How Guts and Casca grew together – Part 1

Casca is modelled after Guts in many respects. They are very alike, but somewhere also different, but in a way one complements the other.

Casca is someone who knows what she wants, has her pride, goals and passions, is dutiful, strong, iron-willed and also good at what she is doing. She is observant and smart and has a tendency to experience emotions in full intensity.

Guts is persistent, iron-willed, emotionally stable: as in, he does not have mood swings like Casca does, but he is still emotional like Casca. Just like Casca, he is also observant, however, he has a tendency to be impulsive: rather than pause and reflect, Guts will push forward and act – and often not in the right direction. He also does not always show the same level of awareness like Casca does.

Because of this, their dynamics really are something.

Casca often has a very high moral standard, pride and a vision, and Guts, being someone who does not necessarily have those things, is trying to appease her standard in order to get her approval and show her he is not as bad as she thinks he is. Appeasing Casca gave Guts a reason to try and give a direction to his life.

After Griffith’s rescue, Casca was the one reminding Guts that he should take care of himself and escape an enemy, rather than stay, fight and die in the process.

Likewise, Casca can be quite (self-)destructive with her temper, and it is Guts being the one attempting to calm her down, whether she is mad or sad. The moment she stopped being closed-off towards him, her sadness he will meet with comfort and acts of kindness, her insecurity with calming words and showing her he’s there for her. And the best part? This emotional connection and warmth she is getting from Guts exactly what she needed, being surrounded by men from a young age on.

Guts wishes to stay together with Casca to support her and Griffith. At this point, Casca has not realized how important she is to him and tells him to leave in the next page. (I wonder how that will play out in the future chapters where Guts and Casca reunite?)

However, it wasn’t always like that with the two of them.

But how did Guts and Casca’s relationship evolve? What stages did they go through? That’s what this post is going to dive into.

Attempting to answer this question, we will also find out that Guts left the Hawks not only because Griffith seemingly did not think of him as a friend.