Young Animal announces a continuation of Berserk by Studio Gaga, supervised by Kouji Mori

Well, that’s not how I expected my Tuesday to go :ganishka:.

Seeing the reactions to the news on the forum, I’ll just say that, for the moment, I am like the father in the “Prodigal Son parable”, rejoicing for a long lost son has returned home. But I fully empathize with the hesitancy and misgivings some have expressed.

In any case, let’s hope for the best!
 
Well, this was sudden. I'm kinda disappointed because based on the statements they've released, we could have got the best possible outcome:

An emotional letter with Mori describing everything he remembers as best as he can about the rest of the story, with scenes provided by Miura's assistants.

This would be ideal to me, and I'm sad because we could have, but won't get the continuation this way. This would be a fitting closure in my opinion.

As others already stated above, I'm also disappointed that from what it seems, they'll keep calling it "Berserk". I really hope that they'll change it and add a subtitle. In any case, I'm curious about further developments, but Berserk ended with Miura. This continuation is going to be a "what if" case, but at least we'll see a version of what Miura had in mind at some point in time. It's still not definitive, because as @Aazealh said the stories and their storytellers evolve with time and tend to add or change things with various levels of impact to the story, but as I said, we'll see a version of what Miura had in mind at some point in time. So, we'll see.

Strange days, honestly I haven't thought that they would attempt to finish the story...

(Also, I haven't read anything by Mori. Is he a good writer? How could he change and adapt his style in the tone and setting of Berserk, and to what extent can he be Miura-esque? I guess we'll find out very soon. At the end of the month... it feels so sudden and weird:magni:)
 
It's funny how I was browsing this forum less than a week ago, thinking about the future of Berserk and reading all your insightful comments about the future of the franchise. Hell, I got a small Puck tattoo two days ago.

I am personally moved by this decision, but also terrified. I immediately bursted into tears as soon as I read the words "We will resume the serialization of Berserk", as I've been longing for news about the serialization for a long time. I had made an attempt to come to terms with the end, and saw episode 364 as a fitting "open end" to the series, especially since Miura did not leave any manuscripts or information behind, however - deep down, I'm happy about this decision, even if it's flawed.
 

Griffith

With the streak of a tear, Like morning dew
Well, this was sudden. I'm kinda disappointed because based on the statements they've released, we could have got the best possible outcome:

An emotional letter with Mori describing everything he remembers as best as he can about the rest of the story, with scenes provided by Miura's assistants.

Yeah, that's the irresistible part, "Miura's last remaining Berserk secrets he told only to me!" How can one say no? But, I'd almost rather get that in an interview like Mori said, in a comprehensive art book about Miura's life and work or something. That might have been the most authentic way to disseminate that information, whereas this will inherently raise questions about what's from the source and what was extrapolated to make the framing work, plus, it's a business decision by the stakeholders on some level, which is why we're getting it presented as a continuation (many fans would want that, I'm more willing to swallow it for the info). Now, Mori and Miura's crew themselves are probably sparing us and Berserk a far worse fate by doing this themselves with that precious info intact than allowing the series to be handed off to some mercenary... but, until we see what this is it's hard not to be skeptical about it overall... and melancholy because it's opening that wound again.
 
When I think of Berserk now it conjures up a lot of emotion within me, I'm still slowly but surely coming to terms with the passing of Miura, and was at peace with the story being concluded. All I can say is that I respect Kouji Mori, and him knowing the direction of the story that fans are clamouring for I can understand that it must be a huge burden for him. He has this knowledge and it's something he wants to share properly in a form fans are familiar with, not just in passing in an interview. Imagine how Koji feels “I haven’t told anyone other than you, Mori, about the story” he wants to do this for his best friend, it's very noble and I have a lot of admiration for Koji Mori that he's doing something like this, I fully expected them to honour his memory without touching his life's work, as it seemed like the "Japanese way"

Reading that interview and countless others we can tell those two were very very close and unlike us he knows Miura's personality, and has come to the conclusion that Miura would actually want something like this, so I feel we should respect Mori's decision. Although this interpretation of the story will have merit as some elements are directly from Miura I'm seeing this as a completely separate entity divorced from Miura's version. Mori has direct knowledge from Miura, and is creating a story solely based on that, along with some material Miura left behind. The story is inevitably going to be fractured and this isn't something I wanted to happen to Berserk but I guess it's happening. It will lack depth and be extremely flawed as Miura isn't actually writing it, a lot of details are going to be sacrificed, I mean an insane amount of details. this is going to be someone else's interpretation of these characters and Miura's vision.

Another fear I have is i don't particularly like Koji Mori's style of writing, I've read only one work from his that being Suicide island, he has stated that he will not diverge from what Miura told him, but I feel that's inevitable, as Miura most likely gave him a brief synopsis of scenes, and once Mori starts writing and trying to think what would Miura do? Im fearful that it will devolve into a complete mess, and we will start feeling distant from the characters we know so well.

Another point is the art, these guys have a monumental task ahead of them, they have to create art that would be up to Miura's standards which is extremely difficult, and I'm not sure it's even possible, so there will have to be sacrifices made there as well.

It honestly just feels strange that this is happening, yeah it's great we will finally see some version of the rest of the story I guess, but I don't know... I think I just have to accept reality and understand that this is the best thing that could have happened, but I just can't accept anything without Miura at the helm, because he's the one I trust in fully. In short I am very fearful.
 
It looks like they're trying to do things properly, and it's reassuring that Mori would be involved and that they found some sketches to at least base certain things on. That being said, like we've discussed before, I think everyone should keep in mind that this isn't going to be Miura's Berserk. It's an attempt at concluding what he started by guessing based only on those ideas he told others about. As such it will necessarily be an ersatz of the real thing. As many of you will know, the creative process is one of constant refinement and sometimes last minute changes or additions end up becoming big parts of a story or changing its direction in meaningful ways.

This like how after Robert E. Howard's own untimely death people wanted wanted more Conan, and thus new Conan pastiches and sequels written by other authors started coming out in the decades since. Some of them were good (Karl Edward Wagner and Poul Anderson), others were shit (L. Sprague de Camp); none of them were Howard.
Even if Miura had told Mori every minute detail about Berserk's finale and left behind very detailed notes about how the rest of the series should go, it still won't be the same without him :sad:
 

lacroixma

I'm still new.
I just wish they'd change the name to clearly demarcate the change from vol. 41 to 42 and on-wards. If they'd do that, I'd wish them the best of luck to take the series where they want with the information they have.
 

Griffith

With the streak of a tear, Like morning dew
Found this purported 365 preview kicking around Twitter when checking the, lovely outpouring of support, reaction to the announcement:

FUpzZbuWQAE6tII


Sorry if it's already been linked or posted and I missed it, or if it's a fake (I can't confirm via official sources, so be skeptical, but I'm just not in the mindset to be effectively scrutinizing anything for reused imagery right now). It's going to be harder to determine that now anyway! If it's genuine and reflective of the art style of this new series it looks promising. It's fun to be posting sketchy Berserk previews and info again. =)
 
Last edited:
Found this purported 365 preview kicking around Twitter when checking the, lovely outpouring of support, reaction to the announcement:
It absolutely is real, it was in the background of the continuation message the offical Twitter account posted. I guess someone just cropped it and edited it a little to be more visible.
 

Griffith

With the streak of a tear, Like morning dew
It absolutely is real, it was in the background of the continuation message the offical Twitter account posted. I guess someone just cropped it and edited it a little to be more visible.

Oh wow, see, it was right in front of my face, but someone made it look like more of a straight preview image. I was thrown by the coloration and the fact I read the pure text versions of the announcement(s). I'm an idiot.

This doesn't imply anything, right? it's just a joke, r-right?

It's exactly what it looks like: Walter is a mafia don struggling to go legit being pulled back into underworld politics.
 
This's a lot to process.

I'm still not over Miura's untimely passing. My mind rushes to "Why?" or "What's the need?" or "The final episode was perfect way to end things" or similar thoughts about the finality of Berserk. I've never thought of Berserk without Miura, but now that this is real and happening, I need time to process how I'll receive the new episodes.
 

Rhombaad

Video Game Time Traveler
Wow. Did not expect to wake up to this news. Part of my tired brain thought this was an April Fool’s joke by SK.net, but then I remembered it was June (also, Aaz, Griff and Wally wouldn’t joke about something like this).

I’m going to remain positive for Mori and Miura’s sake. Regardless of how Young Animal views this continuation, as a business decision, genuine gesture or both, Mori lost his best friend and feels a weighty responsibility. I can’t help thinking of Bruce Wayne asking his dead parents to let him lead a normal life in Mask of the Phantasm. I hope Mori isn’t feeling like that right now.

As others have said, I think if they were going to continue the series, this is the best way they could. It also sounds like Mori thought a lot about how to do it, as well. He’s also a mangaka, so it’s possible that this is the only way he felt comfortable doing it. It’s the language he communicates in all the time.

I’m hoping they decide to call the continuation of the series something else when it’s collected into volumes, but we’ll just have to wait and see. I hope YA receives feedback about that decision in particular.

I’m hoping Mori and Studio Gaga can pull off this miracle through desperation Mori spoke about. It’s one thing to finish an episode that was 80% complete. It’s another to pull off the near impossible task they’ve set before themselves. I hope it’s something Miura would be proud of, and that it doesn’t tarnish his legacy. It was his life’s work and should be treated with all the respect in the world. The same way Miura should be treated.
 
Personally, I'm just happy to see "this" continuation.
Mori was his best friend and after reading about what he knows and seeing him supervising the continuation it's at least a big relief.
Now let's see how it turns out, I'm very curious to see those next 6 episodes ending this arc...
 
Bittersweet news...I'm SO happy!! But I also want to cry because Miura isn't there anymore. :sad: We will never see his version of Berserk again...
 
Naturally, a lot of fans are hyped about the announcement. Personally, I would've preferred that Berserk was left as an unfinished masterpiece. While I don't doubt Kouji Mori and Studio Gaga's intentions or abilities, Miura was too strong an auteur and too masterful an artist to continue the series without him. I will see this as a tribute rather than canon. It's all well and good having unrecorded conversations of Miura's vision but as @Aazealh pointed out, the creative process is a fluid, ongoing one. Who knows what twists and turns may have occurred to Miura had he lived to see out the series.
l7wGTfN.jpg
 
Didn't Koji Mori contribute a one-shot manga about his time with Miura up-to-and-including Miura's funeral to the dedication book? While I couldn't read the text, I remember looking at that and being incredibly moved by it; it was clear that the author of that manga was very close with Miura, and had been impacted deeply by his passing.

I'm happy to read this news. Not because it means closure for me as a fan, but because I find it inspiring that Miura's best friend and Miura's students are going to take on the task of finishing their friend and mentor's life's work. While this won't be the Berserk that Miura would have created himself, this is still Miura's Berserk: He handpicked and mentored the artists at Studio Gaga, hoping to one day pass on a portion of his work on Berserk to them, and while this certainly isn't the way he planned for this to happen, he still intended for them to one day work on his masterpiece. Likewise, Koji Mori was Miura's best friend, and someone he had confided the plot of Berserk in its entirety to; there is no one alive that is more qualified (or even remotely near as qualified) to oversee the completion of Miura's masterpiece than Mori. Miura is the one gave these people the tools and information necessary to finish Berserk, and if they feel that Berserk being finished is what Miura would have wanted (and, for sure, they would know better than I would), then I support this wholeheartedly.

No, it won't be Berserk as Miura would have done it: The art will assuredly suffer, the characters likely won't say exactly what Miura would have written, the smaller moment-to-moment plot points won't be identical to what Miura would have done, etc., but this is still the people closest to Miura finishing Berserk using what he left them with, and I am appreciative of that fact.
 

Aazealh

Administrator
Staff member
Didn't Koji Mori contribute a one-shot manga about his time with Miura up-to-and-including Miura's funeral to the dedication book? While I couldn't read the text, I remember looking at that and being incredibly moved by it; it was clear that the author of that manga was very close with Miura, and had been impacted deeply by his passing.

He published a prototype ("episode 0", as he styled it) for a series focused on their lives which Mori will work on once he's done with "Taiga of Genesis". It will be called "MK", after their shared initials. It's something Miura had been pushing him to do for years. And it's indeed very moving, like all the tributes from the memorial book. As for their relationship, yes, they were best friends for 40 years. It's what inspired Guts and Griffith's relationship in Berserk.

While this won't be the Berserk that Miura would have created himself, this is still Miura's Berserk: He handpicked and mentored the artists at Studio Gaga, hoping to one day pass on a portion of his work on Berserk to them, and while this certainly isn't the way he planned for this to happen, he still intended for them to one day work on his masterpiece.

I don't mean to rain on your parade, but they were assistants he employed to work on minor things to save him time, not pupils he taught to pass on his savoir-faire. So they had all worked on Berserk before, but not nearly in the same capacity. And I mean, I'm not saying that to diss them, it's just so that we're clear about what their role was. Anyway, I understand the desire to see things in the most optimistic way possible, but let's not distort reality: Miura unfortunately isn't here anymore, and this project is being done without him. It sadly can't be Miura's Berserk.
 
Man what insane news just to stumble on while I am working. Saw the news and got super emotional. If they are going to continue it this at least seems to be a good route. I wish they would subtitle the volumes though to differentiate it.
 
Definitely conflicted but also curious to read it for myself and see what they do with Berserk.

I do wonder about the feelings the staff will have whilst continuing their friend's life work. I only wish for them all the best going forward with what is the hardest task imaginable, since to me at least, Berserk is an absolute masterwork and always will be.

I won't deny my eyes welled up when seeing the news though, Berserk means a lot to me.:judo:
 
I am unbelievably happy Berserk will continue. It's my hope that Mori can faithfully continue the story, along with the rest of the team. I'm excited to see what will come out of this!
 
Top Bottom