I can confirm to you that these are for a little bit the interviews taken by the illustration book of berserk, but only a little bit. At the same, I ask you as always to be patients, 'cause I have not so much time to have these translations. I have in the past to translate still the illustration book of Berserk. Here I wrote all the 4 interviews, and then you'll be able to follow the translation here. However, I'll try to give you here my best ...
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MR MIURA, DOES IS BERSERK THE FIRST STORY YOU CREATED AS A PROFESSIONAL MANGAKA?
Yep, it is, even if the story I created for my professional beginning was a one-number story - Berserk Prototype.
IN THE MOMENT YOU BEGAN THE SERIALIZED VERSION OF BERSERK, DID YOU HAVE THE IDEA TO CREATE A SO ARTICULATED STORY SINCE THE BEGINNING?
No, at the beginning I created the story with help of my instinct. Since I received a premium by a magazine of manga for youngers, I only wanted to create a fantasy story with an not so positive hero. At that time stories of heroic fantasy were really fews in manga magazines: Bastard and few others. Then I thought to create a different story, with more obscure characteristics ... but at that moment, I had only this idea. I cannot have planning of any kind. For the reason why it was my fist serialized story without that the subject was created by others, I was not able to understand neither what I had to do (here Miura smiles). At the end, I thought that it was only important to create an hero.
GATTS IS YOUR HERO. BUT DID YOU HAVE IN YOUR MIND GATTS AS HE IS SINCE THE PAST?
Since the universitarian period of my life I loved fantasy and similars, I created most of all that kind of subjects. Even if there is not a perfect identity between Gatts and those subjects, I can say that in them there are many ones that are similars to Gatts. Gatts took light with a mixture of these ideas. His fist image was like a black cavalier with a metal arm, and after that I created the others characteristics with the influence of many other things. His body is created by a subject od fantascience. Then, at the beginning it was very vague as character.
HOW DID YOU CREATE THE NAME GATTS? DID YOU HAVE THIS NAME IN YOUR MIND SINCE THE BEGINNING?
No [Miura smiles]. I created this name a little bit before to finish the subject. I thought that for the hero of a manga for young people it was good to have a strong name. After that, I had the idea that it was like a german name, and so I chose this one between many others. There are so many beatifull names, but I chose that sick word only because it was a story for young people. After that I knew that in Germany exists a word with a soun similar to Gatts that means "cat". I don't remember very well, but it has to be "kazze" or "gazze". Then I thought that it was the right name for a person like is Gatts ... 'cause his way of being is similar like the one of a selvatic cat. But this is only a strange coincidance that I understood later.
HOW DID YOU HAVE THE IDEA TO LET GATTS TAKE IN HIS HAND A GIANT SWORD?
I put my best in that idea, creating very much the particulars of the gun in the arm and the giant sword. It could be true that the image of a black cavalier with only 1 eye is a common image. But the gun and the sword are my best works. They comes totally from the Hokuto No Ken generation. In that period, during mangaka workings, idea was the most important thing, much more than the bulding of characters' plot. The best result was to create something of particular. In Hokuto no Ken' plot, Hokutoshinken (the Sacred School of Hokuto) was more apprecciated than the character Kenshiro himself. The idea of Hokutoshinken, the idea of people touched who bomb, it was a really fascinating concept. It was trendy inside my friends to look for something of very particular or very strange. We thought that the one who was been able to create something of similar, he'll have the possibility to become a mangaka. I thought about it too and I had the idea to create something of immense, an enormous sword ...
HOW DID THE GIANT GUN WAS BORN?
At the benginning I imaginated something like a cross-bow. For the sword I had a different idea too. I thought to a very sharp sword like a katana. But honestly speaking, I think that if you are able to modify your fist vision/idea at least 2 or 3 times, you can create something of more interesting. For example, I changed a cross-bow to a cannon. In that period, fantasy stories didn't take care about the historical period when cannons appeared. I decided then to use it for the reason why it seemd to me to be a new idea.
YOU TALKED ABOUT THE AGE WHEN THE GUNS BEGAN TO BE IN WARS. DID YOU PUT BERSERK IN THAT PERIOD ?
I was tempted about it at the beginning, but the most worrying parts of the plot are for what about the Fist part of the Middle Age, otherwise the ones that give it a very brilliant appearenace are about the perios represented by the Versailles' court. We are talking about the mixture of different ages. At the end, I created a new age with the mixture of many characteristics of the Middle Age, from its beginning to irs ending. The scenes of dancing to the court of Midlands were very typical for example of the last period of the Middle Ages. At the contrary, the feudalism was about an age a lot before. The witch hunting was in the first Middle Age too. All this we are talking about could appear a little bit strange to europeans, as it's funny for japaneses to see images and situations about Japan created by foreigner authors. It's really strange for us listening phrases like :"Wow, it's a ninja". However, I'm really persuaded about this choice. And I'm not looking for a world appreciation.
PARTICULARS OF THE MIDDLE AGE ARE REALLY RESERCHED. DID YOU TAKE MANY INFORMATIONS AND DOCUMENTS ABOUT THAT PERIOD?
Yep, 'cause I wanted tht readers could feel themselves inside Europe in Middle-Age period. To be honest, before to begin to work on BERSERK, I was not sure about the choice to have in this sense: I was divided between to realize an historical manga, following exactly real happenings, or to dedicate myself to a fantasy manga ... However, All that I studied before about history come back to me in a very usefull way. There were also some happenings that I could have used immediatly to the plot, for instance I knew that the historical period of Dracul (Vlad Tepes III of Carpathia - by paradiselost) is the same one of the historical period of Giovanna D'Arc, and I thought to let Gatts move himself all aroung Europe of that period.
WHY DID YOU NOT USE THAT IDEA, AND WHY DID YOU INSTEAD CREATED A FANTASY STORY?
I thought that to create a story following the real story could limit my immagination. Master Mitsuteru Yokoyama, who is creating an historical manga, at the beginning created Tetsujin 28 [Super Robot 28] and Babil Nisei [Babil Junior]. Master Shotaro Ishinomori too, who many times dedicated himself to manga of explanation [ manga manuals dedicated to a specific argument ] created Cyborg 009 ... Following their example, I want to work with my immagination while I'm still young, to dedicate myself to historical mangas or mangas of explanation when I'll be elder than now.
SO YOU CREATED THE WORLD OF BERSERK BASED ON YOUR IMAGINATION. BUT IS THERE ANY THING THAT SUGGEST TO YOU PARTICULAR IDEAS?
I took my ideas a little bit everywhere. I took my ideas from movies like "Hellraiser" and "The name of the Rose". And more, I took my ideas from designs of Escher. I loves these ones since a lot of time. Maybe reader of BERSERK are informed about these things, 'cause it's not the first time I talk about all this (comments appeared on Young Animal, where Miura publish regulary BERSERK). More than it, I took ideas from the novels of Grimm brothers.
WORKING WITH YOUR IMAGINATION, HOW DO YOU CREATE THE STRUCTURE OF THE WORLD OF BERSERK?
This is what I have to do since now to the future (smiling). I have not still very clear ideas about this stuff.
HOW DEEP 'LL YOU TALK ABOUT THAT WORLD? IN THE CHAPTERS OF THE REMEMBERING, GRIFFITH BECOME FINALLY A MEMBER OF THE GOD HAND. AT THIS MOMENT THE SOTORY IS REALIZED BASICALLY IN THE HUMAN WORLD, BUT VERY OFTEN ARE COMING OUT MONSTERS. IT'LL BE POSSIBLE THAT GOD AND DEVIL 'LL ENTER INSIDE THE STORY?
You have to consider something like this impossible. If I should use words like "God" and "devil" the world of my story could become more limitated and it could remain without originality and deep thoughts. God and devil are creatures created by human thoughts. This discussion is very similar to the paradox of egg and the hen: which one of both the ones did born before the other? The existence of God and devil are a reflex of the human beings. If I should let them appear in BERSERK I'll let them appear at the same image of people. I hope that readers could accept this idea ... otherwise I'll never like to impose them my vision of this stuff.
LET'S TALK ABOUT MARTIAL ARTS. IT SEEMS THAT IN BERSERK THE SCENES OF BATTLES ARE VERY IMPORTANTS ...
I'm very fascinated by martial arts, but I never took specific documents and informations about them. To be honest, I design thinking about battles of samurais or knights, and not about battles of martial arts like we are usefull to think about them. I'd like to create a kind of armony between reality and fiction. By my poin of view, Gatts and his big sword can be able to defeat everyone in 1 time only. In reality, I presume that could not be easy to find a way of fighting like this one. Even if I found enough material, I'd like not to change this my first vision. I wanted to create a manga that was in the middle between mangas with plot about martial arts, and the most fantasy cartoons.I wanted to gine the first attention to images, even if someone could argue that some fightings seems to be not very real ones. I'll never put inside a jumping like the ones in Hokuto No Ken, but I hope that readers 'll accept at least the scenes when the one who is touched explodes. For what there is more than this, I feel myself not responsible about it (he smiles).
BUT YOU SEEM TO BE REALLY EXPERT ABOUT MARTIAL ARTS, MR MIURA. BERSERK SHOULD BE A FANTASY STORY WIRH SWORDS AND SIMILARS, BUT IN THE FIGHTING BETWEEN GATTS AND GRIFFITH, THIS LAST ONE WIN WITH A MARTIAL ART ...
Honestly speaking, I don't know who can be defined an expert about it. Around me there is much people who is ionterested into martial arts. Some people use to practize them too. I'm new in respect to them (smiling). If I could use all the informations I have about this argument, maybe I could create from it a tale. But, thinking about people I have near me ... I'd like to let use this field to other authors.
BUT DID YOU TAKE INTEREST ABOUT THIS WITH THE HELP OF THIS PEOPLE ...
It's true, but not at all. However I like more mangas and books with martial arts, more than the practize of themselves. Sometime, however, I see some fighings episodes very full of dramas. For example, I remained very impressed about the boxe match between Holyfield and Tyson. It has been something of magic. I gave it like a VHS present to a friend of mine. I cried a little bit looking to their bodies in the moment of weighting. In the category of heavy weights there isn't anyone like thme (smiling). The model of the body of Gatts is the same one of the body of Holyfield: his abdominal muscles are divided lenghtwise. I have never seen abdominals so defined. The have to have incredible trainings.
READING MANGAS/COMICS AND BOOKS IS A PART OF YOUR WORKING. HAVE YOU ANY OTHER HOBBY THAT HAS NO RELATION WITH THE CREATION OF MANGAS?
I like videogames ('cause I have to waste very few time to play them) and simulation games. I like girl games (games that simulate feeling relations, in a kind of secondary school ambient) and action games too. We can say that I like famous titles.
DO YOU PLAY THESE GAMES TO HAVE FUN?
Yep, even if for only 1 hour each day. I'm able to finish some games in about 2 hours, and at the contrary I still have to finish other games, but I'll begin them again during holidays. Last day I bought the Nintendo 64.
HOW DO YOU ORGANIZE YOUR WORKING HOURS, AND HOW DO YOU ORGANIZE YOUR RELAXING HOURS? COULD YOU TALK TO US ABOUT YOU PERFECT DAY?
I stand up at 07.00 or at 08.00 p.m.. I begin to work at 08.30/09.00 p.m.. After a little bit of working, I eat, and after that I go on working. The next stop is usually at 03.00/03.30 a.m.; during this stop I eat for the second time, looking TV programs that I recorded during the past hours. When we have a lot to do, I work untill 01.00 or more, 02.00/03.00 p.m.. When we have not so much to do, I usually stop myself working at 11.00/11.30 a.m.. This is my usual day.
DO YOU DECIDE HOW MUCH WORKING DO YOU DO EACH DAY?
Yeah. When I'm not able to finish in only 1 day, I let to finish working to the day after ... Then, even if the program comprend a day free, I'm never able to live it. Otherwise, if I should not work in this way, I'll always in late with the expiries. I design quickly with pencil, but at the contrary I loose a lot of time with the ink.
hOW MANY PAGES DO YOU DESIGN EACH DAY?
I can create 6 of them by pencil. I consign my workings twice a month. I create the storyboard separately, then you have to consider it out from the 2 weeks of working. Time for storyboard is guaranteed by editor, Mr. Shimada.
WHICH IS THE MOST DIFFICULT STEP OF YOUR WORKING?
The using of ink. Hours before to go sleeping are the hardests. At about 6 in the morning, I just worked for about 12 hours. At that moment I go on with effort. However, even if I work so hard, I always miss time. For this reason why I keep for me a free day. Usually, when I design with pencil, I'm able to respect program.
HOW DO YOU USE TO WORK TO? I MEAN, YOU ARE VERY CONCENTRATE, OR YOU LIKE TO WORK DOING SOMETHING ELSE AT THE SAME TIME?
I always watch TV, except when i create the storyboard. Or, at least, I listen music.
THIS MEANS THAT YOUR TELEVISION IS ALWAYS ON. BUT THIS MEAN THAT YOU USE TO RECORD THE PROGRAM THAT YOU'LL SEE DURING YOUR STOP TOO?
Yep. I have no problems either with friends that play near me. They help me to work better.
DO YOU HAVE ANY OBJECT THAT IS VERY IMPORTANT DURING YOUR WORKING?
I drink a lot of water. I have near me a bottle of mineral water always.
DO YOU LIKE COFFE?
Yep, I drink a lot of coffe. I drink so much coffe that sometime I have a stomachache. Then I drink tea, or I drink water. When I feel me better, I comew back to coffe. When I feel me bad again, I restart to drink thea, and after water, and so going on (smiling).
DON'T YOU EVER GO OUT TO DRINK A LITTLE BIT?
I like it, but I don't do it very ofter ... even because I have very few occasions to do it.
WHAT DO YOU DO IN YOUR FREE TIME?
I have no free time. In all this year I never had a free day. In the next period I'll have 2 weeks of holidays, but I'll use these ones to find a new house for me.
THEN YOU DON'T SEE THE SUN USUALLY?
I see dawning from the terrance. But the sun is too strong and I have an eyeache. I can find the right concentration only with an artificial light. I hate the light of the sun. I'm like a vampire.
DO YOU PRACTIZE ANY SPORT?
Sometime I have gym in many ways, like for instance exercises for the body. But it depends about the period.
BUT AT THE SAME YOU LOOK FINE. MAYBE IT DEPENDS FOR WHAT ABOUT THIS STRANGE BUT CONSTANT RYTHM OF LIVING I GUESS ...
If the rythm of living is something regular, I think taht anyone can adapt himself to each kind of situation. Many times I think to be adact to be a mangaka, and I think that I was born to practize this profession. I have any problem to live an hard, very regular life without holidays. At the contrary, I'm not albe to concentrate my efforts in short and not calendarizated periods.
YOU SAID TO BE A PERSON REALLY ADAPT TO BE A MANGAKA, BUT WHEN DID YOU BEGIN TO THINK TO BECOME A MANGAKA?
It's passed so much time that I'm not able either to remember anything about it. we are talking about when I was in the kindergarten. I don't remember which was the subject of my very first manga, I only know that I began to work on a exercise-book when I was in the second year of the Primary school. When I was pupil what that was the most important thing for me it was that people liked my works. It's true at all that "the baby is the father of the man". When I was pupil, my family changed many times place of living in. When I changed school, design was a good way to have new friends. Thinking now about that period I can say that I felt myself good only during lessons of arts education.
THEN DURING YOUR INFANTRY YOU BEST STUFF WAS DESIGNING, OR ALMOST IT WAS YOUR POINT OF STRENGHT ... BUT WHEN DID YOU REALLY BEGIN TO DESIGN THINKING ABOUT TO BECOME A PROFESSIONAL MANGAKA?
It was during the Secondary School. Before of that period, I drew mangas and I painted, but I had no idea about the way it was possible to create a storyboard. During the Secondary School of Arts I had new friends. I realized very early that I was nothing, comparing myself with them, people very interested about cinema, music, etc. etc.. I had 5 friends that wanted to become mangakas. Each one of them designed, but they had other passions too. For example, one of them used to play guitar. It was really great stay with them. They introduced myself to new things, they proposed myself books to read and movies to see. All the life we were living was centred about the idea to become mangakas.I have no ideas about which way are students today, but in those times friends were a little bit enemies too. Each one of us wanted always to win, but it was a positive competition. I wanted to be better than before, but what did I have to do to arrive to my goal? Should I have had to see each single movie or to read each single book? I understood that to created mangas it was not eanough to be a great designer. After that, when I was at University, I began to have tests about the creation of a plot. It was in that period that I won a premium like mangaka.
DID YOU EVER WORK LIKE AN ASSISTANT?
No, I never did it.
THEN DID YOU LEARN ON YOUR OWN HOW TO CREATE A SINGLE DESIGN AND HOW TO DIVIDE THE PAGE?
Yep. I learnt going on gropingly with those five friends of mine of the Secondary School. At the end, I never had a teacher.
IS THERE ANY MANGAKA THAT PUT HIS INFLUENCE TOWARDS YOU?
Yep, for sure, we had many ones. I took something from each single manga of all the times. It's easy to influence me, even if I cannot tell you an author that left his sign more than others. I was been fascinated a little bit by all the ones, and these influxs are becoming more and more day by day. Many authors contribute to create my actual style.
HAVE YOU ANY MANGA TAHT YOU PREFER AS A READER?
No. I lke all the mangas that I read.
DO YOU READ MANGAS OF OTHER AUTHORS THINKING TO USE THEIR IDEAS IN YOUR WORKING, OR DO YOU READ THEM ONLY TO ENJOY YOURSELF?
I'm not able to answer to this question. I'm an author, but at the same time I'm a reader.
LISTENING YOU, YOU DEMONSTRATE TO HAVE MANY INTERESTS. HAVE YOU ANY OTHER SUBJECTS THAT YOU'D LIKE TO CREATE?
Many ones, but unfortunatly I have no time to create them (smiling). I began to write a fantascience story, but I had to stop to do it. I shoul need of a little bit of free time ...
HAVE YOU EVER THOUGHT TO INVOLVE YOURSELF IN OTHER FIELDS? DON'T YOU LIKE THE IDEA, FOR INSTANCE, TO CREATE ANIMATIONS?
I don't think too much about it. The responsability is maybe by other friends of mine, better than me in other fields. Then I think that it could be better to have my job. Most of it, I'd not like to begin other fields risking, for this reason, to not finish Berserk.
FOR THE REASON WHY WE ARE BACK TO BERSERK, HOW DO YOU THINK TO DEVELOP THE STORY IN THE FUTURE?
First of all, I want to create new femal characters to carry on a new life in the world of Berserk. I think we need absolutly to put inside the story other women. After that, I think to insert other characters of first level (main characters I mean) able to interact with Gatts in the plot. It doens't mean that they'll take the place of The Hawks, but I understand that find the way to develop the plot only with Gatts is each day more difficult. These characters could be his enemies, at the contrary with members of The Hawks, those were very near to Gatts. I'd like the idea to use the secondary characters in a different way.
This interview was realized in 4.12.1996 in the studios of Miura and published on the volume Berserk Illustration File of the 1997. translated to english language by Paradiselost - Daneile. (c) Kentaro Mėura/Hakusensha. (C) Panini for Italy.
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BERSERK SHOWS A KIND OF PASSION FOR THE EUROPEAN MIDDLE AGE. HOW THIS PASSION WAS BORN, AND HOW MUCH IT INFLUENCE YOUR WORKING?
Infomations that we have in Japan about fantasy of West are a little bit strange. I think that japaneses are without any doubt the asiatic people that more than all others love european fantasy. This is maybe because history of after the Second World War too. Vision of values of this nation has been bad understood for a lot of time in West or in other places: I think that all this has be expressed in a very important way in some fantasy stories in which is possible to see particular images and sounds. Main part of japanese babies is more familiar with cavaliers with the body protected by armours and at the contrary is less familiar with samurais and their chonmage. Fantasy is directly related to the magic of the sword. I grew up with this vision too, for what about I'm able to remember. Designing fantasy mangas, I want to create stories that let the reader be able to partecipate in it. When I begin to take in esam in a deep way sensations of people taht are part of the scene, it comes to me natural to find myself inside the European Middle Ages. Logically this is not the real Middle Ages, but this is a false image about it, about Europe of that period, that actually has a lot of success in a East nation like Japan. Samurais or ninja designed by a west person could appear to us japaneses very probably something of bizzare, buy maybe the same Middle Ages world of Berserk could appear something strange to west people too, isn't it? At the same, I'm surprised about the positive reaction received by Berserk, not so much towards the target of people of modern japanses, than towards readers of the places where the story is based, Europe and in particular Italy ...
I NOTICED REFERRING TO EUROPEAN WORRYING PAINTERS/ILLUSTRATORS LIKE ESCHER (1898-1974, ILLUSTRATOR/MATEMATIC SPECIALIZED IN "SPACE ILLUSIONS") AND Hieronymus Bosch (1450-1516, FLAMISH PAINTER WITH A SPECIAL ABILITY TO DRAW MONSTERS). DID YOU STUDY THEIR WORKS?
I love Bosch and Escher, and I have compendiums about their works. More than that, I like Pieter "the young" Bruegel (1564-1637/8, creator of obsessive representation of scenes about the Hell) and Gustave Dore' (1832-83, french painter and illustrator, very famous for what about the illustration about La Divina Commedia) while between illustrators I admir Frank Frazetta(1928, famous illustrator and comics artist from USA) and Luis Morrison.
IT SEEMS THAT IN BERSERK LIVE TOGETHER 2 LINES OF STORIES: THE HISTORICAL/ADVENTURE ONE AND THE FANTASTIC/HORROR ONE, BUT IT SEEMS TO ME THAT THE SECOND ONE IS TAKING MORE IMPORTANCE THAN THE FIRST ONE. DO YOU AGREE ABOUT IT?
Berserk is first of all a fantasy story. Historical parts have been inserted to let become higher the sensation of realiity that we have, and to put the reader directly in the place of the action. At the beginning I decided to let stay together the 2 areas to let be able common people to reade my manga, people who doesn't like fantasy or fantastic. I didn't absolutly create a manga for maniacs.
THE VERY LONG FLASHBACK WITH THE STORY OF THE HAWKS LET THE STORY ITSELF TO TAKE OFF. DID YOU THINK ABOUT IT SINCE THE BEGINNING?
Mangas I like more are the ones where readers are able to create a direct link with characters, where they can feel themselves like they are the characters I mean. Then I thought that could be better tell the story of the main character like a poem, immediatly, in the way to give strong to the love of characters for what about Gatts ... but it's sure that it belonged a lot in a very unespected way! But now all that is the past. But, even if I'm not so expert, I think to have been able to create a manga that is able to give the right level of empaty for readers.
ONE OF THE MOST IMPORTANT THING IN BERSERK DURING THE FLASHBACK PERIOD IT WAS THE RICHESS OF CHARACTERS. DO YOU ARE UNHAPPY TO HAVE SACRIFIED ALL "THE HAWKS"?
Maybe could be strange, but this is something that I did with a lot of serenity in my mind. It's not very natural and good become too much a fan of a character for the mangaka who created the story, as at the contrary could be very natural for redears. What I cared more about was that in the manga the appearence of these characters could have a kind of sense: there are moments to live and moments to die ... I don't know if all this coulkd be strange for you, but it's something I really care about.
DID YOU FOLLOWED WORKING OF BERSERK' ANIME? AND WHAT DO YOU THINK ABOUT THE FINAL RESULT?
I have been always very involved and under pressure towards the production of the TV series, but I don't believe that we bad used time or money. For what about things their concern, all the people involved to create the anime are trying to do their best. And I gave my support with happiness obviously, when workingdays left to me the possibility to.
DID YOU INSTEAD WORKED TO THE CREATION OF THE VIDEOGAME MADE BY DREAMCAST ...
The anime is centred about The Hawks, about the story of the black rider, the game is something very different. It's the first media mixing about Berserk and maybe changed the idea of who created inside himself the image of Gatts only as a black rider. Fortunatly, I had much more time to create it than the time I had to create the anime.
BERSERK TAKE ALL ABOUT YOUR TIME. DO YOU THINK THAT IN THE FUTURE YOU'LL BE BACK TO WORK ABOUT THE MANGA JAPAN, OR ARE YOU THINKING ABOUT OTHER STORIES?
I don't have the idea to come back to the manga Japan, but in the future I'd like to design something about fantascience. The magic fascinating to be a mangaka is really about the possibility to create different worlds that you cannot find anywhere, but only in your mind.
Interview of Kentaro Miura by Davide Castellazzi - published on Jappamondo n. 3 and after re-published on "School of Comics" n. 8 February 2003 inside an articole I ask each one to read it about Berserk.
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"Dororo in my favourite manga for what about Tetsuka Osamu.
It had a lot of influence about my working. Berserk is a mixture of my favourite mangas and romances.I always desired to create a world of obscure and absurd fantasy where it's very possibile to appear things like mosters. I believe that the big Sword of Gatts, the main character, could be a consequence (of my desidere) to give to readers a sensation of extreme realism. I created the 2 main characters in this way: Gatts creates his way on a ground made by blood and mud, while Griffith stay on high, with his white wings.
I heard Hirasawa (creator of the anime of berserk ) say "I think that the sword of Gatts represents a penis and mosters, destroyed by it, female genitals". I think that he noticed as some symbolic things play an importance role in the developing of the story.
I managed to let appear "his ugly baby" to Gatts, in the volume 1, like a symbol of the "weakness" that Gatts hates. But I think that "the baby" is linked in my subconscious to the image of Griffith (vol. 10-12) who lost the ability to use his body because the orrible tortures that he was victim about when he was still young.
I believe that is for this reason why that I created a scene in which "the baby" plays a main role in the moment to accept inside himself the spirit of Griffith who, like a king of demons, obtains then in that way his human body. The plot took a new strenght because of it. To be honest, I don't know when I'll let all this finish. My guess is to create with my (pen-)nib the story, only thinking about what I have to do during that single day.
My way of drawing is going better together with the going on of the plot? Sometime I feel a strong grief when I look to drawings I did in the past. This could mean that I'm better now than in the past. I think that it could be a good thing to change many times because when your way of drawing doesn't change anymore, it means that the story is going no more so good.
When I works on details, without thinking about it, did I find myself to work on more lines? I give a lot of importance about the line that I trace with the G pen. I can feel a flaming spirit comes out from it."
--- This extract comes by an interview realized when Miura took is second premium at the Tetsuka Osamu Cultural Prize(2002) ---
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TODAY I'D LIKE TO INTERVIEW THE CREATOR OF BERSERK, MR. KENTARO MIURA ABOUT HOW BERSERK WAS CREATED.
Hello, nice to meet you.
THE FIRST QUESTION IS HOW DID YOU COME ACROSS THE IDEA OF BERSERK? WOULD YOU TELL US HOW YOU CAME UP WITH THE CONCEPT FOR BERSERK?
I didn't have a solid idea of how I wanted Berserk to be in the beginning, but the idea grew gradually by watching my favorite anime shows when I was in college. If I was interested in something, I'd be looking up information. It was like kneading clay, the concept of Berserk slowly came together. I didn't have the clear picture of what I really wanted to do at first.
I THOUGHT THE SUBJECT MATTER OF BERSERK IS PRETTY COMPLICATED.
Well...
YOU TALK ABOUT THE UNIVERSAL LAW OF KARMA.
Well, how do I put this... When you're a cartoonist and working at home you sit at your desk pretty much all day. You get most of your information about the world from the news on TV. I think that's how most cartoonists spend their days. And then I start to see the whole picture of my point of view towards all the problems that are happening in the world. An average working man living in an average world would have a personal problem. He'd be worried about how his kids are doing in school. But I live in isolation, watching the world only on the news on TV so I start to see the bigger picture. I can look at the world from another angle. I'm not talking about one specific event. If I see news about war in another country of if there's a massacre somewhere in Japan I just look at the world objectively. Religious cults or acts of atrocity have been the topics of the news recently. When I hear those stories, not that I want to find some kind of answer, but it makes me want to visualize what's happening. I just want to see it in my world in my own way. The idea becomes clearer and polished in the process. I think I've said this in an interview before, but when I learned about Tsuchizoku and Futsuzoku, it did influence Berserk. I was writing Berserk watching the incident on the news. And a little while later I wrote about mass psychology in Berserk. I believe that incident made me want to write about it so I would understand it myself. In the beginning, about up to volume five, I was still writing stuff that I had thought of when I was in college. So my real life reflected a lot in the stories in the beginning. And after a while, I started to see the bigger picture.
I SEE. THAT'S ACTUALLY SIMILAR TO THE SECOND QUESTION. I'D LIKE TO KNOW IF ANYTHING INFLUENCED BERSERK.
It is a Japanese novel, but... a novel called "Guin Saga" written by Kaoru Kurimoto was the most influential. Guin Saga is a fantasy novel series, and it's been trying to set arecord in the Guinness World Records as the longest fantasy work ever written by a single author. It was planned to be 100 volumes from the beginning. But it's already 80-something, so it'll go over 100 easily. I started reading it when I was in junior high and I'm still reading the new volume every month. So I could say Guin Saga is the most significant novel. And other stuff like movies and cartoons influenced me, too.
I SEE. I'D LIKE TO TALK A LITTLE MORE ABOUT THE CONCEPT. THE TIMELINE IN BERSERK SEEMS TO BE SOMETIME IN THE MEDIEVAL PERIOD. IT HAS THE WHOLE MEDIEVAL THEME, LIKE IT'S HAPPENING SOMEWHERE IN EUROPE. IS THERE ANY REAL HISTORICAL EVENTS YOU BASED BERSERK ON?
Not really, I don't really use specific historical events but rather I use fairy tales or fantasy movies. I've been working on the concept of my own fantasy world since I was in high school and college. Like I mentioned, I got ideas from Guin Saga, and from films, like "Excalibur" and "Conan the Barbarian." I came up with the dark fantasy concept from those movies. I don't think I get inspired by the actual historical events. I simply used them as data. I've thought of writing a story based on Dracula. I'm talking about Vlad Tepes, the real Dracula. I wanted to use the real historical records. And there's the famous story from Sherlock Holmes. The story where Conan Doyle got tricked by the Cottingley fairy hoax...
I'M SORRY, I'M NOT FAMILIAR WITH IT.
I didn't write the exact same thing, but I wrote a story similar to that. There was a story about a fairy in... I can't remember exactly which volume, but I think it was around 15 or 16.
I'D LIKE YO ASK YOU A TECHNICAL QUESTION NOW. YOUR DRAWINGS ARE VERY WELL DETAILED. FROM EVERY NOOK AND CORNER, THEY ARE DRAWN IN DEPTH. DO YOU USE ANYTHING AS REFERENCE WHEN YOU DRAW?
I do have a huge pile of pictures that I use as reference. I use a collection of photographs from different countries... but it's actually easier to find the pictures of armor or landscape in Japan. So whenever I need some pictures l'll go find it by myself or ask somebody to get it. So the collection is really big now.
I SEE.
Pictures are the best reference for a cartoonist. It's all about how something looks. If you really talk about technical stuff you'll notice that some armors aren't supposed to be used around that time. But I really don't go that far.
I SEE.
I simply like things that look cool.
I SEE. AND NOW I'D LIKE TO ASK YOU ABOUT THIS MAIN CHARACTER, GUTS. HE'S GOT SOME PERSONALITY, HE IS A DEEP CHARACTER. IS THERE ANYBODY IN PARTICULAR THAT YOU USED AS A MODEL FOR GUTS?
Well, Guts' friends in the Band of Hawk are actually based on my friends from college. But there wasn't anybody in particular for Guts and Griffith.
NOT EVEN A HISTORICAL FIGURE?
Well, it's funny that you mentioned it, but l've heard about this knight who helped a peasant revolution in Germany and the knight's name was Goetz. And he had an iron artificial arm. When I found out about it, I thought it was a strange coincidence. I don't know if he shot arrows from it. It was especially uncanny because I had already started Berserk. I wasn't really thinking of anybody at the time I created Guts. But if you're only talking about his looks and not about his personality then I guess Rutger Hauer was the model. I saw him playing a mercenary in a medieval movie, "Flesh & Blood" and I really liked him in that movie. He also played the lead in "Salute of the Jugger." It was an Sci Fi movie, but I thought the character he played was similar to Guts. And the main character from "Highlander" kind of reminds me of Guts. I think it had a lot to do with those cool collected type heroes I admired when I was in college. But if it's about Guts' personality or his belief... I guess some of it comes from myself. And sometimes I use my close friends as examples. So Guts' personality isn't always based on one person, but it's more abstract. His actions and state of mind depend on the situation. So Guts doesn't have a specific model.
I SEE. IN THE U.S., MEDIA BLASTERS IS INTRODUCING BERSERK THE ANIME TO AUDIENCES. DID YOU HAVE ANY REQUESTS WHEN BERSERK BECAME AN ANIME SERIES FOR THE FIRST TIME? WHAT KIND OF ADVICE DID YOU GIVE TO THE PRODUCTION STUDIO?
Berserk is my very first comic book and anime. So I was very excited, and I wanted to make something good. I could've just let the studio staff do the work, but I gave some advice on the outlines of the character designs. But my main concern was the scripts. They'd send me the scripts and I'd revise them and make changes. I checked all scripts, and made a lot of changes and requests on all of them. I bet the writers hated me.
BUT THAT'S NATURAL, THAT'S HOW MUCH YOU CARE ABOUT YOUR SHOW.
Yeah, I guess that's about it.
I'D LIKE TO ASK YOU A COUPLE OF PERSONAL QUESTIONS NOW. WE TALKED ABOUT KAORU KURIMOTO'S GUIN SAGA EARLIER. AND MY NEXT QUESTION IS ... IS THERE ANY CARTOONIST, DIRECTOR OR MOVIE THAT INFLUENCED YOU?
Well, it's a Japanese cartoonist, but... like Mr. Go Nagai, I believe he's very famous in the U.S. He was a big influence on me. I love his dynamic style. And I have a couple of favorite American film directors. I like the movies of Tim Burton and Sam Raimi. This is another strange story. Back then I was still in college, it was the day I finished the first episode of Berserk and there was "Evil Dead 2" playing at theaters. So after I mailed it to the publisher, I went to see it. It was so similar to Berserk, I was really surprised by myself. In "Evil Dead 3," I also know it as "Captain Supermarket"... the main character had his arm cut off and he had a chainsaw attached to his arm and had a shotgun on his back. I was like "What the?" Because Guts has a gun on his arm and a huge sword on his back. It was just like Ash. I remember getting worried that I might get sued. I just finished my very first cartoon, but I was already nervous. I'm a big fan of Sam Raimi's movies, I like "Dark Man", too. He got really big after "Spider-Man," but I still like his movies. And I like Tim Burton, because his movies are always 'offbeat.' It's almost strange that a person can be that offbeat and big at the same time. But that's why I love his movies. James Cameron lost his touch after he got big. Well, I don't know if he thinks of himself as offbeat. But when I saw "Terminator," as a Sci Fi fan, I was really excited that he was one of those offbeat geniuses, like Tim Burton... but turns out he wasn't. And of course, "Star Wars" is my all-time favorite movie. I saw it when I was little, so I was really shocked, I was a big Star Wars fan ever since. But "Episode 1" was very weak. The script needed some work.
AND ANOTHER QUESTION ... AS A LOT OF PEOPLE KNOW, YOU STARTED WRITING BERSERK WHEN YOU WERE IN COLLEGE ... AND FINALLY IT'S BEEN ANIMATED AND PEOPLE CAN SEE THE WORLD YOU HAVE CREATED. YOU'VE MENTIONED IT EARLIER, BUT TELL US HOW YOU GOT A CHANCE TO PUBLISH BERSERK.
I tried to get Berserk published by Hakusen Publisher.
GET IT PUBLISHED?
Yes, in Japan, a cartoonist would write a cartoon of about 25 pages... and send it to a publisher. And if they picked yours, it would be a series in the magazine. And fortunately, I was picked. The publisher liked Berserk, so I would be able to make Berserk into a series. Usually, those first ideas always seemed to have something special.
I SEE. AND THIS IS THE LAST QUESTION. BERSERK IS A HUGE SUCCESS IN THE U.S..
Thank you very much.
BERSERK FANS ABROAD ARE VERY HAPPY. IF YOU HAVE ANY MESSAGES TO THE FANS IN THE U.S. ...
Actually I kind of have a question. What do Westerners think of this fantasy world created by an Oriental? Many of us Orientals feel that the fantasy worlds created in Hollywood... or believed in by Westerners are more genuine fantasy worlds. And I think Berserk is strongly influenced by Western culture. I'm trying to create something from what I learned from the West. So I'm curious about what people in the West think of Berserk. That's my question to the fans in the U.S. I hope they like it.
I'LL MAKE SURE TO TELL BERSERK FANS IN THE U.S.
Thank you.
Interview realized when the DVD of the anime of Berserk came out in U.S.
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So guys, please be patients ...
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