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Berserk Manga Creator Kentarou Miura Passes Away at 54

Update: Creators in Japan and throughout the world offered their condolences after the passing of Berserk manga creator Kentarō Miura.

Update 2: Hakusensha posted an official English translation of Miura's obituary on its website. The obituary reads as follows:

Manga artist Kentarō Miura passed away at 14:48 on May 6, 2021 due to acute aortic dissection. He was 54.

We would like to express our deepest respect and appreciation for his artistic work and pray that his soul rests in peace.

Miura's family held a funeral.

Kentarō Miura worked on his series Berserk, and many other popular stories for Hakusensha over the years. Berserk is currently serialized in the Young Animal comics, and Dur-An-Ki has been on the Young Animal Zero, starting two years ago.

We would like to take this opportunity to thank all of our readers for having loved his works. Please accept our most heartfelt condolences on his passing.

Hakusensha

All personnel in the Young Animal Editing Department are deeply disturbed and saddened by the sudden death of Kentarō Miura.

We have been at a loss as to how to cope with this painful reality. We just cannot find the words to be honest. Our memories of him are delightful and filled with his smile from the times when we were together; he always talked so happily about his favorite comics, cartoons, and movies. We had honestly never seen him angry or upset. He was a happy person with the heart of a young boy.

We would like all his fans and persons related to imagine him smiling joyfully and pray silently with us for the repose of his soul. We appreciate your kind understanding.

Sincerely, Young Animal Editing Department

Publisher Hakusensha announced on Thursday that Berserk manga creator Kentarō Miura passed away on May 6 at 2:48 p.m. due to acute aortic dissection. He was 54. His family held a private service.

Miura was born on July 11, 1966 in Chiba prefecture. He made his professional manga debut with the "Futatabi…" (Once More…) story in Kodansha's Weekly Shōnen Magazine in 1985.

Miura then published the one-shot version of the Berserk manga in Hakusensha's Monthly Comicomi magazine in 1988. He launched the full Berserk manga series in Hakusensha's Monthly Animal House magazine in 1989, and the series continued in Hakusensha's Young Animal magazine until now. It has over 40 million copies in circulation.

The Berserk manga follows Guts, a superhumanly strong warrior who wields a large sword, as he wanders a dark medieval world filled with demons, corrupt and decadent nobles, and other horrors. Every night, he is assailed by demons, attracted to the curse branded on him after a traumatic event. He makes his way through the world on a quest to slay a former friend turned demon, who took everything away from him.

Hakusensha published the manga's 40th volume in Japan on September 28, 2018. Dark Horse Comics published the same volume in North America in October 8, 2019.

The manga inspired a television anime series in 1997, as well as an anime film trilogy from 2012 to 2013. Another television anime series premiered in Japan in July 2016, and the second half of the new series premiered on April 2017.

Miura drew the King of Wolves (Oh-Roh) manga with famed Fist of the North Star writer Buronson in 1989. The story continued with Oh-Roh Den (Legend of the King of Wolves) in 1990. Miura and Buronson collaborated again on the Japan manga in 1992. Miura launched the Giganto Maxia mini-series in Young Animal in 2013. More recently, he created and produced the Duranki manga with his Studio Gaga in the inaugural issue of Hakusensha's Young Animal Zero magazine in September 2019.

Sources: Hakusensha, Mantan Web, Comic Natalie