I thought about that possibility as well but the last two seasons screamed “I’m only here to advertise the manga”. If they’d decide to continue the story in anime form, they’d have to basically start over from the beginning which doesn’t really make sense anymore with the existing adaptions. I think that’s maybe something that could happen in 5-10 years. But even then, as an anime alone it wouldn’t make enough money I think. Adult series often get aired during the night which doesn’t attract a lot of viewers. A manga continuation would be much cheaper and less risky. I’d probably prefer an anime original ending, though
Uncertainty about Berserk's future
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Most authors know how the story starts and how they want it to end. Having worked with many of them and being a close friend to one, it's a pretty good guess that Berserk does have an ending. But, well. It's pointless to know the ending without all the stuff inbetween. If you summed it up as "One armed man fucks demon prostitute, later kills the man who betrayed him and took his arm" that would be about the worst description of Berserk you could come up with even if it was exactly true. Everything between the start and end is what makes a story worth telling and thats the problem with wanting the ending or a poor continuation. And while we knew and can guess at how some things will go in the end (We knew Casca could and would be cured at some point in the story, and the Dreamcast game flat out let us know it can happen) It's how they happen that actually matters.
The story is over, and it's terrible that it will never be finished. But in a twisted way, it's better to never be finished than it is to be bastardized.
The story is over, and it's terrible that it will never be finished. But in a twisted way, it's better to never be finished than it is to be bastardized.
I think you're confused here. The light novel, video games or the anime adaptations were all greenlit by Miura. They weren't created as art but more as merchandise, likely in part to serve as advertisements for the manga. In any case, he greenlit them. However I see a difference between these and a continuation to the manga. I believe Young Animal's reasoning is that something that's just derivative can be low quality and not damage the real work. However taking over the series is a whole other story. That doesn't mean they can't come to a ruinous decision, because it's certainly a possibility, but I wouldn't equate these different things to one another.
The decision is out of our hands.
Personally, I prefer not to indulge in clueless speculation. We don't even know if Miura left a will, nor do we know whether he left a lot of material coherently arranged to cover a significant enough part of the story that was left to tell. Nothing is sure at all, so we can do little else but wait to be told how it's going to be.
Given the current state of the anime industry I really don't see how any current adaptation could do Berserk justice. I'm not even talking about continuing the story here, just adapting what's already there. So I don't think continuing the manga in anime form is a feasible option at all.
Uhhh no, I mean the female apostle wasn't a prostitute and Femto wasn't the one who took Guts' arm.
That is very true. As I've said many times before, it's really not that difficult to trace a broad outline of the story between episode 363 and the end. The hard part is the myriad of details and nuances in every single panel, on every single page. It's a given that Miura already knew how he wanted things to develop until the ending, and he might even have had some sketches and notes detailing some of it. But even then, filling in the details is what's supremely hard.
I agree, my point was that I would prefer to leave the manga alone and do whatever they want in some other medium, I have little hope for good adaptations at this point. It's not really a matter of doing justice to the manga at this point. For a hypothetical continuation of the story, I think, like @hsvfan-jan said, an anime original ending is better, no huge risks involved. It's safer that way, any adaptation may suck, but the manga will always be the true experience, and I wouldn't want anyone to fuck with it to be honest, that's just me. Or if they do, make it a new series, I would seriously hate them if they would just continue the manga, the seperation between Miura's Berserk and someone's elses Berserk is very important. They probably know that, and what's at stake for the fanbase in general, but I'm just saying.
While I agree with your point in general, I said the risk (financially) is much higher with an anime compared to a manga with a different name. The risk of damaging the IP is much lower, though, as you pointed out as well
Aazealh and I talked about this exact conversation on our latest Patreon podcast, for those who are interested.
I see this as an opportunity.
We're in a very specific period where we can have the series end with its creator. If Studio Gaga does continue it without him, that opportunity is gone. I've made my peace with Berserk ending. I will forever love it and forever cherish it. It continuing won't change that, but I would say it's more likely for the quality to be subpar than it is for it to be comparable.
We got over thirty years of Berserk. It sucks to not see it properly conclude in the way Miura would have liked us to have experienced, but it would suck more for us to get the vision that wasn't his.
We're in a very specific period where we can have the series end with its creator. If Studio Gaga does continue it without him, that opportunity is gone. I've made my peace with Berserk ending. I will forever love it and forever cherish it. It continuing won't change that, but I would say it's more likely for the quality to be subpar than it is for it to be comparable.
We got over thirty years of Berserk. It sucks to not see it properly conclude in the way Miura would have liked us to have experienced, but it would suck more for us to get the vision that wasn't his.
If there was a continuation, that was written by a fan of the series, would that affect the overall series?
In what way do you mean? If it's whether it would have an impact on Hakusensha's plans, I don't think it would. If you mean something else, please specify!
Anyway, I remember that years ago, I'm talking over 10 years here, some guy decided to write Berserk's ending by himself because he was impatient or something. So he did these little webcomics (with the visual quality you'd expect). Beyond the graphical aspect, the story was hilarious because he had Femto fighting against Griffith (yes, really) and the Sovereign of the Flower Storm was depicted as basically Yogurt from Spaceballs. This happened around the time of volume 34, where Griffith famously turns into Femto atop of Ganishka, so his entire key plot item (Griffith being a separate entity from Femto, and a good guy) was immediately disproven, but he kept going anyway. Of course the idea was always ridiculous and I'm pretty sure I told him that it didn't make sense, but what can you do. Anyway, I imagine he has a completed story somewhere.
The reason I'm telling you this long and not-very-interesting anecdote is because "fan continuations" to the story already exist, or at least one of them does. And it's complete and utter garbage. This is going to be the main problem with any attempt that is made to continue the story by someone other than Kentarou Miura, whether official or non-official. It will be very hard to make it good enough that it doesn't immediately come across as a travesty. In all humility, I think I understand Berserk's story and characters better than most people, and I've thought long and hard about various ways in which the series could reach its conclusion. My insight is that doing it justice is a much harder task than some people seem to realize, both when it comes to human drama and big picture plot points.
But even if the studio or a fan can capture the atmosphere and tension that Miura provided us, wouldn't be fair to give them chance, even if we know that it won't be the same type of writing quality as the Manga?
The moment a story or character decision comes across as unauthoritative, the whole exercise would become folly. And there would be hundreds of opportunities for pitfalls like that in each episode. Emulating Miura's style is one thing, but correctly intuiting all of the decisions he'd have made is impossible.
Hmm, there's several things here. First, you're assuming someone can capture the "atmosphere and tension" of Berserk. That's a big assumption. How are these even defined? Different parts of the story have different atmospheres and tensions. For example, the mood is pretty relaxed on the island as of episode 363, but with an underlying current of uncertainty about the future, and a vague feeling that tranquility won't last forever. Very different atmosphere from when the group ventures into the Qliphoth in volume 25, when Guts and Casca talk about the Bonfire of Dreams, or when Guts is rushing to get to her in volume 19. And this can change on a page to page basis, too. Sticking with episode 363, it starts with a very melancholic scene between the Skull Knight and Danan, then moves on to a funny scene between Isidro and the witches, and ends on a mysterious note, with the boy appearing in front of Guts.
Second, in your hypothetical scenario, that would be achieved even though the writing quality wouldn't be on Miura's level. I'm not convinced that's possible. Berserk is unique in many regards, including the fact it has continuously evolved over the years. You never see the same situations and fights, and characters constantly evolve as they experience things. What this means is that you can't just keep things "the way they are". The characters have to keep developing as they are faced with new ordeals and dilemmas. Miura did it so well that we never quite noticed them changing, just knew that they had. It always felt natural yet was done very subtly and in an economical manner, without being detrimental to the action. This is exceedingly important, because if the characters don't feel right, "atmosphere and tension" are meaningless.
Third, there's the fact Berserk is told in a visual medium. Most of the time Miura shows rather than tells. This is central to the appeal of the story. I don't think it could really be Berserk without the biggest moments being told through drawings rather than words. And of course, that means coming up with those big moments, and doing so in a manner that naturally allows for and integrates the character development mentioned above, all the while bringing the story to its conclusion neither too quickly nor too slowly. Berserk is defined by how densely packed each of its pages is while it stays riveting to read. It's a delicate balance, less easy to attain than one might think.
Lastly, you mention fairness. Do we owe it to anyone to let them get a "fair shot" at continuing Berserk? I don't particularly think so, no. Personally, I believe we shouldn't even be having this conversation yet, just out of decency towards Miura sensei. I'm also convinced that someone who would feel entitled to writing Berserk's continuation just like that would innately show themselves to be unqualified to do it.
To me berserk is not like other manga where another author can pick up a pen and continue where the previous author left off. Berserk is such an intricately detailed work, and berserk was the voice of Miura. This isnt like dragon ball where there is just a stronger bad guy to beat up every week. This is an extremely nuanced work where attention to detail is everything. Miuras personality is behind every page and to me berserk has a very unique atmosphere to it. A certain feeling I get when I look at these pages, read the text. Its nothing something that can easily be replicated.
I also wanted to point out what aaz was saying about those big moments in the story, and how hard it would be for someone else to execute.
There are many moments in berserk where miura had switched up the art style in order to convey a certain feeling. I think back to the scene where casca goes to see guts for the first time since she was restored and we see that highly detailed image of Griffith in the cell. Do we really expect assistants to able to pull off moments like this? and either way if it was not Miura's idea I personally wouldn't care for it.
Miura just thought about everything. Something that I just love is how he never failed to draw guts's little nose scar. Everytime I see it, I remember how he got it, and its details like that make you as a reader remember what these characters have been through and why they are the way they are.
There are many moments in berserk where miura had switched up the art style in order to convey a certain feeling. I think back to the scene where casca goes to see guts for the first time since she was restored and we see that highly detailed image of Griffith in the cell. Do we really expect assistants to able to pull off moments like this? and either way if it was not Miura's idea I personally wouldn't care for it.
Miura just thought about everything. Something that I just love is how he never failed to draw guts's little nose scar. Everytime I see it, I remember how he got it, and its details like that make you as a reader remember what these characters have been through and why they are the way they are.
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When you say this exact conversation, do you mean, exact exact, as in this thread and the comments within it? Or rather the over arching topic of discussion as a whole?
The topic.
For me, it’s simple: If Miura couldn’t get to see the ending of his life’s work, no one else should.
If they choose to release cliff notes (if any exist) with some previously unseen sketches, that would be cool to satisfy my curiosity but I’ve come to terms with BERSERK being an unfinished masterpiece.
If they choose to release cliff notes (if any exist) with some previously unseen sketches, that would be cool to satisfy my curiosity but I’ve come to terms with BERSERK being an unfinished masterpiece.
I think the same, most likely Hakusensha will release some sort of info on how Miura had planed to end the manga. if i'm not mistaken is usual for publishers to know the context of the history and where the autor is planing to take things beforehand. and while they dont know exactly how its going to be they know the general gist of how the events are going to happen. so its not insane to think we could see some sort of closure at least on this way.
I wonder if he at least left something about subplots like: Skull Knight's past, Zodd's past and how he decided to become an apostle, relationship between Zodd and Skull Knight, relationship between Void and Skull Knight, Idea...
And those are just the first that come to mind...
And those are just the first that come to mind...
Most story writers should have an idea for future plot points in the story. Berserk has many parallels & motifs so I doubt Miura was going by chapter by chapter, he must have had a plan of where things were going back then. If he did write up plans for the future, we can only hope it was paper & not just in his mind.
At this point, trying to figure out the future of the story seems to me like a pointless discussion that only ends in a nonsensical way about what a "true fanatic" should want. If they want to leave the work as it is, I will be sad but satisfied. If they decide to continue it without any support from Miura's material it will simply not be my tue end of the story. Would I like it to happen? Being honest, yes, maybe this people know how transfer the esence of the mind of Miura to the story as more close coworkers. If that won't happen, as I said, will not be my end. I just will continue with my life until this people say the final decision of the future of Berserk, until that happen, I wont close the wound of Miura's death
It really is all up in the air until Hakusensha gives their final word on what will happen.
There recently was a mangaka whos series was cancelled because of health issues and not two days later they were releasing his obituary saying that he had passed from terminal cancer. Granted that situation compared to this is different since Miura's passing was sudden. This is just the cynicism in me speaking, but that Hakusensha didn't nip this in the bud quickly may mean they are at least exploring the possibility of somehow having this continue. That is just cynicism on my part though and for all we know they simply want to announce whatever is the final verdict on Berserk during the Exhibition dates just to keep things neat and tidy.
Large part of me doesn't want to see a bastardized version of Berserk be written just to make money off the thing and satiate those that want an ending at all costs. But I'm not gonna be liar and say I wouldn't at least be curious if a continuation did occur. I'd be more than satisfied if a ch.364 and notes exist and they were released as part of vol.41 and end things there though.
There recently was a mangaka whos series was cancelled because of health issues and not two days later they were releasing his obituary saying that he had passed from terminal cancer. Granted that situation compared to this is different since Miura's passing was sudden. This is just the cynicism in me speaking, but that Hakusensha didn't nip this in the bud quickly may mean they are at least exploring the possibility of somehow having this continue. That is just cynicism on my part though and for all we know they simply want to announce whatever is the final verdict on Berserk during the Exhibition dates just to keep things neat and tidy.
Large part of me doesn't want to see a bastardized version of Berserk be written just to make money off the thing and satiate those that want an ending at all costs. But I'm not gonna be liar and say I wouldn't at least be curious if a continuation did occur. I'd be more than satisfied if a ch.364 and notes exist and they were released as part of vol.41 and end things there though.
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The Berserk Manga's Future Is Still Undecided
The tale remains unfinished after creator Kentaro Miura's sudden passing
kotaku.com
The Berserk Manga's Future Is Still Undecided
The tale remains unfinished after creator Kentaro Miura's sudden passing
The expert-level insight I expect from Kotaku.
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