Completely agree. What's with the new appearance? There was some implication that she IS a new person after everything she has gone through as Casca and Elaine, which is understandable, but still I don't really see any of the old Casca in there. This might turn into another 20 years of waiting before she becomes herself again. Don't know if I prefer that over being stuck with this Casca. Of course it's way too early to be able to tell much but at this point I am also not too hopeful..
You never really go back to being the person you used to be after a mental collapse, but she gets to be the one who decides who she is now. I think there's something to be hopeful of there.
I don't think so. I think she is just getting all her memories back--the good, bad and the horrific. I don't think her memories are altered and she'll see Griffith as a victim but become to hate him and will want revenge for what he did to her and her unborn child. I honestly think her and Guts are going to talk.
Maybe I should have phrased myself a little bit differently and instead of saying “behaves not like old Casca” I should have said “behaves not realistically”. What we see in the chapter is not a realistic depiction of how Casca (or anybody) would react in this situation. In this whole chapter (apart from the very end) she is calm and collected, does not ask any question (!) and just…goes with everything. She says she remembers everything from her time as “Elaine”, but how can that fit these reactions. She went through horrible, horrible things as Elaine, including multiple attempted rapes (one time from Guts), almost burning at the stake, giving birth to a monstrosity, an endless onslaught of monsters etc. And on the less gruesome side she also witnessed so many creatures and feats of magic, she previously did not know were possible/existed (including the fairy king right in front of her). Also, she greets her caregivers, strangers she did not know previously, and who needed to take care of her 24/7, who fed her/bathed her etc. and who just came out of her mind, with basically “Hey guys, nice to meet you”. That is certainly not how I would react. And also if the last thing she remembers from being herself is going to rescue Griffith….how come she never asks about him?? Seriously, that is so glaringly out of character it hurts. The other stuff I could chalk up, very grudgingly, to “Well she is still confused and very much in a dream like state”, but not this.
And that is the point I´m so disappointed in. Portraying Casca and her reactions to what happened to her is not at all what this chapter is about. It is about her as a romantic ideal for Guts and the readers expectations of their happy reunion. That is why she wears this horrible dress and is drawn so much more feminine, pretty and *sigh* young. This chapter may feature Casca front and center, but in the end it is not about her at all. And after 21 years of potato Casca (or Elaine, which is a nicer name for it) this is just disheartening.
Like I said in my first comment, this is only one chapter and not much to go on yet and it is very much possible that, after playing with the expectations of the audience in this chapter, Miura will dive in the messy, gritty and ugly realities of what happened to her from Cascas own perspective. But with how the chapter ends, there is a possibility that this is not going to happen and in the next chapter we might get how she remembers Guts as the bad guy in the eclipse and how tragic that is….for him.
I´m glad other people are more hopeful then me and I really hope my fears will proof to be unjustified. But yeah, I was incredible excited going into chapter 355 and now I´m just tired...
I was thinking like you at first "what the hell with this dress, and this behavior". But I think it was just the part of Casca with the good memories of her time with the band of Hawk and her other self. At this point she's still not fully awake (like she said), she most certainly needs a switch to make her remember the horrible part of her journey.. And saddly what better switch than Guts, the one that was with her all along her trauma (slaughter of her companions and rape), and who had also lead them to Griffith's despair, lost of control and confinement (but I don't think she will resent Guts for that since she remember him helping the Hawk rescue Griffith).
The dress then become more appropriate, it illustrates her happiness, joy to see the man she loves: her innocence freshly recovered but not at all her dark side: the horror of the battlefield, her warrior part. And of course she is a warrior but here whe mostly have a girl in love. I think Casca will become very soon more like the old Casca we liked! Hope so, but she will certainly be changed, marked.
And if she was happy at her wake up she will not be that happy after this chapter. And to be dressed as a woman will certainly not pleased her!
Maybe she will not want to see Guts because he'd make her remember, but if she is the Casca and she doesn't break like after the eclipse, she will certainly want to be alone and will have to speak to Guts (in the end Guts will certainly suffer a lot of it, again... or not?).
"... it illustrates her happiness, joy to see the man she loves..."
I get what you mean, but the reason, why I see/want to see all of the things in this chapter as playing with the expectations of the reader and as not actually true, is that I do not think Casca and Guts are or were ever actually in love. I mean they did care for each other and they had a lot in common, most prominently their desire to be closer to Griffith, putting them in a position where they could comfort each other. But real love? Nope. For Casca the man she loved has always been Griffith, even though that was never a healthy love in any way. The same goes for Guts, whether his feelings for Griffith are romantic or not. Also, I do not think Guts focusing on saving Casca was ever a proof of his love for her. Yes, he does it because he cares about her, but for me it was never because she was his big love, but because to him she is the last thing remaining from the Band of the Hawk, the last piece which represents the warmth from the days past. Plus, it is more complicated than that. Through Guts inner beast it was made, in my opinion, very clear that for him (insane) Casca is also a symbol for Griffiths betrayal and change into a monster and that he was using her to keep the pain and the rage over this fresh.
Anyway, what I want to say is that to me Cascas and Guts relationship is complicated and important, but not really a romantic one. Something I always felt validated through an interview with Miura, where he said I did not plan for Guts and Casca to get together, but included it midway to make things more dramatic. But on the other hand in the same interview he talks about how he does not really plan ahead, but just makes the story as it goes along ….so yeah, maybe he now feels like going really for romance between Casca and Guts -.-
I get why many people apparently want that, but to me that would really not fit with how it was presented previously and it would be really boring compared with the other directions this story could take. Not to mention that I shudder at the thought of what Cascas story arc will become if there is really a focus on romance…..
I respect your opinion and agree with you up to a point, but the fact that Casca looks like a completely new character seems just right to me. As you said, her memories are still messed up so that's why I think she remembers differently. Her memories came to her as if she was Elise. She forgot her child, she forgot the whole eclipse and now Gutts was the trigger that made her remember everything (hopefully she will remember correctly).
Casca has just woken up, but haven't came back..yet. In the following chapters she will slowly become the knight she was.
I know you must've waited a lot for the story to reach this point. Please just wait a little bit more, even if it seems to be harder than the previous period of time you spent with waiting :)
Elaine* not Elise. My bad :)
So hopeful :D I still cannot muster up the trust in Miura, that he will do justice by her.
But only one week left and we will know more!
You're right he might choose not to make it a happy ending for this arc. It's supposed to be a tragedy after all
I´m hoping for a Devilman Ending tbh.
Aaaaaand I guess we get back to Casca in a few motnhs....god damn it
Not sure what to think yet, let´s see what happens in the next few chapters. It might look like she remembers Guts as the bad guy in the eclipse and Griffith as the victim? But like I said let´s see how it will play out in the next chapter.
Still, I´m a really conflicted about this chapter. I reread Berserk in its entirety to celebrate the fact that Casca is coming back and so far (which is arguably not much yet) she really does not seem like herself at all? Of course she just regained her sanity after years of spending in some sort of vegetative state and her memories are still really messed up, but all her reactions and dialog just did not fit old Casca at all. Instead of reminding me of pre-eclipse Casca, she seemed to be a completely new character. And I´m really bothered by that. Also her appearance is really....changed. I do not think I have ever seen her childlike like that and I hated, hated the dress. Because that is important in this moment...that she wears a cute dress...totally fitting... yepp.
Anyway, like I said this one chapter is really not much to go on yet and after 21 years of waiting the actual return is bound to disappoint, because what you actually get will never fit exactly what you imagined for so many years. But still, I always loved pre-eclipse Casca and really wanted her to be her own character again, instead of a plot-device and an object Guts can angst over, and this chapter really does not make me hopeful......