#theme: adaptation

[bthump]

Just curious: are there any anime-specific scenes or interpretations that you really enjoy? Personally, I love the dramatic irony of "I will never change - not ever" from the movies (staircase scene), and the mirror effect of "I don't care what you say. He would never do this. Because Griffith is mine... He is mine!" (eclipse). I can't believe they went there! Can only hope the manga follows suit at some point. :D

Yeah, those are both solid moments imo! Though I actually thought Guts said "He's my..." and trailed off, rather than "mine," but I don't have the ovas handy to double check either the subs or dubs, and idr exactly. I love both possibilities tbh, though "mine" def has a little extra homoeroticism so Nice, if so.

My favourite is definitely the 97 anime dub listing "love" as one of the emotions Griffith feels for Guts during the torture chamber monologue. Hard to top that imo.

I also really like the ova's depiction of Griffith's night with Charlotte - Griffith very clearly dissociating and dazed, almost turns right back around and leaves again before Charlotte starts sobbing on him, and Charlotte encouraging him after a token protest by putting his hand back on her tit. It felt very true to the spirit of the scene in the manga, while making it about 50x less bodice-rippery lol.

The shot in the ova during the Eclipse, where Casca looks up at Femto in a parallel to her looking up at the nobleman who tried to rape her as a child, was also a very good addition imo. The rape scene itself still largely sucked lol, but it least it adds a shade of depth, and a little bit of Casca's pov that was sorely needed.

Griffith catching Guts on the balcony in a parallel to him catching Charlotte when she trips a minute later was also a nice addition imo. The ova cut out a lot of good griffguts moments so I appreciate them adding a few overt things to at least try to compensate lol.

Thanks for asking!

[bthump]

I found an article(?) on the topic "10 Most Stubborn Anime Couples".

In second place are Guts and Casca. They write about them that Casca and Guts are the veritable blueprint for and excellent tsundere-tsundere couple. They are constantly at odds, from the battlefield to the camp to their consultations with Griffith. It makes the times when they cut through the tension and level with each other all the more poignant, and even intimate. Guts and Casca disagree with battle strategy all the time, and Guts isn't the best communicator. The two of them have completely different motives, though they both love and follow Griffith. But despite all their conflict, they understand each other in a way that no other can. And their sweet moments are the purest, most honest emotional beats in the entire series.

Interesting to hear your opinion on this. 🚨IMPORTANT🚨 This is no one's meta. This is just an article from the site (for technical reasons I can’t copy the link). I DON'T WANT to set you or anyone else against the author of this top. Also, I don't want to blame you for thinking these two are a bad couple or anything. Sorry to bother you!

lol I'm sorry if recent somewhat bizarre drama has made you feel like that disclaimer is necessary, but I definitely wouldn't worry about it when it comes to actual published clickbait articles.

Anyway I'm not going to search out this article and read it for myself but yeah, as I'm sure you can guess, I disagree with that take based on how you describe it.

I assume they're talking about the anime specifically rather than the manga, and it's somewhat more accurate to the anime where the writers gave them extra tsundere style interactions to build up their relationship, romanticized the sex scene more than it is in the manga, and cut the story off before Guts left Casca in a cave in addition to cutting out their moments of strife and disconnection during the rescue, but even despite that I disagree that their "sweet" moments are the "purest" and "most honest" emotional beats.

The anime definitely put in the work to make Guts and Casca's relationship seem more romantic than it comes across in the manga so I can't really disagree that their sweet moments are meant to be genuine in the anime, but for me, Griffith's torture chamber monologue, despair, and moment of sacrifice, and Guts' moments of self-reflection on the rooftop after Zodd and right before the Eclipse still beat the romance in terms of moments of cathartic pure emotional honesty.

Even in the anime it's ultimately a subplot to the main plot of Guts and Griffith's relationship, and that relationship still gets the most intensely satisfying emotional beats.

Thanks for the ask!

[bthump]

is the 99 anime something you’d recommend? i wanted to get into it bc it feels like a much more faithful adaptation but the bar scene in the first episode really put me off?? is it all like that or was that just exceptionally bad

Yeah I'd definitely recommend it, though it might depend why the first episode put you off lol. If it's because they replaced Puck with Colette and threw in a nonsensical reference to evil king Griffith lol, they basically wrote the first episode as a weird not very accurate mashup of Black Swordsman stuff, just so that you go into the Golden Age knowing it ends in tragedy and feeling that good sense of dread, it's not an attempt to faithfully adapt the Black Swordsman arc.

The Golden Age stuff after is much more accurate to the manga. I do have a few minor bones to pick with it lol, but overall I think it's a solid and faithful adaptation that's worth watching.

On the other hand if it's the older 90s style animation that put you off then the only advice I can give is either don't watch it or learn to love it lol. Or I guess if you're watching the dub then imo that's pretty iffy lol, I would definitely recommend subs over dubs for the anime (except for Griffith’s torture chamber monologue, which is worth watching the dub for thanks to the script).

[bthump]

 replied to your post “yk this might be my favourite under appreciated moment both adaptions...”

I really loved this moment as well. I didnt feel like they ruined it in the adaptations though, why do you it is this way?

imo the manga reads like Guts basically snarling in a v near to snapping rage, irrationally yelling at Casca to back off as she approaches, in what feels almost like a reversal of this moment

Guts isn’t blaming anyone (well other than himself), but essentially he’s angry about what’s happened to Griffith and lashes out for a moment indiscriminately in a possessive/protective way. I feel like he’d have the same reaction to anyone who took a step forward at that moment. And it fits neatly into the whole weird everyone’s jealous of everyone situation that’s been developing during the rescue mission too.

Idk about the original Japanese wording and delivery in the adaptions, but imo the anime dub sounds like Guts telling Casca to stay back because she needs to be protected from seeing Griffith’s scarred face, yk it sounds like he’s mainly concerned about Casca’s reaction. And the ova sub and dub give me the same vibe a little less overtly. “Just stay back” or something along those lines, + in the dub it’s delivered with concern moreso than seething anger.

Just doesn’t match this expression imo: