Berserk Hiatus for 19+ Weeks—A New Record

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Walter

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Ever wonder how Young Animal is doing now that it's had no Berserk for nearly a year? Not too great!

2011年01月~03月 154,000 部
2011年04月~06月 160,417 部
2011年07月~09月 165,000 部
2011年10月~12月 158,334 部
2012年01月~03月 165,667 部
2012年04月~06月 159,000 部
2012年07月~09月 151,167 部
2012年10月~12月 148,334 部
2013年01月~03月 143,500 部
2013年04月~06月 134,834 部


Sales have been declining a few thousand a month since Berserk was in more steady publication a few years back. Since this time last year, sales have dropped by 24,000. The decline could also be attributed to the rise and fall in popularity of other series in publication, but 2013's numbers are of particular note given that there has been zero incentive for Berserk fans to purchase it.

Sources are: 2ch and http://www.j-magazine.or.jp/magdata/index.php?module=list&action=list
 

jackson_hurley

even the horses are cut in half!
Damn that hurts. Can we interpret that as dangerous for Young Animal and the publication of episodes of Berserk?

I wonder if sales will boost when the next episode comes out.
 
Walter said:
Ever wonder how Young Animal is doing now that it's had no Berserk for nearly a year? Not too great!

2011年01月~03月 154,000 部
2011年04月~06月 160,417 部
2011年07月~09月 165,000 部
2011年10月~12月 158,334 部
2012年01月~03月 165,667 部
2012年04月~06月 159,000 部
2012年07月~09月 151,167 部
2012年10月~12月 148,334 部
2013年01月~03月 143,500 部
2013年04月~06月 134,834 部


Sales have been declining a few thousand a month since Berserk was in more steady publication a few years back. Since this time last year, sales have dropped by 24,000. The decline could also be attributed to the rise and fall in popularity of other series in publication, but 2013's numbers are of particular note given that there has been zero incentive for Berserk fans to purchase it.

Sources are: 2ch and http://www.j-magazine.or.jp/magdata/index.php?module=list&action=list


Looks like this will mean all the more leveraging power for Kentaro Miura, if or when things like contract negotiations and disputes were to arise in the future. I believe this considerable decline in sales really confirms what many, if not most, fans have known or suspected over the past several years - that the Young Animal needs Miura more than he needs them.
 

Walter

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jackson_hurley said:
Damn that hurts. Can we interpret that as dangerous for Young Animal and the publication of episodes of Berserk?
No, I don't think so. It's a magazine, they know all about fluid sales. In the grand scheme, such a dip is expected. It's just interesting for us as fans because we can pinpoint why the decline happened.

I wonder if sales will boost when the next episode comes out.
It stands to reason that they will.

Johnny Apples said:
I believe this considerable decline in sales really confirms what many, if not most, fans have known or suspected over the past several years - that the Young Animal needs Miura more than he needs them.
Which is precisely why the information doesn't really scare me. In the unlikely event that Young Animal sinks in the next few years, Berserk would find a home. However, the real question mark for the future is what happens to all these series when publishers pull the plug on these kinds of publications altogether?
 
One thing I find interesting about those numbers, YA without Berserk actually has less circulation than a lot of American indie comics. I know Japan is a smaller population, but by that logic I wonder if something closer to the American comic model might work for established mangakas like Miura? Things have more or less stabilized for the independent books in the U.S. even in light of piracy and the move to digital, I'd be curious to know if Japanese readers would be willing to buy individual series printed that way. Plus, I'd imagine the production costs would be similar, since most American indie comics are black and white as well, so it could work.
 

Deci

Avatar by supereva01 @ DA
Ben said:
One thing I find interesting about those numbers, YA without Berserk actually has less circulation than a lot of American indie comics. I know Japan is a smaller population, but by that logic I wonder if something closer to the American comic model might work for established mangakas like Miura? Things have more or less stabilized for the independent books in the U.S. even in light of piracy and the move to digital, I'd be curious to know if Japanese readers would be willing to buy individual series printed that way. Plus, I'd imagine the production costs would be similar, since most American indie comics are black and white as well, so it could work.

I've wondered about that before and posted about it here before, except I was wondering if Dark Horse would ever consider releasing them in traditional comic format as opposed to the original Japanese episodes, specifically because we/they have to wait so long for a full volume to release... which I think would be more likely, however improbable. On both counts.
 

Walter

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Ben said:
I wonder if something closer to the American comic model might work for established mangakas like Miura?
I'm not certain, but I'm pretty sure no such model exists in Japan so it's rather unlikely that it would suddenly happen for Berserk. You have to keep in mind that the big publishers are all owned by massive companies who have an interest in controlling the market. It makes more sense for them to group their products and co-market things in the magazine. It's also a very Japanese concept.

Deci said:
I was wondering if Dark Horse would ever consider releasing them in traditional comic format
They did something like that for Akira in the 90s, but that was because there was a precedent for it. There's not for Berserk. Also, remember that this is the same company that followed orders to use "Knight of Skeleton" in their official translation. They don't strike me as the kind to strike out and do something on their own.

KazigluBey said:
Gonna take a wild guess and say no more Berserk until 2014. :isidro:
Mind-blowing speculation :schierke: If you're going to take that "year off" angle, it'd actually resume in the first issue of Young Animal, which comes out at the end of calendar year, so December 2013.
 

jackson_hurley

even the horses are cut in half!
what?! double posting?! :slan:

but seriously, thx again for the heads up. It'd indeed be cool to have an episode for halloween for I am a big fan of Halloween. It'd be like a present.
 
Maybe Miura will draw a Halloween color page with the episode as well with everyone in a costume!.. Guts in a puppy costume, Griffith in a Falcon costume, Isidro as a.. monkey? :isidro: okay i'll stop.
 

Gobolatula

praise be to grail!
Maxwell said:
Maybe Miura will draw a Halloween color page with the episode as well with everyone in a costume!.. Guts in a puppy costume, Griffith in a Falcon costume, Isidro as a.. monkey? :isidro: okay i'll stop.
I would actually love that. I enjoy Miura's "silly" Berserk drawings quite a bit.
 

Walter

Administrator
Staff member
Maxwell said:
Maybe Miura will draw a Halloween color page with the episode as well with everyone in a costume!.. Guts in a puppy costume, Griffith in a Falcon costume, Isidro as a.. monkey? :isidro: okay i'll stop.
Japanese people don't celebrate Halloween though...
 
How many week are we going on now? I feel like we ourselves are sailing weeks on end to Elfhelm, when the episode gets here it'll be just as wonderful for us as for our beloved characters. :troll:
 

Walter

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Staff member
Death May Die said:
How many week are we going on now? I feel like we ourselves are sailing weeks on end to Elfhelm, when the episode gets here it'll be just as wonderful for us as for our beloved characters. :troll:
You revive the thread for this...? Count them yourself.

When the series returns it will be made known, very clearly.
 

Wyrm

HEMA
Metal_Bear_Rex said:
Berserk is over. Miura is dead. Abandon ship. It's been fun folks! :judo:

I hope that's a misguided sense of humor worthy of a time-out....

Only news I got was this and it states that after a long period of rest due to his health problems Miura would Berserk would resume this fall, that is: now.

http://www.reddit.com/r/Berserk/comments/1kxt19/news_about_miura_jp/
 

Walter

Administrator
Staff member
Thanks for the quick update Raffo. The YA update must have been posted overnight.

Wyrm said:
I hope that's a misguided sense of humor worthy of a time-out....
Banned.

Only news I got was this and it states that after a long period of rest due to his health problems Miura would Berserk would resume this fall, that is: now.

http://www.reddit.com/r/Berserk/comments/1kxt19/news_about_miura_jp/
Don't believe their lies.
 

Walter

Administrator
Staff member
The latest Young Animal includes an extremely brief blurb about Berserk's status: 『ペルセルク』は作者の取材のため休載です。 (very bottom of image)

This is a page with quotes from the authors of series in YA. It's always included. Here, there's nothing we don't already know: The series is on hiatus so that Miura can work ahead.

Only reason I'm mentioning it here is because I've seen it interpreted differently elsewhere. But there's little to be interpreted.
 

RaffoBaffo

Ex-Newser of the late Berserk Chronicles
I found this on 2chn:

>連載再開は10月25日発売の21号!!!

という誤解を招きかねない発言をしてきました。
撤回してお詫び申し上げます。
本来掲載予定でしたが、三浦先生の取材が思った以上に長引き、
休載せざるをえない状況になってしまったようです。
思わぬアクシデントによる不掲載とはいえ、
ここは当方の非を認め皆様にお詫びしなくてはなりません。
どうもすみませんでした。




改めまして告知申し上げます。


>連載再開は11月8日発売の22号より!!!


もう一度皆で三浦先生を信じましょう!
連載中なのに年1回しか掲載しない、とかありえませんから大丈夫です(笑)


>連載再開は11月8日発売の22号より!!!
Google Translate
> Series resumed from No. 22 on sale November 8! ! !

I don't now if this is a reliable source, but, well, hope dies last.
 

Walter

Administrator
Staff member
RaffoBaffo said:
I don't now if this is a reliable source
It's not. They post bogus things on there all the time. Check back a few weeks ago, 10/25 was FOR SURE when the series was going to resume, according to random people. How'd that turn out? :schierke:

What you should look for when scanning 2ch are pictures. If it's real, someone will post a scan of the news, like I did earlier. Otherwise it's just a bunch of people complaining about the break and recirculating bad info.

If it was known that the series was going to resume next issue, it would have said so in this YA.
 
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