Kentaro Miura, the creator of the dark fantasy manga “Berserk,” has died, aged just 54. Per the comic’s official Twitter account, Miura died on May 6, 2021, from acute aortic dissection, ie. a tear in the main artery. Miura created “Berserk” in 1989, and continued to write and illustrate it until his death, consequently becoming one of the highest-selling manga creators of all time, with over 50 million copies sold since its inception.
Miura was born in Chiba City, in Kanto, near Tokyo, on July 11, 1966. He created his first manga aged 10, and began publishing his work in a school magazine with his friends as a teenager. When he turned 18, he started working as an assistant to “Hajime no Ippo” creator Jyoji “George” Morikawa, but Morikawa was so impressed by Miura’s artwork that he dismissed him, because he felt he had nothing to teach him. In 1985, Miura was admitted to Nihon University, and his first professional work was published in Weekly Shonen Magazine.
After a prototype was published in Hakusensha’s “Gekkan ComiComi” in 1988, “Berserk” began featuring regularly in “Monthly Animal House” (later renamed “Young Animal”) the following year. The Medieval European-inspired tale of the mercenary Guts and the Band of the Hawk, the comic went on to be adapted into two anime series, broadcast respectively in 1997-98 and 2016-17, as well as the 2012-13 film trilogy Berserk: The Golden Age Arc; two video games; and the prose novel Berserk: The Flame Dragon Knight.
Miura’s artwork was an enormous influence on other comic books and video games, including Dynasty Warriors, Final Fantasy and Dark Souls — to wit, the Guardian reports Final Fantasy XIV players held a virtual memorial for him, by standing in line. Chris Warner, the editor who oversaw the series’ translation at Dark Horse, stated it is “a harrowing dark fantasy of monumental depth, complexity, and audacity, and its astonishing visual tapestry is like nothing else in graphic fiction. While the horror and violence are at times disturbing and unquestionably adult, Miura still manages to produce genuine emotion and plenty of humor.”
As of 2018, Miura created 357 chapters, reprinted in 40 volumes; the last six installments have yet to be collected. As well as “Berserk,” Miura created “King of Wolves,” a tale of the Mongol Empire, with “Fist of the Northern Star” writer Buronson in 1989; the two would later reteam for the fantasy manga “Japan” in 1992. His recent works outside “Berserk” consisted of the Greek mythology-inspired “Giganto Maxia” (2013-14), and the Mesopotamian-inspired “Duranki” (2019-21). He was honored in 2002 with the Tezuka Osamu Cultural Prize.
