Manga ‘Berserk’ to resume magazine serialization despite creator’s death

The Japan News

18:40 JST, June 7, 2022

The manga “Berserk” will restart in a magazine soon, according to an announcement Tuesday by its publisher, Hakusensha.

The manga’s magazine run was halted following the sudden death of its creator, mangaka Kentaro Miura, at the age of 54 in May last year. The continuation of the work will be produced by a longtime friend of Miura and the manga’s former staff artists.

“Berserk” is the most famous work by Miura, who drew it for more than a quarter of a century. During his lifetime, he told his close friend, mangaka Kouji Mori, how the story would continue until the last episode. Apparently, a collection of notes on the story and character designs by Miura have also been discovered.

“We were reluctant to end his story without sharing these with his fans. Our hope is for everyone to read the last episode that we have put together, until the very last frame,” Hakusensha said in a statement.

In restarting the serialization, artists from Studio Gaga, who used to work for Miura, will make the drawings, supervised by Mori.

“Of course, it will not be perfect. Still, I think I can almost tell the story Miura wanted to tell,” Mori said in a statement.

The manga will restart in the issue of the publisher’s Young Animal manga magazine that will go on sale on June 24.

Miura began releasing “Berserk” in 1989. The series is set in a war-torn era reminiscent of medieval Europe. Guts, a mercenary wielding a huge sword, vows revenge on his former ally Griffith and dark gods who killed his fellow knights. Miura did not shy away from drawing detailed and powerful action scenes in a cruel and grotesque fashion, and had a great impact on subsequent manga and anime works.

To date, “Berserk” has been translated in more than 20 countries and regions, and has sold over 50 million copies worldwide, including electronic versions. Berserk has also been made into an animated television series, an animated movie and a video game.

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