has already shoved in a comical reason that, "
yo, they can, like, escape it too!" What is the whole point of the original world lore, then? This renders it almost pointless, because one can easily predict that Guts' will he
that man who defies and eludes fates. He's just meant to be that
special! Things and people appearing at the nick of time to solve issues in a plot is never good writing. Not to mention it defies the lore of the gods established by the plot itself. What was the point of it all if special cases can escape its grasp? It just makes the whole story crumble.
Of course, they will play crucial parts. Which is why I posted that long post: it's Deus Ex Machina. The author is deliberately pulling things out of his posterior without any decent exposition or threads to justify any of those. What is the use of the Behelit beyond what we have seen? Its true use? About fifteen plus years onwards, we are still in the dark and it's an absurdly stretched out cliche at this point. He is simply brushing things under the cloak of "
causality" when the plot itself runs on it: it's its engine; its lifeline; its sole reason for existence. To create a new kind of causality that runs with the existing plot's causality doesn't make any sense to begin with and it's made more convoluted and poorly written when one can easily see where this is going: Guts' beating the gods! It's the age-old trope and he's just filling that overused mould. What new thing is Miura trying to accomplish here?
This isn't a mystery any more. It is just a piece of writing without any lore, going forward on a whim and then,
BAM!, something happens and the oh so 'crucial' thing gets used. It's just ... ridiculous at this point. When are we going to know what the Behelit does? Probably when Mirua comes up with something highly absurd to create another pathway for Guts' smooth sailing. He doesn't appear to have thought of it yet.
You find Guts's companions to be stupid and plot protected but their role was always in relation to Guts's character development and story line; the recent arcs from the troll arc and onward, were meant to show Guts's growing connection with new companions, having a family again, they were meant to show his ongoing change from the loner that he was at the start of the manga to someone who can depend on others.It was meant to evoke the old band of the hawk in Gut's mind and imo, Miura has been building them up these past few years for a reason and no, not in the way that you described them. They have a purpose in Gut's life. In a way, they are his "band", his "pawns", mirroring Griffith own band and the tragedy that may follow suit.
The manga may have seemed peaceful and a bit redundant these last few years,treading waters. However, i'm sure Miura has been manipulating us - the readers - to get a false sense of security and predictability, before turning the manga on its head once again. Without spoiling - as i don't know if you've reached chapter 347 - but this year may be the most crucial year to the plot since the revival of Griffith.
I find them pointless because they are less than one-dimensional. Guts' has gone through little to no character development while being with them. His internal struggles are a repeated cycle. This isn't development; it's flimsy character progression. He either broods in the corner or he screams and cuts up things. That is all I have been seeing for the past hundred or so chapters. The dog struggles are as exaggerated at ever. At first, he at least had some conflicts, let them be repeated and overplayed gimmicks, but with this witch around, even that is solved with a stroke of a wand, pun intended.
All this group does is be "
solutions" for him when the hawks weren't like this. They were never solutions for impossible odds. Griffith led them like a proper commander. They were just good soldiers. That is what separates them for me. One are practical and the other are caricatures who are sources of solutions for Guts.
I hope it picks up, as the way it is going, I am having a hard time even proceeding onwards. Well, this got too long. I hope I explained my thought process in the most detailed way possible. You can leave the point you wanted to cover but chose not to, but I don't come here that often and you might have to wait for the reply. It's entirely up to you.
" he has and may or may not have in the future of berserk and the series end with Griffith winning and Guts stuck in tragedy and rage for the remainder of his life. So I don't see guts having small powerups here and there and strong comrades a problem.
