Berserk returns with a crucial chapter Kentaro Miura wrestled with for 20 years

Published Jun 12, 2026, 10:39 AM EDT

As it turns out, the delay wasn't so much about the art as it was about getting the words and story exactly right. In a message to fans posted on X (formerly Twitter), Mori apologized for the long wait and pulled back the curtain on the creative bottleneck. "This chapter is an episode that Miura agonized over for twenty years," Mori wrote (translated from Japanese). "And even I, who heard it from him dozens of times, found it incredibly challenging."

It’s a fascinating detail that gives us an intimate peek behind the curtain in the creation of Berserk. Looking back, if Miura was actively agonizing over the events of chapter 384 twenty years ago, that places the conceptual groundwork squarely in the early 2000s. That fits roughly with when the manga was transitioning through the Millennium Falcon arc, an era that radically shifted the scope of the series from a gritty revenge story to a sprawling, high-fantasy epic.

[Editor’s note: Spoilers for the Berserk manga ahead]

Guts is arguably at his lowest emotional point in the entire run right now. His fragile found family has been shattered, his ultimate goal of protecting Casca has been upended by Griffith, and the physical toll of the Berserker armor is actively destroying him. To hear that this is the specific juncture Miura struggled to map out suggests we’re on the precipice of a massive, character-defining shift.

In the same post, Mori noted that he and the Studio Gaga team only crossed the finish line after going over the dialogue "countless times" with Akira Shimada, Miura’s longtime editor. It’s a sobering reminder of the delicate tightrope the current creative team is walking, as they aren't just drawing a comic but also are meticulously decoding a departed master's life's work from memory and scattered notes.

As for when it might be officially released in English, fans have a long wait ahead of them. Dark Horse is scheduled to release Berserk Volume 43 on Oct. 27, 2026, but it only collects up to chapter 383. Most English-speaking Berserk fans will have to wait for Volume 44, which could take a year or more to materialize.

Image: Studio Gaga/Hakusensha

But there is light at the end of the tunnel, because chapter 384 isn't just a lone beacon in the dark. Printed directly on the preview page at the end of the latest Berserk entry (listed as chapter 399 on the site) is a special message highlighting a run of three consecutive chapters scheduled for this summer. The message reads (translated from Japanese): "Serialization scheduled to continue in the next issue and the issue after next! This summer, Berserk accelerates!" For a fandom that has spent decades measuring hiatuses in years, a guaranteed summer roadmap is the best news in a very long time.

It’s a heavy burden to carry the weight of the Dragonslayer, but it seems Studio Gaga and Mori himself have finally found their footing and are inching ever closer to the finish line.