On May 20, 2021, Hakusensha announced that Kentaro Miura, the author and mangaka of Berserk, passed away on May 6, 2021 due to acute aortic dissection.
Through Twitter, Hakusensha, the publishing company behind Berserk, announced on May 20 that Kentaro Miura passed away on May 6, 2021, due to acute aortic dissection. Miura was 54 years old. Here's a translation of the tweet:
Berserk author Kentaro Miura passes away, original report
"Report of Kentaro Miura sensei's death
Kentaro Miura sensei, author of Berserk, passed away on May 6, 2021, due to acute aortic dissection. We would like to express our profound respect and gratitude toward Miura sensei and his art, and pray from the bottom of our hearts so that his soul may rest in peace.
May 20, 2021 Hakusensha Co., Ltd."
The same report was shared on the official Berserk Twitter and on the Young Animal official twitter, the Hakusensha owned magazine where the manga was currently published:
Kentaro Miura
Kentaro Miura was born on July 11, 1966, in Chiba, and made his first comic series in 1976 called Miuranger. Then, he studied at an artistic grammar school from 1979 to 1985, while working on doujinshi (fanzines). After finishing his studies, Miura drew the award winning Futatabi, and made his debut in Shonen Magazine, though his stay there was limited.
From 1985 to 1989, Miura started drawing Berserk Prototype, and was also the assistant of Jyoji Morikawa, the mangaka of Hajime no Ippo. When they met, Miura was only 18 years old, and Morikawa 19. Lastly, Miura started the serialization of Berserk in 1989.
Later on, Miura also founded his own studio with his manga assistants, Studio Gaga. They most notably published Doruanki in 2019, a fantasy manga based on Mesopotamian and Ancient Greek mythology.
- BERSERK - Our review of Berserk and the Band of the Hawk
History of Berserk
Berserk is an unique work, praised worldwide most notably for its incredibly intricate artwork by Kentaro Miura, which is still unrivaled today. Over the years, Berserk inspired countless other works, who most notably either borrowed Guts' gigantic Dragonslayer sword, or recreated the series' atmosphere and monsters. The most popular and recent example being Bloodborne by FromSoftware.
Berserk was first serialized in 1989, and quickly became the most iconic dark fantasy manga of all time, mixing incredibly dark story elements with hopeful, beautiful themes and comedic moments. The manga was still ongoing to this day with an irregular schedule, and also received several game and anime adaptations over the decades. I personally recommend this AMV by the late Satoshi Kon, using the first Berserk anime adaptation:
With Kentaro Miura passing away, we've lost an incredibly talented artist and definitely one of the best mangaka and overall artist of all time. Personally, I couldn't believe it when seeing Hakusensha's tweet and I still have trouble believe it even now. We here at DualShockers offer our sincere condolences to the family and friends of Kentaro Miura.