Skullknight.NET

A beherit that can open its eyes?!

This beherit is produced by a hobbyist store called A-TOM hi-grade. They've got a few notable items, like a Rochine and a Wyald statue, but this beherit is especially remarkable because of its moving parts. It can open its eyes and mouth when turned around.

It was first introduced at Wonder Festival 2014 and was such a success that it's been sold at every edition since. Those events in Japan allow hobbyists to legal...

Podcast #06 - Berserk Continuation

We discuss the limbo the series is currently in, with the frustration it brings among many fans. We share our thoughts on why continuing Berserk without Miura is all but impossible, go into detail on the complexities of creating the manga, and touch on what our ideal scenario would be.

Want more of the podcast? Click here for the public episodes. 

Learning Japanese with Berserk: Evil power

The kanji 魔, pronounced MA, is the term used for the "evil power" the apostles receive.

But its use in Japanese is more general than that. By itself it can mean "demon," "evil spirit" or "evil influence". When used as a component of another word, it can also just mean something supernatural or esoteric. An easy example is 魔法 (MAHOU), which simply means "magic".

Learning Japanese with Berserk: The Beast of Darkness

In volume 16, episode 118, Guts is confronted by evil spirits who bring him face to face with his own dark desires.

Those feelings become embodied in a psychological construct called "闇の獣" (YAMI NO KEMONO) – The Beast of Darkness.

This is a pretty straightforward one. 闇 (YAMI) means darkness, 獣 (KEMONO) means a beast, as in a wild animal (deer, boar, wolf, etc.), and の connects the two words.

Kisama no seida

One of Casca's most famous lines in the entire series is "貴様のせいだ!!!", which translates as "it's your fault" or, more literally, "it's because of you". It's notable because it uses the most pejorative word for "you" in the Japanese language, which underlines how angry she is at Guts after Griffith gets injured while they attempt to fight off Zodd (in volume 5).

Why bring it up? Well because this is another case of a puzzling translation by Dark Horse amongst the hundreds of o...

Podcast #05 - The Trading Card Game

We take a look at the Berserk Trading Card Game released by Konami between 2003 and 2005. Still popular among collectors nowadays, it featured over 50 new paintings by Miura himself and remains one of the best merchandise produced for Berserk.

Want more of the podcast? Click here for the public episodes. 

Learning Japanese with Berserk: Eclipse

The word 蝕 (SHOKU) means an eclipse, or more specifically the occultation of something. It is key in Berserk, as it is the source of Guts' trauma and of Casca's mental illness.

In volume 12, characters specifically mention a solar eclipse (日蝕) a couple of times, but even then, apostles and the God Hand only use the word 蝕 by itself. This is important because of the implication that it isn't necessarily a matter of the sun being eclipsed.

During the Conviction arc, a mirror...

Learning Japanese with Berserk: Elf

The word 妖精, pronounced YOUSEI (ようせい) is very important in Berserk. In Japanese, it designates "fairies, elves and sprites". In Berserk specifically, it is associated with the term "elf", which is typically applied to it using the furigana エルフ (which indicates how it should be pronounced).

The term エルフ actually appears first in the series, it's used as standalone Katakana to refer to Puck throughout the Black Swordsman arc. 妖精 first appears during the Golden ...

Remembering Kentarou Miura

Dear patrons, thank you as always for your support.

As you must have heard, it was announced on Thursday, May 20, that Kentarou Miura, the genius author of Berserk, had passed away at the age of 54. He left us on May 6 due to an acute aortic dissection, a vascular disease that is rare, sudden and has a high mortality rate. The official announcement indicates that he was cared for, watched over and transported to the hospital as soon as he collapsed.

This tragedy came as a shock to...

Trailer for the 1997 anime

Back when Berserk adaptations were tasteful and handled by professionals, despite the constraints they had to deal with.

The No.1 Fantasy... RPG?

What would Berserk look like if it was a Famicom/NES RPG? Well, like this. This homage – it's not a real game, just pixel art – is specifically based on Final Fantasy II, which came out in 1988 in Japan and was not released in any other country at that time. It's particularly good, but unfortunately we do not know the author. The file was saved in 2008, but may have been made earlier.

Bonus: In the lower left screen we can see a dialog box. The "speaker" (MAYU) means "cocoon" (繭) ...

Learning Japanese with Berserk: Skull Knight

Now here's a big one: 髑髏の騎士. In English, that's the Skull Knight.

髑髏 (DOKURO) is a very difficult kanji and one that is not commonly used. It means a skull of which the flesh has disappeared due to prolonged exposure to the elements. It implies that it is old and worn. It's also the equivalent to a "death's head" in English: a human skull as a symbol of death.

騎士 (KISHI) means "knight" in the general sense. It originally referred to samurai who fought on horseba...

Podcast #04 - Griffith's Tactics

Was Griffith a tactical genius before he became a member of the God Hand? We take a look at the battles we see during the Golden Age arc and talk about what set the White Falcon and his band apart.

Want more of the podcast? Click here for the public episodes.

A painting of the Band of the Falcon

Not quite sure where this official painting, done by Miura, comes from. Nor when it was made. It's one of those many things that I [Aazealh] have on my computer but forgot the origins of. I've seldom seen it around, so I figured you would enjoy it.

Learning Japanese with Berserk: Black Swordsman

Another entry in our series of Japanese terms that are relevant to Berserk. This time, it's all about the Black Swordsman, because Berserk wouldn't be Berserk without him. Black Swordsman is two words in Japanese, like in English. It's written 黒い剣士 and pronounced "KUROI KENSHI".

黒 means black, and adding い to it makes it an adjective. If you'll remember in our previous entry, we mentioned the "White Falcon", and that used the adjective 白い (SHIROI). Same structure.

...

Guin Saga cover art

The last book of a spin off series of Guin Saga written by Kiyoshi Imaoka, Kaoru Kurimoto's husband, after her death (at her request). The cover illustration was contributed by Kentarou Miura.

Learning Japanese with Berserk: Falcon

Puella has thought of starting a series of posts about learning a little bit of Japanese from Berserk. Obviously this won't help you speak the language, but it will highlight some important words and nuances that are used in Berserk. You might even be able to spot them if you check out the manga in Japanese!

To begin, we chose a simple word that's actually a not-so-simple kanji in Japanese: 鷹. Pronounced TAKA (たか), it's the word for hawk or falcon. Closely associated with Griffith...

2021 interview of Kentarou Miura & Shizuya Wazarai (Cestvs)

Gold members received early access to this translation last week. It is now available to all tiers. Thank you for your support!

This interview took place to promote the animated adaptation of Cestvs, a gladiator-themed manga published in Young Animal. It was published on April 10, 2021. It involves Miura because he and Wazarai are friends, former schoolmates, and Wazarai was once his assistant.

The original article (in Japanese) 2021-04-20 22:35:07 +0000 UTC View Post

Dragon Slayer... or Dragon Punch?

This little parody is the product of an unknown Japanese fan and dates back to the early 2000s. It depicts Guts, Zodd and Griffith as Ryū, Akuma (Gouki) and Ken from the Street Fighter video game series.

It was pretty extensively edited: the art is colorized, the swords in the ground are changed to torches, a temple is added in the background and all characters are edited to remove swords and add Street Fighter garb (gloves, karate gi, beads, bandanna, shorter hair for Ken...).

T...

Miura comments on where he's at in the story

Gold tier supporters were given early access to this post. It is now open to all patrons. Thank you very much for your support!

To advertise the coming release of the Cestvs anime, its author Shizuya Wazarai is giving interviews alongside Kentarou Miura. That's because they're old friends, and Wazarai was Miura's first assistant on Berserk (non-credited), so he's helping him promote his work.

They've given two interviews recently. We'll be translating one of them ...

Herbal medicine

At the beginning of volume 7, Casca and Guts are recuperating in the cave after falling down a cliff into a river. Realizing Casca was sick, Guts has gathered medicinal herbs and hands them to her, wrapped in a leaf. Then, Dark Horse has him tell her to "drink it".

Drink herbs and leaves? Seems odd, doesn't it? Well, not if you know a bit of Japanese. Guts does literally tell her to drink it: "飲んだけ". That's because in Japanese, when talking about "taking medicine", the idiomatic...

A signed illustration from Miura

This shikishi ("colored paper") is a reproduction of a painting by Miura that he then signed. It was awared to the highest tiers of the crowdfunding campaign that Hakusensha ran to accompany the Big Berserk Exhibition. Only 20 of them were produced.

That particular illustration first appeared on a telephone card re...

The origins of a name

How do you call the leader of Tudor's Purple Rhino Knights? Boscone? Boscorn? Boscogne? Well, the likeliest spelling for it is actually Boskone.

That name comes from the Lensman series, a science fiction series by Edward E. Smith that was published in the 1930s to 1950s. It refers to a group of evil space pirates (yes, this is classic space opera) who act as the main antagonists for most of the story.

The series experienced a resurgence in Japan when it was adap...

Podcast #03 - A day in the life of a SKnet admin

Walter and Aazealh explain a day in the life of a SKnet admin. We talk about what it takes to run a forum, how we make moderation decisions, and keep discussion alive during times of breaks.

Want more of the podcast? Click here for the public episodes.

Fan art: Human Zodd, by early SKnet member JIN

JIN was one of the earliest members of the skullknight.net forum. He was an avid Berserk collector as well as a gifted artist. This drawing of a young, human Zodd was done in early 2003.

A rare poster for the Dreamcast game's OST

This poster was displayed in shops to advertise the release of the original soundtrack for the Berserk Dreamcast game. The OST came out on December 15th, 1999, and featured several tracks by Susumu Hirasawa, notably Indra, Zodd II and Forces II.

The artwork is from Miura and depicts Puck sitting on a beherit-shaped shell from which a mandragora is emerging. This poster was not sold to consumers and few copies survive today.

To learn more about the Dreamcast game, 2021-03-31 05:01:00 +0000 UTC View Post

Shark attack

In this panel from volume 7, Adon makes a surprise appearance to confront Casca at Doldrey castle. Dark Horse translated his line as "Shockk!!! Adonnn!!!". The implication is that he's referring to his "shocking" return.

However, when we look at the Japanese text, another meaning quickly reveals itself. His line is actually "しゃーく!!! あ、どーん!!!". It's written in hiragana for emphasis, but しゃーく or シャーク ("shaーku") actually translates to... shark. One quick...

Translation: Miura's message to backers of the Big Berserk Expo

Puella translated Miura's thank you message to those who supported the crowdfunding campaign associated with the Big Berserk Exhibition. Check it out here!

Podcast #02 - Drunk discussion

Walter and Aazealh knock back a couple drinks and answer silly Berserk questions.

Want more of the podcast? Click here for the public episodes.

Podcast #01 - Perceptions

We take a look back at how fans first reacted to big events in Berserk when they unfolded episodically.

Want more of the podcast? Click here for the public episodes.