While an eclipse is happening
a man is drawing a world. (Berserk Architecture)
Hey Kids. Today’s newsletter has a different structure, not the usual one (that I explained in the first post) but a mono-thematic one. Today we talk about the architecture of the manga Berserk, by Kentaro Miura. Fasten your seat belts, it’s a bumpy ride.
My name is Federico and welcome to Representations of Architecture #20.
What is Berserk, and why is it so important?
Berserk is a manga serialized on the magazine Young Animal since 1989, for a total of 40 volumes. It’s the story of Gatsu (or Guts, depending on the adaptation), a swordsman with one eye, a metal arm and an humongous sword called Dragon Slayer. He is looking for vengeance against someone, assaulted at night by demoniac creatures attracted by the mysterious mark he has on his neck. This is just the basic plot, the story slowly unveils uncanny twists.
A few years after his first publication Berserk has become a global phenomenon. The world built by Miura redifined what is a fantasy story. The manga included countless gore scenes, deep characters, high themes and the sensation of witnessing one of the greatest products of entertainment of all times. Miura has the ability to shift from devastating medieval battles to the most intimate scene you’ll ever see in just a matter of pages. The horror, the beauty, love, hate, desire, all human emotions are depicted in such a profund and non-banal way making Berserk one of the greatest stories ever told. The author, Kentaro Miura, passed away on May 6th at the age of 54. This newsletter was written to pay homage to his memory.
I discovered Berserk in an old second-hand bookshop. The first two volumes were waiting for me. Once the Dragon Slayer was first drawn I realized Berserk was going to be one the best things ever happened to me. The departure of Miura, looking it in the big picture of what was and what is Berserk, is just another gusset to the legacy of an immortal opus.
My two favorite analog images
In an interview, from around 2015, Miura affirmed that he has shifted to digital (as you can see from some photos of his studio). A shift that worsened his tendency to detail the drawings to a level of definition beyond the manga standards. The possibility of creating huge resolution canvases, and the use of a few pixels brushes brought to baroque drawings. The digital was just the end of a process started with analog mediums.
In this drawing Miura depicts the Tower of Rebirth, an old building that covers an horrible secret. The tower is in fact just a cork, hiding in its depth the once-capital of the Midlands: Kuniochuounochi. A greek/roman civilization that was buried in remote times. Inside also the torture chamber, a pretty grusome place where a nice little man fulfill his duties. I will not spoil anything more.
This other drawing is absolutely magnificent. It depicts Doldrey fortress prior to the Band of the Falcon’s attack. Miura used these kind of images to introduce the grandeur of a new location (usually destroyed in a matter of pages).
The use of references
Every mangaka uses references. Every visual artist uses references. In Proto Anime Cut Hideaki Anno tells that he has an album full of photos of light cables to use as reference for Evangelion’s Neo-Tokyo. Miura does the same. Eventually he directly traced (with minor corrections) some photos, like this one below.
This is a rare case, Miura usually reinterprets the main features of famous architectures to create mesmerizing pastiches. It’s common to have Medieval buildings and baroque interiors. As it is common to have cities with numerous famous classic architectures.
In this image of Falconia we can see rispectively: Theatre of Marcellus (1), Mausoleum at Halicarnassus (2), Forum of Augustus (3), St. Peter’s Square (4), kinda a Tower of Babel (5), Pantheon (6), Parthenon (7), Colosseum (8) and many more.
Master of composition.
Dramatic use of bodies. Perfect balance of the image. Impressive details. Those are just few of the features of Miura’s style. In countless occasion the drawings are jaw-dropping.
Just look at this image above. A city assaulted by flying creatures. An over-detailed architecture. A smoke that resembles an etching by Gustav Dorè. A sense of imminent destruction.
Miura was able to convey emotions inside everyone of his drawings. Architecture was just the scenery where the characters moved, but he depicted it with meticoulous attention to detail. His medieval cities, with their dark atmosphere, are the definitive fantasy scenario.
Berserk Architecture: a freebie
I passed the last couple days browsing the manga searching for all the relevant architectures. I collected them inside a pdf that is… a freebie.
What is a Freebie? It’s a gift from me to you, but at ONE CONDITION: Like and/or share this post (you can share via the button or directly forwarding the e-mail). Once you did it just reply to this mail writing whatever you want and I will send you this beautiful 58-pages pdf. Inside a selection of the best architectures in Berserk. No descriptions, just pure glorious images. I was not able to include too many images inside this mail (gmail chunks the mail once a certain lenght is reached) so the pdf is the perfect add-on.
I hope you enjoyed Miura’s architectures and obviously if you never read Berserk it’s time to make up for it. If you are not able to retrieve the physical manga1 you can easily start from the 1997 anime series (that has the best OST in anime history2).
That’s enough for this newsletter. See you next week with a refreshing takeover.
Have a medieval week-end.
CIAO
Federico
Maybe it’s a draw with this other anime.
Hi
I have to write a paper on this exact topic for school and was wondering if you could forward me the freebie (I already sent you an email with details)
I would very much appreciate your help!
Hi!
I'm doing a panel on architecture in anime and would like use part of your freebie if possible
Thanks in advance!