A page Miura re-did from scratch in volume 10 (episode 55)

Aazealh

Aazealh

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Staff member
I first posted this on the SKnet Patreon in March 2022, now republishing here.

Ep55-YA.jpg
Ep55-Volume.jpg


For the first 10 years of Berserk's serialization, it was not uncommon to see changes between the prepublication in Young Animal and the release of the episodes in a volume. However it was often details, and cases where a full page was added (or removed!) stayed rare throughout the years.

Today I'm showing you a page that was completely redone for the volume. It's in episode 55, collected in volume 10, as Guts completely annihilates the royal guards sent to stop Griffith's escape from jail. The original (on the left) has Guts with a fierce expression as he slides through, while the redone page (on the right) has him looking more like he's exhaling. The two smaller panels were remade from scratch as well, but the dialogue didn't change.

It's hard to know why Miura decided to redo the page, although we can safely bet he simply wasn't satisfied with the original. Maybe something to do with how Guts' legs came out. Either way, as a result not many readers have seen this page. The picture is taken from my own copy of Young Animal's issue #07 of 1995. Miura seemed proud of the redone version, as it was showcased a few times over the years. For example, full-size reproductions (B4 JIS) were given to some readers in the 2010s.

Ep55-OpeningPages.jpg


As a bonus I'm also including the two-page spread that opens the episode, so you can see what the "title card" looked like back then.
 
4

4M4M

Aaz, now that you have posted about a title page, I have a question, is there any artbook or compilation that features full art of title pages? It seems that both the magazine and tankoubon versions opted to include the huge ベルセルク title + episode title + magazine credits et al at the start of almost any pre-conviction episode as far as I know, but, so far looking at artbook pictures (I only have an "anime" artbook that doesn't include anything of the sort) and exhibition portraits, it seems full art title pages without the title do exist, sorry if it's a bit of a stretch question, though!

Still, Miura will never cease to amaze me, I gotta ask, are there some magazines you lack that might have clear cut changes like this one? or was this the last one you had to show? This is just beautiful by the way, I can't say which one I prefer!
 
Aazealh

Aazealh

Administrator
Staff member
4M4M said:
Aaz, now that you have posted about a title page, I have a question, is there any artbook or compilation that features full art of title pages? It seems that both the magazine and tankoubon versions opted to include the huge ベルセルク title + episode title + magazine credits et al at the start of almost any pre-conviction episode as far as I know, but, so far looking at artbook pictures (I only have an "anime" artbook that doesn't include anything of the sort) and exhibition portraits, it seems full art title pages without the title do exist, sorry if it's a bit of a stretch question, though!
Click to expand...

You're exaggerating. Up to volume 14, the title pages just had the logo (sometimes on two pages) and the episode title. After that it's the episode title only until volume 32, where they modernized the layout and put titles on separate pages. Those were all design decisions and reflect the time those volumes were originally printed. It was done differently in the MBR (convenience store volumes), and you can expect that someday when Hakusensha releases a deluxe edition, they'll take special care not to "spoil" the art.

Anyway, some of these pages were featured in the Illustrations File, and probably some in the exhibition catalog as well, but there has been no focused effort to collect them specifically, no.

4M4M said:
I gotta ask, are there some magazines you lack that might have clear cut changes like this one? or was this the last one you had to show?
Click to expand...

Just so you understand, that's just something I thought would be cool to share while I was trying to sort my stuff (a real struggle). I've never made an attempt to catalog every notable change between the magazines and the volumes. So the answer is there are many others.

4M4M said:
This is just beautiful by the way, I can't say which one I prefer!
Click to expand...

Hint: it's the one that's in the volume.
 
4

4M4M

Yeah, it seemed like I was complaining too much about the title pages with the Berserks added at the start (while I do want to see all the clean title pages that lose detail due to the text, I must admit that the title drop is pleasing to see and something that describes the early Berserk manga to me, it's like complaining about embedded text if I'm honest with myself, lol), some of them are usually tiny and don't really affect much of the art, I guess some details are hidden behind those bigger Berserks, but it's probably nothing in the grand scheme of things. Some even get to look cool, like the one in volume 5 or 6, I think, that has some sort of texture. So that's the other compilation of Berserk that exists... At this point I wish you were super rich Aaz, I would buy that definitive version you have in mind ASAP... but it's supposed to be in English right? no French please! :iva: Jokes aside, I really do like both pages, but if I'm a bit picky, the volume version seems like a more adequate composition, Guts floating head looks great, but the volume version is so clean it's a pleasure to appreaciate the details, Casca and Judo's perspective is better, Griffith front-profile is so grim too.
So the answer is there are many others.
Click to expand...
That's good to know. I'm sorry if my increase in enthusiasm right now makes you keep looking and organasing a bit more. It's usually really tiresome to do so, I bet sharing this piece made it worth it, though! and it's a good thing to do even if it's quite annoying. :ubik:
 
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Xenoskell

Xenoskell

Aazealh said:
Today I'm showing you a page that was completely redone for the volume. It's in episode 55, collected in volume 10, as Guts completely annihilates the royal guards sent to stop Griffith's escape from jail. The original (on the left) has Guts with a fierce expression as he slides through, while the redone page (on the right) has him looking more like he's exhaling. The two smaller panels were remade from scratch as well, but the dialogue didn't change.
Click to expand...
I assume that he re-did the page because of the composition didn't read that well in the original one.
In the redraw, we see two soldiers getting furiously slashed by Guts sword, which is pointing directly towards the bottom, thus flowing naturally into the other dialogues.
Plus, he leaved some white spaces in the top of the page, allowing the composition to have clear focal points by balancing simple (the white spaces) with complex (everything else). This is a very common technique in art to give a little comfort for the viewer.

In the original page, however, there's so much things happening at once that it's difficult to read the page.
There's little to none white spaces to give a little comfort, and the other panels are being omitted because Guts taking too much space.
Also, I found that the gesture in the redraw was better, it seems that Guts is really "using his hips" and stabilizing one of his legs (supporting his body into the ground) to properly swing the sword.

Anyway, that's just my assumption based on what I saw of those two pages.
 
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