It was announced today via the official Hakusensha homepage that legendary BERSERK manga creator Kentaro Miura has passed away at the age of fifty-four due to acute aortic dissection. Kentaro Miura was born in Chiba, Japan on 11 July 1966 and made his manga debut with the series Futatabi… in Kodansha’s Weekly Shonen Magazine in 1985.
The official announcement on the homepage reads:
Manga artist Kentaro Miura passed away at 14:48 on 6 May 2021 due to acute aortic dissection. He was 54 years old.
We would like to express our deepest respect and gratitude to Mr. Miura for his work and pray for his soul.
The farewell ceremony was held privately with his family.
Mr. Miura wrote BERSERK and many other popular works for Hakusensha across many years. Currently, he was still writing BERSERK for Young Animal, and since the year before last, he has been writing Duranki for Young Animal Zero.
We would like to express our deepest gratitude to all of our readers for reading Mr. Miura’s works, and we would like to inform you of his passing.
–Hakusensha Corporation
The editorial department of Young Animal is deeply saddened by the sudden news of Mr. Kentaro Miura’s death.
What should we do to accept this unacceptable fact? To be honest, we can’t find the words. All we can remember are the smiles on his face when he met people from the editorial department, and how he was always cheerful and happy to talk about his favorite manga, anime, and movies. We have never even seen him angry. He always looked like a happy boy.
We would like to ask all the fans and people involved to imagine his happy smile and to join the Young Animal editorial team in praying for his soul to rest in peace. Thank you for your kind support.
–Young Animal Editorial Team
Kentaro Miura had a transcending career since having BERSERK published in Hakusensha’s Monthly Comicomi magazine in 1988. The series then went to a full-scale manga series in 1989 in Hakusensha’s Monthly Animal House magazine. The series continued in Young Animal Magazine all the way through today. Since its inception, the series has sold over more than 40 million copies.
Hajime no Ippo creator George Morikawa shared on his Twitter page a specific memory that he has about Kentaro Miura:
写真は三浦建太郎君が寄稿してくれた鷹村です。
今かなり感傷的になっています。
思い出話をさせて下さい。
僕が初めての週刊連載でスタッフが一人もいなくて困っていたら手伝いにきてくれました。
彼が18で僕が19です。
某大学の芸術学部の学生で講義明けにスケッチブックを片手に来てくれました。 pic.twitter.com/hT1JCWBTKu— 森川ジョージ (@WANPOWANWAN) May 20, 2021
This photo is of Takamura, which was drawn by Kentaro Miura.
I’m feeling quite sentimental right now.
So, let me share a memory with you.
When I was in trouble because I didn’t have any staff for my first weekly series, he came to help me. He was 18 and I was 19. He was an art student at university and came to me with a sketchbook in his hand after a lecture.
I didn’t know how well he could draw, so I showed him one of my drawings and asked him to make it look like this one. I was astonished at the result.
He was so experienced for his age. After a few drawings, I was already intrigued by him. We were still young, and we shared conversations about manga.
I asked him to show me his sketchbook, which I had been curious about, and when I opened it, I was even more astonished and got goosebumps.
There was a fairy, a brand, and a swordsman with a big sword. It later became Puck and Guts from BERSERK.
The thick pencil drawing was overwhelming.
‘What is all of this?’ I asked.
‘It’s all stuff in my head. I’d like to draw again it after I get better.’ He said.
How long had he been working on it?
BERSERK was already there.
Months passed, and I started serializing Hajime no Ippo.
Almost at the same time, BERSERK was released.
I had heard some stories about the difficulties with the series, but I was convinced.
He had started a manga that would definitely be popular.
Kentaro had judged himself to be getting stronger, and he had started this series with a full head of steam.
I was sure that the world would be as astonished as I was.
That’s exactly what happened.
It’s a series with superb drawing ability and full-bodied screens.
I have nothing but respect for the energy that goes into each issue.
That’s the end of the story.
I heard that he cared about me during that time.
I’m proud to have met him, too.
I’m sorry for talking out of line, Kentaro-kun.
I’ll come back to read the final installment someday.
Sorry for the typos and omissions.
The manga industry has lost a legend with the passing of Kentaro Miura and all of us here at OTAQUEST send his family our condolences.