Trigger Warning for Sexual Assault, Rape, and Violence Against Women
Berserk is a dark anime which has made a massive mark on the general psyche of the anime adoring public. The series never disguises how brutal it is, even in the beginning, but it does manage to lure the viewer into a false sense of security. In fact, the early parts of the series aren’t all that different from other seinen manga of the time period. There is a lot of violence and mentions of sexual assault, along with nudity and other such R-rated content. This wasn’t what made Berserk stand out as much as the character work within it did.
Then the infamous Eclipse happened. This one moment in the series became the sort of scene that would haunt the series forever, becoming the most famous thing about Berserk and requiring fans to warn anyone trying to get into the series. What Griffith did as a result of his fractured ego and broken body was monstrous, and Casca suffered more than anyone as a result. Her body was used as a locus of revenge against Guts, and she was ultimately made into a prop for the series for a while afterward, a tragic fate for such a wonderful character. But Griffith is not the only one who has wronged Casca, and Guts’ crimes may ultimately be even worse.
Guts' Assault of Casca Is a Greater Break of Trust, Because of What Came Before
How Did This Happen?
Understanding why Guts’ assault of Casca is just as bad as Griffith’s assault takes some context to understand. Their relationship in general, before the Eclipse, was actually very well-built and took a lot of time to create the foundations of the romance between Casca and Guts. Initially, Casca didn’t like Guts at all, to the point of hating him. A lot of this stems from the jealousy she has over Griffith, showing Guts so much affection and care. This was at the time when Casca had a hero-crush on Griffith, who saved her from being raped at the age of 12 by throwing her his sword and having her defend herself. However, time has the ability to heal wounds and make the heart grow fonder, leading Casca and Guts to grow to respect each other heavily after three years of fighting together.
Guts ends up leaving the Band of the Hawk for about a year, and Casca took over the Band of the Hawk when Griffith was captured. When Guts returns, they officially get the relationship upgrade and become lovers, leading to the now heavily injured and permanently disabled Griffith growing resentful. At the feeling of betrayal and desperation for revenge, to claw for his dream, Griffith calls down the Godhand and becomes Femto. This is when the infamous Eclipse happens and both Casca and Guts are invariably changed forever. What Griffith does to Casca breaks her and can only be described as sexual sadism, relishing how Guts tries and fails to save her as he violates her and Guts by extension. This is a horrifying crime, and it is never played for titillation, thankfully.
The aftermath leaves Casca mute and in a child-like state, even giving birth to the twisted fetus that would have been hers and Guts’ child had Femto/Griffith not done what he’d done. Casca is ultimately left in the care of people Guts trusts for a while until he comes back, and he needs to save her after she’s wandered off. In his time away, Guts has used the Beast of Darkness within him to go on a roaring rampage of revenge, giving in to the darkness and violence in him to numb the pain of what he had been forced to witness. But this was really the beginning of the end of his ability to control the beast and would lead to his greatest crime against Casca. While what Griffith did was horrific, it is the foundations of their relationship which make Guts’ lack of control and betrayal feel all the more visceral. It’s one thing for a demonic presence to assault someone — it’s another for it to feel as raw and real as it did between Guts and Casca.
The Beast of Darkness Isn't the Only One to Blame
Can Guts Truthfully Make Amends?
After saving Casca from the mock Eclipse at the Tower of Punishment where she was going to be burned as a witch, Guts vows to Casca he will never leave her side again. This is also after Casca has defended herself from gang-rape yet again, slitting the throats of her would-be assaulters, and the sight of her covered in blood manages to get Guts excited though he initially tries to hold back. This proves more challenging as he’s, metaphorically, let the Beast of Darkness off the leash for a very, very long time. This leads him to shoving her down and attempting to rape her, biting at her breast as visions of the Beast of Darkness tearing her to shreds dance through his mind. The Beast even makes direct reference to Griffith’s rape of Casca while this is happening. Thankfully, Guts is able to shake this off, but the damage is ultimately done as Casca has stopped trying to fight him off, just whimpering and crying silently beneath him.
If audiences look closely at the panels where Guts assaults Casca, they are direct mirrors of Femto/Griffith’s rape of her. The whole scenario leaves Guts feeling wrecked, and he realizes just how far off the deep-end he’s going. But it doesn’t excuse the behavior. There’s a lot to unpack symbolically at the moment, too, whether it makes sense in the overall arc of the story or if it could be related to Guts’ unfinished business with Griffith, but it needs to be understood that Guts himself is also a victim of sexual assault and rape. This isn’t an excuse, but there is an argument to be made that the Beast of Darkness draws on those feelings within Guts as well. Guts is a victim of his own darkness. That is more than true, but he is also comfortable using that darkness in violent ways. Even when they’d had consensual sex, he’d had a psychotic break and almost choked Casca to death.
What makes Guts’ actions more horrifying is the fact that Casca and him were very much in love and Guts himself still loves her, despite the fact she barely remembers him. Casca is also uniquely vulnerable at this point in her story. She can’t speak, barely knows what’s going on, and has been treated as a perpetual victim from start to finish. Casca, in many ways, is in a very child-like state and her mental faculties are in tatters, which makes this even worse in context. Casca was able to beg Guts to look away during the Eclipse, despite the agony she was in, but this Casca could only cry and whimper in fear of the man she used to love with all of her heart. It’s impossible to know whether Guts can, or even should, come back from this.
Every sixty-eight seconds, someone is sexually assaulted in America. One in five women will experience attempted or completed rape at some point in their lifetimes, and the majority of female-identified survivors will experience their first assault before the age of 25. Of those statistics, about half of women report being raped by an intimate partner. The story of Casca is one marked by how her gender has opened herself up to violence, not just by strangers, but by men in her life she trusted and loved. It is incredibly hard to argue for Guts to have redemption after a moment like this, especially considering her history throughout the manga and anime. As of this point, Guts still hasn’t experienced repercussions for this one act, and it is something that will need to be addressed. Casca has spent too long being a puppet of fate and a tool of revenge in the lives of the men around her.
