Kentarou Miura (三浦建太郎) was born in the Chiba Prefecture of Japan on July 11 to parents who were both artists — his father did storyboards for commercials, and his mother taught art.
Began experimenting with drawing in a notebook. His family moved often, so art was a way for young Miura to make new friends. (Age 7)
In primary school, began creating his first manga, “Miuranger,” for his classmates. (Age 10)
Enrolled in art education classes in high school, where he met life-long friends and fellow mangaka Shizuya Wazarai (“Cestus”) and Mori Kouji (“Holy Land” and “Suicide Island”). Soon afterward, Miura published his first doujinshi in a fanzine. (Age 16)
The sci-fi one-shot “Futatabi” was created for his application to Nihon University. The manga was later published in Weekly Shonen magazine, earning him a nomination for Best New Author. (Age 19)
In the same year, Miura published another sci-fi one-shot, “Noa,” in Fresh Shonen magazine.
Miura published the “Berserk Prototype,” in Monthly ComiComi. This 48-page one-shot serves as a rough sketch of the later series. His work won a ComiComi Manga School prize. (Age 22)
Graduated from Nihon University's Art Department. Miura drew “King of Wolves” (王狼) based on a script from Yoshiyuki “Buronson” Okamura, the writer for “Hokuto no Ken” (Fist of the North Star). The work was serialized in Animal House magazine over three issues, from May to July. (Age 23)
The first regular installment of “Berserk,” Black Swordsman (黒い剣士), was published in Animal House magazine later that year in October. (Age 24)
Published “The Legend of the Wolf King,” (王狼传) a follow-up to “The King of Wolves,” again with Buronson in Animal House. It was published over five issues, from February to June. (Age 24)
Animal House ceased publication and was succeeded by Young Animal, a semi-monthly seinen magazine. Miura worked with Buronson again on “Japan,” (ジャパン) which was serialized in Young Animal #1, #2, #3, #4 and #7. (Age 25)
Berserk resumes serialization in Young Animal #11. The series adopts a new numbering structure for individual issues, starting at Episode 1. (Age 26)
Worked with studios VAP and OLM to oversee the production of a 25-episode anime adaptation of Berserk, which aired from October 1997-March 1998 on Nippon TV. (Age 30)
Released the first Berserk artbook, Berserk Illustrations File, featuring original paintings and a lengthy interview. (Age 31)
Released a 1998 Berserk calendar, featuring original illustrations.
Released a 25-page postcard book WAR CRY in August. (Age 32)
Served as Executive Supervisor for the Sega Dreamcast game, Berserk: Chapter of the Oblivion Flowers (鷹篇 喪失花の章). Developed by Yuke’s, it was released in Western territories as “Sword of the Berserk: Guts Rage”. Miura wrote the script, created original characters, and contributed character designs for the game. (Age 33)
Released Berserk Visual & File Story, an artbook for Berserk: Chapter of the Oblivion Flowers, featuring design sketches, the game script, and a lengthy interview.
Awarded at the 6th annual Tezuka Cultural Prize. Miura received the Award for Excellence for his work on Berserk. (Age 36)
▶️ See Miura's acceptance speech.
Contributed original illustrations for a Berserk trading card game (TCG) released by Konami. The original set of cards was released on November 27, followed by four expansion sets. The last one came out on March 17, 2005. Around 450 cards were created in total. (Age 37)
Collaborated with Sammy on “Berserk: Millennium Falcon, Record of the Holy Evil War” (ベルセルク 千年帝国の鷹篇 聖魔戦記の章) a game for the Sony Playstation 2. The game development was subcontracted to several companies, mainly Yuke’s for the game design and Anima, Inc for the cinematics. The game adapts select events from Volumes 22-27, along with a new scenario Miura wrote for the game. (Age 38)
Worked with the Japanese musician Gackt, a Berserk fan, to create an character version of him for the Gackpoid vocal music synthesizer. (Age 42)
Young Animal celebrates Berserk's 20th anniversary with an array of gifts in the magazine, including a huge poster illustrated by Miura, an alternate cover of Volume 34, and the Berserk Character & World Guide, a booklet detailing the characters and world of Berserk. (Age 43)
Contributed original artwork for the disc releases of “Berserk: Golden Age,” a feature-length movie trilogy adaptation of Berserk's Golden Age arc, produced by Studio 4°C. (Age 46)
Published the 7-part sci-fi miniseries “Gigantomakhia,” which ran from November 2013-February 2014. Miura said it was his way of contributing to Young Animal’s 20th anniversary. (Age 47)
Released Berserk Volume 38, noteworthy for featuring the first digital art that Miura had published. (Age 50)
Released the “Berserk Official Guidebook,” which includes a lengthy interview along with new images of his workstation.
Served as executive supervisor for a 24-episode animated adaptation of Berserk, produced by studios GEMBA & Millepensee, which roughly retells the story from Volumes 14-28. Miura wrote an original scenario for the third episode, and four original paintings for the eventual Blu-Ray releases.
Provided 10 original illustrations, plus a cover, for the first Berserk light novel, "Flame Dragon Knight" (炎竜の騎士), written by Fukami Makoto. It was released in 2019 in Western territories. (Age 51)
Miura's team, Studio Gaga, launched "Duranki" with Miura serving as producer, writing the story and providing key art. It was released in Young Animal Zero, a new magazine published once every two months. (Age 53)
Kentarou Miura died suddenly on May 6, 2021, of an acute aortic dissection. He was otherwise in good health according to friends and colleagues. His death shocked the world. But his legacy of greatness lives on through Berserk, the greatest fantasy manga. (Age 54)
The Big Berserk Exhibition debuted September 10, 2021, in Tokyo with much fanfare and high attendance. On display were more than 300 artworks by Miura spanning the 32 years of Berserk's history. There was also a special section that recreated Miura's workspace, along with a video interview from December 2020.