However, John has to point out that Emiya Kiritsugu actually has a better understanding of God and humanity. Don't believe John? Think he's just another talking otter/dog?
Need further from John? Look no further than Kiritsugu's command seal.
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| Ironically, John doubts Kiritsugu believed in the existence of God. |
The state of Berserk
One can't help but to give it to Miura "he will be an enemy of the States by the time this post is done" Kentaro. If you think E.L "unrelated to LeBron" James was insane in whatever portrayal of sadism in her 50 Shades series, you haven't seen G.R.R "not J.R.R" Martin. If you think Martin was worse... well, you're right. There's a problem, though. That problem has a name, he's called the guy who created Berserk.
The thing with manga is this: It's always more graphic than the novels. The format is always dialogue and image based. Description will always be revealed in the form of pictures, hence the saying "a picture speaks more than a thousand words". Let alone two pictures combined into one.
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| 6 billion souls all over the world are worth more than just one nation of Britain. That's basically how one story ended and another continued. |
Some 17 years ago, someone in my ITE class mentioned that the government banned Berserk. Which wasn't surprising. Fast forward some 17 years later and whatever John knows about the series hailed from the wiki instead of the manga/anime. That plus YouTube vids like this one below.
Now it must be stated that Berserk is definitely more offensive than Harry Potter when it comes to the conservatives. Harry Potter has witchcraft and a homosexual wizard, but the portrayal of "Christianity" in Berserk is... well, disturbing. There's this shining city in the middle of one big wasteland of a world (?). Then there's this portrayal of a messianic figure by the name of Griffith. You have names like Apostles, God Hand, predestination, and (?) Mozgus. Even the Holy See and the Bible/Scriptures are not spared.
Simply put, this is NOT the kind of work suited for the immature. If there's anything stuff like Berserk has taught John, it'd be the fact that appreciating a story doesn't require being the yes-man/otter in the face of everything. Sadly, maturity is never a matter of whether you're a legal adult.
A problem that is uniquely Japanese
Racism exists everywhere. It exists in multicultural nations like America and Singapore, it also exists in monocultural societies. Japan would be one of those (together with China and the entire Korean Peninsula). When it comes to viewing the gaijin, there's no difference between Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton in the eyes of a patriotic Japanese. Which is why any show of creative animosity towards Christianity has got nothing to do with Democrats or Okinawa. In fact, anti-Christian sentiments did go way longer than one might expect. While the Sengoku era did have daimyos like Oda Nobunaga (perhaps the most famous one of his time) appreciating foreign talents, the Tokugawa shogunate era starting from Tokugawa Ieyasu was effectively a protectionist regime. Every form of foreign influence was declared illegal. That included Christianity. Needless to say, the Bible was considered 100% contraband. Ask any Japanese, Kutsuna "not Ito" Shiori or no Kutsuna "not Ito" Shiori, about the Shimabara Rebellion. This was the Japanese version of the Bar Kokhba revolt.
Fast forward to N years later and... well, plenty of things have improved, but still a lot of space for improvement. In fact, John wouldn't discount the possibility of anti-gaijin culture animosity being a major factor behind Ito "not Kutsuna" Shiori getting herself into trouble for speaking out.
It's not just the #MeToo movement targeted by anti-gaijin sentiments (that is if it's really the case). Christianity also got affected in the form of the most convenient target when it comes to being the creative straw dummy. If you think Berserk was bad, wait till you start reading Drifters.
So are there exceptions despite the majority? John has to say the answer is yes. When it comes to equal gender rights, there's Miyazaki "anime was a mistake" Hayao.
When it comes to being creatively flexible towards Christianity, there's Nasu "the magic mushroom" Kinoko.
http://typemoon.wikia.com/wiki/Unlimited_Blade_Works#Variations
http://typemoon.wikia.com/wiki/Shirou_Emiya#Shroud_of_Martin
Why Berserk must be banned in the blue half of the States as well
At this point, I believe I've explained why Miura "Enemy of the States" Kentaro should be seen as a persona non grata in any red state (minus the racism ofc). Let's talk about why Berserk may be more pro-conservative than people are led to believe.
Berserk is secretly pro-life
Abortion has always been debated as to whether it's an act of murder. When Guts was discovered by a passing band of mercenaries, it meant only one thing: Just let that kid die by himself.
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| Please note that dear little life waiting to be aborted below the tree. Yeah, that's Guts. |
This is the kind of statement every pro-life individual doesn't want to hear. Unfortunately, the said bunch of sellswords were... well, pro-choice. Okay, that's overgeneralising the situation. The mercenaries believed Guts to be a bad omen. After all, which child is capable of surviving like that? It's not as if he's the reincarnation of the Skull Knight. Thankfully, there's a pro-life member amongst them. Needless to say, that member was not a he, but she.
When it comes to evangelicals, folks enjoy calling them crazy people following a crazed preacher named Paul. While Shisu wasn't an evangelical, she's definitely pro-life. The problem, however, was... well, she's said to have gone insane after suffering a miscarriage. Ironically, the world of Berserk is one where the sane can easily become monsters wearing the human guise. Compared to everyone else, Shisu was actually far saner, pro-life or no pro-life. Sadly, Berserk is a series where the most righteous person can die from a freak accident. When Guts turned three, Shisu was struck by some plague. Long story short, she died even though she's of the same gender as Daenerys Targaryen.
That's where things went downhill for Guts hereafter. Come to think of it, any pro-choice person living in such a world would have let Guts die, bad omen or no bad omen. Maybe Shisu's really pro-life, who knows?
Berserk is anti-atheistic
Good news to people like Bill "not Haslam" Nye: There's no such thing as God in Berserk. Bad news for people like Bill "not Haslam" Nye: That doesn't make the world of Berserk any less screwed up. Assuming John's conjecture was off the mark, at best Berserk could only be said as an agnostic world. The problem? There's no evidence that the world of Berserk is agnostic. In other words, it's still an atheistic world. Which now comes to this image below.
On the first glance, the Idea of Evil was the God of Berserk. However, people must understand two things.
["It's because I wanted Berserk's world to be revealed just that far, not any more than that. The appearance of god in the manga conclusively determines its range. I thought that might limit the freedom of the story development. I myself don't know if the Idea of Evil will show up again in the manga or not."]
Above statement was spoken by none other than Miura himself. Essentially, it means either this or that. To further enrage the Democrats (not John, but Miura-san), this was what the nearest thing to a god had to say.
["Reasons for pain. Reasons for sadness. Reasons for life. Reasons for death. Reasons why their lives were filled with suffering. Reasons why their deaths were absurd. [Humans] wanted reasons for the destiny that kept transcending their knowledge. And I produce those, as it is what I have been brought into existence for."]
Effectively, the Idea of Evil isn't God. Rather, it represents the human desire to be God. The desire to understand things not meant to be revealed is the definition of Pandora's Box. People want to open it. No one tempted them to do so. They just want to do it. In this sense, the Idea of Evil could be seen as more of a Satan than God. And therein comes the question: How would one proceed to know his/her own fate if no guide can be found?
Qliphoth=the Berserk word for humanity
Humanity is such a nasty thing, isn't it? That is until you realise you're part of humanity. Of course, this is not to say John isn't one himself as well. The identity of an otter is what one would call a pseudonym. In short... yeah, I'm also part of humanity.
If this sounds depressing to you, it's because this sounds depressing to John as well. Trust John. Qliphoth as a realm is one where the evil desires of people converged. The evil desires stated here isn't a case of something conceived by the main conscious. Rather, the evil desires hailed from the subconscious aspect of humanity. If you think it's fictional, think again. Consider why the irrational right exists. Consider why the irrational left exists. Consider why the red-blue divide is mocking the United States of America as the Disunited States of America. It's very easy to fault the Democrats. It's very easy to fault the Republicans. It's very easy to... well, fault the LGBTQ community and evangelicals for the volcanic activity at Hawaii. This is why Miura-san is now the enemy of the States. So how does the Qliphoth express itself? Three types of demons.
1. The cowards. These are the harmless scavengers feeding on whatever leftover pieces from the last troll feast. An example would be this.
2. The ugly. They represent the ugliness of humanity. An example would be this.
3. The evilest ones. While John doesn't know how ogres express their... well, human nature beyond mass destruction, the trolls are another type of monstrosity altogether. Don't ask John how. You won't like the truth. Seriously.
Godo or Godot=Enoch (?)
There's an interesting part in the Berserk plot. On one hand, Miura portrayed "Christianity" in a negative light via the Holy See and the reason why it's nigh impossible/impossible not to hate Mozgus with fervour and zeal. On the other side of "Christianity", there's a village named after a great man in the Old Testament. Namely, Enoch.
It's interesting to note that churches exist everywhere in the world of Berserk. You have the more organised ones like the Holy See (i.e. the Berserk version, not the real one). Then you have the much smaller ones like what you saw in the village of Enoch. And yes, the troll-killing scene took place in a village named after that great man from Genesis.
Then you have a greater shock. Namely, a character named Godot. However, there's a problem. And that is how Godot as a name should be pronounced. Instead of Go-dot, it's pronounced as... well, just watch the vid below.
In Japanese, god is translated as kami. However, this is NOT in the katakana format when it comes to pronunciation. The Japanese have an interesting way to pronounce English words. If they're to use the katakana format to pronounce the name Godot, it should be something like Go-do-to. As it turned out, Godo as a name sounds weirdly like how one pronounces the word god. Because of the medieval setting of Berserk, having a character with a name like this has to be the greatest shock any Christian/Orthodox Jew can undergo.
As a character, Godo (because I'm going by the katakana format so as to speak) is one of the two sane characters in the series, the other being Shisu despite her apparent insanity. Godo's role in the series served as Guts' conscience. Or more specifically, the voice of conscience reining Guts in lest he forgets the correct reason (i.e. Casca) to keep on soldiering. At the same time, the sword Guts is now using to pwn demons is called the Dragon Slayer. As a weapon, it has no magic properties. In Guts' hands, it becomes every demon's worst nightmare (which in turn implied that Guts was never simply an unwanted infant better off dead). It feels weird knowing that Satan was also known as a dragon and that Godo was the one forging the Dragon Slayer.
Predestination in a world without God=Contradiction of the Millenium?
Not really if John says so himself. Predestination requires the presence of a god-figure. Say for example you're a Singaporean living under the Singaporean education system. If you can't adapt to the standard demanded by the system, you're a failure and you don't deserve to be called useful. If you can adapt to the standard, you're on your way to work in some A*STAR research facility. This is called predestination where human standards become the god.
In the world of Berserk where God doesn't exist, it is up to another force to play the predestination game. Guts was a struggler for a reason. He didn't want to be bossed by a fate he doesn't want. While there's no way to know exactly Guts' (and Casca's) final destination, it must be stated the world of Berserk is one without hope. And in a world without hope, there's no heaven but only hell. Simply put, Guts and Casca were doomed to the worst manner of hell for all we know.
Try seeing things this way:
If you're mentally ill, you deserve hell.
If you're involuntarily celibate, you deserve to be looked down upon.
If you're part of the LGBTQ community, you deserve to rid the world of yourself.
Effectively speaking, there's no difference between a struggler in the world of Berserk and a struggler in the real world. If you think predestination in a world without God is to be the Contradiction of the Millenium, that's because you may not realise such a contradiction is much more real than you'd like to think otherwise.
Final words
John would like to write a bit more, not the least why Griffith was nothing more than a false messiah due to the non-existence of God. However, that'd only create more trouble for Miura-san due to the political culture in America, both the red and blue.
Actually, that's a lie. John needs to go eat dinner now.
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