Last time on Berserk: rocks fell and everyone died. But let’s look at the bright side! Literally; it’s daytime now! It can’t possibly get any worse! Certainly not here at the end!
Oh, who the hell am I kidding?
Today, we’re wrapping up Conviction with the following chapters:
- Daybreak
- The Arrival
- Determination and Departure
‘Daybreak’ begins with the survivors surveying the wreckage of the tower. Casca shivers in the cold, so Guts wraps her up in his cloak, and my heart melts into a puddle inside my chest. Nina survived in her barrel, Luca dove into a well and she’s fine too. All’s well that ends well!
Pun very much intended, and no, I won’t apologize.
Until the Kushans arrive. Yeah, remember them? They’re still at war with Midland, and now they’re here in pursuit of Guts, as well as under some warning from their Oracle. Even Silat and the Bakiraka are here! Which means Guts and the others have no time to rest; time for the next fight!
Business as usual for the Black Swordsman.
It’s an alright battle. Short as it is, everyone gets a chance to shine. Even Azan – who also survived, by the way – pops out to save the women after the Kushans literally lasso them like cattle. Even with the extra support, Guts is worried; after a whole night of fighting for their lives, do they have the strength left for another fight?
Luckily, there’s no need. Because guess who?
After getting over the initial shock of seeing Zodd, Guts looks up to find his other supernatural bestie, Skull Knight, standing atop what’s left of a wall. Pointing. Menacingly. Heart hammering in his chest, Guts turns, and the chapter ends.
*Quick aside: I love how seamlessly these two chapters flow into one another. ‘Daybreak’ ends with Guts turning his head, and ‘The Arrival’ begins with his reaction to what he sees. It’s a minor detail, but it gives the story a good sense of flow and cohesion.
A light shines in the near distance. White birds fly away, leaving glowing feathers in their wake. It’s beautiful, almost angelic.
Then he appears.
The characters’ reactions are a perfect reflection of the audience’s. Stunned silence. Awe. Like they’re witnessing a miracle. Or, in our and Guts’ case; the resurrection of an all-too familiar face.
What follows is one of, if not the, most powerful moment in Guts’ character arc. Upon seeing Griffith, he is consumed with rage and hate, the world around him being swallowed by darkness. His face blurs as he charges forward to kill Griffith once and for all, utterly consumed by his inner demon.
Until he hears her.
This is the culmination of Guts’ growth throughout this arc. For years, he wandered aimlessly through the darkness in search for the man standing before him now, nearly becoming a monster in his anger and hatred. Now, facing the prey he’d hunted for all that time, he stops himself. Because the thing that is most important, the only person that truly matters to him, is not the man in front of him. It’s the woman behind him. Her voice, so small and weak, unable to even form proper words, pulls him back from that all-consuming shadow. In this moment, you can see him remember why he came to this tower in the first place. Not to kill Griffith, but to save Casca.
This one page is an utter storm of emotions. Hatred, rage, shock, love, sorrow, joy, it makes me feel so many things all at once in a way no other story I’ve ever read has been able to do! It’s a shining example of the late Kentaro Miura’s genius, as well as a perfect showcase of what makes Berserk so special to so many people! ‘Perfection’ is the only word I could use to describe it!
Silat breaks the spell, ordering his men to capture Griffith, completely ignoring the giant fuck-off minotaur monster kneeling at the angelic figure’s feet. As do his men, because they actually go and do it. Take a guess how that turns out.
So the fight is back on. The Kushans are after Griffith, so everyone else has a chance to escape. Everyone, that is, except for, you guessed it, Guts and Casca. The latter is trying in vain to reach Griffith, crying out for him, while the former holds her back.
Then he turns to meet Guts’ gaze.
This is such a chilling note to end the chapter on. It goes to show just how much Griffith has changed from the man we knew back in the Golden Age. Not only are his eyes completely different, but his face is utterly blank. Like you’re staring not at a man, but a statue of a divine figure. It’s creepy, even more so when you remember the monster lurking beneath that pretty face.
‘Determination and Departure’ begins with the whole crew (Azan, Serpico, Farnese, Jerome, Isidro, Luca, and Nina) noticing that Guts and Casca aren’t running away with them. Isidro tries to run back for them, causing a halt in the line. Just in time, too; the Kushans have arrived in force, and the survivors were only a few tentative steps away from being spotted.
Can I just say: the Kushan army is really cool. War elephants, badass armor, it’s got it all! And fun fact that I just learned: they’re based on the real Kushan dynasty, one of the four great Eurasian powers back in 1st century CE. I’ll leave a link to a Britannica article right here if you want to learn more. Give it a read, they’re super interesting, and it’s fun to see learn about the real world inspiration behind works of fiction like Berserk.
As the Kushans arrive, so too does Griffith depart. He sits atop Zodd without a care in the world, flying off to… somewhere. Meanwhile, Guts has stolen a horse, and now he is fighting his way out with Casca and Puck in tow. The remainder of the survivors watch them go, sure that they’ll escape, with Isidro vowing to find Guts once again.
Even after all of the nightmarish shit he dealt with the previous night, the kid still wants Guts to teach him. Honestly, you gotta respect the hustle.
Having successfully escaped, the survivors lament over the nature of man, their worship of divine figures like God, free will and destiny, so on and so forth. It’s basically just Luca explaining the themes of the arc to you, just in case you didn’t quite understand it. It’s a fine scene, albeit one lacking in subtlety. Still, Luca has been a thoughtful and philosophical character since her first page, so I guess it’s fitting.
It does, however, transition very nicely into a scene I rather like. Luca, ever kind and caring, gathers a small bouquet of flowers for the Egg of the World. No one else knew him, no one else would mourn him, so she decides to be the one to do it. It’s pointless; even she acknowledges that. But in her mind, a sinner of any kind needs at least one person to grieve them. By all accounts, the Egg was a creepy monster, yet she is still willing to show it this small kindness. God, I love this character!
She also breaks the fourth wall and acknowledges that she’s not a main character. Berserk humor can be strange sometimes.
Now that all is said and done, Luca and her girls prepare to set out (and bum some cash and supplies off of poor Jerome). But not Nina. She runs into Joachim (remember the guy she lured to the creepy cult and pushed off a cliff? That one) who also managed to survive somehow. More than that, he even forgives her!
He’s a kinder man than I. If it were me, I’d have drowned the witch right then and there.
In her final scene in the story, Nina comes to a surprising decision: she’s going to leave Luca and the others to live on her own with Joachim. She sees herself in him, and she believes that together, the two can help each other become better people. So the two depart without a word, with Nina making a silent promise to see Luca again when she can properly stand on her own two feet. It’s a fitting and satisfying end to her character. Loathsome as she may be, I’ll always say that Nina is a well-written character through and through.
Speaking of well-written characters: Farnese, Serpico, and Azan all are experiencing a crisis of faith. Farnese built her whole world around the church and its power, and in one night she watched it crumble to dust. Azan put his faith in his knights and in the goodness of people, and both he and his men had been left to die. As for Serpico…
Well, he never really cared for the church anyways, so he’s fine.
Here, the three set their next course. Farnese, now seeing Guts as some prophet saint who will guide her to enlightenment, swears to pursue the Black Swordsman with Serpico in tow. Azan, meanwhile, decides to return to the holy city and take responsibility for the annihilation of the Holy Iron Chain Knights.
Finally, as the saga draws to a close, we join Skull Knight on a hill overlooking the landscape, doing his usual routine of looking awesome and being cryptic.
Thus ends the Conviction saga.
I won’t lie: that took a lot longer than I thought it would.
As much as I love it, I do think it’s got some problems. The hordes of acidic blob monsters were terrifying at first, but they got kind of old by the end. Mozgus was one of the series’ best villains… up until he turned into a generic shounen bad guy. While I do think Nina is a well-written character, she does get really annoying really quickly.
Even so, this is still one of the greatest manga stories I’ve ever read! The art is among the best in the whole series, the fight scenes are fucking AWESOME, the pacing is perfect, and the character writing is nothing short of spectacular! For every one thing it does wrong, it does fifteen incredibly!
Besides, Luca alone makes this saga a 10/10. The best girl to end all best girls.
Now it’s time to put it behind us. Because now we dive into the longest, and what many people would consider the best, saga in Berserk’s entire run. Next week, we’re starting the Falcon of the Millennium Empire saga!
Buckle up, folks. It’s gonna be a long, wild ride!
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