Written by Rachel Freeman
Berserk Season 2 – Episode 9: The Berserker Armor
Are you hype? You should absolutely be hype. Because this is when Guts gets THE armor. Yes, all caps are necessary. This isn’t just some cool looking new armor for Guts to look like even more of a badass. Oh no, this is so much more. This is armor given to him by Flora, the tree spirit witch, this is the armor that will put him on his true path. What exactly the true path entails, we don’t know yet, but this armor is a big deal.
Anyway, now that I’m done fangirling. In this episode, Guts and crew are on their way back to see Flora following their defeat of the trolls. While inside the troll den, Guts also had an encounter with one of the God Hand, Slan. With the help of the Skull Knight, Guts is able to wound her enough so that they may escape, however, despite his physical body healing, Guts’s astral form is majorly damaged from the fight. Even so, he presses on and once they find the Spirit Tree ablaze and surrounded by demons, Guts still fights. It’s not much of a fight though, Guts is incredibly weak and Grunbeld basically just sends him flying all over the battlefield. Meanwhile, Schierke, Serpico, Isidoro, and the pixies, try desperately to find and save Flora from the flames. Flora has known even before these events that it was her time though and she makes it clear to Schierke that it’s up to her to deliver the Berserker Armor to Guts.
This episode seriously hit me hard with the emotions. Schierke’s memories of Flora, her desperation, her loss of everything, her sadness, it was all so hard to watch and it genuinely made me cry. She was so excited to come back and tell her Mistress about how the defeated the trolls, only to have to turn away while she was burned to death. Truly heart-wrenching. Despite this, Schierke proves just how strong of a character she is by getting her wits back together to protect her new friends and help Guts.
On top of what Schierke is dealing with, Guts is giving Grunbeld everything he has left. Grunbeld mocks him, questions his honor as a swordsman and his skills, and still Guts just keeps getting back up after every blow. The Skull Knight can’t even intervene because he’s busy fighting Zodd. This is possibly the most intense episode of the season.
And then you see it….you see that menacing armor in all it’s glory and all of the build up from the beginning of the season is worth it. Not to mention the fight we are about to witness next episode. I. Cannot. Wait.
Overall Score: 9 / 10
