Original Berserk artwork by Kentaro Miura and Dragon Ball artwork by Akira Toriyama sold for a combined 21.4mn yen, or $141k on November 7, 2023. Japanese online auction site Mandarake listed both the hand-drawn paper Guts and Son Goku pieces in their auction, which spanned October 15 to November 7. The Berserk piece sold for 6.4mn yen (~$42k) while Dragon Ball went for 15mn yen (~$99k). Both were autographed and the comments attached to both pieces gave a sense of the history behind them:
Dragon Ball comment:
“This is something I received at the award ceremony party for winning the June 1987 Tezuka Akatsuka Prize. Unlike young Son Goku depicted after his later growth into a Super Saiyan, this Goku has the round, childlike lines only possible in that era. The Master Roshi, Krillin, and the Tenkaichi Budokai era. It’s like a picture encapsulating the developments of that boyhood period of Son Goku.“
Berserk comment:
“A person who had been in contact with Studio Gaga asked Kentaro Miura for his autograph, and he kindly offered to not only sign but also draw on it. The drawing is several times more elaborate than one might imagine from the history of the artist, and shows how much trust the recipient had in him. The dignified expression of Guts looking up… While this is his shading style from the latter part of his career, it really suits a pencil drawing like this one. The white of Guts’ eyes, which are not shaded, has been calculated so that their whiteness stands out. This is the best pencil drawing of Guts.“
After Berserk creator Kentaro Miura passed, Studio Gaga, the studio that he founded so that his assistants could also be credited, formally took over his work on June 24, 2022. Koji Mori, Miura’s close friend, previously revealed that he was the only person who knew Berserk‘s ending. With a heavy heart, he vowed to finish the story. The latest Berserk Volume 42 was released in Japan on September 29, 2023.
Dark Horse is publishing the Berserk manga in English and describes the plot:
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!
Meanwhile, the long-running Dragon Ball franchise announced the new addition Dragon Ball Daima on October 12, 2023. The series sees Goku and the cast revert to children as they take on new adventures. The latest movie in the franchise Dragon Ball Super: SUPER HERO was released in June 2022, and has grossed around $102mn worldwide.
The official synopsis of Dragon Ball Daima is:
Due to a conspiracy, Goku and his friends are turned small. In order to fix things, they’ll head off to a new world! It’s a grand adventure with intense action in an unknown and mysterious world.
Source: Mandarake
© BIRD STUDIO/SHUEISHA © Kentaro Miura (Studio Gaga)/Hakusensha