Berserk

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About

Berserk is a manga and anime series created by Kentaro Miura and published by the Japanese magazine Young Animal. The story is set in a medieval Europe-inspired land, following the adventures of the protagonist Guts, an orphaned mercenary who wields a giant broadsword known as the "Dragonslayer." After creator Kentaro Miura's death in May 2021, the project was halted and left incomplete. In June 2022, the continuation of the manga was announced on Twitter, set to be completed and serialized by Miura's close friend Kouji Mori.

Plot

In the Berserk series, the mercenary Guts hunts enemies with demonic powers granted by an artifact known as the "Behelit," which allows humans to make deals with archdemons belonging to a group known as "The God Hand." After serving as Raid Leader of the mercenary unit "Band of the Hawk," Guts and his companion Casca travel in search of their ex-leader Griffith.

History

In 1988, the first Berserk manga titled Berserk: The Prototype was released while Kentaro Miura was a university student. On November 26th, 1990, the first volume of the official series was released by the manga company Hakusensha, followed by two more volumes in the next two years. In 1992, Berserk began serialization in the seinen manga magazine Young Animal.^[2]

In 1997, the manga was adapted into a 25 episode anime series by the animation studio OML Inc,^[3] running from October 7th to March 31st, 1998. In 2012, Studio 4ºC^[4] released a series of films known as the "Golden Age Saga" as an adaptation of the manga series.

Kentaro Miura's Death

On May 20, 2021, the official Berserk Twitter account announced that Kentaro Miura had passed away on May 6, 2021 from acute aortic dissection^[28].

計報読者の皆様へ二〇二一年五月六日十四時四十八分、漫画家の三浦建太郎先生が急性大動脈解離のためご逝去されました。享年五十四歳でした。生前ご愛顧を賜った読者の皆様には『ベルセルク』をはじめ、三浦先生の作品をご愛読いただきましたことを深謝いたしますとともに、謹んでご逝去のご報告をお知らせ申し上げます。編集部一同、三浦先生の画業に最大の敬意と感謝を表しますとともに、心よりご冥福をお祈りいたします。またご遺族の皆様には心よりお悔やみ申し上げます。なお、告別式はご家族にて執り行われました事を合わせてご報告させて頂きます。単行本に未掲載分の刊行等、今後に関しましては決まり次第、改めてヤングアニマル本誌並びに公式ホームページにて告知させて頂きます。株式会社白泉社ヤングアニマル編集部今でも思い起こされることがあります。それはまだ若手編集だった頃『ベルセルク』の昔のネームを見せて頂き感激していた時、「何ならムあげるよ」と三浦先生は仰られました。そんな恐れ多いとただただ恐縮てしたが今なら分かる気がします。先生は本当に新しいものを考える事が大好きな方でした。大げさてなく、少年のように思いついたアイディアを語る事が大好きな方でした。日々、本や映画。アニメを楽しみ、漫画作りの材料とされていました。そんな先生の作品には、先生が生きて来た中で見聞きした好きな物や人間関係が宝物のように詰まっています。「人生は漫画になるんだ」という事を何度も教えて下さりました。三浦先生、本当にとうもありがとうございました。最後に読者の皆様に。先生は倒れられた際すぐに介抱され見守られながら搬送されました事をご報告させて頂きます。そしてお願いです。ご遠族や関係者は今なお傷ついております。関係先へのご接触はお控えくださるよう願い申し上げます。先生の生前のご貢献に深く感謝すると共に謹んでご冥福をお祈り申し上げます。ヤングァニマル編集部編集長永島隆行入社してすぐの頃、握手をして頂き、この手て『ベルセルク』が生み出されるのかと感動したことを今ても覚えています。その後、担当になり、打ち合わせの度に、「思いつきなんだけと…」と雑談のように語られる物語の構想がどれも信じられないほど面白く、何とかついていかなければと必死てしたが、漫画や映画、ニュースなど日々、目にするもの全てが漫画につながるということを体験させて項くことが何よりの勉強でした。頭の中にあるアイディアを出し切るため、あと三十年は現役ていると仰っていたのに、突然のお別れをすることになり、とても寂しいてす。担当させて頂いたことが僕の自慢です。三浦先生、本当にお世話になりました。ありがとうございました。ヤングアニマル編集部作品担当高村亮

[Report of the death of Professor Kentaro Miura]
Dr. Kentaro Miura, the author of "Berserk", passed away on May 6, 2021, due to acute aortic dissection. We would like to express our utmost respect and gratitude to Dr. Miura's painting work and pray for his soul.
May 20, 2021 Hakusensha Co., Ltd. Young Animal Editorial Department

2016 Anime Adaptation

On December 21st, 2015, Young Animal announced a new television adaptation for the series, premiering in summer of 2016.^[25] During the following months, several previews showed that the new series would include CGI scenes and would adapt the Conviction Saga.

Premiering on July 1st, 2016, the series was poorly received by fans due to the CGI models, poor animation and disjointed pacing,^[26]^[27] inspiring several parodies mocking the new series on several communities. On July 2nd, anime reviewer Demolition D uploaded a video mocking the anime series, gaining over 10,000 views in less than a day.

2022 Resume of Serialization

On June 7th, 2022, the official account of the Berserk project posted a thread including multiple translations of the same announcement that relayed Kouji Mori, a close friend of deceased Berserk creator Kentaro Miura, would be continuing the series in order to finish the story arc Miura was not able to finish. The tweet^[29] that included the English translation received roughly 72,000 likes in less than a day (shown below).

To our readers We will resume the serialization of Berserk. Please accept our apologizes for the long wait before we could make this announcement. We have read as many of your comments as possible for the "Dai Berserk-ten (The Great Berserk Exhibition)", "Young Animal Memorial Issue (Young Animal 2021 No.18)", and "Berserk Volume 41". We are extremely grateful for each and every one of your words and for your messages sent to us through social media. We are truly touched by the love you all have for Berserk and the influence it has had on your lives. It is truly sad that Kentaro Miura himself is not here to read your comments with us. Before his passing. Kentaro Miura spoke to his close friend Kouji Mori about the stories and episodes he had in mind for Berserk. He also had similar talks with his studio staff and editor. He wondered, would everyone be surprised if I drew something like this? How about a character like this? Would this storyline be interesting? The talks were not meant as his last words, but were a part of his ordinary days as a manga artist. Such ordinary days continued for more than a quarter of a century. Our minds and hearts are still filled with the thoughts Mr. Miura shared with us during that time. We have also found memos of ideas he wrote and designs for characters that he drew and left behind. We were reluctant to end his story without sharing these with his fans. Our hope is for everyone to read the last episode that we have put together, until the very last frame. Upon resuming the series, our production team decided on a basic policy. "Mr. Miura said so." This is what the production team kept in mind. Since he did not leave behind rough drafts, it is impossible for us to create a manuscript exactly in the way he would have intended. However, we will write the manga so as not to deviate from Mr. Miura's own words. We would like to take the "Kentaro Miura" that we knew so fondly through our conversations and work and convey this to all of you in a sincere manner. We believe that this policy, although imperfect, is the best way to deliver the Berserk that Mr. Miura envisioned to everyone as faithfully as possible. From the next issue, we will first publish six chapters until the end of "Fantasia Arc/Elf Island Chapter". After this, we will start a new arc. Credits after the resumption will be "Original work by Kentaro Miura, Manga by Studio Gaga, Supervised by Kouji Mori," and the numbering of the manga books will continue in order. Looking back, the first volume of Berserk was published in 1990 with 28,000 copies released for the first edition. It was not an immediate hit and only a small group of people knew about it. Still, it drew avid fans and was able to hold their interest because people could feel Mr. Miura' s desire to refine his craft. After a while, Berserk became a huge hit through Mr. Miura' s extraordinary efforts and some good luck. Today, the first volume has been read by 2 million people around the world. We believe that Berserk has touched the hearts of many fans, and Mr. Miura would be happy to know that his thoughts have had a great influence on people's lives and work. We hope that everyone will continue to have the same connection with Berserk in the chapters to come. Thank you to all the fans who sent us messages. We are also grateful to the many fans who quietly supported the manga through their thoughts. Every one of you will be the source of our energy as we move forward. We are truly grateful to you all. June 2022 Young Animal Editing Department

Nearly 30 years ago, Miura called me and said, "I need to talk to you about drawing a rough draft." I went to his workplace just to talk as we always do, but Miura looked more serious than usual. "I need to draw the Eclipse," he said. I sensed it would be hard work, but couldn't believe it when I was trapped indoors for a week... In that very moment, the storyline for Berserk was completed, until the very last chapter. Strangely, the story for Berserk went on exactly as we discussed at the time, with almost no changes. I continued to talk to Miura often, whenever there was a big episode. We did so ever since we were students, consulting each other while working on manga. I think people with good intuition would realize by now that I know the story for Berserk up to the very end. Still, I cannot say that I can draw it because I know it. That is because only the genius Kentaro Miura can write a masterpiece like Berserk. However, a great responsibility has fallen on me. While he was alive, Miura said, "I haven't told anyone other than you, Mori, about the story in its entirety." And that was the truth. It is too big a responsibility. I thought, should I talk to fans about it through an interview? Or should I publish an article with some illustrations? But that wouldn't convey the scenes that Miura described to me, or the lines of Guts and Griffith... Just when I was trying to decide what to do, I received a message. "The staff are saying they will finish the last chapter that was left behind, so can you take a look?" The last few pages of the chapter were incomplete. Some did not even have the characters drawn on them. I took a look at the manuscript, without expecting much. Desperation can push people to create miracles -- There it was, the completed manuscript for Berserk. "Mr. Mori, will you let us do it?" Miura' s apprentices, who Miura had been so proud of while he was alive, asked me straight. Company Director Shimada, a mentor for me and Miura, also said, "If you do it, the company will give our full support." I thought, if I run away now, Miura would say: "I talked to you about it so much, but you didn't do it!!" Alright. I'll do it properly. I have a message and promise to everyone. I will recall the details as much as possible and tell the story. Also, I will only write the episodes that Miura talked to me about. I will not flesh it out. I will not write episodes that I don't remember clearly. I will only write the lines and stories that Miura described to me. Of course, it will not be perfect. Still, I think I can almost tell the story that Miura wanted to tell. The talent Miura's apprentices have are 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 will be with us. We ask you for your continued support. June 2022 Kouji Mori

As the news spread across social media, it generated mass engagement and hype on platforms like Instagram,^[30] Reddit,^[31] and Facebook.^[32] Within the announcement, it was revealed that Mori was the only person who Miura outlined the imagined ending to. Mori acknowledged that Miura was the only one who could fully complete Berserk, however, given the circumstances of his knowledge, he felt that the fans deserved his best efforts. The resume of serialization was set to be released on June 24th, 2022, within Young Animal No. 13.

Reactions to the update were predominantly positive, with most fans supporting Mori's continuation. For instance, on June 7th, Redditor ThinTwice^[33] posted a comment in the /r/Berserk subreddit stating, "Tears in my eyes man this is incredible," earning roughly 1,900 upvotes in one day. Twitter^[34] user sparrowsrequiem also posted a Fernanfloo Dresses Up / My Wife's Funeral meme about the continuation on June 7th, earning roughly 4,600 likes in less than a day (shown below).

when your wife is giving birth when beserk is continuing

Online Presence

Berserk has gained a significant online following on sites like like Tumblr,^[6] 4chan’s /a/ (anime and manga) board,^[10] DeviantART^[7] and My Anime List.^[5] On October 20th, 2000, the Berserk fansite SkullKnight.net^[12] was launched. In March 2007, Guts won the SaiGar tournament as the most masculine "gar" character in anime and manga. On April 25th, 2008, YouTuber MMAOmegaRED uploaded a clip from a Berserk episode in which Guts kills 100 soldiers (shown below, left).

On May 30th, the Berserk Wiki^[8] was created, accumulating upwards of 725 pages over the next seven years. On May 19th, 2010, the /r/Berserk^[14] subreddit was launched for discussions about the anime and manga series. On October 27th, 2011, a page for Berserk was created on TV Tropes.^[13]

Berserk Outtakes

Berserk Outtakes are humorous dubbed videos of the 1997 anime adaptation narrating the condensed version, in a similar style as the Abridged Series of videos. On February 28th, 2007, YouTuber lance43 uploaded a video titled "Berserk Outtakes – Griffiths Greatest Singing Moments," containing several dubbed clips of the character Griffith singing various songs (shown below, left). On September 9th, 2008, YouTuber jessietheh uploaded an edited clip from Berserk, featuring dubbed dialogue taken from a scene in the 1994 comedy film Clerks (shown below, right).

Fandom

Due its status as a long running series, Berserk has gained a significant fandom online. As of June 2nd, 2016, the Japanese artist community Pixiv leads to over 4,100 results under the keyword "ベルセルク",^[21] and the English artist community deviantART leads to over 69,000 results under the keyword "berserk", most of them leading to content related to the series.^[22] The series also has a following on communities like 4chan^[24] and Tumblr.^[23]

Miura's Breaks / The Boat

Berserk author Kentaro Miura is known for publishing the series on a irregular schedule, with the longest wait time between chapters 334 and 335 reaching 67 weeks.^[1] Fans of the series began joking that Miura was spending his time playing videogames like THE iDOLM@STER, rather than working on the manga series (shown below, left). In chapter 286 of the manga, Guts and his party board a ship with a noble man named Roderick. Due to the erratic publishing schedule and development of the character Griffith's side story, Guts and his party remained on the boat for seven years (until the chapter 342), becoming an in-joke among fans (shown below, right).

Off the Boat

On November 24th, 2015, chapter 342 was released in which Guts and his party finally left the boat they had been sailing on since 2008.^[15]

That day, many posts about the new chapter were posted on various forums and image boards, including the /r/TwoBestFriends^[17] subreddit, GameFAQS,^[18] NeoGAF^[19] and 4chan's /a/ (anime board).^[20]

That Thing Was Too Big to Be Called a Sword / Dragonslayer

"That Thing Was Too Big to Be Called a Sword" is an expression associated with Guts' enormous broadsword "Dragonslayer," which has inspired image macros using variations of the catchphrase as a phrasal template (shown below, left). The sword has also been featured in crossover art and is often included in Guts cosplays.

That thing was too big to be called bait. Too big, too thick, to0 heavy, and too rough.

Bagserk

Bagserk is a series of manga panels with edited dialogue containing references to "bags," typically portraying the bags as something extremely valuable or poke fun at Guts for wearing a purse.^[11]

THEY'RE WRONG! THIS IS A MANLY BAG! IT'S NOT TRUE! MISTER SWORDS MAN WHERE DID YOu GET IT? THAT'S A NICE PURSE

Griffith Did Nothing Wrong

"Griffith Did Nothing Wrong" is an expression often used to excuse the actions of the character Griffith for sacrificing his friends to The God Hand.

Rape Horse

Rape Horse is a nickname given to a demon-possessed horse who tries to have intercourse with the character Farnese de Vandimion. It's often used in reference to the many rape scenes in the manga series.

Put Your Grasses On

"Put Your Grasses On" is a mispronunciation of "put your glasses on", a lyric from the 1999 anime opening. The quote has been often parodied and used by the fans of the series as a call of optimism to happenings related to the manga.

The Blacked Swordman

The Blacked Swordman is a nickname given to Guts in reference to his forced relationships with the black mercenary Donovan back when he was a kid. The catchphrase is often associated with pictures of Donovan and the nickname "wise magical negro", in reference to an /a/ post (shown below).

Anonymous 03/09/14(Sun)04:32 No. 103380862 Replies: 2103380920 2103385277 File: 1394353937994 png-(297 KB, 1215x1800, Berserk_v3_p233 ong) And remember kids, any good work out starts out with a good warmup! Here we see young Guts doing stretches with his work out partner. Looks like he's getting ready to feel the burn! Anonymous 03/09/14(Sun)0434 No. 103380907 Px it's easy when talking to some one who tal s out of their ass □ Anonymous 03/09/14(Sun)04:34 No.1 03380920 Replies: >>103380952 103380989 2771034 25 never read this manga, is that his personal trainer or something? is he the wise magical n---- of the book? Anonymous 03/09/14(Sun)04:42 No. 103381100 File: 1394354527144 png-(55 KB, 389x421, Berserk_v04_p007 png) Anonymous 03/09/14(Sun)04:36 No. 103380952 File: 13943 826.ipg-(19 KB, 355x328, 1394210782491 jpg) 2P Well, he's definitely personal. et es, that's right. He taught Guts the ropes. Anonymous 03/09/14(Sun)04:37 No.103380989 File: Anonymous 03/09/14(Sun)04:42 No.103381107 File: 1394354538444 png-(64 KB, 301x375, r86758.png) 54 253734 png-(212 KB, 367x506, nonon toplel.png) Not quite. Not.exactly Anonymous 03/09/14(Sun)07:2510103385277 103380920 10/10 post combo, im f------ dying THE GOLDEN AGE CD: END

Bunny Face / CGI Bunny

Bunny Face is the name given to a shot from the first episode of the 2016 anime series featuring a bunny being hunt by Guts. The scene was consequently parodied.

[CLANG]

[CLANG] is a descriptive noise associated with the sound the Dragonslayers makes in the 2016 anime series, resembling more a blunt weapon rather than a sword. The sound was consequently mocked and parodied online.