Kentaro Miura, Berserk’s architect

Kentaro Muira was a Japanese manga artist that was well known for the acclaimed dark fantasy manga, Berserk. A well-known serialization created, written, and illustrated in 1989 was an ongoing series for three decades until his untimely passing. The Berserk manga has been acclaimed among fans that as of 2021, has sold over 50 million copies that have made it one of the greatest manga series of all time.

Born in Chiba City, Chiba Prefecture, Japan, in 1966 but didn’t create his first manga until 1976, at the age of 10 he had his first school publication amongst his peers entitled, Miuranger, that was then followed by his second manga in 1977 called Ken e no Michi, The Way of the Sword, where he began creating and writing in ink for the first time. By 1979 his artistry began to improve into professional drawing techniques that would later become his signature style of the artwork of Berserk.

During his high school years, in 1982, Miura would take an artistic curriculum with a group of friends to publish their works in school. At age 18 he was an assistant to George Morikawa who created Hajime no Ippo but dismissed the young pupil as Morikawa believed Miura was already professional artistry in his eyes.

Taking influence from manga artists of the likes of Yoshikazu Yasuhiko and Fujihiko Hosono were his early influences to create his style. The story and display of atmosphere for Berserk, Miura was influenced by Violence Jack and Guin Saga as well as Fist of the North Star the gave Miura the idea to create his signature art style. Henceforth the horrific detail of artistry that was too great to be seen as eerie but amazed by his body of work for years to come.

Miura enrolled in the art college, Nihon University, in 1985 by submitting his project, Futanabi, which granted him admission to study at university. It also earned him a nomination for an upcoming new author in the Weekly Shonen Magazine, where his first serialized work, Noa, was published but not a success. By the year 1988, while Miura worked on another project, he’d written a 48-page rough draft to be published by Hakusensha’s Gekkan ComiComi of a full serialization of his most beloved work, Berserk, that was published by Hakusensha’s Monthly Animal House in 1989.

The story of Berserk is set in a medieval Europe-inspired dark fantasy that centers around the characters of Guts, a lone mercenary, and Griffith, the leader of the mercenary troupe “Band of the Hawk.”

An exploration of many themes and topics throughout the manga that deal with free will and destiny throughout the series. Human resilience is another theme that of the two main characters, Guts and Griffith, that have tragic upbringings of struggle in a cruel world even for the character of Guts trying to come to terms with his own predetermination. The exploration of human nature and morality is often the temptation into evil especially in seeing Guts in the story as the most complex character that was explored in the “Golden Age Arc” due to his tragic past. However, the major themes are betrayal and revenge as an example where Guts was sold off for coin only to get revenge for feeling betrayed that vengeance has become his main purpose to survive.

Since the telling of the manga, it has endured for nearly three decades of Miura’s body of work that not only has expanded to 40 volumes but become a sensation of merchandise, fan-made art, action figures, video games, as well as various art books and other material of Miura’s work. Starting in 2006, the manga would go on constant hiatus and become infrequent about when the next chapter of Berserk would come out that kept fans anticipation to know when the serialization would continue.

As most found unexpected, Miura would pass away from aortic dissection on May 6, 2021. He was 54.

Miura’s manga is established as one of the great manga stories that impacted other mediums. Especially in video games with Guts massive long sword that inspired characters like Cloud Strife from Final Fantasy VII, Dante from Devil May Cry, and well as the monsters in the Dark souls universe.

Never must we forget that when legends pass on, we tend to forget that these are people too that live out their lives trying to make their way in the world. Thank you, Miura, your Berserk will live on and never end.