It seems that Berserk writer and artist Kentaro Miura has moved to a 12-month release schedule, or something close to that. The newest volume, 31, releases stateside on September 7th, while it hit Japan last September 25th. The last hit before that in October 2008 and then in November 2007. There’s no note on the official Japanese page about Berserk 25. I’m starting to get really concerned that the guy’s never going to finish the series.
That said, every time I pick up a new volume it’s easy to see just why it takes so long to release a new book. There’s more detail in each page than most artists could be bothered to put into a single piece of work.
Berserk, Volume 27, Page 2
Thinking about how much time Miura must spend on each image is enough to just about drive me mad. And he’s been working on this series since 1991. 34 volumes, 200+ pages each; The guy’s done something like 7,500 pages of this.
Somewhere in the middle, I started to get worried; it felt like he’d moved over to Monster of the Week, and the crew following Guts feels a lot like a D&D party (Druid, ranger, rogue, healer, and of course the Berserker). That said, the last few volumes have felt a lot more like the story I’m used to. Guts is getting beaten senseless on every page, interesting character interaction is everywhere, and again that detail.
Berserk vol. 31, page 1
I just wish it could move a little faster. I’m going to be sitting in the old folks’ home with my friends, reading the newest volume of Berserk (probably volume 42 or so!).
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