Berserk's Controversial Ending: Fans Divided

It’s rare that a manga’s most shocking controversy breaks out *after* its creator has died. But in the case of Berserk, the ending has become a battleground—fans are split, social feeds are a warzone, and the question at the heart of it all is: can a manga ever truly end if its creator isn’t the one to finish it?

Let’s start with the moment that set the internet on fire: when volume 42 of Berserk dropped on September 29, 2023, it was the first to appear with the credits “original work by Kentaro Miura, art by Studio Gaga, supervised by Kouji Mori.” Fans immediately noticed the difference. The story was continuing, but Kentaro Miura—the only man who had written or drawn Berserk since 1989—had died unexpectedly from an acute aortic dissection on May 6, 2021. The future of the manga, which had sold over 70 million copies worldwide by August 2025, was suddenly thrown into uncertainty. For a series that had run for over three decades and inspired everything from video games like Final Fantasy VII to anime, movies, and its own trading card game, the idea of someone else finishing Berserk seemed unthinkable.

So, who are the people driving this drama? First, Kentaro Miura, the original creator—known for his obsessive detail and for building one of the darkest worlds in manga. Second, Kouji Mori, Miura’s lifelong friend, a manga artist in his own right, and now the only person entrusted with the story’s end. Third, Studio Gaga, Miura’s team of assistants and apprentices, who had worked by his side and taken over the art after his death. And finally, Hakusensha, the publisher, which made the call to keep the series alive.

Here’s what actually happened, step by step. After Miura’s sudden death in 2021 at age 54, the last chapter he personally worked on was published posthumously in September that year. For months, the series was on hold. Then, in June 2022, Hakusensha announced that Berserk would resume, and that Kouji Mori would supervise the writing. Mori stated publicly, “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.” He also promised, “It may be unforgivable for me to do it, now that Miura is no longer here, but I will never add my own twist.” With Studio Gaga handling the art and design, Berserk came back—with new chapters first wrapping up the “Fantasia Arc/Elf Island Chapter,” then launching a new arc in September 2023.

That’s when the backlash started. Some fans argued that without Miura, Berserk had lost its heart. Threads dissected the new artwork, accusing it of lacking the signature level of detail that Miura was famous for. Others zeroed in on the story, questioning whether Mori’s recollections of Miura’s plot were really accurate or just his own interpretation. Within days of release, scans and translations of the new chapters triggered heated arguments on forums like Reddit and Twitter, with posts racking up thousands of comments. Some declared that Berserk “ended with Miura”—that no matter what Studio Gaga and Mori did, it would never be canon. Others insisted that Miura would have wanted the story to be finished for his fans and that Mori, as his closest friend, was the only one who could do it justice.

The controversy isn’t just about loyalty to Miura. For many, it’s about authorship and what it means to finish someone else’s work. Miura hadn’t left a full script or detailed notes for the ending—his only true “will” for the series was the conversations he’d had over the years with Mori. As a result, every new chapter is now scrutinized for signs of deviation: is this really what Miura wanted, or is it Mori’s version? Studio Gaga, for its part, has been careful to credit Miura as the original creator and to keep their own role in the background, but critics argue that even perfect imitation can’t recapture the original artist’s vision.

Defenders of the continuation point to several specific facts. First, Kouji Mori and Miura’s friendship dates back to high school—they even co-wrote a science fiction piece together as teenagers. Miura himself once said that the relationship between Guts and Griffith was inspired by his bond with Mori. According to interviews, Miura had outlined the entire story—including the ending—to Mori nearly 30 years before his death, and the narrative had, in Mori’s words, “progressed exactly as we discussed at the time, with almost no changes.” Studio Gaga, meanwhile, is made up of the same assistants who helped Miura with background art and monster designs for years, meaning the visual continuity is as close as possible to the original.

By August 2025, with 43 volumes published, Berserk remains one of the best-selling manga series ever—over 70 million copies in circulation worldwide. The posthumous continuation has kept the franchise alive, spawning not only new manga but also crossover events with video games like Diablo IV, which featured Berserk-themed armor and weapons in May 2025. Collector editions of the manga, including the deluxe hardcovers from Dark Horse Comics, continue to rank among the highest-selling volumes in North America, with over 10 million copies sold in English as of early 2026.

But the split in the fanbase remains raw. Some readers refuse to buy or read any new chapters, insisting the true ending was the last page drawn by Miura himself. Others embrace the new material as a tribute and closure that honors the creator’s legacy. Reviewers are divided; some praise the effort and the emotional burden borne by Mori and Studio Gaga, while others critiqued the pacing, art changes, or the decision to move forward at all. The publisher’s policy is to always consider “what Miura would think if he were still with us,” but with only memories and sketches to go on, there’s no way to be sure.

Now, Berserk stands in a unique spot in manga history: a series whose ending is both canon and in dispute, whose creator is both present in spirit and absent in execution, whose fanbase is both grateful and resentful at the same time. The question nobody can answer is this: if Berserk’s final pages are drawn from memories and friendship rather than the hand of Kentaro Miura himself, will fans ever truly accept them as the real ending—or will the debate become the last chapter of Berserk’s legacy?