Every Berserk fan has heard of Kentaro Miura’s resilience and perseverance. Up until the very end, Miura was dedicated to giving his best to his manga. The mind-blowing details and the nuanced approach to emotions and suffering have resonated with millions of fans. Miura’s genius is what makes Berserk so highly regarded.
Besides the physical exhaustion, there were other instances where Miura had to make difficult choices. He still chose to put his faith and dedication into his work as he shared in the official guidebook interview.
The Discontinuation of Animal House and its Impact on Kentaro Miura’s Berserk
During the initial stages of the manga, Kentaro Miura was still finding his footing. He realized that the interactions Guts was having with the monsters were very important. The monsters appeared weak and pitiful, portraying Guts as the monster who was fighting them. The fights were the horizon where their feelings and suffering entwined. With this newly found understanding of the flow of the Black Swordsman arc, a jarring development awaited Miura.
Miura shared (via the translation of the Official Guidebook Interview on Berserk Wiki) Miura shared (via the translation of the Official Guidebook Interview on Berserk Wiki) that Animal House magazine was being discontinued, and he was presented with a choice: continue with Berserk or work on another work by Mr. Buronson, the creator of Fist of the North Star. Even though it was a no-brainer that Mr. Buronson’s work is the better choice due to the creator’s credibility, Miura chose his own creation.
No matter how fully formed the character of Guts was in my mind, this was a newcomer’s manga, and it wasn’t going to live up to Mr. Buronson’s established reputation.
Before making this decision, Miura had been loosely following and competing with Fist of the North Star. He changed his strategy soon afterward as he knew that he couldn’t compete with Mr. Buronson in that respect. So, he began to think about different ways in which he would establish his own manga. All of this happened right before the Golden Age Arc.
Miura Went an Extra Mile with the Golden Age Arc
Many fans believe that the Golden Age Arc is the best part of Berserk. After all, it’s one of the longest arcs that somewhat defines the direction of the manga. Miura incorporated his own reality with his imagination while working on the arc. By objectively assessing his own reality, he was able to strike a balance between the dramatic bits and the realistic bits, he aimed for a good balance between both. He used the people around him as models for his characters.
For the relationship between Guts and Griffith, I’m using myself and my close friend and fellow manga artist Koji Mori (Suicide Island, etc.) as a model.
A lot of thought went into Guts’ emotions and his revenge. The length of the Golden Age Arc was a result of everything Miura wanted to convey. He wanted the readers to emotionally invest while presenting them with a motivation that could justify Guts’ anger. He fleshed out every character and every aspect of that arc to the best of his ability.
All the effort that was put into the arc is still, to this day, greatly appreciated by fans. With that, the difficulties with the discontinuation of the magazine were followed by Miura’s artistic endeavor with the Golden Age Arc. Everything contributed to the masterpiece that is so dearly regarded by the fans today.
Berserk is available to read on Dark Horse Digital website.
