[00:00:00] Does that actually work? No, there is no dark mode. I wish there was, but... Why? Like, come on, Google. Google's like, fuck your eyes and fuck your battery life. Fuck your eyes, your back, tits, and ass. Google Docs, Buttfuck Edition. No, no, no. No, I don't want that. It'd be cool though.
[00:00:29] Let's start this fucking episode. Let's do it. What it do, everybody? My name is Aaron. I sleep with my eyes open just like Vince Vaughn. And I'm Jerry, and I'm stealing one of Aaron's intros. And I'm gonna say, don't make fun of my huge spine. Fuck. Gonna come up with two more. Got ya, bitch!
[00:00:47] That's right. Hey, welcome back. Hey, it's SuperPod Saga. It's the greatest collaboration of all time. You know, me and Jerry, we're up here doing things. We talk about shit and we record it and people like it, which is cool. I'm cool with that. They do. I think. I think. I think so too, yeah.
[00:01:16] I don't know. I don't know what's real anymore. For any first time listeners, old Jerry and I were on a quest to discuss every single video game topic in existence week by week. What are we talking about this week, Jerry? We started talking about Folgers. Um, we started talking about things our wives hate about us. Yep. But I guess we're here to talk about the children's book, Berserk. The age old mother goose.
[00:01:46] We're here to tell you guys that there's a very nice family book that you can sit down with your whole entire family and read. Read. I'm sure the immediate first image as soon as you open up volume one will not make you want to bleach your eyes. Nope. But yeah, I think we both just kind of came to this decision of like, fuck it. We do what we want. I mean, Berserk does have ties to video games, right? Like there's no denying it.
[00:02:15] There's so many ties to video games and like so many other things. But we both love Berserk. We didn't realize this until like after we started doing the show together and well into retro rehab. I just kind of was like, yeah, man, I've been reading Berserk and you were like, whoa. All right. Well, I have I have consumed quite a bit of Berserk. And then we became then we made out and became best friends. Yeah, we did. Yeah, we did.
[00:02:41] Well, did you read all the way up until like where the manga is or where did you where did you hop off? I am not caught up. So I dropped off, I guess, before we get into it, I fell off. I wouldn't say fell off. I just took a break. I was reading so, so much of Berserk that it was just like consuming my life. That's all I was doing. I was just reading Berserk.
[00:03:11] And then when I was off from my surgery, I was laid in bed. I was playing video games a whole bunch, too. But like I read a lot of Berserk then as well. And I got to a certain point and it's kind of funny because my buddy and even his friend, who's his boss, they all of us, we all fell off the exact same point.
[00:03:32] And he was saying, I'm at this point now where there's like shit is about to go down again for like the fifth time. And he said, like, it does not let up. And he's read the newest one that just came. It like just came out, I think, like not too long ago, maybe a few weeks ago at the time of this recording. And he's read that.
[00:04:01] And he was like, dude, it doesn't let up. Like once you get over that like little hump that you're at. He was like, it is balls to the wall from there until the wall current, which is wild. And there's even a I think in the new one, there's even like a cute a few panels of the new guy. I don't remember what his name is.
[00:04:29] It was Mira's like his partner, basically. Oh, yeah. That started friend or whatever. So he's the guy that's like take fully taking over now. And I guess he said, like, he knows how this all ends. He knows like Mira told him everything that he was like, this is how it needs to end. Or like gave him basically like gave him the KFC recipe. Like he knows the KFC Pepsi recipe.
[00:04:59] And he he put it like a little cool comic thing in the end of the newest chapter that came out. And it's just like them. And he said, it's kind of like it was realistic. Like he said Mira would like describe in so much detail, like super animated. Like he was like doing all these actions and stuff. He's like, okay.
[00:05:23] And then and then Griffith like stands on a sword and he's like fucking you bitch. And like, like he like he gets all like animated and crazy. And yeah, it was just kind of cute. But yeah, we'll get into it. We'll get into it. We'll get into lots of Berserk shit. We'll get into it. Damn straight. Yeah. Are we going to introduce the guest? Yeah. The guest this week. None. Wait. Yeah, none. Okay. That's the stream. It's the void. Yep.
[00:05:53] It's. Yep. Nobody there. Aaron. Yeah. There's news all the time, right? There is news. What, what could possibly be going on in the world right now that we would want to talk about? I mean, not that. No, not that. Okay. Okay. Okay. And not that other thing either. The retroid flip two looks really cool. Go. Yeah.
[00:06:23] That, I mean, we could talk about it. So, Sony is upping their price. PS5 after the Switch prices came out. What? Are you? Holy shit. I didn't know this was a thing. Hold on. Or not. Hold on. Keep going. Sorry. No. Hold the phones. Call the presses in. What? There you go. Uh huh. Yep. Oh my God.
[00:06:51] They seen those prices and they were like, ha ha ha. Not on our watch. Holy shit. It went up by 50 bucks in Europe. Yep. Oh my God. Okay. It hasn't hit us yet. Yeah. Holy shit. Here's the rundown. So, Australia, it's going up, going up by 30 Australian dollars or for the standard, for the standard PS5 with ultra HD, the disc drive.
[00:07:21] Yeah. The digital edition. Fuck you. That's going up a hundred Australian dollars, baby. New Zealand. And the one with the disc drive, up 50. The digital edition, up 90. Why? Jesus Christ. Yeah. Well, I'll tell you why. The switch to. Oh, I mean, yeah. That's why. Yeah. And. That's fucking insane. And I'll play devil's advocate here.
[00:07:50] And it's due to a litany of other things in this industry. Like, it's easy to go. Ha ha. Look what Sony's doing now. Cause they do dumb shit. They do. I get it. But. Shit's getting fucking expensive. Like, it can't just stay the same price forever. And. Yup. There's a lot of crazy shit happening in like. The world. That is fucking up prices. We're looking at you. You fucking orange goblin.
[00:08:22] Orange goblin man. Ruining video games for everybody. You piece of shit. Yeah. It's a, it's a bad state. It's a bad state. But yeah. That's a, that's the thing that's happening. Also. Uh, people have had their hands on the switch too. There have been events going on in the world. Uh, because I mean. We watched that fucking direct and we were like June 5th. What?
[00:08:47] Like I was expecting like holiday of this year or maybe even 2026. And they were like, no, it's like tomorrow. Basically. Like in terms of announcements, it's basically tomorrow. Yup. Like they announced this thing in April and they were like, yeah, I just, it's like right there. Just open up your door tomorrow. It'll be there. Yeah. Uh, people have had their hands on it and I've seen some people say that Mario Kart world is absolutely awesome.
[00:09:18] Like. Fuck. Yeah. That's exactly what I expected. Like people were saying like, oh, when you do like the free roam shit, like you can like take over other vehicles. Like what? Like, like Grand Theft Auto that shit. Like Mario Odyssey yourself on the other vehicles and just get in. Like somebody was like, Oh my God. I took over a transport truck and then ran through like a bunch of shit. Like what the fuck? Fucking maximum Mario overdrive. This.
[00:09:48] Yeah. This is worth, this is worth 80 bucks. I don't care what people say, dude. I'm paying 80. Well, I mean, you don't have to pay 80 if you get the fucking bundle, but yeah, this game is going to be fucking worth it, man. Yeah. I, uh, if I'm hoping that I'm going to get a switch on, on launch. And if I do, dude, we're going to be spending like every waking minute playing Mario Kart online. Fuck. Yeah. Cause like, I think you can literally just be like bloop and like pop into each other's game and just drive around recklessly.
[00:10:18] Also, did you see that, uh, Piranha Plant camera? Did you see that? Oh yeah, I did see that. You know what's funny about that camera? Huh? It only does like 720p or something or like 480p. Like it's ass. It's basically like a child's toy. Yeah. Yeah. 720 isn't like terrible, but 480p. That's dog balls. Dude. That is total dog balls. Yeah. It's bad. It's dog trash.
[00:10:48] But I guess if you're a little kid and you don't have like a PC or something with your own webcam, I mean, that's fine. If you're just a fucking 10 year old. Well, hang on. Let's not get too carried away. Let's not pretend like these Nintendo cameras are just going to dopes. They're not. They're not just going to work on a PC. I bet it'll be like Nintendo's own like proprietary. Oh my God. Like, nope. Can't use that as a wet. Can you imagine being it?
[00:11:13] Like having like a, like I, I'm in a lot of like teams meetings and shit like all day long, it'd be crazy. I was like, just had this piranha plant as my, my camera. It was like 480p. You're this lady. Like, yeah, it's like fucking 12 pixels. Signing on to teams with my piranha plant camera 480p to give like a cost benefit analysis on like fucking precast versus steel studs. And they're just like, holy shit.
[00:11:39] Am I looking at, is this joust on the Atari fucking or is that Aaron before he fixes internet? Damn, man. Uh, did you see that? So Sony, you know, they own Bungie. Um, Bungie is, is doing this reboot of marathon. The, the game that they're, their first game of play forever ago. And they're going to charge, put your hands down off your sides.
[00:12:08] No, it's going to be a multiplayer only reboot that costs 40 fucking dollars. They're just going to do Concord all over again. Did they not fucking learn from Concord? What the fuck, man? I know. Yeah. I mean, maybe people would pay 40 bucks for multiplayer marathon, I guess. I don't know. But like Sony, like, yeah, you gotta chill out, man. Stop. You gotta chill. I don't know. I don't know. You're really gonna chill out, Sony. Like we get it.
[00:12:36] Helldivers was good and it continues to be good. Yep. Just claim that. Keep going with that. Stop with the rest. Stop releasing remakes. Dude, the last of us complete. What is, how many God damn versions of the last of us are there? Oh my God, man. I was on one with that one motherfucker on threads for like 30 to 40 minutes that one day. Your first mistake was getting on threads to begin with. Yeah.
[00:13:05] That was your first mistake. That shit is just filled with hate. Why did you do that? Why'd you do that to yourself? Why'd you go there? I think because I. Were you having a moment? No, I. A moment of weakness? No. So like whenever you post something on Instagram, you can have a post right to threads and I just, I do that all the time. I never post directly on threads. It's always through Instagram, like side bitching threads. And I had a notification on threads. So I went and checked it. And then I saw the home feed and I saw that one fucker there.
[00:13:33] And I was like, like, no, you think that's bad. You think Mario Kart world for 80 bucks is bad. Go look at this fucking last of us shit. And they were like, and they were like, well, you know, 90 bucks for two games is actually a good deal. I wouldn't buy it, but it's actually kind of a good deal. Kind of a bad deal, but it's kind of a good deal. And they kept going in that like circle and holy shit. Oh God. What a, I'm not. Yeah. We don't need to get into that.
[00:14:02] That was just hell threads is not, not great. Nope. It's not. That's why I don't go on there. I go on blue sky every once in a while. Yep. Um, for the most part, I kind of avoid, um, like social socials that are just like a public forum, like, like Reddit. I go to Reddit just to like go through the news. That's, that's usually what I use Reddit for.
[00:14:31] And then I go on tick tock to watch really dumb shit. And then I go on to Facebook reels to watch even dumber shit. That's the best. Facebook reels are so good. Fucking algorithm, dude. I don't know what is up with that algorithm, but man, it gets me. And like a lot of times I'm like, I don't want to use Facebook.
[00:14:59] Like, I don't want to, I don't want to do this, but God damn. Why is your messaging app so good and marketplace is so good and fucking, uh, I hate that there's good things about it. And like reels is just as good as tick tock. The only reason why I use tick tock is because there's people that send me tick tocks and I'm like, if you just sent me this, if everybody just sent me real, cause I use messenger as like my main messaging messaging app.
[00:15:29] That's like my main one. Yeah. Because everybody has it pretty much like 99% of the people that I talk to have Facebook messenger. Even if they like, dude, Beth doesn't even have Facebook, but she has Facebook messenger. How, how does that work? You can just make like a throat, like a throat account. Oh. And just like not have Facebook.
[00:15:58] Let's stop talking about depressing video game shit and start talking about depressing guts is story and how insane berserk is. Well, before that two things, first of all, Facebook has good fucking memes. Like I, I follow a lot of dumb fucking stupid pages on Facebook. Like my, my favorite that doesn't ever post anymore is Tito for it's like PNGs of Tito
[00:16:26] from rocket power, but like with different shit photoshopped on them. And the caption is always something stupid. Like, Hey brother, I stared at the sun too long and now my eyes hurt and his eyes. You've sent me these. Yes. It's so good. I've seen them. You've sent them. I did. And, uh, the number two thing listeners. Hey, do us a solid. Go check out superpodsaga.com for, uh, other, other episodes, socials and all that stuff. Patreon. You'll find that on there. Two or $4 a month. Yeah.
[00:16:56] Do it for your mother. Yeah. Give us money out there. Leave us a tip on Ko-Fi as well. Give us money. Great review of the show. Give it. Come on. Give it. Stop giving your mom money. Give us money. Give it to us. Give it to us. Give us money. That'll about do it. Yeah. Let's get to B-Zerk.
[00:17:26] Yeah. B-Zerk. B-Zerk. B-L-U-R. B-L-U-R. B-L-U-R-K. Yeah. So. Yeah. I started reading this crazy manga called Burlesque. Oh shit. Let's share. Sweet. Look, man. Let's be real. With the amount of sexual tension between Guts and Griffith.
[00:17:51] If for whatever reason you have not already heard of B-Zerk, it's a dark fantasy manga series by Kentaro Miura. Rest in peace. I love you, homie. All right. Goddamn. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. 1989. The year of our Lord. And the whole manga series has also received just a few anime adaptations. The 97 anime series, which covers, there was like a teeny weeny bit of the, the black swordsman arc.
[00:18:20] Does the whole ass golden age arc and then stops there. And then there's the 2016 series, which picks up like not right after the 97 series, maybe like a couple of years after that basically starts with the conviction arc and then goes right up from there. And then the golden age. And then the golden age movies from 2022, which are really fucking good. Like that's probably the best way to watch the whole golden age arc. Shit. It's awesome.
[00:18:49] And then they also include way more to guts his backstory in the golden age movies. So if you haven't checked out the series, I would either go watch the 97 anime series or those movies. Cause the 2016 series is kind of hard to watch with the weird 3d gobbledygook they have going. It's, it's pretty. I did not care for that. So fun fact, we crack my knuckles here.
[00:19:16] I don't think any of these enemies are as good as the manga themselves. I tried. I started with the 2016 one who bounced off. Cause I was like, I really want to get into this, especially after learning. Like, I think it was like around the time dark souls three came out. Maybe. Yeah. I think it was. Yeah. Cause I think that came on 2016. Yeah.
[00:19:46] So it would have been around that time. Cause I started learning that like, Oh, this new anime series that's been adapted from the manga is like huge inspiration for like all these souls games and like bloodborne and all this other shit. And I was like, man, this is okay. All right. Sign me up. And I bounced off that. I've tried 97. 97 is not bad. Like it's, I like that old school, like anime, like animation style. Yeah.
[00:20:15] But it's like, it's basically just still frames. Like half of the show is like not even animated. It's just still frames. Yep. And I feel like it was because they probably didn't have a massive budget or anything to work with. Um, so then, yeah, for a long time I just kind of was like, I really wish I could get into this. And I was like, hold on. What if I just read it? Like, what if, what if I read berserk instead of watching it?
[00:20:44] I wonder if that's, and it was kind of my last stance with like, okay, I really want to get into this. This is kind of the last leg. Cause I, I can't, I cannot get into these other animes. Anyways, and I started from the beginning and dude, I was like floored. Yeah.
[00:21:08] Like it got to the point where I was like, I have to get my, my buddy into this because like, he's super into like Lord of the Rings and like lots of like dark medieval fantasy and stuff like that. And I was like, man, like this is so his thing. He just doesn't even know it yet. So I tried to introduce him with the animes as well. I was like, dude, you might not have the time to read this whole thing.
[00:21:36] Like I'm reading it, but check out this anime maybe. So we threw on a couple episodes in 97. He was like, it's pretty good. I guess. And he still wasn't, it wasn't until I sat him down. I was like holding my Kindle and pointing, like, look at that shit. Look at that shit. Look at that shit. Look at that shit. Like I was just like showing him all this insane stuff that was happening in Berserk. And he was like, okay, yeah, this is pretty wild.
[00:22:04] And he started and he was like, dude, I started reading Berserk. It's really good. Hell yeah. And I was like, where are you in the book? And he was like, I'm at like volume. I think he was at 12. And I was like, he's barely scratching the surface there. Well, 13 is when things start to get pretty hectic in that book. That's true. Yeah.
[00:22:32] So I was like, dude, buckle up, buckle up. Cause it's about to like, you're about to witness some shit. Like your eyes are going to roll in the back of your head and you're going to find God tonight. Like literally through that, through that chapter. And yeah, he just, he, he messaged me. I wonder, you know, keep, keep talking. I wonder if I can actually find where he messaged me.
[00:23:02] And he, he was just like, what the fuck dude? What the fuck is going on in this book? Like he could not like believe how insane shit gets. And like the buildup, but it like, it doesn't even end that. I mean, we'll get into it. We'll, we'll get into it. Eventually at some point down the road, many years from now, we'll get into it, but we will.
[00:23:33] Yeah. The, the, the things that happen in berserk and relatively quick to like, if you think about it, like shit really hits the fan at volume 13, like big, big time. Hell yeah. That's the, the whole series is pretty balls to the fucking wall. Like even from the beginning during the whole black swordsman arc. And then during like, there's all sorts of just bad-ass fights happening between whether
[00:24:02] it's Gus or other characters all the time, even in later arcs. Like after I finished the 97 series and, and just like glossing through the, like glossing through a few manga chapters, I was like, dude, how, how is there more to this? Like, how is there more to this after the eclipse? Like what more could they do? This is already fucking sick. Oh dude. And then, yeah. They can't fucking. Oh my God. Well, um, but by the way, disclaimer, we're only going to talk.
[00:24:32] Well, if you do plan on, uh, experiencing berserk, whether it's the, the animes, the manga movies, whatever you may just want to sit this one out. If you don't care, if you want to just, I guess, listen to us, tell the story later on, feel free to stick around, but we're only going to talk about just for the sake of, of not having to edit a three and a half hour episode, we're going to talk about the, I don't, I don't have that kind of time anyway. Yeah.
[00:25:01] Just, uh, just the black swordsman arc and golden age arc. Cause those are really fucking good. We'll, we'll hook you with those for sure. And then maybe eventually you do you, you do you boo boo. You talk about what you want to talk about. I'm, I'm here to preach the word of the, the eclipse and how that. Fuck you. And also the tie-ins to video games and other media. Yeah.
[00:25:29] So quick rundown of the, like, I guess the premise behind berserk and we'll, we'll do story beats later on as well too, but yeah. So story focuses on the main character guts, who is a gigantic badass has the saddest life in possibly. Oh my God. Like any written media out there. As far as I know. Do you remember, do you remember the 5th of November? How they found guts. Oh yeah. I've gotten, I've got it written down. I've got it fucking memorized.
[00:25:58] Yeah. Yeah. It's burned into my brain. Yeah. That was some rough shit. Very rough shit. Yeah. Also we'll get to that. Yeah. Just, just be aware that berserk is not an easy read. Yeah. Okay. Like I'm, I'm telling you, it's not going to be for everyone.
[00:26:21] If you can handle some gore and some fairly exploitive shit. Yeah. You'll be, you'll do fine. Yeah. Some, some people find it to be a little much. Yeah. And I get it. I totally get it. Oh buddy. Do I get it? If you're not a fan of, of dark shit like this or like anything ultra violent, like even fist of the North star or a ninja scroll or something.
[00:26:51] This might not be for you, but for us, dude, yeah, this is my favorite shit. I love this shit. Anyway. Yeah. Pretty much the whole story is, uh, it's about guts's quest for vengeance against Griffith who just without spoiling anything at this moment, betrayed him and their comrades. What we'll get, yeah, very specific later on. It's all set in a medieval Europe inspired dark fantasy setting. And when I say dark, I mean like the darkest. Yeah.
[00:27:21] Like, like people getting tortured, getting their faces cut off, people getting bisected and like just ultra violent and, and just. I don't remember if it was in the anime or not, but there is a point it's after the eclipse. It's like the thing after the eclipse with the, with the father Gus, whatever his name is. Oh, father Mosgus. Yeah. That guy.
[00:27:47] Hey, um, do you remember the torture chambers that he had? I, they were. Don't. Ruff, dude. Yep. Oh my God. They were rough. Man. The art style is pretty much, it's just horrifying, but like really beautiful at the same time. Cause the, like the, the manga, it's probably just like the best way to experience this whole thing.
[00:28:17] Cause you get those, like those two page panels of like some disgusting, like horrifying creature, but it's in like such, such like detail, like such minute detail. Like you'll see, you'll see like little drips of whatever coming off. You'll see all like 16 rows of teeth and you'll see like into its throat. And it's, it's so fucking cool. It's insanely, insanely well, well drawn. Yeah.
[00:28:44] Now we're going to talk about a bit or talk a bit about Kentaro Miura. Yeah. Hit me up. I've, I've done, I've read about him a whole bunch, but, uh, you know, it's, uh, it's nice to have someone just whisper it in my ear, you know, Kentaro Miura, dude, he published his first manga series. Well, not like professionally published, like through fucking Scholastic or whatever. I don't know, but, uh, made it, he made his first manga series at the age of 10, uh, with a total of 40 volumes.
[00:29:11] It's called mirror rang mirror anger, mirror ranger. And he gave it out to all of his like schoolyard friends and ship. That's pretty cool. And then I imagine how much something like that would go for now. I know I tried Googling to find images of it and ship, but no, they're just, they're, they're holding it close to their heart. They're like, no, no one's ever going to see this. If he didn't already throw it away or something, he's got a, like, you know, in a ziploc bag with a really old sandwich or something too. That'd be cool.
[00:29:41] Just preserved with like a, a quarter pounder with cheese. Miura chans or Miura, Miura sans very first, uh, uh, hard salami sandwich. I don't know. That was a fucking awful accent. Good job. Any who, uh, by the age of 18, he worked as an assistant. To George Morikawa, writer of Hajime no Ippo, just like a boxing manga series.
[00:30:06] It's been going on for a while or I think it's done now, but Morikawa pretty like almost right away. He, uh, he, he learned of Miura's artistic level and like how good he was at drawing shit and was just like, like, get out. I can't teach you anything. I don't already know. Like get out. Now mind you, Morikawa is five years older than Miura. So, Oh.
[00:30:30] Miura's five years younger and he's already possibly surpassed Morikawa. I don't know. I'll never know. But his, uh, his first, his biggest influences for Berserk were Fists of the North Star, which is really fucking good, but really fucking long. Violence Jack. This Japanese novel series called Gwyn Saga as well as the Hellraiser series. Yeah. I could fuck with that. Yeah.
[00:30:56] The God hand is literally just like Cenobites. That's what they are. Yeah. I've always. Yeah. That's exactly what they are. Especially the guy that's like, he's like the big cheeks in his hands are always like this. That's my favorite. Oh yeah. My favorite God hand. He's great. Chatters McBang Bang. Stegosaurus McPancakes, my favorite God hand member. Oh, sadly, Kentaro Miura passed away May 6th, 2021.
[00:31:25] Two days before my birthday of aortic dissection. Oh. Sucks. He was, I didn't write it down, but he was 54 years old. He was in his mid fifties when he passed away, which sucks, but. I'll tell you a cool little story. Yeah. It's sad because it's about him dying. But when that happened, Greg and Beth and I had just really started to get into Final Fantasy 14 online.
[00:31:54] And I remember we went back to one of the main cities because we were like, oh, I got, I want to check like the market board or whatever in this one city. And when we got there, I was like, what the hell is going on here? And it was just like, just the entire like circumference of this massive city hub was just people with great swords doing a great sword pose with the great sword shoved into the ground. Of course.
[00:32:24] And people are playing guts is theme because you can play like MIDI instruments and stuff. Oh, yeah. The rub the book. And I was like, what is going on? And Greg was like, oh, it's because the the creator of berserk passed away today. Oh, and it was like such a crazy thing, man. Like everybody was there gathered around like celebrating his life.
[00:32:52] People were like chatting and stuff about berserk. This was before I was really into it, but it was like it was kind of then that I was like, oh, my God, this thing is huge. This is this is like berserk is a big deal to a lot of people. So there must be something here.
[00:33:10] And that's part of the the the reason why it was starting to appeal to me so much, because even save for the the Dark Souls stuff, I was hearing about this more and more.
[00:33:22] And, you know, you you have in in the notes here, which I'll flow into talking about this, that the depiction of this giant sword and, you know, guts is demeanor and just like his look like the all black with like, you know, the shoulder pad stuff. This has been translated so many times to so many different things.
[00:33:49] I mean, guts and like Griffith for those of you that don't know, Griffith is like he's a femboy. Like he's like he's like the original G of femboys and has like this pretty boy face. He's slender, has like this long flowing, like elegant hair and has a very thin, long sword. Sound familiar?
[00:34:20] Cloud has a giant oversized sword, mostly dresses and all all one like darker color with like the shoulder pad thing. And his arch nemesis turns out is a giant femboy with long hair and a very long thin sword. How about that? Okay. I didn't make that connection. You never piece that together?
[00:34:45] No, well, the cloud thing for sure, but not Sephiroth because Sephiroth isn't as like he's not as femme as Griffith is for sure. But no, no. But Griffith paved the way for femme boys of today. Okay. He walked so they could crawl today or whatever. Loo me once, femboys. Shame on me.
[00:35:15] Shame. No, no. Oh, man. So to segue off the whole cloud stripe ship. Yeah. So hang on. Yes. Hang on a second. Okay. There's so many more influences though. Like that's, that's the tip. That's the tippy tip. I mean, the big one is Dark Souls. Yeah. Obviously. You know, the monsters and like the dark, like pretty much like medieval.
[00:35:45] Now. I wouldn't say Europe, but yeah. From software makes other games besides the Dark Souls games. No. Oh, like Kingsfield. Yeah. I can see that too. Bloodborne had a lot. Dude. Dude. Bloodborne has the brand of sacrifice for fuck's sakes. Really? Yes. That's like the symbol from Bloodborne looks identical to that. That's when, that's when it was pointed out to me. Like, oh yeah.
[00:36:11] Like that's like, there's so many things in this that are like so, so similar to Berserk. And like even characters like, remember the Onion Knight? Dark Souls? Well, from Dark Souls. Remember that guy? Yeah. The big round guy. Yeah. That guy is literally in fucking Berserk. Dark Souls. Oh yeah. Like in the beginning. That's the guy that literally splits his head in half. Oh, I know his name. It's something fucking stupid. I can't think of it. Who cares? Yeah.
[00:36:39] But that armor is, it's in the book. It's not even different. It's the same thing. Like it's the same. Even like Dante with his gigantic fucking sword. Oh yeah. The creator of Devil May Cry drew influence from Berserk to Dante and everything. And I guess Virgil possibly is his, is his Griffith.
[00:37:07] I don't know if that's 100% true, but I'm kind of making that connection now maybe because Virgil is more like a prim and proper and uses a katana. Whereas Griffith is. Dude, how good is the song Devil Trigger? It's good. Dude. Or the Devil May Cry 3 fucking combat song. I've never played Devil May Cry 3. Oh, go listen to the soundtrack at least. It's like techno metal. It's really good. Ooh. Yeah.
[00:37:36] Me some techno metal. Real quick before we get into the next part. Another thing that I'll say is when I played Elden Ring for the first time, I was like starting to like starting to be more familiar with Berserk. Hadn't really read it. I had tried a bunch of the animes at that point. And I was like, yeah, I can totally see like this whole game just screams Berserk and Mira's style.
[00:38:06] When Shadow of the Erd Tree came out, when I finally got around to playing it, I respect my character and redid his face. And I literally made Guts. Hell yeah. And I played. I went and found because I hadn't picked it up before. You can literally get Guts' sword. It's in Elden Ring. It's his sword. Is it called Dragon Slayer or whatever?
[00:38:33] No, they call it, I think it's just like Heavy Greatsword or something. Like it's just like some very generic name, but like it's his sword. That's awesome. And like the special move set with it is like the same shit that Guts does. Like his whole like when he has like the Berserk armor on, when he does like a lot of those like rolling flips forward and like slams the sword down. That is like the special move with that sword.
[00:38:59] And you can get armor that is very, very similar to his Black Swordsman armor. And I went and found it and upgraded all that shit like totally. And I played from start to finish Shadow of the Urge Tree as Guts. Like I just pretended like it was like the same way that I do with camping and Folgers. I did the same thing with this. I was like, no, this is just a, this is my, this is the Berserk game. Yeah.
[00:39:28] It's just the best part of waking up. Is bisecting really fat dudes, man. I wish we could talk more about the Berserker armor. Cause that doesn't like, he doesn't get that shit until quite a bit later. Yeah. But that should be so cool. Did you even ever see that shit? Oh, hell yeah. It's in the, in the anime? Yeah. It's in the 20, the garbage 2016 series.
[00:39:55] That got all the way up until they leave for Fantasia or whatever. Okay. That's kind of like where I'm at in the book. Hell yeah. Like right around there. They're at like some big port city right now. Yep. And like Griffith's new gang are there. And like the one girl is like trying to convince Shirky to go with them. She's like, oh, like we got like a super cool group.
[00:40:24] You come with us, hang out. And she's like, no, I can't. Gotta hang out with my friends. Meanwhile, it's like, I'm like screaming at my Kindle. Like you idiot. Don't you dare. You don't know. Yeah. That's, that's pretty, that's exactly where I'm at right now. So I guess after that shit goes and pops the fuck off and doesn't let up. That's what I've heard.
[00:40:54] We're going to do a little bit of a story rundown, but before we do that, do you, do you want to take an ad break or do you want to wait until after? Let's take an ad break. We'll be right back.
[00:41:20] I know we had another idea in the tank, but I've got like one, the one I screenshotted you the other day. What was that? Well, you're going to find out now. Hey, Jerry, are you, uh, are you on the hunt for, uh, for a great spot for your kid's next birthday party or a place to hang out with the boys? Or even a place to drop off your, your babies, your kids, whenever you want to go smoke a Stokie or something.
[00:41:45] Well, I still, I still have that guy employed that we had that offer for, uh, the taxidermy birthday parties, but I can, I can get rid of him. Oh, bring him with. This place will hire him. You're welcome to Uncle Ron's bar and grill and skate park and steakhouse and daycare warehouse. It's, uh, it's, it's a big, gigantic, uh, used to be a warehouse for probably a Staples or something, but now it's a bar and grill and skate park and steakhouse and daycare warehouse.
[00:42:14] It's all those things in one. And hey, I've heard of this. Yeah, I've heard of this. Uh, they have Tony Hawk chained up and just forcing him to skateboard. They're like, do a 900. And he's like, I can't with this chain. They're like, do it anyway, dude. Fuck yeah. They're like, Tony Hawk's like, I can't. I'm so hungry. Give him another salami sandwich.
[00:42:40] And they go throw a fucking, they throw a sandwich on the floor and make him eat them off the floor. And then they throw one at his face, like a pie, but instead of a pie, it's a sandwich. And he's just got like mayonnaise and pastrami just like going down his face. And he's like, there's a tear. Just one single tear. And then he, he wipes it away and he's like, no. My grandchildren will be amazing because it's Kurt Cobain's daughter. And Tony Hawk's son are making a child. Jesus fucking Christ.
[00:43:09] Jesus Christ air. Jesus. Oh, man. I do Christ air. I can't with this chain. Oh, boy. So, yeah. What else is in this warehouse? No, some of the best steaks you'll ever taste in your entire life. Do you love a medium rare New York strip with. Slop them up, boys. Just slopped up with chimichurri and fucking onions. And I don't need chimichurri. I don't need it.
[00:43:34] But for a discount and a promo code, Tony Hawk crossed alive on a chain at checkout. On a chain. You can get a vat of chimichurri. And not only is it a vat of chimichurri. Bring the kids because this is a fun activity for the family. Oh, it's like a ball pit, but chimichurri. A chimichurri pit. Wrong. It is a dunk tank of chimichurri. And we got Tony Hawk in it. No, no, no, no. We wouldn't do that to Tony Hawk.
[00:44:04] But Bam Margera is a little hard up for money these days. So, we just got Bam Margera. And he's doing his fenty fold as good as he can. Bombing for apples and chimichurri. And Bam Margera. I can't do his voice. Whatever the fuck I want. Or whatever he says at the beginning of People of Bam. Yeah. Yeah. He'll do whatever you want for cash. RIP.
[00:44:33] I mean, he's not dead yet, but he's gonna probably. Probably pretty soon. Yeah. So, we got Tony Hawk chained up doing 900s in Christ Dares. We got Bam Margera over there at the chimichurri dunk tank. And you know what? Bam will also watch your kids. He'll do anything for money. He'll watch your kids in the daycare. Are you saying watch or wash? Both.
[00:45:03] He'll watch and wash your kids in the daycare portion of the whole warehouse. You're like, hey, Bam, I'm gonna go over to the steakhouse quarter. Or the steakhouse quadrant. And go have me a big old fat T-bone. A caveman cowboy steak. You'll be like, sure, motherfucker. Whatever you want. And then you'll hand him your kid and a 50. And then he'll just dunk them. So, for those of you that can't picture this, allow me. This is basically Casa Bonita.
[00:45:32] But, like, way worser. It's way, way worser. It's even got a fucking waterfall, but it's not water. It's like chimichurri. We've got way too much chimichurri. It's sour cream. The sour cream waterfall. And it just... No! There's a dude, like, shoveling it out because it won't flow like water. He's just like...
[00:45:58] And the camera zooms in on his face and he's like, I'm doing the best I can! It's all stuck to the bottom. It's all dry and flaky. And then Tony is just like, can I leave? And they're like, Tony, Jesus Christ. It's not all about you, all right? Like, we're trying to fix the fucking sour cream waterfall. Can't you see? Bam has been struggling to get out of the chimichurri dunk tank for three and a half minutes. He's too slippery in the chimichurri tank. He can't get out.
[00:46:27] He's just like, get his leg over the lip of, like, the tank and then slips and falls back in. Just picture Don Vito trying to do it because Bam basically looks like Don Vito now. Yep. Bam, bam, bam, bam. Whatever Don Vito says. Yep. Shrimp scampini or whatever the fuck. Too much Earl of my scrams. Oh, but yeah. There's also a bar and grill there too, which I guess is like the same thing as a steakhouse, but fuck you. It's separate from the steakhouse, kind of.
[00:46:57] You can get whatever you want grilled there. Grilled Bam Margera's legs. I don't know. That's Uncle Ron's bar and grill and skatepark and steakhouse and indoor. And fuck, daycare warehouse. Bring your kids there. Bring the whole family there. It's fun. I promise. They'll give your kids liquor so you can have a good time. They'll put it right to sleep. You don't have to worry about them ever again. You can go do a sick Christ air with imprisoned Tony Hawk.
[00:47:24] Not only is there like a Sunday bar, there's a lean bar where they like give NyQuil, Red Bull and like fucking alcohol to kids. And they're just like, go have fun. And then what you think is like nap time is just a bunch of kids passed out on like foam floor. Colored foam floors. That's just a piece of cardboard. It's just old cardboard they found in the old warehouse. Bam's doing kickflips over them.
[00:47:54] Mistu, I can't sweep. I'm so cold. Shut up, kid. I'm doing kickflips. Throw us a fucking old shirt at the kid to use as a blanket. Have a taquito. Shut the fuck up. Oh, instead of bar and grill. Jokes on you, taquitos laced with lean. Lean keto. No. Fuck, instead of bar and grill, it should have been like Mexican restaurant or like. Mexican warehouse.
[00:48:27] That's just a regular warehouse. We just got a bunch of Mexicans on retainer ready to do kickflips and grill steaks. Watch your kids. With Bam and Tony Hawk. I don't know why we have to chain Tony Hawk up. We should probably ask the producers about that. I don't know if that's necessary. Bam's not chained up and he's probably a lot more elusive in Canada than him. That's true. Yeah. Bam just has free reign in the chimichurri.
[00:48:56] Meanwhile, Tony Hawk is like chained up. Not a lot of relief. Bam's trying to smoke a taquito. It's like Yoshi in the Mario Brothers movie. Oh. Oh, yeah. Wait. No, I'm picturing Yoshi. I'm picturing Yoshi from the Mario Bros. cartoon with this kind of voice. That doesn't make any fucking sense. Yeah. Make way for Yoshi. Wasn't that Toad? No, it was Yoshi. It's gross. God, they did that to Yoshi?
[00:49:25] I wonder what Toad must have been like. Hey, where the fuck is the Mario Brothers? He's got little John's voice. Yeah. I'm Toad. Anyway, fucking go check out Uncle Ron's Hell Emporium, it sounds like. Thanks for sponsoring this episode, ma'am. Tell me what you said.
[00:49:55] And we're back. Thanks for watching my kids, ma'am. Definitely come back for some time. Gotta go down to the Wawa with Abe and Phil. Yeah. Oh my God. Westchester, Pennsylvania. Fucking goddammit, dude. We're gonna skate the cradle of filth and clutch. Yeah. There's no need for the pants. Compton ass Terry. Remember him? Oh! Oh, yeah, dude.
[00:50:25] He was awesome. Yeah. Compton ass Terry. There's no need for the pants. Can't understand a word he's saying, but goddammit, his pants are just non-existent. Just not even on him. You know what, dude? I grew up on like CKY and shit. RIP Ryan Dunn. I've missed that man. He would have gone on to do great things. Yeah. He's awesome. Seriously. Rip Ryan Dunn. Rip Random Hero. Rando Hero. That was his nickname. I didn't know that.
[00:50:55] Now you do. All right. Sing me a tale. We're doing a real quick rundown of the Black Swordsman arc, and then we'll do the Golden Age after that, but yeah, Black Swordsman arc is pretty much like, I guess you described it really well as like a red herring. It's like a quick taste of what 90% of the series is like, but. I mean, immediately you're like, man, what is this guy's problem? Yeah, immediately he gets to do a fucking firefight.
[00:51:24] Why is this guy such an asshole? Yeah. Dude just shows. I mean, they were abusing a young girl. Yeah. And he was like, nope, not today, boys. And he like your introduction to guts in the anime, not in the book, in the anime is him basically just splitting a bunch of dudes in a bar in half. Yeah, dude. Like the sword comes down and people are just in the air, like divided in two.
[00:51:55] And in the book, his introduction in the book is even crazier. In the book, it starts off with him fucking a demon. That's how it starts. Oh, yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Whoops. I kicked my fucking desk. Yeah, that's right. Yep. That's how that starts. But Black Swordsman really kicks off to him splitting those dudes in two. Yep. And then doesn't really let up from there. Kind of sets the stage really well.
[00:52:21] And again, you're kind of wondering, why is this, like, what is this guy's problem? Like, he's got this cool little fairy, like, little elf guy. Oh, yeah. They're called elves, aren't they? Yeah. Yeah. He's floating around and he's like a wise, he's cracking jokes and stuff and kind of is like this odd comedic relief to all the insane shit that's happening. Yep. And Guts is just, like, flicking him away all the time.
[00:52:50] Like, go away. I don't want you. And you're like, man, what is this guy's deal? Like, why is he so pissed? You know what? You stick with this long enough. You look back on Black Swordsman and you're like, yeah, that's my boy. Get him. And yeah, pretty much all that happens in this whole arc is, like, Guts just beats ass. Like, he beats up those dudes in the bar.
[00:53:18] He beats up the, what was it, the snake lord, which is one of the apostles in that town. He, um. That guy is basically a Dark Souls boss. Yeah. With the snake head and shit. Yeah. It's, yeah. And then he meets an old man who tells him of some fucking secret passage that he uses later. He steals a bailout. He kills more guys. Now, hold on. Back up. For the listeners.
[00:53:44] You see this bailout and you're like, what, what is this thing? What's the big deal about this? It's just like some weird little egg looking face. Egg. Picasso looking thing. Man, these things play a pretty big part in the entire overall story of this whole franchise. Yeah. You'll see it play a huge part here in just like, just a couple beats.
[00:54:11] Cause basically the big guy that Guts ends up killing in this whole arc is this guy named The Count who is in charge of the whole city he's in. He's the, he's another apostle. And these apostles we keep mentioning, they're, I guess, humans that have become demons by sacrificing what their loved ones to the God hand. And the God hand is this like, oh, it's like otherworldly evil force. I think. I don't really know how to explain them because they haven't really.
[00:54:42] You're, yeah, you're, you're, you're basically there. They haven't really explained really what they are. I guess they're just like, they're driving forward the strings of faith pretty much. Which has been slightly explained recently. A little bit. But not, there's still so much. Even now. I mean, this, this thing started so, so long ago and there's still so much mystery to this whole story. Cause it's still going. By God, it's still going. By God, it's still going.
[00:55:13] But yeah. So the count guy, uh, and I was going to throw a Sesame street reference in there, but I don't want to do that right now. He, uh, the count, he, he ends up fighting guts and these, so these apostles, they, they have a bail it and they can use that to summon God hand pretty much is what they're for. They summon the God hand. And yeah, during, uh, the counts fight with guts, he gets almost killed.
[00:55:41] And then he's the bail it to summon the God hand. The God hand is like, Hey dog, one more power, uh, kill your daughter for us. And the count is like, no. And then, then they kill the count and then guts escapes. And then, uh, yeah, just total balls to the wall action. The whole arc. It's pretty sweet. Really gives you a sweet, you see a little hit of nicotine for what the rest of the series is going to be.
[00:56:07] When all that shit goes down and then all of a sudden they're in like that weird ass dimension. Yep. And you're, you're thinking like, what is going on now? Like, what is this? And then he sees Griffith and. Oh, he's like, he's like big Angia Griffith. Oh yeah. Sees Griffith and is just like, fuck you. And again, it's such a cool red herring. Cause you're like, well, who is this guy now? Like, who's this guy?
[00:56:38] And then kind of just cuts off and goes, hold on. Let's go back. Let's go. Oh yeah. It does. Like the, the, like early two thousands movie, like freeze frame. Like I bet you're wondering how I got here. Well, it's actually a pretty cool story. It plays some fucking early two thousands song. And then back in time, it doesn't actually do that. I'm just, I'm being stupid. No, sorry. Go ahead.
[00:57:06] And then it goes way back. Guts is like young and not as huge and burly. Definitely does not look the same. You know, he's, he's definitely, uh, has both of his eyes. Yeah. He, he's just younger, a little bit more sprightly and he's just a, just a mercenary. He's just a mercenary looking to prove his worth.
[00:57:35] Even before that, he was a baby born from the corpse of a hanged woman after, after a war. Yeah. Yeah. That's yeah. Yeah. There's a, there's a, his mother is hanging dead and he fell out of her and was just laying
[00:57:57] on the ground and then, yeah, he was picked up by, uh, this mercenary group and his mother could not have a child. Uh, or it's either that she couldn't have a child or like, uh, that guy, I can never remember his name. Gambino. Yeah. Gambino. Real piece of shit. That guy was. Oh yeah. We'll get to them. He, it's either like he wouldn't get her pregnant or like he was like, he didn't want a kid or something.
[00:58:27] So then like, she's like, no, no, no, this is my baby. Cause they're like, Holy shit. Like this kid's alive. She takes them in and you know, she's trying to be motherly to this, to child guts. But this piece of shit, stepfather Gambino, he ain't having a man. He's like, Nope, that is not, not my kid.
[00:58:52] And they foreshadow, uh, how I guess like cursed guts is kind of in a way. Cause they're like, that shit's a bad omen. Like I forget exactly what they say, but they, when they find guts kind of just like hanging out of that lady, they're like, this is a fucking like, just like evil omen. Like this is some evil shit right here. And it kind of, kind of makes you think like, or kind of makes you wonder if this whole string of events we'll get to, if it was just like kind of plucked and prodded in a certain way
[00:59:22] by like the God hand or like some other, other worldly being into making sure this very specific string of events happened in the way it did to, I don't know. We'll get to it. I'm, I'm being overthinking a little bit, but yeah. Gambino is a piece of shit. There's no overthinking that. He, um, he abuses guts and again, warning, there's some heavy shit in these books. And one of those things is sexual assault. Yup.
[00:59:52] And, uh, his stepfather, he sells guts to the mercenaries to sexually abuse and assault and guts eventually gets to the point where he says, fuck all this. I'm killing these people. And he's like a kid, like he's a little kid.
[01:00:20] And yeah, he, uh, he cuts a lot of people's throats wide open. And you're just like, like, I've never been so happy to see someone's throat. Don't just go and just like separate. And that's the thing. There's a lot of that shit in these books. And again, it's not for everybody. It's tough. It's, it is tough. It's a tough thing to, to read. Believe me, I've seen some crazy movies and shit.
[01:00:49] A lot of berserk was, was a tough read. And I think what it does is it, it just makes you build that hatred. It makes you build that hatred. Cause like, how else was Mira supposed to evoke so much hatred out of a reader? What better way to do that is for them to experience something that they themselves physically
[01:01:15] reading this is like hating what they're saying. Like you, you recoil, you're like, what the fuck? Like, why, why, why is this happening? And it's like, well, it fucking happened. And it just makes you hate everything as much as guts hates everything. And it just makes you bond with that character in a way. I don't know. It's, it's a weird, I don't know if you got that, if you felt the same way or not,
[01:01:44] like that's kind of how I felt. Like I just felt like over the course of the story, all the bad, the really, really bad things that were happening, I just felt like it made me develop, develop that hatred that guts had. So then it just like made more sense. The more it went on, the more he killed, the more sense it made. Yeah, dude. If they had skipped this whole arc, like the whole golden age shit and just went from
[01:02:13] like, you know, the beginning from like the black swordsman until like skipping after this one. Oh yeah. Like it would still be pretty sweet, but yeah. Haven't you basically experienced why guts is the way he is, even why other characters are the way they are? Like Griffith, like, holy shit, his, his fucking story is also super tragic. I will say this now. Hear me now.
[01:02:39] I think in my opinion, Griffith is one of, if not the best villain I've ever had the pleasure of. Fuck yeah. Yeah. Consuming, like reading, just like taking all that in the way that they build this villain up is unlike anything I've ever experienced.
[01:03:05] Like it's insane how they reel you in. Cause at first not knowing anything. And again, I didn't know anything going into Berserk. So in the golden arc, eventually it gets to the point where, you know, guts is starting to get noticed by other people for like just how insane he is at fighting and just wrecking shit. So PhD in wrecking shit, PhD in kicking fucking ass.
[01:03:32] He, uh, he gets recognized by this guy Griffith who you've heard us talk about. Well, at this point as a reader, you don't really know who this guy is. Like you're kind of confused because, you know, oh, is this the guy that he was just screaming at in like that weird dimension? Like this guy, this doesn't look like that guy.
[01:03:56] So we, we get introduced to like the fanboy Griffith and his whole traveling troop of troubadours. Um, of which the Hawk. Yes. The band of the Hawk as they call themselves. And of those people you have Griffith is the leader. His kind of right hand woman is Casca.
[01:04:22] And, uh, you know, there's, there's other characters littered in there that play a fairly significant role in the band of the Hawk. And, and you kind of like, you get to experience them just being like this merc group, you know? Yeah. And like the bond between them all. And they, they fight these epic fucking battles all the time.
[01:04:44] And there's like this crazy weird, like sexual tension between guts and Griffith. That's just like, just fuck already. Like just, just do it, man. Um, but the whole thing is that Griffith is like possessive. So he's like, you're mine. Like you are mine. You do not get to leave. And you'll always, always be under my thumb.
[01:05:13] But we are going to like basically take on the world together. Like you are my guy, but just know that's like, we are not equal. You and I, we're not equal. So you cannot leave. I say so. And then eventually lots of other crazy shit happens. Lots of fighting. Um, one of the most pivotal moments I think of the story up to this point and kind of setting
[01:05:42] the stage for quite literally everything afterwards. There's a conversation that guts over here's with Griffith talking. I think it's with, um, Charlotte, the, the princess. Yep. Princess. Um, at this fountain. And I can't remember the full speech. I'm terrible at digesting information and keeping it, retaining it.
[01:06:07] But he says something along the lines of like, all of this is for my dream. Yeah. Like a means to an end. Pretty much. This is all just a means to my end. Cause he just wants to rule his own kingdom. They're just pawns. Like I exactly. I it's they're working to help my dream. I don't give a shit about theirs. We're not equal. None of us are equal. I am better than everybody else.
[01:06:34] And guts is like, okay. Um, I'll go fuck myself. Like, yeah. So he kind of gets to the point. Um, he's asked to do an assassination that goes wrong. He accidentally, oh boy, that was a fucking, that was a moment too. If he, uh, thinks he's killing a guard, but he puts a sword straight through that kid. And just kind of leaves in there. Yeah.
[01:07:04] So everything goes sideways. And at this point, like they've, after doing a lot of crazy shit and crazy battles and stuff, guts has gotten quite strong. And, uh, yeah. One night guts is like, Hey man, I think I'm out. Peace. I think I'm done.
[01:07:26] And, you know, Griffith, this whole time has been propping up this, this band of his as like, no, like I'm the leader here. Like you listen to me. And, you know, when they first meet, when they recruit guts, guts tries to fight him and he gets fucked bad.
[01:07:47] And, you know, Griffith, there's that classic scene of Griffith standing on guts, his sword with his sword pointed at him and just saying like, no dude, like chill the fuck out. You're coming with us. But this time things are much different. Guts just like totally blows past Griffith owns his shit in a sword fight, leaves him there. And he's like, I'm done.
[01:08:16] I'm gone. Goodbye. He storms off, which then sets in motion. Yep. One of the craziest things I've experienced in movies, television, video games ever. Like I'm, I'm talking fucking ever.
[01:08:36] Oh, before you get to that too, there's a really good part where like, I think like a little bit before that Griffith and guts, uh, basically almost get their asses kicked by Nosferatu Zod, which is like a really stupid name, but. Oh yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. He kind of comes back a whole bunch too. He almost fucking kills those two, but then he sees Griffith's bail it and he's like, oh shit, that's the egg of the king. I can't fuck with that guy. Yes. Yes. Yeah. So he, he bails.
[01:09:07] Griffith has a full meltdown. He goes big, sad boy mode. Oh buddy. He does. He cannot handle the fact that he is now no longer like fully in control and can't control guts. Can't keep them. Um, so he then gets this idea. Well, if I'm going to take over the land, I need to establish my roots.
[01:09:34] And what better way to put my dick in this underage princess? He gave her the root. All right. And then yeah, after, after, after gut or after Griffith does the deed with that princess and then guts leaves, uh, guts comes in contact with that skull knight. Skull knight. Oh yeah. Skull knight. Dude. Skull knight. He's awesome. He's the one that tells guts, like you just fucked yourself. You shouldn't have left or whatever.
[01:10:03] Like because of your own actions, you're screwed. So then, you know, then there's like this period of time where, you know, guts is off doing his own thing. I don't know how well, and see, this is the thing. I feel like they leave out a lot of this stuff in those anime and they don't really do it justice. Like they do in the books because you, you spend a lot of time getting to know the band of the Hawk.
[01:10:29] You spend so much time with these characters and you know, they, they really create this, this bond with the band of the Hawk. And you, you start to, to like the only family that guts has ever had is this with them. Like they're his closest friends and he's just like, and so I skimmed over it. But almost, well, it was on purpose. I mentioned Casca.
[01:10:56] So Casca is one of the few females that are in the band of the Hawk. The only one. Is she the only one? She's the only one. Oh yeah, she is. She's a badass though. Like she's a mercenary. She does not fuck around. She, she can kick ass and you know, you, well, guts is gone. You're kind of seeing his own adventures. And then you're kind of seeing like the shit with the band of the Hawk still.
[01:11:23] You're seeing Griffith's excapades and you know, you're seeing the rest of the band with, you know, Casca's characters getting developed. And then at some point the, the, uh, I can't remember what the name of that kingdom is. It's, uh, I wrote it down. It's Midland. Yes. I'm pretty sure. Yeah. Midland. So at some point the King is like, this guy did what to my daughter?
[01:11:53] No, no, no. Fuck this guy. So they take Griffith and they imprison him in this tower. They do more than that. Oh, Griffith is cooked. They take Griffith. They cut his tongue out. They slit his wrists, his Achilles heels. Um, they fuck up his face. Yeah. They fucked his face up real bad. They starve him. They do a lot of bad shit to him.
[01:12:23] Um, and then Casca at some point runs back into guts and she's like, we need your help. Like it's a rescue mission. They have Griffith. I don't know if he's alive anymore, but like we have to get him out of there. So they go and they get Griffith. And that, that whole like escape mission was so wild in the books.
[01:12:50] I don't know how well they did it with the, um, with the anime, but it was really well done in the books. Like the whole escape, just getting Griffith out of there. And like, he is just this frail, frail, like tiny body of a man now can't hit like his wrists are fucked. Like he can't, can't use his hands. Can't stand. He's like, can't even talk. Malnourished. Can't talk.
[01:13:16] He has this massive helmet on that's kind of hiding his face. That kind of looks like a hawk, which, you know, kind of ironic. So then, you know, they get them and they're like, Hey, we got to get the fuck out of here. So they start heading out. And at about this time, this is around chapter 12, I think. Chapter 13. Oh boy. Oh boy.
[01:13:41] If you've never heard of Berserk, you've, I mean, even if you've like heard it through osmosis, you've heard things about Berserk. You've heard the word and we've said it a couple of times, the eclipse. Yep. Which is funny because the eclipse is kind of represented in Dark Souls as well. A whole bunch of times. I mean, look at Elden Ring. Look at the cover of Elden Ring.
[01:14:07] It's literally a goddamn eclipse with like a sort of looking brand of sacrifice, like the Elden, like the actual symbol. So this eclipse, as they're trying to get away, I should also mention too that, because I did, like we're skimming through a lot of stuff here. But Guts and Casket develop a relationship and they become romantic with each other.
[01:14:35] Like they are, they're kind of becoming an item. And, you know, it's kind of like this weird, like as I'm reading it, I'm like, things don't stay good for Guts. Like this is too nice for him. Too happy. It's too, yeah, it's too happy.
[01:14:55] So when they rescue Griffith and the Band of the Hawk is trying to get away, Griffith sees Casca and Guts like kiss or something. They're just like embracing each other, like just hugging. And it sets him the fuck off. Yeah. And he realizes then like, I've achieved nothing. Like my dream that I want these people to help me achieve, it's never going to happen now.
[01:15:25] I have no control. I have lost all control. So he goes crazy. He kind of, I don't know if you remember this or not, but he like tries to force himself. Into a spike or something. Or no, onto Casca. Onto Casca first. As like, he's like basically can't even control any of his limbs and he like tries to like get on top of him. And she's like, yeah, stop it. It's like throwing like a fucking crash test dummy like to the side. Crash test Griffith.
[01:15:56] That's the title of the episode. Holy shit. So then, yeah, he goes nuts. Somehow manages to take one of the horse and carriages and he's like, fuck all this. I'm going to die. He's like holding the reins in between his like wrists because he can't fucking hold them with his hands. He's just like. Yeah.
[01:16:22] So that horse and carriage racks the fuck out and it lands him in like this shallow water. And he just is like, I'm going to, I'm going to do it. I'm going to kill myself. Like there's no point of doing this anymore. I just, I can't. Doesn't really realize that there's a bail it right fucking there. And when he. And how does it, how does it even get there?
[01:16:52] I like. So. Like taking it away when he gets captured. And I don't remember how they get it back or how it gets back to him. The God hand is always kind of, I think. Pulling the strings. Pulling the strings and influencing things. But. Maybe it was a bird. I think it was a bird actually that brought it by. I'm pretty sure it was a bird. He tries to kill himself by thrusting his neck onto a sharp rock. Which then he's bleeding then. And there's a very famous picture.
[01:17:22] If you look up like berserk, like wallpapers and stuff. There's a very famous shot of Griffith, like kneeling in the water. Yeah. Holding this bail it. And it's the blood and like his hatred and the blood. Once it hits the bail it, it starts the eclipse. And it does that weird thing where all the eyes open and it's like screaming like. Well, I didn't hear any screaming because I read it. Yeah.
[01:17:51] But it does open its mouth and make sound. Yeah. So that like weird parallel universe that we talked about that. The astral realm. Yeah. So that's the astral realm that you actually get a taste of beforehand in the Black Swordsman. Like you actually see that shit. That's where he goes. Yeah.
[01:18:16] All of a sudden, everybody in the band of the Hawk is now in this weird ass dimension. And, you know, there's like faces for the ground. Oh, yeah. Yeah. Yeah. And there's this giant hand that is now coming up out of the earth. Nothing makes sense.
[01:18:35] And dude, the entire band of the Hawk save for two people. Die. All. All these people. Like for me, like reading hours and hours and hours of this story getting attached to them.
[01:19:03] Like what in the fucking Game of Thrones was this shit, man? Like everyone gone. Everyone gone. It was insane. All because Griffith wanted his own kingdom. Like his blood activating that bail it and then going to the astral realm. You get to see the god hand for like the second time. Except this time there's only four of them. They tell Griffith like he's the chosen one. He's been chosen to be their fifth member.
[01:19:32] And he can have. He can basically have anything he wants. Anything he's ever desired. But he has to sacrifice all of his friends for it. And yeah, he chooses to do so. Because he. What else can he even do? So then it. Then it ramps up. Like if this wasn't already fucked enough. It ramps up to like anxiety inducing levels.
[01:20:02] Whether it's you're watching it in the anime. I don't know how much they show in the anime. They show a lot in the anime. Like that's. That's how I came across this whole thing. I think I was watching. This was. I think I found out about this. Many years ago. Watching a watchmojo.com video. Of like the most horrific scenes in anime. And the eclipse was like right at the top. Yeah. So again. Fair warning. If you do end up wanting to read these.
[01:20:32] And you're. You know. You're not fazed by any of these spoils. Or if you're just sensitive to this kind of stuff. Then maybe. Maybe skip ahead a little bit. Yeah. So. So. Griffith decides. That. You know. Well. You know. Guts. He kind of blames guts a lot for a lot of this stuff. And he's like. Well you kind of took everything away from me. So. I'm going to take everything away from you now. So not only do they fucking rip his arm off. Stab him in the eye.
[01:21:02] So. You know. When you see Guts at the beginning. He's got a. Like a metal arm. He's got. One eye is fucked up. And you're like. All right. And then. Oh. He. He cuts off his own arm. Because like when Griffith. Oh yeah. Yeah. Does what he does. He tries to like cut off his own arm with like this. So. Half of a sword. Yeah. Part of what makes the eclipse. So. Incredibly. Visceral. And horrifying. Is. You know. You have.
[01:21:32] All of these characters. Are being killed off. Like before your eyes. In like really horrific ways. Yeah. Not just like. Oh they got stabbed in the back or something. No. Like their. Their eyes are being gouged out. Their mouths are being ripped apart. Like it's just horrific. And then to top it all off. Griffith. Then. Declares that he is now femto. So he. He looks different. He has this crazy suit on. Kind of looks like.
[01:22:02] Emo Batman. Yep. Very emo Batman. Yeah. He then takes Casca. And proceeds to sexually assault her. In front of Guts. And they make him watch. And it. It had. Like it's so bad. That. From this. Point forward. Casca. Like becomes. Completely. Mentally unstable.
[01:22:31] And. Can't talk anymore. She's kind of like. Reverted back to like. A child. Like. It. Fucks her up. It also. Fucks. Guts up. Big time. Time. And that. Ladies and gentlemen. Is where you get. The memes. Of. Guts screaming. Griffith. Because. Yep. Yeah. Bad stuff man. Real. Real.
[01:23:01] Real. Real bad stuff. They do escape. After. Because of the skull night. Yes. So skull night. Is outside of like this. Tornado vortex thing. And he's like. I'm going in there. And then. Fucking Nosferatu. Is like. No. I forgot about this part. Clash. Like. Fucking. Like the Megazord. Fighting Goldar. And. They. Fuck shit up. He goes. He busts through. He gets in there. And he's like. Come with me.
[01:23:31] If you want to live. Hannibal. Busting through. Yeah. So he gets them. The fuck out of there. Oh. And the. The kid. Oh. Rickard. Yeah. Rickard gets out too. Which. He wasn't even in there. Actually. They. Oh yeah. They sent him to town. For something. Or. Yeah. Yeah. So. Literally. The only. Two surviving. People. From the actual eclipse. Are Guts and Casca. Yeah. But they. They're so fucked up. Like.
[01:23:59] They're so totally fucked up. Like. Guts is. Never the same. After this point. Like. He was always like. Pretty angry. And. You know. Like. Had a very troubled past. But like. This was just. I mean. The tip and point. Jesus Christ. And again. The build up to this. Because. Really. Berserk. Doesn't really start. Until now. Yeah. In my opinion. Now. Is when it's like. Okay. We've set the stage.
[01:24:29] This is the guy. And to this day. Griffith. Is still alive. And Guts. Is still trying to fucking kill him. And it's just like. This insane. Rivalry. And like. Villain arc. And build up. Of like. I don't know. I've just never. I've never experienced. A villain. Like. Griffith. Like you. You just. You feel bad for. Like. They run you through. All of the emotions. With this guy. Like. At first. You're like. Oh. This guy's pretty badass.
[01:24:58] Pretty cool. And then you're like. He's kind of a. Kind of a loose cannon. And then you're like. Oh god. He's so frail. And I kind of feel bad for him. And then you're like. Oh boy. Why'd you do that? You didn't. You didn't need to do that. You could have just killed everybody. You kind of get like a. Like an. Darth Vader. Level of like. Sympathy. For him. Because. Like. I love when. Media. They give you a great villain. And then they also give you.
[01:25:28] Plenty of backstory. To understand why they are. The way they are. Instead of just like. Like. Shitting a villain out. And being like. He's evil. Like. That's it. Yeah. It's like. The most insane amount of backstory ever. Yeah. Yeah. And just like. This build and tension. Between. The two characters. Yeah. And. Without. Without. This entire arc. Without any of this. I don't think. I don't think. The entirety of Berserk. Would even be. The same. It just. It wouldn't be the same.
[01:25:58] It would just be. Angry man. Yells. And attacks things. And then. Femme Batman is there. And sometimes shows up. And then. Yeah. That'd be it. But yeah. This was. This is probably still my favorite. Arc in the whole show. Like. There are lots of really cool fights. And then. When Guts gets that Berserker armor. And he goes. Super big angry mode. Yeah. That shit is wild. That shit is cool. Yeah. But. Just saying. This is my favorite arc. That's all I'm saying. It's really good.
[01:26:28] I do really enjoy. What comes after this. Which. We'll. We'll have to revisit it. Maybe after I get caught up. Maybe then. We'll revisit it. And then I can. Share tales of. Times past. Where you've even seen. And. Yeah. You know. I like. I would like to get into. Because. After this point. It kind of turns into an RPG. Like he. He gets. Like there's a whole party of people. Oh yeah. Right. Like he. Like it's not just him.
[01:26:58] And it's like. Yeah. Like you could have said like. Okay. Well the band of the hawk. But like. Not really. At this point. It's like. Okay. He gets like a crazy new sword. He's got like. Prosthetic arm. Yeah. I guess this cool ass arm. He basically gets a little witch. It gets a couple. Like fighters. Like he gets. Yeah. He gets like a whole. It's hardy. Armor. Yeah. Hell yeah. But that. That's a story for another time. And. You know. If you stuck around. To listen to this. Thank you.
[01:27:28] You know. Aaron can put a. Put a mark. Here. If you. Just wanted to listen to some funny antics. At the beginning. And at the end. And maybe the. The. Yeah. The ad. You know. Skip to. The end here. Where we're not going to talk anymore. But spoilers. Just know that you should. Definitely check out. Berserk. If you're a fan of. Really dark shit. Yeah. Dark fantasy. Really dark stuff. It can be pretty gory. I do like my gore. And you know. If you're.
[01:27:57] I would say too. If you're a fan of. Dark souls. And the aesthetic. Of those. Definitely check this out. It's. It's. It's worth it. It's a lot. It's a lot. It is a lot. And it's a big investment. But my god. It's worth it. Yeah. If you do want to get into the whole. If the golden age is like. If that's all you want out of this whole thing. Watch the movies. They're really good. They're on Amazon. Prime video. Whatever the fuck it's called now. So check them out.
[01:28:43] But. Yeah. That's. That's pretty much it. We're gonna. We're gonna wrap this whole thing up. With a little segment we like to call. Random. Recommendated. Games. Yes. Indeed. It's that part of the show. Where. We. Give you all random. Recommendated. But. I'm not. I'm gonna. I'm gonna give you a random. Recommendated. Anime. Cause. I'm feeling real out of character again. Real. Real saucy. Magic. The Labyrinth of Magic.
[01:29:13] If you're not a fan of dark shit. Like dark. Ultra violent shit. Like berserk. And whatever. Magi. Is a good one. You're gonna want to get into. It's real light. There. There's no. Like. Gore. Or. You know. Sexual assault. Or anything like that. Magi. The Labyrinth of Magic. It's. All based on like. Like Arabian Nights. Kind of shit. So you have. The main character. Aladdin. Or uh. Yeah. The main character is Aladdin. He's like. He can do magic. He floats on a. Like a magic carpet.
[01:29:43] And then there's characters like. Ali Baba. That's his right hand. Man. And basically. There's these. Magical artifacts. Oh. I forget what the fuck they're called. But. You can go through a dungeon. Artifacts. It's called a. Yeah. You can. You go. Through a dungeon. It's what they're called in. In the show as well. They go through a dungeon. There's all sorts of treasure. But you'll find. One of those artifacts there. And. Once you do have one of those artifacts. You can control it. Jin. Or the Jin.
[01:30:12] I'm pretty sure it's pronounced Jin. Basically a genie. Jin. Jin. You'll have the power of that. Jin. Yeah. Give me some of that. Jin. Jin. And juice. Yeah. You'll. When you do have that. That artifact. You have the power of that Jin. You can use it. And also. Oh. Vessels. Is what they're called. Vessels. Because it's a vessel for the Jin. Duh. But. There's other characters. All throughout the show. That have different. That have different vessels. And different Jin's. And. They can manifest these.
[01:30:43] In all sorts of cool. Different ways. And. It's just. It's a really. Fun show. There's a character in there. Character model after Sinbad. His name is Sinbad. But. He's made out to be this. Ultra badass guy. Like the comedian? No. The fucking sailor. But I wish. He's just. In full windbreakers. Like Sinbad. That one. Sinbad's house. You my bitch. And those huge pants. Yeah. The big old fucking windbreaker pants. Or parachute pants. Or whatever. But. Yeah.
[01:31:13] Magic. Elaborate the magic. It's really good. It's on Crunchyroll. Or I think it's really good. But. Yeah. I'll. I'll also echo your. Your random. Recommendated. Anime. And. I'll. I'll throw out. You know what? Give paprika. Run. One time. Paprika. Have you never heard of paprika? No. Do yourself a favor. Just go get one of those. Those edibles. Pop an edible. And.
[01:31:43] Try to figure out what the fuck is going on in this movie. Cause this movie. Is a. Mind. Fuck. Dude. Mind freak. Jesus. Mind freak. No. I'm looking at some screenshots. And. Don't look it up. Don't look it up. Don't look it up. Don't even. This man's got babies on his clothes. Don't look it up. Just go into it blind. There's nothing. It's not like. It's not scary or anything. It's just like.
[01:32:13] Visually stunning. And. A total mind fuck. Like. Yeah. Just. Just. Just check it out. You'll. You'll thank me later. It's. It's fantastic. I still. I. Like. I don't want to. I don't even really want to. Say too much about it. Cause it's one of those things that. It's better to go in blind. Just go in blind. Just check it out. Go in blind. It's just. It's a movie. Check it out. Check it out one time. I'll check it out. Just like. Oh. Listeners. Before we go.
[01:32:44] I need all of you to go watch. The monkey. Or monkey. Or whatever. Oh yeah. And I want you guys to watch. All the way through it. And let me know. If you. Laughed your ass off. As hard as I did. During that part. Where the. The brother. Like as soon as. Sprinting to the phone. Yeah. As soon as the phone starts ringing. He immediately sprints. Like fucking. Sprints to the phone. Just to answer. I don't know why that ruined me. As much as it did. It's so good. Yeah. I guess. We can. We can let the listeners know. We. We both watched the monkey. Together.
[01:33:14] Through the power of the internet. It was good. The movie was awesome. It did not need to be as funny as it was. But it was hilarious. Yeah. It had some. Dude. When that guy got trampled by the horses. Oh. And he looked like a fucking bag of wet dog food. Then that one motherfucker. Like. I forget what. I forgot exactly what happened. But it was like. Uh. That like. It was a billop of water. And then it touched. Like an exposed wire. And then. Oh. The lady like. Jumped in the pool. And was like.
[01:33:45] Yeah. Blew up. Yeah. She exploded. Yeah. Blowing up a GI Joe. With like a firecracker. That was hilarious. It was ridiculous man. So good. It was so ridiculous. Oh boy. Yeah. Thanks for. Yeah. Get us out of here. Take it away. Mike Walden. Oh. I sure will. Fem Batman. Thanks for hanging out. Make sure to check out. Super pod saga dot com. For all of our stuff. You can find me and Jerry there. Our socials.
[01:34:15] All that. All that great shit. All that jazz. All that. Miss. Missy jazz. Oh. Making a miss. With the J. A miss. Making a miss. But until next time. Be sure to tune in. Or. Fuck. I just realized that. I just realized that that voice that we were just doing. Sounded exactly like Keef. Damn yeah it does. Also. Everybody go watch that show.
[01:34:45] It's ridiculous. Yes. Please do. But. Be sure to tune in next time. Be sure to tune in next time. Where Jerry. He sprints to a phone. Sprints to a pay phone that starts ringing. Full on sprint. As soon as it starts ringing. He runs. And it's. It'll be hilarious. I bet. And Aaron pokes a turtle with a stick. Just to see what it does. I will. I'll do that. Okay bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye.
