Learning Japanese with Berserk: Abyss
Added 2022-01-19 21:46:02 +0000 UTC"Abyss" in Japanese is 深淵, pronounced しんえん (SHIN EN). The Abyss of the Astral World is a seldom talked about but significant place in Berserk. It is where the entity that created the God Hand resides and where beherits come from.
We first learn of it in volume 13, when Griffith sinks down there during his rebirth as Femto. That episode is aptly titled 深淵の神, meaning "God of the Abyss". As you no doubt know, the subsequent one, which showed Griffith meeting with said god, was removed from the story.
We don't see more of it until volume 24, when Guts and his friends get an explainer of the Astral World from Flora. She confirms that it refers to the gigantic hole formed by the Vortex of Souls, and that something dwells deep down there, but we don't learn much more.
Of note is that the word 深淵 is also used in the title of episode 54: "reunion in the abyss". In that case, it refers to the deep hole under the Tower of Rebirth in Wyndham. No relation between the two, except, of course, on a symbolic level.
