Interview between Miura and Persona's developers (Part 1)

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Message from Puella:

Hi folks,

I've started translating this interview with enthusiasm, realizing again how lucky and happy we were during those days when Miura sensei was with us. Tracing the path of his artwork gives me comfort. I hope you can also be comforted like I do by learning a bit about his knowledge, intelligence, humor, passion and even his personality. With this, I propose you to start "Further Studies of Berserk" that I'll contribute to within my ability. As for the interview, it should be noted that Miura speaks modestly and never decisively. It's a long interview, so please take your time to follow it.

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Katsura Hashino, video game director and producer at Atlus, is best known for his work on the Persona series. In 2017, he created Studio Zero to work on an RPG codenamed “Project Re Fantasy”. The studio’s aim is to try their hand at this genre they “know little about” and create something unique. To further that end (and promote their project) they did a series of talks with prominent Japanese fantasy authors.

They were hosted by gaming news website Denfaminicogamer.

Kentarou Miura was the third artist to be featured, following Ryo Mizuno, the creator of Record of Lodoss War, and Yutaka Izubuchi, who did the illustrations for the original publication of Record of Lodoss War. The talk is between Kentarou Miura, Katsura Hashino and Shigenori Soejima (the art director on Project Re Fantasy).

Interviewer: First, I’d like to ask how “Berserk” was born. In one of your previous interviews, you said “I created it, gathering things I could get back when manga didn’t yet have manners”.

That’s why we say Guts’ outfit is Mad Max-like or that various tastes are mixed in Berserk, though it’s fantasy. However, I think it’s also why Berserk has been accepted as a newer fantasy, different from the classic atmosphere of fantasy like in Dungeons & Dragons.

Mr. Miura:
Is that so? *laughs*
For my part, I’m not sure that it has been recognized as a new fantasy.

Mr. Hashino:
As for fantasies that existed in Japan when Miura sensei started drawing Berserk, it’s, for example, “Record of Lodoss War”, isn’t it?

Mr. Miura:
Yes, “Record of Lodoss War” was the biggest one.

Mr. Hashino:
While there were types of light fantasies like “Record of Lodoss War” or after that “Slayers”, a fantasy like “Berserk” where dead bodies abound and enemies are literally cleaved in half was rare in those days in Japan, I think. What made you want to draw such a work in that era?

Mr. Miura:
It was fantasy movies like “Conan the Great” that inspired me.

When I was a middle school student, what we can call Fantasy hadn’t yet taken root in Japan. That was even before “Conan the Great” came out, let alone “Record of Lodoss War”.

“Excalibur”, which was released before them, that’s all there was, I’d say.

My impression is that “Excalibur” was the first fantasy movie with proper armors to come to Japan.

Seeing it now, it’s a bit sloppy though. *laughs*

Interviewer: “Excalibur” was released in 1981 in Japan and “Conan the Great” the following year, in 1982.

Mr. Miura:
It was around that time that a well-made fantasy movie came for the first time to Japan. Fantasy novels came before them. The biggest one was “The Lord of the Rings”.

“The Lord of the Rings” was not yet that big at the time in Japan. I don’t know how long Tabletop RPGs have existed but it seems that “The Lord of the Rings” was treated as a very important work (in that field).

I think we can see it as a flow: “Dungeons & Dragons” originated from “The Lord of the Rings” and such, and from there “Dragon Quest” was born.

However, like I said minutes ago, it’s more fantasy movies that influenced me. I think that’s why “Berserk” became a barbaric-like fantasy, like “Conan the Great”.

Interviewer: It’s a heroic fantasy genre represented by the original “Hero Conan” series.

Mr. Miura:
Today it had been pushed to the sidelines though, while “The Lord of the Rings” types have become big.

Mr. Hashino:
Then, do you mean that it’s not like you decided conclusively to “go for Dark Fantasy” while considering what was trending back then or the readers’ reactions?

Mr. Miura:
Indeed. What motived “Berserk” were bloody manga like those of Go Nagai or “Hokuto no Ken” and the impression of “Conan the Great” which I just mentioned. It was influenced by both, as you can see.

At that time, manners were lacking in the manga industry, there literally was no ethical code at all.

In those days, OVAs were really bloody. Even corpses were depicted and blood splattered. I think it was major back then.


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Note 1: While Record of Lodoss War achieved prominence much faster than Berserk, its publication was actually contiguous to Berserk’s beginning. It began as a Dungeons & Dragons campaign that was then novelized in seven books, with the first released in April 1988 and the last in March 1993. The first four of those were adapted into a very popular 13 episodes OVA by Madhouse, starting in the second half of 1990 and ending in late 1991.

Note 2: Conan the Barbarian was retitled Conan the Great in Japan.

Note 3: Miura often uses the word “image” (in Katakana), which means “mental image” or “impression” in Japanese.

Note 4: Miura uses the word “major” (in Katakana) several times in this interview. It has a similar meaning than in English: important, popular, trendy, major, etc. However its use slightly differs and for ease of reading has been translated to something more natural.

Note 5: Tabletop RPGs are referred to as “Tabletalk RPGs” in Japanese.