Berserk manga to continue after author's death

Despite the death of Kentaro Miura on May 20, 2022, Berserk will not remain unfinished. The author's masterpiece, one of the most influential seinen in history, will be resumed soon by Kouji Mori, mangaka and close friend of Kentaro Miura. This has been confirmed by Young Animal, the magazine in which the series has been published, where the following statement has been published:

"Before his passing, Kentaro Miura spoke to his close friend Kouiji Mori about the stories and episodes he had in mind for Berserk”, reads the press release. “He also had similar talks with his studio staff and editor. He wondered, would everyone be surprised if I drew something like this? How about a character like this? Would this storyline be interesting?”

“The talks were not meant as his last words, but were a part of his ordinary days as a manga artist”, it continued. “Such ordinary days continued for more than a quarter of a century. Our minds and hearts are still filled with the thoughts Mr. Miura shared with us during that time. We have also found memos of ideas he wrote and designs for characters that he drew and left behind. We were reluctant to end his story without sharing these with his fans.”

“Since he did not leave behind rough drafts, it is impossible for us to create a manuscript exactly in the way he would have intended. However, we will write the manga so as not to deviate from Mr. Miura’s own words,” it continues. “We believe that his policy, although imperfect, is the best way to deliver the Berserk that Mr. Miura envisioned to everyone as faithfully as possible.”

“From the next issue, we will first publish six chapters until the end of “Fantasia Arc/Elf Island Chapter” After this, we will start a new arc. Credits after de resumption will be “Original work by Kentaro Miura, Manga by Studio Gaga, Supervised by Kouji Mori,” they conclude.

Kouji Mori, the new Berserk's supervisor

For its part, Mori has also issued a note explaining the situation:

“Nearly 30 years ago, Miura called me and said, ‘I need to talk to you about drawing a rough draft.’ I went to his workplace just to talk as we always do, but Miura looked more serious than usual. I sensed it would be hard work, but couldn’t believe it when I was trapped indoors for a week… In that very moment, the storyline for Berserk was completed, until the very last chapter. Strangely, the story for Berserk went on exactly as we discussed at the time, with almost no changes.

“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. It is too big a responsibility. I thought, should I talk to fans about it through an interview? Or should I publish an article with some illustrations? But that wouldn’t convey the scenes that Miura described to me, or the lines of Guts and Griffith…”

“Just when I was trying to decide what to do, I received a message. ‘The staff are saying they will finish the last chapter that was left behind, so can you take a look?’ The last few pages of the chapter were incomplete. Some did not even have the characters drawn on them. Desperation can push people to create miracles — There it was, the completed manuscript for Berserk. ‘Mr. Mori, will you let us do it?’ Miura’s apprentices, who Miura had been so proud of while he was alive, asked me straight. I thought, if I run away now, Miura would say: ‘I talked to you about it so much, but you didn’t do it!!’ Alright. I’ll do it properly.”

“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.”

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