Miura, Kentarou

Date of Death: May 6, 2021

Kentarou Miura was born in Chiba City, Chiba Prefecture, Japan in 1966. He was left-handed. In 1976, at the early age of 10, Miura made his first manga, titled Miuranger, that was published for his classmates in a school publication; the manga ended up spanning 40 volumes. In 1977, Miura created his second manga titled Ken e No Michi (The Way to the Sword), using Indian ink for the first time. When he was in middle school in 1979, Miura's drawing techniques improved greatly as he started using professional drawing techniques. His first doujinshi was published, with the help of friends, in a magazine in 1982. That same year, Miura enrolled in an artistic curriculum in high school, where he and his classmates started publishing their works in school booklets, as well as having his first doujinshi published in a fan-produced magazine. In 1985, Miura applied for the entrance examination of an art college in Nihon University. He submitted Futanabi for examination and was granted admission. This project was later nominated for the Best New Author work in Weekly Shounen Magazine. Another Miura manga titled Noa was published in Weekly Shounen Magazine the very same year. Due to a disagreement with one of the editors, the manga was stalled and eventually dropped altogether. This is approximately when Miura's career hit a slump.

In 1988, Miura bounced back with a 48-page manga known as Berserk Prototype, as an introduction to the current Berserk fantasy world. It went on to win Miura a prize from the Comi Manga School. In 1989, after receiving a doctorate degree, Kentarou started a project titled Ourou (King of Wolves), based on a script by Buronson, the writer of Hokuto no Ken. It was published in Monthly Animal House magazine in issues 5 and 7 of that year.

In 1990, a sequel was made to Ourou titled Ourouden that was published as a prequel to the original in Young Animal magazine. In the same year, the 6th issue of Monthly Animal House, the first volume of the solo project Berserk was released with a relatively limited success. Miura again collaborated with Buronson on a manga titled Japan that was published in Young Animal from the 1st issue to the 8th of 1992, and was later released as a stand-alone tankoubon. Miura's fame grew after Berserk was serialized in Young Animal in 1992 with the release of "The Golden Age" story arc, and the huge success of his masterpiece made of him one of the most prominent contemporary mangaka. At this time, Miura dedicated himself solely to work on Berserk. He indicated, however, that he intended to publish more manga in the future.

In 1997, Miura supervised the production of 25 anime episodes of Berserk that aired in the same year on NTV. Various art books and supplemental materials by Miura based on Berserk were also released. In 1999, Miura made minor contributions to the Dreamcast video game Sword of the Berserk: Guts' Rage. 2004 saw the release of yet another video game adaptation titled Berserk Millennium Falcon Arc: Chapter of the Record of the Holy Demon War.

The Berserk manga has also spawned a whole host of merchandise, both official and fan-made, ranging from statues and action figures to key rings, video games, and a trading card game. In 2002, Kentarou Miura received second place in the Osamu Tezuka Culture Award of Excellence for Berserk.

Miura provided the designs for the Vocaloid Kamui Gakupo, whose voice is taken from the Japanese singer and actor, Gackt.

Kentarou Miura died on May 6, 2021 due to an acute aortic dissection at 54 years old.