Just finished the 1997 Berserk anime and I'm devastated in the best way. I know it covers only the Golden Age arc and ends on that cliffhanger.
Is the manga worth committing to from the start, or should I jump in where the anime ends? And what's the state of the series after Miura's passing?
Yes — Berserk isn't just worth reading, the manga is the whole point. The 1997 anime is a beautiful trailer.
Where to start: from chapter 1. The anime skipped the Black Swordsman prologue, softened several events, and cut the Skull Knight, Puck, and the entire supernatural framing that makes the Eclipse land differently. Golden Age in the manga is richer even where you know the plot.
What you get after the anime's endpoint: Conviction and Millennium Falcon are widely considered peak dark fantasy — and Miura's art evolves into some of the most detailed panel work ever put in a manga. It gets genuinely breathtaking.
State of the series: after Kentaro Miura passed in 2021, his childhood friend Kouji Mori (who knew the intended ending) supervises the continuation, drawn by Miura's Studio Gaga assistants. It resumed with the Fantasia arc and releases slowly but steadily. The transition chapters are respectful; you can feel the team's care.
Budget your heart accordingly. The manga goes darker than the anime ever did — and also, eventually, warmer than you'd expect.
Precise answer since the details matter here: yes, read it, and here's exactly where things stand.
Miura died in May 2021 partway through the Fantasia Arc. His childhood friend Kouji Mori, working with Studio Gaga (Miura's own longtime assistant team, trained directly by him), resumed serialization from Miura's notes and plot outlines rather than ending the story where it stopped. As of the most recent update (chapter 384, June 2026, following a nine-month gap), the series is still ongoing — Mori doesn't draw Guts himself, that's handled by artist Yoshimitsu Kurosaki, with Studio Gaga maintaining the visual style they trained under Miura to produce. Six more chapters are planned to close out the current arc before a new one begins.
So the practical answer to "where do I jump in": don't skip anything. The manga opens with a framing arc (Black Swordsman) set after the point the '97 anime covers, then flashes back to tell the Golden Age Arc in full — so starting at chapter 1 actually gives you context the anime never did, not just a rehash of what you already watched.
