Kentaro Miura, creator of the ground-breaking manga Berserk, has passed away at the age of 54. According to the editorial department of Young Animal magazine, the publication that currently prints Berserk, Miura passed away on May 6, 2021 due to acute aortic dissection. Dark Horse Comics, Miura’s publisher in the West, also released a statement.
“Miura-sensei was a master artist and storyteller and we had the great privilege of publishing several of his finest works, including his masterpiece, Berserk. He will be greatly missed.”
Of all of Miura’s works, he is most famously known for Berserk, a serialized comic first published back in 1989. While the series is known for its intense brutality, equally as important to note are its messages of hope and ceaseless resilience, which are conveyed across all 40 of its volumes. In addition to being noteworthy in-and-of itself, Berserk also helped popularize Japanese dark fantasy, and inspired countless works such as Black Clover, Dark Souls, Dragon’s Dogma, Final Fantasy, Demon Slayer, and Castlevania.
As of May 2021, Berserk has over 50 million copies in circulation, making it one of the best-selling manga series of all time. Due to this intense popularity, it has been adapted for animation multiple times. In 1997, a Berserk anime was produced, which was then followed by a film series in 2012 and another in 2016. In addition, multiple video games based on Berserk have also been released.
Unfortunately, Berserk, which is widely considered Miura’s magnum opus, was an ongoing series, and with news of his passing it is suspected the story will go unfinished. However, fans can perhaps rest a bit easier knowing Miura believed he would inevitably end the series on a hopeful note.