Readers of Kentaro Miura’s epic dark fantasy manga Berserk have been taken on quite the ride these last three decades, journeying across gory medieval battlefields, magical monster-infested islands and black nightmarish hellscapes, but on September 10, fans of the highly regarded series and artist will see the ultimate chapter of the original creator’s work. Though it was feared his artwork on the previous chapter would be his last following his tragic passing in May, it has been announced that the pages of seinen (18+) Young Animal Magazine #18/2021 will see Chapter 364 of Berserk, drawn from the hand of the late Miura.
Japanese popular culture lost a true luminary earlier this year when Miura suddenly succumbed to aortic dissection at age 54 while seemingly on the cusp of answering many of his series Berserk’s more long-running mysteries. In his long career as a mangaka, Miura's work had spawned three films, two television series, a multitude of videogames and a devoted following among many other prominent artists around the world. While fans have speculated on what Miura intended the ultimate conclusion of story would be, his longtime publisher Young Animal Magazine has been hesitant to definitively state whether or not Berserk will be continued by his assistants.
However according to a tweet from insider Manga Mogura, Young Animal Magazine has announced a new chapter, reportedly the final chapter Miura himself worked on, will be released in the first of this September’s Young Animal Magazine. The upcoming issue will also include bonus material, such as a color page, a poster depicting some of the series' most incisive moments, and a booklet entitled “Messages to Kentaro Miura,” most likely a retrospective tribute to Miura’s lifetime of work on the series from fans and well-wishers.
Even at this early stage so soon after his passing, Miura’s Berserk has been regarded as one of the most influential works of contemporary Japanese culture, gaining fans all over the world for his bleak, yet immersive chronicle of the torture black swordsman, Guts, and his quest to end the demonic rule of his former mercenary captain, the villainous Griffith. At the time of his death, Miura’s last story-arc had finally seen the restoration of Guts’ one time love Casca to her former self having been reduced to the level of an infant for the majority of the series following a devastating attack by Griffith, a rare moment of triumph in the midst of the often despair-laden world he drew up. Now safe on the island of Skellig in the enchanted land of Elfhelm, Chapter 363 had concluded with the return of the mysterious Moonlight Boy, hinted to be a transformation incurred by Griffith who may or may not be the incarnation of Guts and Casca’s long-lost son.
What new mysteries will be unveiled in this latest, and possibly last, chapter of the great epic by Kentaro Miura? Berserk Chapter 364 goes on sale (in Japan) September 10 in Young Animal Magazine #18/2021.
Sources: Young Animal Magazine, Manga Mogura
https://ift.tt/3ucmBM3
August 07, 2021 at 11:50PM
