2 quotes from Berserk, each with commentary on what it means and why it stuck.
“Commander Guts! Say, you weren't thinking about leaving without saying goodbye again, now, were you? Because if that's the case, we've decided that we're coming with you, and there's nothing you can do about it. It was a unanimous decision.”
“Well, I can't actually say I feel like I'm alive.”
Guts hears his commander's title amid the remains of the Hawks and rushes toward Gaston in relief. Gaston is able to answer, so for a moment the reunion seems to have supplied the distinction that matters: one of the men is alive. His reply refuses the security of that classification. He can describe running until exhaustion overtook him, but cannot account for the others or even confidently distinguish the experience from a nightmare. Then coughing gives way to his violent death. The scene makes Guts's relief premature without making it foolish. Recognition is all he has to work with, and Gaston's familiar address gives him a reason to hope. What fails is the assumption that reaching a speaking survivor means reaching someone who has escaped. The exchange permits the reassurance of reunion while denying the interval of safety that reassurance normally promises.
Explore Berserk in book form. Check the listing for the edition, language and volumes included. The source beside each quote records where its wording was checked; it may differ from the wording in this edition.
As an Amazon Associate we earn from qualifying purchases. Links on this page are affiliate links, which cost you nothing extra. They never influence what appears on this site or what the commentary says about it.
A unanimous vote does not include the man it is supposed to bind. Gaston and the raiders interrupt Guts's discussion with Judeau about the future, announcing that they have decided to follow him. The declaration gives Guts no say. Yet when he asks whether they all mean it, Gaston switches to asking permission, and the others join in begging to come along. That change saves the appeal from its own bullying language. Their confidence in Guts is real, but confidence cannot turn him into a resource the group owns. The strongest defense of the opening is its exaggerated solidarity. Even so, the request does more honest work than the announcement. It acknowledges that belonging needs an answer from the person being claimed. The raiders can decide unanimously that they want this future; they still have to ask Guts to share it.