Berserk Recent Developements

Rohan · Mar 23, 2017

Patrick said:

The interview from the Guidebook has been translated. All credit goes to the user by the name of Puella from Skullknight.net.

Pages 01 & 02

Celebrating the arrival at the Elf Island!
Miura Kentarou

Sensei talks in a long interview that looks back on "Berserk"

"Berserk", the world famous dark fantasy. By reaching the Elf Island, we wrap up one great part of the manga. At this point, we'd like to review what he thought while holding his brush1, from the beginning until today.

1 "To hold one's brush" is from a Chinese expression and it refers to Miura's creative process (writing and drawing).

From the Black Swordsman to the Elf Island, an extra-long behind-the-scenes story about his creation process

◇ "Celebrations" and "Daily Life" during the serialization

― "Berserk" has been published in 38 volumes so far and the new anime series has just been broadcast. The work has lasted very long. Please tell us how you feel about what you've drawn up to this point.
When I hold my brush, sometimes I feel restless because it's a time for celebration, like the release of the animation, and sometimes I just proceed with my manuscript unaffected. There's a contrast in my feelings. Right now is a time when I've been realizing "ahhh, we've done great things" due to the broadcast of the TV animation. However, these celebrations are not likely to last long. I will probably soon get back to my unremarkable daily life, filled only with my struggle with manuscripts, as always (laughs). I gained recognition because I have kept my work going for a long time but my attitude toward manuscripts isn't different from when I was a rookie. A mangaka's mind is always occupied with the manuscript on his desk... that's the way I live. After concentrating on a manuscript every day, when all of the pages are finally done and I review them... this is when I'm most satisfied.

― It means, I think, that when an episode is published, your mind has already moved on to the next manuscript.
And then, the previous manuscript makes way for the current one inside of my mind. A long time ago, I was unsatisfied with my drawing ability. "Ahh, it's rough, not well done". I regretted it. So I decided to draw each episode up to my limit, until I'm satisfied. Some mangaka have this kind of gift: "I don't need to develop my drawing skills anymore, from now on I'll try to improve my storyboards", but personally, nothing but drawing can satisfy me.

― By the way, it's a time to celebrate now, so how’s the atmosphere in your studio?
Currently, each week all of the staff watches the animation as it airs, checking drawings on the network. Some watch with ecstasy, some with a beating heart, some just enjoy it. Once this celebration is over, it will change, going back to my daily life where I only face manuscripts like always (laughs). My feelings are affected by media related to my work, but I try to accept it as it is and to savor each moment rather than to defy the situation. Maybe it's my knack to be able to keep existing in this field for a long time.

―It's a very flexible attitude.
After experiencing a time of celebration, sometimes I can't draw well, feeling lonely or something, which happens to many mangaka. This can also be applied to my serialization. For example, if a young mangaka gets a great hit in a magazine (including shounen magazines), he's thrown into the busy life of serialization before his personality has fully developed and he can become unable to draw, mentally devastated, once his serialization is finished. In continuing my manga, there are good times and bad times. So I want to try to have feelings that I can handle depending on the circumstances.

◇ "Berserk" born from "Models"

― How was your work, "Berserk", originally created?
In the 1980s, when I conceived "Berserk", the nature of manga was neither moral nor immoral. Mangaka tried to keep creating new things at that time, avidly taking interesting elements from successful movies or other works. And there were a lot of manga modeled after Hollywood movies, which were the best among all forms of entertainment. I created "Berserk" that way, messily collecting elements that I found interesting and that I liked from Hollywood movies and from "Hokuto no Ken" (Buronson/Tetsuo Hara). Like the other manga of those days, it didn't originate from a specific concept (laughs).

Illustration legend: ◀ The emblematic scene that comes to everyone's mind when they think of "Berserk".

― Did you have a model of Guts as the protagonist in the beginning?
It’s "models" which I would say are the gimmick for Guts. Such a "Black Dark Hero"... A black and nihilistic guy like Hikaider from "Android Kikaider" (Shotaro Ishinomori), then adding the Fantasy genre like in "Conan the Great" (Robert E. Howard) and "Guin Saga" (Kaoru Kurimoto) that I liked. It was started from the idea of a "Black Swordsman". The framing followed: "How should I make the character as a black and nihilistic guy"; "an ordinary swordsman wouldn't be interesting, what kind of individuality should I give him"... I composed it, coming up with it one piece at a time. In addition, I had an idea "to put something on his single arm" inspired by "Dororo" (Osamu Tezuka) and "Cobra" (Buichi Terasawa) which I enjoyed.

As for the Dragon Slayer, big swords had appeared in "Guin Saga" and "Pygmalio" (Shinji Wada). However, these huge swords were no more than a drawing. If a huge sword is actually wielded, if this sword wielding is actually seen by someone... I got to dig deep into it. As I said previously, because Hollywood movies were at their prime at that time, live action was the king of entertainment. CG didn't exist, unlike today, so people acted as machines as best they could in movies like "Terminator" or "Robocop". In this sense of "a physical action expressing a superhuman being", if a man holding a huge sword really existed, how large would his muscles be, and if it were shot in a movie, what kind of action would be realized... I reached those ideas based on live action media.

― That's how Guts' figure was created.
At first, only the bowgun was put on the single arm he had. It was meant to be something like a hidden weapon but the impact was weak. And the sword was Japanese at first. I had an idea where an Asian man holding a Japanese sword with his left arm as a gimmick was the main character in a Middle-Age European-style background. But it was not surprising that the Dragon Slayer and the cannon in the artificial arm completely stopped me from developing the idea. They made me think "no, it’s not good!" I think this kind of balanced "greater than reality without destroying reality" is appealing. For example, Captain America is a Marvel hero in a movie based on American comics. The character is merely "a bit greater than an Olympic athlete" in terms of physical abilities so he’s much weaker than other heroes. But if this is drawn correctly, like it were live action, I really feel motivated to work on it.
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Patrick said:

Manga is coming back at the end of the month. (Most likely going monthly, though, I don't think we have a 100% confirmation on that yet)
IT'S FINALLY HAPPENING! SHE'S GONNA GET CURED!

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Patrick said:

spoilers are out hh hh hh

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Thanks to Patrick from TMF! urr/

JoeJoe · Mar 23, 2017

Stop making Berserk relevant it's an overrated mangolini

Gobb · Mar 23, 2017

Rohan said: ↑

Thanks to Patrick from TMF! urr/
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Honestly, wew people not aware that he helps with the anime and is on break until the anime is done and he returns? Same thing happened last time.

Princess Kaguya · Apr 8, 2017

I already forgot what has happened so far. I will try to wait until the manga ends to continue reading it, which won't happen any time soon. Lol

Gobb · Apr 8, 2017

Lulu said: ↑

I already forgot what has happened so far. I will try to wait until the manga ends to continue reading it, which won't happen any time soon. Lol
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>could be another decade

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