In honor of Berserk creator Kentaro Miura, Dark Horse has created a memorial for fans to pay their respects to the mangaka. This memorial was held at Anime NYC and it was an incredible display of the creator's influence. His work inspired readers across the globe and the show of gratitude from fans exemplifies how much his work has meant to them.
Kentaro Miura passed earlier this year, in May. Since then, there have been discussions about what will happen to his signature work, Berserk, which hadn't yet reached completion. The team behind Berserk is still deciding what the next step will be - if any. Thus far, a posthumous chapter has been released, serving as a potential finale for the series. Even with the work in a sort of limbo, fans have not forgotten what Miura has meant to them.
This year's Anime NYC event was in-person and Dark Horse - which publishes Berserk for its North American audience - installed a large canvas wall, intentionally left blank apart from the printed message, "Kentaro Miura, 1966-2021, Thank you, Miura-Sensei." Event attendees were able to sign the wall and leave messages in Miura's honor, leading to a memorial covered in gratitude. The wall appeared practically full after day one, but fans squeezed in even more messages on day two of the installation - which can be seen in photos shared on Twitter by Peter Fobian, an associate manager at Crunchyroll.
Berserk began publishing in 1989 in Monthly Animal House before switching to Young Animal in 1992, both of which are periodicals by Hakusensha. The dark fantasy seinen series spanned three hundred and sixty-four chapters, which will soon be collected in a total of forty-one volumes. The forty-first volume is slated for release in December of this year. Dark Horse Comics has been republishing deluxe hardcover editions of the series. The tenth will be available in March next year, with more to come, since that volume goes up to volume thirty of the original series' publication. These volumes have been best-sellers and in 2017 they even outsold Kazuo Koike and Goseki Kojima's hit series Lone Wolf and Cub. These have been some of Dark Horse's top-selling comics over the last several years.
This memorial is the latest display of the influence of Miura's work. Berserk has already been lauded as one of the best manga of all time, boasting critical acclaim spanning several years and countries. Other creators of hit manga series have expressed that they've drawn inspiration from Berserk and Miura, including Kazue Kato, Makoto Yukimura, and Hajime Isayama, who created Blue Exorcist, Vinland Saga, and Attack on Titan respectively.
While the horror aspects of the series are very grim and disturbing - the series is not for faint-hearted readers - it is undeniably a work of beauty and passion that continues to gain new readers and appreciation. Dark Horse's memorial to the creator of Berserk found a way to bring fans together safely at a time when the world itself often appears very bleak - bringing forth a symbol of gratitude and hope as Kentaro Miura’s legacy lives on.
Source: Peter Fobian