Is the Berserk Manga Truly Finished?
Berserk Chapter 378 arrived last year and changed the game when it came to the Eastern Exile Arc, with the creative team putting out some of their best efforts to date. Now, Chapter 379 has a release date and it might be far sooner than you expect. Berserk will arrive in Japan on Valentine’s Day, February 14th, in the regular publication, Young Animal.
Following the tragic passing of Berserk creator Kentaro Miura, writer Kouji Mori and Studio Gaga’s artists have set out to honor their friend by completing the series. Using notes and discussions from Miura, the artists have been releasing new chapters following Guts the Black Swordsman and his latest allies. While the manga chapters are often released on a varying schedule, the publisher Young Animal has recently confirmed when the next installment will arrive.
Young Animal has confirmed that fans can expect the next chapter of Berserk to arrive in Japan on October 25th this month. Following the manga’s return, the 378th chapter will make landfall on November 8th next month, meaning that fans will be getting a one-two punch for the brutal franchise.
As for the manga, it will continue to march forward though it certainly seems that we are in the end game. Characters like Skull Knight have been saying as such, with both Kouji Mori and the artists of Gaga looking to eventually end the series. While Miura and Gaga have yet to confirm when they are expecting the series to reach its finale, they have hinted at the idea that there are still years of stories left for the Band of the Hawk.
Considering the fact that the new creative team of the series is working with notes and discussions that came from Miura, many of the new chapters might seem a little less heavy on dialogue. Berserk manga is set to return after a six-month hiatus, with two chapters scheduled for 2024. Chapter 377 will be released on October 25, 2024, followed by Chapter 378 on November 8, 2024. There is also confirmation that after Kentaro Miura’s death, Kouji Mori and Studio Gaga decided to carry on the series, alleviating concerns that it would never reach its conclusion. The last chapters created by Miura were released in 2021.
What Led to Berserk’s Continuation After Miura’s Death?
The Berserk manga is set to continue following the death of its creator Kentaro Miura in May 2021. Kouji Mori, Miura’s close friend and the only person he told Berserk’s story to from start to finish, will take over the series. He will write only what Miura told him without any supplementary or filler stories.
Young Animal, the manga’s publishing company, expressed its reluctance to end Berserk without sharing its complete story with fans. They stated, ‘We believe that this policy, although imperfect, is the best way to deliver the Berserk that Mr. Miura envisioned to everyone as faithfully as possible.’ They also had access to memos and character designs created by Miura before his death.
Following the death of his close friend, Mori wondered if and how he should share Berserk’s ending with fans. At that moment, he received a text from Miura’s assistants who had the final, unfinished chapter he had worked on. They asked, ‘Mr. Mori, will you let us do it?’ Additionally, Company Director Shimada, a mentor for both Mori and Miura, stated, ‘If you do it, the company will give our full support.’
Mori emphasized that he has the ‘full support’ of both Young Animal and the team of assistants who supported Miura on Berserk, although it’s currently unclear how much more of Berserk will be released. He added, ‘I think people with good intuition would realize by now that I know the story for Berserk up to the very end.’
Furthermore, at some point after Miura’s death, the late manga artist’s apprentices contacted Mori and Hakusensha about continuing the story. As a result, Kentaro Miura’s apprentices will continue the Berserk manga as a collective group named Studio Gaga. Kouji Mori will supervise the group based on recollections of his conversations with Miura.
Importantly, a year after Kentaro Miura’s death, Studio Gaga released an official statement revealing that they will continue the Berserk manga along with Miura’s best friend and mangaka Mori. Just over a year after his death, Kentaro Miura’s iconic manga series Berserk will return, with the creator’s original story reaching its natural conclusion.
In conclusion, the next issue of Young Animal’s magazine will see the series resume, with the next six chapters aiming to conclude the Fantasia Arc.
When Can Fans Expect New Berserk Chapters?
Berserk Chapter 374 is set to be released on Friday, September 22, 2023, in the upcoming Young Animal magazine issue 19/2023. The magazine is also set to include a color page for the manga.
Following Berserk manga’s long break since May 2023, the manga is finally returning with chapter 374. Fans were left excited by the announcement. They conveyed their delight by reacting to the same on Twitter. Fans posted gifs and memes, depicting how much they wanted the manga to return.
Given the series’ popularity, fans started calling it ‘peak,’ suggesting that there was no other form of fiction that was superior to it. With that, they were glad that the ‘peak’ series was returning.
The highly anticipated Chapter 375 of the Berserk manga is slated to be unveiled on October 20, 2023, at 12 am JST. The release schedule for Chapter 375 is as follows:
- Indian Standard Time (IST): at 8:30 pm on Thursday, October 19, 2023
- Central European Time (CEST): at 5 pm on Thursday, October 19, 2023
- New York: at 11 am on Thursday, October 19, 2023
- Pacific Time (PST): at 8 am on Thursday, October 19, 2023
- Eastern European Time (EEST): at 06 pm on Thursday, October 19, 2023
- Philippines Standard Time (PHT): at 11 pm on Thursday, October 19, 2023
- Singapore Standard Time (SST): at 11 pm on Thursday, October 19, 2023
- Japanese Standard Time (JST): At 12 am on Friday, October 20, 2023
- Australian Capital Territory (ACST): at 01 am on Friday, October 20, 2023
- Eastern Indonesian Time (EIST): at 10 pm on Friday, October 20, 2023
- Korean Standard Time (KST): At 12 am on Friday, October 20, 2023
Berserk Chapter 376 will be released on Friday, October 25, while Berserk Chapter 378 will be released on Friday, November 8, 2024.
