Berserk/Characters: Difference between revisions

He is introduced as a [[Walking the Earth|wanderer with a grudge]], bent on hunting down and slaying the beings known as Apostles with a [[BFS|gigantic sword]] known as the Dragon Slayer. Said beings are responsible, along with [[Big Bad|the Godhand]], for the trauma he suffered in the Eclipse. Additionally, Guts later gets his hands on the [[Artifact of Doom|Berserker Armor]] which makes him immune to physical pain, yet overexerts and further injures his body at the same time.

 

 

Guts's fate is tied to [[Bishonen|Griffith]], his former best friend, and [[Action Girl|Casca]], his love interest and fellow bearer of the Brand of Sacrifice. His relationships with both are currently strained - Guts wants to kill Griffith because of that whole "brutal treachery" thing, and Guts being slowly overtaken by rage/revenge {{spoiler|has led to his [[Attempted Rape]] of Casca}}. Guts' entire struggle of fighting monsters and his fate, as well as his internal struggle between [[The Power of Hate|choosing to hunt the man he hates]] and [[The Power of Love|choosing to protect the woman he loves]] can only be described as "heroic."

** [[Barbarian Hero]]: Guts might not be a straight historic example of a barbarian, [[The Berserker|but he sure as hell fights like one.]] He has the [[BFS|big, crude sword]], [[Heroic Build|muscled]], can defeat magical enemies and monsters [[Badass Normal|with zero magic]], and is a [[Lightning Bruiser]]. Also insinuated by Guts himself that although he is not the most morally upstanding guy, he had more standards than the other mercenary crews that he hung around, making him that white sheep in a bad barbarian band. To end, [[Word of God]] said that part of Guts' character was based off of Rutger Hauger's character in the movie ''Flesh And Blood.''

** [[Byronic Hero]]: Is pretty much the best example of this sub-type in anime. Morally neutral? Check. Largely concerned with personal interests? Yes, indeed. Disrespect of common authority? Oh, yeah. Defined by conflict, inner and outer? Definitely. Introspective loner? Affirmative. Guilty of horrible crimes? ''Yyyyep.'' Intelligent? He may not be educated, but he is NOT stupid. An exile? From more than one place. Cynical and self destructive? Uh-huh. Not such a good idea to hang around him? [[Doom Magnet|Oh, boy...]]

* [[Arm Cannon]]: His secondary weapon that can also be mounted as a [[Automatic Crossbows|multiple-shot crossbow]].

* [[Artificial Limbs]]: Guts, loses his left Hand to a monster {{spoiler|during the hellish ordeal where his friends in the Band of the Hawk are sacrificed so that their band's former leader, Griffith, can become one of the evil Godhand}}. His Hand is replaced by a ''[[Steampunk]]'' prosthetic which triples as a [[Arm Cannon|gunpowder cannon and a repeating crossbow]].

** [[Awesome McCoolname]] (His name is ''Guts''. You simply ''have'' to be Badass to live up to a name like that.)

** [[Badass Adorable]]: Guts was a pretty cute kid when he was a [[Child Soldier]] who could hold his own pretty well on the battle field.

** [[Badass Baritone]]: Damn - even his voice is badass! And it was shown (or rather, heard) in the anime that Guts went through some ''major'' puberty at around age 14 or 15 since he has a deep voice then. It just adds to [[Tall, Dark and Handsome|teh sexiness.]]

** [[Badass Cape]]: For all purposes. Dramatic effect, blanket, protecting Casca from the cold, deflecting arrows (yes)...

* [[Foil]]: To Griffith.

* [[Forced to Watch]]: Dogpiled by a bunch of Apostles, Guts could only watch {{spoiler|Femto molesting and raping Casca to insanity right in front of him}}, unable to do a fucking thing about it, [[Screaming Warrior|screaming in rage and pain]]. It was also [[Eye Remember|the last scene his right eye could see before it got clawed out.]]

* [[Friend to All Children]]: Zigzagged. Guts is not the softest man to be around, and he has rough methods of dealing with people, including children. Despite everything he dishes out to them, kids genuinely seem to like Guts, and he doesn't ''really'' seem that bugged by them being around all of the time, so long as they don't get in the way. Just the fact that most of his [[True Companions]] are half his age just brings the point home. Relate to [[Would Hurt a Child]] below.

* [[Fountain of Expies]]: Pretty much any hardcore, brooding badass from the east owes his dues to the original BFS-owning hundred-man slayer. [[Final Fantasy X|Auron]] is the best example, while [[Final Fantasy VII]]'s main heroes Zack and Cloud...[[Subverted Trope|they'd wish]].

* [[Ineffectual Loner]] / [[I Work Alone]]: (Was this before running into and joining the Band of the Hawk. [[Dark and Troubled Past|Because of his past,]] Guts preferred to move around from battlefield to battlefield, never sticking around to make friends or get connections, since frankly, [[Hates Being Touched|he didn't want any.]] Then he earned the [[Power of Friendship]] and the [[Power of Trust]] as he began to value the importance of teamwork and camaraderie while with the Hawks. And then ''it'' happened ([[Total Eclipse of the Plot|you know the drill]]). And with that, Guts returned to [[Ineffectual Loner]] status (in fact, [[Loners Are Freaks|worse]]), [[Implacable Man|among]] [[Took a Level In Jerkass|other]] [[He Who Fights Monsters|things...]])

* [[Insult Friendly Fire]]: When Guts and Casca were up against Adon and his hundred men, Adon said that they were going to capture Guts to torture him and capture Casca to use her as their "[[Sex Slave|toy]]." Guts, in response, said that Adon wouldn't want a woman like Casca, since she was a total bitch and that she would "[[Freudian Threat|bite it right off.]]" Casca promptly elbows Guts in the head.

* [[I Will Protect Her]]: Don't so much as raise a hand to Casca. If you do, Guts will go seriously apeshit on you, and seriously [[There Is No Kill Like Overkill|fuck you up]].

* [[Jerkass]]: Like his badass-ness, Guts has several layers of jerkass-ness that seem to evolve throughout the series.

* [[Missing Mom]]: This overused shonen trope is taken to the extreme since Guts' real mother was dead before he even fell out of her and his adoptive mother died from the plague when Guts was three. There is a chance Guts might have [[Raised By Dudes|never even talked to a woman]] before he met Casca...

* [[Mr. Fanservice]]: Maybe not intentional but the guy is ''very'' [[Tall, Dark and Handsome|tall]], ''very'' [[Heroic Build|ripped]], ruggedly handsome, appears [[Shirtless Scene|shirtless]] or even [[Male Frontal Nudity|completely naked]] several times, so it only comes with the territory that he garnered a devoted female fandom.

* [[My Greatest Failure]]: Guts' greatest failure is not only {{spoiler|being unable to save Casca from being raped by Femto during the Eclipse}}, but also {{spoiler|leaving her to deal with her trauma alone for two years to pursue revenge against Griffith and deal with his own trauma alone}}.

** Guts is also painfully aware of the fact that {{spoiler|his abandoning of the hawks is the root cause of pretty much everything bad that went down. Made extra painfull by the fact that Guts ended his one year pilgrimage by concluding that his place was with the hawks after all.}}

* [[Names to Run Away From Really Fast]]: [[Inverted Trope|If you're a bad guy]], try not to come across a guy named "Guts" - he'll be sure to [[Ludicrous Gibs|splatter yours]].

* [[Nice Hat]]: Usually not his thing exept that one time when {{spoiler|Guts was scheming with Griffith against the queen.}} The hat seemed so out of character some viewers at first didn't even recognize the mysterious assassin even tough he was using a big sword. After that, we realise how good he looks with it.

* [[No Social Skills]]

* [[Screaming Warrior]]: When Guts gets ''really'' pissed, he'll often start yelling at the top of his lungs as he starts laying about with his [[BFS]].

* [[Self Destructive Charge]]: Guts does this often, but the best example comes during the Eclipse, {{spoiler|when he is trying to save Casca. First he rushes trough a wall of demons and almost gets ripped to shreds, then he has to hack off his arm to continue the fight and he wouldn't have lost his eye if he wasn't trying so hard to push himself up wile pinned down.}}

* [[Shirtless Scene]]: Much to the [[Fan Girl|Fangirls]]' joy and, strangely, him being [[Covered With Scars]] doesn't make him any less attractive.

** [[Eating the Eye Candy]]: While applying a protective seal over the Brand while he's shirtless, Schierke notes how large and strong his back is...and begins blushing.

* [[Shrouded in Myth]]: According to Isidro, Guts didn't kill 100 soldiers, but 1,000. Guts refused to elaborate.

** Also, though his monogamy toward Casca is hardly a bad thing, it's also deconstructed, as Guts' attraction toward Casca has been the only time that Guts has played the [[All Men Are Perverts]] trope straight, some instances being a bit more disturbing, such as when {{spoiler|Guts came close to forcing himself on Casca after the Eclipse when he accidentally ripped her clothes}} or when {{spoiler|Guts almost raped Casca in volume 23.}}

* [[Sir Swearsalot]]: He's a goddamn fucking knight in black fucking armor.

* [[Warrior Poet]]: Guts eventually becomes an aloof, melancholic one after finding his new [[Nakama]].

** He had his moments even before that: following the 100-man slaying incident, he has a surprisingly [http://www.mangareader.net/96-1127-122/berserk/chapter-7.html poetic conversation with Casca,] and she is just as surprised as the reader to see that he has these sorts of [[Hidden Depths]].

* [[Weapon of Choice]]/[[Choice of Two Weapons]]: His [[BFS|big fucking swords]], primarily the [[Named Weapon|Dragon Slayer]]. Later, his [[Arm Cannon]]/[[Bow and Sword In Accord|repeating crossbow]] is added to his arsenal.

* [["Well Done, Son" Guy]]: As a kid, Guts's primary motivation was to make his adoptive father Gambino proud. It ended badly.

* [[Whole Costume Reference]]: His [[media:gutsbatman.jpg|Berserker Armor]] looks kinda similar to [[Batman]]

* [[Wonder Child]]: He gave one woman the gift of motherhood by being another woman's [[Squick|aborted fetus.]]

* [[Worth Living For]]: For Casca's sake.

* [[Even the Guys Want Him]]: Even males in the series tend to find him attractive, or at least handsome.

* [[Evil Costume Switch]]: As Femto, Griffith's outfit is a darker, more sinister (and skin-tight) version of his warrior armor that he wears as Griffith.

* [[Et Tu, Brute?]]: Seeing Guts leaving him and then Casca choosing Guts over him made Griffith completely lose it.

* [[Face Heel Turn]]

* [[Likable Villain]]: Depending on [[Base Breaker|what camp you belong to.]]

* [[Like a God To Me]]: The typical first impression that people get upon seeing Griffith for the first time. Played straight pre-Eclipse.

* [[Man Child]]: Before the Eclipse, many characters comment that he has an almost childlike innocence about him (though since he would sometimes display this at inappropriate times certain people would find it creepy rather than endearing). Indeed, one could interpret his dream as a boyish fantasy he never did quite let go.

** [[Psychopathic Manchild]]: The events of the Eclipse and his actions afterwards definitely solidify his status as this.

* [[Sex for Solace]]: With Charlotte. And he pays for this dearly.

* {{spoiler|[[Single Mom Stripper]]: [[Blatant Lies|No, this is not funny.]] But actually, he portrays sleeping with Gennon to Casca exactly this way.}}

* [[Start of Darkness]]: Related to [[Protagonist Journey to Villain]], the Golden Age arc, being Guts' back story, serves as this for Griffith.

* [[Stupid Sexy Flanders]]: Even Guts experiences this upon seeing him naked.

* [[All Women Are Lustful]]: Averted. While she's no [[All Women Are Prudes|prude]], much like Guts, sex is really not a priority to her. In a setting where most adult females are either complete sluts or, at least, connected to sex, she stands out as a notable exception. Not to mention, she becomes very nervous when Guts is about to make love to her. However, [[Attempted Rape|seeing just how many guys tried to have their way with her without her consent]], it's understandable that she might not feel completely at ease with the idea of lovemaking.

* [[Allergic to Evil]]: She owns the same brand as Guts and reacts just the same whenever an Apostle, Godhand or any other evil-aligned entity is nearby.

* [[Amazonian Beauty]]: She comments on how she is embarrassed to wear a revealing dress because of how unusually muscled she is for a woman, but we don't see her well-toned build until volume 9 when {{spoiler|she and Guts make love}}. In both situations, [[Beautiful All Along|Guts wasn't unhappy with this IN THE LEAST]].

* [[Ambiguously Brown]]: She looks strangely like a Kushan...

* [[Big No]] / [[Little No]]: When Wyald brings out his...eeeeh...[[Gag Penis|tongue]]? {{spoiler|She tries once again during the eclypse, but by then she no longer has enough strength in her to raise the volume above a soft whimpering.}}

* [[Black Eyes]]

* [[Break the Cutie]]: In a very heinous way during the Eclipse.

* [[Broken Heel]]: Happens a lot when she becomes a damsel. Even before that, this deconstructs her [[She Fu|combat style]] as a [[Fragile Speedster]], since one trip and Casca goes down.

* [[Friend to All Living Things]]: Played with in the movie. She seems rather affectionate toward the horses. {{spoiler|She even gut punched Guts ''twice'' for inadvertently killing her horse by chopping off its leg during their first encounter.}}

* [[From Dress to Dressing]]: Used this on Guts right before he went onto finding Griffith to give him the results of the assassination task he had entrusted him with. This is when Guts found out that Casca is not quite the bitch she wants people to think she is.

* [[Gainaxing]]: One time. [[Fan Disservice|Guess when...]] Another trope [[Ruined FOREVER|destroyed.]]

* [[Go Mad From the Revelation]]: She is now reduced to little more than a two-year old child.

** {{spoiler|[[Rape Leads to Insanity]]: [[Tear Jerker|*sigh*]]}}

* [[The Heart]]: In Guts' new [[Five-Man Band]], Casca is the one that everyone in the group is willing to protect. The whole reason why Guts formed the group in the first place was so he could have more people to watch over her and to get her safely to Elfheim.

* [[Hot Amazon]]: Guts chose her as his lover because she was able to fight on par with him.

* [[Hot Chick With a Sword]]: Subverted. She has all the characteristics except she doesn't wear [[Stripperific]] clothes.

* [[Humble Hero]]: Casca is perfectly capable of commanding an army by herself. She has proven it time and time again. But she is so modest and loyal she doesn't even realize it.

* [[Ice Queen]] / [[Defrosting Ice Queen]]: The beginning of the series presents Casca as a distant, always serious, aloof, even cold young woman who seems to utterly hate Guts, and only shows genuine affection toward Griffith. After she and Guts's time being stranded together and learning that they [[Not So Different|weren't so different]] - with the big bonus of Guts [[Rescue Romance|saving her life twice]] - Casca finally begins to warm up to Guts, which leads to her acting a bit more [[Sugar and Ice Personality|girlish, open, and sensitive to others]] (Judeau even remarks happily how Casca started acting like "a real girl" after she was stranded with Guts, since her profession [[One of the Boys|really doesn't allow her to]]), and eventually, [[Love Epiphany|she falls in love with Guts.]]

* [[The Insomniac]]: Another deconstructed trope used to tell us just how severe her trauma was after the Eclipse. Casca showed some signs of sleep deprivation after the Eclipse, namely the dark bags under her eyes. Even two years later, Erika remarked that Casca had trouble sleeping (though [[Madwoman in The Attic|her confinement]] could have also played a role) and that was why she took Casca out of the elf mine in the first place. This is, of course, the [[Truth in Television|realistic insomniac example]], since many {{spoiler|rape survivors}} have trouble sleeping after their attack.

* [[Interrupted Suicide]]: Believing herself to be of no use to the Hawks any longer, Casca tried to end it all by taking a step off of a cliff. Guts was there to save her, though.

* [[Never a Self-Made Woman]]: Lampshaded by Casca herself. She got where she is now because she met Griffith and was loved by Guts. Without either of them, her life is purposeless and she is nothing by herself, something she acknowledges during her heart-to-heart with Guts after he comes back from his time out.

** And yet it is also averted, because after Griffith got imprisoned and Guts left she lead and kept the Band of the Hawk completely on her own and was uninamously accepted as the rightful leader. Neither men helped one bit in this. And even if she doesn't have Griffith's leadership skills or Guts' inhuman battle progress she won several victories for the Hawks on the Golden Age arc. If anything she was [[Overshadowed By Awesome]] at that point, and she still had her merits. How capable she was only works for making her state post-eclipse sadder.

* [[Number Two]]: Took over leadership over the Hawks when {{spoiler|Griffith got arrested.}}

* [[Older Than They Look]]: Around the same age as Guts, though after the Eclipse and she gains the mindset of a child, Casca does appear much younger, especially with the hairdo.

* [[One of the Boys]]: Was mostly treated as such amongst the original Hawks.

* [[Onee-Sama]]: Outside of the main commanders, the Hawks refer to Casca as their "sister."

* [[The Ophelia]]: After the Eclipse, she has become quite the beauty but can only blabber incoherently or scream when she wants to express herself.

* [[Plucky Girl]]: Has shades of this pre-Eclipse. Double subverted one time, after a [[Stay in The Kitchen]] [[Rousing Speech]] from Guts, because she ''was'' collapsing from exhaustion due to her period and a fever. Instead of being demotivated by his patronizing, she got back on her feet and went forward.

* [[She's Got Legs]]: Not only does a lot of the art focus on Casca's backside, but also on her legs, and her tall riding boots and almost-[[Zettai Ryouiki]] really emphasize them.

* [[Shower of Angst]]: Right after the Eclipse, we see her bathing in a cascade.

* [[Single Woman Seeks Good Man]]: Brutally deconstructed with Griffith who eventually {{spoiler|raped her, turned her insane and tainted her unborn child}}. Played straight with Guts though, since she isn't attracted to him due to his ultra-manliness and his [[Badass|Badassery]], she loves him for his righteousness and his kindness and consideration towards her.

* [[So Beautiful It's a Curse]]: A negative example. Casca is one of the two most attractive female characters in Berserk (the other being [[Gorgeous Gorgon|Slan]]). Many men have complimented Casca on her beauty - that is, while most of them are attempting to rape her. Her situation only gets worse [[The Ophelia|post-Eclipse]]. While in her care, Luca states how Casca's beauty, in conjunction with her [[Adult Child|innocent and helpless nature]], will land her into trouble with these sort of men. [[Defied Trope|To avoid this]], Luca wraps Casca's face in bandages and passes her off as her syphilis stricken sister. It works for awhile with some [[All Men Are Perverts|sex-crazed]] pagan worshipers - until they rip off her bandages.

* [[Sugar and Ice Personality]]: Has traits for type 1 and type 2; type 1 appearing more after the one year time skip and type 2 after her excursion with Guts. In addition to being [[The Woman Wearing the Queenly Mask|a woman in a man's world]], Casca's also second in command of the Hawks, a position that has taken its toll on her emotional well-being, especially after Guts's departure and Griffith's arrest. Always trying to keep her cool in order to be a successful leader to the Hawks, Casca admits to Guts that she believes that she is at the end of her rope and that what she was truly afraid of was to be forgotten and dwindle to nothing if she didn't cling onto another's dreams (Griffith's). The self-realization that she was of no use to Griffith as a warrior or a woman [[Driven to Suicide|nearly drove Casca to suicide]], [[Interrupted Suicide|had Guts not interfered]] and given her some [[Intimate Psychotherapy|emotion strength later]].

* [[Tearful Smile]] / [[Tears of Joy]]: The [[Tearful Smile]] to Casca is the [[Slasher Smile]] to Guts and the [[Psychotic Smirk]] to Griffith. I'd hate to see how a group picture of them would turn out.

** Before she became insane, during the first horrifying moments of the feast of the Eclipse, all Casca could do was just stare as {{spoiler|her comrades were devoured right in front of her}}.

* [[Tomboy]]: Our dear Casca, [[Femininity Failure|proper young ladies do not use their elbows to punch their male escorts in the face,]] no matter how much they're gawking at you.

* [[Art Shift]]

* [[Brats With Slingshots]]: Subverted. He doesn't need slingshots, only his bare hands. And the things he throws (stones, bombs...) cause serious harm instead of a comedic effect.

* [[Dual-Wielding]]: He usually uses both his cutlass and his dagger in battle.

* [[Expy]]: Of [[Rurouni Kenshin|Myojin Yahiko]], fitting the [[Kid Samurai]] image.

* [[Fiery Redhead]]: Made all the more evident when his magical weapon is a ''fire dagger''.

* [[Hero Worshipper]]: Although he'll never admit it, he deeply admires Guts.

* [[I Just Want to Be Badass]]: So much so that he focuses on his weakness more so than his strengths in order to be more like Guts.

* [[Indy Ploy]]: His rescue of {{spoiler|Casca}} from a witches' execution is a definite winner!

* [[Art Shift]]: Puck spends most of his time as a chibi, which is his default state when he's being funny. He only gets to look real when he's being serious(ish).

* [[Barbie Doll Anatomy]]: Despite being obviously naked, Puck appears as a miniature Ken-doll

* [[Chekhov's Gunman]]: Zigzagged a bit since the story starts [[In Medias Res|in the middle]], but Puck is briefly mentioned during the Golden Age arc by Judeau, but later becomes Guts' first travel companion when he's the Black Swordsman. Puck actually makes reference to the manner in which they became companions.

* [[Women Are Wiser]]: Evarella ''thinks'' she's this compared to Puck, but she's really [[Not So Above It All]].

* [[Morality Pet]]: Puck often acts as the voice of Morality when Guts loses it.

* [[Mr. Exposition|Mrs. Exposition]]: Evarella has taken this role for the team a few times when Schierke was out. {{spoiler|She instructed Farnese in how to call Schierke back when she was "mixed" with the river spirit and told Isma about true names.}}

* [[Not-So-Imaginary Friend]]: Being surrounded by [[Muggles|people]] [[Invisible to Normals|who can't see the supernatural]] (at least the non-aggressors), including Puck, a lot of people who encounter Guts wonder what the hell he is talking to.

* [[Our Fairies Are Different]]: Granted, they're called Elves, but they apply more to this trope.

* [[Plucky Comic Relief]]: Puck mostly.

* [[Shipper On Deck]]: When Evarella tries to push Schierke to Guts she usually gets stuffed in a hat. In general, she has a weak spot for romance.

* [[Small Annoying Creature]]: So very much

* [[Team Pet]]: Both.