#chapter 383

Not much happening lol, but I see more parallels to Griffith in the dungeon and I'm loving that, as well as the prospect of getting a real glimpse into Guts' psyche. I was hoping that would be the point of this dungeon thing, and it looks like it is, so yay.

And I looooooved these two pages in immediate succession:

Like first it's nice to see some acknowledgement that Guts' breakdown is not just about his sword/failed revenge attempt lol, his deeper feelings are still longing, and certainly not just for Casca, but Griffith as well. Confirmation that he's not just reaching out to Casca here, but to both of them.

I've always felt that Griffith and Casca are paralleled a lot in Guts' perspective, in both being changed versions of themselves while Guts desperately misses their original selves. The quest to restore Casca's mind is like... substitution is maybe not the right word, because he does care about Casca for her own sake, but like, he's so focused on wanting the old Casca back in part because he can't get the old Griffith back. He's sublimating his longing for Griffith through Casca.

They're shown as equivalent here, and I don't mind that lol because any parallels between Casca and Griffith just make Guts' feelings for Griffith gayer, but I still do think Guts' feelings for Griffith are the most narratively significant feelings. Like, Guts swings his sword in frustration when Casca is still out of reach after getting her mind back, while he has a full breakdown when Griffith is still out of reach. We'll see how it all shakes out eventually though I guess. If they are fully treated as equivalent desires it wouldn't be the worst thing either, I can put up with a lot of het for griffguts style homoeroticism lol.