Guts and Casca - finding comfort in themselves
So I want to talk about the waterfall scene in the Golden Age a little.
Okay so first, so why the hell would I be analyzing something like this?
I think this scene says SO MUCH about both Guts’ and Casca’s personality and struggle. More than you maybe think, by just displaying gestures and facial expressions.
(one reason why I love Berserk, by the way)
So what happens here is that Casca realizes that Guts obviously cares enough for her to get himself hurt:
Casca is not used to this kind of care.
She always wanted Griffith’s praise and acknowledgement, be something important to him. She was always ignored and deprived of it.
And during the waterfall scene (to a degree this also happens during the 100 man slayer scene), Guts shows up and gives her just that; Because he would not want to get hurt if she didn’t matter to him.
Now, let’s let’s look at it from Guts’ perspective:
Remember how Guts was always trying to get praise from Gambino?
How he always considered Griffith a friend, until that one faithful day when he heard Griffith’s fountain speech?
Guts too always wanted his approval, and hearing that made him feel like a pawn (which eventually pressured him to leave the hawks later on in the first place).
He felt like he did not matter as much to Griffith as he maybe thought, as proven by this page:
In other words: Guts and Casca are literally the same.
I can really relate to both of them honestly.
So what’s going here is both them realizing that they are worthy to matter to someone. They are doing that simultaneously.
Look at Gut’s confused look when Casca suddenly grasps his hand gently.
And as Casca says those words Guts realizes that he in fact also matters a lot to Casca; And Casca is fully aware of what he’s done for her as well.
Up until then, Guts always denied that Casca may even like him, as revealed by the conversation he had with Judeau.
He thought it was impossible for her to like him that much because her place was next to Griffith. Or so he thought.
And as Casca tells him he is a fool, I can only imagine what she must have felt:
suddenly, after all the deprivation, the stress and the hardship, there is someone who cares, who acknowledges her, who’s trying for her. And releasing these emotions first unleashes strong pain, followed by a healing relief. For the both of them, too.
Guts is extremely confused by this. He first doesn’t know what to do.
It looks like he’s still processing it, as if asking himself… perhaps:
“Why is she calling me that?”
…or “ What makes her say that?”
…or perhaps also a “Does she care for me that much?”
The next best thing that comes to his mind is to what appears to be a return of her hug…
…and also to wipe her tears away.
He clearly didn’t like seeing her cry and wanted to give her comfort.
He gets a little more… confident in the next page, starting to kiss her forehead, then literally kissing her tears away.
I hope I do not have to point how damn cute that is, or do I? Imagine the big bulky boi getting all softboi on that vulnerable lil Casca. Oh my lawd.
Casca on the other hand is letting him in, letting him care for her. She seems to enjoy it. I think she really needed someone to be at her side at this point.
But then, Casca wants a REAL kiss from the guy.
Guts face expression is all: “OH GOD NOT SO FAST! This isnt supposed to happen!”
Then in the next panel Casca perhaps has wondered if she went too far.
And for Guts, as he is looking at her, it looks like he’s thinking something like,
“So that’s how it really is?”
And then of course, the final kiss.
As you can probably tell by the way I have explained this, both struggle with feelings of not being worthy and found comfort in themselves.
They struggle getting closer because they both have been hurt. Seeing them open up to each other with their gentle expressions and gestures is adorable.
What a goddamn tragedy too. Jesus Christ.
Thanks @midnight-in-town for inspiring me to finally make this post happen!
yousharknotpass
prguitarman
amandla
tangentwithtanner
ellievsbear
discoholicmusic
theartofmadeline
turnnoffyourmind
