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RIP Kentaro Miura (Berserk creator)

Paltheos

Member
I can't even begin to imagine how devastated the fans, especially those who may have been managing to follow the saga for 30 years in total, are right now. Just trying to think of the presence this story has had on so many and influenced so much is staggering in its scope. I certainly can't say I've followed any particular story crafted to such an extent for such a long period of time. Certainly not one to the level of quality it took to draw the sheer amount of detail in those images.

One can get a bit philosophical thinking about the various outcomes. Even if Miura had somehow managed to plan for this and leave behind detailed notes and outlines for how to end it in the event of this happening, it still would never be the same. Creative works are often driven by what happens in the moment, how the creator feels, and all. And of course just the vision needed to execute them to one's planning and design. That simply cannot be replicated even with the best blueprint available.

Since '06 on the manga and a few years earlier than that with the TV series. I can't believe he's dead. I can't believe we won't find out what happened. It's launched all sorts of thoughts in my head - among them, "What authors of long-running series would I (not) be hit hard by dieing... and why?" Miura was not at the bottom of that list, for a host of reasons that I was able to come up. Meme as people have about Berserk it was still going, which can't be said for some other long series which have gone years without a release (Togashi, GRRM), and I was still following it when new chapters came out. I don't even think Berserk's been that good for the past few... several years (probably since around the time the gang first got on the boat, although the quality's declined steadily since Guts assembled his party), but I was still in, and more to the point the story's been rounding an inflection point that's been coming for 20 IRL years, and now we'll never see what's on the other side.

That's what makes Berserk sting so much. Take Hunter x Hunter - Well, hey Togashi's just drawing scribbles now and hasn't even released those in 2 years, but allot of the stories are self-contained and an adaptation of his work told a largely complete and compelling tale. Or A Song of Ice and Fire - Yeah obviously GRRM doesn't care anymore it's been more than a decade, but we got a TV series (with a shitty ending) and not so much of immediate interest was happening that's terribly impressive that I won't get over it.

Kind of a morbid topic but when I was thinking about the subject, I concluded that if there's one person that I would be similarly if not more devastated from dieing, it would be Eiichiro Oda. Yeah some astute fans have derived a theory so brilliant I am legitimately convinced it's the ending and I'm actually angry I read it, but not seeing One Piece through to the end is... I don't even know. I can't even process how I would feel.

Man, this sucks. I'd been joking that Miura had been sandbagging on where to go next with the story because he didn't know where to take it, but nobody wanted it to end like this. I'm sorry, Miura. Rest in peace.
 

Yoboman

Member
George Morikawa - Hajime no Ippo

Both manga were serialised in the same month October 1989




y9NOpDH.png
 

BlackM1st

Banned
I don't even think Berserk's been that good for the past few... several years (probably since around the time the gang first got on the boat, although the quality's declined steadily since Guts assembled his party)
Yeah, I totally agree, but everything before it was phenomenal and even at its lowest it still was a masterpiece above most of the market.
 
What a sad day.

I started reading Berserk's pre-published chapters since 2007, then went back to watch the anime and read the whole manga around 2015. Needless to say I was left in awe of Miura's art and storytelling. The old anime was a good adaptation as well, especially in regard to the music. Undoubtedly one of the best fictional works of the last few decades. It's such a shame we probably will never read the conclusion -- the story was advancing at a good pace lately.

I hope the other mangakas we know still have many years ahead of them.

RIP Miura.
 

MastaKiiLA

Member
Very sad. We'll never see the conclusion to the story. I wonder if he kept a manuscript with his idea for the rest of the story. I thought releases had slowed recently simply due to the amount of artwork that had to be generated for each chapter.
 
DAmn RIP!! Is Berserk cancelled now?

Its sad but imagine that it can happen to Oda too before he finishs One Piece

Togashi and HxH too. He's 55. At least One Piece has regular releases and almost assuredly a good series Bible or some documentation, though. Berserk, especially, and HxH feel like something ephemeral about their authors was captured into media - I think that is a lot of why they both barely get updates. Their authors had to be in particular moods or mindsets that no amount of planning documents or storyboarding could capture.
 

SF Kosmo

Banned
What a sad day.

I started reading Berserk's pre-published chapters since 2007, then went back to watch the anime and read the whole manga around 2015. Needless to say I was left in awe of Miura's art and storytelling. The old anime was a good adaptation as well, especially in regard to the music. Undoubtedly one of the best fictional works of the last few decades. It's such a shame we probably will never read the conclusion -- the story was advancing at a good pace lately.

I hope the other mangakas we know still have many years ahead of them.

RIP Miura.
The first anime, while low budget, got a lot right. That was my introduction to Berserk.

I got into the comics after that, buying up the Japanese books and reading text translations off the internet alongside them, because that was all we had back then. Pretty janky compared to now, but I loved it. I still have like the first 23 volumes or so of original Japanese comics in a box somewhere.
 
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Damn. I was found Berserk to be very interesting. I wonder if they’re going to try and give it some sort of conclusion, or if that will be it. Maybe he left notes or something.
 

SF Kosmo

Banned
Damn. I was found Berserk to be very interesting. I wonder if they’re going to try and give it some sort of conclusion, or if that will be it. Maybe he left notes or something.
I think he had like, these big story tentpoles he had mapped out, but I don't think he really wrote the details until he got there.

And you can hand those tentpoles off to someone else, but that's how you get the last season of Game of Thrones. Because it's going to be all this upsetting shit but the story is in the details and how you sell it.

I'm not opposed to them trying to give it an ending I'm just not optimistic anyone could pull it off.
 

TheUsual

Gold Member
I just started getting into the manga recently. Sad to hear the news. The volumes I'm flying right through. Great artwork and enjoying the adventures of Guts so far.
 
It is always a sad tragedy of life when an artist cannot finish his vision. It is a bitter reminder that our time is valued and never to be squandered. Berserk was an intimate work of torment. An expression of the intense suffering that life can inflict upon us mortal beings, but also an eulogy to our unwavering will.

AIuyZKL.png


Is there anyone that has suffered more?
It's a life's work left unfinished, a tragedy that might be the only fitting end for such a monumental story.

RIP.
 

CGiRanger

Banned
I think he had like, these big story tentpoles he had mapped out, but I don't think he really wrote the details until he got there.

And you can hand those tentpoles off to someone else, but that's how you get the last season of Game of Thrones. Because it's going to be all this upsetting shit but the story is in the details and how you sell it.

I'm not opposed to them trying to give it an ending I'm just not optimistic anyone could pull it off.
The only way it could work out somewhat is if Kentaro had a pupil he'd been mentoring for years who had become in sync with him and knew to a degree what his creative mindset was, while of course knowing the blueprint for what he wanted to achieve.

But even then, it would not be what would have been with Miura. No one can become another person even emulating them.
 

MiguelItUp

Member
So incredibly destroyed by this. Truly.

Miura really did create something incredible, and so many people don't realize it. It's influence spread across different countries, genres, platforms, etc.

And with Berserk essentially being left open-ended, it left on a note that can still allow a great deal of folks to come up with their own conclusion. So at least there's that.

Honestly my favorite fantasy universe that has ever existed, fell in love with it over 20 years ago, and nothings changed.

Such a devastating loss. :messenger_pensive:
 

GC_DALBEN

Member
Descanse em paz Miura.

I love berserk, the history and artstyle is simply perfect, its a sad day to a fan, i wish the family all the love in the world. Miura, you will be missed.
 

Fbh

Member
Damn, famous people dying usually doesn't get to me. But Berserk isn't just one of my favorite pieces of fiction, it's probably the ongoing story I've been following for the longest time.
Him only being 54 makes it even worse, these days that's too soon to go.

RIP Kentaro Miura
Neither you nor your work will be forgotten.
 

DragoonKain

Neighbours from Hell
Guts is one of my favorite fantasy characters ever created and Berserk’s story is one of my favorite stories. This is really sad. I watched the anime before I read the manga and the end of the anime series is like the red wedding x 1000. I was crushed and craved more ever since.

I hope one day it can be made into live action to honor his memory.
 
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