Posted on June 7, 2022
It is now official: a press release from Young Animal magazine published by the Hakusensha publishing house revealed that Berserk, the manga written and drawn by Kentaro MIura, the great author who died on May 6, 2021 at the age of 55, will continue and will resume starting from the thirteenth issue to be released on June 24, 2022. The manga will present six new chapters that will lead to the conclusion of the story and then begin a completely new narrative arc.
The statement states that the conclusion was achieved thanks to Miura’s colleague and friend, Kouji Mori, with whom guidelines for the episodes that were missing from the conclusion were established: “Kentaro Miura before his death spoke to his best friend , the designer Kouji Mori, of the stories and episodes he had in mind for Berserk, and he did the same with the staff of his studio and with his editor ”. Based on these discussions the work will be completed.
In turn, Mori says: “I kept talking to Miura often, whenever there was a big episode to do. We’ve been doing this since we were students, consulting while we worked (…) I think people with good intuition realize by now that I know the Berserk story to the end. However, I can’t say I can draw it simply because I know it. This is because only the genius Kentaro Miura can write a masterpiece like Berserk. However, a great responsibility fell on me. While he was alive, Miura said, ‘I haven’t told anyone but you, Mori, the story in its entirety.’ And this was the truth. It is too great a responsibility. I thought, should I talk to fans about this through an interview? Or should I publish an article with some illustrations? But that wouldn’t convey the scenes Miura described to me, or the lines of Guts and Griffith… Just as I was trying to decide what to do, I got a message. ‘Staff are saying they’re going to finish the last chapter that’s been left behind, so can you take a look?’ The last pages of the chapter were incomplete. Some didn’t even have the characters drawn on them. I took a look at the manuscript, not expecting much. Despair can push people to create miracles – here is the complete Berserk manuscript. ‘Mr. Mori, will you let us do it? ‘ Miura’s apprentices, of whom Miura had been so proud while alive, asked me directly. Company director Shimada, a mentor to me and Miura, also said: ‘If you do that, the company will give our full support.’ I thought, if I run away now, Miura would say: “’and I talked about it a lot, but you didn’t !!’ Good. I will do it correctly. I have a message and I promise everyone. I will remember the details as much as possible and tell the story. Also, I will only write the episodes Miura told me about. I will not develop it. I won’t write episodes that I don’t remember well. I will only write the verses and stories that Miura described to me. Of course, it won’t be perfect. Still, I think I can almost tell the story Miura wanted to tell. The talent of Miura’s apprentices is real! They are brilliant artists. Many of you may not be fully satisfied with the Berserk written without Miura, but we hope everyone’s thoughts are with us. We ask for your continued support. “.
Miura, as often happens, has shared her work with the main collaborators of his team so the indications probably do not constitute a precise script in the smallest details but the relationship with Mori seems to be different and much closer since it has lasted for so many years. And surely the other members of the studio will try to put everything together in order to make a conclusion that is as close as possible to the original spirit of Berserk.
Furthermore, from now on, the manga will be credited as a creation of Studio Gaga (Kentaro Miura’s company composed of a group of assistants who have worked and will continue to work for him), with supervision by Kouji Mori and the main subject by Miura himself.
As we said, the plan is therefore to publish the six chapters that will conclude the narrative arc of The Island of the Elves, starting from June 24, bringing forward the original numbering of the manga. Similar operations have also been carried out in Western comics: for example with the Asterix by Goscinny & Uderzo today carried out by the couple Didier Conrad and Jean-Yves Ferri or the manga-style Corto Maltese recently published by Cong September 2021 made by the Spaniards Juan Díaz Canales and Ruben Pellejero. All experiments crowned with success because fans want the myth to continue.
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