The hit manga series, Berserk, has released its forty-first volume, and to celebrate the occasion, its art was featured in a new global campaign. Ads for the newest volume appeared in three major news publications based in different countries. These ads showcase artwork from the series.
Beginning publication in 1989, Berserk is one of the best-selling manga of all time, alongside series like One Piece, Dragon Ball, and Naruto, albeit being aimed for a different target demographic. Berserk is a dark fantasy seinen series, which is aimed at adult men, predominantly. It has been published within Young Animal, a seinen manga magazine. Berserk's newest volume could very well be the series' last, following the passing of its mangaka, Kentaro Miura earlier this year.
Berserk has released its forty-first volume in Japan. To celebrate the volume's release in Japan on December 24th, The Asahi Shimbun, Le Monde, and The New York Times have all run ads for the series. The fortieth volume released three years ago, so it has been a while since fans have been able to purchase a new volume for the series. However, fans in both the United States and in France will have to wait until Summer 2022, when the translated manga volume is released. However, the ad campaign emphasizes the global popularity the series has reached.
The Asahi Shimbun is one of the largest and oldest newspapers in Japan, having begun publishing in 1879. Le Monde is similarly a major newspaper in France, which has been publishing since 1944. The New York Times, a major United States newspaper, was founded in 1851. Each of these publishers is a prominent news source in their respective countries, making them easy ways of reaching millions of readers across the world. This method of simultaneous publishing is not usually done within the manga industry, but Berserk has definitely earned it. Hakusensha, the publishing company of Young Animal, chose to run a newspaper campaign to "enable the appeal of Miura's penwork to be reproduced to the maximum extent." A digital campaign was considered, but the company believed "something tangible delivered to readers in the real world would be more likely to move them than image data accessed digitally."
Considering the way Berserk has moved fans over the past thirty-two years, this decision is rather fitting. Hakusensha is also hoping the ads in this trio of newspapers will be able to reach a broader audience—increasing Berserk's potential readers. Each periodical used a different advertising image, but The Asahi Shimbun and The New York Times' ads were done in black-and-white to create a "strong impact." Le Monde used a color image and—similar to The New York Times—also has a collage of artwork from the Berserk series to communicate that it is a manga series to people seeing it for the first time. Hakusensha also said it was decided "no words were necessary to convey the appeal of Miura's illustrations." One of the biggest strengths of comics is the ability to tell stories predominantly through art, and Berserk is no exception. The English translation of Berserk Volume 41 will be available in Summer 2022 from Dark Horse Comics.
Source: Asahi