Almost one year after the tragic passing of creator Kentaro Miura, the Berserk manga will now return on 24 June in Young Animal’s 13th issue. The task of continuing and eventually completing the beloved manga will fall to Miura’s closest friend and Holyland author Kouji Mori, along with Miura’s apprentices.

Mori and Miura’s apprentices will wrap up the current Berserk arc in the next six chapters before moving onto the next arc. Mori released a full statement talking about the future story threads discussed with Miura before his passing and how they’ll aspire to adapt the rest of the manga as close to the late author’s vision as possible.

READ MORE One Piece Netflix Series Shares First Look at Amazing Sets in South Africa

Mori shed some light on his friendship with Miura in the early days of Berserk‘s serialisation, confirming that Miura had outlined the entire story of Berserk until the very last chapter:

“Nearly 30 years ago, Miura called me and said, ‘I need to talk to you about drawing a rough draft.’ I went to his workplace just to talk as we always do, but Miura looked more serious than usual. ‘I need to draw the Eclipse,’ he said. I sensed it would be hard work, but couldn’t believe it when I was trapped indoors for a week… In that very moment, the storyline for Berserk was completed, until the very last chapter.

Strangely, the story for Berserk went on exactly as we discussed at the time, with almost no changes. I continued to talk to Miura often, whenever there was a big episode. We did so ever since we were students, consulting each other while working on manga.”

Mori stated that this undertaking was a “great responsibility”, having known the entirety of Berserk‘s story for many years now:

“I have a message and promise to everyone. I will recall the details as much as possible and tell the story.

Also, I will only write the episodes that Miura talked to me about. I will not flesh it out. I will not write episodes that I don’t remember clearly. I will only write the lines and stories that Miura described to me. Of course, it will not be perfect. Still, I think I can almost tell the story that Miura wanted to tell.”

Of course, it wouldn’t feel the same without Miura’s attention to detail and expert storytelling, but Mori assures that they’ll do their best to adapt the rest of the story to its completion.

Berserk topped our list of the 10 most essential manga that you need to read.

Source: Berserk Project