Berserk manga is continuing in the upcoming issue of Young Animal (13/2022), set to publish on June 24. Berserk author, Kentaro Miura, passed away last May at age of 54. Koji Mori will be supervising the story, while Miura’s assistants, gathered under Studio Gaga, will provide the art for the continuation.
In a statement published by Hakusensha, the production team states that they follow a simple policy: “Because Mr. Miura said so.” The team states that they were truly touched by messages of support coming from readers and promises to try and fulfill Miura’s vision for the work. Six chapters that will complete the “Fantasia Arc/Elf Island Chapter” arc will be published next and a new arc will start after. Credits after the resumption will be “Original work by Kentaro Miura, Manga by Studio Gaga, Supervised by Kouji Mori,” and the numbering of the manga books will continue in order. Before his passing, Miura spoke to Koji Mori (his close friend), as well as the staff and the editor, outlining his ideas for the upcoming story and characters. The team promises to take these into account while moving forward and ensuring the story gets told.
Koji Mori, who was close friends with Miura, also issued a statement saying that he will try and see the story until the end. “I think people with good intuition would realize by now that I know the story for Berserk up to the very end. Still, I cannot say that I can draw it because I know it. That is because only the genius Kentaro Miura can write a masterpiece like Berserk.
However, a great responsibility has fallen on me.” He praised the talent of Miura’s assistants while also saying that he will only write about the details he remembers: “I have a message and promise to everyone. I will recall the details as much as possible and tell the story.
Also, I will only write the episodes that Miura talked to me about. I will not flesh it out. I will not write episodes that I don’t remember clearly. I will only write the lines and stories that Miura described to me. Of course, it will not be perfect. Still, I think I can almost tell the story that Miura wanted to tell.”
The Berserk manga debuted in 1988, as a draft and was picked by Hakuensha’s Monthly Animal House in 1989. It stayed in the magazine until 1992 when it moved to Young Animal. The work is one of the best-selling manga of all time, with over 50 million copies in circulation. It was a subject of multiple anime adaptations, with the most recent one being the two-season LIDEN FILMS series that aired in 2016/17. Multiple game versions also exist, along with art books and a spin-off novel by Makoto Fukami, which featured Miura’s art.
Dark Horse is publishing the manga in English and describes the plot as:
His name is Guts, the Black Swordsman, a feared warrior spoken of only in whispers. Bearer of a gigantic sword, an iron hand, and the scars of countless battles and tortures, his flesh is also indelibly marked with The Brand, an unholy symbol that draws the forces of darkness to him and dooms him as their sacrifice. But Guts won’t take his fate lying down; he’ll cut a crimson swath of carnage through the ranks of the damned — and anyone else foolish enough to oppose him! Accompanied by Puck the Elf, more an annoyance than a companion, Guts relentlessly follows a dark, bloodstained path that leads only to death…or vengeance. Created by Kentaro Miura, Berserk is manga mayhem to the extreme — violent, horrifying, and mercilessly funny — and the wellspring for the internationally popular anime series. Not for the squeamish or the easily offended, Berserk asks for no quarter — and offers none!
Source: Hakusensha
©Kentaro Miura (Studio Gaga)/Hakusensha
