Kentaro Miura, the creator of Berserk, has passed away. Now granted, I’m not into the story. It’s just to dark and freaky for my taste. I’m just picky about darkness in general, probably acts more of a vice at times than I admit.But I still feel respect for the man, from what my friends have told me, especially one who spoke highly of him, his story is as ProfessorGeek on YouTube would call a “Cathartic Motivational” epic.

The main character Guts and his love interest Casca show you that life can be hard and dark but we can’t give into the darkness.Not this is not to say stories like Star Wars, Harry Potter, and Lord of The Rings and other epics don’t show this, of course they do, but Beserk, as I understand it, does it on a VERY extreme level, and Guts and Casca, figuratively speaking here, go through the 9 circles of Hell together. Kinda like Joseph and Mina Harker in Bram Stoker’s Dracula, if thats a good comparison, maybe it isn’t, I dunno.

But I think I still owe this man because while *I* may not be into epics like his, there are many epics I do like, which some, in anime and manga in particular, came about because their creators were inspired by Mr. Miura and if it wasn’t for him. They probably would never be inspired and I wouldn’t be able to enjoy those epics and in turn be inspired by them.

Heck, Warhammer 40k inspired my own fictional universe, PUNKS, and I have a friend who is a FERVENT 40k fan while I’m not too into it.

All art, wether it be paintings, sculptures, music, architecture, literature, plays, movies, comics all were influenced by someone. As such, that person has inspired another creator who’s work you enjoy and are even inspired by, even if you don’t like or agree with that artist’s own inspiration.

Modern Corporate Culture likes to have us think we are better than what came before us or even are some kind of correction to what came before us. But in reality that could never be further from the truth.

So I say thank you Kentaro Miura. You may not been my inspiration, but you probably were the inspiration for creators who’s work I enjoyed.