Good evening, everyone! Today I wanted to talk about one of my favorite mangakas: Kentaro Miura, Berserk’s author, so let’s begin =). Stay to the end for some examples of his amazing art!

Kentaro Miura

Biography

Black and White photo of Kentaro Miura.

Kentaro Miura is a Japanese manga drawing artist, born on July 11th 1966 in Chiba Prefecture, Chiba City, Japan. He is left-handed.[1]

Chiba Prefecture location in Japan

Miura made his debut as an artist at the age of 10, in 1976, when he made his manga called Miuranger, that was part of a scholar publication for his classmates, reaching up to 40 volumes.[1] The next year, in 1977, Miura created his second manga called Ken e no michi (剣への道 The way to the Sword).[1] During middle school, in 1979, he developed greatly his technique, starting to apply professional techniques. In 1982, and with the help of his friends, he published his first doujinshi.[1]

(Doujinshi refers to a book, manga, magazine or works of the like that are self-published)

That same year, 1982, Miura entered high school with an art curriculum and started, with his friends, to publish his Works.[1] In 1985 he sent in his manga Futanabi for the Nihon University entrance exam, which granted him not only the entrance to the university but also the Best Debuting Artist in the Weekly Shounen Magazine.[1] In that year he also started publishing the manga Noa for that magazine. Nevertheless, due to discrepancies with one of his editors the manga was stopped and cancelled.[1]
(“Shounen” here refers to the intended demography of the work, in this case being boys spanning from 8 to 18 years old. Its counterpart would be “shoujo”, aiming at girls.)

Weekly Shounen Magazine cover, featuring Fairy Tail manga

Noa manga cover, by Kentaro Miura

In 1988 appears for the first time the manga Berserk, with a 48 paged one-shot called Berserk Prototype, which has similarities with the actual manga but maintains some key differences.[2]

Berserk Prototype cover, by Kentaro Miura

In 1989, Miura starts King of the Wolves (王狼 Ourou), based on the script from the writer of First of the North Star, Buronson.[1] The manga was published by the Japanese Animal House magazine.[1] In 1990, he made a sequel called The Legend of the Wolf King (王狼伝 Ourou den), published in the Young Animal magazine.[1] That same year, in the Animal House magazine is published the first chapter of Berserk, which is received with moderated success by the public.[1] In 1992, Miura makes the illustrations for a manga written by Buronson, titled Japan.[1] Miura’s fame grew with Berserk, specifically with the “Golden Age” arc, turning him in one of the most outstanding contemporary manga artist.[1] In 2002, he was awarded with the Cultural Tezuka Osamu Prize in the “Excellence” category for this manga.[3] Currently, Miura works exclusively on Berserk,[1] although he goes on hiatus from time to time, as a matter of fact, recently, he took one.[4]

From there on, 39 volumes of Berserk has been produced, and it has grown in popularity enough to produce some animes, videogames and art books, which Miura himself has contributed with.[1]

Cover from the first volume of Berserk, showing Guts, the story’s protagonist.

Berserk is a dark fantasy manga set in medieval Europe, centered on Guts, a lonely mercenary, and Griffith, the leader of a mercenary band called “Band of the Hawk”.[10] It showcases themes of isolation, camaraderie and whether humanity is fundamentally good or evil, as it explores the best and worse from human nature.[10] Both the manga and the anime are noted to have high use of graphic violence and sexual content.[10]
In 2013, Miura wrote and illustrated Gigantomakhia, a six chapter mini-series before resuming Berserk.[2]

Gigantomakhia cover, Kentaro Miura

Hiatus

One important aspect when talking about Berserk is the fact that, despite being published from 1989 onwards (for 28 years now), Berserk has only 350 chapters[5], this is due the fact that Miura takes numerous hiatus and breaks, notably prolonging the release of many chapters, with the longest hiatus being up to 67 weeks.[6] This fact is so notorious it has become a common joke between the fans of the series.

Berserk hiatus chart

Examples of jokes on hiatuses:

Source

Source

Influences and inspirations

Many artists have influenced Miura, like Go Nagai, known for Cutie Honey, Mazinger Z y Devilman[7], that was a key element for Miura to developed style.[2] There’s also Buronson, which whom he has worked in the past, and his work The Fist of the North Star (Hokuto no Ken), that, says Miura, in his mind it’s central for the world of manga.[8] Two mangas influenced him particularly: Guin Saga, written by Kaoru Kurimoto, and Violent Jack, written and illustrated by Go Nagai, as Miura wished to make a story as intricate as Guin Saga, but also liked the over the top of Violence Jack [9] Mangas like Ranpo and Pygmalio has also influenced in him, saying that he reads them for taking references on backgrounds, and Pygmalio in particular served as an inspiration for the great sword that Guts is carrying in Berserk.[9] He also said that in order to become a good artist he tried to read as broadly as possible and not staying in his comfort zone.[9] Moreover, he said Berserk has elements typical of shoujo manga, as it wasn’t enough to draw well, Miura wanted to tell a story of the like of shoujo manga, where everything is about expressing each emotion strongly.[9]

Cover from the 1st volumen of Violent Jack

Cover art from the first novel of Guin Saga.

To the left Ranpo, to the right Pygmalio, mangas that inspired Miura.

About his inspirations, Miura said that his friends were an important part of his life, for that reason that aspect influenced directly in his work making the Band of the Hawk, a band of mercenaries that were very important during the arc of the Golden Age.[9] Miura also admits that, when there were only about 5 characters in the story he made those characters based on 5 of his friends.[9] As a matter of fact, the character Pippin was based on himself, at least physically.[9]

Kentaro Miura and Pippin comparison.

He also admitted that the dinamic of rivalry of Griffith and Guts emerged from a rivavalry he had with a friend who he saw as Griffith, although he specified he wasn’t like that all the time, that, just like him, sometimes he was like Griffith and sometimes he was like Guts, as he said that any boy that seriously proposes himself to accomplish something he can become any of the two.[9]

Art

One of the most outstanding aspects of Berserk is Miura’s art. Miura shows a great technique, which makes not only great, detailed, illustrations but also enhances the narrative.

Guts sad and Puck. This panel appears in volume 3, making contrast with the cold and bloody mercenary that was previously shown, here Guts cries, showing that typical aspect of shoujo manga Miura mentioned, giving great emphasis to the emotions of its characters. (Source: Manga Berserk, Volume 3, page 182.)

Griffith and Guts fight. I love this panel so much I’d rather make its own post.

Guts and Casca kiss. (Source: Volume 9, chapter 9, page 194.) In this page Miura uses a series of small panels to give the sensation of small intimate movements, bringing us closer to the characters and making the scene all more emotive.

Guts against trolls.

Guts. In this picture Guts is shown in a very intense way, achieved by the use of many lines coming out of his silhouette, bringing the illusion of not being able to be contained as the figure is not completely sharp.

Kushan army. Here we can see how great is Miura’s attention to detail: every soldier are dressed the same but each one of them are distinct, each with his own pose.

Berserker Armor.

Irvine apostle. Apostles are like demons, enemies that Guts must face during the events of Berserk.

Femto, Skull Knight and Nosferatu Zodd. Here we can appreciate the complexity and attention to the background Miura can deliver in one piece.

Dragon. Here we can check once again how Miura gets better at his art, the details are impressive too but what really sells it is the use of shadows in this panel.

Apostles. It’s simply amazing the different shapes and the creativity put into the apostles by Miura, each one is distinctive and they are all greatly drawn.

Guts against sea creatures. In this one we can appreciate the different textures of every creature just with the use of inking and well placed shadows.

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References

1. Kentaro Miura (No date). Retrieved from: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kentaro_Miura
2. Kentaro Miura (No date). Berserk Wiki. Retrieved from: http://berserk.wikia.com/wiki/Kentaro_Miura
3. Premio de la Excelencia de Manga. (No date) Tezuka Osamu Cultural Prize. Retrieved from: http://www.asahi.com/shimbun/award/tezuka/02b.html
4. Brian Ashcraft. (2017). Berserk Manga Is Taking A Break. Again. Kotaku. Retrieved from: http://kotaku.com/berserk-manga-is-taking-a-break-again-1796308249
5. Wikipedia. (No date). List of Berserk chapters. Retrieved from: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Berserk_chapters
6. Skullknight. (No date). Retrieved from: http://skullknight.net/images/eps.htm
7. Wikipedia. (No date). Go Nagai. Retrieved from: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Go_Nagai
8. Crunchyroll. (2016). FEATURE: “Berserk” Discussion Explores Kentarou Miura’s Roots. Retrieved from: http://www.crunchyroll.com/anime-feature/2016/08/12/feature-berserk-discussion-explores-kentar-miuras-roots
9. Mangabrog. (No date). BERSERK ARTIST KENTARO MIURA INTERVIEW: “I ACTUALLY DON’T THINK I COULD LET SUCH A LONG GRIM STORY END WITH A GRIM ENDING”. Retrieved from: https://mangabrog.wordpress.com/2015/12/14/berserk-artist-kentaro-miura-interview-i-actually-dont-think-i-could-let-such-a-long-grim-story-end-with-a-grim-ending/
10. Wikipedia. (No date). Berserk (manga). Retrieved from: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Berserk_(manga)

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Well, that was all the post, hope you liked it. Any opinion, recommendation or suggestion is well received ^-^. Certainly it is hard to pick with panels to choose from all Miura’s art, he has too many good ones (although many of those are for older audiences and I decided to leave them out and make this post for all public). If you liked it I could make more of this kind of posts in the future. That said, see you soon o/.

-Gianphan