Honoring Kentaro Miura: Legendary Berserk Author
A friend of mine messaged me within the last 24 hours bearing depressing news: Kentaro Miura had passed away. And for those of you who don’t know who that is, let me enlighten you just a little.
I am a huge fan of Dark Fantasy Fiction. As such, constantly recommend games such as Bloodborne and Dark Souls to my friends. When people ask me about Anime preferences, I always smile before letting the world know that I love my romance stories served with extra tragedy and lots of psychological issues. What do any of those things have to do with Kentaro Miura? Funny you asked.
Just tonight, I helped my roommate get through a couple sections of the Final Fantasy 7 Remake. That game features a certain spiky haired protagonist with a cold a dark past. Most notably he carries a huge sword that seems to not obey many fundamental laws of physics. Forces far beyond his control have screwed with every aspect of his life in some way. Cloud is not in control nor is the player that sees him as their playable insert.
“At least it is true that man has no control; even over his own will.” Those are the opening words of the 1997 Berserk Anime. And they prepare viewers for a journey unlike any other. Then after getting their feet wet and realizing that the Berserk Anime was heavily censored so that it could appear on TV at all, they turn to the Manga. Naturally those who enjoy watching human suffering such as myself really get a kick out of it.
So all that stuff I mentioned above? That stuff partially exists because of Berserk. More importantly, they exist because of Kentaro Miura. Considering that Berserk is unfinished, and is quite frankly the best dark fantasy story that I ever read in my entire life, this is disheartening.
Without Berserk, we might not have a Buster Sword in Final Fantasy 7. Dark Souls and Bloodborne would not be the legendary mediums of storytelling that they are. And with the rise and fall of Game of Thrones, short lived as it was, people were and are hungry for more stuff like it. Berserk is without a doubt one of the most important Dark Fantasy stories ever written. I will die on that hill.
So before I continue, I want to draw attention to a couple things. Berserk is an extremely frightening story. It is filled to the brim with triggers. There are many unpleasant things that happen in that story. Many authors try to write in Dark Fantasy. I consider myself one of them. But Kentaro Miura is the master that many of us aspire to be like. His talent with weaving tragedy in and out of Berserk is unparalleled.
He truly had a gift of making readers love a character before absolutely and viciously destroying every ounce of their being before your very eyes. Sometimes he would even let them crawl out of their despair. Just long enough for you to hope someone gets happy ending, before doing more horrible things and causing that character to regret feeling hope.
!!!So before I continue: Spoiler Warnings!!!
!!!More Important Trigger Warnings!!!
TW include: sexual abuse, child abuse, pedophilia, gaslighting, religious extremism, gruesome torture, getting people to really think about how much control they have in their lives, and why turning that power over to the divine is probably a terrible idea.
If the above are topics you do not wish to deal with or think about, fair considering current times, then move forward from reading this knowing that one of the most talented and creative Dark Fantasy Writers and Artists is gone. And the world is worse off for it.
But if you are like me and enjoy watching human suffering in slow motion over a campfire and then letting it sit so you can think about it, let’s talk about why this man was the absolute best at doing those things.
!!!Final Trigger Warning!!!
Berserk is a harrowing tale. Kentaro Miura was a nothing short a genius at how he paced it. His art style is unlike anything you will see in even the most graphic of graphic novels. You have to see it to believe it. I won’t post images from Berserk directly here, but I will provide links so you can see it yourself. There are many artists who can draw demons. But there is and was only one Kentaro Miura.
As I write this and think about how every time someone asks me what work inspires me most as a writer, I don’t hesitate to answer Berserk. Many authors don’t have that level of conviction. Berserk is so beloved by so many people, that even now when the news is still fresh, people are organizing vigils online in video games that Kentaro Miura inspired.
That is testament to just how important this man was for the Dark Fantasy genre. I imagine that in years down the road, it will be impossible to separate dark fantasy from his creative genius. Who would have thought that in a story about nonstop tragedy, the darkest news of all would be that the one who created it all, left the work unfinished?
Many Dark Fantasy works include sexual abuse, child abuse, pedophilia, gaslighting, religious extremism, gruesome torture. Few authors make use of those story devices as anything beyond shock value. A shame, because Kentaro Miura managed to use every single one of those plot devices in a single scene. Not only did this scene shock everyone who saw it, but it was powerful and moved the story along.
I won’t spoil Berserk. Anyone who reads this needs to understand the amount of talent lost to the world when Kentaro Miura passed away. I’m listening to the song that plays in the 1997 Anime during a certain traumatic scene in the Anime while I write this.
One of my goals as a writer is to showcase characters that have their entire lives ruined before they get a chance to even be born. Characters like Guts, Casca, and yes even Griffith. The way that Kentaro Miura weaves tragedy into his world and then masterfully leaves the reader feeling broken and confused as he toys with our emotions is just one of many reasons that I among many more prominent than myself sing his praises.
Let’s talk about Guts: Cut from his mother’s womb while she was lynched on a tree, adopted by a pedophile, molested by said pedophile, sold into sex slavery by said pedophile, forced to kill said pedophile in self defense when he got too drunk and thought that Guts was a living curse who had ruined their life. That all happens before the story starts. So that should tell just what sort of story you are walking into.
Also, despite the fact that ya know, his adopted father was a pedophile and utter scum, it turns out that Guts is actually cursed. That is just the sort of multifaceted world of Midland. A place where the worst of the worst commit cruel acts against humanity constantly and then are seemingly justified for said cruel acts against humanity.
Oh and one last thing before I spoil anything else from Berserk. Just watch the Eclipse or better yet, read those scenes in the manga. Game of Thrones and its weak Red Wedding will be a simple afterthought after such a traumatic experience.
I know I said it already, but I’ll say it again because this post is honoring Kentaro Miura and his achievements: Read his stuff! I assume if you made it this far that you have the stomach for it. Do not be spooked by the horrible setting. You will feel the very human connection to his many characters. Especially in those moments where they reveal that not every human does the right thing when the chips are down.
Wherever you might be now Kentaro Miura, I hope Guts and Casca are finally free of their cruel fates and can finally have some semblance of a functioning life. More importantly, I hope you smile knowing just how profoundly your legacy will be felt in the writing community. You will be missed.
Writers will try our best to continue creating the sort of works you proved the world was ready to read. Kentaro Miura and his vision will be kept alive.
1 Use of Image is for information purposes only.