Berserk – Casca restored, regains memory

Hello everyone, something monumental, big, no massive just happened in the Berserk manga series written and illustrated by Kentaro Miura. This is an event roughly 21 years in the making! And in chapter 354 that just came out, It happened

Berserk Casca regains memory.

Please note there may be some spoilers.

As someone lucky to stumble upon berserk at a time, the manga had so many chapters already, I was so intrigued with it I couldn’t stop reading till I became like every berserk fan, waiting for the next chapter and praying Kentaro Miura wouldn’t go another hiatus.

As a Berserk fan, this was an incredibly emotional event that I was actually moved to tears a bit, I mean just look at this;

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Gatts and Casca reunion

After all the hype and extremely long build to this. After roughly 21 years! After 27 volumes! After 267 chapters! From 1997 to 2018! I’m seriously emotionally about these two lovers reuniting. Many people, myself included had my doubts the day that Casca would speak again would ever come. If you have any interest in the Berserk manga, which is a masterpiece, now is a good time to jump in. For people not familiar with Berserk, you really should pick it up and let me explain why.

On March 31st, 1997 when the 13th volume first came out, Casca saw all her close friends (band of the hawks) being butchered to death and was then brutally raped by the person she looked up to and loved (Griffith/Femto) while her lover (Guts) pinned to the ground by apostles (demons) and forced to helplessly watch, while he hacked off his arm with a broken sword and got his eye gouged out as he tried to help Casca. This event was known as The Eclipse. And yes it’s a lot to take in but that Berserk with themes of isolation, camaraderie, and questioning whether humanity is fundamentally good or evil is always asked in the story, as it explores both the best and worst of human nature, humanizing our villains so sometimes you really can’t say whose always right or wrong, hero or villain.

event of eclipse Gatts, Griffith, Casca and the Gods Hands

The band of the hawks was a group created by Griffith to make his ambition of having his own kingdom come to pass. But during their rise in power Guts leaves, determined to find his own dreams after overhearing Griffith saying that he doesn’t consider someone a real friend who doesn’t follow their dream but his.

Beserk- Band of the Hawks

Devastated by Guts’ departure and in a moment of madness, Griffith goes to the bedroom of the Princess, who has now fallen in love with him and seduces her into sleeping with him. Griffith was captured by the King’s guards and imprisoned for this. After a long time Guts learns of Griffith’s imprisonment and that the Hawks are now led by Casca. He also finds out that the Hawks are outlaws now and are on the run. Guts come to their aid as they are attacked and save Casca’s life. Casca and Guts plan to leave the Hawks together after they have rescued Griffith.

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Casca and Guts break into the castle’s dungeon and rescue Griffith. However, Griffith has been badly tortured and his body broken so he cannot even speak anymore. Back at the camp, the Hawks begin to fall apart as they realize that Griffith can never lead them again. At this moment Guts realizes that being with the Hawks was what he had wanted all along after all.

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A despairing Griffith hallucinated and tries to kill himself but his blood falls on his magical behelit and triggers a supernatural eclipse. Next thing, the Hawks are all in hell. Surrounded by monsters and four beings known as members of the God Hand. Griffith is the fifth and last member of the God Hand. To be reborn as one of the God Hand, Griffith must sacrifice all the Hawks’ lives. A giant hand rises out of the ground taking Griffith with it.

Griffith sees visions of himself as a child wanting to go visit the castle. As he gets closer to the castle he sees dead bodies pavé the path. An old woman tells him that the only way to the castle is to walk on the path made of the bodies. To complete the path, he must sacrifice more lives. At this moment he sees Guts. We hear Griffith’s thoughts that out of all the tens of thousands of comrades and enemies, Guts was the only one who ever obscured his vision of his dream. Nevertheless, Griffith declares he will sacrifice the Hawks. The hand then closes up with Griffith inside. Then volume 13 happens and since then Guts has hated Griffith.

Guts vs. Griffith

The Eclipse decades ago was so horrific for Casca that it made her regress to a child-like state mentally, shattering her mind. For 21 years she has not been able to speak and acted like a 4-year-old. Damaged and a constant reminder of The Eclipse. It was torture for Guts. Then, the release of volume 22 on December 24th, 2001, suggested that Casca could be healed if they traveled to an island called Elfhelm. And so the long, long, long, long journey to Elfhelm began!

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guts and his new group

In 2015 with the release of chapter 342 they finally made it to Elfhelm. The Queen of Elfhelm recently put Casca and two of her companions (Farnese and Schierke, both women on the right next to Casca) to sleep for Farnese and Schierke to essentially enter Casca’s mind and heal her, bringing her back to how she was before The Eclipse. After many chapters of Farnese and Schierke collecting fragments of Casca’s broken mind within her treacherous dream, as of, February 23rd, 2018, with the official release of chapter 354, they have now obtained the last fragment! The last page of the chapter is Casca seemingly healed and opening her eyes!

Chapter 354 was a whirlwind of powerful emotions, and honestly one of the best chapters in all Berserk so far! I don’t know if some of you quite understand just how big of a deal this moment is, and how insanely anticipated it has been for Berserk fans. It’s quite possibly the biggest moment in the manga when it comes to how the story will now be affected, and that’s saying a lot when it comes to Berserk.

what could happen now in berserk

So now the real question is what happens now does Guts;

  • forget what Griffith has done and stay in Fantasia with Casca
  • goes back to face Griffith in his Utopia, The Death of Griffith arc, begins!
  • will see the Band of the Hawk resurrected as demons/apostles who have their memories. Will Guts still have as much of a reason to hate Griffith?
  • Casca might fall back into old, Golden Age habits and rejoin the cult of Griffith. It’s going strong and world-wide now.
  • might need to turn her back into being broken cause the strain of everything that happened to her might just be too much
  • has another long hiatus (LOL)

Thanks for reading, hope you stick around and check out our other content.

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Now if you’ll excuse me, I need to cry some more tears of joy…

YumDeku
YumDeku

Blogger / Jujutsu Sorcerer / Unpredictable knuckle head Ninja that spends his free time writing, reading, watching and playing all things Anime, Manga and Gaming.

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