Kentaro Miura

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Kentarou Miura (三浦建太郎, Miura Kentarō^?, born 11 July 1966) is a Japanese mangaka best known for his popular Seinen manga, Berserk.

1 Life & works
2 Influences
3 Trivia
4 Works
5 References
6 External links

[edit] Life & works

Kentarou Miura was born in Chiba, Chiba, in 1966. At the early age of 10 in 1976, Miura made his first Manga, entitled "Miuranger", that was published for his classmates in the school publications; the manga ended up spanning 40 tankōbon. In 1977, Miura created his second manga called "Ken e no michi" (剣えの道 The way of 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 dōjinshi was published, with the help of friends, in a magazine in 1982.

That same year, in 1982, Miura enrolled in an artistic curriculum in high school he and his classmates started publishing their works in school booklets, as well as having his first dōjinshi 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 Best New Author work in Shōnen magazine. Another Miura manga Noa was published in Shōnen the very same year. Due to disagreement with one of, or the editor, the manga was stalled and eventually dropped altogether. This is approximately where Miura hit a slump in hard times.

In 1988, Miura bounced back with a 48-page manga known as Berserk Prototype, as an introduction to the current Berserk fantasy world. It would win Miura a prize from the Comi Manga School. In 1989, after receiving a doctorate degree, Kentarou starts a project titled King of Wolves (王狼, ōrō^?) based on a script by Yoshiyuki Okamura, creator of Hokuto no Ken. It is published in the monthly Japanese Animal House magazine in issues 5 and 7 of that year.

In 1990, a sequel is made to Ourou entitled Ourou Den (王狼伝 ōrō den, The Legend of the Wolf King) that was published as a prequel to the original in Young Animal Magazine. In the same year, the 10th issue of Animal House witnesses the first volume of the solo project Berserk was released with a relatively limited success. Miura collaborated with Yoshiuki Okamura on manga titled Japan, that was published in Young Animal House from the 1st issue to the 8th of 1992, and was later released as a stand-alone tankōbon. 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 mangakas. At this time Miura dedicates himself solely to be working on "Berserk." He has indicated, however, that he intends 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 TV NIHON. Various art books and supplemental materials by Miura based on "Berserk" are 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 entitled "Berserk Millennium Falcon Arc: Chapter of the Record of the Holy Demon War."

Since that time, the "Berserk" manga has begun to span 30 tankōbon with no end in sight. The series has also spawned a whole host of merchandise, both official and fan-made, ranging from statues, action figures to key rings, video games, and a trading card game. Kentarou Miura received the second place in the Osamu Tezuka Culture Award of Excellence for his manga Berserk in 2002. [1]

[edit] Influences

Kentarou Miura's influence comes from works in different media. The novel fantasy series Guin Saga by Kaoru Kurimoto is one such example. Also influential were western cinematographic productions, such as Excalibur and Conan the Barbarian, as well as the movies of Tim Burton and Sam Raimi. The mangaka Go Nagai was also a key element in developing Miura's style.

[edit] Trivia

He is close friends with Yoshihiro Togashi, author of Yu Yu Hakusho and husband of Sailor Moon authoress Naoko Takeuchi
Miura was born with webbed toes, a fact not known to most of his fans
He is left handed.