How did Miura "manage" to get so many pages on Young Animal for so many issues?

[4M4M]

I never really paid any mind to the "monstrous" page length of earlier Berserk releases when I started reading the manga, if something, Black Swordsman and The brand page length felt necessary and reading them individually makes a lot of sense and it incentives you to read them from start to finish every time you reread the manga, but I feel like these lengthy releases just got bigger with Desire Guardian Angels (2) {and a bit confusing, is it a two part of a part two, lol?}, the most amazing thing about this, is that it continues until volume 5, I think? it stabilized at 40 pages? for some revenges-episodes, but it was simply incredible, like if Berserk was being published monthly, but it wasn't, right?

Well, what I wanted to ask was, Did Miura have a considerable preferential treatment of some sort from the magazine earlier in its publication? Or was this common on smaller manga magazines back in the day? I feel like we WILL NEVER see another manga series getting any sort of significant great start as Berserk did given that most stories only get one big first debut, and chapter two is usually rushed in comparison due to the reduction of pages, but in Berserk the lengthy pages must've helped the story a lot if you read it every time they released, I bet, Or was this Miura/his editor's doing, so they requested more pages to develop the story more accordingly? I feel like it looks like these long releases are well timed, like it does benefit Zodd's introduction to have shorter episodes, but before, Golden Age revenges needed to be longer.

Anyway, sorry if this was asked before or if it's just something really obvious or a bit simpler due to the fact that maybe the magazine decided this since the start.

 

[Aazealh]

Haha, well Berserk was indeed published monthly originally, which is why things are like that.

Didn't you notice that the subdivision of the story by numbered episodes starts in volume 5? That's because it's when Young Animal was launched. Before that Berserk was published in its predecessor, a monthly magazine called Animal House. If you want to learn more, check out this thread I made a while back: The history of Hakusensha, Young Animal and Berserk's serialization

But, to answer your questions precisely:

Did Miura have a considerable preferential treatment of some sort from the magazine earlier in its publication?

He did not. They did immediately notice that he was very talented, though. The reason they serialized Berserk is because the prototype won a contest they had organized. So Miura found success literally just as he graduated (he had had a couple one shots published in other magazines during his school days too).

I feel like these lengthy releases just got bigger with Desire Guardian Angels (2) {and a bit confusing, is it a two part of a part two, lol?}

Revenge 2 and 3 were merged to form Guardian Angels of Desire 2 in volume 2, and the same goes for Revenge 4 and 5, who were fused to form Guardian Angels of Desire 3. So during the prepublication, they were roughly the same size as the segments of the story you see in volume 3. Check out this listing if you want more details.

I feel like we WILL NEVER see another manga series getting any sort of significant great start as Berserk did

There probably will never be another story as great as Berserk.

I feel like it looks like these long releases are well timed, like it does benefit Zodd's introduction to have shorter episodes, but before, Golden Age revenges needed to be longer.

It was purely coincidental. Animal House was stopped, and its successor had a more frequent publication.

 

[4M4M]

Thanks for re-opening this thread, Aaz. To be blunt, I felt a bit threatened and in shambles when you closed it, lol knowing there was no reason to discuss this peculiar case of Berserk's publication, because even if it was just a coincidence with the rebranding (lol) of the magazine, it benefited the story in the long run (alas, I didn't know about this and I always wondered why the manga took such a change after a couple volumes, still, it made perfect sense and still does to me at least, maybe Miura worked according to all these changes?). But the real story behind why they were first revenges instead of episodes, or why two issues merged for the tank release, etc. is quite interesting. Pretty much defines why Berserk is such a special manga, feels like it was destined to be.

 

[Aazealh]

Thanks for re-opening this thread, Aaz.

Sorry, I haven't done anything to this thread. Or at least not recently. I checked the logs and it seems it was briefly locked then unlocked immediately afterwards in October. Probably just a misclick at the time. You've been free to post this whole time.

even if it was just a coincidence with the rebranding (lol) of the magazine, it benefited the story in the long run (alas, I didn't know about this and I always wondered why the manga took such a change after a couple volumes, still, it made perfect sense and still does to me at least, maybe Miura worked according to all these changes?).

I'm not sure what you mean. Like I said above, the series changed magazines in the middle of volume 5. What it did was accelerate the publication schedule and introduce numbered episodes, but that's about it. Of course Miura adapted his storytelling to that shorter format, but that's more just a testament to how great of an author he was.

But the real story behind why they were first revenges instead of episodes, or why two issues merged for the tank release, etc. is quite interesting. Pretty much defines why Berserk is such a special manga, feels like it was destined to be.

You're mistaken, "Revenge" was more like the name for an arc of the story, not some gimmick word to designate individual issues. They weren't called anything in Animal House, but you can still use "episode". Anyway, to be honest these are minor details. While they're certainly interesting, I don't think you should ascribe too much meaning to them. There's no doubt Berserk would have still been great if Miura had kept working with longer issues.

 

[4M4M]

I'm not sure what you mean. Like I said above, the series changed magazines in the middle of volume 5. What it did was accelerate the publication schedule and introduce numbered episodes, but that's about it. Of course Miura adapted his storytelling to that shorter format, but that's more just a testament to how great of an author he was.

I agree wholeheartedly, and that's what I was trying to say (I guess)

You're mistaken, "Revenge" was more like the name for an arc of the story, not some gimmick word to designate individual issues. They weren't called anything in Animal House, but you can still use "episode". Anyway, to be honest these are minor details. While they're certainly interesting, I don't think you should ascribe too much meaning to them. There's no doubt Berserk would have still been great if Miura had kept working with longer issues.

Now that's interesting. Though, where does the "REVENGE" name originally comes from, then? As far as I know, I've only seen it in old artbooks images...

 

[Walter]

Now that's interesting. Though, where does the "REVENGE" name originally comes from, then? As far as I know, I've only seen it in old artbooks images...

REVENGE was in the title of the earliest episodic releases (in Animal House), just like you'd see the arc names in modern releases. But it was removed from the tankoubon releases, just like the arc name was removed from episodes when they were bound.

Here's the full release listing: http://skullknight.net/releases/