Berserk Chapters 368, Devourers Review: A Punch in the Guts (Pun Intended).

On May 6, 2021, mangaka Kentaro Miura, the beloved author of Berserk, passed away.
Along with the mourning for his passing, there were also many questions about the future of his iconic story.
Would it end with Miura, or be finished by another?
Whatever was going to happen, many did rightfully conclude that Miura’s wishes had to be respected.
After many months of wondering, it was announced that Miura’s longtime friend Kouji Mori, and Studio Gaga would be continuing his legendary work.
Personally, given that Mori was a close friend of Miura for over 40 years, I believe that Miura is being respected with this continuation and the chapters we have been gifted with since Berserk started again have proved that to me.
Sure, the art does not exactly match Miura’s amazing style completley but did any of us expect it to?
It was clear there would be some differences between Miura’s Berserk and Mori and Studio Gaga’s continuation of it.
Still, some of the differences did leave me a bit concerned, most notably Guts’ lack of dialogue in the past few chapters after Griffith reappeared.
It kind of felt like Mori and Studio Gaga were playing it safe by having Guts only yell, maybe because they’re still trying to figure out how to write him.
On the other hand, I could be misinterpreting this and Guts only screaming at Griffith could be because of his murderous rage directed towards, which is certainly justified.
Either way, I cannot deny that the most recent chapter of Berserk, Chapter 368, “Devourers”, is the first chapter in the manga’s continuation that has truly wowed me the way Miura’s Berserk did.
“Devourers” begins with Guts in the chasm he fell into in the previous chapter, now surrounded by countless of the restless spirits that appeared in the Conviction Arc, which is really bad news for Elfhelm.
The chapter then continues by showing how the other central characters are dealing with these spirits.
Isidro, Serpico, Isma and Danan are surrounded but rescued by the Skull Knight, with Isidro deciding to fight beside him, despite the Skull Knight’s insistance, which is definitley not the best idea.
Yet, Skull Knight does ponder that man’s will to resist may also be a part of fate so that could be a good sign.
Meanwhile, we finally get our first look at Roderick in the continuation, who is preparing to evacuate Elfhelm because the mermaids warned him of the incoming disaster.
Magnifco, however, wants to stay and honestly I would not really mind that because I find him to be pretty insufferable, so he would be no loss.
Before anything can happen, however, the spirits converge on their location and brutally consume some of Roderick’s men, ripping the skin off their bones.
Roderick and his men are then surrounded but his main concern is Farnese, who last we saw was with Schierke, near Guts, when the ground caved in.
I hope this is not hinting at Roderick getting a heroic sacrifice to save Farnese because it would be a shame to lose him.
We then cut back to Guts in the chasm and it is here that the moment which truly wowed me like the classic Berserk occurs.
Before Guts can deal with the spirits around him, he looks up and sees Guts carrying Casca away on Nosferatu Zodd.
All Guts can do is look on in horror and despair as the woman he loves is kidnapped by the man who betrayed them.
What makes it worse is Griffith’s hand is on Casca’s breast when he is taking her away, a detail that I am sure was intentional by Kori and Studio Gaga.
I am not saying that Griffith will assault Casca again (god, I hope not) but it certainly brings that disturbing image to both the reader and Guts’ minds.
It made me feel absolutley devestated for the both of them and it feels just like Miura would have written it.
It honestly would not surprise me if Miura had made specific notes about this scene, that is how good it is.
As for why Griffith is kidnapping Casca, I think it’s pretty clear that he does not want to be drawn away from his kingdom when he transforms into the Moonlight Boy, so has taken her to prevent that.
Unfortunately for him, this will once again put his fate on a direct collision course with Guts, as he and his friends go to rescue her.
However, I do hope that Casca’s kidnapping does not rob her of her recently returned agency.
It will be extremely traumatising for her to be in Griffith’s presense but I have my fingers crossed this will not make her a damsel in distress just there to be rescued.
Give her a big moment where she stands against Griffith, please.
Back to Chapter 368, after the impactful moment of Casca’s kidnapping, we get the ending cliffhanger, which sees Puck witness the ground around the Spirit Tree begin to collapse.
I hope Puck being one of the focuses in the cliffhanger points to him having a bigger role going forward because, in my opinion, he has become a caricature of his former self in the last 100 chapters or so.
As for the Spirit Tree being about to fall, this points to the end of Elfhelm itself.
It’s just a matter of how many characters will survive it, before Guts begins what will probably be his final journey to save Casca and kill Griffith.
Overall, “Devourers” was a fantastic chapter of Berserk, and the first one from Kori and Studio Gaga to have a moment that devestated me like in Miura’s writing.
That moment of horror when Guts sees Casca being carried away by Griffith will stick with me for a while.