Summary

• Miura never expected Berserk to last 30 years due to not planning long-term.
• Studio Gaga took over Berserk after Miura's death and plans to conclude the story.
• Despite not planning too far ahead, Miura shared Berserk's ending with his team, ensuring completion.

The Berserk manga began more than thirty years ago, and while it's regarded as one of the world's best, author Kentaro Miura never believed his work was worthy of lasting that long. It's difficult to argue that the story of Guts, Griffith, and the struggle that follows causality represents a zenith in Dark Fantasy storytelling, but its author never imagined it would evolve into what Berserk became.

Since the 1990 debut of Berserk's manga, 376 chapters have been released. However, the iconic series is now in the hands of Miura's team, who took over Studio Gaga after the author's tragic death in 2021. An interview with Miura took place months before his ing, which provided a fascinating insight into the author's thoughts on his long-running series.

The final interview with author Kentaro Miura was featured in an official exhibition centered on The Artwork of Berserk and translated onto the Berserk Wiki. One of the questions asked the author if, around the time of its debut, he ever expected Berserk to become as popular as it has. Even though his works are so well regarded, he responded, "No, I think it is difficult to even for a manga god to have a vision of a series that will continue to run for 30 years."

Even The Greatest Mangaka Couldn't Plan A 30-Year Story

The First 364 Chapters of Berserk Were Written and Illustrated By Kentaro Miura

More than a few beloved manga series have taken much longer than their authors planned, like Eiichiro Oda's One Piece and Yoshihiro Togashi's Hunter X Hunter. Like those series, millions of readers anxiously await to discover the conclusion of Berserk's story even if consistent hiatus threatens to sidetrack their curiosity. Still, according to his last interview, Kentaro Miura stated that when he started writing Berserk, he tended not to look too far ahead in planning out his series, saying, "...I did not have such a vision of "this is the kind of manga artist I want to be in the future." This speaks to its quality, especially if Miura focused more on the present than his story's future.

Like many individuals who can succumb to the pressures and anxiety of performing large tasks, Miura said, "I always continued to do the work that was right in front of me." With such an outlook, it's clear that Berserk's author never guessed that its story would continue across hundreds of chapters for decades. While some series successfully find ways to tell tales filled with overarching plotlines that connect in meaningful ways, even the most beloved mangas, like Berserk and Dragon Ball, were less planned than some fans believe. Thankfully, Miura shared Berserk's ending with his team before his untimely ing.

The Ending of Berserk Has Been Known For Years

As Of Chapter #376, Berserk Is Moving Into Its Final Arcs

Kentaro Miura's comments may have revealed that the author often didn't like to focus on Berserk's future past the chapters he was working on, but that doesn't mean he didn't know what the ending of Guts and Griffith's stories looked like. People who worked closely with the author at Studio Gaga, including fellow mangaka and close friend Kouji Mori, have chosen to keep the manga going. Thanks to notes and conversations about Berserk's ending, they feel confident in their ability to conclude Kentaro Miura's story, which has taken over thirty years to tell.

Source: Berserk Wiki