It's been on my mind, lately. But if we're going to knock on Miura's door again, I think it's important that we of all people should respect his time with fresh questions that could deliver us with fresh answers. And that's tougher than you might think—particularly now.
For what it's worth, I did kick around the idea back in 2014 (
5 year anniversary) but it didn't pick up much steam. And like
@Keratos23 alluded to, circumstances are different now than they were back in 2009. We're
swimming in interviews. It's obscene. Between the Natalie, Glénat, and Le Figaro interviews this year, and the Guidebook interview in 2016, Miura's doled out truly insightful answers in recent memory. It's very different from the time when I initially proposed the idea of community-fueled questions back in 2008. Miura had been relatively silent, and in lieu of that we were able to come up with some questions that hadn't previously been captured in other interviews. I think that part was key.
And though it is indeed tough to ask questions that haven't been broached before, I've been compiling a long list of questions either from that thread, elsewhere in the forum, or my own head, and I'll drop it in here for discussion purposes:
- Did you have any specific influence regarding the association of Guts to the Beast of Darkness? Norse mythology? Ancient folklore? Or is it merely a representation of an inhuman beast?
- Did the initiative to make the light novel (Flame Dragon Knight) come from you, or the Berserk Partners? What was your level of involvement in that project?
- What do you think of the influence your manga has had on popular culture at large? Like for example, the influences your manga had the "Souls" games?
- Do you enjoy getting feedback from your fans, or do you prefer not to focus on the expectations of fans?
- How long had the idea for the design of Falconia been in your head before you set it down on the page? Was there any particular architectural style that you drew influence from?
- Do you ever regret decisions you made with the story or a character? If so, what would you change about it, if anything?
- Over the years your style has evolved. Is this a conscious choice for storytelling reasons, or is it simply progress as you became more accomplished as an artist?
- Do you ever look back at your old works and want to redraw them in your newer style? Or do you think that part of being an artist is leaving things be and enjoying the work as is?
- After working on Berserk for more than 30 years, how do you reinvigorate yourself when you reach a challenging place? [he addressed this in the Berserk Guidebook interview]
- In the past you've mentioned manga, video games, and anime you're interested in. What are you following closely these days?
- Which minor characters in Berserk do you enjoy the most, and think fans should appreciate more?
- Your artistic style has become increasingly more detailed over the years. Is there a personal conviction that keeps you from employing a more economical approach to the art? [he somewhat answered this in the Glénat interview earlier this year]
- What is the meaning of the furigana "ジャンアーニン" in the episode title for Episode 243: Superior Being? [I'm pretty confident I already solved this one, but it'd be good to know for certain, I guess]
- There is no map of the Berserk world, but do you have one in your head or on a sketchbook somewhere?
- I miss Delos and Prome. If you returned to the world of Gigantomakhia, what form would you like it to take? Short series, or long?
Of these, I think only the bolded ones are worthwhile enough to incorporate in a new interview, and to be perfectly honest I can sort of intuit his reply to them based on past replies. So nothing would be really groundbreaking.
Now, one could certainly argue that I'm being overly conservative in my estimation here, and that any reply would be a victory. It would be! But I feel like it's important not to retread old ground. To exemplify my point, almost all of the questions posited here have already been addressed by Miura, many of them just this year.
- I'd ask the same question about his daily work schedule from the previous letter. I'm interested to see how his work schedule changed in the past 10 years.
He talked about it in the Le Figaro interview.
- I'd ask a question about Duranki and other side projects. If this is gonna be similar to Giganto Maxia or a longer project that his assistance would work on. Also, if there is a possibility of a second, smaller project that he would create and work on alongside of Berserk.
I feel like he answered this in the Natalie interview, without making any promises. Duranki seems like an ongoing thing. But he's not going to define its length this early on.
- Miura mentioned in a resent interview that Duranki was started to, kind of, test his assistance to see if they could handle larger responsibilities with Berserk's art without sacrificing its quality. I'd like to ask a question regarding how he utilized his assistants before. Since it seems like he always had multiple assistants before, was there a time when his assistants did more than they are doing now.
He addressed the level of his assistants involvement in Berserk in the fourth question of the Natalie interview (
page 1).
- I'd ask him what would be his thoughts if a live-action TV adapting Berserk were to start in the US. If the idea of having an american TV series with western actors adapting Berserk, not unlike Game of Thrones, is good or bad.
He answered this one already in
the Le Figaro interview in April. It's not on his radar. "
Q: With Netflix, we could turn Berserk into a TV series. A: If I can get this manga done in such a way that keeps fans to the end, then we'll talk about it again. Because right now, I'm trying to finish the manga cleanly. "
- I'd ask him about his reclusive nature as an artist. There are mangaka who don't like to show their faces (I assume to be able to stay anonymous), but still have documentaries or TV interviews showing their work process. There's always something that masters, like Miura, do uniquely, and it's both interesting and educational to have it documented.
Not sure what the question is exactly, but I think it's getting a bit personal. This would be an interview via correspondence, so I'd steer clear of questions that could conceivably scuttle the whole endeavor.
- I'd ask him about the breaks he takes. When Berserk is on an extensive break, does Miura manage to take some time off, or is it that he spends all that extra time just to be able to product 4 or 5 episodes a year.
He's answered this before a number of times, most recently in the Le Figaro interview and in the Glenat one (see below). In brief: he's always working on Berserk. It's just very slow these days.
- I'd ask him about the release schedule and the future of it. In the past 5 years 22 episodes have been released. This is 4.4 episodes/year. Based on Berserk's story and pacing, it's possible to roughly approximate how much of it is left to be told. With the release schedule of past 5 year, it seems that either the story needs to be shortened or release schedule increased. I'd love to hear his thought process on this.
I think we already know what he's going to say to that one based on how he answered question in
the Glenat interview: " When I started the series, I was less preoccupied with its ending than with telling a story that, in any case, would end sooner or later. But today, having realized that life does not last forever, it's by taking care of my health that I try to finish the series. As far as the process and pace of my work go, the main change is that I've become slower. You know, I feel like being in a spaceship that's hurtling towards a black hole. As it gets closer to it, the flow of time is altered. When I'm working on the manga, I don't feel like time flows differently, and yet it's gone in a flash. As if I was not moving forward at all. "
AAZMAN