“He was an incredibly good painter”: Berserk Mangaka Kentaro Miura’s Genius Was Once in a Generation According to His Best Friend Who’s Now Fulfiling His Wish

Kouji Mori believes Kentaro Miura was one of the greatest painters of all time.

“He was an incredibly good painter”: Berserk Mangaka Kentaro Miura’s Genius Was Once in a Generation According to His Best Friend Who’s Now Fulfiling His Wish

SUMMARY

  • Guts' quest in the Berserk manga began again one year after the death of its creator, Kentaro Miura.
  • To carry on Miura's legacy, his best friend and fellow manga creator Kouji Mori worked with the artists at Studio Gaga.
  • Mori had known Miura was a great artist from their college days.
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The adventure of Guts in the Berserk manga began once again, one year after the death of its creator, Kentaro Miura. His best friend, Kouji Mori, who is also a manga creator known for works like Holyland, Jisatsutou, and Destroy and Revolution, collaborated with the artists at Studio Gaga to continue the legacy of Miura.

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Guts in Berserk
Guts in Berserk

Miura and Mori have been together since high school, and they have known each other for over 40 years. They both dreamed of becoming manga creators together, and Mori was the only one who knew the ending of Berserk. He is the perfect individual to complete Miura’s masterpiece, and the recent chapters that have been released by Studio Gaga prove it.

Miura’s genius is widely reflected in Berserk. The series is considered one of the best mangas of all time by many. Even Mori believed that Miura was a gifted artist, and he knew it since their university days. 

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Kouji Mori Knew From The Beginning that Kentaro Miura is a Great Artist

Kentaro Miura and Mori came up together as manga artists. They kept in touch with each other even after finishing high school, and they often discussed their work together. In an interview with Gamebiz Japan in 2023, Mori talked about how Miura was a completely different person from him. He even confessed that he admired Miura mainly because he was a great painter.

Mori stated:

“I didn’t know anything about it at the time, but I only learned about it when I became an adult. On the contrary, I admired Miura. He was an incredibly good painter from the beginning. He was such a genius that I think he would have become like Michelangelo if the world were different.” 

Guts in Berserk manga
Guts in the Berserk manga

According to Mori, if the situation had been different, Miura would have been no less than Michelangelo because of his painting skills. He even stated that Miura was ten times more talented than him, which is why Mori could never compete with him, which he found out when they drew a manga together.

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The Brilliance of Kentaro Miura as a Painter

While talking about Miura’s brilliance as a painter, Mori recalled an incident that happened when they were at Nihon University together. Mori explained that they were given an assignment to draw a five-legged office chair, and while the other students struggled with it, Miura completed the assignment in ten minutes.

Kentaro Miura
Kentaro Miura | Credits: Wikiart

Mori stated:

“When I was at Nihon University, I was given an assignment to “draw a five-legged office chair diagonally from below.” Everyone spends about an hour grunting and turning it around in their heads as they draw it, but Miura draws it in about 10 minutes. I realized that the way my brain works is now different.”

Miura is a legend in the manga industry, and his death came as a shock to everyone. But still, Mori’s decision to fulfill his best friend’s wish has delighted Berserk fans, and the hype surrounding the recent chapters is proof that he and the staff at Studio Gaga are doing a great job of keeping Miura’s legacy alive.

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You can read the Berserk Manga on Dark Horse.

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Written by Tarun Kohli

Articles Published: 1075

Konichiwa! With a Master's Degree in Journalism and Mass Communication and a 2-year experience in Digital media writing, I am on my way to becoming one of the biggest anime content writers in my country. My passion for writing and Anime has helped me connect with Fandomwire, and share my love and experience with the world.